God, Being and Attributes of. Inherent characteristics of God revealed in Scripture and displayed in God’s actions in biblical history. They are characteristics equally of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God’s attributes are revealed in progressively richer and fuller ways within the history of redemption.

According to the Bible, the entire creation shows God’s glory, deity (Godhead kjv), and eternal power (Ps 19:1–6; Rom 1:20). God’s providence also reveals certain of his attributes (Mt 5:45; Lk 6:35; Acts 14:16, 17; 17:22–31). The fullest revelation of God’s attributes is seen in his work of redemption through Jesus Christ.

How does Scripture express the characteristics of God? First, in the divine names by which God revealed himself (Gn 1:1; 2:4; 17:1; Ex 3:6, 14, 15; 6:2–5). Some of God’s attributes are revealed implicitly in the biblical accounts of creation, fall, flood, Babel, and the exodus, and more fully in the various covenants God made with his people. To Israel he identified himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Ex 3:15). To the pharaoh he identified himself as the “God of Israel” or the “God of the Hebrews” (5:1, 3).

By the time the people of Israel had reached Mt Sinai the revelation of God’s attributes in the biblical narrative had become more explicit: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Ex 34:6, 7). This summary is repeated elsewhere with slight variations (Nm 14:18; Neh 9:17; Ps 103:8; Jer 32:18; Jon 4:2).

Historically, theologians have often discussed the attributes of God in abstract, speculative, scholastic ways. That never happens in the Bible. God’s disclosure of his attributes led Moses to fall on his knees in worship to confess Israel’s sin and pray for pardon (Ex 34:8, 9). In other summary passages the response was similar. A sinful appeal to God’s attributes was made by Jonah in his angry prayer (Jon 4:1–4). To Christian believers, Scripture presents God’s attributes as a standard for living: his people are to be holy, loving, and the like, because God is (Lv 19:2; 1 Jn 4:8, 11).

Essence and Attributes. Under the influence of Greek philosophy, scholastic theologians of the Middle Ages usually separated God’s attributes from his “essence.” God’s essence was viewed in an abstract way; they spoke of “pure Being” or “absolute essence.” His essence was generally considered unknown, or known only as “pure Being,” whereas his attributes could be known by humankind.

Some theologians have thought that the essence of God could be defined by one attribute—independence, infinity, or absolute will. From a liberal perspective, Albrecht Ritschl (1822–89) thought of love as the chief attribute of God, a view prominent in contemporary theology. Rudolf Otto (1869–1937) described God as “the Holy”; some contemporary theologians also regard holiness as God’s chief attribute. Others think of the essence of God as being more complex so that each attribute is part of God’s total essence.

All such views are speculative. The attributes should be viewed as inherent characteristics of God, and no separation should be made between essence and attributes. The attributes are the biblical description of God’s essence; they state who God really is and what he is like. God revealed himself in relation to his creatures, but in that revelation he gave an authentic description