Overview

• With all the religions in the world today, who is the God of the Bible?
• Hints of God's character begin in Genesis chapters 1-3.
• God's attributes are progressively revealed from Genesis through Revelation.
• Figure: "The Attributes of God."
• The attributes of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit largely coincide.
• There is a distinction, however, between Jesus on earth & Jesus in heaven.
• God is relational, personal, perfect & infinite.

• God is one yet three persons: Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
• God's unity & diversity has been difficult for many to grasp.
• Our broken relationships can make God's unity & diversity difficult to see.
• We have a glimpse of unity & diversity in marriage, family, natural law & so forth.
• God's unity & diversity is, in fact, basic to all human & natural relationships.
• God as Father, Son & Holy Spirit is relational in & of Himself.
• God also has a relationship with His world as we will see in coming chapters.

• Personality may be defined as mind, will & emotion.
• In other religions, God is frequently reduced to mind only or mind plus will.
• All of God's personality may not be readily recognized.
• This may be due in part to the under development of part of our own personality.
• Mind, will & emotion all stand distinct & significant in the God of the Bible.
• We will see that His personality is the origin of human personality.
• The Father, Son & Holy Spirit relate together in mind, will & emotion.
• There is a oneness of personality in God as demonstrated by the Father & Son.
• Jesus often speaks of His oneness of mind & will with the Father (Jn 6:38, 8:28).
• Jesus & the Holy Spirit actually subject their will to the Father's will.
• This may be difficult to see due to oppression & rebellion we experience.
• Authority & leadership within God are untainted (1 Cor 15:27-28, Jn 16:13).

• Perfect may be defined as without error or flaw in mind, will & emotion.
• The God of truth is without error in His mind.
• The God of holiness is without error in His will.
• The God of love is without error in His emotional affection.
• God is truth, holiness & love in & of Himself.
• For example, prior to the world love existed between Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
• After creation, God has interacted with humanity in faithfulness, justice & mercy.
• God's perfection may be difficult to comprehend with all the evil in the world.
• We will see how the perfect God meets the imperfect world in chapters following.

• Infinite is defined as being without limitations.
• God is infinite in existence, time, substance, space, mind, will & value.
• In heaven Jesus is infinite & on earth He is finite.
• Jesus is fully God & fully man.
• Jesus shifts from immeasurable to measurable.
• Jesus' incarnation makes the intangible parts of God very tangible.
• Jesus shifts from changeless to changing (birth, growth & death).
• The incarnation of Jesus reflects both constancy & change.

• There are a number of observations to summarize in this brief overview of God.
• First, the God of the Bible is distinct from all others.
• God is one yet three persons & He made an earthly visitation.
• He differs from the gods of deism, world religions & other Bible-based religions.
• Second, we see that God is basic to all else.
• The relational & personal God originated human relationships & personality.
• We will discover many aspects of God's character reflected in His world.
• Third, there are pairs of seemingly opposite attributes of God.
• For example, unity & diversity, mind & emotion, holiness & love, justice & mercy.
• The contrasting symmetries of God define Him & are reflected in His world.
• Figure: "The Contrasting Symmetries of God."
• Fourth, God's attributes may be difficult to visualize due to our own limitations.
• While difficult to comprehend, God is still knowable (Ps 145:1-7).
• Fifth, the historical Jesus makes God comprehensible.
• The incarnation of Jesus becomes the most profound event in human history.
• Let us explore in depth this God who came to His world.