Theology - Necessary Soul Food for the Good Woman: Part Four

Now that we have defined "theology", it is time to actually study it. We begin with "theology proper" - that is the study of God's attributes. I pray you will be encouraged as you consider our awesome God.

Theology Proper - The Personality of God

Since theology is about knowing God, we must first of all ask ourselves, “Who is God?” It is interesting that we ask “who” and not “what”. The apostle Paul in Romans 1:18 affirms that mankind knows certain things about God, namely that He is a person who has certain attributes or characteristics. Man knows by creation that God is eternal, divine and all-powerful. Jesus said in John. 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” In other words, we can know Him because He is a person with personality and He reveals Himself to man. Of this A. W. Tozer writes, "We have almost forgotten that God is a person and...can be cultivated as any person can. Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the creating personality, God."

We have almost forgotten that God is a person and…can be cultivated as any person can. Religion, so far as it is genuine, is in essence the response of created personalities to the creating personality, God.

Tozer continues, "God is a person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys,feels, loves, desires, and suffers as any other person may. In making Himself known to us He stays by the familiar pattern of personality. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. (Tozer, A.W. The Pursuit of God, Camp Hill, Christian Publications, 1982, p. 13).

God is not a force, contrary to popular opinion. He is personal and we can know Him. He has all of the elements which together form personality – intellect, will and emotions.

He has intellect with which He thinks and directs: David said, “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand” (139:17-18a). David found it astounding that of all the lofty things God can think on, He chooses to think on man in personal ways.

God also has emotions that express His desires: “The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.” (Ps. 145:8). And God has a will by which He determines all things in and of Himself: “All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, "What have You done?" (Dan. 4:35)

Also, God refers to Himself by personal pronouns, the way you and I talk about ourselves and other persons. In Exodus 3:14, when commissioning Moses to free His people from slavery, He said in describing Himself, “I AM WHO I AM”. Thus, in the text He ascribes to Himself personality as well as many other attributes: self-existence, self-sufficiency, immutability, inscrutability, truth, and everything else that the I AM is. But He uses the personal pronoun “I” and establishes with Moses the unchanging wonder that He can be known as a person, divine though He is. God, from the first moment He revealed Himself to Moses, began a dialogue with him that has never ceased, for he is now in God's very presence communing with Him, face to face.

God, from the first moment He revealed Himself to Moses, began a dialogue with him that has never ceased, for he is now in God’s very presence communing with Him, face to face.

When God created man, He created him in His own image, with personality because God has personality. In the Garden God communed with Adam and Eve, person to person, instructing them about creation and their stewardship over it, about their relationship with each other and with Him. When we trace our roots back to the Garden we find that from the first breath man took, God was breathing out words of life and communicating with us in personal ways. This was His desire (emotion), His design (intellect) and His determination (will).

In exploring God’s personality we find that He tells us in His word that He is eternal, immutable, incomprehensible, love, good, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, perfection, self-existent, self-sufficient, creator, invisible, holy, gracious, wise, sovereign, omnipotent and infinitely more. But getting back to Moses, God tells him in Exodus 33:17 that he has found favor in His sight and that He knows him (Moses) by name. We then hear Moses say, “Please, show me Your glory” (33:18). God responds, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you.” (33:19) Of all God’s glorious attributes, He chose to show Moses His goodness.

Keeping in mind that God is a person, in the next post, we will look upon what Moses saw, hidden as he was in the cleft of the rock, viewing only God’s backside. But God is desirous (emotions) that we partake from His determined revelation (will), the thoughts He has given us concerning His goodness (intellect). This so that we might know Him more fully, empowering us to live godly lives that bring glory to this One we can know intimately.

"...seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. II Pet. 1:3-4.