Attributes of God from the Biblical Creation Accounts

11/9/2016

Genesis 1 and 2

Attribute refers to the characteristic/ nature / quality or attribute of someone.
The two creation accounts bring out the following qualities of God;

He is the only God.
God is moral and is concerned with the behavior of human kind.
He is the sole creator and created out of nothing/substance.
He is a God of order, a planner and organizer of the universe e.g. He created in stages.
He is good and the source of goodness and real happiness. (Genesis 1:10).
He is a personal God and likes having a loving relationship with him.
He is all-powerful-omnipotent e.g. He created out of a word.
He is a spirit and Omni-present or is spiritually present everywhere.
- In the beginning the spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:2).

Genesis 1:2 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God[a] swept over the face of the waters.

God is all knowing/ omniscient.
God is immortal (cannot die) /eternal.
God is a worker. His creativity is described as work.
God is the provider/sustainer of the universe.
- He provides life, food and companionship to mankind.
God is Holy.
- He consecrated the 7th day and made it Holy and set it aside for rest and worship.
God deserves, honour, respect and obedience from human beings.
God is the author of human sexuality.
He created man and woman and made them equal.

Creation order of everything mentioned in Gen 1 while in Gen 2, there is no order given.
Male and females created at the same time in image of God in first account while in second account man is made from dust and woman from man’s rib.
In first account human beings are created last while in the second account man was created first.
In the first account, creation is completed in six days while in the second there are no number of days given.
God rested on the seventh day in the first account but there is no rest mentioned in the second account
In the first account, there is no forbidden tree while in the second it is mentioned.
In the first account. The spirit of God was moving over the face of waters while in the second account, the spirit of God is not mentioned.
In the first account everything was appreciated by God as good while in the second account goodness of creation is not mentioned.
In the first account, God created human beings for procreation while in the second account they were created for companionship/partnership.

NOTE: The differences must come out clearly.