Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine

by Wayne Grudem

God’s unchangeableness has been denied frequently in recent years by the advocates of process theology, a theological position that says process and change are essential aspects of genuine existence,

The Bible teaches that God is both infinite and personal.

God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time, and he acts in time.

God Is Timeless in His Own Being.

physics tells us that matter and time and space must all occur together: if there is no matter, there can be no space or time either.

God Sees All Time Equally Vividly.

Psalm 90:4. When the text says that a thousand years are “as yesterday when it is past,” it still indicates that God sees past events in human history as past events, not as events that are presently happening.

God still sees the past in human history as past.

any one day from God’s perspective seems to last for “a thousand years”; it is as if that day never ends, but somehow is always being experienced.

God frequently claims through the Old Testament prophets that he alone is the one who knows and can declare future events:

God Sees Events in Time, and He Acts in Time.

We Will Always Exist in Time.

in the new heaven and new earth which are yet to come, will time still exist?

We will experience eternal life not in an exact duplication of God’s attribute of eternity but rather in a duration of time that will never end.

God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.

Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD” (Jer. 23:23–24).

God Does Not Have Spatial Dimensions.

A pantheist believes that everything is God or that God is everything that exists. The biblical perspective is rather that God is present everywhere in his creation but also distinct from his creation.

God Can Be Present to Punish, to Sustain, or to Bless.

God is present in different ways in different places or that God acts differently in different places in his creation.

God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times.

Each Attribute Characterizes the Whole Being of God.

it is God himself who is light, and it is God himself who is also love.

God’s Being Is Not a Collection of Attributes Added Together

God’s Attributes Are Not Additions to His Real Being

As you think of God’s independence, unchangeableness, eternity, omnipresence, and unity, can you see some faint reflections of these five incommunicable attributes in yourself as God created you to be?

Psalm 102:25–27: Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.

The Character of God: “Communicable” Attributes (Part 1)

How is God like us in his being and in mental and moral attributes?

Attributes Describing God’s Being 1. Spirituality 2. Invisibility

Mental Attributes 3. Knowledge (or Omniscience) 4. Wisdom 5. Truthfulness (and Faithfulness)

Moral Attributes 6. Goodness 7. Love 8. Mercy (Grace, Patience) 9. Holiness 10. Peace (or Order) 11. Righteousness (o...

Attributes of Purpose 14. Will 15. Freedom 16. Omnipotence (or Po...

“Summary” Attributes 17. Perfection 18. Blessedness 19...

ATTRIBUTES DESCRIBING GOD’S BEING 1. Spirituality

“God is spirit” (John 4:24). This statement is spoken by Jesus in the context of a discussion with the woman at the well in Samaria.

God’s spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence.

God’s invisibility means that God’s total essence, all of his spiritual being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself to us partially in this age and more fully in the age to come.

(1 Tim. 1:17). He speaks of God as one “who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). John says, “No one has ever seen God” (1 John 4:12).

“Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11). Yet God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:20).

A theophany is “an appearance of God.” In these theophanies God took on various visible forms to show himself to people. God appeared to Abraham (Gen. 18:1–33), Jacob (Gen. 32:28–30), the people of Israel (as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night: Ex. 13:21–22), the elders of Israel (Ex. 24:9–11), Manoah and his wife (Judg. 13:21–22), Isaiah (Isa. 6:1), and others.

When we realize that God is the perfection of all that we long for or desire, that he is the summation of everything beautiful or desirable, then we realize that the greatest joy of the life to come will be that we “shall see his face” and experience the close interpersonal fellowship that this implies.

This seeing of God “face to face” has been called the beatific vision, meaning “the vision that makes us blessed or happy”

MENTAL ATTRIBUTES 3. Knowledge (Omniscience)

God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act.

If God Knows Our Future Choices, How Can They Be Free?

note the suggestion of Augustine, who said that God has given us “reasonable self-determination.”

It is not as if events occur regardless of what we decide or do, but rather that they occur because of what we decide and do.

God’s wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals.

God’s truthfulness means that he is the true God, and all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.