Biblical Concept: Theological Order of Importance to the
Characteristics / Attributes / Essences of God
The Triune God of the Bible has diverse characteristics / attributes / essences. My list is: Holy, Glorious, Righteous, Just, Immutable, Eternal Life, Veracity, Love, Sovereign, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Emotion / Attitudes, and Personality.
This list is also presented in a theological order of importance / of impact / of consequence. Holiness might be the dominant Essence of God? Example: The Holiness of God uses His Righteousness to demonstrate His Holiness (Isaiah 5:16). This statement is also based on having studied over 700 uses of the Holy vocabulary and then compared these with over 600 uses of the Righteousness vocabulary. Holy relates more to God’s Person while Righteous relates more to how God acts in Holiness toward volitional creatures.[1] Glorious is something that God is in His Person. Glorious summarizes all His attributes. Righteous and Just go together. The Persons and actions of the Triune God of the Bible are always Righteous and Just. This is significant when you are also Omnipotent. Omnipotence is guided by Righteousness and Justice. Immutable and Eternal Life go together--God is unchangeably eternal. Veracity and Love might go together: God is Love, but it is guided by Truth. Sovereignty, Omniscience, Omnipotence, and Omnipresence go together. Since God has all knowledge, all power, and all presence--He is Sovereign. A case could be made to place Sovereign first on the list. However, in eternity past, before any creative acts, Sovereignty was not even an issue. Sovereignty relates to the creation and creatures of God. See Daniel 4:35. Emotion, Attitudes, and Personality are the results of the operations of God’s other characteristics. However, a case could be made for placing Personality just after Holiness. God does not have Personality because He has other characteristics that affect it.
Conclusions:
God is Holy and this affects the function of His other characteristics. His other characteristics function as
balanced groups in support of / in exhibition of / in consequence of His
Holiness. Humans should think of the God
of the Bible with such balance. God is
“essentially” Holy. Eternity future,
like eternity past, will be governed / guided / guaranteed by God’s
Holiness—thankfully. A Holy God is the
greatest security in eternity for volitional creatures—Amen.
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(Hyperlinked from above)
NAS Isaiah 5:16 But the LORD of hosts will be exalted in judgment, And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
NAS
Daniel 4:35 "And all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted
as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no
one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?'
NAS
1 John 2:1 My little children, I am writing these things to you
that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous;
[1] The tension / chasm between God’s Holiness and volitional creatures is difficult for volitional creatures to comprehend. An inestimable feature of God’s plan is the reconciliation of His Holiness and volitional creatures who have sinned—hence the righteous work of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 2:1).