Every now and then you find an answer that is extremely satisfying almost in a thirst-quenching kind of way.
I was perusing Lectures on Faith again with my copy I carry to church and I was again confronted with Lectures 3 and 4 and how they address God’s characteristics and attributes. There are six of each in their respective lectures and there seemed to be some redundancy as it pertained to mercy and truth appearing on both lists.
As I pondered this, I thought about why there was even a need to differentiate between characteristics and attributes since they seem to mean the same thing. Here is how they are defined in the Webster’s 1828 dictionary:
Characteristic: That which constitutes a character; that which characterizes; that which distinguishes a person or thing from another.
Attribute: That which is attributed; that which is considered as belonging to, or inherent in;
I had a hard time understanding the difference between the two, they seem to both be indicating that characteristics and attributes were both qualities that belonged to something.
It wasn’t until a little digging that I found a fantastic answer on the website Quora.com that I’d like to share:
The terms ‘attribute’ and ‘characteristic’ are often used interchangeably, and you shouldn’t worry too much about the distinction. The philosophical distinction is this:
- An attribute is a derivative aspect or feature of something.
- A characteristic is an intrinsic part of the nature (character) of something.
So in the generic religious sense of the Lectures Of Faith, ‘mercy’ is a characteristic of God, because it is part of the very nature of God; but ‘justice’ is an attribute of God, because it is a manifestation in the world that derives from characteristics like mercy.
That last part of the last sentence feels a bit off, I wouldn’t say that justice is derived from mercy. I would correct his statement by saying, “but ‘justice’ is an attribute of God, because it is a manifestation in the world that derives from characteristics such as God being a God of truth and no respecter of persons.” but I digress.
With these definitions, we can infer that Lecture 3 is trying to tell us something about the intrinsic part of who and what God is. Lecture 4 then would be explaining what is made manifest to us from God, precisely because he is those things.
The six attributes listed in Lecture 4:
- Knowledge
- Faith (power)
- Justice
- Judgment
- Mercy
- Truth
are all manifested to us because of God’s characteristics which are:
- he is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, long-suffering and full of goodness.
- he changes not.
- he is a God of truth and cannot lie.
- he is no respecter of persons.
- he is love.
This helps to clarify to me some of what the lectures are trying to teach. If we understand the Holy Spirit to be the Mind of God, then it becomes clear that God’s characteristics are those that he wishes for us to embrace as well. By repentance and reception of the Mind of God (the gift of the Holy Ghost) our own dispositions can be changed by degree to where we begin to become one with our creator.
I’ll continue this in my next post.
11 Comments
I had similar questions about the difference between characteristics and attributes. What I came to understand was that characteristics are inner qualities and attributes are outer qualities, which is very similar to what you described here.
Yeah it’s takes a little pondering and research to start wrapping your mind around it if the paradigm is unfamiliar.
By referring to the Holy Ghost as the “mind of God” you a detract a little from the Holy Ghost’s uniqueness and distinctness as the third member of the God-head. We can at times be blessed to receive a portion of the mind of God through the ministration of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost can do this because he is “one” with God, in the sense taught by the Saviour in his intercessory prayer in John but the mind of God and the Holy Ghost are not one and the same, an eternal truth that I feel your appellation clouds.
My context is the Lectures on Faith, please refer to Lecture 5 as a whole and questions 13-18 in particular: http://lecturesonfaith.com/5/
I’m looking forward to your next post.to me, it looks like the Lectures on Faith refer to “character” as what one IS, and “attributes” as what one HAS.
I think that is another simple way to state it. We see the word “is” a lot in Lecture 3 and the attributes God has are certainly directed toward us for our benefit.
In my search to understand the difference between characteristics and attributes as I study the Lectures on Faith I came across your blog and found just the explanation I could actually understand! Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. I look forward to learning more from you as I journey through your library of blogs.
Even as Christ can do nothing but that which he has seen the Father do and will do nothing but that which the Father directs him to do, I opine that the embodiment and mission of the Holy Ghost are similar. In other words, the Holy Ghost, as the third member of the Godhead, is the joint mind and will of God the Father and Christ the Son revealing themselves to man. He has no other function than to witness to creation that which the Father and Son have decreed.
Great one, God bless you
It seems to me that all character traits are attributes but not all attributes are character traits. Just like all apples are fruit but not all fruits are apples. Good read. Thanks.
That’s an interesting point, comparing to a plant. Upon reflection, I would say that characteristics would be more like the tree and what kind of tree it is and the attributes would be the fruit, leaves, sap, and anything else that comes from that tree because it IS that tree.
Characteristics describe what something is and attributes describe what flow from something because of what it is.