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The goodness of God means that "God is the final standard of good, and all that God is and does is worthy of approval." [ 12 ] Many theologians consider the goodness of God as an overarching attribute - Louis Berkhof , for example, sees it as including kindness , love , grace , mercy and longsuffering . [ 13 ]
God's sovereignty, as the right to exercise his ruling power over his creation, is contingent upon his creation. God's sovereignty only takes effect once creation exists for it to be expressed upon. If the sovereignty of God is considered one of his attributes, it is a temporal one. [9]
According to Thomas Aquinas, God is the "Highest Good". [1] The Summa Theologiae (question 6, article 3) affirms that "God alone is good essentially". [2]Because in Jesus there are two natures, the human and the divine one, Aquinas states that in him there are two distinct wills: the human will and the divine will.
The Immutability or Unchangeability of God is an attribute that "God is unchanging in his character, will, and covenant promises." [1] The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that "[God] is a spirit, whose being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable." Those things do not change.
The being of God is identical to the "attributes" of God.Characteristics such as omnipresence, goodness, truth and eternity are identical to God's being, not qualities that make up that being as a collection or abstract entities inherent to God as in a substance; in God, essence and existence are the same.
In Christianity, God is the eternal, supreme being who created and preserves all things. [5] Christians believe in a monotheistic conception of God, which is both transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material universe) and immanent (involved in the material universe). [6]
The thirteen attributes are alluded to a number of other times in the Bible. Verses where God is described using all or some of the attributes include Numbers 14:18, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Micah 7:18, Nahum 1:3, Psalms 86:15, 103:8, 145:8, and Nehemiah 9:17.
As God is the ultimate end of all things, [33] God is by essence goodness itself. [34] Furthermore, since love is "to wish the good of another", [ 35 ] true love in Thomism is to lead another to God. Hence why John the Evangelist says, "Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love."