If I know me, which is always a question, it shall be found that I use the terms necessary and essential rather extensively when speaking of the nature of God, and those things which flow from His nature. These are both highly significant terms, and must be understood in their proper, philosophical application. They speak in some ways to the same fundamental point. That which is necessary cannot possibly be otherwise. It goes far beyond the idea of being required. I may, for example, require the obedience of my child, but I cannot posit that said obedience is necessary. It is entirely possible that my child will not, in some instance or other, obey.
I could, on the other hand, posit that for life as we know it to continue, it is necessary that we breathe. In this we find a true necessity. If breathing ceases for sufficient time, so too will life. We understand these necessities. In like fashion, what is necessary, and I think, for clarity, I shall take to my old habit of setting that term in bold italics when considering such philosophical or logical necessity, must pertain in order for that to which it is necessary to continue. In relation to the nature of God, what is thus necessary must pertain, else that being is not a god.
Essentiality has this same impact, but we apply it primarily to those character traits which define the god being. Matters such as sovereignty, authority, and power are characteristics which define for us what qualifies as a god, but they are not character traits per se. They are more attributes, although that may prove too fine a distinction. In some ways, I suppose we can say that yes, the attribute of being all-powerful is in fact an essential character of God, but I would be inclined to leave those ‘omnis’ by which we describe the nature of god-ness as necessary attributes, rather than essential characteristics.
What then do we supply as essential? This is, again, to get rather well ahead of ourselves, but let me offer a few. Love is an essential characteristic. Goodness is an essential characteristic. Justice is an essential characteristic. Unwavering, steadfast, faithful consistency is an essential characteristic. Truth is an essential characteristic. One we may not like to hear, but which perhaps we should: Vengeful wrath is an essential characteristic. Then, the chief of the essentials: Holiness is an essential characteristic. These are all things about which it can, in fact must be said that for God to cease being any one of them is for God to cease being a god. In this sense, that which is essential in the character of God is also necessary to the being of God.
Understand that these are not merely ideals that we wish to impose upon or stamp upon our conception of God. If that were the case, we would not have arrived at any god, for such a being’s very character is found to be dependent upon our choices. That is no god. It’s barely even an idol! Rather, what we seek is the being in whom we find first cause for our recognizing these characteristics at all. That is to say, how is it that we can even conceive of such things as love, truth, justice, vengeance, mercy, holiness, and so on? Where shall we find basis for our definitions of such things? They cannot be derived from self, nor can they successfully be written off as merely social constructs. To attempt that move is only to play a bit of a shell game. If it were the case that all of these characteristics were merely social constructs, we should still have to push back a bit farther and ask why they were constructed, and on what basis.
Rather like the search for first cause in creation, we find the same situation in the defining of these characteristics. However far back we think to push our point of origin, unless it arrives at this god being, we find there is always farther back we could push, must push. We have not arrived at first cause until we arrive at God. The obverse is that when we arrive at God we find we have in fact arrived at first cause, for there is no ‘before god’, he being eternal in his self-existence.
