Mysteries of the Faith - IV: The Attributes of God and Creation

I. The Attributes of God

The attributes of God are often put into two classes, those that man does not share with God (often called the negative attributes), and those attributes of man that God has in a greater and more perfect sense (the positive attributes). The easier ones to understand are those attributes of God shared by man. These attributes would include life, knowledge, wisdom, will, holiness, justice, truthfulness, power, love, grace, patience and many others. But when these are applied to God, the first class of attributes modifies and changes these to such an extent that they themselves become mysteries. I will illustrate this as I speak of the mystery of the negative attributes of God.

The first of these is the Unity of God. Several passages speak of the Unity of God. Isaiah 45:5 states: I am the Lord, and there is none else; there is no God beside me. God is in a class by Himself. God not only loves, but He is love. Again, all life comes from Him. This is true of all the positive attributes mentioned above. Again, I am trying to share something we really cannot put our minds around. God is love, God is knowledge, God is life, God is wisdom, etc. but all of those, in God are one thing. They are not parts of God, but God. Part of this Unity is also known as the simplicity of God. It is that attribute according to which God exists entirely uncompounded and without parts. All the different attributes of God are God’s indivisible being. But God allows us to know in part and to be able to talk about different attributes, while indeed God is purely one.

Another one of the negative (remember, this means those not shared by man, not something bad) attributes of God is His immutability. In Psalm 102 we read: “They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou are the same, and Thy years have no end.” God is above time and space. Time and space change things, but God stands outside of time. God enters time and space without becoming temporal or local in His essence. Again, as in the Unity of God, scriptures in some places ascribes to God a change of mind or a change of place. It does this to conform to our way of thinking. But God stands outside of time. Who can understand it?

Again, we speak of the infinity of God. God, in His being and activity is in no way bound by the limitations of time and space. But we are, and it is impossible for us to understand anything not encompassed by time and space.

Again, we speak of the omnipresence of God (God is everywhere present). Man, and even the angels are limited to a specific locality (see Daniel 10:13). God is not. God is life. Life cannot exist apart from God. Thus God is present in all creatures, indeed in all His creation. And yet, He is far outside and distinct from the create as the infinite is distinct from the finite. God is everywhere present not so that he is contained within something, but in such a way that he comprehends and contains all things. Again, God transcends both time and space.

Finally, we speak of the eternity of God. It should be obvious, from what has been said above, that God never did not exist, and shall always be since He is not bound by time and space. As we look at all these attributes, we can see clearly that they are human constructs to help us understand that which is beyond our understanding. We can see how they all come together to be indeed one God.

So why talk about these attributes of God? So that we can see that there is no place we can hide, where God is not. And to know that wherever we may be, God is with us. He knows our every weakness and would be with all who would place there trust in Him.

II. Creation Out of Nothing.

Again, here we face another mystery. Time and space, did not exist, until God called it into existence. According to the physics of this universe, matter can be converted to energy, and energy to matter. We can transmute one element into another, and we can break apart atoms and molecules and reform them into something else. But there must be something to convert into something else. But scripture teaches that before creation, neither time or space existed. Today, most scientists see time, and space, matter and energy as being, as it were, one thing. Trying to understand modern physics is hard enough, but creation out of nothing is a mystery that we can only confess, but never really understand.

If you have any questions or comments, please call Rev. Randolph Schnack, 307- 343 2314, We invite you to come and worship with us Sunday mornings at 9:00 AM.