Chapter 5: The Communicable Attributes
Chapter 5:
The Communicable Attributes When we speak of God's justice, we are talking about more than just the narrow sense of giving rewards and punishments. In theology,
God's justice refers broadly to the way he upholds what is right and good in all things. This is an important truth found throughout
Scripture, and it helps us see the fullness of who God is—even when it's challenged.
Some have tried to divide God's justice and his love, as though the God of the Old Testament is only concerned with law and judgment, and the God of the New Testament is only about grace. But this is a false separation. Justice and grace are not enemies—they belong together in the character of the one true God.
It's true that God is not bound to any law outside of himself. He doesn't owe anything to his creatures. Even when we do all that we're commanded, we are still only unworthy servants. Yet, in his goodness, God has chosen to create a moral order. He gives laws to the world, to human life, to families and nations, to the soul and body. He establishes what is right and fair—not because he must, but because he is good and faithful.
Even after sin entered the world, God did not abandon his creation.
Instead, he graciously made covenants—first with Noah, then with Abraham, and finally fulfilled in Christ—through which he binds himself to his people and establishes a framework of justice that he upholds with unwavering faithfulness.
This justice includes both his role as Lawgiver and as Judge. In a perfect world without sin, this justice would be fulfilled naturally through love and obedience. But because of sin, justice now involves judgment and correction. God enforces his moral order not because he delights in punishment, but because it is necessary to preserve what is good. Our own conscience testifies that justice must include consequences.
God's justice, then, is both remunerative (rewarding the righteous) and retributive (punishing the wicked). But even here, we must not think of God as harsh or cold. He does not punish out of revenge but out of his commitment to his covenant, his truth, and the good of his creation. His justice is not opposed to his love—it is the form his love takes in a world of sin. It is how grace triumphs without compromising what is right.
In short, God is just because he is good. He does not abandon his law or his people. He keeps his promises, upholds righteousness, and ensures that justice will prevail—not to destroy the world, but to save it.
The Sovereign Will of God God is not only the Creator of all things, but also their Lord and Ruler. Everything that exists belongs to him and depends entirely on him. He alone has ultimate authority. Scripture repeatedly affirms that God's will is the foundation of everything—both in creation and in the smallest details of life.
Everything happens according to God's will: the world exists because of it, history unfolds by it, Christ suffered in submission to it, people are saved or judged by it, and even our daily lives are held in its hand. Nothing is outside the scope of his sovereign purpose.
Theology recognizes this, teaching that God's will is the ultimate explanation for all things. "What God wills, is." While human philosophy has often looked elsewhere for the reason behind existence, it has consistently failed to explain the world apart from God's will. Thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, and Hegel attempted to ground reality in abstract ideas or pure thought, but these efforts never truly explained the diversity and reality of the world.
Over time, some philosophers began to give priority to the concept of will rather than thought as the key to understanding existence.
They claimed that will—often described as a kind of primal force or desire—was more basic than reason. Some even said that this dark, unconscious will existed in God himself and was the hidden source of all things, including the world as we know it.
But these philosophical speculations fall short of the biblical view.
Scripture never speaks of God as a confused mix of light and darkness or as driven by blind urges. Instead, it reveals a God whose will is wise, good, and holy. His will is not arbitrary or chaotic but the purposeful expression of his character. His will brings order, not confusion; salvation, not despair.
God is not some force struggling within himself. He is the sovereign Lord who brings about all things in accordance with the good pleasure of his will. His will is the foundation of the universe and the anchor of our trust. And because his will is perfect, we can rest in it with confidence—even when his purposes are hidden from us for a time.
Some philosophers argue that if God has a will, it must mean he desires something he doesn't have—which would imply he's lacking and therefore imperfect. Mystics have gone so far as to say that God is pure silence, having no will at all.
But this misunderstands what it means to will. It's true that people often will something they don't yet possess. But the highest form of willing is not striving—it's delighting in what is already possessed.
When love embraces its object, it rests and rejoices. This is a deep and powerful expression of the will.
So too with God—but even more so. God is perfect and fully blessed.
He doesn't lack anything. He is the highest good, and he finds his joy in himself. His will is not driven by need but by perfect love for what is best—himself. God eternally wills himself, delights in himself, and loves himself in perfect, eternal fullness. This is not selfishness, but holiness—because God is supremely good, to love himself is the highest good.
This doesn't mean God created the world because he was missing something. He didn't need creation to be happy. Rather, he willed the world for his own glory, not because of what creation could give him, but to display who he is. He remains the goal of all things:
"from him, through him, and to him are all things."
Even God's will toward creation is rooted in his perfect will for himself. His love for his creatures is not in competition with his selflove, but flows from it. He delights in his works because they reflect his glory—and in loving them, he is still delighting in himself. God's love for the world is not a striving for gain but an overflowing of divine fullness.
God's will, then, is not a sign of restlessness or imperfection. It is the expression of his perfect peace, joy, and power. In God, rest and activity are one. His will is always at work, and always at rest.
God's Free and Necessary Will
God's will is always one and perfectly unified, but Scripture teaches us to think about it in two ways—depending on its object.
First, God's will toward himself is necessary. He cannot help but love and delight in himself because he is perfectly good and fully blessed. This is not bondage, but the highest kind of freedom: a freedom that is always aligned with what is best—God himself.
Second, God's will toward his creatures is entirely free. He does what he pleases, owes no one anything, and answers to no one.
Creation itself, human history, the rise and fall of nations, the gifts of the Spirit, salvation, and judgment—all flow from God's free and sovereign will. No creature can demand anything from him or claim a right over him.
Theologians have consistently upheld this view: God created the world because he wanted to. There's no deeper reason behind it. His will is the final cause of all things. While God always acts in wisdom and goodness, he was not bound to do everything exactly as he did.
He could have made more creatures, or different ones, or none at all.
He could have structured the moral law differently. He could have chosen to redeem sinners in another way—or not at all.
In this, we see the true freedom of God. He acts, not out of need, but out of love and sovereign pleasure. Even when it comes to salvation— his choosing some and not others—this too rests on his free and sovereign will, not on anything we have done. We cannot earn or demand anything from God. All is of grace.
Some went so far as to say God could, if he willed, punish the innocent, though Scripture assures us that he never would, because he always acts in harmony with his justice, goodness, and truth.
Nominalism and the Absolute Freedom of God Many theologians, building on the idea of God's absolute freedom, followed a path similar to that of medieval nominalism, particularly the views of Duns Scotus. Scotus emphasized the freedom of God's will as being completely independent—God chooses freely without needing any deeper reason than his own will. Just as heat naturally gives off warmth, God's will simply wills what it wills.
According to this view, everything in the world exists only because God chose it to be so. There is nothing in creation that God had to create. His choice wasn't compelled by logic, goodness, or necessity— it was entirely free. Even though God knows all possibilities, it is his will alone that determines which of those possibilities become reality.
Scotus even extended this view to human freedom. He believed our will is completely free, not determined by the goodness of what we choose. We can just as easily choose a lesser good over a greater one, because the will itself—not the intellect—is the ultimate cause of action. In fact, he said the will is what directs the intellect, not the other way around.
This way of thinking led Scotus to some striking conclusions. He believed that many of God's moral commands (especially those in the second half of the Ten Commandments) could have been different.
Even the incarnation of Christ, he claimed, was not strictly necessary. If God had wanted, he could have saved sinners another way, or the Son of God could have taken on a different form—not even necessarily human.
Scotus even said that the work of Christ was accepted by God not because it had an inherent sufficiency, but because God chose to
count it as sufficient. In theory, God could have allowed sinners to atone for themselves if he had been pleased to accept it.
This approach treats the will of God as the sole explanation for everything. God's will doesn't flow necessarily from his nature, goodness, or wisdom, but is viewed as sheer power and freedom.
Duns Scotus argued that God's will is completely free—so free that nothing other than God's own will explains why the world is the way it is. God could have created a different world or ordered things in another way, and he didn't need any reason other than his own choice. Later thinkers like William of Ockham took this even further, suggesting that God could save without regeneration, forgive without atonement, or even make different moral laws. In this view, everything—truth, morality, salvation—is the result of God's arbitrary decision, disconnected from his nature.
This approach, called nominalism, eventually influenced various groups, including the Jesuits, Socinians, and rationalists. The danger in this thinking is that it separates God's will from his character. If God's will is purely arbitrary, then even good and evil could have been reversed. Nothing is grounded in God's nature—everything becomes a matter of sheer will.
Christian theology, however, carefully avoided this extreme. While affirming that God is free and sovereign, it also taught that God's will is never disconnected from his nature. God always acts in line with his wisdom, love, and justice. His will is not random or aimless—it flows from who he is.
Theologians made an important distinction: God has a "necessary will" toward himself—he must love and delight in himself because he is the highest good. But he has a "free will" toward creation—he was
not obligated to create, and yet he chose to do so out of his goodness.
Still, this free will is guided by his own character. God's wisdom, not whim, shaped his creation. His will is purposeful, not arbitrary.
Even though we cannot always understand why God acts as he does, Christian theology affirms that his actions are wise, just, and fitting.
He always chooses what is best to glorify his name and accomplish his purposes. This means we can trust that his commands, judgments, and acts of grace are never random, but deeply rooted in his perfect being.
In summary, Christian theology holds tightly to both truths: God is absolutely free and God is never arbitrary. His will is the expression of his perfect nature. And while he is not bound by anything outside himself, he is always faithful to who he is.
Theology must remain grounded in what God has revealed through creation and Scripture. It does not have the freedom to invent answers but must faithfully reflect the facts God has made known.
When theology reaches its limits and cannot explain something, it must humbly admit its ignorance. Ultimately, the revealed will of God is the final word.
Augustine once said, "The will of God is the foundation of every creature." This remains true. God is not like the pantheist idea of a force that had to create, nor like the Deist view of a distant God who made the world by accident. Instead, God freely and wisely created the world out of his own sovereign will and for his own good purposes.
That means we believe something is good because God wills it—not because we can always explain why he chose it. From our perspective, it may appear that God could have chosen something
else. But in God, there is no uncertainty or hesitation. His will is not like human choice, which often involves doubt or deliberation. God knows exactly what he wills—eternally and immutably. There is no randomness in him.
Creatures, by contrast, are contingent—they could have not existed at all. Only God exists necessarily. So when God creates, he does so by free choice, not because anything outside of him compelled him. We must not look for some reason above God's will to explain his actions. That would turn creation into something necessary, like God himself, instead of a free act of his will.
Still, God's freedom is not separated from his other perfections. His will is never arbitrary or irrational. In God, freedom is the perfect harmony of wisdom, justice, holiness, love, and power. So when theologians like Augustine or Calvin said God's will has no "cause," they meant nothing lies behind it or above it. But they never meant that God's will is without reason or wisdom.
Because God's will flows from his whole being—from his goodness and grace—we can fully trust it. His rule is not like blind fate or chaotic power. God reigns as both sovereign King and loving Father.
His will is firm, wise, and good. And in that will, our hearts find peace.
The Will of God and the Reality of Evil In creation, God reveals the richness of his will by relating to his creatures in many different ways. He doesn't will everything in the same way or with the same purpose. If he did, the world would be lifeless and uniform. Instead, God's will is as diverse and abundant as the creation itself.
Though all things are made for God's glory, some are more directly used for that purpose than others. God cares for all his creatures, but he especially loves his children, and most of all, he delights in Christ, his beloved Son. In providence and in his will, God acts with variety and richness. His will is not a cold or mechanical force—it is the living power of a wise and loving God, overflowing into all of creation.
Yet one of the most difficult questions is how to understand evil in light of God's will. Evil exists as both guilt (moral wrongdoing) and as punishment (suffering and consequences), both ethically and physically. Scripture makes clear that evil is under God's control, but not in the same way as the good. God's relationship to evil is very different than his relationship to righteousness.
To explain this, the Bible shows us that God's will has different aspects. On the one hand, there's what God commands us to do—his moral will (e.g., "Do not murder"). On the other hand, there's what
God allows or determines to happen in history—his sovereign will (e.g., Joseph's betrayal or Christ's crucifixion). We see this distinction in Jesus' prayer: "Your will be done" (in obedience), and again, "Your will be done" (in surrender).
Scripture shows that God sometimes ordains things he hates, for purposes he loves. For instance:
God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, yet provides a substitute.
God tells Pharaoh to let Israel go, yet hardens his heart so he won't.
God declares that Hezekiah will die, but adds 15 more years to his life.
God forbids the condemnation of the innocent, yet Jesus is condemned to fulfill his redemptive plan.
God never delights in sin. He forbids it and judges it—but still, it exists within his sovereign plan. Nothing escapes his control. He uses even sinful choices for his purposes, while never being the author of sin.
God desires that none should perish and that all would come to repentance. Yet he also sovereignly chooses to show mercy to some and withhold it from others. These truths are not contradictions but mysteries. They show us that God's will is both higher than ours and deeply personal.
God's Revealed and Hidden Will From early on, Christians have recognized that God's will has two aspects. On one side, there is God's hidden will—his eternal purpose, known only to him. On the other side is God's revealed will—his commandments and promises, made known to us through Scripture.
These two aspects have been described in various ways:
God's secret will (also called his decretive will or will of good pleasure) refers to what God has ordained will happen.
God's revealed will (also called his preceptive will or expressed will) refers to what God tells us to do—his moral commands, warnings, and invitations.
We learn the revealed will through what God has made clear: his commands, prohibitions, counsel, permissions, and actions. This is the will we are responsible to obey.
Throughout history, theologians have tried to understand how these two aspects relate. Some traditions (especially Roman Catholic,
Lutheran, and Arminian) emphasize God's revealed will as primary.
They teach that God desires the salvation of all, offers grace to everyone, and only afterward responds to human choices by determining who is saved or lost. In that view, God's will is shaped by how people respond to his offer.
Reformed theology, however, teaches that God's will of good pleasure—his eternal decree—is ultimate. This hidden will is never frustrated. What God has purposed will surely come to pass. His revealed will, by contrast, is how God calls us to live. It is our duty, our guide, our responsibility. But it does not override or reshape
God's eternal purpose.
This means we must distinguish between:
What God commands (his revealed will), and What God ordains to happen (his hidden will).
For example, God commands us not to sin, yet he allows sin to occur for his own wise purposes. He desires all to repent and be saved, yet he chooses, according to his perfect will, to show mercy to some.
These distinctions are not contradictions, but ways of recognizing that God is both sovereign over all things and truly righteous in all he commands. We live by his revealed will, trusting his hidden will to be wise, just, and good.
Scripture teaches that God's will is eternal, unchanging, sovereign, and always effective. This is not just stated occasionally but is a consistent theme throughout the Bible. Because God's will flows from his perfect nature, it cannot fail or be frustrated. What God intends, he accomplishes.
Theologians have long distinguished between two aspects of God's will:
The secret (or decretive) will: This is God's eternal plan, hidden from us, which he always accomplishes.
The revealed (or preceptive) will: This is God's moral law— his commandments and instructions—revealed to us in Scripture as our guide for living.
The revealed will tells us what we ought to do; the secret will tells us what actually happens. God may, for wise and holy reasons, permit things he forbids—like sin—without delighting in them. He is never the author of sin, but he sovereignly uses even human disobedience to fulfill his purposes. For example, God forbade murder, yet Christ's crucifixion was according to God's predetermined plan.
It is important to understand that God's revealed will is truly his will, but in a different sense than his decretive will. It shows his moral desire for his creatures, not his hidden purposes. This doesn't mean the two wills contradict each other. In fact, God accomplishes his hidden will through the commands, warnings, and promises of his revealed will. When people disobey God, they do not frustrate his plan—they unwittingly become instruments in its fulfillment.
Critics often accuse this view of making God inconsistent, as if he both wants and doesn't want the same thing. But in reality, it reflects
the mystery of how a holy, sovereign God works through human freedom and sin without compromising his righteousness.
We must preserve both aspects of God's will:
If we ignore his revealed will, we undermine God's holiness and moral demands.
If we ignore his secret will, we deny God's power and wisdom in governing history.
The Christian faith doesn't resolve this tension by denying one side.
Instead, it embraces both as true. History is full of examples where God shows his greatness through human weakness, his justice through sin, and his grace through judgment.
Ultimately, God's sovereignty is not cold or arbitrary. It is the wise, good, and holy rule of a sovereign King who is also a loving Father.
He is working all things together—not randomly, but purposefully— for the glory of his name and the good of his people.
God's Omnipotence God's sovereignty is most clearly seen in his omnipotence—his unlimited power. The Bible never places limits on God's power. In fact, many of God's names in Scripture reflect his strength and rule.
He is called the Mighty One, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and the Almighty. He is not only powerful over all creation but especially exercises his rule in caring for and saving his people.
God's omnipotence is seen in all his works. He created the heavens and the earth by his word and continues to sustain them. The laws of nature, the history of Israel, the deliverance from Egypt, the miracles of the prophets, and the coming of Christ—all proclaim his power. He
commands the seas, forms the rain, gives and takes life, opens mouths to speak, and closes them in silence. Nothing is too hard for him. Nothing can resist his will.
He does whatever he pleases. No one can stop him or question him.
He rules over all powers, great and small. His strength is not limited or challenged. He performs wonders beyond our understanding, from the smallest detail to the grandest miracle.
Above all, God's power is revealed in our salvation. He raised Christ from the dead, gives new life through faith, strengthens his people in grace, and will raise the dead on the last day. His power is the source of every good thing we receive and every strength we possess.
Governments, nations, and individuals all receive their power from him.
In everything—from creation to redemption, from natural order to spiritual renewal—God shows that all power belongs to him. For this reason, he alone is worthy of all glory, honor, and praise.
God's omnipotence means he has all power and can do all that he wills. Scripture clearly shows this truth through God's names, titles, and works—he is the Almighty, the King of kings, the Creator, and the Ruler over all things in heaven and on earth. Nothing can resist him, and no one can question his authority.
But Christian theology has always taken care to explain what this means. God's power is not like raw force or blind ability to do anything at all—not even things that go against his own character. He cannot lie, change, sin, or contradict himself. These are not limits to his power, but rather affirmations of his perfection. True power is not the ability to do evil, but the strength to remain good, true, and just without wavering.
In the Middle Ages, some thinkers (especially the nominalists) misunderstood omnipotence by claiming that God could do anything
—even absurd or contradictory things—because his will was seen as completely separate from his character. According to this view, God could have made evil good, falsehood truth, or even become a stone or break the laws of logic. Others went the opposite direction and claimed that God could only do what he has actually done, so his power was already fully spent in the world as it is.
But Scripture and sound theology reject both views. God's will and power are one with his being. He can do anything that is consistent with who he is as the wise, good, holy, and truthful God. He is not bound by the world he made, nor by anything outside himself—but neither does he act contrary to his own nature. He always acts freely, wisely, and perfectly.
Therefore, while God could have created a different world, or done things another way, everything he has done is in complete harmony with his wisdom and righteousness. He is not bound by necessity or fate, but neither is he governed by random will. His power is always purposeful and glorious.
So, we affirm that God's omnipotence is infinite and beyond all human imagination, but it is never arbitrary. It is always holy, wise, and consistent with who he is. For that reason, we can trust him completely. His power is not terrifying chaos—it is the solid ground of our faith, the power of a sovereign Father who rules in love and truth.
God's Perfection, Blessedness, and Glory God is perfect in every way. He is not just morally perfect—holy and good—but is the fullness of all perfections. There is no being greater,
higher, or more excellent than God. He is exactly what God must be: infinite, complete, and lacking nothing.
When we speak of God's perfection, we do not mean he measures up to some idea above him. God is the standard of perfection. He knows himself perfectly and is exactly as he knows himself to be. In this way, his being and self-knowledge are in perfect harmony. Though our understanding of God is limited and affected by sin, Scripture renews our knowledge and helps us to see God more clearly as he truly is.
Every attribute of God is essential and precious. Believers love all of who God is—not only his love and mercy, but also his holiness, justice, and power. His incommunicable attributes (those not shared with us, like infinity or immutability) and his communicable ones
(like wisdom and goodness) together show the richness of his glory.
Some attributes belong to God alone—like eternity or simplicity.
Others are seen in a higher form in God than in us, such as intellect and will. Still others are spoken of figuratively, like God's "eyes" or "hand." But however we describe them, all God's perfections exist in him to the highest degree. He is infinitely above all weakness, deficiency, or limitation.
Because God is perfect, he is also blessed. Scripture calls him "the blessed God"—a term that expresses his full and undisturbed happiness. God's blessedness means he is whole and complete in himself. He has life in himself, without pain, struggle, or lack. He delights in his own perfection and rests fully in who he is.
God is not like the pantheistic "divine" of some philosophies, who needs the world to complete himself. God does not strive or change or evolve. He is eternally at rest, filled with peace and joy in himself.
His joy in his creation is part of his greater joy in himself. He loves what he has made because it reflects his glory. But his happiness is not dependent on us. God is his own joy, his own delight, and his own reward.
In the end, this truth brings great comfort. The God we worship is not lacking, needy, or restless. He is full, satisfied, and unchanging.
His perfection guarantees that he is worthy of our trust, and his blessedness ensures that his love is never driven by need but by abundant, overflowing grace.
The Glory of God God's perfection, which is the source of his blessedness, shines outwardly as his glory. In Scripture, the word glory means weight, worth, splendor, and honor. It refers both to God's inner greatness and to the outward display of his majesty.
The glory of the Lord is the radiant beauty of all his attributes on display—his holiness, power, wisdom, and grace. This glory is seen in creation, where the heavens declare his glory and the earth is full of it. Yet, it shines most clearly in the work of redemption—especially in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the radiance of God's glory.
God's glory was revealed visibly in Israel's history: in the cloud and fire that led them, in the tabernacle and temple, and in the great acts of deliverance. But the fullest display of his glory came in Christ, "the Word made flesh." Through him, the church beholds the glory of God and reflects it to the world.
Scripture often associates God's glory with light—a fitting image, since light brings truth, purity, and joy. God is described as pure light, in whom there is no darkness at all. His Word brings light, his
presence shines light, and his Son is the Light of the world. Those who believe in Christ are themselves called "children of light," awaiting the day when God's glory will fill all things and there will be no more night.
Some later traditions tried to describe this glory as a visible, spiritual light or even a heavenly "substance." But Scripture does not require us to think of God's glory as some kind of physical or mystical light.
Rather, it is the perfect and awe-inspiring radiance of who God is— his holiness made visible, his love made real, and his greatness revealed in everything he does.
Ultimately, God's glory is not just something to behold—it is something in which his people are called to share. Through Christ, we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another, as we reflect the image of our Savior and prepare for the day when we will see him as he is.
We must be careful not to misunderstand God's glory. Scripture teaches that God is spirit, invisible, and without form or body. So when the Bible speaks of God's face, glory, or majesty, it is using human language—figurative descriptions meant to help us understand truths that go beyond human comprehension.
While God's glory is revealed in creation and reflected in his creatures, this is only a faint echo of the true glory that belongs to him alone. The beauty we see in the world points us toward God, but it is not identical with him. Just as creation displays God's wisdom, power, and goodness, so it also reflects his glory. But what we see is an analogy, not the full reality.
Scripture uses the word glory—not merely beauty—to describe this divine radiance. Some theologians, especially in the early church and