Episode Intro

Over the last couple of episodes we’ve thought about the nature of God or what we’ve called the non-moral attributes of God. That is, we’ve focussed on his being. God is present everywhere, he knows everything, and so on.

But in this episode we’re beginning to think about the character of God. What God is like to relate to? What is he like in personal terms?

That’s what we’re thinking about in this episode of Thinking Theology.

Podcast Intro

Hi. My name is Karl Deenick. I’m a pastor, theologian, writer, and Bible college lecturer. Welcome to Thinking Theology, a podcast where we think about theology, the Bible and the Christian life, not just for the sake of it, but so we can love God more, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

The Character of God

So what is God like?

In one sense, describing the character of God is a bottomless pit. We can always say more. In fact, the key task of theology and the main goal of studying the Bible is to know and understand and love the character of God more and more.

One place to look in trying to understand the character of God is the names that he is given in the Bible.

For example, Hagar calls God, “El Roi”—the God who sees me”

Abraham calls God, “Yahweh Jireh”—the God who provides.

The psalms often call God, “Yahweh Tsevaoth”, which means “Lord of Armies”.

Jesus means “Yahweh is salvation”.

All those names give us insight into who God is.

But while there are lots of things to be said about the character of God, there are some aspects of his character that are given great prominence in the Bible. And in this episode, I want to think about four of those.

God is Holy

First of all, he’s holy.

There are a few times in the Old Testament where people catch a glimpse of God. And one of those occasions in Isaiah 6.

There in a vision, Isaiah sees the throne room of God. He writes,

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1 NIV)

But what Isaiah hears is just as important as what he sees. The angels who are attending God cry out,

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (Isaiah 6:3 NIV)

As has sometimes been noted, God is described in many ways in the Bible, but only here is he described using the same word three times. God is love. But he’s never described as “Love, love, love”. But he is described as “Holy, holy, holy.”

The result of being confronted with the holiness of God is that Isaiah trembles with fear because he recognises his own sin and impurity in the face of the perfectly holy God. He says,

“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5 NIV)

As one Bible commentator has said, Isaiah is condemned by what we might consider one of the mildest of sins, unclean lips—having said inappropriate things. Yet, for Isaiah, it’s enough to condemn him in the presence of God. Until, that is, God has one of his angels take a coal from the altar and touch Isaiah’s lips to cleanse them.

The point is that God is completely and perfectly pure.

As Psalm 145 says,

The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. (Psalm 145:17 NIV)

But holiness also includes what you might call God’s “set-apartness”. In Isaiah 6, when Isaiah sees God, he sees him “high and lifted up”, exalted, but also far above us. Later in Isaiah 57, God says that he dwells in the “high and holy place”.

God’s holiness makes him distinct from us. Not least because he is set apart from sinners. But also because of the sheer majesty and glory of his holiness.

Exodus 15:11 says,

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

And yet, although God’s holiness makes him glorious and distinct and worthy of our praise and honour, remarkably, God also calls us to be holy as he is holy (Lev 19:2) and perfect as he is perfect (Matt 5).

In fact, part of the promise of the gospel is that God communicates and shares something of his holiness with us. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and make us holy in the image of Jesus.

That is even more extraordinary given that we are by nature sinners. But that’s the miracle of the gospel.

In fact, although God is high and lifted up, he is also near to the lowly and contrite. We read in Isaiah 57,

For this is what the high and exalted One says— he who lives forever, whose name is holy: “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15 NIV)

Part of the very definition of God’s holiness, what it means that his name is holy, is not only that he is high and lifted up but also, incredibly, that he dwells with the lowly and contrite who are sorry for their sin and who humble themselves and look to him for his mercy and grace.

Mercy, it seems, is part of the very fabric of God’s holiness.

God is Righteous

The next attribute of God’s character is his righteousness.

Righteousness refers to God’s absolute justice and fairness.

He rules the world in justice. He always does what is right.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. (Psalm 89:14 NIV)

God always judges rightly. Psalm 98 celebrate that, saying,

Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; 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. (Psalm 98:8–9 NIV)

In a world where we aren’t always guaranteed that we’ll receive right and just decisions, it’s a great encouragement to know that God always judges rightly and equitably.

The positive side, then, of God righteousness is his provision for and defence of his people and those who suffer unjustly.

Deuteronomy 10 says,

He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:18 NIV)

And Psalm 37:28 begins,

For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. (Psalm 37:28 NIV) 

But the second part of that verse goes on to spell out the other side of God’s righteousness, which is judgement. It says,

Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed; the offspring of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 37:28 NIV)

It’s tempting to call that side of God’s righteousness “negative”, but in a sense God’s judgement is also good. Judgement on the wicked is good for those who have suffered at their hands. Judgement on those who oppress the poor means deliverance for the poor.

In other words, judgement is one of the ways that God upholds and defends his people and the poor and the oppressed.

Nevertheless, the Bible also describes God’s judgement and punishment as his “strange work”. That is to say that in some sense it is not his natural mode ...