What IS God Like?

Most people think they know the answer to that question. It wouldn't even occur to them that they might not have an accurate picture of God.

"Everybody knows what God is like! He's, uh, well he's . . ." What follows is a mishmash of ideas heard from parents and teachers over the years, uncritically examined but firmly believed. At an even deeper level, what people feel toward God flows out of their life experiences—and is equally subjective and untested.

"My grandma talked about God, and she was very nice to me—I guess I see God like her."

"I grew up in a very strict home with lots of rules—pretty much like God treats me now."

"Most ministers say God loves me—I guess he's like that."

"Most ministers say God is really mad at me—I guess he's like that."

Let's begin with this assumption: some of our perspectives of God are wrong. We've seen too much, been hurt too much, been confused too much to assert we've got an accurate picture of God in every area. Somehow we got some misinformation—every one of us. So we'll either have to take deliberate steps to reeducate ourselves about what he's like, or our view of him will continue out of focus . . . and will probably get worse with time.

Where do we begin to get an accurate picture? A good place to start is with what God has done—by seeing his acts we can get a picture of the One responsible. Just as art tells us something about the artist, or a person's work tells us about his or her abilities and interests, what God has created tells us about what he, the Creator, is like.

As we look at creation—nature, the world, the stars and galaxies—one undeniable conclusion emerges: the One responsible for all this must be powerful beyond comparison. From the tiniest single-cell amoeba to entire distant galaxies racing at near the speed of light, from an intricately complex snow flake to a sunset that sends amber blasts of color across the expansive sky, God's handiwork is so evident that you actively have to suppress what you see and feel in order to ignore him. Yet the Bible tells us that's exactly what we do (Romans 1:18-20).

That inner sense of his majesty—clearly evident in the cosmos—is squelched. We hear the Voice . . . and ignore it. And so while we all carry around some sense of his grandeur, we've modified and molded our image of him until the gap between who we perceive him to be and who he really is becomes uncrossable. Sin—our deliberate attempts to expel him from the throne of the universe as well as our passive indifference to his rule—not only messes up our lives, it messes up our view of God.

But our condition is not hopeless. God doesn't just do—he speaks. He talks to us. He sends messages. He tells us the truth through prophets and leaders. The Bible is the written record of his love. We learn from this book things we couldn't know otherwise.

For one thing, we learn that the sense of awe we get from his creation needs to be cultivated and expanded. Every notion we have of his power is true—and then some. But we learn also that his power is restrained. He isn't an angry father about to blow his cool. He's a loving Father desiring to be close.

In the earliest parts of the Bible we see God calling out a single man, Abraham, for a
special purpose: to make a nation that would represent him to the world. That group of people was intended to be a tangible picture of his love, power, justice, and holiness. They'd be different from the rest of the world—because he is different.

They'd be holy—because he is holy. They'd show compassion— because he is compassionate. They'd avoid sin—because he has no sin. They'd be blessed—because it's his nature to bless. Next to the picture of God painted in creation would be this picture painted through a unique group of people. He would talk to them, and talk through them.

But God didn't just do and didn't just speak. He became. His work ordered the nothingness and made it a world for all to see. His word came to the prophets and made a book for all to read.

The pinnacle of his communication was his Word coming to dwell among us in Jesus for all to receive. We see his handiwork; we read his book; we meet his Son. Jesus is the ultimate picture of God—the work and Word of God incarnate. What he does, God does. What he loves, God loves. What he hates, God hates. What he says, God says. How he acts, God acts. Look no further for clarification of what God is like: the only begotten Son has fully explained him (John 1:18).

He showed God's awesome power by stilling the storm, healing the sick, and raising the dead—creation was subject to him. He showed God's desire to speak to us by unsurpassed
teaching—truth was fully represented by him. And he lived out God's compassion without compromising his righteousness—God's nature was completely embodied in him.

Nowhere was this more forcefully demonstrated than through his death on our behalf. By hating sin, God shows justice. By forgiving sin, he shows mercy. But by being the payment for that sin himself, he shows matchless, marvelous, magnificent grace.

This, then, is what God is like. Theologians have come up with words that summarize these qualities, or "attributes," as they're known. Once we get past the somewhat formal feel of these terms, they can be useful tools to encapsulate what we know about God. Here's a list of the main attributes.