Exploring the Attributes of God in Logos

Understanding Why Study the Attributes

Dr. John Fallahee opens the webinar by reminding us of Jeremiah 9:23-24, which calls us to know God—not just understand earthly achievements. Recognizing God’s attributes shapes our perspective on duty and responsibility, keeping Him central in daily life.

Two Categories of Divine Attributes

• Incommunicable (God-only) Attributes: These belong solely to God, such as Eternal—He has no beginning or end, unlike created beings. This distinction helps us grasp His uncreated nature.
• Communicable (shared) Attributes: Traits like Love and Holiness we reflect because we bear God’s image (Genesis 1), though sin limits our ability to fully embody them.

Organizing Study Notes in Logos

Step	Action	Logos Feature	Note
Create a Notebook	Open Tools → Notes → Notebook icon → “+” → name it *Attributes of God (Webinar)*	Notebooks act as covers for collections of notes.	Alphabetical sorting lets you locate the notebook quickly via the search box.
Add a Note (Paper)	Click New Note → type the attribute title (e.g., HOLY, LOVE) in ALL CAPS and bold it.	Text formatting makes headings stand out.	The “paper” is where verses and observations go.
Insert Verses	Type a reference (e.g., Exodus 15:11). Logos auto-links the passage.	Auto-linking saves manual entry.	You can omit the full verse; Logos will retrieve it when you press Enter.
Add Additional Attributes	Create a new note for each attribute (e.g., LOVE), bold the title, add a verse (e.g., 1 John 4:8).	Same process; remove the default “anchor” by clicking Minus Remove.	Keeps each attribute on its own “paper.”
Mass-Copy Verses (Passage List)	Documents → New → Passage List.	Passage List extracts verses en masse.	Useful for gathering all verses on a single attribute.
Select Text	Click and drag, or click first letter → Shift → click final punctuation to select a block.	Manual selection.	Works for short passages; for long ones, use the Shift-click method.
Copy Selected Text	Add → Selected Text.	Generates a clean list of verses in the order they appear.	Eliminates extra commentary; results are already ordered.
Remove Duplicates	Click Sort (top of Passage List).	Sorts alphabetically and removes duplicate entries.	Ensures a tidy list.
Organize Within the List	Right-click → Insert Heading Above/Below (choose a heading style).	Adds structural headings inside the list.	Enables sub-categorization (e.g., “Unique Holiness of God”).
Re-order Passages	Click a verse → drag it to a new position.	Drag-and-drop control.	Gives fine-grained placement without re-creating the list.
Linking & Retrieval	After pasting a Passage List into a note, click the chain-link icon, paste, and save.	Linking keeps related resources together.	Makes navigation fast; you can jump from a note to the full list.

Specialized Collections for Strategic Searches

Dr. Fallahee shows how to download free guide collections (the “07” series). For example, searching “07 minus theology” in the Find box, then clicking Public → Yours, reveals collections like 07 Theology All or 07 Theological Dictionaries & Encyclopedias. Adding these to Your Docs and updating them via Tools → Update/Revise ensures you have current theological resources for deeper study.

Advanced Search Techniques

To refine searches, combine terms using “or” and quotes. For example, “attributes of God” with “omniscience” (using “or” and “all-knowing” in quotes) captures both academic and lay terminology. Adding “near” (e.g., “omniscience near Psalms”) limits results to specific books—Psalms yields 8 hits versus 100+ in a broader theology collection. Start with smaller, targeted collections to save time, then expand if needed.

Using the Bible Browser and Fact Book

The Bible Browser (Tools > Bible Browser) lets you discover tags related to attributes. Searching “omniscience” shows categorized results like “promises” (3 verses) and “preaching themes” (2,000+). Combining tags (e.g., “omniscience” + “Israelites”) reveals God’s self-revelation in Isaiah 48:6, illustrating how indirect connections deepen understanding.

The Fact Book (book with a checkmark icon) explores “God’s attributes” as a theological theme. Clicking “show all” populates tags such as “God’s wrath,” “God’s grace,” and “God’s truth.” A refined search via the Fact Book’s auto-populated terms (e.g., “God’s attributes theological theme”) generates precise library tags, streamlining access without manual input.

Highlighting and Labels for Tagging

Dr. Fallahee demonstrates the highlighting tool by creating a custom palette named “Attributes of God.” He adds a new style with magenta color and a capsule, then enables the labeling feature that prompts for attributes like omniscience. When highlighting Psalm 139:4 (“Yahweh, you have searched me and known me”), he selects the “Attributes of God” palette, chooses “omniscience,” and tags the text. This makes the passage searchable by label.

Linking Notebooks for Systematic Study

After saving the style, he creates a notebook titled “Attributes of God” and links it to the highlights. Using the search tool (Tools > Notes > Notebook icon > search “attribute of God”), he finds all tagged passages, such as Psalm 139:13–16 and Psalm 17:3. Copying the location of the search and pasting it into a notes document (e.g., “Omniscience” in the “Attributes of God” notebook) helps focus on relevant content without sifting through unrelated material.

Leveraging the Logos AI Study Assistant

The Study Assistant (main menu) offers a starting point for exploring attributes. A prompt like “What are the attributes of God?” returns terms such as Eternality, immutability, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, perfection, glory, plus communicable traits like mercy and grace. Other prompts include “List key passages on God’s attribute of omniscience” (returning Psalm 139:1–4, Isaiah 40:28) and “Related topics to God’s attributes of omniscience?” which highlights nuances like human freedom vs. divine foreknowledge and the problem of evil.

AI-Generated Personal Books

Fallahee shows using AI (e.g., ChatGPT) to generate a .docx file outlining God’s attributes. Prompting “Give me a list of God’s attributes from the Bible in an outline format, exported to a Word document” creates a structured document. He then imports it via Tools > Personal Book > Add Book, resulting in a formatted personal book with tables for study. Always verify AI outputs against trusted resources like commentaries or original language texts.

Practical Tips and Warnings

• Expect information overload; the notebook/passage-list system provides quick organization.
• Watch for duplicates after mass-copying; always use the Sort function.
• New verses appear at the end of Passage Lists (bottom-adding), so re-order as the list grows.
• Regularly update downloaded collections via the Tools menu to keep resources current.

Conclusion

The webinar closes by emphasizing that tagging with labels, linking notebooks, and using AI wisely streamline study, making research searchable and organized. These tools help us know God more deeply through Scripture, aligning with the heart of why people use Logos.