God
In biblical counseling, a right view of God and our counselee in relation to God is the key to all biblical counseling. It is important for us to understand who God is and what He is capable of doing in our lives. As we align our wills, desires, goals, dreams, priorities, relationships, etc. to Him, we now have the ability to change. Once we develop a God-centered approach to life, as opposed to a me-centered approach to life, everything changes. The God who created the heavens and the earth from nothing, who created all living things, who created each of us individually, is capable of all things. As we learn to see our situations, questions, and difficulties in light of God’s glory and power, true and lasting healing and victory becomes possible.
When we say “God,” it is critical that we think about all three Persons of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are all at work in our lives and each play a crucial role in our lives. From the beginning, we see all three Persons of the Trinity at Work. In Genesis 1:26, God the Father says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” We clearly see the Father active in Creation. John 1 tells us that Jesus was with God and was God, and all things came into being by Him. Back to Genesis 1:2, we are told that “the Spirit of God was moving over the surface” of the soon-to-be-created world.
In Genesis 2, man was created. Psalm 139:13-16 explains that God knit us together in our mother’s womb, that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and that all my days were written for me before one of them came about. God created us, He knows us intimately and He loves us.
Verses for Study:
Names of God
Elohim (God): plural—Trinity; power, authority, and sovereign rule; creator and sustainer
Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
Yahweh (LORD): personal and covenantal; I AM; Jehovah; Adonai; Jesus Christ
Exodus 3:14-15: "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'; and He said, 'This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.' God furthermore said to Moses, 'This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations."
El Shaddai (God Almighty): mighty one; supreme; strength, power, provision
Genesis 17:1: "Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.'"
Jehovah Jireh (The LORD Will Provide): to see or to provide
Genesis 22:14: "Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'"
Jehovah Rapha (The LORD Who Heals): to heal or to restore; bring physical, emotional, and spiritual healing
Exodus 15:26: "And He said, 'If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and listen carefully to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will not put on you any of the diseases which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.'"
Adonai (Lord, Master); ultimate authority and source of guidance
Psalm 8:1: "O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!"
Jehovah Shalom (The LORD Is Peace): peace or restoration; peace that passes human understanding; Prince of Peace
Judges 6:24: "Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites."
El Elyon (Most High God): supreme sovereignty, authority, and preeminence over all other gods or powers
Genesis 14:18-20: "And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, 'Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.' Abram gave him a tenth of everything."
Jehovah Nissi (The LORD Is My Banner): source of victory, protection, and His presence
Exodus 17:15: "Moses built an altar and named it The LORD is My Banner."
Jehovah Rohi (The LORD Is My Shepherd): guides, leads, protects, provides, and cares
Psalm 23:1: "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want."
El Olam (Everlasting God): God of Eternity; exists beyond time and space; unchanging; constant and enduring
Genesis 21:33: "Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God."
Jehovah Sabaoth (The LORD of Hosts): the Lord of Armies; commander of heavenly armies and the ruler of all earthly forces; supreme warrior and defender of His people; triumphant
1 Samuel 1:3: "Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh. And there were the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to the LORD there."
El Roi (God Who Sees): God's omniscience; His ability to perceive, understand, and care for His people in their most vulnerable moments; compassionate and caring
Genesis 16:13: "Then she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, 'You are a God who sees'; for she said, 'Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?'"
Jehovah Tsidkenu (The LORD Our Righteousness); God’s moral perfection, justice, and the means through which He makes His people righteous
Jeremiah 23:6: "In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called: The LORD our righteousness."
Emmanuel (God With Us): God took on human flesh and became fully present with us; God entered into the human experience to demonstrate His love, offer redemption, and bring reconciliation
Matthew 1:23: "Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,' which translated means, 'God with us.'"
Attributes of God
Eternal—self-existent—This is different then self-created. It is not possible for anything or anyone to create itself. God has always been existent. There has never been a time that God has not been.
1 Timothy 1:17: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."
Revelation 22:13: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
Psalm 90:2: "Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."
Psalm 93:2: "Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting."
Psalm 102:25-27: "Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. Even they will perish, but You endure; and all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end."
Isaiah 40:28: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable."
Creator—God, in His infinite wisdom, decided to create the earth and everything in it and everyone who has ever lived on the earth.
Genesis 1-2: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." Creation account.
Psalm 139:13-14: "For You formed my innermost parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well."
Genesis 4:1-2: Cain and Able born (man was commanded to fill the earth)
Job 26:7: He suspends the earth over nothing
Job 38:5-7: Who marked off its dimensions? Who set its footings? Who laid its cornerstone?
Psalm 19:1-6: “The heavens tell of the glory of God”
Psalm 104:24-28: “Lord, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions.”
Proverbs 20:12: “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, The Lord has made both of them.”
Jeremiah 27:5: “I have made the earth, mankind, and the animals which are on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm.”
Jeremiah 32:17: “Oh, Lord God! Behold, You Yourself have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You,”
Sovereign—Chief or highest, supreme in power, superior in position to all others. As an eternal God and as the creator of all that is and in power over all that is, this sets Him apart from all others. God is in a class all by Himself.
1 Chronicles 29:11: "Thine, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Thine is the dominion, O LORD, and Thou dost exalt Thyself as head over all."
Genesis 45: Joseph--“God sent me ahead of you to save lives.”
Genesis 50:19-21: Joseph—“you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”
Exodus 4:21-23; 10:1-2: God hardens Pharoah’s heart
Exodus 13:8-10,14: the Lord brought Pharoah out of Egypt
1 Samuel 1:19-28: Hannah and Samuel
Psalm 115:3: “He does whatever He pleases.”—Sovereign
Holy—Untouched and unstained by evil in the world; absolutely pure and perfect.
Psalm 99:9 "Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His holy hill; for holy is the LORD our God."
Isaiah 6:1-4: “’Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory.’ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.”
Revelation 4:8: "And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.'"
1 Chronicles 13:9-14: Uzza died when he reached out to balance the ark
Psalm 4:4a: Tremble, and do not sin
Psalm 18:30a: His way is blameless
Revelation 15:4: "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For all the nations will come and worship before You, For Your righteous acts have been revealed."
The fact that God is holy is the attribute of God that separates us from Him. Ever since the time that Adam and Eve chose to sin in the garden, and since we are all sinners as well, mankind and God have been separated. God cannot have sin anywhere in His presence. God’s holiness and our utter sinfulness it what makes it completely impossible for us to have a relationship with God on our own standing.
Romans 3:23: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
(Romans 3:10-12 "as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.""
Righteous and Just—Designates the perfect agreement between God’s nature and His acts. Justice is the way that God legislates His righteousness. Since God is holy, it is only just that He would punish those who choose to reject Him. Many people have a hard time believing in Hell—they don’t believe a loving God would allow anyone to burn in the fire of Hell for all eternity. It would violate God’s rightness and justice if it were any other way. It is our own unrighteousness that bring judgment on ourselves. We could ask ourselves the question: Why did God create man? Was it so He could send them to hell and be separated from them forever. No—God created man so that we could have a relationship with Him. Man chose to separate himself from God when we chose to sin.
Psalm 89:14a: "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne
Deuteronomy 32:4: the Rock; perfect; just; faithful, righteous
Psalm 7:11: a righteous judge; One who shows indignation every day
Loving and Merciful—We all deserve eternal separation from God, but luckily for us God is also Loving and Merciful—God loves us enough that He extends His mercy to us—even though we are undeserving. God’s mercy is the expression of His love and mercy to those who have opposed His will.
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life."
1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Gracious—God’s unmerited favor that He extends to humanity.
John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
Romans 3:24: "being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus."
Romans 5:15: "But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the offense of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many."
Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast."
Titus 2:11: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people."
Hebrews 4:16: "Therefore let's approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help at the time of our need."
Acts 20:24: "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God."
Romans 5:20-21: "The Law came in so that the offense would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
2 Corinthians 8:9: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich."
Ephesians 4:7: "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift."
2 Timothy 1:9: "who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus from all eternity."
James 4:6: "But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, 'God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'"
Kind—the compassion and benevolence of the Lord
Psalm 117:2a: "For His lovingkindness is great toward us.”
Romans 2:4: "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
Titus 3:3-7: “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:7: "so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
Good—refers to God’s inherent moral perfection and the display of kindness, benevolence, and generosity in His actions and character
1 Chronicles 16:34: "Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His mercy is everlasting."
Psalm 34:8: "Taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him!"
Psalm 100:5: "For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting And His faithfulness endures to all generations."
Romans 8:28: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
Nahum 1:7: "The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, And He knows those who take refuge in Him."
Matthew 19:17: "And He said to him, 'Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.'"
James 1:17: "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."
1 John 1:5: "This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all."
Patient—refers to God’s quality of being long-suffering, slow to anger, and enduring in His dealings with humanity. It reflects His ability to withhold judgment or punishment, giving people time and opportunity to repent, turn to Him, and experience His mercy and grace. God's patience is rooted in His love for His creation and His desire that all people come to know Him and receive salvation.
Psalm 103:8: "The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in mercy."
Romans 2:4: "Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"
2 Peter 3:9: "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."
Exodus 34:6: "Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, 'The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.'"
Numbers 14:18: "'The LORD is slow to anger and abundant in mercy, forgiving wrongdoing and wrongdoing, but by no means clearing the guilty, punishing the wrongdoing of fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations.'"
Psalm 86:15: "But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abundant in mercy and truth."
Psalm 145:8: "The LORD is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness."
Romans 9:22: "And what if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with great patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?"
1 Timothy 1:16: "Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;"
2 Timothy 2:13: "If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself."
Faithful—The faithfulness of the Lord refers to God's unwavering reliability, trustworthiness, and steadfastness in keeping His promises, fulfilling His purposes, and maintaining His covenant with His people. God is consistently dependable and true to His word.
Psalm 136:6-8: “His faithfulness is everlasting”
1 Corinthians 1:9: God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psalm 33:11: “The plan of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation.”
Psalm 55:22: “Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.”
John 16:33: These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
Romans 8:28: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Psalm 34:19: “The afflictions of the righteous are many, but the Lord rescues him from them all.”
Psalm 37:25: “I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his descendants begging for bread.”
Psalm 62:5-8: “My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my hope is from Him.”
Isaiah 44:3-4: “‘For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, and My blessing on your descendants’”
Isaiah 49:15: “I will not forget you.”
Romans 9:33: just as it is written: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and the one who believes in Him will not be put to shame.”
1 Corinthians 1:1-9: To the church of God which is in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Truth—God is the only God and, thus, the only true God.
Psalm 117:2b: "And the truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD!"
Many say there are many forms of truth and many ways to get to God. God is the compass of our lives. He sees everything clearly and guides and directs us perfectly. We must use God’s measuring stick of truth as we live our lives. God also provided the only truth in sending Jesus to this earth.
John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me.”
Wisdom—His perfect and infinite knowledge, understanding, and discernment.
Romans 16:27: "to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen."
1 Corinthians 1:25: "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than mankind's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than mankind's strength."
James 1:5: "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."
Job 12:13: "With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding."
Daniel 2:20-21: "Daniel said, 'Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to people of understanding.'"
Colossians 2:2-3: "that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
James 3:17: "But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy."
Jude 1:25: "to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."
Revelation 7:12: "saying, 'Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.'"
Immutable—God never changes.
Malachi 3:6a: “For I, the Lord, do not change.”
Psalm 102:26-28: "Even they will perish, but You endure; and all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing You will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end."
We live in a world that is always changing—everything around us is always changing; we are always changing. God is the constant in our lives. He is the compass. Once we come into a relationship with God, it is comforting for us to know that our lives now have direction and meaning.
Omniscient (Ps. 139:1-6), Omnipresent (7-12), and Omnipotent (13-18)—God knows all things, is present everywhere, and has enough power to accomplish absolutely anything.
Psalm 145:15-19: provider, righteous, kind, near, rescuer
The Lord is our Shepherd—He cares for us and guides us
John 10:11-15: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf snatches them and scatters the flock. He flees because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd”
Genesis 49:22-44: a shepherd to Joseph
Psalm 77:20: “You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”
God is deserving of our praise and honor and glory
Psalm 20:7: “Some praise their chariots and some their horses, but we will praise the name of the Lord, our God.”
Psalm 100: “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth”
Luke 19:35-38: “And they brought it to Jesus, and they threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. Now as He was going, they were spreading their cloaks on the road. shouting: ‘Blessed is the King, the One who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’”
God is our refuge and strength
Psalm 46:1-7: “God is our refuge and strength, a very ready help in trouble.”
Psalm 22:5: “To You they cried out and they fled to safety; In You they trusted and were not disappointed.”
Roles of the Godhead
God the Father:
Creator and Sustainer:
Although the Father is preeminently the Creator the Son and Spirit were also involved.
Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Isaiah 64:8: “But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
Father and Authority:
Psalm 68:5: "A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows is God in His holy habitation."
Isaiah 40:28: "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable."
Provider and Protector:
Matthew 5:45: "So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
Matthew 6:30: "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!”
Matthew 6:25-33: "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow; they do not labor nor do they spin thread for clothing, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you."
Matthew 7:9-11: "Or what person is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? So then, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"
Luke 6:35: "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men."
James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Teacher:
Psalm 25:5: “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”
Reprover:
Hebrews 12:4-11: "You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, 'My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.' It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."
Redeemer:
John 1:12: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name."
John 6:44: "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day."
Romans 5:8-11: "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."
Romans 8:15-17: "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."
Galatians 4:4-7: "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God."
Ephesians 1:3-14: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory."
Ephesians 3:8-12: "To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him."
Colossians 1:11-14: “May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
1 Peter 1:3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
1 John 3:1: "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him."
God the Son:
Savior and Redeemer:
Luke 19:10: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life."
Romans 5:6: "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”
Ephesians 1:7: "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our wrongdoings, according to the riches of His grace."
Mediator, High Priest, and Intercessor:
Romans 8:34: "Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, but rather, was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us."
1 Timothy 2:5: "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus."
Hebrews 7:25: "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them."
Hebrews 4:14-16: "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
Hebrews 9:15: "For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."
Shepherd:
John 10:11: "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."
1 Peter 2:25: "For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls."
Judge:
John 5:22: "For the Father judges no one, but He has given all judgment to the Son."
2 Timothy 4:1: "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom."
Revelation 22:12: "Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves."
God the Holy Spirit:
Helper and Comforter:
John 14:16: "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever."
John 14:26: "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I said to you.”
Romans 5:5: "and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Convicter and Convincer:
John 16:8: "And He, when He comes, will convict the world regarding sin, and righteousness, and judgment."
Empowerer:
Acts 1:8: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Romans 8:11,16: "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God."
Guide:
John 16:13: "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come."
Intercessor:
Romans 8:26: "In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."
How the Godhead works together to accomplish our salvation:
The Father is the Planner, the Son is the Accomplisher, and the Holy Spirit is the Applier of salvation to believers. The Father is the Source, the Son is the Means, and the Holy Spirit is the Effector of salvation—it is He who convicts, convinces, and converts. The Son is the Redeemer, yet God the Father and the Spirit are described as sending the Son to redeem. The Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier, yet the Father and Son also cooperate in this work. The Father's love and adoption, the Son's sacrifice and reconciliation, and the Holy Spirit's presence and empowerment are all intricately involved in bringing about our salvation and shaping our relationship with God.
Matthew 28:19-20: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
John 16:13-15: "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take from Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; this is why I said that He takes from Mine and will disclose it to you."
1 Corinthians 8:6: “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
1 Peter 1:2-5: "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."
Article: The Doctrine of the Trinity by Bryan Carlson
The Trinity is the doctrine that God is one God eternally existent in three distinct persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—all of whom are equally God (2 Corinthians 13:14). The Bible speaks of the Father as God (1 Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 1:3; Philippians 1:2), Jesus as God (John 1:1-14; John 8:58; John 20:30-31; Philippians 2:6-8; Titus 2:13), and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-5; 1 Corinthians 3:16).
Scripture makes it clear there is only one God that we worship. “Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Isaiah 45:5 tells us “I am the Lord, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. According to 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, even if there are many so-called gods in our culture, for us there is one God and we exist for Him.
God the Father is the first Person of the Trinity. 1 Corinthians 8:6a says, “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist,” and Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” He is the head of Christ and the giver of the Holy Spirit (Colossians 1:15; John 14:26; Ephesians 1:3).
Jesus Christ is the second Person of the Trinity. Jesus talks about His oneness with His father in John 10:30 when He proclaims, “I and the Father are one” and in John 14:7-15: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” The author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 1 that Jesus is the radiance of His Father’s glory and the exact representation of His nature. Hebrews 1:8 says: “But of the Son He says, ‘Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.’” Jesus humbled Himself by voluntarily leaving His throne in Heaven to live the life of a man on earth (Philippians 2:6-7). After His death and resurrection, He ascended to the right hand of the Father where He intercedes on behalf of all those who put their faith and trust in Him (Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 7:25).
The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Trinity. He is referred to in Romans 8:9-11 as “Christ in you” equating Him with God the Son. He is co-equal to the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 13:14). Jesus promises his disciples that the Holy Spirit will come to them after He leaves and will teach them all things and remind them of everything he has said (John 14:26). This passage shows that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person with a unique role in the Trinity. He always draws attention to the Father and the Son and never to Himself (John 16:14).
There are several beautiful pictures in the Scriptures of the Trinity working together. At the baptism of Jesus recorded in Luke 3:21-22, “while He was praying, heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son, in Thee I am well-pleased.’” In John 16:13-15 we see the Holy Spirit guiding us into all truth, Jesus Christ being glorified by the Holy Spirit—"because it is from Me that He will receive what He will make known to you”—and Jesus saying about the Father that “all that belongs to the Father is mine.” In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus commands his disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" showing that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct but united in one name. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 13:14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." This passage shows that the three persons of the Trinity work together to bring grace, love, and fellowship to Believers. In 1 Peter 1:2, Peter greets his readers by saying, "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood," showing the distinct roles of the Father, the Spirit, and Jesus Christ.
Article: The Image of God in Man by Bryan Carlson
“The fact that man is in the image of God means that man is like God and represents God. The image of God in man refers to the aspects of humanity that reflect the character and nature of God. It is a spiritual and moral quality, rather than a physical resemblance, and it encompasses aspects of humanity such as reason, free will, creativity, and the capacity for relationship and community” (Grudem 442).
This doctrine is based on several key passages in the Bible, including Genesis 1:26-27, which says, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 5:1 says, “When God created man, he made him on the likeness of God.” God created a body, but the life—the Spirit—came from God. Man is a spirit being living in a human body (Ezra 1:5; Job 32:8; Psalm 51:12; Prov. 20:27; Isa. 57:16; 1 Cor. 2:11). God also created woman from man and was created with this same spirit. Man was created by God in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27; 5;1; 1 Cor. 11:7; James 3:9). This is what gives man more worth than the rest of God’s creation. Genesis 9:6 says that if a man sheds another man’s blood, his blood must also be shed for man is created in the likeness of God.
What about the Fall? Sin entered the world through Adam and now is inherent in all men. Man is now conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5) and dies as a result of sin: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Since all mankind is conceived from Adam and since we have all chosen to sin, man’s natural state is to now be separated from the love of God for all eternity. God’s image was distorted, but not lost (Gen 9:6, James 3:9).
So, what is the “image of God” in man? Many ways in which we image God is done through physical means—God given skills, thinking and creativity, bearing children who bear our image (Gen 5:3). “Even the body is destined to in the end a spiritual body, that is, a body which is completely spirit-controlled, a perfect instrument of the soul” (Berkhof 205). Morally, we have an inner sense of right and wrong. Spiritually, we relate to God and are immortal. Mentally, we possess things rationally, logically, with abstract reasoning, the use of abstract, complex, language (Isaiah 1:18-20). We have an awareness of time—past, present, and the distant future, music, art, literature, technology, and complex emotions. Relationally, we enjoy work, church, family, marriage, fellowship (John 17:20-26). Functionally, “the exercise of dominion over the creation” (Erickson 527); (Psalm 8). (Roy 15).
The image of God in man has significant practical implications for life and Biblical Counseling. First, it provides a foundation for the value and worth of every human being, regardless of their circumstances or background. Second, it provides a framework for understanding the purpose and meaning of life. Recognizing that humanity is created in the image of God can help individuals seek to fulfill their role and purpose in life, as they seek to glorify God and live in accordance with His plans and purposes. “It is only the Christian, then, who can be counseled. Anything short of the effort to bring about the renewal of the divine image in man is an unacceptable goal because likeness (alone) is God’s goal for man. That is why Christian counseling, stressing salvation and sanctification, is adequate” (Adams 120). “The goal of counseling should be to facilitate the restoration of the image of God to its proper functioning in all of the practical ways it has been shattered in the lives of those who come to see a counselor” (Lambert 190).
Our goal is to be transformed into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18) and to put on “the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator, to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Colossians 3:9-10; Ephesians 4:22-24). Jesus is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). “He is the image to the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). Whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father (John 14:8-9). He is the exact representation of the Father (Hebrews 1:3). “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:49). “When he appears, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). One day, when we are glorified, we will be in the perfect likeness of God once again. “We do not get to choose whether we represent God in the world. That is already true of us. The only issue that remains is whether we will acknowledge that fact and respond to it in a way that honors God” (Lambert 189).
Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, 442-450.
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, New Com. Ed., 202-210.
Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 517-536.
Don Roy, IBCD, ACBC Theology Exam Study Guide, 15.
Jay Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling, 118-120.
Heath Lambert, A Theology of Biblical Counseling, 180-213.
Article: Evolution: The Epitome of Arrogance by Bryan Carlson
I’ll just say it: to not give credit to a Creator to explain this world is one of the most ignorant and arrogant beliefs there is.
How many of you look at a fighter jet and assume it evolved? Even if you take every component pre-made (which would not be evolution by the way—each individual piece of each component would have to have appeared out of nothing) and place it in a huge whirlwind, a flying apparatus would not result. Instead, you would have a heap of tangled metal. The longer you let it mix, the farther you would get from anything resembling a plane.
You would literally think I am the most ignorant, uninformed person alive to make that assumption.
Now let’s look at our universe—the billions of stars, the unnumbered galaxies, the precision of the planets in their paths, daily sunrises and sunsets, the earth spinning at dizzying speeds with just the right amount of gravity to hold us from flying off into oblivion but also without crushing us.
Acknowledging our bodies are a million times more complex than a fighter jet. We are capable of thinking, reasoning, relating, emoting, reproducing. No many how many billions of years transpire, that does not come about by accident.
Satan is very good at deceiving. If he can pull this farce off, he’s really good at his job. To make this lie the belief of the land in quite unbelievable when you really think about it. We’ll quickly worship mother nature but not Father God.
All so we don’t have to admit there is a God we are accountable to.
“EVERY knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11)
Article: The Wrath, Mercy, Holiness, Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God by Bryan Carlson
“The attributes of God are those distinguishable characteristics or qualities of the nature of God that are inseparable from the essence of being God (nature/essence refers to al that God is whether material or immaterial)” (Faith notes 97)
The wrath of God refers to God's just and holy anger towards sin and evil. This wrath is rooted in God's holiness and love, as He cannot tolerate sin and its destructive effects on individuals and the world. God's wrath is expressed both in this life, through natural consequences and the consequences of our choices, as well as in eternity, through eternal judgment. His wrath has always been against those who choose to reject him as Savior. To the Israelites in the Old Testament God says to Moses in Exodus 32:9-10: “’I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.’” And to us under the New Covenant: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).
In the context of life and Biblical Counseling, the doctrine of the wrath of God has several practical implications. First, it helps us to understand the gravity of sin and its consequences. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:1-10). Understanding that our sin evokes God’s wrath can motivate us to turn from sin and towards God and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, as we will face the wrath of God if we do not repent and believe. God's wrath was satisfied through Jesus' sacrifice. According to Romans 3:23-25, all of us have sinned and fall short of God's glory, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we can be justified and redeemed. Jesus’ "sacrifice of atonement" underscores the idea that his death served as a means of appeasing God's wrath toward sin. We also see this in 1 John 4:10 which reminds us “that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Jesus' sacrifice was an expression of God's love for humanity, and that through his death, he provided a way for us to be reconciled to God. “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9). In order to satisfy God’s righteous wrath toward mankind, Jesus humbled Himself by taking the sin of mankind upon himself and voluntarily dying a terrible, painful death on the cross (Phil. 2:8). This gives us great hope but also a stern warning to not reject so great a salvation. “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” (John 3:36).
Additionally, the doctrine of the wrath of God can also provide a context for understanding and addressing certain aspects of human suffering and affliction. While God's wrath is not always the direct cause of suffering, it can be the indirect result of living in a fallen and sinful world. Understanding the wrath of God can help individuals see their struggles and hardships in a larger context, and it can provide comfort and hope in the midst of suffering.
The mercy of God refers to God's compassionate and gracious attitude towards individuals who are separated from Him. This attribute is closely related to God's love, as it expresses His willingness to forgive, help, and restore those who turn to Him. Mercy is often described as God not giving people what they deserve (i.e., punishment for their sin) but instead showing them compassion and grace.
In the context of life and Biblical Counseling, the doctrine of the mercy of God has several practical implications. First, it provides comfort and hope to those who are struggling with feelings of guilt, shame, and despair. Knowing that God is merciful and willing to forgive can help individuals find peace and assurance in their relationship with Him. Second, it provides motivation for individuals to extend mercy and grace to others, as they have received it themselves from God. See the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35.
Furthermore, the doctrine of the mercy of God provides a framework for understanding and addressing certain aspects of human suffering and affliction. While God's mercy does not remove suffering and hardships, it can provide comfort and hope in the midst of them. Understanding the mercy of God can help individuals see their struggles and hardships in a larger context, and it can provide a sense of purpose and meaning even in difficult circumstances. Hebrews 4:14-16 promises us that Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses as He was “tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin.” Therefore, mercy and grace are available to us in Christ in our times of need.
Jesus Christ, as an act of grace and mercy shed His blood to pay the penalty of our sin. We all deserve eternal separation from God, but luckily for us God is also loving and merciful—God loves us enough that He extends His mercy to us—even though we are undeserving. God’s mercy is the expression of His love and mercy to those who have opposed His will. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:4). “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:3-7). "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). Lamentations 3:22-23: “The Lord’s acts of mercy indeed do not end, For His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
The holiness of God refers to God's moral perfection and complete separateness from all that is evil and sinful. God's holiness is often described as His perfect goodness, righteousness, and justice. Exodus 15:11: “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?”
In the context of life and Biblical Counseling, the doctrine of the holiness of God has several practical implications. First, it helps individuals understand their own sinfulness and the need for salvation. Recognizing the holiness of God should lead to feelings of guilt, shame, and conviction, which can lead individuals to turn to God for forgiveness and cleansing. The fact that God is holy is an attribute of God that separates us from Him. Ever since the time that Adam and Eve chose to sin in the garden, and since we are all sinners as well (Romans 5:12), mankind and God have been separated. God cannot have sin anywhere in His presence. God’s holiness and our utter sinfulness it what makes it completely impossible for us to have a relationship with God on our own standing.
An understanding of holiness is needed to appreciate the cross and the results of God's work through the cross. The Gospels make clear that Jesus came to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31-35). The crucifixion is portrayed as Christ shedding His blood and giving His body for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:19-20). Faith in Christ is portrayed as acceptance of His full atonement for sin (1 John 2:2; 3:5; Rev. 5:9).
Second, it provides a standard for ethical behavior and moral decision-making. Understanding that God is holy can help individuals make decisions that honor Him and align with His character. Christians are called to holy living (1 Corinthians 1:2; 3:17). They are saints who lead godly, righteous lives. Being sanctified, or made holy, is a work of the Holy Spirit on the basis of Christ's atonement that calls for obedient submission from those who have been saved. “Christians are holy because of their calling in Christ, because of His atonement for their sins, and because of the continual ministrations of the Holy Spirit. They are holy inasmuch as they receive and submit to these saving and sanctifying agents" (Watts 85).
Additionally, as individuals grow in their relationship with God, they can learn to conform to His holiness and live in a manner that is pleasing to Him. The Holy Spirit is the agent of holiness for the Church and its leaders (Acts 1:8; 2:4; 5:32; 13:2-4). He keeps the church pure (Acts 5:1-11). He promotes holiness in its members (1 Corinthians 6:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:7). Christians are called to holy living (1 Corinthians 1:2; 3:17). Being sanctified, or made holy, is a work of the Holy Spirit on the basis of Christ's atonement that calls for obedient submission from those who have been saved. (Romans 12:1-2).
As a matter of practical application, it is never loving to leave people in their sin. “Come as you are” does not mean “stay as you are.” Many people in our society today would say intolerance is equivalent to unloving. Love is not telling people what they are wanting to hear and affirming their beliefs when they contradict the holiness and plan of God. Love is speaking truth and calling the person to repentance. 1 Peter 1:15-16: “but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
The omnipotence of God refers to God's unlimited power and ability to do all things. God's omnipotence is displayed in His ability to create the universe, sustain all things, and carry out His plans and purposes.
In the context of life and Biblical Counseling, the doctrine of the omnipotence of God has several practical implications. First, it provides comfort and hope to individuals who are facing difficult circumstances or challenges. Knowing that God is all-powerful can help individuals trust Him and find peace in the midst of their struggles. Genesis 18:14 says, "Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." This passage highlights God's ability to perform miracles and do the seemingly impossible. In this case, God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child in their old age, which would have been impossible without divine intervention.
Second, it provides a foundation for prayer and intercession. Recognizing that God is omnipotent can help individuals pray with confidence and trust, knowing that He is able to do far more than they can imagine. Matthew 19:26 says, "But Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" This passage is spoken by Jesus Himself and emphasizes that God's power is not limited by human limitations. Even things that seem impossible to us are possible for God.
Furthermore, as individuals surrender to God's power and submit to His will, they can experience true and lasting change in their lives. Jeremiah 32:17 says, "Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you." This passage emphasizes that God is the Creator of the universe and has the power to do anything. If He can create the universe, then surely He has the power to do anything else that is logically possible.
The omniscience of God refers to God's complete and unlimited knowledge of all things, past, present, and future. God's omniscience is often described as His perfect understanding and wisdom, and His ability to know all things.
In the context of life and Biblical Counseling, the doctrine of the omniscience of God has several practical implications. First, it provides comfort and security to individuals who are facing uncertainty and fear. Knowing that God knows all things can help individuals trust Him and find peace in the midst of their concerns. 1 John 3:20: “for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.”
Second, it provides a foundation for guidance and direction. Recognizing that God knows all things can help individuals seek His wisdom and guidance, knowing that He has a perfect understanding of their needs and situation. Psalm 139:1-6 says, "O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it." This passage highlights God's intimate knowledge of every individual, including their thoughts, actions, and words. God knows us better than we know ourselves. Proverbs 15:3 says, "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good." This passage emphasizes that God's knowledge is not limited by time or space. He sees and knows everything, everywhere, at all times.
Additionally, as individuals submit to God's will and seek to align their lives with His plans and purposes, they can experience true and lasting change in their lives. The omniscience of God can provide direction and purpose, as individuals seek to live in a way that honors and glorifies Him. Isaiah 46:9-10 says, "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'" This passage declares that God knows the end from the beginning, meaning that He knows the future and what will happen before it occurs. This emphasizes God's complete and infinite knowledge.
The omnipresence of God refers to the idea that God is present everywhere, at all times, and in all places. This attribute of God is a fundamental aspect of His character, and it is described in many passages of Scripture, including Psalm 139:7-12, which says, "Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me."
In the context of life and Biblical Counseling, the doctrine of the omnipresence of God has several practical implications. First, it provides comfort and security to individuals who are feeling alone or isolated. Knowing that God is present everywhere and always with them can help individuals feel a sense of connection and support, even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
Second, it provides a foundation for growth and development. Recognizing that God is present in all aspects of life can help individuals surrender their lives to Him and seek to live in a way that honors and glorifies Him.
Furthermore, by recognizing God's presence in all things, individuals can seek to grow in their relationship with Him, as they submit to His will and seek to align their lives with His plans and purposes. The omnipresence of God can provide a sense of accountability, as individuals recognize that He sees and knows all things, and that they will be held accountable for their actions. Jeremiah 23:23-24: “Am I a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth?
I like this outline: Omniscient (Ps. 139:1-6), Omnipresent (7-12), and Omnipotent (13-18)—God knows all things, is present everywhere, and has enough power to accomplish absolutely anything.
Faith Biblical Counseling, ACBC Exam Track 5, 97.
John D. Watts, The Holiness of God and Christian Ethics, 77-88.
Article: Quotes from The Knowledge of the Holy; The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life by A.W. Tozer (compiled by Bryan Carlson)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10)
Preface
“The Church has surrendered her once lofty concept of God and has substituted for it one so low, so ignoble, as to be utterly unworthy of thinking, worshipping men.”
“With our loss of the sense of majesty has come the further loss of religious awe and consciousness of the divine Presence. We have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence. Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit. The words, ‘Be still, and know that I am God,’ mean next to nothing to the self-confident, bustling worshiper in this middle period of the twentieth century.”
“It is impossible to keep our moral practices sound and our inward attitudes right while our idea of God is erroneous or inadequate.”
Chapter 1: Why We Must Think Rightly About God
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”
“Were we able to know exactly what our most influential religious leaders think of God today, we might be able with some precision to foretell where the Church will stand tomorrow.”
“That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us.”
“I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God.”
“…unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.”
“Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry…”
“The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.”
“The masses of adherents come to believe that God is different from what He actually is; and that is heresy of the most insidious and deadly kind.”
Chapter 2: God Incomprehensible
“When the Scripture states that man was made in the image of God, we dare not add to that statement an idea form our own head and make it mean ‘in the exact image.’ To do so is to make man a replica of God, and that is to lose the unicity of God and end with no God at all. It is to break down the wall, infinitely high, that separates That-which-is-God from that which-is-not-God.”
“If we insist upon trying to imagine Him, we end with an idol, made not with hands but with thoughts; and an idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.”
“Left to ourselves we tend immediately to reduce God the manageable terms.”
“The Gospel according to John reveals the helplessness of the human mind before the great Mystery which is God, and Paul in First Corinthians teaches that God can be known only as the Holy Spirit performs in the seeking heart an act of self-disclosure.”
“…though polluted and land-locked by the mighty disaster theologians call the Fall, the soul senses its origin and longs to return to its Source. How can this be realized? The answer of the Bible is simply ‘through Jesus Christ our Lord.’”
“God came to us in the incarnation; in atonement He reconciled us to Himself us to Himself, and by faith and love we enter and lay hold on (sic) Him.”
“’What is God like?’ If by that question we mean ‘What is God like in Himself?’ there is no answer. If we mean ‘What has God disclosed about Himself that the reverent reason can comprehend?’ there is, I believe, an answer both full and satisfying. For while the name of God is secret and His essential nature incomprehensible, He in condescending love has by revelation declared certain things to be true of Himself. These we call His attributes.”
Chapter 3: A Divine Attribute: Something True About God
“…an attribute of God is whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of Himself.”
“An attribute, as we can know it, is a mental concept, an intellectual response to God’s self-revelation.”
“To our questions God has provide answers…These answers He has provide in nature, in Scriptures, and in the person of His Son.”
“Though God in this threefold revelation has provided answers to our questions concerning Him, the answers by no means lie on the surface. They must be sought by prayer, by long meditation on the written Word, and by earnest and well-disciplined labor. However brightly the light may shine, it can be seen only by those who are spiritually prepared to receive it. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.’”
“If we would think accurately about the attributes of God, we must learn to reject certain words that are sure to come crowding into our minds—words such as trait, characteristic, quality, words which are proper and necessary when we are considering created beings but altogether inappropriate when we are thinking about God.”
“A man is the sum of his parts and his character the sum of the traits that compose it.”
“Human character is not constant because the traits or qualities that constitute are unstable.”
“God exists in Himself and of Himself. His being He owes to no one. His substance is indivisible. He has no parts but is single in His unitary being.”
“The harmony of His being is the result not of a perfect balance of parts but of the absence of parts. Between His attributes no contradiction can exist. He need not suspend one to exercise another, for in Him all His attributes are one.”
“An attribute, then, is not a part of God. It is how God is, and as far as the reasoning mind can go, we may say that it is what God is, though, as I have tried to explain, exactly what He is He cannot tell us.”
“The divine attributes are what we know to be true of God. He does not possess them as qualities; they are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures.”
Chapter 4: The Holy Trinity
“Our sincerest effort to grasp the incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity must remain forever futile, and only by deepest reverence can it be saved from actual presumption.
“Some persons who reject all they cannot explain have denied that God is a Trinity.”
“Every man lives by faith, the nonbeliever as well as the saint; the one by faith in natural laws and the other by faith in God.”
“We cover our deep ignorance with words, but we are ashamed to wonder, we are afraid to whisper ‘mystery.’”
“…faith must precede all effort to understand.”
“(Man) may compare Scripture with Scripture until he has discovered the true meaning of the text. But right there his authority ends. He must never sit in judgment upon what is written. He dare not bring the meaning of the Word before the bar of his reason. He dare not commend or condemn the Word as reasonable or unreasonable, scientific or unscientific. After the meaning is discovered, that meaning judges him; never does he judge it.”
“It was our Lord’s claim to equality with the Father that outraged the religionists of His day and led at last to His crucifixion.”
“When He took upon Him the nature of man, He did not degrade Himself or become even for a time less than He had been before. God can never become less that Himself. For God to become anything that He has not been is unthinkable.”
“The dialogue involving the Father and the Son recorded in the Scriptures is always to be understood as being between the Eternal Father and the Man Christ Jesus.”
“In the Scriptures the three Persons are shown to act in harmonious unity in all the mighty works that are wrought throughout the universe.”
Chapter 5: The Self-Existence of God
“’God has no origin’, said Navatian, and it is precisely this concept of no-origin which distinguishes That-which-is-God from whatever is not God.”
“God is self-existent, while all created thing necessarily originated somewhere at some time. Aside from God, nothing is self-caused.”
“Whatever exists must have had a cause that antedates it and was at least equal to it, since the lesser cannot produce the greater.”
“The human mind, being created, has a understandable uneasiness about the Uncreated. We do not find it comfortable to allow for the presence of One who is wholly outside of the circle of our familiar knowledge. We tend to be disquieted by the thought of One who does not account to us for His being, who is responsible to no one, who is self-existent, self-dependent and self-sufficient.”
“The philosopher and the scientist will admit that there is much that they do not know; but that is quite another thing from admitting that there is something which they can never know, which indeed they have no technique for discovering.”
“For He is everywhere while He is nowhere, for ‘where’ has to do with matter and space, and God is independent of both.”
“It is not a cheerful thought that millions of us who live in a land of Bibles, who belong to churches and labor to promote the Christian religion, may yet pass our whole life on this earth without once having thought or tried to think seriously about the being of God.”
“…because we are the handiwork of God, it follows that all our problems and their solutions are theological.”
“We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something of what God is.”
“Think God away and man has no ground of existence.”
“That God is everything and man nothing is a basic tenet of Christian faith and devotion;”
“’All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.’” (John 1:3)
“The natural man is a sinner because and only because he challenges God’s selfhood in relation to his own.”
“Yet so subtle is self that scarcely anyone is conscious of its presence. Because man is born a rebel, he is unaware that he is one. His constant assertion of self, as far as he thinks of it al all, appears to him a perfectly normal thing.”
“Sin has many manifestations but its essence is one. A moral being, created to worship before the throne of God, sits on the throne of his own selfhood and from that elevated position declares, ‘I AM.’ That is sin in its concentrated essence; yet because it is natural is appears to be good. It is only when in the gospel the soul is brought before the face of the Most Holy One without the protective shield of ignorance that the frightful moral incongruity is brought home to the conscience.”
“’The essence of sin is to will one thing’ (Kierkegaard), for to set our will against the will of God is to dethrone God and make ourselves supreme in the little kingdom of Mansoul. This is sin at its evil root.”
“Sins are because sin is. This is the rationale behind the much maligned doctrine of natural depravity which holds that the impenitent man can do nothing but sin and that his good deeds are really not good at all.”
“’All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way.’”
Man must take up his cross daily and follow Christ.
Galatians 2:20
Chapter 6: The Self-Sufficiency of God
“Whatever God is, and all that God is, He is in Himself. All life is in and from God, whether it be the lowest form of unconscious life or the highly self-conscious, intelligent life of a seraph. No creature has life in itself; all life is a gift from God.”
“The life of God, conversely, is not a gift from another. Were there another from whom God could receive the gift of life, or indeed any gift whatever, that other would be god in fact. An elementary but correct way to think of God is as the One who contains all, who gives all that is given, but who Himself can receive nothing that He has not first given.”
“His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply not from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself.”
“He is what He is in Himself without regard to any other. To believe in Him adds nothing to His perfections; to doubt Him takes nothing away.”
“Probably the hardest thought of all for our natural egotism to entertain is that God does not need our help.”
“Man’s only claim to importance is that he was created in the divine image; in himself he is nothing.”
“Among all created beings, not one dare trust in itself. God alone trust in Himself; all other beings must trust in Him. Unbelief is actually perverted faith, for it put its trust not in the living God but in dying men.”
“The Man Jesus as He appeared in the flesh has been equated with the Godhead and all His human weaknesses and limitations attributed to the Deity. The truth is that the Man who walked among us was a demonstration, not of unveiled deity but of perfect humanity. The awful majesty of the Godhead was mercifully sheathed in the soft envelope of human nature to protect mankind.”
“Let us not imagine that the truth of the divine self-sufficiency will paralyze Christian activity. Rather it will stimulate all holy endeavor. This truth, while a needed rebuke to human self-confidence, will when viewed in its Biblical perspective lift from our minds the exhausting load or mortality and encourage us to take the easy yoke of Christ and spend ourselves in Spirit-inspired toil for the honor the God and the good of mankind. For the blessed news is that the God who needs no one has in sovereign condescension stooped to work by and in and through His obedient children.”
“’It is God which worketh in you.’ He needs no one, but when faith is present He works through anyone.”
Chapter 7: The Eternity of God
“The truth is that if the Bible did not teach that God possessed endless being in the ultimate meaning of that term, we would be compelled to infer it from His other attributes, and if the Holy Scriptures had no word for absolute everlastingness, it would be necessary for us to coin one to express the concept, for it is assumed, implied, and generally taken for granted everywhere throughout the inspired Scriptures.”
“…the concept of everlastingness is necessary to give meaning to any Christian doctrine.”
“’From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God,’ said Moses in the Spirit.”
“Time marks the beginning of created existence, and because God never began to exist it can have not application to Him.”
“Because God lives in an everlasting now, He has not past and no future.”
“God dwells in eternity but time dwells in God.”
“That God appears at time’s beginning is not too difficult comprehend, but that He appears at the beginning and end of time simultaneously is not so east to grasp; yet it is true.”
“For Him everything that will happen has already happened.”
“He sees the end and the beginning in one view.”
“…since God is eternal, He can be and continue forever to be the one safe home for His time-driven children.”
“…God’s eternity is so long and our years on earth are so few, how shall we establish the work of our hands?”
“’So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
“We who live in this nervous age would be wise to meditate on our lives and our days long and often before the face of God and on the edge of eternity. For we are made for eternity as certainly as we are made for time, and as responsible moral beings we must deal with both.”
“The ancient image of God whispers within every man of everlasting hope; somewhere he will continue to exist.”
“God’s eternity and man’s mortality join to persuade us that faith in Jesus Christ is not optional. Out of eternity our Lord came into time to rescue His human brethren whose moral folly had made them not only fools of the passing world but slaves of sin and death as well.”
Chapter 8: God’s Infinitude
“Whatever the cost to us in loss of friends or goods or length of days let us know Thee as Thou art, that we may adore Thee as we should.”
“We have but to want Him badly enough, and He will come and manifest Himself to us.”
“Infinitude, of course, means limitlessness, and it is obviously impossible for a limited mind to grasp the Unlimited."
“All our thought about Him will be less than He, and our loftiest utterances will be trivialities in comparison with Him.”
“Properly, the word can be used of no created thing, and of no one but God.”
“He knows no bounds.”
“He is measureless.”
“All that He is He is without growth or addition or development. Nothing in God is less or more, or large or small. He is what He is in Himself, without qualifying thought or word. He is simply God.”
“…there may be, and I believe there surely are, other aspects of God’s essential being which He has not revealed even to His ransomed and Spirit-illuminated children.”
“Because God’s nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also.”
“How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none. Eternal years lie in His heart. For Him time does not pass, it remains; and those who are in Christ share with Him all the riches of limitless time and endless years. God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work.”
“…the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus is as limitless as God.”
“In God there is life enough for all and time enough to enjoy it.”
“The mercy of God is infinite too…”
“However sin may abound it still has its limits, for it is the product of finite minds and hearts…”
Chapter 9: The Immutability of God
“To say that God is immutable is to say that He never differs from Himself. The concept of a growing or developing God is not found in the Scriptures.”
“For a moral being to change it would be necessary that the change be in one of three directions. He must go from better to worse or from worse to better; or, granted that the moral quality remain stable, he must change within himself, as from immature to mature or from one order of being to another. It should be clear that God can move in none these directions. His perfections forever rule out any such possibility.”
“One who can suffer any slightest degree of change is neither self-existent, self-sufficient, nor eternal, and so is not God.”
“Only a being composed of parts may change, for change is basically a shift in the relation of the parts of a whole or the admission of some foreign element into the original composition.”
“The immutability of God appears in its most perfect beauty when viewed against the mutability of men. In God no change is possible; in men change is impossible to escape.”
“The law of mutation belongs to a fallen world, but God is immutable, and in Him men of faith find at last eternal permanence.”
“For human beings the whole possibility of redemption lies in their ability to change.”
“…His attitude toward us now is the same as it was in eternity past and will be in eternity to come…”
“In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part.”
Chapter 10: The Divine Omniscience
“To say that God is omniscient is to say that He possesses perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn. But it is more: it is to say that God has never learned and cannot learn.”
“Could God at any time or in any manner receive into His mind knowledge that He did not possess and had not possessed from eternity, He would be imperfect and less than Himself.”
“God perfectly knows Himself and, being the source of all things, it follows that He knows all that can be known.”
“He never discovers anything, He is never surprised, never amazed. He never wonders about anything nor (except when drawing men out for their own good) does He seek information or ask questions.”
“That God knows each person through and through can be a cause of shaking fear to the man that has something to hide—some unforsaken sin, some secret crime committed against man or God.”
“And to us who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us in the gospel, how unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely. No talebearer can inform on us, no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us.”
Chapter 11: The Wisdom of God
“There is indeed a secondary, created wisdom which God has given in measure to His creatures as their highest good may require; but the wisdom of any creature or of all creatures, when set against the boundless wisdom of God, is pathetically small.”
“The idea of God as infinitely wise is at the root of all truth.”
“Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve those ends by the most perfect means.”
“Wisdom sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision.”
“In spite of tears and pain and death we believe that the God who made us all is infinitely wise and good.”
“We rest in what God is. I believe that this alone is true faith. Any faith that must be supported by the evidence of the senses is not real faith.”
“Our insistence upon seeing ahead is natural enough, but it is a real hindrance to our spiritual progress. God has charged Himself with full responsibility for our eternal happiness and stands ready to take over the management of our lives the moment we turn in faith to Him.”
“’What I am is all that need matter to you, for there lie your hope and your peace. I will do what I will do, and it will all come to light at last, but how I do it is my secret. Trust me, and be not afraid.’”
“With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack?”
Chapter 12: The Omnipotence of God
“Sovereignty and omnipotence must go together. To reign, God must have power, and to reign sovereignly, He must have all power. And that is what omnipotent means, having all power.”
It is identical in meaning to almighty. “He alone is almighty.”
“…God has power. Since God is also infinite, whatever He has must be without limit; therefore God has limitless power; He is omnipotent. We see further that God the self-existent Creator is the source of all the power there is, and since a source must be at least equal to anything that emanates from it, God is of necessity equal to all the power there is, and this is to say again that He is omnipotent.”
“He gives but He does not give away. All that He gives remains His own and returns to Him again.”
“Science observes how the power of God operates, discovers a regular pattern somewhere and fixes it as a ‘law.’”
“The trustworthiness of God’s behavior in His world is the foundation of all scientific truth.”
“All the power required to do all that He wills to do lies in undiminished fullness in His own infinite being.”
Chapter 13: The Divine Transcendence
“When we speak of God as transcendent we mean of course that He is exalted far above the created universe, so far above that human thought cannot imagine it.”
“If some watcher of holy one who has spent his glad centuries by the sea of fire were to come to earth, how meaningless to him would be the ceaseless chatter of the busy tribes of men. How strange to him and now empty would sound the flat, stale, and profitless words heard in the average pulpit from week to week. And were such a one to speak on earth would he not speak of God?”
“’There is no fear of God before His eyes.’”
“Wherever God appeared to men in Bible times the results were the same—an overwhelming sense of terror and dismay, a wrenching sensation of sinfulness and guilt.”
Biblical examples: Abram, Moses, Isaiah and Daniel
“…a vision of the divine transcendence soon ends all controversy between the man and his God.”
Chapter 14: God’s Omnipresence
“The word present, of course, means here, close to, next to, and the prefix omni gives in universality. God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone."
“Few other truths are taught in the Scriptures with as great clarity as the doctrine of the divine omnipresence.”
“’God is over all things,’ wrote Hildebert of Lavardin, ‘under all things; outside all; within but not enclosed; without but not excluded; above but not raised up; below but not depressed; wholly above, presiding; wholly beneath, sustaining; wholly within, filling.’”
“The doctrine of the divine omnipresence personalizes man’s relation to the universe in which he finds himself.”
“At this point faith begins, and while it may go on to include a thousand other wonderful truths, these all refer back to the truth that God is, and God is here.”
“He is there as He is here and everywhere, not confined to tree or stone, but free in the universe, near to everything, next to everyone, and through Jesus Christ immediately accessible to every loving heart. The doctrine of the divine omnipresence decides this forever.”
Chapter 15: The Faithfulness of God
“All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes.”
“God, being who He is, cannot cease to be what He is, and being what He is, He cannot act out of character with Himself. He is at once faithful and immutable, so all His words and acts must be and must remain faithful.”
“I think it might be demonstrated that almost every heresy that has afflicted the church through the years has arisen from believing about God things that are not true, or from over-emphasizing certain true things so as to obscure other things equally true. To magnify any attribute to the exclusion of another is to head straight for one of the dismal swamps of theology; and yet we are all constantly tempted to do just that.”
“Upon Gods faithfulness rests our whole hope of future blessedness. Only as He is faithful will His covenants stand and His promises be honored. Only as we have complete assurance that He is faithful may we live in peace and look forward with assurance to the life to come.”
Chapter 16: The Goodness of God
“The goodness of God is that which disposes Him to be kind, cordial, benevolent, and full of good will toward men. He is tenderhearted and of quick sympathy and His unfailing attitude toward all moral beings is open, frank, and friendly. By His nature He is inclined to bestow blessedness and He takes holy pleasure in the happiness of His people.”
“If God is not good, then there can be no distinction between kindness and cruelty, and heaven can be hell and hell, heaven.”
“…the ground of all blessedness is the goodness of God.”
“The cause of His goodness is in Himself; the recipients of His goodness are all His beneficiaries without merit and without recompense.”
“He hears prayer because He is good, and for no other reason.” Faith is not meritorious; it is simply confidence in the goodness of God.”
“Christ walked with men on earth that He might show them what God is like and make known the true nature of God to a race that had wrong ideas about Him.”
“By our own attitudes we may determine our own reception by Him.”
“The greatness of God rouses fear within us, but His goodness encourages us not to be afraid of Him. To fear and not be afraid—that is the paradox of faith.”
Chapter 17: The Justice of God
“In the inspired Scriptures justice and righteousness are scarcely to be distinguished from each other.”
Justice, when used of God, is a name we give to the way god is, nothing more; and when God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to an independent criterion, but simply acting like Himself in a given situation.”
“Because of our sin we are all under sentence of death, a judgment which resulted when justice confronted our moral situation.”
“But when the penitent sinner casts himself upon Christ for salvation, the moral situation is reversed. Justice confronts the changed situation and pronounces the believing man just. Thus justice actually goes over to the side of God’s trusting children.”
1 John 1:9
“But God’s justice stands forever against the sinner in utter severity. The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. It hushes their fears and allows them to practice all pleasant forms of iniquity while death draws every day nearer and the command to repent goes unregarded.”
Chapter 18: The Mercy of God
“…we who were one time enemies and alienated in our minds through wicked works shall then see God face to face and His name shall be in our foreheads. We who earned banishment shall enjoy communion; we who deserve the pains of hell shall know the bliss of heaven. And all through the tender mercy of our God…”
“Mercy is an attribute of God which disposes God to be actively compassionate.”
“He has always dealt in mercy with mankind and will always deal in justice when His mercy is despised.”
“Forever His mercy stands, a boundless, overwhelming immensity of divine pity and compassion.”
“As judgment is God’s justice confronting moral inequity, so mercy is the goodness of god confronting human suffering and guilt.”
“It is human sin that called forth the divine mercy.”
“We must believe that God’s mercy is boundless, free and, through Jesus Christ our Lord, available to us now in our present situation.”
Chapter 19: The Grace of God
“In God mercy and grace are one; but as they reach us they are seen as two, related but not identical.”
“As mercy is God’s goodness confronting human misery and guilt, so grace is His goodness directed toward human debt and demerit. It is by His grace hat God imputes merit where none previously existed and declares no debt to be where one had been before.”
“Grace is the good pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits upon the undeserving.”
“…the channel through which [grace] flows out to men is Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.”
“There never was a time when the law did not represent the will of God for mankind nor a time when the violation of it did not bring its own penalty…”
“The spring of Christian morality is the love of Christ, not the law of Moses; nevertheless there has been no abrogation of the principles of morality contained in the law.”
“The Old Testament is indeed a book of law, but not of law only.”
“And how could it be otherwise? God will always be Himself, and grace is an attribute of His holy being.”
“Had the Old Testament times been times of stern, unbending law alone the whole complexion of the early world would have been vastly less cheerful than we find it to be in the ancient writings.”
“Grace made sainthood possible in Old Testament days just as it does today.”
“No one was ever saved other than by grace, from Abel to the present moment.”
“And wherever grace found any man it was always by Jesus Christ. Grace indeed came by Jesus Christ, but it did not wait for His birth in the manger or His death on the cross before it became operative. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The first man in human history to be reinstated in the fellowship of God came through faith in Christ. In olden times men looked forward to Christ’s redeeming work; in later times they gaze back upon it, but always they came and they come by grace, through faith.”
“…’where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.’”
“To ‘abound’ in sin: that is the worst and the most we could or can do…All thanks be to God for grace abounding.”
Chapter 20: The Love of God
“God is love.”
“John was by those words stating a fact, but he was not offering a definition. Equating love with God is a major mistake which has produced much unsound religious philosophy…”
“If literally God is love, that literally love is God, and we are in all duty bound to worship love as the only God there is. If love is equal to God than God is only equal to love and God and love are identical. Thus we destroy the concept of personality in God and deny outright all His attributes save one, and that one we substitute for God.”
“The words ‘God is love’ mean that love is an essential attribute of God.”
“…we see love showing itself as good will. Love wills the good of all and never wills harm or evil to any. This explains the words of the apostle John: ‘There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.’ Fear is the painful emotion that arises at the thought that we may be harmed or made to suffer. This fear persists while we are subject to the will of someone who does not desire our well-being. The moment we come under the protection of one of good will, fear is cast out.”
“Love is also an emotional identification. It considers nothing its own but gives all freely to the object of its affection.”
“Another characteristic of love is that it takes pleasure in its object.”
“Hell is a place of no pleasure because there is no love there.”
“…we have the certain promise that the causes of sorrow will finally be abolished and the new race enjoy forever a world of selfless, perfect love.”
“God does not love populations, He loves people. He loves not masses, but men.”
“In Christian experience there is a highly satisfying love content that distinguishes it from all other religions and elevated it to heights far beyond even the purest and noblest philosophy.”
Chapter 21: The Holiness of God
“Until we have seen ourselves as do sees us, we are not likely to be much disturbed over conditions around us as long as they do not get so far out of hand as to threaten our comfortable way of life. We have learned to live with unholiness and have come to look upon it as the natural and expected thing.”
“We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable.”
“It is possible to have some truth in the mind without having the Spirit in the heart, but it is never possible to have the Spirit apart from truth.”
“Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard. He is absolutely holy with an infinite, incomprehensible fullness of purity that is incapable of being other that it is. Because He is holy, all His attributes are holy…”
“God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of His universe. Whatever is holy is healthy; evil is a moral sickness that must end ultimately in death.”
Holy means “well, whole.”
“When He arises to put down iniquity and save the world from irreparable moral collapse, He is said to be angry. Every wrathful judgment in the history of the world has been a holy act of preservation. God’s wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys.”
“We must hide our unholiness in the wounds of Christ as Moses hid himself in the cleft of the rock while the glory of God passed by.”
Chapter 22: The Sovereignty of God
“God’s sovereignty is the attribute by which He rules His entire creation, and to be sovereign God must be all-knowing, all-powerful, and absolutely free.”
“God is said to be absolutely free because not one and no thing can hinder Him or compel Him or stop Him. He is able to do as He pleases always, everywhere, forever.”
“The sovereignty of God is a fact well established in the Scriptures and declared aloud by the logic of truth. But admittedly it raises certain problems which have not to this time been satisfactorily solved. These are mainly two.
“The first is the presence in the creation of those things which God cannot approve, such as evil, pain, and death. If God is sovereign He could have prevented their coming into existence. Why did He not do so?”
“While a complete explanation of the origin of sin eludes us, there are a few things we do know. In His sovereign wisdom God has permitted evil to exist in carefully restricted areas of His creation, a kind of fugitive outlaw whose activities are temporary and limited in scope. In doing this God has acted according to His infinite wisdom and goodness. More than that no one knows at present; and more that that no one needs to know. The name of God is sufficient guarantee of the perfection of His works.
Another real problem created by the doctrine of the divine sovereignty has to do with the will of man. If God rules His universe by His sovereign decrees, how is it possible for man to exercise free choice? And if he cannot exercise freedom of choice, how can he be held responsible for his conduct? Is he not a mere puppet whose actions are determined by a behind-the-scenes God who pulls the strings as it pleases Him?
“The attempt to answer these questions had divided the Christian church neatly into two camps which have borne the names of two distinguished theologians, Jacabus Arminius and John Calvin. Most Christians are content to get into one camp or the other and deny either sovereignty to God or free will to man.”
“Here is my view: God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil.”
“…in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom.”
“There is freedom to choose which side we shall be on but no freedom to negotiate the results of the choice once it is made.”
Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of the Holy; The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life. HarperOne, 1992.
Resources
“The Knowledge of the Holy; The Attributes of God: Their Meaning in the Christian Life” by A.W. Tozer
“A Theology of Biblical Counseling, The Doctrinal Foundations of Counseling Ministry” by Heath Lambert
“The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation” by Heath Lambert
“Trusting God” by Jerry Bridges
“Holier than Thou” by Jackie Hill Perry
“Gentle and Lowly” by Dane Ortland
“God’s Attributes” by Brad Hambrick
“Attributes of God” by Arthur Pink
“Experiencing the Trinity” by Joel Thorn
