What is the character of God?
God's character is not a matter of guesswork or private opinion — it is something He has chosen to make known, first by name, then in a Person, and finally in an act. Scripture gathers what He is into a handful of statements so simple a child can hold them, yet so deep that the whole story of redemption is woven from them.
God Is Not Vague
Many people treat God as an idea with no settled personality, something they can shape to suit themselves. One writer names this habit directly, and points instead to a moment where God declared what He is:
G. V. WigramPeople often speak as though God had no character. He chooses to take the lead, and it is for us to fall in behind God's thoughts and plans, and to leave everything with Him, to Him, and to Him alone; this is the path of blessing. Moses got hold of it… In Exodus 34 we find a yearning, a pitifulness, a patience in looking at what He means to accomplish; Exodus 33 brings out the condition they were in; chapter 34, the character of God.
Light And Love
Two short sentences in the Bible carry more weight than any list of attributes. One writer points out what Scripture never says about God, in order to show what it does say:
Julius A Von Poseck"God is light"; and "God is love." These two are His essential qualities — His very being. We know that power, dominion and authority, wisdom and riches belong to Him. But nowhere does Scripture say that "God is power," or that "God is wisdom." We know that God is holy, righteous, and just, and that He is good, gracious, and merciful. But these divine qualities are only the visible results of what God is in Himself — Light and Love.
Neither statement is allowed to swallow the other, and the balance has consequences for how anyone comes near Him:
William J HockingLove is the centre and circumference of fellowship, and wherever the love of God is, His light is also. There can be no fellowship apart from the light, for while God is love, He is also light. And God will not allow one side of His nature to exceed or eclipse the other.
Holy, And Therefore Unchanging
Because His nature never shifts, nothing He does can drift out of line with it — every kindness He shows is measured by what He is:
F. A. HughesGod Himself is spoken of as "the incorruptible God." What absolute assurance the knowledge of this gives the soul. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." Every attribute of the blessed God is to be seen in relation to the holiness of His nature. So every promise, every act of love, every movement in grace, every giving of mercy is in absolute agreement with His nature and in relation to His eternal purpose. His Name is "the SAME"; He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself; with Him there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Made Known By Name, Then In A Person
God gave Israel a description of Himself at Sinai, but that was not the end of what He had to say:
H J VineWe are told what God is as Jehovah in the proclamation of His Name — "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." We see how this gave character to men of faith in the Old Testament, but it was not until the Son came that the Name of divine love — the Father's Name — was made known.
The final disclosure is not more information but a Person, and only one Person could give it:
Ernst-August BremickerWhat God is can only be fully revealed in the Son of the Father. In the Son, God opens His heart. No angel and no man could ever have done this… He alone knew God and therefore He alone could reveal Him as He is… The Lord Jesus Himself said: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9)… Whoever saw the Son of the Father with eyes of faith saw God in His very essence — God as He is.
Proved At The Cross
Qualities that seem to pull against each other — mercy and justice — were shown together at one place, and shown to their limit:
Michael HardtGod's character and attributes became visible on the cross: He is light and He is love, He is just and holy and yet merciful and gracious. All these things were seen and proved on the cross, in a way that could only happen on the cross. Only there could all the characteristics of God be displayed without contradicting each other — there, and only there, could steadfast love and faithfulness meet, righteousness and peace kiss (Ps. 85:10). And only on the cross could the full extent of these characteristics be shown.
The outcome can be stated in four words:
Hamilton SmithAt the cross the righteousness of God is satisfied, the love of God is gratified; God Himself is glorified; the believer in Christ is justified.
What It Does To Us
Knowing that God is light is not an abstract fact; it fixes where a believer lives day by day:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWalking in the light is not a question of how we walk but where we walk, and the place where the believer walks is the light. It means walking daily in His presence, with our will and conscience in the light and presence of God, judging everything that does not answer to that light. Whatever is not right is brought at once into His presence, exposed to the light, confessed, judged and put away.
Summary
- Character. God is not a blank you fill in; He has a settled character He has chosen to declare.
- Light and love. These two are what He is; holiness, righteousness, mercy and grace are what these two produce.
- Named. He announced Himself as merciful and gracious, slow to anger — and kept the deepest name back until the Son came.
- Declared. Only the Son could reveal God as He is; to see Him with faith is to see God's very essence.
- Proved. At the cross every side of His character was displayed at once without contradiction — and the believer walks in that light ever after.