Examining God's Attributes

God is Creator God and is "other" than humanity. His knowledge surpasses all because He knows all things. His knowledge of all things is immediate and intuitive. God's knowledge is original. The creature on the other hand is eternally dependent upon the Creator's revelation and empowerment. Men know some things intuitively and discursively, yet a process is involved.

Furthermore, wisdom is the manifestation of knowledge in the selecting of proper ends and the means for accomplishing those ends. The biblical definition of wisdom involves, and indeed begins with the fear of the Lord. Wisdom is to hate evil. Wisdom is the knowledge of God's commands and obeying them. Jesus Christ is the revelation of the wisdom of God in the flesh. We then become wise in Jesus Christ as we are made conformable into His image.

In the wisdom of God, He "wills" certain things instead of others. The will of God is the power of self-determination. When God wills freely, this freedom does not arise out of necessity, but it is always in accordance with His nature. The decretive will of God is that will where He purposes or decrees whatever shall come to pass. On the other hand, the preceptive will of God is the rule of duty that which He has prescribed that others should do. This means that God does His Decretive will, and We are required to do His Preceptive will. We are to obey God's commandments that provide us moral guidance to satisfy our covenantal responsibility. In creation, God revealed His Preceptive will when He entered in to covenant with man; also, the Preceptive will is revealed in the new covenant as God recreates man in His image and we respond preceptively.

The reality is that God decrees all things. Sin is not outside of God's will, yet it cannot be integrated completely into God's will and we cannot conclude that sin is good or serves good purpose. Acts 2:23 points to the truth that God wills all things, yet is not responsible for everything that occurs. God decrees many things that apparently conflict with His Preceptive will, but you and I are held accountable to accomplish that Preceptive will.

Even in this God possesses ethical attributes. He is perfectly holy, which refers to God's moral excellence. It also refers to God's separateness from creation. God is also Justice, which is the adherence to the law. God is His own law, but that law is in accordance with His nature. The infinite and inherent righteousness of God equals justice.

God is also a good God. He perfectly loves within the Trinity; as well as, outside of the Trinity. He also has a benevolent love for fallen man. You are breathing because of this love. God is absolutely true; and He can not lie. He is thus the source of all truth, the foundation of all knowledge and love.