Explain Biblical Beliefs About the Attributes of God

A) Explain biblical beliefs about the attributes of God (25)

Throughout the bible, many of the attributes of God are shown. Both Jews and Christians have views from the bible on characteristics of God, each with their own variations. These both can be compared to Aristotle’s prime mover, as they include many similar characteristics. These characteristics however, do differentiate within the Judeo-Christian religion, and even in the bible.

From the beginning of the bible, in Genesis, attributes of God are shown. Firstly, God is shown as the creator. In this, God was seen as creating the world and people out of nothing. This view is appealing today, as it relates to the big bang theory, as God is the cause of everything, just like the prime mover. Genesis 1 shows a transcendent God, who created the world in 6 days through speech, similar to the prime mover developed by Aristotle. This is compared to the immanent God in Genesis 2, who crafted Adam and Eve. The God shown in Job 38 is comparable to this as he is seen as an artist or designer, laying the foundations of the world.

Aquinas’ view of this is not whether or not the world had a start- this is not important. What is important is that God causes everything that exists, to exist. Again, this view is similar to the prime mover, showing Aristotle’s similarities between the prime mover and God. Aquinas’ view on the form of the good is also comparable to God, shown by Logos who made the direct comparison of the Spirit of God and the Form of the good. These are both seen as perfect and unchanging, therefore showing another strong belief derived from the bible, which has then been extended on to give a greater understanding of our world. Without the original descriptions in the bible, these ideas would not have been formed, meaning we would have even less of an understanding of our world and our God.

Again relating to Genesis, specifically Genesis 2, God is seen as anthropomorphic. An example of this is how he...