God must act consistently and fully for the welfare of His creation if He is to fulfill the description of complete goodness. Otherwise, his acts would fall short of meeting it.
The Bible depicts God as perfect in every aspect, including love, justice and faithfulness. Furthermore, it calls us to become perfect just as our heavenly Father is perfect.
Table of Contents
1. All-powerful
Critics often accuse Christian God of being all-powerful yet evil exists – this phenomenon is known as The Problem of Evil and deserves careful thought, however in this article I wish to focus on some characteristics that make a perfect God.
The Bible provides numerous illustrations that demonstrate God’s omnipotence. For example, He created all that exists with just His voice (Genesis 1)! Jesus demonstrated God’s power over nature when He walked on water for three days without falling (Forerunner Commentary). This demonstrated that natural laws such as gravity could be overcome (Forerunner Commentary).
However, God cannot do certain things because they would go against His Holy character. For instance, He cannot lie as that would contradict His moral perfection or die due to eternal life – He must only perform acts consistent with His character for unknown reasons known only to Himself.
2. All-knowing
The Bible teaches that God is all-knowing – this concept is known as omniscience. Omniscience means that God knows everything there is to know about the universe and humanity; including past, present, and future events as well as all possible outcomes from what could have occurred had circumstances been different.
Others believe this renders God unjust, since they believe that only an impartial being would allow pain and suffering in this world. But this is simply not true: according to scripture, an impartial deity should be merciful and loving, not cruel or vindictive like some might assume. Furthermore, “good” in this instance refers to moral rather than physical goodness.
God is eternal, having always existed and always continuing to exist as part of his divine perfection. This means He doesn’t depend on any external sources to fulfill Himself – as stated in Deuteronomy 32:4! In addition, His ways are judged; thus making Him complete in Himself – something no other Creator could claim (Deuteronomy 32:4).
3. All-loving
God is the ultimate in power, knowledge and presence; therefore it should follow that He embodies perfect love as well. After all, scripture teaches that He exemplifies selfless and flawless love (1 John 4:16).
However, God is far from perfect and allows suffering in His creation as evidence that He is imperfect in this respect. While He could have prevented human failings and temptations from leading to suffering in their creations, He chose not to.
As well, the concept of an all-perfect deity can be problematic in other ways as well. For instance, to be all-perfect requires freedom; yet freedom does not lend itself well to being physical as time and space are involved; hence why the Bible uses phrases like “than whom a greater than can be imagined” (Heb 12:28). Furthermore, such an idealized conception of God as being physically incapable would run counter to biblical teachings; instead a more accurate representation would be that He always fulfils His promises faithfully.
4. All-merciful
God is merciful; one of His many attributes. According to Scripture, He “is slow to anger, full of compassion and truth”. A perfect god must also be merciful.
The biblical concept of mercy extends beyond God’s actions; it includes His person. According to Psalm 89:14, mercy encompasses God as well.
Dan Barker emphasizes that any God who did not show mercy would be both unjust and immoral, responding to a skeptical reader by noting that an ideal judge must not show no mercy at all; but should extend mercy in cases of genuine innocence.
Anselm developed his beliefs about God from biblical statements in his Monologion and Proslogion. Anselm employed ontological argument as his method for deducing that any most perfect being must exist because existence is preferable to nonexistence; later, however, in Scholastic and Reformed theology this divine perfection was seen as evidenced in both God’s infinite existence as well as independence; hence completeness and necessity were therefore attributes attributed to divine existence.
5. All-forgiving
The Bible speaks of God as possessing perfect character qualities or attributes such as love, mercy, justice and forgiveness – traits which define Him perfectly as He embodies all that it means to be merciful, just and loving.
Forgiveness is one of the cornerstones of a meaningful relationship with God. According to Scripture, forgiving others as Jesus did helps heal wounds and find peace – as well as giving you power over negative emotions or behaviors that arise in life. God shows his incredible grace through his gift of forgiveness!
Some may mistakenly believe that God doesn’t punish sin because He’s all-forgiving, but this view is incorrect. According to Scripture, God doesn’t excuse transgressors by simply overlooking or dismissing their wrongdoing but instead punishes them as He is the embodiment of complete justice.
Forgiveness is at the core of every healthy relationship with God. To obtain it, all it takes to receive His forgiveness is trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice as your savior – then you’ll begin experiencing its grace and love firsthand!
6. All-just
Being all-just means that God treats everyone equally and righteously. He never alters his standards or opinions, being a God of justice, holiness and purity with no flaws in his character, words or deeds.
However, the Bible also describes God as being merciful – something which has caused much consternation among many readers who question how He could simultaneously be both all-just and merciful at once.
Mercy may require suspending some of God’s laws of justice; however, according to Scripture these two are inextricably linked. God is both loving and just; those who reject Him receive punishment while those who put their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation find protection under Him (Psalm 18:30). Unfortunately, contemporary attempts at perfect being theology often do not begin from biblical self-disclosure and therefore lead to confusion and idolatry.
7. All-merciful
At first glance it may be hard to comprehend how God could simultaneously serve as both judge and merciful god, yet this is precisely what Scripture reveals. God shows that He does judge with justice but also offers His grace through Christ Jesus for sinners in need.
Mercy lies at the core of everything God does outside Himself, according to De Koninck. Mercy serves as “the universal root” of all His acts towards creatures; mercy explains why He gives more to creatures than they owe Him, as well as why His judgments remain just even if they may seem harsh.
Being all-merciful is the pinnacle of virtue, and the essence of God. By sharing some of His immense resources and joy with humanity, He displays the might of his omnipotence in its purest form.
8. All-forgiving
God is all-forgiving, meaning He forgives every past, present and future sin as well as those who don’t believe in Him. If He were to cease forgiving us we would lose any chance at salvation – remembering this aspect of our relationship is key if we wish for lasting happiness with Him; instead it must remain at the core of everything we do together as Christians – loving one another just as Christ loved us means being compassionate, kind, humble and meek while bearing with each other and forgiving as the Lord has done with us all!
Without forgiveness, we may become bitter and angry towards one another and begin to believe our problems are greater than God’s ability to solve them. Yet according to Scripture, God promises He will provide for our needs.
Many find it hard to comprehend that an eternally perfect being could ever create such a broken world, preferring an approach in which they want one who never makes mistakes – yet this definition of perfection does not match up with what the Bible teaches; rather it encourages transformation through renewal of mind and to understand His will for our lives.
