Dr. Dick Biery told me that circa 1980 he heard the president of Calvary Bible College ask a CBC commencement speaker what he considered God’s most important attribute. This was a private conversation between the three of them after the ceremony.
Dr. Biery was Chairman of the CBC board at the time.
Before I reveal the answer given by the commencement speaker, please take a moment and decide what your answer would be.
As you know, God has many attributes, and they are all glorious and wonderful.
Here are just some of God’s attributes: holy, good, loving, eternal, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, sovereign, gracious, immutable, merciful, faithful, wise, self-existent, infinite, beautiful, compassionate, creative, and just.
Remember the Lays Potato Chips commercial with the tagline “Bet you can’t eat just one”? The same is true of God’s attributes. We can’t really appreciate just one. But, from our human perspective, I think the question is a good one since one of His attributes probably does stand out as especially vital to us.
My answer would be based on God’s attribute that is most precious to me.
Considering John 3:16, that attribute is love. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”
I forgot to mention that the commencement speaker that day was a five-point Calvinist. What answer do you think a five-pointer would give?
He said, “God’s sovereignty.”
Of course, God’s sovereignty is beautiful and essential. The promise of eternal life would not be true if God were not sovereign. But sovereignty divorced from love is not good. If God is capricious and unloving, then His sovereignty is of no comfort to us.
The Calvinist understanding of the five points is considered by many to be fatalistic and devoid of human free will. Under a strong Calvinist perspective, God’s sovereignty provides no comfort since in that view you cannot be sure that you are one of the elect, or that Christ died for you.
The Lord encouraged us to pray, “Hallowed be Thy name.” When we pray that, we can mention any of His attributes or any of His acts in human history. Since there are many attributes and thousands of acts in human history, we have lots of elements with which to exalt Him.
Keep grace in focus and you will continue to love the One who first loved us (1 John 4:19).
