Summary: 1. God is holy. (Absolutely pure) 2. God is omnipotent. (All powerful) 3. God is just. (Equitable in His dealings) 4. God is sovereign. (Above and independent of all others) 5. God is omnipresent. (Everywhere present at once) 6. God is omniscient. (All knowing) 7. God is love. (Has the best interests of all His created beings in mind at all times) Traditionally, Protestant theologians have highlighted four essential characteristics of Scripture: 1. Sufficiency 2. Clarity 3. Authority 4. Necessity Sufficiency - The Scriptures contain everything we need for knowledge of salvation and godly living. We don't need any new revelation from Heaven. Clarity - The saving message of Jesus Christ is taught in the Scriptures and can be understood by all who have ears to hear it. We don't need an official magisterium to tell us what the Bible means. Authority - The last work always goes to the Word of God. We must never allow the teachings of science, of human experience, or of church councils to take precedence over Scripture. Necessity - General revelation is not enough to save us. We cannot know God by means of personal experience and human reasoning. We need God's Word to tell us how to live, who Christ is, and how to be saved. God's Word is final God's Word is understandable God's Word is necessary God's Word is enough 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NKJV 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly-equipped for every good work. "Of the four attributes of Scripture, this may be the one that evangelists forget first. If authority is the liberal problem, clarity the postmodern problem, and necessity the problem for atheists and agnostics, then sufficiency is the attribute most quickly doubted by rank-and-file church going Christians. We can say right things about the Bible, and even read it regularly, but when life gets difficult, or just a bit boring, we look for new words, new revelation, and new experiences to bring us closer to God... ... If we could only have something more than the Scriptures, then we could be really close to Jesus and know His love for us." - Kevin DeYoung in Taking God At His Word 1 Corinthians 1:22 NKJV For Jews request a sign... Matthew 12:38-40 NKJV 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." 39 But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet of Jonah. 40 "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." We claim we are hungry for a mighty move of God while we ignore the account of the majestic move that God made toward us in Christ! Hebrews 1:1 NKJV God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets... Hebrews 1:2 NKJV ... has in these last days spoken to us by His Son... There is no act of redemption left to take place before the last day arrives. Hebrews 1:2b-4 NKJV 2 ... When He has appointed heir of all things through Whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. No prophet, no angel, no being in Heaven or Earth can show us God any more completely than Christ! No redeemer will come after Him There is no new revelation needed than what the Bible teaches about Him! If redemption is complete, then revelation is complete!
