This is a lesson in the Crossroads programme, a discipleship programme written by Dr Kevin Smith and offered by the South African Theological Seminary. This lesson is about the Greatness of God.

2. The Doctrine of God 1
- Greatness

3. Introduction

4. Picture a
Computer

5. Now imagine trying to describe it to Julius Caesar
or Shaka Zulu!

6. Why Is This Difficult?
• Why would it be so difficult to describe a computer
to Caesar or Shaka? The computer is from another
world. You would have to draw on things in their
world, but they would get an imperfect idea of what
a computer is.
• God must have similar challenges in trying to reveal
himself to us!

7. God’s Attributes
We can know God truly but not completely. God
is from another realm, another reality, another
world. Our best shot at describing what he is like
is to describe some of his attributes. We shall
focus on the attributes of his greatness in this
study.

8. Lesson Outline
1. God is Spirit
2. God is a Person
3. God is Immutable
4. God is Eternal
5. God is Omnipresent
6. God is Omniscient
7. God is Omnipotent

9. God is
SPIRIT

10. God is Spirit
Definition • God’s spirituality means
that he is real, but has no
physical properties.
• “God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in
spirit and in truth” (John
4:24)

11. God is not a ghost.
Do not imagine him as one.

12. 1 Timothy 1:17
Now to the King
eternal, immortal, invisible, the
only God, be honour and glory for
ever and ever. Amen.

13. God is SPIRIT
A. God is immaterial
B. God is invisible
C. God is indivisible
D. God is immortal

14. God is a
PERSON

15. God is a Person
Definition • God’s personality means
that he all the attributes a
person has (although he
does not have a body).

16. God is a Person
A. God is not an inanimate idol or an
impersonal force
1. He is not an idol
2. He is not a force

17. God is a Person
B. Five qualities of a person:
1. The ability to think abstractly
2. The ability feel emotionally
3. The ability choose freely
4. The ability speak relationally
5. The ability act morally

18. God is
IMMUTABLE

19. God is Immutable
Definition • God’s immutability means
that he is infinite in relation
to perfection.
• The word immutable
means unchanging.

20. God is Immutable
Malachi 3:6 Hebrews 13:8
I the Lord do not Jesus Christ is the
change. So you, O same yesterday and
descendants of today and forever.
Jacob, are not
destroyed.

21. God is Immutable
A. His nature cannot change
1. He is too good to get better
2. He is too good to get worse

22. God is Immutable
Why? Where?
Imperfection Perfection

23. God is Immutable
B. His actions are consistent
1. He is stable, not static
2. He adapts to changes in the world so
as to remain unchanging in himself

24. God is Immutable
STATIC STABLE

25. God is
ETERNAL

26. God is Eternal
Definition • God’s eternity means that
he is infinite in relation to
time.

27. God is ETERNAL
SEPARATE
Beginning Time Eternity

28. God is Eternal
SEES
Beginning Time Eternity

29. God is
OMNIPRESENT

30. God is Omnipresent
Definition • God’s omnipresence means
that he is infinite in relation
to space.
• The word omnipresent
means everywhere
present.

31. Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I
flee from Your presence? If I ascend into
heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in
hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of
the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of
the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me and
Your right hand shall hold me.

32. God is Omnipresent
A. God does not fill spaces
1. He is not infinitely large
2. He is not a gaseous mass
3. He is not an energy field

33. God is Omnipresent
B. God is present personally, not
physically
1. He is always accessible
2. He is always attentive

34. God is Omnipresent
C. God can manifest his presence
1. General presence: beyond our
perception
2. Manifest presence: revealed to
our senses

35. God is
OMNISCIENT

36. God is Omniscient
Definition • God’s omniscience means
that he is infinite in relation
to knowledge.
• The word omniscient
means all-knowing.

37. God is Omniscient
A. He knows all things past, present and future
B. He knows all things real and possible
C. He cannot experience emotions of surprise
D. He cannot experience problem solving

38. God is Omniscient
Present
REALITY

39. God is Omniscient
Present
REALITY
POSSIBILITIES

40. God is
OMNIPOTENT

41. God is Omnipotent
Definition • God’s omnipotence means
that he is infinite in relation
to power.
• The word ‘omnipotent’
means all-powerful.

42. God is Omnipotent
A. He has the power to do anything he
wills
B. His power is limited from within, but
not from without
C. He does not experience degrees of
difficulty

43. Conclusion

44. Conclusion
• Spirit: real, but has no physical properties
• Person: all the attributes a person has
• Immutable: infinite in relation to perfection
• Eternal: infinite in relation to time
• Omnipresent: infinite in relation to space
• Omniscient: infinite in relation to knowledge
• Omnipotent: infinite in relation to power