What Is God’s Character?
Who is God? This is a tough question to answer, isn’t it? The good news is that our heavenly Father gave us his Son, Jesus, and his Word to help us understand who he really is.
Your character is what makes you unique — how you act, feel and think. The characteristics of God help us understand who he is, and we can find them throughout the Bible.
Scripture teaches us that some of the characteristics of God include:
Love.
Goodness.
Holiness.
Justice.
Mercy.
Grace.
Faithfulness.
Eternality.
Compassion.
Uniqueness.
Let’s explore each of these attributes of God in more detail, including what they mean for us today.
All Scriptures are written in NIV unless otherwise noted.
10 Characteristics of God Explained
1. God Is Love
1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” It’s easy for our everyday experiences to change how we think about God’s love. So, we must look at Scripture to understand what God’s love really is.
The Bible teaches us that God’s love is:
Self-sacrificing: John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God’s love led him to send his own son, Jesus, to the cross. Why? To pay the price for our sins so we could have eternal life.
Personal: Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” God has known us personally since before we were born. He cares about everything that happens to us.
Faithful: Romans 8:39 says, “Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God’s love never fails us and never changes.
2. God Is Good
Just like God’s faithful love, God’s goodness knows no limits. But what does this characteristic of God mean?
God never sins: It’s hard for us to imagine someone who is perfectly loving and always does what is right. But that’s exactly who Jesus was and is. 2 Corinthians 5:21 calls Jesus, “him who had no sin,” and Isaiah 53:9 says the Messiah would be killed even though “he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.”
God is generous: When Jesus was explaining prayer to his disciples, he told them to trust in God’s generosity as proof of his goodness. Matthew 7:11 says, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
God shows us how to live right: Everyone wants to be good, right? The Bible says that goodness comes from God, and if we ask him, he will help us build our character to become good and wise, just like Jesus. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” When we ask for God’s help, he always provides it. Over time, we’ll start to show evidence of his goodness in our lives, such as the fruit of the Spirit.
3. God Is Holy
One of the most powerful characteristics of God is holiness. The Hebrew word for holy is kodesh. This word comes from the root word kadash, which means to be set apart. God is set apart from everything he created. What does this mean?
There’s no one like God: There’s no one who can love like God, provide like God or create like God. He’s different from anything that has ever existed or will ever exist. 1 Samuel 2:2 says, “There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”
God is set apart from sin: He is completely pure and good. While Jesus walked on the earth, he never did anything wrong; he was sinless and blameless. God calls Christians to be holy, or set apart, too. In Leviticus 19:2, we read, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”
4. God Is Just
The Bible tells us that God is just. The Hebrew word for “justice” is tzedek, which means “righteousness” or “fairness.”
God is righteous: God is the definition of what is right and good. He is the truth and does no wrong. Psalm 33:5 says, “He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.”
God is fair: Because God is right, good and true, he is also fair in his judgment of creation. Deuteronomy 32:4 talks about God being just: “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”
5. God Is Merciful
God’s mercy is related to his goodness, faithfulness and holiness. Because humans are sinful by nature, we’re separated from the holy, loving and good God.
That’s why God sent his son Jesus to us. Jesus’ death on the cross opened the door for us to be saved from our sin, even though we don’t deserve such an amazing gift.
Because of God’s mercy and Jesus’ sacrifice, we don’t have to be separated from God anymore. We can be forgiven of all our sins if we accept Jesus as our Savior and follow him.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. — Romans 6:23
6. God Is Gracious
The word “grace” means unmerited favor. Even though we haven’t done anything to deserve it, God still extends his love, mercy and forgiveness to us.
God’s greatest act of grace was sending his Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice for our sins. Through that sacrifice, we can be saved from our sin and enter eternal life. It’s not through anything we did. Instead, it was a gift given in love. And that’s the perfect picture of grace.
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. — Psalm 103:8
7. God Is Faithful
Want to hear something encouraging? God is God, no matter the season or what tomorrow holds. God is faithful, which means he is:
Loyal: God loves us unconditionally and always delivers on his promises. He is a constant presence, never leaving us on our own. Deuteronomy 31:8 says, “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
Unchanging: God is immutable. This means he does not change his character, his ways, his love or his promises. He can’t fail us. God’s immutability is summed up perfectly in Malachi 3:6: “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.”
8. God Is Eternal
God has no beginning or end. In fact, he has always been and always will be. While everything else around us can change, he won’t. This piece of God’s character gives us stability and hope in a world that often feels fragile.
No matter what tomorrow holds, we can trust that God is already there, working for our good.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” — Revelation 22:13
9. God Is Compassionate
In Matthew 14, Jesus was met by a large crowd of people in need. In verse 14, we read that Jesus had compassion on them and healed their sick.
Being compassionate means seeing the suffering of others, caring about it and taking action to help. In other words, compassion is mercy in action. When others may keep their distance, compassion inspires a person to act on behalf of those suffering.
This is exactly what Jesus did for us on the cross. Knowing we would suffer forever because of sin, he stepped in to take our place.
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. — Lamentations 3:22-23
10. God Is Unique
By receiving Jesus as our Savior, we also receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms us, helping us become more like Jesus. However, there are some characteristics of God that can only be true of him, not us. For example, God is:
Omnipresent: God is everywhere, always. We are never alone. Psalm 139:7-8 says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”
Omniscient: God knows everything, including everything about us. Psalm 147:5 says, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.”
Omnipotent: God has unlimited power. There’s absolutely nothing he can’t do. Matthew 19:26 says, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’”
The characteristics of God that we see throughout Scripture — his love, holiness, justice, mercy and so much more — reveal a God who is unlike anyone else. These attributes of God help us understand who he is while inviting us to trust him with every part of our lives.