Since they are not distinctions properly in Himself? I have heard this advocated, and my thought today was that perhaps this is mistaking the distinctions as 'rational' or 'purely rational' ones?

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Heidi
Indianapolis, Indiana

Patience must dwell with Love, for Love and Sorrow
Have pitched their tent together here:
Love all alone will build a house tomorrow,
And sorrow not be near. -Christina Rossetti

Are not the names of God as given in Scripture descriptions of His attributes? Jehovah, meaning "The Eternal One", and so forth?

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Jonathan
Audio Engineer
Reformed Anabaptist
Ohio

Moroni's magical glasses of proper interpretation:

Jonathan I think God does reveal Himself to us in this way; which I think, must be part of why they are different than merely rational or purely rational distinctions? (but I have a hard time expressing myself in these matters -- Ruben tells me that my questions are harder to understand than the answers :-)

While the distinct attributes are not really in God, they are virtually in Him in the sense that they are grounded in the simple totality of His nature. Further, they come to concrete expression in His relations and actions towards His creatures as determined by the eternal decree. E.g., election manifests grace and reprobation manifests justice. Finally, they are absolutely necessary for finite man, who cannot think in anything other than limited categories, and must as individuals conceptualise the nature of God in order to find any meaningful blessedness and reward in Him. Hence, while we realise that these are the backward parts of God as it were, we also recognise that these human modes of speaking still set forth the fulness of God which satisfies every human need and evokes the praise of joyful lips, Psalm 63:3-5.

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Yours sincerely,


"Illum oportet crescere me autem minui."

Let me see if I can interpret your question, then.

If you mean, are the distinctions between the attributes fallible human attempts to break God up into understandable chunks, no, I don't think so. Even if they were, they haven't succeeded.

God has given us the distinctions between his attributes and in the course of history revealed new ones to us--after the fall, for example, mercy and grace were unveiled.

Thank you very much, Rev. Winzer. I looked up Ex. 33, 34 and God does indeed make His goodness to pass before Moses in these 'attributes'. That helps not only answer my question but make them more wonderful to me.