The Bible helps us understand God and how to relate to him. But it’s a monumental task to distill the Bible’s 66 chapters into a concise list of God’s characteristics.
Fortunately, “systematic theologians” do this for us. My starting point for such a list is Millard Erikson’s Christian Theology, which describes God’s characteristics in two chapters (37 pages). That’s still too complex for me, so I simplified Erickson’s material for the Greatness of God and Goodness of God below. I'm unsure how I came to understand the material in the Glory of God section. My introduction to the Three Transcendentals began in a seminar by Bryan Stone, Boston University, and developed from further reading of his material and others.
Blessings, Tim February 2018, revised February 2023 and added the ChatGPT explanation to the Three Transcendentals section in September 2024..
Spirituality. God is not composed of matter or physical material. He does not have the limitations of a human body.
Personality. God is an individual being with self-consciousness, will, the capacity to feel, and the ability to make choices. He is capable of reciprocal relationships with other personal and social beings.
Life. God is alive. The scriptures teach that when people ask who God is, God responds, “I am.” The continuance of God’s existence does not depend on anything outside of himself.
Infinity. Not only is God unlimited, but he is also unlimitable. He knows what is happening, has happened, and will happen. But he cannot do anything whatsoever; he can only do those things which are proper objects of his power. Thus, God cannot do the logically absurd or contradictory. He cannot act contrary to his nature.
Constancy. God’s core nature does not change, even over vast expanses of time.
Holiness. God is unique and separate from all of creation and embodies absolute purity or goodness. His perfection is the standard for our moral character and the motivation for religious practice. The entire moral code flows from God’s holiness.
Righteousness. God exhibits righteousness in his moral purity and in applying his holiness to relationships with all other beings - including us. Further, God’s law is an accurate expression of his nature and as perfect as he is. He acts in accordance with the law that he established.
Justice. God administers his kingdom consistent with his law, to which he requires us to conform. He is like a judge who, as a private individual, adheres to the law of society and administers that law to others in his official capacity. This makes clear the fact that sin has definite consequences.
Genuineness. God is real, not fabricated or constructed like all other claimants to deity. God does more than embody the qualities of greatness and goodness; he is those attributes.
Veracity. God represents things as they are. This means more than just that God never lies—it says he cannot lie. God expects veracity from his followers.
Faithfulness. If God’s genuineness is a matter of being true, and his veracity is telling the truth, then his faithfulness means that he proves true. God keeps all his promises. He will never commit himself to something of which he is incapable.
Loving
Benevolence. God has a genuine concern for the welfare of those whom he loves. He unselfishly seeks their ultimate welfare, having an unselfish interest in them for their sake. He loves women and men mainly based on their likeness to himself, which he placed within them.
Grace. God deals with his people not according to their merit or worthiness or what they deserve but according to their needs. In other words, he deals with us based on his goodness. This is different from benevolence, which is the idea that God does not seek his good, but rather that of others. It is possible for God to love unselfishly, with a concern for others, but still to insist that we do something to earn the favors received. Grace, however, means that God supplies us with undeserved favors.
Mercy is his tenderness of heart and compassion toward the needy - whether or not they offend him. If grace contemplates humans as sinful, guilty, and condemned, mercy sees humans as miserable and needy.
Persistence. God withholds judgment and continues to offer salvation and grace over long periods. God’s story shows that he relentlessly pursues relationships with his people.
Christians understand God as trinitarian, meaning there is one God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. The three persons never show up alone. Where one is involved, all are involved. God is not one like a tree is one, but rather like a forest is one, or like a chorus of notes in a song is one, or like a family is one.
God’s glory shows itself more in the perfect loving unity among the three persons than in the three persons individually. Nothing reflects God’s true identity more than the oneness of God's being within the Trinity. This is why it is theologically accurate to say, “God is love.”
So, when Genesis states, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like ourselves,” it provides a glimpse into the human community embedded deep within each person's DNA. God created Adam and Eve to dwell together, followed by their descendants. There’s no doubt that community is central to both God’s nature and human culture. It's not a human invention; rather, it is God's creation in which we are meant to thrive.
The Three Transcendentals
The history of Christian thought includes seeing God in terms of Three Transcendentals: truth, goodness, and beauty. These "transcend" the physical and empirical; they are similar to the “metaphysical.” The previous categories on this webpage focus primarily on the true and the good. This category expands our thinking to the third transcendental. My first exposure to this thinking was from a lecture by Bryan Stone, a Boston University professor.
I’m an engineer by temperament and training, so one way I notice the beauty is in the elegance and robustness of a design. Sometimes, I stare at a beautiful sunset disappearing into the ocean or behind a mountain and gasp, “Wow! How does God do that?" I have participated in many electronic design projects, some built on an elegant concept. But none even remotely compare with the elegance and beauty of God’s creation.
I react the same way to the immense dynamic range of creation, from the cosmos to nanotechnology, from the water cycle to the elegance embedded in human biology, and so on.
Then there are those parts of creation, such as the human body, that God created with the ability to heal themselves from injury or damage!
Further, I’m struck by the beauty in the heart of a Creator who invites a part of his design, us volitional humans, to join him in the creation process. While writing Beyond Conversion 1, I was struck by how intractable the problem of sin is for humans to deal with on our own. The best we can do is construct constitutions and laws. But these only deal with surface-level sin. As I began to see the nuances built into God’s redemptive loop, the beauty and elegance of God’s design for redemption struck me. It's incredible how God develops the hearts of Jesus' followers to beat like Jesus’ heart. Confession and repentance are instances of God's beauty as they are the way God creates ordinary saints, who are the best evidence of God's Good News.
God’s good news is as beautiful as it gets! So, especially as I grow older, I see more clearly the intrinsic beauty of God.
Chat GPT's thoughts on the topic:
Yesterday, 9/1/2024, our pastor used John 14:6 to preach on the Three Transcendentals. In that verse, Jesus declared, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. "I went home and asked ChatGPT to connect that verse to the three transcendentals. The result was good enough to pass along to you with only minor edits:
This statement has profound connections to the three transcendentals, which are truth, goodness, and beauty. These are classical concepts in philosophy and theology that represent the fundamental properties of being.
1. Truth
Jesus as "the truth" directly parallels the transcendental of truth. Truth, as a transcendental, represents the ultimate reality and the proper understanding of things. Jesus claims to embody truth, indicating that He is the ultimate source of knowledge, understanding, and reality. In Christianity, truth is not just a concept but a person, and that person is Christ, who reveals the fullness of divine truth.
2. Goodness
Jesus as "the way" can be linked to the transcendental of goodness. Goodness represents the moral direction toward fulfillment, often tied to a virtuous life. In John 14:6, Jesus states He is the way to the Father, implying He is the moral and spiritual guide. The way to goodness is to follow Christ’s path, which leads to the highest good—union with God. Jesus' life and teachings exemplify the embodiment of goodness.
3. Beauty
Jesus as "the life" connects to the transcendental of beauty. Beauty is understood as the harmony, order, and splendor of being. In Christian thought, life in Christ is the highest form of beauty because it reflects the perfect order of divine love and grace. Jesus offers eternal life, participation in the divine life, and the ultimate expression of beauty, seen in both creation and redemption.
So:
Truth: Jesus is the ultimate reality.
Goodness: Jesus is the moral path to God.
Beauty: Jesus offers the fullness of life, which is the highest form of beauty.
Through John 14:1-7, Jesus invites humanity to find in Him the ultimate reality, moral perfection, and the fullness of life that fulfills the deepest longings of the human heart. Understanding this connection enriches the appreciation of Christ's role in the Christian faith and highlights the comprehensive nature of His redemptive work.
Here's yesterday's sermon video
It's by Pastor Robert Stoesser, New Life Nazarene Church, Cupertino, CA. The link includes the entire worship time. The lead-in to the sermon is beautiful classical guitar music by Suvan Agarwal, a local guest musician. The morning prayer begins at 37:40, and the sermon starts at 44:30. At 1:05:30, Suvan plays more classical guitar, leading to communion.
Blessings,
Tim