When we speak of the attributes of God, we are referring to those qualities of God, which constitute what he is. They are the very characteristics of his nature. We realize that we cannot say everything the Bible teaches us about God’s character at once. Several different methods of classifying God’s attributes have been used.
Following the reformed tradition we speak of Gods attributes in incommunicable and communicable attributes. The incommunicable attributes of God are those attributes that God does not share or “communicate” with us. The communicable attributes are those qualities of God for which at least a partial counterpart can be found in his human creations.
We are not referring here to the acts, which he performs, such as creating, guiding, and preserving, nor to the corresponding roles he plays—Creator, Guide, Preserver. It is wrong to think that attributes are fragmentary parts or segments of God. The attributes are permanent qualities. They cannot be gained or lost. They are intrinsic. Thus, holiness is not an attribute of Adam, but it is of God. God’s attributes are essential and inherent dimensions of his very nature. While our understanding of God is undoubtedly filtered through our own mental framework, his attributes are not our conceptions projected upon him. They are inseparable from the being or essence of God.
God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God. The word trinity is never found in the Bible, though the idea represented by the word is taught in many places. The word Trinity means “Tri-unity” or “Three-in-oneness”. It is used to summarize the teaching of Scripture that God is three persons, yet one God.
The fact that God is three persons means that the Father is not the Son nor is he the Holy Spirit, but that they are distinct persons. John 1:1-2,9; John 17:24; John 14:26, and Rom. 8:27.
The three different persons of the Trinity are one not only in purpose and in agreement on what they think, but they are one in essence, one in their essential nature. Deut. 6:4-5, Ex. 15:11, 1Kings 8:60 He is not speaking as one God among three who are to be worshipped. Isa. 45:5-6, James 2:19.