How would I describe the ONE God?

Ps82

Well-known member
I've tried to understand God's essence. Yes, I think he has essence, but it is like invisible attributes.

So I'll list my thoughts like this:
He is alive/LIFE
with Power

with power comes movement
with movement comes learning
with learning comes thinking
with thinking comes plans
with plans and power comes creativity

Since I believe the first one I listed to be true then, I believe all these invisible attributes are equally alive; therefore,
As we list other attributes like:
His voice/The WORD
His Love
His Anger
His Mercy
and so forth ...
Then I believe these invisible attributes are HIM and were/are with HIM from eternity.

We are not told of some beginning of God just Moses described our beginning.

YET, the invisible God accomplished a wonderful thing through his energy: He said Let there be LIGHT. And in THAT LIGHT was life.

THAT LIGHT is so strong that humanity has never been able to behold it in all it's glory ... too dangerous.

The the invisible God created an image for his personal use and it dwelt within that powerful LIGHT.

I Timothy 6:14-26
One day our risen Savior, Lord Jesus, will introduce us saints to the one whose image is able to dwell within that LIGHT. We will be immortal and will see him as he appears as our Heavenly Father.

15 Which in his (our risen Lord's) times he (Lord Jesus) shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords;
16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling (visibly) in the LIGHT which no (mortal) man can approach unto; (THAT LIGHT) whom no man hath seen, nor can see (in all its power and glory): (The ONE God and LORD) to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen

Now, to whom will the Lord Jesus introduce us saints? The ONE we will finally be able to see in all his glory?
 

Ps82

Well-known member
Did some of you catch these ideas?

1.) The WORD is one of God's attributes and because of this The WORD is alive, is God and was with God simultaneously as God.

2.) The POWER is one of God's attributes and because of this The POWER is alive, is God and was with God simultaneously as God.

3.) In the least The WORD and The POWER came as our Savior to spread God's good news and to raise our Lord's body from the Dead.

4.) In the least The WORD and The POWER of God was to become our gift to raise us spiritually and bodily after the likeness of what Christ went through as the first.

This was a big part of God's plan from the beginning regarding mankind's salvation.

Perhaps some others would like to add to the list of the invisible attributes of God, which would be alive in him, with him, and HIM simultaneously.
Like: TRUTH, GOODNESS,
 
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Idolater

"Matthew 16:18-19" Dispensationalist (Catholic) χρ
G = x is God
Gf = the Father is God
Gs = the Son is God
Gh = the Holy Spirit is God
f ≠ s
f ≠ h
s ≠ h

Pxy = x proceeds from y
Nxy = x generates y

Phf
Phs
Nfs
Nfh

Bxy = x is begotten of y
Bsf
 

Ps82

Well-known member
G = x is God
Gf = the Father is God
Gs = the Son is God
Gh = the Holy Spirit is God
f ≠ s
f ≠ h
s ≠ h

Pxy = x proceeds from y
Nxy = x generates y

Phf
Phs
Nfs
Nfh

Bxy = x is begotten of y
Bsf
Looks like it is just you and me. Of course I disagree with you beginning with this: F does not equal S ...
The truth is they are both Spiritually God.

I will give you this point to a measure: God The Father appeared with a super-natural angelic sort of presence where God The Son was seen in a look-a-like-body but of lesser glory due to flesh.

Still, they had the same image ... just different glory.
 

Idolater

"Matthew 16:18-19" Dispensationalist (Catholic) χρ
Looks like it is just you and me. Of course I disagree with you beginning with this: F does not equal S ...
The truth is they are both Spiritually God.

I will give you this point to a measure: God The Father appeared with a super-natural angelic sort of presence where God The Son was seen in a look-a-like-body but of lesser glory due to flesh.

Still, they had the same image ... just different glory.

So you sound like a modalist.
 

Ps82

Well-known member
BTW God's image is not God. God is invisible ... God created an / one image for his use in appearing within his creations.

Even we human's are not our bodies nor our bodies us. If we lose legs and arms we still exist. We can be seen by others with what is left of our image ... but it's our invisible essence which still lives. Scripture even suggests that when our visible form is dead that our spirits live on and even go to designated places... Abraham's Bosom, Hell, Heaven. Maybe the pit for angels??? And then there is the Lake of Fire.

Have any reading this post ever read in Psalm 139:12? David is talking about the Greatness of God.
12 ... even the darkness is not dark to you (God) The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you (God).

This points to God's attributes of being an invisible Spirit who is omni-present. Night to him is like day to us. We need light to behold things ... but God the Spirit is aware of everything !!!! simply because in him are all things ... created ... powers and so forth. That's how he knows how many hairs are on a person's head.

He doesn't need light to see ... but he proclaimed LIGHT be because he had a plan in the beginning.

What was the purpose or who was that LIGHT with a purpose? John 1:6-9
The writer of the book of John was telling us two things.
a. The author wanted us to know who John the Baptist was and was not.
b. The author wanted us to know what John the Baptist taught (while he was alive) about Jesus's identity.

The author put things this way:
There was a man sent from God, whose named was John.
7 The same (John the Baptist) came for a witness to bear witness of The Light, that all men through him (the antecedent could be John the Baptist or That Light who came) might believe.
8 He (John the Baptist) was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light,
9 THAT (Light which) was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

I happen to consider when God said, "Let there be LIGHT," definitely one of the things on His mind was The Messiah who would appear in the world bearing the created image of God but with lesser glory.
 

ttruscott

Well-known member

Deut 6.4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One [echad].

Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one [echad] flesh.


Echad, can refer to the word one and to the word unity, as these verses indicate...

We understand that things are defined by their attributes; cats have cat dna attributes, apple trees have different dna attribute than corn, etc.

The FATHER is a Person with all the divine attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, etc.

The Son is a Person with all the divine attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, etc.

The Holy Spirit is a Person with all the divine attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, etc.

The nature of these Divine attributes is such that they form a perfect GODly UNITY so that while there are three divine persons, there is only ONE GOD. That is, the perfection of the unity of divine attributes makes it proper to refer to this unity as ONE GOD, not three gods...even though each of the Three is a Divine being.
 

JudgeRightly

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Deut 6.4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One [echad].

Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one [echad] flesh.


Echad, can refer to the word one and to the word unity, as these verses indicate...

We understand that things are defined by their attributes; cats have cat dna attributes, apple trees have different dna attribute than corn, etc.

The FATHER is a Person with all the divine attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, etc.

The Son is a Person with all the divine attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, etc.

The Holy Spirit is a Person with all the divine attributes of omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, etc.

The nature of these Divine attributes is such that they form a perfect GODly UNITY so that while there are three divine persons, there is only ONE GOD. That is, the perfection of the unity of divine attributes makes it proper to refer to this unity as ONE GOD, not three gods...even though each of the Three is a Divine being.

God is one Being, not three.

You were good all the way up to the last sentence!

Each of the Three is THE Divine Being. There is only one.
 

Clete

Truth Smacker
Silver Subscriber
I've tried to understand God's essence. Yes, I think he has essence, but it is like invisible attributes.

So I'll list my thoughts like this:
He is alive/LIFE
with Power

with power comes movement
with movement comes learning
with learning comes thinking
with thinking comes plans
with plans and power comes creativity

Since I believe the first one I listed to be true then, I believe all these invisible attributes are equally alive; therefore,
As we list other attributes like:
His voice/The WORD
His Love
His Anger
His Mercy
and so forth ...
Then I believe these invisible attributes are HIM and were/are with HIM from eternity.

We are not told of some beginning of God just Moses described our beginning.

YET, the invisible God accomplished a wonderful thing through his energy: He said Let there be LIGHT. And in THAT LIGHT was life.

THAT LIGHT is so strong that humanity has never been able to behold it in all it's glory ... too dangerous.

The the invisible God created an image for his personal use and it dwelt within that powerful LIGHT.

I Timothy 6:14-26
One day our risen Savior, Lord Jesus, will introduce us saints to the one whose image is able to dwell within that LIGHT. We will be immortal and will see him as he appears as our Heavenly Father.

15 Which in his (our risen Lord's) times he (Lord Jesus) shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords;
16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling (visibly) in the LIGHT which no (mortal) man can approach unto; (THAT LIGHT) whom no man hath seen, nor can see (in all its power and glory): (The ONE God and LORD) to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen

Now, to whom will the Lord Jesus introduce us saints? The ONE we will finally be able to see in all his glory?
I'm not really sure what to make of this. It feels like an attempt to make a rational argument where the idea is to say that because X is true then Y necessarily follows, but that isn't what this actually is.

As written, it drifts into speculation that Scripture does not support. God’s “essence” is not a chain of abstractions like movement, learning, and planning, whatever that would even mean. He is eternally living, personal, rational, relational and righteous. The key there being "eternal" (i.e. no beginning and no ending). He has ALWAYS been. He is the great “I AM.” He did not become what He is through a process; He simply is and has always been living, personal, rational, relational and righteous.

In NO SENSE are God's plans a part of His essence. That doesn't make any sense. Neither is God anger nor any other emotion. God is Righteousness, in the sense that the term derives it's ultimate definition via God's character and His plans and emotional state of mind are expressions of His righteousness but that isn't saying the same thing. God gets angry but He is not Anger (capital A). When God is angry, it is a righteous anger. The application of that modifier means that it isn't the anger that's primary, but the righteousness. It is thus, righteousness that is an essential attribute of God, not anger.

Lastly, the use of I Timothy 6:14-26 is so wrong as to be very nearly blasphemous. It is, at the very least, Gnostic in origin. Where I Timothy 6:16 talks about God dwelling in unapproachable light is not teaching that God is an impersonal force of light or that He created an “image for His personal use.” It is emphasizing His holiness.

The Bible is very clear on this point! Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). In Him “dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). When we are glorified, we will not be introduced to some hidden deity behind Christ. Christ IS that deity! Christ Himself is the visible expression of the invisible God.
 

Clete

Truth Smacker
Silver Subscriber
I've tried to understand God's essence. Yes, I think he has essence, but it is like invisible attributes.

So I'll list my thoughts like this:
He is alive/LIFE
with Power

with power comes movement
with movement comes learning
with learning comes thinking
with thinking comes plans
with plans and power comes creativity

Since I believe the first one I listed to be true then, I believe all these invisible attributes are equally alive; therefore,
As we list other attributes like:
His voice/The WORD
His Love
His Anger
His Mercy
and so forth ...
Then I believe these invisible attributes are HIM and were/are with HIM from eternity.

We are not told of some beginning of God just Moses described our beginning.

YET, the invisible God accomplished a wonderful thing through his energy: He said Let there be LIGHT. And in THAT LIGHT was life.

THAT LIGHT is so strong that humanity has never been able to behold it in all it's glory ... too dangerous.

The the invisible God created an image for his personal use and it dwelt within that powerful LIGHT.

I Timothy 6:14-26
One day our risen Savior, Lord Jesus, will introduce us saints to the one whose image is able to dwell within that LIGHT. We will be immortal and will see him as he appears as our Heavenly Father.

15 Which in his (our risen Lord's) times he (Lord Jesus) shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords;
16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling (visibly) in the LIGHT which no (mortal) man can approach unto; (THAT LIGHT) whom no man hath seen, nor can see (in all its power and glory): (The ONE God and LORD) to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen

Now, to whom will the Lord Jesus introduce us saints? The ONE we will finally be able to see in all his glory?

How Would I Describe the Triune God!


The format of the opening post of this thread inspired me to give some thought to the attributes of God. My goal was to think them through and place them in a coherent order rather than just a basically random collection of loosely connected ideas or the jumbled mess of nonsensical gibberish offered in the OP.

What has emerged is a list of 21 attributes, which fall very naturally into 3 sets of 7. I did not set out to hit a special number. In fact, I didn't even notice that it had happened that way until I was editing this post. The structure built itself as I worked through what is essential to God's being, what flows naturally from that essence, and how those realities are expressed in His dealings with creation.

Here what I came up with...

I. God in Himself – Essence and Moral Core

1. Living.
God is the living God, the source of all vitality. Without life, nothing else follows.
(Deuteronomy 5:26, I Timothy 4:10)

2. Personal.
God is self-aware and volitional. Life alone could still be impersonal, so personhood must be affirmed next.
(Exodus 3:14)

3. Relational and Triune.
God is never solitary but eternally exists in fellowship. Father, Son, and Spirit share perfect communion, making love intrinsic rather than contingent on creation.
(John 1:1–2, John 17:24)

4. Reason (Logos).
God is Logic and Truth itself. His nature is coherent and non-contradictory. Without reason, morality has no foundation or coherence; it becomes arbitrary and self-defeating.
(John 1:1, Isaiah 1:18)

5. Goodness and Righteousness (Holiness).
Flowing from reason, God’s character is the standard of moral perfection. Goodness describes His being, righteousness His action, and holiness is the radiant integrity of that perfection.
(Psalm 119:68, Psalm 145:17, I Peter 1:16)

6. Love.
God’s unwavering commitment to the true good of others, grounded in truth, guided by reason, and expressed through righteousness.
(I John 4:8, John 3:16)

7. Wisdom.
The perfect ordering of means to right ends, depending on reason, moral goodness, and love.
(Romans 16:27, Proverbs 3:19)


II. God in Relation to All Reality – Stability and Sovereign Scope

8. Everlasting Existence.
God has always existed and never ceases to exist. He experiences real sequence and interaction, not timeless abstraction.
(Psalm 90:2, Revelation 1:8)

9. Immutability of Character.
God does not change in who He is, though He responds dynamically in His relationships.
(Malachi 3:6, James 1:17)

10. Omniscience.
God knows all that is knowable and that He chooses to know. His knowledge is living, personal, and morally grounded.
(Hebrews 4:13, Isaiah 46:10)

11. Omnipotence.
God is the fountainhead of all power. He may delegate power but retains the ability and right to recall it at His wisdom and discretion.
(Job 42:2, Romans 13:1)

12. Omnipresence.
God is everywhere He wills to be at once, fully present and attentive in each place.
(Psalm 139:7–10, Jeremiah 23:24)

13. Creator.
God brought the world into being, reflecting His rational nature.
(Genesis 1:1, Nehemiah 9:6)

14. Sovereign.
God rules as the highest authority over what He has made, delegating freely yet never relinquishing His right to reign.
(Psalm 103:19, Daniel 4:35)


III. God in Action – His Dealings with Creation

15. Father, Shepherd, Teacher.
God provides, nurtures, guides, and reveals.
(Psalm 23:1–3, Matthew 6:9, John 14:26)

16. Judge.
God discerns and enforces moral truth.
(Acts 17:31, Psalm 9:8)

17. Mercy and Compassion.
God’s goodness applied to misery, bringing relief and restoration. Mercy is not indulgence; it is moral goodness directed toward healing in full view of righteousness.
(Exodus 34:6, Psalm 103:8)

18. Patience and Longsuffering.
God’s enduring love that gives time for repentance without compromising justice.
(II Peter 3:9, Romans 2:4)

19. Redeemer.
God delivers and reconciles through Christ, satisfying righteousness in love.
(Ephesians 1:7, Titus 2:14)

20. Jealousy (Righteous Zeal).
God’s holy zeal that demands exclusive devotion. He will not approve of rivals that destroy His people through idolatry.
(Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:24)

21. Wrath.
God’s righteous opposition to evil, the necessary counterpart to His love and holiness.
(Romans 1:18, Revelation 19:15)

God is the living, personal, triune Creator whose reason, goodness, love, and wisdom define morality and reality itself. He is everlasting, unchanging in character, infinite in knowledge, power, and presence, and He relates to His creatures as Father, Judge, Redeemer, and Shepherd. He shows mercy, patience, zeal, and wrath in perfect harmony with His nature.

This is the God revealed in Scripture: Rational, Righteous, Relational - REAL.
 
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