Help Me Find This Attribute a Name.

[makesends]

According to the attribute, "Simplicity of God", all his attributes are him, as some describe it, or, the other way around, He is his attributes.

The longer I study of God in Scripture and reason on what I read, I see an intensity of purpose to everything—from his very nature of self-existence and omnipotence, to his every detailed act and his final purpose(s) for his Creation. As with all his attributes, none are without nor apart from the others, so with this one, that both pervades the others and is proven by them. He is not merely a spectator that occasionally inserts himself into our situation, but the very creator of our situation.

I would call this attribute, "his driven purpose", but for what some might infer from that—the idea that something besides himself drives him. I might better call this, "his driving purposefulness", but even that doesn't get across the gut-level intimacy of his sure causation.

At this level —I mean, by HIS level of being, his self-existence, and omnipotence— his force of purpose is infinite, and pervades absolutely, all fact. GPT-4o mini suggested this: "Unlike human responses dictated by external forces, God's activity is rooted in His sovereign nature—an inherent purpose that eternally drives His intimate engagement with creation."

The term I'm looking for as much describes who he is, as it adds description to his character. It is not just how he acts—he is this.

It is from within his infinity that he can be so tender and wise. Those are not small things, but eternal, overwhelmingly powerful. He need not take care to not break us by accident, but he is careful with us BECAUSE of his great power and love and purity of purpose.

 

[John Bauer]

First, God does not have purposefulness; he just is purposive act.

It seems you want to preserve—rightly—the idea that God is not a detached observer who occasionally intervenes. As far as I can tell, Reformed theology likewise rejects that picture and always has. God is not in history as one agent among others; history is in God as the execution of his decree. I would say less about God being “driven” and more about God being the self-moved mover whose will is identical with his being.

Second, I think the traditional loci already carry this weight. For example, God is a se (aseity)—his purpose is not reactive, derivative, or conditioned; his willing flows necessarily from who he is. God is also actus purus (pure actuality)—he is not becoming or potential moving toward fulfillment; his willing, knowing, and being are identical. There is also the consilium Dei (eternal counsel), wherein God’s purpose is eternal, exhaustive, internally coherent, and self-consistent; history is the temporal outworking of an already complete divine intention. That is why I like the expression, “History is in God as the execution of his decree.” (I also like that expression used by Aubrey Moore in the 19th century, “The facts of nature are the acts of God.”)

 

[makesends]

First, God does not have purposefulness; he just is purposive act.

Well said. Well pointed out.

It seems you want to preserve—rightly—the idea that God is not a detached observer who occasionally intervenes. As far as I can tell, Reformed theology likewise rejects that picture and always has. God is not in history as one agent among others; history is in God as the execution of his decree. I would say less about God being “driven” and more about God being the self-moved mover whose will is identical with his being.

Right. My original draft included "self-moved mover" but somehow I left it out of the OP.

Second, I think the traditional loci already carry this weight. For example, God is a se (aseity)—his purpose is not reactive, derivative, or conditioned; his willing flows necessarily from who he is. God is also actus purus (pure actuality)—he is not becoming or potential moving toward fulfillment; his willing, knowing, and being are identical. There is also the consilium Dei (eternal counsel), wherein God’s purpose is eternal, exhaustive, internally coherent, and self-consistent; history is the temporal outworking of an already complete divine intention. That is why I like the expression, “History is in God as the execution of his decree.” (I also like that expression used by Aubrey Moore in the 19th century, “The facts of nature are the acts of God.”)

"Pure Actuality"! That pretty well does it, thanks! Yet, most believers fail to see him that way. Even hearing you say that, they will still not see him as what that necessarily implies. To them, he is a separate principle from the rest of reality —that is, outside it, and not it-because-of-him, and he a mere agent— and as the discussion continues, that drive, that power, that intensity, fades from sight. In other words, yes, the traditional loci carry this weight. But this side of it keeps falling by the wayside. He is considered as this, but somehow the connection does not get made, for most. They think his magnificence is subject to their consideration, without realizing that they do so. They hold him at arm's length, because he is too much for them. They need Moses to soften the facts (Exodus 20:18-21).

(Off topic aside: Do me a favor and start a thread on the definition, or on a focused description, of the Love of God, in this vein —not just its power and purpose and strength, but its purpose and object (which is not just 'humanity'), and its different-ness from what we think of by the word, "Love". Most people have no idea that the Pure Actuality of God has anything to do with his Love, though the two are intrinsically bound. I've been wanting to do so for a long time, but can't find the words I want, nor even the concepts I can describe cogently.)​

(Also aside: You said, "There is also the consilium Dei (eternal counsel), wherein God’s purpose is eternal, exhaustive, internally coherent, and self-consistent; history is the temporal outworking of an already complete divine intention." This is a strong indication that his decree is his causation is his meticulous determination, as opposed to what some think—that there is some variance in what can happen. (For the reader, what I mean by 'determination' there is only what the word means, and not the concepts, implications, connotations and traps that people attach to the doctrinal term.))​

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Maybe "Pure Actuality" is on the list of attributes. I have never seen it there, but I think it should be.