📖 Biblical Definition
The incommunicable attributes of God are those perfections that belong to God alone and cannot be shared with or reflected in His creatures. These include aseity (self-existence), immutability (unchangeableness), infinity, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, eternity, and simplicity. God declares, "I am the LORD, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:5). Unlike communicable attributes such as love, justice, and holiness — which creatures can reflect in finite measure — the incommunicable attributes mark the absolute Creator-creature distinction. God does not merely have more power than we do; He is omnipotent. He does not merely live a long time; He is eternal. These attributes remind us that God is not a bigger version of ourselves but is qualitatively other — "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways" (Isaiah 55:8).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Incommunicable: that cannot be communicated or imparted to others.
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INCOMMU'NICABLE, a. That cannot be communicated or imparted to others. The incommutable and incommunicable perfections of God distinguish His nature absolutely from all created beings. Note: Webster grasped that certain attributes of God belong to Him alone and cannot be transferred, shared, or replicated in any creature.
📖 Key Scripture
• Isaiah 45:5 — "I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God."
• Malachi 3:6 — "For I the LORD do not change."
• Psalm 139:7-10 — "Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?"
• Isaiah 55:8-9 — "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
God is domesticated into a relatable being rather than the incomprehensible Creator.
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Modern theology consistently erodes the Creator-creature distinction by making God more relatable, more human, more like us. Open Theism denies exhaustive omniscience. Process theology denies immutability. Therapeutic Christianity ignores divine aseity by treating God as emotionally dependent on human choices. When the incommunicable attributes are softened or denied, God is reduced from the infinite, eternal, unchangeable Creator to a well-meaning being who is merely stronger and wiser than we are. But a God who changes, learns, depends, or is limited is not the God of Scripture — He is an idol fashioned in our image. The incommunicable attributes guard the truth that God is God and we are not.
Usage
• "The incommunicable attributes remind us that God is not simply a bigger, better human — He is categorically other, infinite where we are finite, eternal where we are temporal."
• "You can grow in love and justice because those are communicable attributes — but you will never become omnipresent, because that belongs to God alone."