7 Attributes of God You May Not Know

There are several well-known attributes of God. These include omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability, holiness and mercy. The attributes discussed in this article are attributes that may be less commonly known, but still equally important. We should continue to study about God and His character to get an understanding of who He is and how He expects us to live.

God’s attribute of impartiality is the fact that God is not partial and treats everyone equally

Impartial

God’s attribute of impartiality is the fact that God is not partial and treats everyone equally. God does not esteem some people more importantly than anyone else.

Deuteronomy 20:17 and 2 Chronicles 19:7 say that God does not show partiality and that He won’t take a bribe to buy His favor. God does not show partiality to the rich or to the poor (Job 34:18; Galatians 2:6), wise or unwise (Job 36:5; 37:24) nor to the righteous and unrighteous (Matthew 5:44). God does not even show favoritism to His own people—the Jews (Acts 15:8; Romans 2:6-11; 10:12).

But those who fear God and do right will find a just and loving God (Acts 10:34, 35).

Infinite

God is without limit and boundary. This speaks of His infiniteness. The infiniteness of God applies to all His attributes too. Whatever attribute God has is infinite.

God cannot be contained by the heavens and certainly not a building on earth (1 Kings 8:27; Isaiah 66:1, 2). Height, depth and length cannot measure God (Job 11:7-9; Psalm 139:7, 8). The vastness of the earth is but a small thing to God (Isaiah 40:12).

On top of His physical presence His thoughts and plans are far beyond our comprehension (Isaiah 55:8, 9). His wisdom, knowledge and judgments are out of our scope of understanding (Romans 11:33). His love is eternal (Psalm 100:5).

Patient or Longsuffering

Many times the Bible will use the phrase “slow to anger” to talk about God being patient or longsuffering (Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; etc.). Many of these same verses link His patience to His grace and mercy.

While we are also reminded in the Bible that God will punish sin, He comes to that point after His patience has come to an end. God is merciful to us in that His wrath is withheld giving us an opportunity to repent (Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:3).

Self-Existent

One of the attributes of God that is beyond our comprehension is that God is self-existent. This means that He did not have someone or something create Him. We are told in Genesis 1 that God existed before the creation of the world (also, Psalm 90:2). Another term for this attribute is “aseity” which means “from oneself.” The term in the Old Testament “I am” (Exodus 3:14) speaks to God’s self-existence. He is all-sufficient in Himself.

God was not dependent on another to bring Him into being (Acts 17:23-25). Because we are finite beings that depend on God’s love for our creation and existence we have trouble understanding this aspect of Him.

Transcendent

Transcendency is the attribute that says God goes beyond all our understanding in every aspect of His character. While we can have mercy, God’s mercy is greater than ours will ever be. We can be patient, but God’s patience is beyond us. In every respect God is far beyond what we can accomplish. God is above His creation in every way (Isaiah 55:8, 9). This also speaks to the fact that He is distinct and independent from His creation (Job 12:10; Acts 17:25; Colossians 1:17).

Faithful

Unlike humans, God is trustworthy and faithful. He will do what He says (Hebrews 6:17, 18; 11:11). His faithfulness will keep and protect us (2 Thessalonians 3:3). Because of His faithfulness we can have forgiveness (1 John 1:9). And He makes a way for us to escape from sin through His faithfulness (1 Corinthians 10:13). His faithfulness is part of His existence (Isaiah 49:7; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Love

This makes the list of lesser-known attributes because the love of God is often misunderstood. For many years the drumbeat has been “God is love.” and, “God loves you.” While these statements are true (1 John 4:8, 16) there must be an understanding of what God’s love is. Too many people interpret this to mean that God would never punish anyone because He is like a kind grandparent who wants to spoil us. That is a twisted sense of who God is and what His love is about.

The Bible says that love is doing what is right (Romans 13:8-10). God’s pure and perfect love means that He will do the right thing in every case. His love is what we call agape love. This is unconditional and unmerited. No matter how wicked we are, God’s other attributes of grace, mercy, patience, etc. are still in place and He is waiting to pour out His love on us. But it must be remembered that His love means that He will do what is right and just in every case.