Ex. 33:18-34:9, God’s Communicable Attributes (1)

God reveals Himself is a variety of ways.  In Scripture we have studied the “Names of God,” which is one of those ways.  Another way is that He both ascribes by word and by His works various attributes to Himself.  We are going to embark on a study of His “communicable” attributes.  But to understand what we mean by “communicable” we want to start with a reference to two names from the Old Testament. 

First, in Ex. 3:14-15, God revealed Himself as Jehovah/YAHWEH, as the “I AM.”  This name emphasizes incommunicable attributes of eternality and self-existence.  What we mean, of course, is that we do not share these attributes.  We are finite and given life from outside ourselves.  Thus, we might struggle to know how these things work, though we recognize God is incomprehensible. 

Then, in Ex. 34:5-9, we have what we like to call the “Manifold Name of God.”  The context for God revealing Himself to Moses by this name is that Moses pled with God to “show me Your glory” (Ex. 33:  He was seeking to know God more deeply.  The “I AM” contained a lot of mystery.  God’s answer to Moses here was, in essence, a collection of communicable attributes.  When God called Himself merciful and gracious, He spoke of attributes to which Moses could relate.  It’s not that there was not much to learn about God’s mercy and graciousness; but it was that Moses could identify with this in his own soul.

People are made in the image of God.  For that reason, it makes sense that we would share attributes with God.  We are going to follow Louis Berkhof’s approach (from his Systematic Theology) where he speaks of God’s communicable attributes as “personality” attributes and outlines them according to the categories of personality: intelligence, sensibility and will.  He does not use the term “emotions” which is a feeling but “sensibility” or “desires” which are yearnings or longings.

We hope you find this helpful.  We plan to incorporate a good number of verses from the Bible to help us in the renewing of our minds.  May you be encouraged by this study.  It is not just a matter of having some information about God.  It is intended to help us grow in our knowledge of God.  Understanding His attributes give us insight into His day-to-day work in our lives.  His attributes are often a part of the prayers of the saints in Scripture; perhaps this study will deepen our prayer lives also.  Perhaps you noticed that Moses, in 34:9, incorporated one of God’s attributes (grace) into his plea to the LORD to be among the people of Israel as they journeyed on from Mt. Sinai.

And one last matter: a study of God’s attributes will help us in differentiating between the true God and the “god” that we design.  Thus, we will be better equipped to do as John said: Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 Jn. 5:21).