This post is about communicable attributes of God. He shares them with us  More specifically, this post explores the character of God in these attributes.

Let’s begin.

I. Love

A. Brief intro

Let’s begin with this one. This attribute of God is communicable or transferrable to us because we are made in God’s image, he pours his love on us, and he gives us grace and power to share his love with others.

Love, mercy, and lovingkindness will be analyzed together.

B. Short word studies

Mounce’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words says that the Hebrew word ḥesed (pronounced khesed) “is one of the riches, more theologically insightful terms in the OT. It denotes ‘kindness, love, loyalty, mercy,’ most poignantly employed in the context of relationship between God and humans as well as between human and another—the former relationship using the word three times as often as the latter” (p. 426). Then he goes on to highlight the covenant relation God has with Israel. So ḥesed means “covenant love,” which further means he is totally committed.

In the New Testament, we focus on the main word for love: agapē (pronounced agapee or agapay). It too means total commitment and giving the best to the recipient. In secular Greek literature it was not used often, and it was neutral. So the New Testament authors picked up on it and transformed it.

C. What do theologians say?

We look at only one this time.

Renewal theologian J. Rodman Williams expands on it:

God is centrally the God of love. Love is the very essence of the divine nature … One does not need to go behind some loving action and ask why God did it. Since God is love, love is His self-expression. … God is holy, even thrice holy; yet it is never said God is holiness. Love is the very essence of God. It is not the love is God (which is an idolatrous statement), but that God is love. … [T]he love of God is spontaneous. God loves because love is His very nature; the world does not necessitate love. For God in Himself is love eternally—the mutuality of love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus he does He does not need a world to express that love. He did not create the world and man in order to have some necessary outlet for expressing His love—without or without a world (vol. 1, 63, 65).

He goes on to say God’s love is self-giving, not self-seeking; apprehended by God’s actions; and unfathomable. It is connected to his grace, mercy, lovingkindness and goodness. (pp. 65-68)

Quick definition:

This attribute or perfection of God means that he is totally committed to his people, and prompts him to deal kindly and mercifully and generously with humankind.

D. What do the Scriptures teach?

We begin in the New Testament with these two most famous verses:

⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (1 John 4:16)

Back to the Old Covenant.

Yes, God is faithful to his covenant. Moses tells the children of Israel God also loved them, not only their ancestors, so he delivered them from the oppression of Egypt. However, this is the conditional Sinai covenant: “If … then.” If you pay attention to the laws, then the Lord will keep his covenant of love with you. The New Covenant is unconditional. But we can still draw the blessings and promises from these sacred verses.

⁸ But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. … ¹² If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. ¹³ He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. (Deut. 7:8-9, 12-13)

Yes, God’s covenant love is conditional (v. 12), but God still maintained a remnant, so he kept his covenant with them due to his covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3 and Rom. 11:5-6).

King David in the Psalms lists the blessing the Lord has bestowed on the king.

⁷ For the king trusts in the Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken. (Ps. 21:7)

⁶ Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Ps. 23:6)

The Lord tells his people how long he has loved them

³ The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with lovingkindness.” (Jer. 31:3)

Hosea had a difficult calling. He was to marry a prostitute, and she became unfaithful, just like Israel became unfaithful and chased other gods. Yet still the Lord loved his people.

¹ The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods.” (Hos. 3:1)

The New Testament closes this section.

God’s love has to be expressed. In this verse he gave it the ultimate expression:

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

This verse is a blessing because it is so personal:

⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Rom. 5:5)

So in that verse, the Holy Spirit is the agent or channel of God’s love.

This verse reinforces John 3:16, using different words, but the sharing the same essential message:

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8)

The next promise is wonderful and is a restatement of God’s total commitment to us—his covenant love:

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? […] ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:35, 37-39)

These next verses connect God’s kindness and love, teaching us that God’s mercy saved us, not our works:

⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:4-5)

The Apostle John is famous for teaching us about the love of God. This verse stands in for many others:

¹ How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

E. Other verses to study

2 Samuel 2:6; 12:24; 1 Chronicles 16:34, 41; 17:13; 2 Samuel 22:51; Job 10:11-12; Psalms 5:7; 6:4; 13:5; 17:6-7; 25:6-7; 26:2-3; 32:10; Ps. 33:5, 18-22; 36:5-6, 10; 37:28; Isaiah. 63:7-9; Ephesians 2:4-5

F. Knowing God better through his love

God created the heavens and the earth and humanity in the beginning. He did this out of his love, not out of his need or sense of incompleteness. Now he shows us his love by giving all of humanity moral law which they can perceive through reason and conscience, also gifts of God. He did this so that humans could survive and thrive and not wipe each other out. Yet, humans did fight and quarrel and kill. Sometimes he had to judge them—the ultimate example is the moral lesson behind Noah’s flood. Yet, he ordained that humans could survive. He loved them and was totally committed to them. “The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son” (Heb. 12:6). Sometimes love has to correct and discipline.

Further, God really shines and pours out his love on his people, the church. He can never stop loving his church. He could not contradict his nature. Love runs deep, undeniably part and parcel of his very essence. Can anyone square a circle? No. Can God stop loving you? No.

Finally, when God pours his love on his people, he expects it to overflow to those outside of the church. “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). That is a guideline and goal to shoot for. Do we always love people? No (I surely don’t), but let’s pray that God’s love will overflow.

So, when you see someone who looks unlovable, whisper a prayer or say it in your mind, “God you love him. I don’t know him, and he looks unlovable. Just show him your love for me and through me.”

That is how we know God more deeply.

II. Holy

A. Brief intro

God call us to be holy—but not by our efforts of following rituals, but by the Spirit-filled life.

B. Short word studies

Mounce says the Hebrew adjective for holy is qadosh and is used 117 times. “It describes that which is by nature sacred or that which has been admitted to the sphere of the sacred by divine rite. It describes, therefore, that which is distinct or separate from the common or profane” (p. 337).

In the New Testament, the Greek words are hagios (holy, sacred) and are used 233 times. The verb hagiazō (make holy sanctify, consecrate or awkward “holy-ize) is used 28 times (p. 338). Then Mounce gives us this nugget: “The proper sphere of the holy in the NT is not priestly or ritual, but the prophetic. The sacred no longer belongs to things, places, or rites, but to manifestations of life produced by the Spirit” (p. 338). In other words, when the believer is filled with the Spirit—the Holy Spirit, he is on his way to work out this holiness day by day. It is a process.

C. What do theologians say?

Williams teaches us that redemption, the heart of the gospel, depends on God’s holiness that cannot tolerate sin. We can come in God’s holy presence during our life and after we die only by his grace and fee invitation, and his grace and invitation are available to us because Jesus died for our sins and paid the penalty for them. He qualified us to come into his thrice-holy presence.

Then Williams goes deeper:

The basic connotation of holy and holiness in the Old Testament is that of separation / apartness from the common, mundane, and profane things of everyday life. This true of God in His total otherness, also of persons and things set apart for Him and His service (vol. 1, p. 60, note 41).

God’s majesty speaks of God’s awesomeness and majesty. “At the heart of divine majesty is the white and brilliant light of His utter purity. There is in God utterly no taint of anything unclean and impure” (p. 61).

Williams agrees with Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof who says that holiness can be called “majesty-holiness.” Berkhof continues by saying there is an ethical aspect of holiness. “The fundamental idea of the ethical holiness of God is also that of separation from moral evil or sin. … Used in this sense the word holiness points to God’s majestic purity. … It also has a positive content, namely, that of moral excellence” (p. 73). One way, Berkhof says, that holiness is manifested is moral law, “implanted in man’s heart, and speaking through the conscience, and more particularly in God’s special revelation,” the Bible (p. 74).

This agrees with Charles Hodge, Princeton theologian of the nineteenth century, who says, “This is a general term of the moral excellence of God” (vol. 1, p. 413).

Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck tells us that sanctification or the process of making a thing or person holy in the Old Testament “is something more than merely being set apart; it is, by means of washing, anointing, sacrifice, and sprinkling of blood (etc.), to divest a thing of the character it has in common with all other things, and to impress upon it another stamp, a stamp uniquely its own, which it must bear and display everywhere (Lev. 8:15, 16:15-16; Job 1:5).” (Reformed, p. 206). In the New Testament, “God’s holiness is finally supremely manifest in Christ, in whom God gives himself to the church, which redeems and cleanses from all iniquities” (ibid.). The Holy Spirit become the purifier and sanctifier.

Millard Erickson says that the two aspects of God’s holiness is first his uniqueness and being totally separate from all his creation. The second aspect is his absolute purity and goodness. He is “untouched and unstained by the evil in the world. He does not in any sense participate in it” (p. 256).

Quick definition:

This attribute and perfection of God means that he is completely distinct and separate from the ordinary and profane and common, and which prompts him to reach out to people to separate and save them from evil.

D. What do the Scriptures teach?

This verse issues a command:

⁴⁵ I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. (Lev. 11:45)

God chose the ancient Israelites out of his grace. They did not earn or deserve it. When God saved us, we did not deserve or earn it. Holy in this instance mean set apart from other nations—unique, special.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deut. 7:6)

Hannah prayed with gratitude and discernment about God’s uniqueness, no doubt witnessing the oversexed, Canaanite fertility deities:

“There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. (1 Sam. 2:2)

David praised the Lord as he ministered before the ark of the covenant, which held the Ten Commandments:

Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. (1 Chron. 16:10)

David was discouraged, but he proclaimed this truth:

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. (Ps. 22:3)

This is an exultant psalm about people praising God—or they should praise him:

Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name. (Ps. 97:12)

Isaiah saw a vision of the LORD in his holiness, and the seraphim called to each other:

And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Is. 6:3)

God will judge the Assyrians for their atrocities:

The Light of Israel will become a fire, their Holy One a flame; in a single day it will burn and consume his thorns and his briers. (Is. 10:17)

Here we see God’s function of redeeming and his name, the LORD Almighty:

Our Redeemer—the Lord Almighty is his name— is the Holy One of Israel. (Is. 47:4)

This is the first time the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the New Covenant Scriptures. It is about the virgin birth of Jesus:

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 1:18)

Demons recognized who Jesus was:

“What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24)

And the disciples recognized him too:

We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:69)

Our bodies can become holy by our surrendering it to God as a sacrifice:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Rom. 12:1)

God’s holy people—the saints or all of us—need the power to grasp God love.

 And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, (Eph. 3:17-18)

This is a clear call by Peter:

¹⁵ But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; ¹⁶ for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16, cf. Lev. 11:44-45; 19:2)

Once we know who we are in Christ, we can act holy. Peter reminds us of our divine status:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, (1 Peter 2:9)

The Spirit is called the Holy One, in line with the Old Testament verses that call the LORD the same term:

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. (1 John 2:20)

Jesus is holy and true:

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. (Rev. 3:20; cf. Rev. 6:10)

We end this section with the same idea in Isaiah 6:3, heavenly beings proclaiming God is thrice holy:

Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,’ who was, and is, and is to come.” (Rev. 4:8)

E. Other Scriptures to study:

He is holy (Ps. 99:3-9).

He is called the Holy One of Israel (2 Kings 19:22; Is. 30:11-12; Is. 30:15)

His Spirit is holy (Is. 63:10)

His name is holy (Ps. 111:9)

His throne is holy (Ps. 47:8)

He is majestic in holiness (Exod. 15:11)

His holiness has splendor (1 Chron. 16:27)

He is unique in his holiness (1 Sam. 2:2)

He swears by his holiness (Am. 4:2)

He will show himself holy (Is. 5:16)

His words are holy (Is. 5:16)

His arm is holy (Is. 52:10)

The Father is holy (Matt. 6:9; John 17:11)

The Son is Holy (Luke 1:35; Acts 4:27; Acts 4:30)

The Spirit is holy (Acts 2:4; Rom. 1:4)

F. Knowing God better through his holiness

The word and reality of holy and holiness can be scary for some and delightful for others. Scary because it conjures up images of legalistic Christians of bygone times, who looked like they continually swallowed unsweetened lemon juice from an invisible source. It may be delightful to others because they are close to God and don’t feel deficient in their walks with Christ.

Holiness has to proceed from our lives in the Spirit. He comes to live in us—the Holy Spirit dwells in us. When we let him flow through us, we exhibit the fruit of the Spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22). Holiness does not come from wearing your hair in a tight bun, no makeup, and hemlines down to the ankles—and no jewelry. It does not come from using “churchy,” insider language like “Amen!” “Hallelujah!” No, Galatians 5:22 tells us it comes from life in the Spirit.

Let’s apply the verse to our lives. No apple tree has to struggle and grunt and groan to produce its apples. Life flows through it because it follows its DNA code, its nature, and it is nourished by water (another symbol of the Spirit), the sunlight (a symbol of God’s glory and encompassing presence), and the rich soil (a symbol of nourishment, when it is worked correctly and wisely by the farmer).

In other words, don’t be anxious about whether you exhibit or show enough holiness. It does not mean you separate yourself from the world by living in a monastery or in a closed-in Christian community. How, then, could you proclaim the gospel to the lost world? It means that as you interact with the world and its evil, you pray and allow the Spirit to maintain your life in Christ. Dirty jokes at work? Pray and drift away from the conversation or excuse yourself naturally, without a “holy show” that makes lost sheep feel isolated. Were you once an alcoholic or drug addict, yet God set you free? Don’t go back in to that world, or else you might fall back in it. However, if God clearly calls you to back in to witness to your old friends, don’t go alone. Jesus sent his disciples out two by two (Mark 6:7). Holiness can be friendly, not “holier than thou.”

Holiness is about the Spirit. Live life in him,

III. Good

A. Brief intro

He is good all the time and can never stop being good. It is in his very being. No matter your circumstances, he is still good. In Scripture, goodness is both moral and material—good things.

B. Short word studies

Mounce’s Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words teaches us first the Hebrew and then the Greek words for good.

The Hebrew noun is toba or tova. “Goodness in the OT is generally linked with material things” (Deut. 26:11; Jer. 29:32). The adjective tov or tob “means good or well; it describes goodness, beauty, and moral uprightness … ‘God himself is good.’” David said so in Psalm 23:5: “Goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” (p. 300) In creation God said the heavens and earth were good.

For the NT, goodness (agathos) is God-centered. Only God is good (Matt. 19:17). Jesus is the high priest of good things (Heb. 9:11). Good gifts come from God (Matt. 7:11). (In the parallel passage in Luke 11:13, good means the Holy Spirit). As for humanity, goodness does not determine God’s choice of people (Rom. 9:11). Wisdom brings about goodness or good deeds (Matt. 3:10, 7:17). The adjective kalos is related to goodness. It means the “quality of an object or action that is beautiful, ordered, or virtuous and may be translated as ‘beautiful, good.’ It denotes something as being good in terms of its outward appearance or in the sense of useful or excellent.” (p. 301)

C. What do theologians say?

Williams places goodness under the larger category of love. “That God is good is the ringing affirmation of the biblical witness throughout (Ps. 118:1). … The Lord is good in himself. Moreover, His goodness is constantly manifested in his creatures (Ps. 145:9)” (vol. 1, p. 87).

Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof says that goodness of God is extended to his creatures. “This may be defined as that perfection [attribute] of God which prompts Him to deal bountifully and kindly with all his creatures. It is the affection which the Creator feels towards His sentient creatures as such” (p. 70, emphasis original). Then he goes on to place God’s love, grace, mercy and longsuffering under the bigger category of goodness.

In classifying the attributes, I agree with Williams. Goodness comes under love.

Quick definition:

This attribute or perfection of God means that he is morally upright, and kind and generous and bountiful with his people.

D. What do the Scriptures teach?

The word good, not counting its other forms (goodness, goods) is used 601 times in Scripture—too many to list even a small fraction. So let’s divide the concept by prosperity and moral uprightness.

God’s goodness flows out to the things he made, his creation:

God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. (Gen. 1:31)

God rescues the Israelites for a purpose and goal:

So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land [Egypt] into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. (Ex. 3:8)

In that verse, “milk and honey” is a metaphor for prosperity and an abundance of material things.

Now let’s shift over to the moral side of goodness.

Some therefore teach that the core or essence of God is goodness. However, this neglects the other attributes of God that he has equally. All of the attributes—even love—make up God’s nature, who he is, without favoring one over the other. But as he relates to humans, he does shine an attribute on them, when they need it; in this case it was goodness. In another instance it is love. “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16).

This verse connects goodness and uprightness:

Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his way (Ps. 25:8)

God is the subject of this sentence:

You are good and do what is good (Ps. 119:68)

These verses are about human character:

Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear good fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit (Matt. 7:17-18)

It is a sobering truth that the next verse (7:19) says the bad tree, after God works with it, is thrown into the fire.

Luke expands the same idea in his Gospel:

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. (Luke 6:45)

Yes, God calls us to have hatred, but it must be only directed against evil, and then he redirects us to the good:

Hate what is evil; cling to what is good (Rom. 12:9)

This verse comes in the context of not taking revenge, and goodness not only means a moral state but doing good things:

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21)

After we receive salvation by grace and not our good works, we are then called to do good works:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which he prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph. 2:10)

That verse can include good material things, and not just a moral definition.

E. Other verses to study

Exodus 33:19; Deuteronomy 26:11; 1 Samuel 25:6; Jeremiah 29:32

F.  Knowing God better through his goodness

Let’s eliminate three bad ideas, so we can at the same have clarity about right ones.

First, certain people say that prosperity is unbiblical. Then they denounce TV preachers who seek materialism for its own purpose and promise Cadillacs to those who give to their ministries. The critics call it the “prosperity gospel,” a label these preachers never used or have stopped using. Nowadays very few preachers promise big houses if people give to them, so let’s leave them aside and just look at the Bible.

Goodness is tied to material prosperity. We see it in our current context with these expressions: “Goods and services,” meaning physical objects and those who serve us. A “bill of goods” means paperwork that has a list of material objects on it without real items behind, paperwork!

God promises us good things, material objects, so we can get out of poverty and live prosperously. Those who denounce prosperity often live in a nice American home with two cars, while nine-tenths of the world don’t have even a shack. So why don’t the critics give away their prosperity—their house and cars and everything else? Poverty does not come from God. It is a sign of brokenness. Jesus and his earthly father worked at general carpentry, and it is difficult to believe they were poor, when Joseph had so many mouths to feed (Mark 3:32, 6:5). Prosperity—good things—comes from God, so we can be a blessing to the impoverished.

The second deficient idea that circulates around the web is summed like this: The gospel does not make bad people good, but dead people alive! Yes, it makes dead people alive, but it also makes bad people better. It can do both.

Third, it is possible for people outside of the church and salvation to do good things, like give a billion to charity, but this does not save them before the thrice-holy God. So our theology must not be confused or deny reality—what we see with our own eyes. Salvation by good works is different from doing good works with or without salvation. Don’t merge the two categories.

To conclude, God is good no matter which trial you may be going through. He is good in his very essence. He can never stop being good. He created humans and loves them. Therefore the goodness in his being means that he expresses his goodness towards humans. He does so by giving them good things, particularly the knowledge and practical know-how to survive and thrive—to prosper.

Even though we humans share imperfectly and weakly in goodness, he still requires us to be good and do good, as he gives us the power and grace. When we get closer to God, we become better—gooder! He gives us the power to let the fruit of the Spirit grow in us: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness …. (Gal. 5:22).

Let the Spirit flow through you so you can exhibit goodness to people by being good and doing good.

IV. Righteous and Just

A. Brief intro

God is immutably (unchangeably) righteous and just. He is the absolute standard of those two attributes or perfections.

B. Short word studies

The Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words says that the Hebrew noun of righteous and righteousness are ṣedeq (pronounced tsedek, the ts- is pronounced like the ts- in bits). It is translated “righteousness, justice, rightness.” It describes “the state of quality of that which accords with some recognized standard (not always expressed). It can be God’s law or natural law or some other assumed standard” (pp. 592-93).

Another noun, ṣ^edaqa, generally means “righteousness, justice, innocence” (p. 593). It is a synonym to ṣedeq.

The adjective, ṣaddiq, is rendered righteous, just, innocent. It describes “those who acts in such a way that their behavior accords with some standard. In general, this word describes as ‘righteous’ persons rather than an abstract concept like law” (pp. 593-94).

Finally, justice is the Hebrew word mišpat (pronounced mishpat) and “carries a legal or judicial connotation, though it is used in a variety of way. It is found most often in the prophets, particularly Is. 40-55, where it is tied to God’s sovereign execution of world affairs.”

In the New Testament, the verb is dikaioō (pronounced dee-ky-oh-oh), which means to “declare righteous” or “to justify.” It appears 29 times in Paul’s letter of the  39 times it is used throughout the New Testament (about 70% in Paul’s letters). The noun is dikaiosunē (pronounced dee-ky-oh-soo-nay) which means “righteousness, innocence, justice, justification.” It appears in Paul’s letters 58 out of the 91 times of the total throughout the NT (64%). The adjective, dikaios, means “righteous, innocent, just, upright.” It is a synonym with the Hebrew ṣaddiq. “In summary, therefore, like salvation … ‘righteousness’ is a gift we receive from God when we believe, is a present reality in our lives, and is a future hope towards which we aspire” (p. 595).

C. What do theologians say?

Norman Geisler defines it thus:

God’s righteousness refers to His absolute justice or rightness. Righteousness is the intrinsic characteristic of God wherein He is the ultimate standard of just and right actions and because of which he must punish all unjust and evil acts. (p. 573)

But it must be noted that in Geisler’s chapter on righteousness: “Jesus became a perfect substitute for our unrighteousness for ‘God made him who had no to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’ (2 Cor. 5:21).”

Theologians correctly divide God’s justice into more subsets or concepts: rectoral justice and distributive justice, and the latter term is further divided into retributive and remunerative.

The first God is the moral ruler who imposes moral law on his world, his creation (Ps. 99:4; Rom. 1:32). He has the right to do this since the world belongs to him, and he intends people to live in peace and harmony—to get along.

Distributive justice or righteousness means that God executes his moral law, both rewards for doing right and punishments (yes, that word exists in God’s vocabulary) (Is. 3:10, 11; 1 Pet. 1:17). It means he judges people and either condemns or vindicates them or declares them just or unjust. He is the judge.

Retributive judgment is the punishment phase of distributive justice. People get what they deserve as the penalty for their sins (Gen. 2:17; Deut. 27:26; Gal. 3:10; Rom. 6:23).

Remunerative judgment is the positive side of distributive justice. He distributes rewards to the obedient and righteous (Deut. 7:9; Ps. 58:11). It is a blessing that it is more prominent and means his “righteousness is viewed favorably as the attribute by virtue of which God vindicates the righteous and raises them to a position of honor and well-being. … YHWH [the LORD] is the true judge, and the manifestation of his righteousness is simultaneously the manifestation of his grace” (Bavinck, Reformed, p. 207).

In other words, God wants to extend his grace when we cannot meet his absolute righteous and just standards, even though we don’t deserve it. We need to pray for mercy and grace, and take care about praying that God must impose his justice on us!

Quick definition:

The attribute of righteousness and justice mean that he is the ultimate standard of just and right actions, which prompts him ultimately to judge unrighteousness and injustice.

D. What do the Scriptures teach?

In a remarkably revealing verse, the ancient Israelites, under the leadership of Moses, proclaimed that law-keeping was their righteousness, but in the end they could not keep it:

And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. (Deut. 6:25)

Righteousness and judgment can punish those who do evil, for in this verse God’s wrath is his judgment:

God is a righteous judge, a God who displays his wrath every day. (Ps. 7:11; cf. 9:4, 8)

In the previous verse, think of an old English judge with his wig. That’s the picture of wrath.

In the next verse righteousness and justice go hand in hand:

The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. (Ps. 33:5)

A heart can be upright, when it perceives God’s righteous standards:

Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it. (Ps. 94:15)

It may feel odd in our shortsighted minds to sing in the presence of the LORD for his judgment on all the earth, but he will put all to rights:

Let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity. (Ps. 98:9)

The next verse says God is full of grace, righteousness and compassion—it’s a balance:

The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. (Ps. 116:5)

This verse prophesies the coming of the Messiah, King Jesus, who will ultimately reign in righteousness:

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Is. 9:7)

Whether the Law of Moses or the moral law, it is based on God’s righteousness:

It pleased the Lord for the sake of his righteousness to make his law great and glorious. (Is. 42:21)

Righteousness and justice have a moral side for us humans. God loves them:

But let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. (Jer. 9:24)

“Righteous Savior” is God’s name:

In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord our Righteous Savior.’ (Jer. 33:16; cf. Jer. 23:6)

Now let’s move on to the New Testament.

When we seek his kingdom and his righteousness, everything else follows:

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matt. 6:33; cf. 5:6)

In explaining the Parable of the Weeds, in which wheat and weeds grow up together, until angels will sort them out, Jesus says that in the eternal kingdom:

Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. (Matt. 13:43)

Next, Stephen denounced certain bad, ancient forefathers of his fellow Jews, who killed the prophets who predicted Jesus’s coming:

They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— (Acts. 7:52; cf. 22:14)

Romans 3:21-26 teaches us that God’s law is perfectly righteous, but we cannot follow it perfectly. Therefore God had to intervene on our behalf. He had to declare us righteous, even though we were sinners. But how? Despite God’s forbearance in the past (v. 25), a penalty had to be paid, in God’s absolutely righteous judgment and absolute standards. The word propitiation is tucked inside “sacrifice of atonement” (v. 25). In other words, his absolute righteous standard was satisfied (propitiated) when Jesus took the penalty on himself. So God can now remain just (a penalty was paid) and justify us. All we have to do now is believe it or have faith in Christ.

The Spirit enables us to experience righteous growth (sanctification), after we have been declared righteous by an act of God’s grace:

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17)

God’s grace to us extends so far that Jesus becomes our righteousness, as if we wear a garment of righteousness that he placed on us—we are in him:

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. (1 Cor. 1:30)

Here is a great verse that explains the Great Exchange, our sin for his righteousness. Jesus was “made sin” or a sin offering (cf. Lev. 6:24-30):

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)

After Timothy was declared righteous, he was commanded to pursue righteousness, and so should we, in our walk with God:

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. (1 Tim. 6:11)

E. Other verses to study

Psalm 103:6; Ezra 9:17;  Nehemiah. 9:8, 33

F. Knowing God better through his righteousness and justice

Contrary to certain Christian teaching, people outside of Christ—even hardened atheists—can behave righteously, when for example they stop at red lights or help little old ladies to cross streets or give $100 million to charity. These are righteous deeds. God is pleased that these unbelievers did them (Acts 10:4), but these righteous acts do not justify the do-gooders before a thrice-holy God, so they can stride right into God’s presence on their own merits.

We are all so needy that God must extend to us his grace for salvation while we live on earth and for entrance into heaven after we die—eternal life on earth and in heaven.

God has absolute, righteous standards, but he has absolute grace that he must offer us to make up the difference between our impoverished righteousness and God’s righteousness. Grace and righteousness reveal God’s character. Each attribute is perfectly infinite and equal in God’s being. And by them we can know him better. But for us down on earth, grace through faith first, and then righteousness second, because we can’t keep up with his absolute standards.

V. Gracious

A. Brief intro

Gracious literally means “full of grace.” God cannot stop being gracious and showing us favor. It is in his very nature and being.

B. Short word studies

Mounce in his Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words teaches us about the Hebrew and Greek words. The Hebrew noun ḥen (pronounced khen) “describes that which is favorable or gracious, especially the favorable disposition of one person to another” (p. 302).

The Greek noun is charis (pronounced khah-rees)—“the acceptance of and goodness toward those who cannot earn or do not deserve such gain” (p. 303). The verb in Hebrew is ḥanan (pronounced khanan) and means to be gracious, “to show mercy favor, be gracious” (ibid.). In Greek grace can be a verb, and it means the same thing.

C. What do theologians say?

Berkhof defines it simply:

The Bible generally uses the word to denote the unmerited goodness or love of God to those who have forfeited it and are by nature under a sentence of condemnation. The grace of God is the source of all spiritual blessings that are bestowed upon sinners (p. 71, emphasis original)

 Williams reminds of the conditions in the Old Covenant. Grace:

“[H]ighlights that aspect of God’s love that refers to His self-giving regardless of merit. Accordingly, it points up the way wherein God in His love has gone beyond the revelation of the law to Moses to bring salvation in Jesus Christ … The law given through Moses, for all its moral majesty in setting forth God’s will for His people, was not kept by Israel. Israel did not have a “heart for it; they continually disobeyed and finally went into captivity.” (vol. 1, p. 66)

Williams goes on to say that the grace comes through Jesus Christ.

Millard Erickson writes:

Grace is another attribute that is part of the manifold of God’s love. By this we mean that God deals with his people not on the basis of their merit or worthiness, what they deserve, but simply according to their need; in other words, he deals with them on the basis of his goodness and generosity (p. 265)

Reformed theologian John M. Frame reminds us of the covenant aspect of grace: “If God’s grace is not based in human merit, what is the reason for it?” … It is “based in his decision to save men from sin by way of covenants, by making promises and fulfilling them. This is the basic shape of God’s historical drama” (Systematic, p. 244).

Quick definition comes from Berkhof’s wonderful definition:

This attribute or perfection of God means that he gladly shows his unmerited goodness or love to those who have forfeited it and are by nature under a sentence of condemnation.

D. What do the Scriptures teach?

Even when someone is in a moral or literal prison, the Lord can still favor him and deliver him out of his troubles. He did this to Joseph:

²⁰ … But while Joseph was there in the prison, ²¹ the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. (Gen. 39:20)

Grace enabled Moses to ask for pardon for the people of Israel. God answered his prayers and offered a covenant to the people, by his grace and favor, not because they deserved or earned it:

⁸ Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. ⁹ “O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes,” he said, “then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.” ¹⁰ Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. (Ex. 34:8-10)

Favor or grace surrounds us like a shield:

¹² For surely, O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield. (Ps. 5:12, ratsōn or “favor”)

Yes, God shows momentary anger in both the Old and New Covenants, but in the New, he does not show it to his people except by law enforcement (Rom. 13:4-5). In this Old he showed it to his people, but only for a moment:

⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. (Ps. 30:5)

These verses reveal God’s heart. He yearns to show his people grace and favor:

¹⁸ Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! ¹⁹ O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. (Is. 30:18-19)

We can shout grace at problems and challenges. Speaking grace is important.

⁶ Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. ⁷ Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” (Zech. 4:6-7)

In the New Covenant, we experience God’s grace and favor through Christ. He has inaugurated a covenant of grace, not law-keeping to achieve righteousness:

²² This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Rom. 3:22-24)

God’s grace and love and mercy are connected:

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. (Eph. 2:4-9)

The Spirit is called the Spirit of grace, thus matching the other two members of the Triunity:

… ““the Spirit of grace”…. (Heb. 10:29)

D. Other verses to study

Genesis 6:8; 39:4, 20; Exodus 3:21; 12:35; Numbers 6:25; Deuteronomy 4:37; Psalms 4:1; 5:12; 6:2; 9:13; 25:16; 26:11; 27:7; 30-4-7; 41:4, 9-10; 45:2.

E. Knowing God better through his grace

Those verses go deep and are rich.

God created humans, and they went astray; therefore he is reaching out to them even when they slap his hand away. His love and grace motivate him to act—it is in his nature, in his very being to love and pour grace and favor on his creation. God can never stop being gracious. He will always show it to people.

Yes, God loves everyone, but they do not love him back. Humans have enough free will—another gracious gift of God—to resist his grace and calling on their lives. But don’t resist. It’s time so surrender to him and his Son.

Let’s end on a positive note.

God yearns to be gracious to you and bestow his favor on you. You don’t deserve them, but he wants to offer them to you. He created you, and he takes responsibility for you, much like parents take responsibility to care for their child. God reaches out to you, no matter what you do. The good news is that even when human parents are dysfunctional, God never is. God will show grace and love and favor even in the worst cases—especially in those cases.

VI. Peace (Order)

A. Brief intro

From our point of view, peace is one of God’s great attributes or perfections. Without it, the world would be more chaotic than it is. With more peace in the world, which God shines forth for those who see and receive it, society becomes orderly and safe and prosperous. Each individual can enjoy well-being, prosperity, tranquility and euphoria.

B. Short word studies

The main word for peace in the Old Testament is shalom (237 times), which means “prosperity, well-being, health, completeness, safety” (Mounce, p. 502).

The New Testament, written in Greek, uses the word eirēnē (92 times, we get the name Irene from it). In classical Greek, used long before the New Testament was written, it means a cessation of hostilities or war and a state of law and order that “makes the fruits of prosperity possible” (Mounce, p. 503). That is, when a society is in peace, life can proceed in order and prosperity and well-being and safety.

In other words, “peace” is a state of being that lacks nothing and has no fear of being troubled in its tranquility; it is euphoria coupled with security. … This peace is God’s favor bestowed on his people. Not all people receive this peace—only those who have been reconciled to God. (ibid.)

“When we say peace as a greeting, it communicates blessing” (ibid.). Peace “is the opposite of disorder” (ibid.).

C. What do theologians say?

In this case we look at one.

What do those great definitions mean to God’s being? He offers those virtues and qualities to us. If he offers them, then he must have them; he must be them. He is peace and order.

After looking at many passages on peace and its opposite (disorder), Wayne Grudem defines this attribute as follows:

God’s peace means that in God’s being and in his actions he is separate from all confusion and disorder, yet he is continually active in innumerable well-ordered, fully controlled, simultaneous actions. (p. 243, emphasis original)

Quick definition: This attribute or perfection of God means that he is calm, in control, and orderly.

Those definitions are built on Scripture. Here is a small sample in the next section.

D. What do the Scriptures teach?

In a chapter of great promises and acceptance by the Lord, he leads his people in peace:

You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands. (Is. 55:12)

God is the “God of peace”:

The God of peace be with you all. Amen. (Rom. 15:13)

In the church God is orderly:

For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all congregations of the Lord’s people (1 Cor. 14:33)

Gentiles (non-Jews) were once outside of God’s covenant care, but now they are accepted because Christ is their peace:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. (Eph. 2:14)

A great promise here:

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. (2 Thess. 3:16)

This verse promises peace:

The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace. (Ps. 29:11)

This verse promises peace for anyone who finds wisdom, personified as a woman:

Her ways are pleasant ways,
and all her paths are peace. (Prov. 3:17)

The next verse is a prophecy about Jesus the Messiah:

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Is. 9:7)

Jesus said he had peace, and he will give it to his followers:

²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)

Let your mind be governed by the Spirit, and you will enjoy eternal life on earth and peace:

⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. (Rom. 8:6)

One of the virtues within the fruit (singular) of the Spirit is peace:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Gal. 5:22)

Peace in the kingdom through the Spirit:

¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is … a matter of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 14:17)

E. Other Scriptures to study

Psalm 121:4; Isaiah 54:11-13; 57:18-19; Matthew 5:9; Romans16:20; Philippians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 13:20

F. Knowing God through his peace

God sees better than you that the world is in turmoil. He wants to give you peace through it all. Reread John 14:27, above. Jesus gives us his peace. Meditate on that verse and on his willingness to give you his peace.

One of the greatest promises in the entire Old Testament is the next one:

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. (Is. 26:3)

It teaches us to keep our minds steadfast—how? Meditate on the verses of peace. Meditate on Isaiah 26:3. Think about it night and day. Repeat it under your breath when people are around and out loud when you’re alone.

God’s peace, which he is very eager to give you, will descend on you and fill you.

And then you’ll know God better because you tuned into his nature. He is the God of peace, not turmoil or disorder.

VI. Majesty

A. Brief into

It is closely related to glory. He is great, splendid, triumphant, dignified, and awesome.

This attribute is considered a “summary” of the others because it complements and is even comprehensive of all the other attributes. It is the capstone.

B. Short word studies

The Old Testament was written Hebrew, and the nouns for majesty are as follows:

Ga’^awa (18 times), which means glory, splendor, triumph.

A second noun is godel (13 times): “greatness, strength, beauty.”

Another noun is hadar (30 times): splendor, nobility, often means the beauty of an object or instills awe; dignity, honor.

Finally, hōd (24 times) is a synonym with the other nouns.

(Howard W. Goodrick and John R. Kohlenberger, The Strongest: NIV Exhaustive Concordance [Zondervan, 1990, 1999; Mounce, pp. 506-07]).

C. What do theologians teach?

In this section we refer to one.

The New Testament was written in Greek, and two words are usually translated as “majestic”: megaleiotēs and megalosunē, whose synonyms are splendor, magnificence, greatness, and glory (Geisler, p. 524).

Philosopher and theologian Norman Geisler defines it as follows:

God’s majesty consists of unsurpassed greatness, highest eminence, unparalleled exaltation, and unmatched glory. (p. 524).

Quick definition: I can’t improve on Geisler’s very good definition.

D. What do the Scriptures teach?

This great verse come early in the Bible and connects majesty with holiness, awesomeness, and glory:

Who among the gods
is like you, Lord?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders? (Ex. 15:11)

Here God is anthropomorphized (using a human figure of speech about God), as if he rides across of cloud of majesty. Sometimes clouds stand in for his angelic hosts and saints. But God certainly is exalted and great:

There is no one like the God of Jeshurun [the upright one or Israel],
who rides across the heavens to help you
and on the clouds in his majesty. (Deut. 33:26)

In the next verse, once again, glory and majesty are linked. The name speaks of God’s essence and character. It stands in for God himself:

Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens. (Ps. 8:1; cf. v. 9)

Splendor and majesty are synonyms:

Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place. (1 Chron. 16:27)

Notice all the wonderful attributes in this verse, indicating God’s majesty:

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours. (1 Chron. 29:11)

Let’s move on to the New Testament.

In the next verse Peter is referring to the time when he, James, and John went up a mountain with Jesus and heard the voice of God. “Majestic glory” means heaven and God himself—it’s a stand-in, again.

He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (2 Pet. 1:17; cf. Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35)

These two verses in the Epistle to the Hebrews say that the Son radiates glory, and when he completed his work on earth, he sat next to God himself. Once again, Majesty stands in for God.

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. (Heb. 1:3)

Now the main point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven (Heb. 8:1)

E. Other verses to study

Psalms 47:2; 48:1; 99:2; 104:1; 145:3; Daniel 9:4.

F. Knowing God through his majesty

Historians tell us that King Louis XIV (14^th) was the greatest king of France and even of Europe. No one was greater before or after him. He carried himself with great dignity and greatness and honor. People bowed their heads and often their knees to him. He bestowed material things on his favorites—those closest to him. He owned many mansions, particularly the palace of Versailles (pronounced vare-SIGH).

Now imagine that you saunter into the king’s presence. You shuffle your feet, wipe your nose, sit down on a nearby chair, put your feet up, pick your teeth with your finger, and belch. The king’s guard would escort you out and throw you in a dungeon—before you did those things. You committed the crime of lese-majesty, that is, treating the king’s majesty casually. You violated the king’s dignity.

That is a human vision of majesty, but all Louis’s earthly glory does not come close to God’s majesty.

God dwells in unapproachable light—unapproachable by our present earthly bodies, certainly not displayed in all its absolute splendor. (We would die if we saw all of it.) His throne is white and luminous. His angels are powerful and glorious. He is so powerful that he spoke the universe into existence. He is so morally beautiful that he shines it on his creation, particularly humans, who reflect his beauty and glory. He is so great that he reigns over nature and sustains the universe.

We must come into the King’s presence respectfully and reverently. No, you do not have to wear a suit and tie in church. You can come into his presence with casual clothes; people can sing praise songs and pray even in the shower. No problem. It is the attitude that counts, coming into his presence with a surrendered and compliant and submissive heart—no arrogance or presumption.

He is God. He is in charge. We are humans. We are not in charge.

God is majestic.