Expanded, in-depth answers from the Catechismus Maximus—detailed theological expositions that unpack the concise teachings of the catechism.
Q4: What are the attributes of God?
Introduction
This answer expands the Catechismus Maximus response to Q4: What are the attributes of God?, unpacking all arguments in detail for the Compendius Maximus.
The Nature and Foundation of Divine Attributes
Biblical Foundation and Divine Simplicity
God’s attributes (attributa divina) represent the infinite perfections of the divine nature as revealed in Scripture, fundamentally understood within the framework of divine simplicity (simplicitas). The foundational text for understanding God’s unity is found in Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This declaration, known as the Shema, establishes not merely numerical unity but the absolute simplicity of God’s being, meaning that God’s attributes are not added qualities but are identical with His essence.
The doctrine of divine simplicity emerged from careful theological reflection on biblical revelation, particularly developed through the work of early church fathers who sought to maintain both the transcendence and immanence of God. This concept asserts that God is not composed of parts, whether physical or metaphysical, and that His attributes are not accidents or qualities that could be separated from His being. Rather, God’s justice is God, God’s love is God, and so forth, all existing in perfect unity within the divine essence.
Augustine of Hippo articulated this principle with remarkable clarity: “For in God it is not one thing to be, and another to be great; but to be is the same as to be great. Therefore He is great in such a way that He is not great by a greatness which is not what He Himself is.”1 This understanding prevents any suggestion that God’s attributes compete with one another or that God could be divided into constituent parts.
The Incommunicable Attributes
Classical theology, following Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, distinguishes between communicable and incommunicable attributes. The incommunicable attributes are those perfections that belong to God alone and cannot be shared with creation in any proper sense.
Aseity (Aseitas)
The attribute of aseity (aseitas) refers to God’s self-existence, His independence from all external causes or sustaining powers. This attribute finds its most direct biblical expression in Exodus 3:14, where God reveals Himself to Moses as “I AM WHO I AM” (ehyeh asher ehyeh). This divine name indicates that God’s existence is not contingent upon anything outside Himself but is rather the ground of all existence.
The Hebrew construction ehyeh asher ehyeh employs the imperfect form of the verb “to be,” suggesting not merely static existence but dynamic, active being. God’s aseity thus encompasses both His independence from creation and His role as the source of all contingent existence. As Aquinas explained in his Summa Theologica: “God is His own existence, and not merely an existing thing. For in God, essence and existence are the same.”2
This attribute distinguishes God fundamentally from all created beings, which exist by participation in being rather than by their own nature. Every creature depends upon God for its existence, but God depends upon nothing. This understanding addresses philosophical questions about the ultimate ground of being and provides the foundation for understanding God’s relationship to creation.
Immutability (Immutabilitas)
Divine immutability (immutabilitas) declares that God does not change in His being, perfections, purposes, or promises. The biblical foundation for this attribute is found in Malachi 3:6: “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” This unchangeability is not static inertia but rather the perfection of God’s nature that admits of no improvement or deterioration.
Aquinas distinguished between different types of change, demonstrating that God’s immutability does not conflict with His dynamic relationship with creation: “God is altogether immutable. First, because it was shown above that there is some first being, whom we call God; and that this first being must be pure act, without the admixture of any potentiality. For although in any single thing that passes from potentiality to actuality, the potentiality is prior in time to the actuality; nevertheless, absolutely speaking, actuality is prior to potentiality.”3
This immutability extends to God’s decrees and purposes. Numbers 23:19 declares: “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” This passage emphasizes the reliability and faithfulness that flow from God’s unchanging nature.
Infinity (Infinitas)
The infinity of God (infinitas) indicates that God is without limits in His perfections. Psalm 147:5 declares: “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.” The Hebrew word ein mispar (beyond measure) suggests not merely a very large quantity but true infinity—the absence of any boundary or limitation.
Augustine grappled with the concept of divine infinity, particularly in relation to human comprehension: “If you have been able to understand it, it is not God. If you have been able to comprehend it, you have comprehended something else instead of God.”4 This infinity is not merely quantitative but qualitative, indicating the perfection of God’s nature in every respect.
The infinity of God encompasses all His perfections—His knowledge, power, presence, and goodness are all infinite. This attribute also relates to God’s relationship to space and time, indicating that He is not limited by the dimensions that constrain created beings.
The Communicable Attributes
The communicable attributes are those perfections of God that can be reflected, though imperfectly, in created beings, particularly in humans who bear the imago Dei (image of God) according to Genesis 1:26.
Omnipotence (Omnipotentia)
Divine omnipotence (omnipotentia) refers to God’s unlimited power to accomplish His will. Jeremiah 32:17 declares: “Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.” The Hebrew phrase lo yippale mimka davar (nothing is too hard for you) expresses the unlimited scope of divine power.
Aquinas carefully defined omnipotence to avoid logical contradictions: “God is called omnipotent because He can do all things that are possible absolutely; which is the second way of saying a thing is possible or impossible. For a thing is said to be possible or impossible absolutely, according to the relation in which the very terms stand to one another, possible if the predicate is not incompatible with the subject, as that Socrates sits; and absolutely impossible when the predicate is altogether incompatible with the subject, as, for instance, that a man is a donkey.”5
This understanding preserves both God’s unlimited power and logical coherence. God’s omnipotence does not include the ability to perform logical contradictions (such as creating square circles) or to act contrary to His nature (such as lying or denying Himself).
Omniscience (Omniscientia)
God’s omniscience (omniscientia) encompasses His perfect knowledge of all things actual and possible. First John 3:20 states: “For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows all things.” The Greek phrase ginoskei panta (knows all things) indicates comprehensive, perfect knowledge without limitation.
The scope of divine omniscience includes knowledge of past, present, and future events (Isaiah 46:10), the thoughts and intentions of hearts (Hebrews 4:13), and even counterfactual situations—what would have happened under different circumstances (1 Samuel 23:10-13). This knowledge is not discursive or learned but intuitive and immediate, flowing from God’s eternal perspective.
Aquinas distinguished God’s knowledge from human knowledge: “The knowledge of God is the cause of things. For the knowledge of God is to all creatures what the knowledge of the artificer is to things made by his art.”6 This indicates that God’s knowledge is not merely observational but creative and determinative.
Omnipresence (Omnipraesentia)
Divine omnipresence (omnipraesentia) indicates that God is present everywhere without being limited to any place. Psalm 139:7-10 expresses this beautifully: “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.”
This presence is not merely spatial but dynamic and personal. God is present in creation sustaining it (Colossians 1:17), present with His people in covenant relationship (Matthew 28:20), and present in judgment (Revelation 6:16). The omnipresence of God differs from pantheism in that God remains distinct from creation while being present to it.
Augustine explained this distinction: “He is not absent from anywhere, nor present anywhere in part. He is wholly present everywhere, not confined to any place, not contained in any place, but in His own manner filling all places.”7
Holiness (Sanctitas)
The holiness of God (sanctitas) represents His absolute moral perfection and separation from all evil. Leviticus 19:2 commands: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” The Hebrew word qadosh primarily means “set apart” or “separate,” indicating God’s transcendence above all creation in moral purity.
Isaiah’s vision in the temple (Isaiah 6:3) records the seraphim crying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” This threefold repetition emphasizes the superlative degree of God’s holiness. The holiness of God is not merely the absence of sin but the positive fullness of moral perfection.
The holiness of God creates both attraction and aversion in human experience—attraction because we are made in His image and long for goodness, aversion because our sinfulness cannot endure the presence of perfect purity. This tension is resolved only through the provision of atonement.
Righteousness (Dikaiosyne)
Divine righteousness (dikaiosyne) encompasses both God’s conformity to the standard of right (His own nature) and His administration of justice. Isaiah 45:21 declares God as “a righteous God and a Savior.” The Hebrew tsaddiq and Greek dikaios indicate both moral perfection and just action.
God’s righteousness manifests in His faithfulness to His promises, His just governance of creation, and His provision of salvation. Romans 3:25-26 demonstrates how God’s righteousness is revealed in the gospel: “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Truth (Veritas)
God’s truthfulness (veritas) indicates His perfect reliability and correspondence to reality. John 14:6 records Jesus’ declaration: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” The Greek aletheia suggests both faithfulness and conformity to reality.
God’s truth manifests in His word (John 17:17), His promises (Titus 1:2), and His revelation of Himself. Unlike human truth, which can be partial or mistaken, divine truth is perfect and comprehensive. God cannot lie (Numbers 23:19) because falsehood is contrary to His nature.
Love (Agape)
The love of God (agape) represents His perfect benevolence and self-giving nature. First John 4:8 declares simply: “God is love.” The Greek agape indicates not merely affection but committed, self-sacrificial love that seeks the good of its object.
This love is revealed supremely in the incarnation and atonement (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). God’s love is not based on the worthiness of its objects but flows from His own nature. It is both universal in scope (John 3:16) and particular in application (Ephesians 5:25).
Trinitarian Considerations: The Cappadocian Contribution
Unity of Attributes Across the Divine Persons
The Cappadocian Fathers—Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa—made crucial contributions to understanding how divine attributes relate to the Trinity. They emphasized that the attributes of God apply equally to all three hypostaseis (persons) of the Trinity while maintaining the unity of the divine ousia (essence).
John 10:30 records Jesus’ declaration: “I and the Father are one.” The Greek hen esmen (we are one) indicates unity of essence rather than mere agreement. The Cappadocians used this and similar passages to demonstrate that the divine attributes are not divided among the persons but are fully possessed by each person of the Trinity.
Basil the Great explained: “The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there are not three Gods but one God.”8 This formulation preserves both the personal distinctions within the Trinity and the unity of the divine attributes.
Gregory of Nazianzus developed the concept of perichoresis (mutual indwelling) to explain how the divine persons share the same attributes while maintaining their personal distinctiveness: “The Father is Father and not Son; the Son is Son and not Father; the Holy Spirit is Spirit and not Father or Son. But the Godhead is common to all three, and the Godhead is one.”9
Modern Theological Approaches
Karl Barth’s Christocentric Approach
Karl Barth revolutionized the discussion of divine attributes by grounding them in God’s self-revelation in Jesus Christ. Rather than approaching the attributes through natural theology or philosophical speculation, Barth insisted that we can know God’s attributes only as they are revealed in the kenosis (self-emptying) of Christ described in Philippians 2:7.
Barth wrote: “The being of God is the being of the One who exists in the act of love. All God’s perfections are the perfections of the divine love, and their special characteristic is that they are the perfections of the One who loves.”10 This approach ties all divine attributes to God’s covenant love revealed in Christ.
For Barth, the traditional distinction between communicable and incommunicable attributes becomes less significant than the recognition that all attributes are known through God’s gracious self-revelation. The incarnation does not compromise divine immutability but reveals how God’s unchanging nature includes His eternal commitment to fellowship with creation.
Barth’s Christocentric approach addresses the concern that traditional approaches to divine attributes might abstract God from His revelation. By grounding the attributes in God’s self-revelation in Christ, Barth ensures that our understanding of God remains anchored in the gospel rather than philosophical speculation.
Cornelius Van Til’s Presuppositional Approach
Cornelius Van Til approached divine attributes through his presuppositional apologetic method, emphasizing God’s self-consistency as the foundation for all knowledge. Van Til argued that God’s attributes provide the necessary preconditions for human knowledge and experience.
First Corinthians 14:33 states: “For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” Van Til used this principle to argue that God’s nature provides the ultimate ground for logical consistency and rational thought. Apart from God’s unchanging nature, human knowledge would be impossible because there would be no stable foundation for reasoning.
Van Til wrote: “The God of Christianity is not the God of any form of irrationalism… The God of Christianity is the God of utter self-consistency… In God the logical is subordinated to the ontological.”11 This means that God’s attributes are not merely logical concepts but realities that ground the possibility of logical thought itself.
Van Til’s approach emphasizes that the attributes of God are not merely abstract concepts but the living foundation of all human experience. God’s faithfulness makes promises meaningful, His truth makes knowledge possible, and His justice makes moral reasoning coherent.
Contemporary Challenges and Responses
Open Theism and Divine Mutability
Open Theism, represented by theologians such as Clark Pinnock and John Sanders, challenges traditional understanding of divine immutability by proposing that God changes in response to human actions. Open theists argue that genuine love requires the possibility of being affected by the beloved, and they cite passages like Hosea 11:8 to support divine mutability.
Hosea 11:8 records God’s words: “How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.” Open theists interpret this as evidence that God’s emotions and decisions change in response to human actions.
However, traditional theology responds by appealing to the principle of analogia fidei (analogy of faith) and the broader biblical witness to divine immutability. Numbers 23:19 explicitly states: “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.” The anthropomorphic language of Hosea 11:8 must be understood in light of clearer doctrinal passages.
The traditional position maintains that God’s immutability is compatible with His genuine relationships with creation. God’s eternal perspective allows Him to respond appropriately to temporal events without Himself changing. His immutability ensures the reliability of His promises and the stability of His character.
Process Theology and Divine Power
Process theology, developed by Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne, challenges traditional concepts of divine omnipotence by proposing that God’s power is persuasive rather than coercive. Process theologians argue that coercive power is incompatible with genuine love and freedom.
Process theology suggests that God influences creation through persuasion and attraction rather than direct causation. This view aims to address the problem of evil by limiting God’s power while maintaining His goodness. However, this approach conflicts with biblical passages that describe God as pantokrator (ruler of all).
Revelation 4:8 declares: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” The Greek pantokrator indicates comprehensive sovereignty, not merely persuasive influence. The biblical witness consistently portrays God as having ultimate authority over creation (Daniel 4:35, Ephesians 1:11).
Traditional theology responds that God’s omnipotence is exercised in perfect wisdom and love. God’s power is not arbitrary or capricious but always consistent with His character. The existence of evil does not negate God’s omnipotence but rather demonstrates His patience and His ultimate plan for redemption.
Philosophical Challenges and Theological Responses
The Problem of Divine Presence and Evil
One significant philosophical challenge to divine omnipresence concerns the relationship between God’s presence and the existence of evil. Critics argue that if God is present everywhere and is perfectly holy, how can evil exist in His presence?
This challenge is addressed through careful distinction between different modes of divine presence. God’s presence is universal in sustaining creation (Colossians 1:17), but His presence in blessing and fellowship is conditioned upon holiness. Psalm 5:4 states: “For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.”
The solution lies in understanding that God’s omnipresence does not mean He approves of or participates in evil. Rather, His presence in sustaining creation allows for the possibility of moral agency, while His holiness (sanctitas) ensures that evil will ultimately be judged and removed.
Romans 3:25 reveals how God addresses this tension through hilasmos (propitiation): “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” The atonement provides the means by which holy God can be present with sinful humanity without compromising His holiness.
Anthropomorphisms and Divine Transcendence
Scripture frequently uses anthropomorphic language to describe God, attributing human characteristics and emotions to Him. Genesis 6:6 states: “And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” Critics argue that such passages contradict divine immutability and transcendence.
The theological response employs the principle of analogia fidei (analogy of faith), which interprets less clear passages in light of clearer doctrinal statements. The anthropomorphic language serves to communicate God’s genuine concern and response to human sin in terms we can understand, while preserving the doctrine of divine apatheia (freedom from passion) in the technical sense.
Augustine explained this principle: “When Scripture speaks of God’s anger, it does not mean that God is disturbed by passion, but that His judgment is just and that He punishes sin. The anthropomorphism is accommodation to human understanding, not literal description of divine experience.”12
This approach maintains both the reality of God’s relationship with creation and His transcendence above human limitations. God’s “repentance” in Genesis 6:6 communicates His genuine response to human sin without implying that He literally changes His mind or nature.
The Coherence of Divine Attributes
Unity in Diversity
A crucial theological question concerns how the various attributes of God relate to one another. Do they ever conflict, and how do they maintain coherence within the divine nature? The doctrine of divine simplicity provides the foundation for understanding this coherence.
Since God’s attributes are identical with His essence, they cannot conflict with one another. God’s justice and mercy are both expressions of His perfect love, His omnipotence operates within the bounds of His wisdom, and His immutability ensures the consistency of all His perfections.
This coherence is demonstrated supremely in the atonement, where God’s justice and mercy meet. Romans 3:26 explains that God’s provision of Christ as propitiation demonstrates “his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” The cross reveals how God’s attributes work in perfect harmony.
The Trinitarian Integration
The Trinity provides the ultimate context for understanding divine attributes. Each person of the Trinity fully possesses all divine attributes while maintaining personal distinctiveness. The Father’s love is revealed through the Son’s sacrifice in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Son’s obedience displays the Father’s wisdom, and the Spirit’s work manifests the love of both Father and Son.
This Trinitarian understanding prevents any subordination of attributes and ensures that God’s nature is understood as fundamentally relational. The perichoresis (mutual indwelling) of the Trinity demonstrates how unity and diversity exist perfectly within the divine nature.
Knowability and Incomprehensibility
The Limits of Human Understanding
While God has revealed His attributes in Scripture, enabling genuine knowledge of His nature, human understanding remains finite and limited. Job 11:7 asks: “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?” The rhetorical question expects a negative answer, acknowledging the ultimate mystery of divine nature.
This tension between knowability and incomprehensibility is resolved through the doctrine of accommodation. God reveals Himself in ways that finite minds can grasp, but the reality of His nature exceeds our comprehension. We have true knowledge of God without having exhaustive knowledge.
Calvin expressed this principle: “For who even of slight intelligence does not understand that, as nurses commonly do with infants, God is wont in a measure to ‘lisp’ in speaking to us? Thus such forms of speaking do not so much express clearly what God is like as accommodate the knowledge of him to our slight capacity.”13
The Role of Faith and Revelation
Knowledge of God’s attributes comes through faith in His self-revelation rather than through autonomous human reason. While reason can recognize the need for divine attributes (such as the requirement for a first cause), the specific content of these attributes is known only through God’s gracious revelation in Scripture.
This revelational approach ensures that our understanding of divine attributes remains grounded in God’s own testimony rather than human speculation. The attributes are not merely philosophical concepts but personal characteristics of the God who has made Himself known in salvation history.
Conclusion
The examination of God’s attributes reveals the magnificent complexity and perfect unity of the divine nature. From the foundational concepts of divine simplicity and aseity through the rich exposition of communicable and incommunicable attributes, we discover that God’s perfections cohere in perfect harmony within His triune esse (being).
The classical theological tradition, represented by Augustine and Aquinas, provides the foundational framework for understanding these attributes, while the Cappadocian Fathers ensure their proper Trinitarian context. Modern approaches from Barth and Van Til offer valuable insights while remaining grounded in biblical revelation.
Contemporary challenges from Open Theism and Process Theology, while raising important questions about divine relationality, ultimately fail to account adequately for the full biblical witness to God’s nature. The traditional understanding of divine attributes, properly understood, provides a more coherent and biblically faithful account of God’s perfections.
The tensions raised by anthropomorphic language and the existence of evil find their resolution in the principle of analogia fidei and the recognition that God’s ways transcend human understanding while remaining perfectly consistent with His revealed character. The doctrine of divine apatheia preserves God’s transcendence while allowing for genuine divine-human relationship.
Ultimately, all divine attributes find their fullest revelation in Jesus Christ, who is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and “the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). In Christ, we see the perfect harmony of divine justice and mercy, the unity of transcendence and immanence, and the ultimate expression of God’s love. As John 1:14 declares: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The attributes of God are thus not merely abstract theological concepts but the living reality of the triune God who has revealed Himself in creation, Scripture, and supremely in the person and work of Jesus Christ. They remain knowable yet incomprehensible, accessible through faith yet transcending human understanding, perfectly unified in the divine essence yet distinctly revealed in the economy of salvation. In this revelation, we find both the foundation for true knowledge of God and the humble recognition of our finite capacity to comprehend the infinite perfections of our Creator and Redeemer.
Bibliography
Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Province. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1947.
Augustine. The City of God. Translated by Henry Bettenson. London: Penguin Classics, 1984.
Augustine. Confessions. Translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin. London: Penguin Classics, 1961.
Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1956-1975.
Basil the Great. Letters. Translated by Agnes Clare Way. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1951.
Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960.
Gregory of Nazianzus. Orations. Translated by Charles Gordon Browne and James Edward Swallow. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955.
Van Til, Cornelius. The Defense of the Faith. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1955.
Footnotes
1 Augustine, The City of God, 11.10.
2 Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I.3.4.
3 Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I.9.1.
4 Augustine, Sermon 52.6.16.
5 Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I.25.3.
6 Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I.14.8.
7 Augustine, Letter 187.
8 Basil the Great, Letter 125.
9 Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 31.9.
10 Barth, Church Dogmatics, II/1, 257.
11 Van Til, The Defense of the Faith, 43.
12 Augustine, Confessions, 1.4.4.
13 Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.13.1.
Explore More Resources
Related Keywords:
divine attributes, God’s nature, divine simplicity, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability, aseity, Trinity, Aquinas theology, Augustine theology, divine holiness