What Is The Relational Attributes Of God?

Every worldview, including Christian Theism, must grapple with the fundamental question of what is real. For Christian Theists, the answer lies in the identification of God. In The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog, James W. Sire explains that the nature of ultimate reality in Christian Theism is "the infinite, personal God revealed in Holy Scriptures. This God is triune, transcendent and immanent, omniscient, sovereign, and good" (28). Sire 's definition is an effective one because it identifies the unique characteristics which combine to form the Christian God. While other religious perspectives

     Throughout these chapters we see many portrayals of God’s character: The destroyer, the ever-judging, a God with expectations, a God that grieves, feels pain, repents, a God that demands justice; a self-evaluating, ruling and omnipotent God whom also passes on saving grace to the deserving.

The first four chapters of Genesis indicate that God is the eternal Creator the universe; that God communicates with His creation and evaluates his own work, and that God is sovereign, exercising “supreme authority and absolute power over all things” (Lecture 2, para. 5). There is but one true God, who exists as a Triune Being and is three Persons in one essence; a Divine essence which exists wholly, invisibly, simultaneously and eternally, within three members of the one Godhead—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Lecture 2, para. 7). Harmoniously linked, “each divine figure of the Trinity exercises dominion over creation and is involved in the biblical narrative in its own unique, yet cooperative, way” (Johnson, p. 178). The unity of the Trinity not only illustrates the full divinity of God, the immeasurable power, benevolence, wisdom and omnipresence distinctly setting Him apart from His creation, but also shows that He is the source of all that is good, true, beautiful, loving, just, and

The Heart of the Old Testament written by Ronald Youngblood is an informative and insightful book. Youngblood identifies the nine themes that form the foundation of the Old Testament. These themes show that the Old Testament is not any different from the New Testament and should not be consider irrelevant when compared to the New Testament. The nine themes include monotheism, sovereignty, election, covenant, theocracy, law, sacrifice, faith and redemption.

God the Son is revealed in the Christian Scriptures. God the Spirit is revealed in the Church. The Trinitarian doctrine states that there are three co-eternal, equal persons in God, which is the notion of unity within community. The Trinitarian doctrine was further developed and defined at the councils of Nicaea in 325 CE and Constantinople in 381 CE. God was always trinity, however gradually this reality became known through revelation. Jesus calls God and speaks of the spirit which indicates a plurality in God. The difficulty is reconciling the concept of monotheism with the notion of God existing as three persons. The divine essence is common to all three, however the three persons have attributes or properties which distinguished them eg Fatherhood, sonship and sanctifying power. Once essence means that the actions (creation, redemption, sanctification) are attributable to all. Mutual relations is the concept that the terms Father and Son are not titles but expressions of a relationship and thus all three persons are co-equal

1) God is transcendent in that he is above and separate from the universe; He is holy and righteous. God desires us to pursue to know him, which is essentially impossible. We cannot conceivably come to comprehend God or experience Him personally. He is unknown and unknowable.

“God is the sole deity worshipped in the monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam” (García, 2015). According to the Christian worldview, God is one being who exists eternally as three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ, who is fully man and fully God), and the Holy Spirit (Merrick 2014). God is the sovereign creator of all that there is. “Because God created and sustains all things, He alone is worthy of worship and praise” (Scripture and biblical passage support the history of the creation of the universe, in accordance to the Christian worldview. “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth” and all living things, including humans (Genesis 1:1). Mankind is His highest creation perfected in Him (“Lecture 2,” 2015). We as humans were made in the image of God, so that we may bear the attributes He has. God is indescribable, but at the same time

The Christian faith is centered around God almighty, a holy godhead. “The doctrine of the Trinity affirms that the only true God eternally exists as three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—one in essence, united in glory, and distinct in relations” (Horrell, 2014, para.1). God represents the Father, Jesus represents the Son, which was God in the flesh and the Holy Spirit, which is given to those that believe in him. “We are invited to know this God through Christ and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds through the Word and by the Spirit” (Horrell, 2014, para.5). There are many profound characteristics of God; He is the great I Am, holy, just, faithful, good, merciful, gracious and the source of all blessings. He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, sovereign, immutable, wrathful and wise. His strength and power is unlike anything else. He existed

Trinity is one God. Each of the persons of the trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit “is God whole and entire”. I believe that the trinity of persons consists of one substance and one essence. Each of the persons is that supreme reality, the divine substance, essence or nature. Each of the three persons are distinct from one another, but known to be related to one another.

This was the question that popped up in my head after reading the first chapter of The Orthodox Way, God as Mystery. More ironically, before they answered my question did they tell me that Jesus Christ is God and Holy Spirit is God as well. Usually multi-identities are not an issue for me or for anyone, but this time is a little, or a lot, different when it comes to God. In the chapter, God as Trinity, “The Christian God is not just a unit but a union, not just unity but a community… He is Trinity: three equal persons, each one dwelling in the other two by virtue of an unceasing movement of mutual love” said Ware (P. 27). Ono thing that needs to be confirmed first is that there is only One God, and God is the one essence embracing three persons. Secondly, in the case of Trinity a person is not just an individual, as opposed to that three human persons always “retain their own will and own energy no matter how closely they co-operate together” (P. 30). This indicates the property of “distinction but never separation” within the three persons; they are distinct as in differentiation and they are never separate because of the relationship formed by the shared one will and one energy. As a consequence, we surely have to turn to the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit if we want to know God holistically, especially the Oneness of God (Jones,

•     Personal – where God is represented as a human being. Christians believe this because it means they can directly relate to Him through one-to-one means. There are variations within this also: Some say that this Personal God is one human being that is always there for everyone, others believe that He is a different being for each person.

Christians believe the image of God to be three Gods merged into one. The Trinity’s components are the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit and they are all equal. Each form of God has the same attributes of all-powerful, all-knowing, always present,

Apart from his distinction as human, there is evidence of oneness. The New Testament insists that there is only one true God in James 2:19 as it states, "You believe that there is only God. Good! Even the demons believe that -and shudder."

The resurrection of Jesus Christ separates Christianity from all other religions. Christianity without the literal, physical resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is merely one religion among many. "And if Christ is not risen," said the Apostle Paul, "then our preaching is empty and your faith is in vain”. (1 Corinthians 15:14) Furthermore, "You are still in your sins!” Paul could not have chosen stronger language. (Mohler)

It is important to begin by stating that there are many different doctrinal views of the Trinity. However I believe that the doctrine of Trinity defines one God who is eternally existent as three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “These definitions express three crucial truths: (1) The Father, Son, and