Doctrine Matters with Kevin DeYoung What Are Divine Attributes?
Feb 10, 2026
A clear tour of theological talk about the nature of God and how thinkers name divine qualities. Short contrasts explain the unknowable essence versus knowable energies using a sun analogy. Discussion covers historic confessions, apophatic negatives, and the difference between attributes that creatures can share and those they cannot. Ancient philosophical categories are brought in to clarify why God's traits are not accidental.
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Attributes Describe God's Essence
- Divine attributes are qualities predicated of God that reveal who he is without adding anything external to him.
- God's attributes are identical with his essence, so nothing about God is incidental.
Knowing God By What He Is Not
- John of Damascus uses apophatic language to describe God by negation, helping us avoid reducing God to finite terms.
- Negative descriptions (e.g., uncreated, immutable) clarify what God is by ruling out errors.
Communicable vs Incommunicable Attributes
- The historic and useful division: incommunicable versus communicable attributes distinguishes what can and cannot be shared with creatures.
- Incommunicable traits (eternity, immensity) cannot be analogously possessed by creatures, while love and goodness can be shared.
