What is God Like?
Today we’re chatting with Jen Wilkin about the character of God as well as the law! Jen Wilkin is an author and Bible teacher from Dallas, Texas. Jen is the author of Women of the Word, None Like Him, In His Image, and her forthcoming book Ten Words to Live By. She is also a co-host of one of our favorite podcasts, Knowing Faith! An advocate for Bible literacy, Jen’s passion is to see others become articulate and committed followers of Christ with a clear understanding of why they believe what they believe, grounded in the word of God. You can find her at JenWilkin.net.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
I loved reading about the time you came across Psalm 111:10 in your early 20s and what a shift it was for you to read that verse. How did the Lord use that particular verse to alter your perspective?
What does it mean to fear the Lord?
How does growing in our understanding of God’s character help us to fear the Lord rightly? How does it lead us to worship?
How does the second commandment guard against small thoughts about God’s character?
How should we seek to understand God’s attributes?
How is God different from us?
How is God always fully consistent with all of his attributes?
What is the danger in elevating or emphasizing one attribute above another?
What are the differences in the incommunicable and communicable attributes of God?
What are some examples of the incommunicable attributes of God?
What is the danger in trying to be like God when we know that, clearly, we are not?
What is the danger in taking the attributes of the gods of the world around us and applying them to God? Can you offer an example of how we might fall into this today?
How do the 10 commandments help us to remember that God is God and we are not?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“We don’t want to be moralistic, but we do want to be moral.”
“For the believer, the law is no longer hanging over us in judgment; it is under our feet as the narrow path that we are to walk.”
“The beginning of wisdom, the very starting point, is to fear the Lord.”
“We can think that once the precious blood of Christ, which speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, is interposed for us, that all fear of all kinds is removed. But there is still an important place in the life of the believer for reverence and awe. And I think reverence and awe are inspired both by seeing God for who he is and for recognizing that though God’s judgement is not coming for me, I deserved it. And that keeps us rightly oriented to understanding the magnitude of grace and the gift that has been given to us, that relationship has been restored to such a God as this.”
“His [Isaiah’s] response to who God truly is - the revelation of God's character - is that he understands himself in a way that he didn’t before. And his immediate response is to confess sin… If we say that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, he [Isaiah] experiences the fear of the Lord, and he immediately does something extremely wise.” (Isaiah 6)
“You could argue that the first wise act we do is to confess.”
“We choose to focus in on one thing that is true about God at the expense of the other things that are true about God.”
“When we only talk about one attribute of God, or if we focus primarily on talking about one attribute and we grow silent on others, then we make a golden calf. We fashion God after an image that is appealing to us.”
“Begin reading the Bible as a book about God… We typically come to the Bible asking it to tell us about ourselves before we ask it to teach us about God.”
“Read the Bible with eyes that are looking for what is true about God.”
“All of the things that are true about God can be loosely grouped into two categories: there are those that can be true about us - these are his communicable attributes. So ‘God is loving. I can be loving. God is gracious. I can be gracious.’ But then there’s this other list called the incommunicable attributes, which are the things that are only true about God and will never be true about me. Those are things like ‘God is omniscient. God is omnipotent, and those can be held under the umbrella of his being infinite. So God is not bound, he has no limits on his person or being. We are bound, and because we are bound it means that even though we know we are created in his image, the way we image him is always linked to being finite. The communicable attributes can be expressed in limited human form, but the incommunicable attributes cannot be. In fact, when we try to express them in limited human form we commit idolatry.”
“Those things that are linked to his infinity are meant to humble us, to cause reverence and awe. When I understand God’s omniscience it orients me rightly.”
“God has the power of life in himself. No one gives it to him. God has everything that he needs, no one is giving him something needful.”
“We’re not designed to function in ways that are only suitable for the infinite.”
“When there’s something that happens that we can’t reconcile with the character of God, we think ‘Well then God is a liar.’ But we have to understand that if he truly is who he says he is, if he’s eternal, if he exists outside of time, if he’s the alpha and the omega seeing the beginning from the end, if he holds all knowledge and all power. Bringing to bear the sum total of who he is claiming to be. And if I am who he says I am. If I can only hold a certain number of facts and even process them only to a limited degree. Then I should understand that though I may not be able to understand in my lifetime what God has done in an event like that, that it doesn't mean it’s inconsistent with his character, because I’m holding only a handful of pieces from the puzzle and he sees all of it all at once.”
“God is transcendent, in other words he’s seated on the throne between the cherubim, and he’s also imminent, he’s close and present and nearby. He’s our Father and he’s also in heaven.”
“We don’t use titles of respect when we're speaking of him [Jesus], and those titles of respect are liturgical. When we say them they change the way that we perceive someone.”
“I do wonder what would happen if we sought to speak of Jesus Christ the way that the Bible speaks of him.”
“Even as we grow in our ability to obey, we grow in our awareness of just how disobedient we are.”
“Sanctification says you, by grace-driven effort, by the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, can become a law-abider.”
“The reason that we should strive to obey the law is because the law illustrates the character of God, but not only that, the law is what shows us how to be like Christ, who perfectly fulfilled the law.”
“I’m in God’s family, therefore I want to live in Gods’ world in God’s way.”
“When we begin to fix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith, we begin to want to look like him, and to imitate him.”
“Only God can say that [he cannot change]. But my hope of the gospel and of my sanctification is that I can change. That is both convicting and so hopeful at the same time.”
HYMN
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
RESOURCES
None Like Him, by Jen Wilkin (about the incommunicable attributes of God)
In His Image, by Jen Wilkin (about the communicable attributes of God)
Women of the Word, by Jen Wilkin
Ten Words to Live By, by Jen Wilkin (forthcoming March 2021, preorder available)
The Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer
The Holiness of God, by R.C. Sproul
A good Systematic Theology text
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
How does growing in our understanding of God’s character help us to fear the Lord rightly? How does it lead us to worship?
Do you tend to focus primarily on one attribute of God’s character? Why do you think this is?
How can you grow in your understanding of God’s character and attributes?
Where in Scripture do you most clearly see the character of God? Consider memorizing this passage.
What are you going to do or implement as a result of what you’ve learned this week?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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