What is God Like?
Part 2: His Moral
Attributes
COPYRIGHT ©1999 - James M. Frye
All scripture quotations are taken
from the Authorized King James Bible. Any deviations are not intentional. All
underlines, bold and words within brackets are the author's.
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Introduction
In this two-part series we have been looking at the attributes
of God. We have defined an attribute of God as something that is true about
Him. In our previous article, What is God like? - Part
1, we looked at God's natural (non-moral) attributes. In this article, we will
look at God's moral attributes.
1. God is Holy
Psalm 99:9 Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at his holy hill;
for the LORD our God is holy.
Revelation 15:4 Who shall
not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou
only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee;
for thy judgments are made manifest.
Habakkuk 1:13 Thou [God] art of purer eyes than
to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity...
God is holy. That is, He is separate from sin and possesses
absolute moral purity.
The prophet Isaiah was given a vision of God. In the presence of
God's infinite holiness, he became immediately aware of the depths of his own
sinfulness.
Isaiah 6:1-5 In the year that
king Uzziah died I [Isaiah] saw also the Lord sitting
upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it
stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with
twain [two] he covered his face, and with twain [two] he covered his feet, and
with twain [two] he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy,
holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his
glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and
the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for
I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
Now Isaiah was a good man, but next to God "all his
righteousness was as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).
2. God is Righteous & Just
Deuteronomy 32:4 He [God] is the Rock, his work is
perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth
and without iniquity, just and right is he.
Psalm 145:17 The LORD is righteous
in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
Revelation 16:7 And I heard another out of the
altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy
judgments.
As we said in part one of this series, God cannot sin.
Therefore, everything that He does is perfectly just. He cannot punish the
innocent nor clear the guilty. If you are ever tempted to think that God has
done something wrong, realize that He cannot. We may not understand why
God allows certain things to happen, but we dare not accuse the most high God of unrighteousness.
Romans 9:14 What shall we say
then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
3. God is Merciful
Psalm 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow
to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Nehemiah 9:31 Nevertheless for thy great mercies'
sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a
gracious and merciful God.
God is merciful. This means that God does not always give people
what they have coming to them.
Romans 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I
will have compassion.
God is not obligated to be merciful. He is sovereign in respect
to the distribution of His mercy. He has mercy on whom
He chooses to have mercy. If he decides not to be merciful to a particular
person, and instead gives them their just due, He is perfectly righteous in
doing so.
4. God is Gracious
Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious, and full of
compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.
Psalm 116:5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
yea, our God is merciful.
God is not only righteous and merciful, He is also gracious.
Righteousness is when God gives us what we
deserve.
Mercy is when God doesn't give us what we deserve.
Grace is when God gives us what we don't deserve.
We see God's grace in respect to salvation.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace
are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Salvation is not something we receive because we deserve it.
That is, it is not something that we have a right to. It is something
that God gives us according to His grace: Something that we do not
deserve and could never earn.
5. God is Good
Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender
mercies are over all his works.
Psalm 52:1 Why boastest thou thyself in
mischief, O mighty man? the goodness
of God endureth continually.
Psalm 33:5 He loveth righteousness and
judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.
Psalm 25:8 Good and upright is
the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
God is good. That is, He is a good God. He is not bad or evil.
It is His nature to be good. In many ways, God is good to both the just and the
unjust alike.
Matthew 5:45 ... for he [God] maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
6. God is Loving
God is love. That is, He is the epitome of love.
1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
I have often heard people say, "The God of the New
Testament (N.T.) is a God of love, but the God of the Old Testament (O.T.) is a
God of wrath". First of all, there is only one God (1 Cor. 8:4, Isa.
45:5). The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New
Testament. Secondly, in part one of this series, we saw that God does not
change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He was not somehow
different in the O.T. than He is in the N.T.. What we
should say is, "God's love is more clearly
revealed in the New Testament than in the Old Testament". The O.T. did
reveal God as loving (Isa. 63:9, Zeph. 3:17, Deut. 7:7 etc.) but not as clearly
as the N.T..
God has a very special love for his elect (Rom 8:28-39). He did
not set His love upon them because they are lovable, but in spite of the fact
that they are not.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love
toward us [believers], in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us.
We did not choose to love God, but He first chose to love us. Then
we loved Him in return.
1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he
loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The fact that God is loving does not
set aside the fact that He is also holy and just. We stated earlier that since
God is righteous, He cannot punish the innocent nor clear the guilty (Num.
14:18). God cannot just overlook sin and say "don't worry about it".
Since He is a just judge, He must punish sinners. This is the reason for
the cross. For God to justly forgive sinners, someone had to pay the penalty
for their sins.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For he [God the Father] hath
made him [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin;
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
7. God is True & Faithful
2 Corinthians 1:18 But as God is true,
our word toward you was not yea and nay.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation
also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
God is faithful and true. When He makes a promise you can be
sure he will keep it.
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he
said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and
shall he not make it good?
Since God is true, His word (the Bible) is also true.
Psalm 119:160 Thy word [the Bible] is true from the
beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth
for ever.
8. God is Longsuffering
Numbers 14:18 The LORD is longsuffering, and of great
mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation.
Psalm 86:15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and
gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
God is longsuffering. Some of the newer Bible translations have changed
this word to patient. But patience does not carry all of the rich meaning of
the word longsuffering. Longsuffering tells us that putting up with
people involves suffering for a long time.
1 Peter 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient,
when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah,
while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by
water.
This passage speaks of God's longsuffering in regard to the
flood. God put up with mankind's sinful behavior for a long time (over 100
years) before sending divine judgment.
9. God is Angry & Wrathful
When we say that God is angry & wrathful, we do not mean
that God goes around in a grumpy mood all the time. We mean that God is justly
angry and wrathful against sin.
Romans 1:18 For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Psalm 7:11 God judgeth the righteous, and
God is angry with the wicked every day.
Jeremiah 4:8 For this gird you
with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD
is not turned back from us.
Exodus 22:22-24 Ye shall not
afflict any widow, or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and
they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; And
my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and
your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
10. God is Jealous
When we think of jealousy, we usually think of man's sinful jealously. But we need to understand that there
is not only a sinful form of jealousy, but also a godly form of jealousy.
2 Corinthians 11:2 For I
[Paul] am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have
espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to
Christ.
God is jealous with a godly jealousy.
Deuteronomy 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming
fire, even a jealous God.
What does the Bible mean when it says that God is jealous? It
means that He is zealous to protect what belongs to him and will not allow
another to have the honor and glory that is due to him alone.
Deuteronomy 6:14-15 Ye shall not go
after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you; (For
the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the
LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the
earth.
God is justly jealous when people become involved in idolatry,
for He alone is worthy of our worship.
Isaiah 48:11 For mine own sake, even
for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
God does not like people taking the glory that is rightfully due
Him.
Acts 12:21-23 And upon a set day
Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto
them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It
is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the
Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was
eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
Conclusion
In this series we have looked at a number of God's attributes.
Please keep in mind that we have not been able to cover every single attribute
of God. We have, however, looked at the more important ones. It is my hope that
this series has given you a better understanding of what God is like. To God
alone be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.