What are the attributes of God?

Studying God’s attributes can sound like a dry academic exercise, but it is closer to a wife learning the character of the husband she loves, or a child coming to understand who their father really is. The Bible does not present God as an abstract force; it describes a rich, specific character that you can come to know, trust, and love more deeply the more clearly you see it. Moses asked to see God’s glory, and God responded by proclaiming his own character aloud: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6-7). Attributes, in other words, are not human speculation about God; they are how God has chosen to describe himself.

Theologians commonly group God’s attributes into two broad categories, though the categories always overlap and never divide God into parts. Some attributes are called “incommunicable” because no creature can share them: God is infinite, eternal, unchanging, self-existent, present everywhere, all-knowing, and all-powerful (Psalm 90:2; Malachi 3:6; Psalm 147:5). Others are called “communicable” because, in a limited, creaturely way, humans can reflect them: God is holy, loving, just, merciful, gracious, faithful, wise, and good, and he calls his people to imitate these qualities (Leviticus 19:2; Ephesians 5:1).

It is crucial to understand that this is a division for the sake of study, not a division within God himself. God is not partly loving and partly holy the way a pie is partly this slice and partly that slice. He is entirely loving and entirely holy at every moment, and each attribute is expressed through all the others. His justice is never unloving, and his love is never unjust; his mercy never compromises his holiness.

God’s incommunicable attributes remind us that he is not simply a bigger, better version of us. He is self-existent, depending on nothing (Acts 17:25). He is eternal, without beginning or end (Psalm 90:2). He is immutable, never changing in character or purpose (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). He is omniscient, knowing all things perfectly, including your thoughts before you think them (Psalm 139:4). He is omnipresent, filling heaven and earth at once (Jeremiah 23:23-24). He is omnipotent, able to do all that is consistent with his own perfect nature (Jeremiah 32:17). These attributes describe a God who is genuinely other—transcendent, majestic, and worthy of worship rather than casual familiarity.

At the same time, God’s communicable attributes are what make him approachable rather than merely awesome. He is holy, yet he draws near to the humble (Isaiah 57:15). He is just, yet he justifies the guilty who trust in Christ (Romans 3:26). He is merciful, giving people better than what their sins deserve, and gracious, giving people good things they have not earned (Ephesians 2:8-9). He is faithful, keeping every promise across generations (Lamentations 3:22-23), and he is good, doing right by his creatures even when circumstances are hard to understand (Psalm 34:8).

There is no single place where all of God’s attributes shine together more clearly than the cross of Jesus Christ. There you see his holiness, which cannot ignore sin; his justice, which demands sin be paid for; his love, which sent his own Son to pay it; his mercy, which spares repentant sinners the punishment they deserve; and his power, displayed in the resurrection that conquered death (Romans 3:25-26; Romans 5:8). If you ever want a shortcut to understanding who God is, look long and hard at the cross, because every attribute of God converges there without contradiction.

It is possible to memorize a list of God’s attributes the way you might memorize a list of state capitals—accurately, but without it touching your life at all. That is not what Scripture intends. When Moses asked to see God’s glory, he was not conducting an academic exercise; he was a leader exhausted by a rebellious people, desperate to know the God he was serving well enough to keep going (Exodus 33:12-13,18). Every list of attributes in Scripture appears inside real stories, real prayers, and real crises, not in a detached textbook.

So let this study press further than information. If God is truly sovereign, you can release the anxious grip you keep on your own plans. If he is truly holy, your casual excuses for sin deserve a second look. If he is truly loving, faithful, and good, your fear about tomorrow can loosen its hold. Knowing God’s attributes rightly is meant to reshape how you pray, how you handle suffering, and how you trust him with what you cannot control (Proverbs 3:5-6).