God

I. Attributes of God
II. Love of God III. Name of God




I. Attributes of God (Top)

And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. Isaiah 11:5

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

Our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29

Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 Peter 1:16

For He has revealed to us by all the prophets that He needs neither sacrifices, nor burnt-offerings, nor oblations… Barnabas (A.D. 70-130) ch.2

I say, then, that God is not born, not made, an ever-abiding nature without beginning and without end, immortal, perfect, and incomprehensible. Now when I say that he is "perfect", this means that there is not in him any defect, and he is not in need of anything but all things are in need of him. Aristides (2nd century) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.9 pg.262

For as the soul in man is not seen, being invisible to men, but is perceived through the motion of the body, so God cannot indeed be seen by human eyes, but is beheld and perceived through His providence and works. Theophilus (A.D. 180) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.90

For the Divine Being is not angry in the way that some think; but often restrains, and always exhorts humanity, and shows what ought to be done. And this is a good device, to terrify lest we sin. "For the fear of the Lord drives away sins, and he that is without fear cannot be justified," says the Scripture. And God does not inflict punishment from wrath, but for the ends of justice; since it is not expedient that justice should be neglected on our account. Each one of us, who sins, with his own free-will chooses punishment, and the blame lies with him who chooses. God is without blame. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.226

II. Love of God (Top)

And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receives. Heb 12:5-6

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 1 John 4:8

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1 John 5:3

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. 2 John 1:6

Let him that has love in Christ fulfill the commandments of Christ. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch.49

You see, dearly beloved, how great and marvelous a thing is love, and there is no declaring its perfection. Who is sufficient to be found therein, save those to whom God shall vouchsafe it? Let us therefore entreat and ask of His mercy, that we may be found blameless in love, standing apart from the factiousness of men. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch. 50

Blessed were we, dearly beloved, if we should be doing the commandments of God in concord of love, to the end that our sins may through love be forgiven us. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch.50

For such as walk in fear and love desire that they themselves should fall into suffering rather than their neighbors; and they pronounce condemnation against themselves rather than against the harmony which has been handed down to us nobly and righteously. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch.50

You read how broad is the road to evil, how thronged in comparison with the opposite: would not all glide down that road were there nothing in it to fear? We dread the Creator's tremendous threats, and yet scarcely turn away from evil. What, if He threatened not? Will you call this justice an evil, when it is all unfavorable to evil? Will you deny it to be a good, when it has its eye towards good? What sort of being ought you to wish God to be? Would it be right to prefer that He should be such, that sins might flourish under Him, and the devil make mock at Him? Would you suppose Him to be a good God, who should be able to make a man worse by security in sin? Who is the author of good, but He who also requires it? Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg.307

God… both a perfect father and a perfect master: a father in His mercy, a master in His discipline; a father in the mildness of His power, a master in its severity; a father who must be loved with dutiful affection, a master who must needs be feared; be loved, because He prefers mercy to sacrifice; be feared because He dislikes sin; be loved, because He prefers the sinners repentance to his death; be feared, because He dislikes the sinners who do not repent. Accordingly, the divine law commands duties in respect of both these attributes: You shall love God, and, You shall fear God. It proposed one for the obedient man, the other for the transgressor. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg.308




III. Name of God (Top)

He has no name, for everything which has a name is kindred to things created. Form he has none, nor yet any union of members; for whatsoever possesses these is kindred to things fashioned. He is neither male nor female. The heavens do not limit him, but the heavens and all things, visible and invisible, receive their bounds from him. Adversary he has none, for there exists not any stronger than he. Wrath and indignation he possesses not, for there is nothing which is able to stand against him. Ignorance and forgetfulness are not in his nature, for he is altogether wisdom and understanding; and in Him stands fast all that exists. He requires not sacrifice and libation, nor even one of things visible; He requires not aught from any, but all living creatures stand in need of him. Aristides (2nd century) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.9 pg.262

But we have received by tradition that God does not need the material offerings which men can give, seeing, indeed, that He Himself is the provider of all things. And we have been taught, and are convinced, and do believe, that He accepts those only who imitate the excellences which reside in Him, temperance, and justice, and philanthropy, and as many virtues as are peculiar to a God who is called by no proper name. Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg.165

For God cannot be called by any proper name, for names are given to mark out and distinguish their subject-matters, because these are many and diverse; but neither did any one exist before God who could give Him a name, nor did He Himself think it right to name Himself, seeing that He is one and unique, as He Himself also by His own prophets testifies, when He says, "I God am the first," and after this, "And beside me there is no other God." On this account, then, as I before said, God did not, when He sent Moses to the Hebrews, mention any name, but by a participle He mystically teaches them that He is the one and only God. "For," says He; "I am the Being;" Justin Martyr (A.D. 160) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.1 pg. 281

The name of God the Father had been published to no one. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.3 pg. 682

Neither must you ask for a name of God. God is His name. We have need of names when a multitude are to be separated into individuals. … To God, who is alone, the name “God” is the whole. Minucius Felix (A.D. 200) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.4 pg. 183

Christians in prayer do not even use the precise names that divine Scripture applies to God. Rather, the Greeks use Greek names. The Romans use Latin names. And everyone prays and sings praises to God as best he can in his mother tongue. For the Lord of all the languages of the earth hears those who pray to Him in each different languages. Origen (A.D. 240) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.4 pg. 653

God’s own name also cannot be declared, for He cannot be conceived. … For the name is the significance of whatever thing can be comprehended from a name. Novatian (A.D. 257) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.5 pg. 615

Neither must you ask the name of God. God is His name. Where a multitude is to be distinguished by the appropriate characteristics of names, there is a need of names. However, to God – who alone is – belongs the whole name of God. Cyprian (A.D. 250) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.5 pg. 467

As I have shown in the beginning, God does not need a name, since He is alone. Lactantius (A.D. 304-313) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.7 pg. 65

SEE ALSO: FEAR OF GOD