What Is God’s Character?
Who is God? This is a hard question to answer, isn’t it? Luckily, our Heavenly Father gave us his Son, Jesus, and his Word to help us understand who he truly is.
Your “character” is the unique things about you, such as how you act, feel and think. God’s character traits are incredibly unique and help us understand who he is. Where can we find these character traits? Inside the Bible, God’s own Word.
Scripture teaches us that a few of God’s key characteristics or attributes include:
God Is Love
1 John 4:8 (NIV) says, “God is love.” It’s easy for our human experiences to cloud how we view the love of God. So, we must look to Scripture to understand what God’s love truly is.
Scripture teaches us that God’s love is:
- Self-sacrificing: John 3:16 (NIV) says, “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.” God’s love inspired him to send his own son, Jesus, to the cross. Why? To pay the price for our sin so we could have eternal life.
- Personal: Psalm 139:16 (NIV) says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” God has known us personally and intimately since the moment we were conceived. He cares about everything that happens to us.
- Faithful: Romans 8:39 (NLT) says, “No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God’s love never fails us. It’s steady and unconditional. No matter what tomorrow holds, nothing can change just how much God loves us.
God Is Good
Just like God’s faithful love, God’s goodness knows no bounds. But what does it mean that God is good?
- God is without sin: It’s hard for us to imagine someone who is perfectly loving and always does the right thing no matter the situation. Yet this is exactly who Jesus was and is. 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV) calls Jesus, “him who had no sin,” and Isaiah 53:9 (NIV) prophesies that the Messiah will be killed although “he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”
- God is generous: When Jesus was explaining prayer to his disciples, he told them to trust in God’s generosity as a sign of his goodness. Matthew 7:11 (NIV) says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
- God shows us how to live the right way: Everyone wants to be good, right? The Bible says that goodness flows from God, and if we ask him, he will help us build our character to become good and wise, just like Jesus. James 1:5 (NIV) says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” When we ask for God’s help, he’s faithful to provide it. Over time, we’ll begin to show evidence of his goodness in our lives, such as the fruit of the Spirit.
God Is Holy
The Hebrew word for holy is kodesh. This word comes from the root word kadash, which means to be set apart. God is set apart from his creation. What does this mean?
- There’s no one like God: There’s no one who can love like God, provide like God or create like God. He’s set apart from anything else that has been or ever will be. 1 Samuel 2:2 (NIV) says, “There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”
- God is set apart from sin: He is completely pure and good. While Jesus walked on the earth, he was completely blameless and sinless. God calls us to be holy, or set apart, too. In Leviticus 19:2 (NIV), we read, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.”
God Is Merciful
God’s mercy is related to his goodness, faithfulness and holiness. Because humans are sinful by nature, we’re separated from the holy, loving and good God. That’s why God sent his son Jesus to us.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross opened the door for us to be saved from our sin, even though we’ve done nothing to deserve such a gift. This is the perfect picture of mercy.
Because of God’s mercy and Jesus’ sacrifice, we no longer have to be separated from God and can be forgiven of all of our sins. All we have to do is accept Jesus as our Savior and follow after him.
God Is Compassionate
In Matthew 14, Jesus was met by a large crowd full of people in need. In Verse 14, we read that Jesus had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Being compassionate means seeing the suffering of others, being moved and taking action to stop it. In other words, compassion is mercy in action. When others may keep their distance, compassion inspires a person to act on behalf of those suffering.
This is exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. Knowing we would suffer from the consequences of sin for eternity, he stepped in as our sacrifice.
God Is Unique
By receiving Jesus as our Savior, we also receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms us, helping us become more loving, good, holy, merciful and compassionate, just like Jesus.
However, there are some specific characteristics of God that can only be true about him, not us. For example, God is:
- Omnipresent: God is everywhere, always. We are never alone. Psalm 139:7-8 (NIV) says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”
- Omniscient: God knows everything, including everything about us. Psalm 147:5 (NIV) says, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”
- Omnipotent: God has unlimited power. There’s absolutely nothing he can’t do. Matthew 19:26 (NIV) says, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
Learn Even More About God’s Character