Westminster Confession of Faith
Questions 4-6: Attributes of God
This is a summary of my notes for a series of Sunday School lessons I prepared and taught during the summer of 2024. I used the following books as resources: The Truths We Confess (RC Sproul) and The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture (Thomas Vincent)
Before we begin… I want to start with a quote from RC Sproul as he opens his exposition on this section of the Westminster Confession in his book The Truths We Confess. “Humility demands that we understand at the outset that we are like infants struggling to understand a genius who is speaking to us in our own terms. A finite mind cannot attain an exhaustive, comprehensive understanding of the infinite, for we lack any reference to grasp it.” Even more so with us in this room today as we have such a limited amount of time to delve into such a weighty and massive topic. But we will do our best!
My hope for us as we consider these catechism questions, not just today but the whole quarter, is that we will get a taste for using the Catechism and the Confession to help cultivate and deepen our relationship with God. In my preparation for today, I was reminded of just how rich and valuable these two documents are in the life of a believer. I have had questions 4-6 rolling around my head for the last two weeks and it has been an incredible resource to steady my mind throughout the day.
Now, before we jump into questions 4-6 for today, I want to take a moment and read over the first three questions of the Shorter Catechism since they build on each other as we move along.
Question 1 What is the chief end of man?
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, (1 Cor. 10:31, Rom. 11:36) and to enjoy him forever. (Ps. 73:25–28)
Question 2 What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, (2 Tim. 3:16, Eph. 2:20) is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. (1 John 1:3–4)
Question 3 What do the scriptures principally teach?
The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man. (2 Tim. 1:13, 2 Tim. 3:16)
So you can see from the outset that the Westminster Confession and the Shorter Catechism are grounded in the Word of God. They are designed to draw from Scripture an understanding of who God is and what he requires of us. All for the glory of God as we enjoy him both now and forever.
Question 4 What is God?
God is a Spirit, (John 4:24) infinite, (Job 11:7–9) eternal, (Ps. 90:2) and unchangeable, (James 1:17) in his being, (Exod. 3:14) wisdom, (Ps. 147:5) power, (Rev. 4:8) holiness, (Rev. 15:4) justice, goodness, and truth. (Exod. 34:6–7)
When we are called upon to describe God, one helpful way to think about the characteristics of God is called the via negationis or the way of negation. It is simply the act of describing what God is not. We find this helpful in our learning because it gives us a human frame of reference. It gives us something we can relate to in our everyday experience. As we run through these characteristics, keep asking yourself how this differs from our human lives.
1st God is a Spirit… God is immaterial in his being. He cannot be measured with a ruler or weighed on a scale. Because of this, God is invisible and we cannot see him unless he chooses to manifest himself through some physical and material medium. He must reveal himself to us in ways that we can see and understand.
2nd God is infinite… God has no ontological boundaries. There is no place, zone, or venue where his presence does not permeate. He is without bounds and boundaries, everywhere, and eternally in his being.
3rd God is eternal… The eternality we are talking about here is in both directions. At no point did God not exist. He is not dependent upon anything outside of himself. Nothing differentiates God from the creature more dramatically than this. For we are wholly dependent upon him for our being and existence. God’s eternality is inseparably related to his self-existence. His aseity… To have being or existence within oneself.
4th God is unchangeable… To be unchangeable is to always be the same without any alteration. God is now, has always been, and will always be the same.
Being: Exodus 3:14 (ESV): God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
Wisdom: Psalm 147:5 (ESV): Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
Power: Revelation 4:8 (ESV): And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”
Holiness: Revelation 15:4 (ESV): Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
Justice, Goodness, and Truth: Exodus 34:6–7 (ESV): The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
When we list his attributes and characteristics like this, we tend to separate them and think of them as individual but God is all of them all time. He is not one part infinite, one part eternal, one part holy as if they can be separated or interchangeable. All of God is all of his attributes in their entirety. His holiness is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. Every attribute ascribed to God applies to the whole of God.
Being, Wisdom, Power, Holiness, Justice, Goodness, and Truth – his communicable attributes (those that can be found in some measure and degree in his creatures) are in God found to be infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. We can participate in the attributes, but only God is altogether perfect.
Question 5 Are there more Gods than one?
There is but One only, the living and true God. (Deut. 6:4, Jer. 10:10)
There is but One only… This is in opposition to many gods and can be found in Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
Let’s look back at Question 4 and review what we said about God being infinite.
God is infinite… God has no ontological boundaries. There is no place, zone, or venue where his presence does not permeate. He is without bounds and boundaries, everywhere, and eternally in his being.
The universe has no room for more than one infinite being. If there were a second infinite being, then the first one would have a boundary to his essence, thus making him finite and not God. God being an infinite being can only ever exist as a singular unique essence. This essence refers to the eternal, self-existent being. A pure being.
Living and true… This is in opposition to dead and false idols and can be found in Jeremiah 10:1-16
Hear the word that the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the LORD:
“Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”
There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.
They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men.
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. Thus shall you say to them: “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.” It is he who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens. When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
Every man is stupid and without knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, for his images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the LORD of hosts is his name. (ESV)
Question 6 How many persons are there in the Godhead?
There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. (1 John 5:7, Matt. 28:19)
How do you describe something that is far removed from our basic human understanding? For thousands of years, men and women have tried their best to put into words a basic understanding of the Trinity. This mystery of God’s nature being one in essence and three in person. A technical discussion of the Trinity is well beyond the reach of our 10-minute allotment but it is an important topic for us all to dig into and understand. Many heresies have crept into the church through the ages due to an improper understanding of the Godhead.
The key to this mystery is the term ‘essence”. To the ancient mind, the term “to exist” described finite creatures, while “essence” referred to the eternal, self-existent being – the pure being. God alone is a pure being and has a pure essence. He just “is”. We creatures, by contrast, have existence by virtue of the power of God, in whom “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). We exist in and through the essential essence of God alone.
Now. I think we are all on board with this so far, right? Where our brains struggle is in this notion that the Godhead has three persons. We tend to stumble over the word “person” because we bring to it the common understanding of personhood and our everyday use of the term. The Latin term used here is persona which carried with it the idea of personal property in the court system, those things that belong to you. It also had a specific meaning in theatre as the masks an actor would use to play multiple roles on stage. Greek theologians used the term hypostasis to get at the meaning here of “subsistence” or “to stand under”. The theologians were saying that the personal distinctions of the Godhead are to be understood not as three distinct existences, but as three subsistences – standing under the pure essence.
The Westminster Divines here in the Shorter Catechism and in the Westminster Confession are being extremely careful to affirm the full deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and at the same time steer clear of tritheism. What we are saying is that in an absolute, ultimate sense, God is one – one being – yet within the Godhead are three distinct persons or subsistences that must be recognized if we want to be faithful to Scripture.
At the Council of Nicea, the term used to define the relationship between Christ and the Father was homoousios, which means “of the same being”. This was the most important theological formula of the fourth century and probably for the next thousand years of church history. It is the basis of the familiar phrase from the Council of Chalcedon, “truly man and truly God”.
There are two special relationships in the Trinity. First, the Son is eternally begotten from the Father (and not vice versa). Second, the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son (not vice-versa). These are the defined relationships among the three persons of the Trinity that describe the personal properties that differentiate them from one another, not a description of their essential superiority or inferiority pertaining to their being.
The Father is eternally unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son. At the same time, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are homoousios, one with the other, having equal value, power, eternity, dignity, and authority.