In 2007, the late author Christopher Hitchens published God Is Not Great, arguing that belief in God causes more harm than good. He claimed that without religion, the world would be a more peaceful place, with less evil, violence, and hatred. Yet the reality is that around 80% of people in the United States believe in some form of god. This raises an important question: What kind of God do people actually believe in?
Recent surveys suggest many Americans hold views about God that conflict with the Bible. For instance, Scripture asserts God is unchanging (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17), yet over half of those surveyed believe God does change. Similarly, despite the Bible’s clear teaching that Jesus is truly God, more than 60% either disagree or feel unsure about His divinity. This disconnect invites us, as disciples of Jesus, to explore more carefully the Bible’s teaching on who God is.
A helpful starting point comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, a classic Reformed statement of faith. Question 4 asks, “What is God?” and answers, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.” We can group these attributes into two broad categories: incommunicable and communicable.
God’s Incommunicable Attributes
Incommunicable attributes are traits that belong to God alone. These include His infinity, eternity, immutability (unchangeableness), and aseity (self-sufficiency). He is not bound by space or time; he has always existed, created all things, and depends on nothing. “For I the LORD do not change,” says Malachi 3:6, highlighting that God’s character and plans are steadfast throughout eternity.
Such truths set the God of Scripture radically apart from us—and from any false deities who might be fickle, finite, or morally flawed. Since God never changes, his love and commitment to his people never waver, even when we falter. This also reassures us that his purpose for the world stands firm. We never need to fear that he is scrambling to fix unexpected problems or rewriting his plans on the fly. Our sovereign, unchangeable God controls all things, working for his own glory and our ultimate good (Rom. 8:28).
As a pastor, I have found God’s incommunicable attributes to be reassuring for struggling Christians. When people battle sin, waver in their faith, or express doubts about Jesus, it is deeply comforting to tell them that God’s love for them is immutable. The love of friends and acquaintances is subject to change. But God’s love for us never changes and will ever remain the same. The husband struggling to overcome the sin of pornography can rest assured that God does not struggle to love us or forgive us in Christ. The teenager questioning God’s goodness can rest assured that God never questions his commitment to that teen.
God’s Communicable Attributes
On the other side of the coin, God’s communicable attributes are those he shares—at least in part—with human beings, whom He created in His image (Gen. 1:26–27). These include love, holiness, justice, goodness, mercy, and truth. Scripture proclaims, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). In the Psalms, God is celebrated as a righteous and just king (Ps. 5:2), a strong Rock (Ps. 18:2), and the very definition of goodness and truth.
Because we are made in God’s image, we can reflect his communicable attributes in our own lives. We can choose to love our neighbors (Lev. 19:18), act justly and show mercy (Micah 6:8), and walk in holiness (1 Peter 1:16). When we sin, we twist or corrupt these moral attributes. Yet God remains perfectly loving and holy at all times. He never compromises one attribute to exercise another. At the cross, for example, he simultaneously demonstrated his justice (by judging sin) and his love (by giving his Son for us).
Why It Matters
Knowing that God possesses both incommunicable and communicable attributes protects us from the idea that he is merely a bigger, slightly better version of ourselves. He is infinite, eternal, and unchanging—utterly unique in the universe. At the same time, he calls us to mirror his love, holiness, and justice in our everyday lives.
Far from making the world worse, true biblical faith in God grounds our hope in his unchanging goodness and sovereign care. The real God, as revealed in Scripture, is far more than a human invention or a relic from ancient myths. He is the all-powerful, all-loving Creator who invites us to know him, trust him, and find life and salvation in Jesus Christ. What a comfort to know that this God is “the same yesterday and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
