Communicable attributes of God are those that humans can also possess, although only to a finite extent. If something is communicable, it is able to be communicated or transmitted to others. Incommunicable attributes of God are those attributes exclusive to Him. Humans cannot share the incommunicable attributes of divinity.
As finite beings, humans will not share in even the communicable attributes of God to the same extent that God has those attributes. For example, God is love (1 John 4:8). Humans can love, but we do so imperfectly.
As we grow in Christ and are transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit in us (Romans 12:1–2; 2 Corinthians 3:18), we share in God’s communicable attributes in a more meaningful and perfected sense.
God’s incommunicable attributes are those characteristics that cannot be shared with His creatures. God’s incommunicable attributes are things that only God can have and that make Him distinct from creation. For example, God is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, sovereign, transcendent, immutable, and self-existent. We can define these attributes, but we often do not fully comprehend them and can never call them our own. The incommunicable attributes of God are what make God, God. They are His distinguishing features that only He possesses.
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