Doctrine of God: THE GLORIES OF GOD

Question 1

3a. What are the differences, according to class lecture and Wayne Grudem, between what has been called the “Communicable” and the “Incommunicable” attributes of God?

Answer 1

INCOMMUNICABLE … attributes which are unique to God; He does not share or communicate them
to humans

Grudem’s List of Incommunicable Attributes
Independence, Unchangeableness , Eternity, Omnipresence, Unity

COMMUNICABLE … attributes that God does share or communicate to humans, although we do not have them in the exact same way or to the same degree as God

Grudem’s List of Communicable Attributes
Spirituality, Invisibility, Knowledge, Wisdom, Truthfulness, Goodness, Love, Mercy, Holiness, Peace, Righteousness, Jealousy, Wrath, Will, Freedom, Omnipotence, Perfection, Blessedness, Beauty, Glory


Question 2

3b. What did the professor call the “overarching” attribute of the Glories of God and why?

Answer 2

God is Great and God is Good does not say everything that must be said about God - it barely begins. But all that can be said about God’s character or qualities can, arguably, be outlined under these two words:
Great- Incommunicable
Good-Communicable

God is Great and God is Good.
From the prayer
“God is Great, and God is God”

Incomprehensibly above us (God is great)
and
Unimaginably for us (God is good)

Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty

“(One Seraphim) called out to another and said, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.’” (Isaiah 6:3)
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.” (Rev. 4:8)

Holy- transcends greatness of God, blazing in moral purity
No one else is like him, beyond great

Question 3

3c. Reproduce and discuss the outlines developed by both the professor and Erickson for the “Glories” or “Attributes” of the “Greatness” and “Goodness” of the Triune God.

Answer 3

Greatness ... God’s natural, non-moral attributes
God’s Holy Greatness is Transcendent in Majesty 
- Self-sufficiency
- Eternity
- Infinity
- Omnipotence
- Omniscience
- Omnipresence

Goodness … God’s moral attributes
- God’s Holy Goodness is Blazing in Moral Beauty

Love

• Storge, Philia, Eros, Agape
• We may learn much about His love. Because God is self-existent, His love has no beginning; Because He is eternal, His love can have no end; Because He is infinite, It has no limit;

Mercy

• God’s mercy is his loving, tenderhearted compassion for his people.
• Mercy understands our lot as miserable and needy.
• “As a Father pities His children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.” Psalm 103:13

Grace

• Mercy sees man as miserable and needy
• Grace is the goodness of God confronting man as guilty and condemned
• Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving.
• Because God is who He is, he. . .lifts up our heads from our prison houses; exchanges our prison garb for royal robes; and invites us to dine in his presence all the days of our lives.

Wrath

• While love is spontaneous to God’s own being,
• His wrath is called forth by the wickedness of his creatures
• In the total Biblical portrayal, the wrath of God is not so much an emotion or an angry frame of mind as it is the settled opposition of his holiness to evil.
• The wrath of God is seen in its effects, in God’s punishment of sin in this life and in the next.
• God’s “Day of Wrath” is the final judgment against sin and the irrevocable condemnation of impenitent sinners.

Longsuffering

• In Exodus 34:6, part of God’s self-revelation to Moses includes the attribute of being slow to anger.
• This is especially remarkable since this exchange between God and Moses follows the incident of the golden calf.
• “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9