B. Various Classifications of divine attributes.
The divine attributes have been divided docendi causa differently. Among the Lutheran theologians, we find two main divisions: 1. into dormant and active, 2. into negative and positive attributes.
Resting are called those attributes which denote no effect on the world or no relationship to the world, but are thought of as resting in God, closed off from the world, as it were, such as: Eternity, Simplicity, Infinity, etc. They are more or less appropriately called attributa immanentia, quiescentia, άνενέργψα; more recent expression: attributes of "world withdrawal." Active are called the attributes that denote an effect of God on the world or a relationship with the world, such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, righteousness, mercy. Terminological designation: attributa relativa, operativa, transeuntia ένεργητικά,, newer expression: attributes of the ,,world-relatedness".1358)
In the division of attributes into negative and positive, negative attributes are those by which perfections found in creatures are negated or eliminated in the description of God. In this class are reckoned: Unity, simplicity, immutability, infinity, immensity, eternity. Positively one can call the qualities, by which perfections, which are found with the creatures, are ascribed to God in the higher degree or in absolute perfection. Here belong the
1358) Quenstedt I, 409: Attributorum duo sunt genera: quaedam essentiam divinam describunt absolute et in se citra respectum ad operationem dicunturque immanentia, άνενέργητα seu quiescentia, quae scii, non sunt ordinata ad aliquos actus, ut immensitas, aeternitas, spiritualitas etc. Quaedam essentiam divinam describunt respective, ratione ένεργείας, seu operativa et ad extra se exserentia, sive quae ad certas operationes directa esse cognoscuntur, ut sunt potentia, scientia, iustitia, misericordia. [Google]
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attributes: Life, knowledge, wisdom, holiness and righteousness, truthfulness, power, goodness, love, grace, mercy.1359)
Among the newer theologians there is a great diversity of classification, as noted by Nitzsch-Stephan.1360) The divisions of the old theologians are expressly rejected, e.g. when it is said, loc. cit.: "The distinction between dormant and active or between those of world-removedness and world-relatedness or between negative and positive is no longer possible in the whole conception of the qualities." The difference of the divisions has its reason with the newer theologians in the fact that they have given up the Scripture Principle and have put in its place the Ego Principle. In contrast to the old theologians, they do not want to describe the divine attributes from and according to Holy Scriptures, but to "work them out" from the self-consciousness of the theologian. "What does not arise with inner necessity (according to the opinion of the ego) from revelation and faith is eliminated." If newer theologians use divisions that are also found among the old theologians, this is done in a different sense. For the ancient theologians, despite various divisions, hold that all divine attributes are identical with the unchanging divine essence. In Deo nihil est mutabile vel amissibile, The attributes in Deo non sunt res distinctae ab ipsa essentia, sed vita, sapientia, gratia etc. sunt ipsa Dei substantia nec possunt in eo ut in hominibus mutari. [Google]1361) Modern kenotics, on the other hand, such as Thomasius, use the division into attributa immanentia or absoluta and transeuntia or relativa to make the claim that the attributa relativa of omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience are not essential divine attributes but can be separated from God. They hold
1359) Baier follows this division. He describes II, 16 the negative attributes as such, vel vi vocum vel vi significationis negationem quandam aut remotionem imperfectionis alicuius ex his, quae in creaturis occurrunt, important, the positive as such, quae cum respectu ad perfectionem, quas in creaturis deprehendimus, et per modum illarum, licet in eminentiore gradu, concipiuntur. In the class of the negative he then puts: unitas, simplicitas, immutabilitas, infinitas, immensitas, aeternitas, in the class of the positive: vita, scientia, sapientia, sanctitas, iustitia, veracitas, potentia, bonitas, perfectio. [Google]
1360) Lehrbuch der ev. Dogmatik 3, p. 452.
1361) Chemnitz, Loci I, 28.
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this separation is necessary, because they think that the Son of God could have become man only after the relinquishment of his omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience.1362)
Finally, with regard to all divisions of divine attributes, it is appropriate to note that they are incidental, that is, they need not involve any difference in doctrine, as long as the individual attributes are merely described from Scripture and not constructed from our human thoughts about God. We agree with Hönecke when he writes:1363) "It may sound unscientific that of the division here given [namely, the division into immanent and transitive properties] it is said only that it is most recommended. In fact, it stands that none of the most viable divisions can be shown to be true without contradiction." When Quenstedt divides the divine attributes into immanent and transitive ones and says of the immanent ones that they have nothing to do with divine acts (non sunt ordinata ad aliquos actus), this is not quite true already with respect to the attribute that Quenstedt names first among the immanent ones, namely, immensity (immensitas). The immensity comes into action, if not directly, then indirectly at the transeunt or transitive or acting attributes. The Augsburg Confession art. 1 rightly addresses "immeasurable power, wisdom, and goodness" as belonging to the three persons of divine majesty.1364) The division into negative and positive attributes is essentially based on a comparison of God with the creatures, which is present in it, when in the Scriptures, as we have seen, identical predicates such as: being, living, loving, etc. are said of God and of men. This classification gives us reason to ascend from human imperfection to divine perfection, or rather to worship before divine perfection, which is beyond all human comprehension. In this comparison, we must keep strictly within the limits of Scripture
1362) Thomasius, Christi Person und Werk 2 I, p. 49 ff. Cf. the further discussion of modern kenosis in the doctrine of the person of Christ, Vol. II, 116 ff.
1363) Dogmatik II, 72.
1364) Cf. a further elaboration on this point in the doctrine of Christ's person under the section: "All divine attributes find communicated to Christ's human nature," Vol. II, 260 ff.
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and never forget the infinite distance between God and the creature. All attributes of God, no matter how they are classified, come to God in a unique way (modo singulari), We generally follow the classification into negative and positive attributes, without claiming a special preference for the same. — A preliminary remark should be inserted here before we present in the following a brief description of the individual divine attributes. It is to remember that all the divine attributes revealed in the Scriptures: Unity, Infinity, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, etc., would only be terrible for us sinful men if the Scriptures did not also reveal to us this attribute: God's free grace available through Christ's satisfactio vicaria against the whole sinful world. This attribute stands at the center of the whole Holy Scriptures, because to the whole Holy Scriptures scopus is Christ, the Savior of sinners, "who gave himself for all for redemption (άντίλντρον υπέρ πάντων), that such things might be preached in his time." To the preaching of the attribute of God's grace, which is διά της άπολυτρώσεως τής έν Χριοτψ Ίησοΰ present, the world still stands. 1365)