Q. GRACE

Ephesians 2:7 says, “That He might display in the ages which are coming the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul testifies, “But by the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace unto me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” The grace of God is a matter of tremendous significance. It is important for us to find out the genuine and proper meaning of the grace of God in the New Testament. If we would understand what the grace of God is as revealed in the New Testament, we need a clear view of the New Testament as a whole.

Grace is actually God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment in our experience. Grace is mainly not the work God does for us; grace is the Triune God Himself dispensed into our being and experienced as our enjoyment. In brief, grace is the Triune God experienced and enjoyed by us. The New Testament reveals that grace is nothing less than God in Christ dispensed into our being for our enjoyment.

O. MERCY

Romans 9:16 says, “So then, it is not of the one who wills, nor of the one who runs, but of God, the One who shows mercy.” Mercy is the most far reaching of God’s attributes. Mercy goes further than grace. God’s love does not reach as far as His grace, and His grace does not reach as far as His mercy. If I am in a good condition and my standing matches yours, and you give me a gift, that is grace. But if I am in a pitiful condition and my standing is far removed from yours, and you give me something, that is mercy. If I come to you as your dear friend, and you give me a gift, that is grace. However, if I am a poor, unclean beggar, unable to do anything for myself, and you give me a gift, that is mercy. This illustrates the fact that God’s mercy is more far reaching than His grace. Grace extends only to a situation that corresponds to it. But mercy goes much further, reaching into a situation that is poor and unworthy of grace.

In this message we shall continue to consider God’s attributes.

J. FAITHFULNESS

First Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” This word is a continuation of 1 Corinthians 1:8, strengthening the thought with the assurance of God’s faithfulness. In His faithfulness He will confirm the believers till the end, making them unreprovable in the day of the Lord’s return. In His faithfulness He has called us into the fellowship, the participation in His Son, and He will keep us in this participation and enjoyment in His fullness. His fullness is an assurance to us for this enjoyment.

K. TRUTHFULNESS

In addition to faithfulness, God has the attribute of truthfulness. In Romans 3:7 and 15:8 the word “truth” actually denotes truthfulness. Although truthfulness is very close to faithfulness, there is a difference between these two attributes of God. Faithfulness must have a basis, and the basis of faithfulness is truthfulness.

L. SIMPLICITY

In 2 Corinthians 1:12 Paul speaks of the singleness, or simplicity, of God. Have you ever realized that God is simple? Simplicity is one of His attributes.

God is wise and almighty, but He is also single and very simple.

H. WISDOM

Romans 11:33 speaks of God’s wisdom: “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How inscrutable are His judgments, and untraceable His paths!” At the very end of the book of Romans Paul says, “To the only wise God through Jesus Christ be the glory forever and ever! Amen” (Rom. 16:27). Wisdom is different from cleverness and deeper than cleverness. It is possible to be clever without being wise. For example, a criminal may be very clever, but he is altogether lacking in wisdom. God is very wise, and the universe reveals His wisdom.

It is important to see the difference between wisdom and knowledge. Wisdom is both higher and deeper than knowledge. Wisdom is seen in the initiation of something, for example, in the formulation of a new invention, and knowledge is seen in the practical application. If you have only knowledge and lack wisdom, you will not be able to initiate anything or invent anything.

I. PRUDENCE

Ephesians 1:8 indicates that there is a difference between wisdom and prudence. In this verse, Paul, speaking of the riches of God’s grace says, “Which He caused to abound to us in all wisdom and prudence.” Wisdom is what is within God to plan and purpose a will concerning us; prudence is the application of God’s wisdom. First, God planned and purposed in His wisdom, and then He applied what He had planned and purposed for us with prudence. Wisdom was mainly for God’s plan in eternity, and prudence is mainly for God’s execution of His plan in time. What God planned in eternity in His wisdom He is now executing in time in His prudence.

In this message we shall consider more of God’s attributes.

F. HOLINESS

Holiness is one of the main attributes of our God. Revelation 4:8 says, “The four living creatures…have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is coming.” The mentioning of “holy” three times, as in Isaiah 6:3, implies the thought of God being triune, as the mentioning of God’s existence with three tenses does. The emphasis here is that the Triune God is holy and is triply holy, referring to the quality of God’s nature—God’s being. What God is, is holy. To partake of God’s holiness (Heb. 12:10) is to partake of the quality of His nature, of what He is.

G. RIGHTEOUSNESS

Another attribute of God is righteousness. God is righteous as well as holy. Whereas holiness is related to God’s inward nature, righteousness is related to God’s outward acts, ways, actions, and activities. Everything God does is righteous.

Whenever our conscience condemns us because of our failures, we need to remember to stand upon the foundation of God’s righteousness. You may be fervent for the Lord today. But in the future you may fail Him and become very disappointed with yourself, unable to believe that God could ever forgive you.

What is the righteousness of God? The righteousness of God is what God is in His action with respect to justice and righteousness. God is just and right. Whatever God is in His justice and righteousness constitutes His righteousness.

Revelation 15:3 says, “Great and wonderful are Your works, Lord God the Almighty; righteous and true are Your ways, O King of the nations.” God’s works are His acts, whereas God’s ways are His governing principles. God’s ways are righteous in His principles.

In Colossians 1:19 and 2:9 we see two aspects of the fullness. According to 1:19, all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ. According to 2:9, all the fullness dwells in Christ bodily. This implies the physical body which Christ put on in His humanity. It indicates that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ as the One who has a human body. Before His incarnation, the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him as the eternal Word, but it did not dwell in Him bodily. After He became incarnate, the fullness of the Godhead began to dwell in a bodily way, and it dwells in His glorified body (Phil. 3:21) now and forever. For eternity Christ is the embodiment of the fullness of God, the embodiment of the expression of all that God is in His unlimited and untraceable riches.

When Christ makes His home in our hearts and when we are strong to apprehend with all the saints the dimensions of Christ and to know by experience His knowledge-surpassing love, we shall be filled unto all the fullness of God. All this fullness dwells in Christ. Now, through His indwelling, Christ imparts the fullness of God into our being. When we are filled unto all the fullness of God, we become the expression of God, which is what the church should be.

FULLNESS

Another attribute of God is fullness. Colossians 1:19 says, “For in Him all the fullness was pleased to dwell.” What is the fullness spoken of in this verse? Many would answer that it is the fullness of the Godhead. Although this is correct, here Paul does not modify the word “fullness” by a phrase such as “of the Godhead” or “of God.” He simply says that all the fullness was pleased to dwell in Christ. There is something known as the fullness, and this fullness is pleased to dwell in Christ. In Colossians 1:19 fullness denotes not the riches of what God is but the expression of these riches. All the expression of the rich being of God, both in creation and in the church, dwells in Christ. Therefore, fullness in Colossians 1:19 means expression.

If something has no fullness, it cannot be expressed. But if a thing has fullness, it can be expressed.

In this message we shall conclude our study of the aspects of God’s person revealed in the New Testament.

25. The One Who Is, Who Was, and Who Is Coming

Twice in the book of Revelation we are told that God is the One who is, who was, and who is coming. This is the meaning of the name Jehovah. In Hebrew Jehovah means “I am that I am.” His being the I Am signifies that He is the One who exists from eternity to eternity. This title is composed basically of the verb “to be.” Apart from God, Jehovah, all else is nothing. He is the only One who is, the only One who has the reality of being.

The Alpha and the Omega

God is also the Alpha and the Omega (Rev. 1:8; 21:6). The eternal and almighty God is the Alpha, the beginning for the origination, and the Omega, the ending for the completion of His eternal purpose. In the book of Genesis He was the Alpha, and in the book of Revelation He is the Omega. Whatever He has originated He will complete

The Judge of All

According to Hebrews 12:23, God is the Judge of all. In Hebrews 12:22-24 is a list of the eight positive items to which the New Testament believers have come. The fifth of the eight items is God the Judge of all. God is the Creator and the Lord, the Owner, of all things, and He is just in all things and with all things. As such a God He must keep all things right in His eyes. He must justify the right and condemn the wrong.

C. LIGHT

The divine light, as we have seen in the foregoing message, is the nature of God’s expression. Thus, it is an expressive attribute of God.

Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In the millennium the light of the sun and the moon will be intensified (Isa. 30:26). But in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth there will be no need of the sun nor of the moon. The sun and the moon will be in the new heaven and new earth, but they will not be needed in the New Jerusalem, for God, the divine light, will shine much more brightly.

Today the divine light as God’s expressive attribute is applied to us in our Christian life. First John 1:5-7 tells us that God is light, and that if we fellowship with Him we should walk in the divine light. This indicates that we can enjoy this expressive attribute of God even in this age before the New Jerusalem will come in the new heaven and the new earth.

In this message we shall begin to consider the many attributes/traits of God revealed in the New Testament. Attributes refer to something more than virtues/qualities. When we speak of God’s attributes, we refer to all that belongs to God. Of course, when the things that belong to God become our experience, they become our virtues. Therefore, with God there are attributes, and with us there are virtues. For instance, life is an attribute of God, not a virtue. But when the life of God becomes our experience, it produces virtues. Hence, with respect to God we use the word “attributes,” but in relation to ourselves we use the word “virtues.”

A. LIFE

The divine life may be considered as the first and the basic attribute of God. Although the word “life” is used many times in the New Testament, the phrase “the life of God” is found only once. Ephesians 4:18 is the unique verse that speaks of the life of God: “Being darkened in their understanding, estranged from the life of God because of the ignorance which is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” The life of God is eternal, uncreated.

B. LOVE

The divine love, as we have seen in the preceding message, is the nature of God’s essence. Thus, it is an essential attribute of God.