Reformed Thinking

The Greatness of God


Listen Later

Deep Dive into Christian Theology by Millard J. Erickson - The Greatness of God


Millard J. Erickson explores the nature of God by distinguishing His attributes, which are permanent, intrinsic characteristics of His essence, from His actions or roles. God’s attributes are divided into categories of greatness, also known as natural attributes, and goodness, or moral attributes. The text focuses on five specific attributes of divine greatness: spirituality, personality, life, infinity, and constancy.

First, God’s spirituality means He is not composed of matter. Lacking a physical body, He is indestructible and unbound by geographic locations, making physical depictions like anthropomorphisms mere human analogies rather than literal descriptions. Second, God possesses personality, meaning He is an individual being with self-consciousness, a will, and the capacity to interact with creation. Unlike abstract concepts of a higher power, God reveals Himself through a personal name and actively communes with humanity.

Third, God is characterized by life. His existence is independent and uncaused, relying on no external sources for sustenance, unlike all created beings who depend on Him. Fourth, God is infinite, meaning He is entirely illimitable. This infinity applies to space through His omnipresence, time through His eternal existence without beginning or end, knowledge through His omniscience of the past, present, and future, and power through His omnipotence. However, His unlimited power is qualified by His inability to act illogically or contradict His own perfect nature.

Finally, God exhibits constancy, meaning His ultimate essence, will, and purposes never change. Although modern philosophical movements like process theology and open theism argue for a God who changes or lacks complete foreknowledge in response to human actions, Erickson maintains that the biblical view presents a God who is both deeply active and eternally dependable.


Reformed Theologian GPT: https://chat.openai.com/g/g-XXwzX1gnv-reformed-theologian

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ReformedExplainer

Spotify Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1t5dz4vEgvHqUknYQfwpRI?si=e-tDRFR2Qf6By1sAcMdkdw

https://buymeacoffee.com/edi2730

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Reformed ThinkingBy Edison Wu