In Christian theology, there are communicable and incommunicable attributes of God. Communicable attributes are those that we can participate in, like love, hate, thinking, showing compassion, etc. But the incommunicable attributes of God belong to Him alone, and we cannot participate in them. So, for example, God’s divinity, omnipotence, and omniscience are attributes that belong to Him. We cannot be divine, omnipotent, or omniscient . So, they are incommunicable.
But how do we know which attributes of God are communicable? The answer is twofold. First, we must look to Scripture. Second, we must use logic. In the first case, we look at the self-revelation of God given to us in the Bible. Within those pages, we see His communication to us through the prophets, apostles, and the person of Christ. Looking at the whole of Scripture, we see how God works, learn what He says, and read about what He does. We then categorize certain attributes that belong to Him. But to do this, we must use logic. Nevertheless, there might be disagreements on various attributes. Still, as a whole, we can recognize certain characteristics that belong to God alone and which logically cannot be realized or experienced by us.
For example, logic would tell us that God is non-contingent. This means that He does not depend on anything else for His existence. But we, on the other hand, are contingent upon Him for our existence. Therefore, non-contingency is an attribute that belongs to God alone and cannot be communicated to us. He alone possesses this quality. This would be an incommunicable attribute.
On the other hand, the Bible tells us that God loves (John 3:16). It also tells us that we are to love (Matthew 22:37, 39). Therefore since God loves and we can love, then the attribute of God’s love is shared by us. This would be a communicable attribute.
God is transcendent. This means that He is not dependent on or restricted by space and time. He transcends them both. But we do not possess such transcendence. We are dependent upon and restricted by space and time. Therefore, God’s transcendence is incommunicable. It cannot be communicated to us.
God is rational, but so are we. Where God is perfectly rational all the time, we, on the other hand, are not. Still, we can be rational. Therefore, we would say that his rationality is an attribute of God that is communicated to us.
So, we would know which of God’s attributes are communicable (and which are not) by categorizing them logically. We can recognize that there are attributes that God alone possesses, such as omnipresence, omniscience, non-contingency, and transcendence. On the other hand, some attributes that belong to God we can participate in, such as goodness, love, mercy, rationality, and speech. So, that’s how we know which attributes are communicable and which are incommunicable.
