The Nature of God

God is Mystery

That which is beyond our comprehension

Then how can we speak of God?

By meditating on His effects we can:

Know something of their cause

Shed a pinpoint of light on God Himself

That is all

The Attributes of God

God exists absolutelyGod is the source of being, or

existence, for all things.

In every creature there is a distinction between its essence and

its existence; that there is a difference between what things are

and the fact that they are.

In God there can be no such distance between

what he is and that he is.God must be identical with

the fullness of being

The Attributes of God

God is infiniteLimitation involves nonbeing

Finite or limited beings require a condition or cause for existence

There can be no limitation in God

God is the very fullness of being

The Attributes of God

God is OneIf God is without limit there can not be more than one God

for there would have to be some difference between them. One could not be where the other was.

GOD MUST BE ONE

The Attributes of God

God is SpiritualTo be a material being is to

be a body of some kind. But a body is always limited and subject to

change. God is the limitless fullness of being so God can not be a body.

GOD IS NOT A MATERIAL BEING

The Attributes of God

God is Eternal

Since God is not material, He is not spatially limited. God can not be subject to time. For God is the

creator of everything that changes: everything that raises a question about its own being.

God is not bound by the kind of changing being which time measures.

The Attributes of GodThe Incarnation

God took upon himself, in Christ, a

human nature, which included time, space and

matter.

This presupposes that The Divine

Nature is different from human nature.

Only because God is not temporal,

can He become temporal

God is Transcendent & Immanent

God can not be part of the universe. If he were, he would be limited by other parts of it. But God is the Creator of all things, giving them their total

being.God must be other than

his creationGod exists in all things.

In Him we live and move and have our being.

God is IntelligentGod is the creator and sustainer of all things.

Everyone of these things has an intelligible

structure, and fits within a system of intelligible

structure.

It is reasonable to affirm that if

the created structure is

intelligent then God is

intelligent.

The Attributes of GodGod is Omniscient and Omnipotent

Apart from himself, God has created everything there is to be known and sustains it in his being.

Their can be no real barriers to God’s knowing or acting

The Attributes of God

God is GoodGod is the source of all

being. Therefore God can not be

evil in any way. A thing is good of its kind if it succeeds in being that kind

of thing to its fullest.God is good to the fullest

We can reasonably assert that these

things are true; but we do not, cannot,

know how.The Life of

GodRemains a Mystery

Is God a He?• Do we have the authority to change the names of God used by Christ, the Bible and the Church?

• Historically all ancient religions other than Judaism had goddesses as well as gods.

• The Jewish revelation was distinct in its exclusively masculine pronoun because of its unique theology of divine transcendence.

• The masculine pronoun safeguards:– The transcendence of God against

the illusion that nature is born from God rather than created.

– The grace of God against the illusion that we can somehow save ourselves

Attributes of GodAttributes of God

Attributes of GodAttributes of GodGod is Mystery

God exists absolutely

God is Immutable

God is infinite

God is One

God is Spiritual

God is Eternal

The Incarnation

God is Transcendent & Immanent

God is Intelligent

God is Good

God is Omniscient and Omnipotent