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Illustrating God's Character and Nature in Scripture

Scripture reveals God's character and nature through multiple interlocking methods, each contributing to a comprehensive portrait of the Divine Being. The Hebrew names themselves encode attributes: 'El derives from a root meaning "to be strong," while Elohim (the plural form used throughout the Bible) and Jehovah (rendered "LORD" in English translations) together establish God's power and covenant faithfulness [1]. The biblical text assumes God's existence rather than arguing for it, proceeding directly to disclosure of his attributes through narrative, law, poetry, and prophecy [1].

Direct Declarations of Divine Attributes

The Psalms frequently catalog God's character in propositional form. Psalm 145:8-9 demonstrates how "God consistently demonstrates his character toward all his creation" [7], while Psalm 33:4-7 shows that "God's word displays his character and his power" [9]. These declarations function as theological anchors, establishing baseline truths about divine holiness, mercy, and justice. The fear of God—described as "hatred of evil," "wisdom," and "a treasure to saints"—arises from contemplating specific divine attributes: "the holiness of God," "the greatness of God," "the goodness of God," and "the forgiveness of God" [3]. Scripture thus presents God's character as both the object and the source of proper human response.

Illustrative and Typological Revelation

Beyond direct statement, Scripture employs creation itself as a pedagogical tool. The natural order reveals divine glory, though "the holy scripture, as it is a rule both of our duty to God and of our expectation from him, is of much greater use and benefit to us than day or night" [5]. Even creatures like Leviathan serve illustrative purposes, with God's power "exhibited in destroying" this creature, making it "illustrative of powerful and cruel kings" and demonstrating "power and severity of God" [2]. The created order thus functions as both revelation and metaphor.

The Imago Dei as Reflection

Human nature itself illustrates divine character through the imago Dei. Calvin identifies this image with "righteousness and true holiness," understanding spiritual regeneration as "the restoration of the same image" [8]. Christianity "reveals God himself, the author of nature" and "teaches a man the true knowledge" [6], suggesting that understanding God's character requires both scriptural revelation and the renewal of the image-bearing capacity in humanity. The testimonies of Scripture are "wonderful both with respect to the author of them, the things contained in them, and the use and advantage of them" [4], making divine self-disclosure inseparable from the transformation of those who receive it.

Sources

  1. Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: God — (A.S. and Dutch God; Dan. Gud; Ger. Gott), the name of the Divine Being. It is the rendering (1) of the Hebrew 'El, from a word meaning to be strong; (2) of 'Eloah_, plural _'Elohim. The singular form, Eloah, is used only in poetry. The plural form is more commonly used in all parts of the Bible, The Hebrew word Jehovah (q.v.), the only other word generally employed to denote the Supreme Being, is uniformly rendered in the Authorized Version by "LORD," printed in small capitals. The existence of God is taken for granted in the Bible. There is nowhere any argume”
  2. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Leviathan — Created by God -- Ps 104:26. Nature and habits of -- Job 41:1-34. God's power, exhibited in destroying -- Ps 74:14. Illustrative of Powerful and cruel kings. -- Isa 27:1. Power and severity of God. -- Job 41:10.”
  3. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Fear, Godly — God is the object of -- Isa 8:13. God is the author of -- Jer 32:39,40. Searching the Scriptures gives the understanding of -- Pr 2:3-5. Described as Hatred of evil. -- Pr 8:13. Wisdom. -- Job 28:28; Ps 111:10. A treasure to saints. -- Pr 15:16; Isa 33:6. A fountain of life. -- Pr 14:27. Sanctifying. -- Ps 19:9. Filial and reverential. -- Heb 12:9,28. Commanded -- De 13:4; Ps 22:23; Ec 12:13; 1Pe 2:17. Motives to The holiness of God. -- Re 15:4. The greatness of God. -- De 10:12,17. The goodness of God. -- 1Sa 12:24. The forgiveness of God. -- Ps 130:4.”
  4. Psalms (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Psalms 119:125: PE.--The Seventeenth Part. PE. Thy testimonies are wonderful,.... The Scriptures, which testify of God, his mind and will, are wonderful both with respect to the author of them, the things contained in them, and the use and advantage of them. They give an account of the wonderful works of creation; of their author and matter; of the manner, order, and time of their being wrought: they relate many wonderful events of Providence, both in a way of mercy and judgment; they declare several surprising miracles, wrought by Moses and others, and exhibit many marvellous t”
  5. Psalms (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Psalms 19:7: God's glory, (that is, his goodness to man) appears much in the works of creation, but much more in and by divine revelation. The holy scripture, as it is a rule both of our duty to God and of our expectation from him, is of much greater use and benefit to us than day or night, than the air we breathe in, or the light of the sun. The discoveries made of God by his works might have served if man had retained his integrity; but, to recover him out of his fallen state, another course must be taken; that must be done by the word of God. And here, 1. The psalmist gives”
  6. Colossians (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Colossians 3:10: And have put on the new man - See on Rom 12:1-2 (note). Is renewed in knowledge - Ignorance was the grand characteristic of the heathen state; Knowledge, of the Christian. The utmost to which heathenism could pretend was a certain knowledge of nature. How far this went, and how much it fell short of the truth, may be seen in the writings of Aristotle and Pliny. Christianity reveals God himself, the author of nature; or, rather, God has revealed himself, in the Christian system with which he has blessed mankind. Christianity teaches a man the true knowledge both ”
  7. Psalms (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Psalms 145:8: 145:8-9 God consistently demonstrates his character toward all his creation (see 136:25).”
  8. CCEL (Reformed) “Calvin, Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1 (Gen 1-23), section 5.32: of the image of God. Since the image of God had been destroyed in us by the fall, we may judge from its restoration what it originally had been. Paul says that we are transformed into the image of God by the gospel. And, according to him, spiritual regeneration is nothing else than the restoration of the same image. ( Colossians 3:10 , and Ephesians 4:23 .) That he made this image to consist in righteousness and true holiness, is by the figure synecdochee ; 88 88 Synecdoche is the figure which puts a part for the whole, or the who”
  9. Psalms (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Psalms 33:4: 33:4-7 God’s word displays his character and his power.”
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