Divine attributes: the life of God

[reaganmarsh]

Greetings brethren,

A quick question for you today. I've been preaching upon the various divine attributes and have come to the life of God. Perhaps you've studied this before, but it's a topic which I have not really considered in-depth.

I'm thinking in terms of texts like Jn 1.4, 'in him was life'; Jn 5.26, 'For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself'; Jn 11.25, 'I am the resurrection and the life'; Jn 14.6, 'I am...the life'; and Gal 2.20, '...I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.' There are other texts, of course, but these have been central in my thinking thus far -- they're what really awakened the idea of 'the life of God' as a divine attribute.

I realize that it is necessarily connected to God's eternality and self-existence and have been considering that in my research. Yet in all my various ST volumes, thus far only Archbishop James Ussher's 'A Body of Divinity' has anything at all about the life of God (SGCB ed., p. 33).

Henry Scougal wrote a devotional entitled 'The Life of God in the Soul of Man' and I'm going to look at it to see if he gives any helpful exposition regarding this divine attribute; but can any of y'all here point me to a helpful treatment of this attribute?

Thanks in advance!

 

[whirlingmerc]

Maybe collect appropriate titles of God for that "Ancient of days" "living God" etc...

Maybe follow the thread of the phrase "living God" in a search. I.e. ...Deuteronomy 5:26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived?

Maybe follow the thread of life... first seen in the breath of God life imparted.... next in tree of life ... not sure where that would go

Maybe look at George Herbert's poem
Clipping and Coining: Prayer, by George Herbert
"...Those living in the spirit are ‘dressed’ in appearance with wellness, with the life of God that is in them. Also, man well dressed is man reconciled with God and neighbour...."

Also look at the Jonathan Edward's conference notes
http://www.desiringgod.org/conferen...-why-we-need-jonathan-edwards-300-years-later
You cannot elevate joy higher in the universe than this. Nothing greater can be said about joy than to say that one of the Persons of the Godhead subsists in the act of God's delight in God-that ultimate and infinite joy is the Person of the Holy Spirit. When we speak of the place of joy in our lives and in the life of God, we are not playing games. We are not dealing with peripherals. We are dealing with infinitely important reality. So joy is at the heart of what it means for God to be God. And now let us see how it is at the heart of what it means for us to be God-glorifying. This follows directly from the nature of the Trinity. God is Father knowing himself in his divine Son, and God is Father delighting in himself by his divine Spirit. Now Edwards makes the connection with how God's joy in being God is at the heart of how we glorify God. What I am about to read has been for me the most influential paragraph in all the writings of Edwards:

Life of God contrasts with the Psalm to the world on the realities of death, Psalm 49, God being the only way of deliverance.

 

[reaganmarsh]

Thank you, Michael. I'll look at those things as well -- I appreciate you taking time to reply!

Anyone else?

 

[Wayne]

Charnock, of course, should be consulted on the existence of God.

 

[reaganmarsh]

Charnock, of course, should be consulted on the existence of God.

Yes, sir -- I've been reading him! Great stuff!

 

[MW]

Life is like essence and is not usually spoken of as an attribute but is the thing of which attribution is made. E.g., God has life in and of Himself, which is the attribute of aseity. The closest it comes to being called a distinct attribute is under the Catechism's use of "being," at which point the various expositions might be helpful.

 

[Pilgrim Standard]

Life is like essence and is not usually spoken of as an attribute but is the thing of which attribution is made. E.g., God has life in and of Himself, which is the attribute of aseity.

It is delightful to meditate upon God as the "Source" of life because he is the only aseitas being. His name Jehovah explicitly carries this meaning as "The Existing One." He is independentia. In all things he is independent. It is beautiful that even though God is Self-Existing and Independent, he still enters into relations with his creatures.

I love the statement from Berkhof "The fundamental Scriptural idea of death is not that of extinction of being, but that of separation from the source of life, and the resulting dissolution or misery and woe." because the obverse reminds us that the Scriptural idea of life(as regards the human) is not the extant of being, but that of a closing in with the source of life, and the resulting joy and contentment. This further reminds me that I am not my own, but belong both in body and soul to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ.

Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Acts 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen

 

[One Little Nail]

Life is like essence and is not usually spoken of as an attribute but is the thing of which attribution is made. E.g., God has life in and of Himself, which is the attribute of aseity. The closest it comes to being called a distinct attribute is under the Catechism's use of "being," at which point the various expositions might be helpful.

How about that Scripture in Timothy that says God alone is Immortal, can Immortality be seen as an attribute of God,Technically speaking.
it must be Communicable to mankind as He has promised to quicken our mortal bodies! etc

 

[py3ak]

The brief reflections in Poole's commentary on 1 Thessalonians 1:9 certainly give some interesting hints for further meditation.

 

[reaganmarsh]

Very helpful, y'all -- many thanks!

 

[MW]

How about that Scripture in Timothy that says God alone is Immortal, can Immortality be seen as an attribute of God,Technically speaking.
it must be Communicable to mankind as He has promised to quicken our mortal bodies! etc

Immortality is being used in two different senses when applied to God and to the human soul. God is immortal by an absolute necessity of nature. The human soul lives, moves, and has its being in God; this is not immortality in the same sense of the word. The soul is only "immortal" in the sense that it will not die like the body. Hence Scripture speaks of God alone as possessing immortality.