Grudem's Theory Of The Doctrine Of God

In studying this section, Grudem discusses his theory of the Doctrine of God with discussing the character of God. Grudem begins by stating that there are several methods of categorizing the attributes of God. However, the most common attributes are better known as incommunicable and communicable attributes. The incommunicable attributes of God are "those attributes that God does not communicate to others", and the communicable attributes of God are "those attributes that God does communicate or share with others" (Grudem p. 186). An incommunicable attribute of God would be His unchangeableness; whereas, a communicable attribute of God would be love, knowledge and mercy. In Scripture, God is often known and discovered by His character.

In describing God's character and His abilities, the Bible uses descriptions that humans can easily grasp and relate to. In other words, God has to come down to level of humans so that mankind can get some kind of understanding of Him and who He is. If God used words to describe Himself in terminology that mankind was not familiar with or could not understand, then God would be talking to mankind, but He would not be communicating with mankind. It is God's desire to communicate and dwell among His creation. The God in biblical Scripture is a God who comes down and speaks to people and commune with them. He is not a God who stands off and doesn't hear, speak or communicate, such as the Greek gods did. "The gods of ancient Greek and Roman mythology were personal, but they were not infinite. They had weaknesses and frequent moral failures, even petty rivalries. Furthermore, deism portrays a God who is infinite, but was not personal and removed from their people" (p. 167). But He is a just God to guide, inspire and instruct His

Furthermore, God is concerned about all that He has created. In fact, God is so concerned about His creation that He feeds, clothes and shelters them all. "God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy" (p. 161). God does not owe mankind anything, but mankind owes everything to God, including her life. Particular sections in the reading shares an interesting topic of God giving Himself glory. If that is the case, God does not need mankind to offer glory to Him because He can give it to