God's Word For You is a free Bible Study site committed to bringing you studies firmly grounded in the Bible – the Word of God. Holding a reformed, conservative, evangelical perspective this site affirms that God has provided in Jesus Christ his eternal Son, a way of salvation in which we can live in his presence guilt free, acquitted and at peace.

 
 

STUDY TWO: GOD’S ESSENTIAL NATURE – 1

©Rosemary Bardsley 2023

In this study and the next we will be looking at aspects of God’s essential nature – those attributes, qualities and characteristics that are intrinsic to his being.

It is important that we do this when studying the goodness of God, for two reasons:

[1] That if God is not good, then many of these qualities and characteristics would be very frightening.
[2] That if God does not have these qualities and characteristics, then his goodness would be powerless or seriously limited and unreliable.

For example:

If God is not good, then his power and his sovereignty are very frightening.
But if God is neither powerful nor sovereign, then his goodness is basically useless.

But, the God of the Bible is both good, and all of these other qualities as well. The other qualities empowering God’s goodness, and God’s goodness dispelling, for those who know and love him, the frightening threat of such qualities as his power, his authority and his justice.

God, as he is in himself, is therefore complete and perfect. He is not at odds with himself. All of his qualities work together, each enhancing and enabling the other. No quality displaces and undermines any of the others, or acts in conflict with any other. As the Bible says ‘God is light; in him is no darkness at all’ – 1John 1:5. There are no hidden dark qualities in God. The truth that God is good, makes all of his other qualities, and all of his actions, attitudes and words, also good.

So let us look at God’s essential nature, in order to better understand and better trust his goodness.

A. GOD IS INFINITE AND ETERNAL (HE IS UNLIMITED AND OMNIPRESENT)

[For extended study on this topic go here.]

By ‘infinite’ we mean that God is not and cannot be measured. He is not limited, and he cannot be limited. He is anywhere and everywhere, and everything about him, including his goodness, is also there and unlimited. By ‘eternal’ we mean that God is not limited by or bound in physical time. He is present at any time and at all times. Our future is just as real to him as our present and our past. While he relates to us in our time, he himself is outside of and beyond time. Thus God is omnipresent (omni = all). In every location, at every time. Always everywhere. Without limit, and without limit to his goodness.

Bible study questions: Read Exodus 3:9 – 14, then answer these questions:
What did Moses want to know before he went to Egypt to rescue the Israelites?

What did God say his name was?

What does this name tell you about God?

 

Bible study question: What do these verses say about God as infinite, eternal, and omnipresent?
Deuteronomy 33:27a

Joshua 1:5b, 9

Psalm 90:2

Psalm 139:7 – 16

 

Isaiah 40:12 – 28

 

Matthew 28:20b

Discussion questions:
If God’s name, I AM, is an expression of his essential being – his eternal, self-sufficient existence – what does this tell you about his goodness?

 

If God is infinite (unlimited, immeasurable), what does this assure you about his goodness?

 

If God is eternal (always everywhere), what does this tell you about his goodness?

 

Bottom line: [1] God’s goodness is always here, everywhere, and without limit. [2] His limitlessness and his omnipresence are not threatening, rather, they are good.

 

B. GOD IS UNIQUE – GOD IS ‘HOLY’

[For extended study on God's holiness click here.]

When we think of ‘holy’ we usually think in moral terms like ‘completely good’ or ‘completely righteous’. While God’s holiness includes his moral perfection, the word is something much bigger than that. It means ‘set-apart’. Totally unique. Totally different from everything else. Including everything else that we call ‘god’.

Bible study questions. How do these verses express this holiness – this fact that God is one-of-a-kind?
Exodus 15:11

Joshua 24:14, 15, 19,20

 

Isaiah 6:1 – 5

 

Isaiah 40:18 – 20

 

Isaiah 44:6 – 20

 

Isaiah 46:5 – 9

 

Discussion questions:
How is the concept of God’s goodness enriched by this truth that God is the only god?

 

If God is so unique, what is wrong with measuring God’s goodness by our human concepts of goodness?

 

Bottom line: Because God is totally set apart, totally unique, his goodness cannot be identified by or compared with our changing human concepts of ‘goodness’. Rather, like God himself – holy, set apart – his goodness is absolute; his goodness defines what ‘goodness’ actually is.

 

C. GOD IS THE ALL-POWERFUL, SOVEREIGN LORD OF ALL (HE IS OMNIPOTENT)

[There are extended studies on God's power and sovereignty here and here. ]

Without God’s goodness, God’s power and authority are frightening. On the other hand, God’s goodness would be powerless if God was not the Almighty God, the sovereign Lord of all. Only if God is the One in control of everything that exists can his goodness do anything for us. His sovereignty, that is his rule and authority, covers everything because he created everything and sustains everything. There is nothing that he cannot do. There is no one who can thwart his purposes. There is nothing beyond his authority, beyond his control. [We look at the issues of and goodness of God and prayer and suffering in later studies.)

Bible study questions. What do these verses reveal about the sovereign power and authority of God?
Over the created universe:
Job 38

 

 

 

Psalm 104:5 – 24

 

 

Isaiah 40:12, 25, 26

 

Hebrews 1:3

Over nations and people:
Psalm 2

 

Isaiah 40:15 – 17, 23 – 24

 

Isaiah 45:1 – 3

Over evil:
Genesis 45:4 – 8; 50:19, 20

 

Job 1:12; 2:6,7

 

Acts 2:23

Discussion questions:
How does God’s sovereign power and authority enrich his goodness?

 

How does his sovereignty and power help you to trust him in all situations?

 

Even when evil seems to have the upper hand, what does the Bible assure us?

 

Bottom line: God’s goodness, power and authority together reveal God as utterly trustworthy, and fully able to help us no matter what our situation is.

 

D. GOD KNOWS AND UNDERSTANDS EVERYTHING (HE IS OMNISCIENT)

The truth that God is both infinite and eternal also means that he sees, knows and understands everything. Nothing is hidden from him. Again, this could be quite scary, if he was not also good. But because he is good, then this omniscience of God is also good. And, if he was not also powerful and sovereign, then his knowledge, like his goodness, would be useless.

Bible study: What do these verses say about God’s knowledge and understanding?
Job 23:10

Psalm 139:1 – 6, 15 – 18

 

Isaiah 40:13, 14, 27, 28

Isaiah 46:10

Matthew 10:29 – 31

John 2:25; 6:64 – 71

 

Romans 11:33 – 34

Discussion questions:
What is frightening about the fact that God sees and knows everything you think, say and do?

 

How does God’s goodness ease that fear?

 

Bottom line: God’s goodness releases us from fear of God’s complete knowledge. God’s omniscience means that his goodness can never be limited or misapplied by any ignorance or unawareness in God.

 

REVIEW
In this study we have looked at the interface of God’s goodness with other aspects of his nature:

He is infinite and eternal, which means that his goodness is also infinite and eternal – unrestricted, unlimited, present and active in all places and at all times.

He is holy, totally unlike anything else that is called ‘god’. His goodness, therefore, cannot be defined by or likened to any other expression of goodness, whether it is the ‘goodness’ of other so-called ‘gods’ or the perceived goodness of humans. God’s goodness, like God himself, is one-of-a-kind – the only goodness just like that.

In addition, the truth that God is the only God means that there is no one there, no other ‘god’, who has the potential to over-power God and thus disempower his goodness. When we speak of our good God, we are not speaking of a God whose goodness can be over-ridden or undermined by an opposing evil power.

God is the almighty sovereign Lord over all that exists. There is not a circumstance, not a situation, that is beyond the intervention of his goodness. In his sovereign power and authority God takes even what is evil, even what is opposed to him, and brings out of it his good pleasure and his good purpose.

He knows and understands everything. Even the darkness, which holds many secrets, holds no secrets from him. His goodness can thus reach us in the darkest moments and the most hidden corners of our lives because he knows us to the very depths of our beings, in the very depths of our fear, our guilt and our despair.

Review questions:
How has this study helped you to understand God’s goodness?

 

For you, which of God’s other qualities has the greatest potential to increase your trust in God’s goodness?

 

In what ways do the concepts in this study affirm or challenge the way you have thought about God?