The Character of God

[B-A-C]

How well do you know God?
God is... a favorite verse says God is love, but can you really capture what God is.. in one verse?
For that matter can can you really capture what God is in a hundred verses... still I think it makes
an interesting study.

Gen 31:50; "If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no man is with us, see, God is witness between you and me."

God is our witness.

Numb 23:19; "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

God is not a man.

Deut 3:22; 'Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you.'
Deut 20:4; for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.'
Josh 23:3; "And you have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is He who has been fighting for you.

God is fighting for you.

Deut 4:21; "Now the LORD was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Deut 31:17; "Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, 'Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?'

God is sometimes angry.

Deut 4:24; "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Exod 20:5; "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,

God is jealous and vengeful.

Deut 4:31; "For the LORD your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
Psa 116:5; Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate
2 Chron 30:9; "For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before those who led them captive and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him."

God is compassionate.

Deut 7:21; "You shall not dread them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.
Josh 3:10; Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly dispossess from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.
Zeph 3:17; "The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

God is in our midst, He is amongst us, He is great and awesome.

Deut 10:17; "For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe.

God is incorruptable, unbribable, and impartial.

Deut 13:3; you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

God is sometimes testing us.

Deut 31:6; "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."

God is with us.


Deut 33:27; "The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, 'Destroy!'

God is a dwelling place.

1 Sam 16:15; Saul's servants then said to him, "Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you

God sometimes terrorizes those who forsake Him.

2 Sam 22:33; "God is my strong fortress; And He sets the blameless in His way.

God is a strong fortress.

Ezra 8:22; For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, "The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him."

God is favorable towards those who seek Him, angry with those who forsake Him.

Psa 7:11; God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.
Psa 75:7; But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.

God is a righteous judge.

Psa 46:1; For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to Alamoth. A Song. God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

God is our refuge.

Psa 47:7; For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful psalm.
Dan 5:21; "He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes.

God is king over all the earth. He is ruler over all mankind.

Psa 54:4; Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.

God is our helper.

Psa 59:9; Because of his strength I will watch for You, For God is my stronghold.
Psa 73:26; My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psa 59:17; O my strength, I will sing praises to You; For God is my stronghold, the God who shows me lovingkindness.
Hab 3:19; The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.

God is our stength and our stronghold.

Isa 12:2; "Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation."

God is our salvation.

Dan 9:14; "Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice.

God is righteous.

Nah 1:2; A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies.

God is jealous, vengeful and wrathful to his enemies.

This is getting pretty long, ..to be continued....

 

[B-A-C]

We have seen some of the things "God is..." in the old testament,
almost all of them are repeated in the new testament.

Mark 12:29; Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;
Gal 3:20; Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.

God is one God.

John 3:33; "He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true.

God is true.

John 4:24; "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

God is a spirit

Acts 10:34; Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality,

God is not partial

Acts 17:30; "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

God declares people should repent

Rom 1:17; For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

God's righteousness is revealed by faith.

Rom 1:18; For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

God's wrath is revealed against ungodliness, unrighteousness, and the who suppress the truth.

Rom 8:33; Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;

God justifies.

1 Cor 1:9; God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Cor 10:13; No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
2 Cor 1:18; But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.

God is faithful.

1 Cor 1:25; Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

God wise, and God is strong.

1 Cor 3:17; If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

God is Holy, and His temple is Holy.

Gal 6:7; Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.

God wil not be mocked.

Php 1:8; For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
1 Thes 2:5; For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness—

God is our witness.

Heb 6:10; For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.

God is just.

Heb 12:29; for our God is a consuming fire.

God is a consuming fire

Heb 13:16; And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

God is pleased when we do good and share.

Jas 4:6; But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."
1 Pet 5:5; You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.

God is opposed to the proud.

1 Jn 1:5; This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

God is light.

1 Jn 4:8; The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God is love.

1 Jn 4:16; We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

God is love, and He abides in those who love others.

... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

As we can see.. God has many many attributes. In fact the lists above are both partial... I could add at least a hundred more verses that tell
what God is... what His character is. When we look at God, we need to have a view of all of these attributes of Him.

For example.... if we just take one single attribute. "God is love". Some people build an entire theology on this.
It's true that this is one of His attributes. But the danger become making God into just that single attribute.
God is love, love doesn't demand it's own way (1 Cor 13). But yet God demands, expects, and commands to do a great many things.
Saying God is love is only a partial truth... and a half truth is a whole lie.

 

[Hekuran]

Saying God is love is only a partial truth... and a half truth is a whole lie.

Doesn't that take us to a dead end - we cannot say anything about God without saying everything? And we can never say everything because we are mortal ...

 

[rag4aCrown]

Not by power, nor by might, but by my Spirit saith the Lord.

Our being reborn or born again is a spiritual manifestation of HIS SPIRIT (the Holy Ghost) within the believer(s) and the believer(s) giving birth to Him; His Word, His wisdom, His understanding, His will, by the revelations of Jesus Christ, the Word He has spoken to us, engrafting it upon the tables of our heart. His vision is my vision, for He gave it me to speak it forth, not hoard it away. Amen

 

[B-A-C]

Doesn't that take us to a dead end - we cannot say anything about God without saying everything?

Perhaps... but I wonder if you would still feel that way if I said God judges people and sends them to hell.

 

[Hekuran]

It's a problem if we try to reduce God to one or two attributes.

The example of 'God is love' is a good one. The letter of 1 John hangs on two very powerful statements about God. 'God is light' and 'God is love'. We could never say that this is all we need to know about about God, but I can say with confidence that these two statements give us a firm foundation.