Part 6 of 11 in the Doctrine of God series

God’s Perfections

• Creatures have passions: fluctuating emotional movements we undergo
• God “has” perfections: stable, eternal excellencies of His Being
• When scripture speaks of God with human emotional language it speaks truly but analogically.
• God truly loves, rejoices, and is angry, but in a manner proper to His divine, immutable being

1. Holiness

• To be holy is to be set apart from all that is common.
• In God, holiness is more than moral purity; it reflects the majesty of all His perfections.
• God is holy because He is God (simplicity); creatures reflect His holiness in a limited way.
• Beeke: “God’s holiness means that he is set apart by his glory, for his glory.”

1. Goodness & Love

• God’s goodness summarizes His moral perfection: mercy, grace, patience, justice, and love.
• Mercy = compassionate help to the miserable;
• Grace = free favor to the undeserving; 
• Patience = God’s long-suffering restraint.
• God’s love includes benevolence toward all and special covenant love toward His people.
• Beeke: “Do you want to see how much I love my Son? Look at how I will love my people.”

III. Truth & Faithfulness

• God is truth in three senses (Herman Bavinck): metaphysical (the true God), logical (perfect knowledge and truthful speech), ethical (covenant fidelity).
• God’s faithfulness is his unwavering reliability to keep covenant promises.
• The gospel of Christ is the clearest revelation of God’s truth.

1. Righteousness & Justice

• God is righteous in all his ways; his law reflects his own holy nature (cf. Thomas Aquinas).
• Dimensions of divine justice: (1) Legal (law-revealing) (2) Covenantal (promise-keeping and judgment) (3) Social (ordering relationships) (4) Penal (punishing sin) (5) Evangelical (saving righteousness) (6) Paternal (discipline & reward of children) (7) Doxological (God’s glory)

1. Jealousy

• Not envy, but God’s holy zeal to guard his exclusive covenant relationship.
• Biblical images: husband, warrior, consuming fire.
• Beeke: “God’s jealousy is his fervent zeal to glorify himself in his people.”

1. Joy

• God delights in his works because they reflect his own moral excellence.
• God’s joy is infinite, unchanging, and self-sufficient (divine beatitude).
• God needs nothing outside himself to be blessed.

VII. Wrath

• God’s holy hatred of sin and just will to punish it.
• Personal and relational, yet perfectly righteous.
• Not identical to God’s essence as love; rather the expression of his justice against sin.
• Reveals God’s zeal for justice and the vindication of his glory.