Again, the glory of one attribute is more seen in one work than in another: in some things there is more of His goodness, in other things more of His wisdom is seen, and in others more of His power. But in the work of redemption all His perfections and excellencies shine forth in their greatest glory.
Of the Decrees of God, Commentary on the Shorter Catechism.
God is utterly other than us – other in a way we express with the word holiness. Yes, He dwells within each Christian, but He’s not you. He isn’t the same as you, He isn’t a part of you, and He isn’t a “higher” you. Yes, you’re made in His image, but you’re not Him. You’re not the same as Him, you’re not part of Him, and you aren’t a “splinter” of Him – nor will you ever be. He doesn’t depend on anything else because He is what everything else depends on. He can’t be explained by anything else because He is what everything else must be explained by. Although we can know what He has taught us about Himself, we can never comprehend Him completely because He is greater than our minds. Anything He wills, He can do. He not only holds supreme power but He also uses it. Nothing can defeat Him and nothing can happen contrary to His will. He is also supremely good – light with no darkness. Although evil is real, He detests it and bring it to judgment. He knows everything, He pays attention to everything, and nothing escapes His notice. He’s not just a What and a Who, like me or like you, but one What in three Whos – one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is no one like Him. He is set apart. He is what He is, and there was never a time when He was not.
Copied from How to Stay Christian in College by J. Budziszewski copyright 2004, p.33-34. Used by permission of NavPress (Think Books) – www.navpress.com. All rights reserved. Get this book!
[God’s] attributes exist together in perfect harmony, perfect balance, perfect cooperation, with no contradiction, no confusion, and no diminishing of their glory forever.
Worship Matters, Crossway Books, 2008, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org, p. 64. Get this book!
A general definition of perfections is as follows: God’s perfections are the essential characteristics of His nature. Because these characteristics are necessary to His nature, all His attributes are absolutely perfect and thus rightly called perfections. Further, since these perfections are essential to God’s nature, if any one of them were denied, God would no longer be God.
God the Father by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue taken from Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, copyright 2017, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. Page 161.
God’s glory refers to the consummate beauty of the totality of His perfections.
God the Father by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue taken from Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, copyright 2017, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. Page 188.
In summary, God’s perfections constitute His essence, or character, which far transcends all created things in greatness. God’s essence is one indivisible whole, so that each and all of His perfections actively characterize God’s entire being. God’s perfections must be thought of as always actively present together and mutually influencing each other without any hierarchy, even when they are not all mentioned in a given passage of Scripture. God in His essential nature is truly beyond human understanding, and the only appropriate responses to studying even the fringes of His ways (cf. Job 26:14) are awe-filled reverence, worship, adoration, trust, and service.
Since [the] perfections characterize God, they cannot be discovered and defined by man, especially in his depravity, for man by himself cannot know God completely. Rather, God must reveal Himself for man to assuredly know anything about God, including His perfections. God has revealed Himself in nature, but humanity corrupts that knowledge. Only the Bible gives accurate information about God and His perfections. Even this information is not exhaustive, but it is true because it is written in the inspired text.
God the Father by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue taken from Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, copyright 2017, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. Page 151.
God’s essence is identical to His perfections. There is no essential distinction between God’s essence and His perfections, and there is no essential difference between God’s perfections to one another. Each perfection characterizes God’s complete essence simply and eternally. That is to say, God is what He has. He does not merely possess love, justice, and goodness; He is love and justice, eternally, fully, and completely. God is eternally all-powerful, all-holy, and all-loving.
God the Father by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue taken from Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue, copyright 2017, Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton Illinois 60187, www.crosswaybooks.org. Page 164.
The attributes of God, once so full of terror, are become [the Christian’s] shield, his stronghold, and his triumph; and he can think of all the glorious perfections of the Almighty, and then say, “I will go unto God, my exceeding joy.” His resistless power, His infinite wisdom, His unchanging fidelity to His word – all these are sources of triumph to everyone who, having believed in Christ, has become a child of God.
The Throne of Grace, Alexander Strahan Publishers, 1865.
Our aim in studying the Godhead must be to know God Himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God’s attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are.
Taken from Knowing God by JI Packer. Copyright(c) 1973. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, PO Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515, p.23. Get this book!
