Primary vs Secondary attributes of God.

This note stems from some comments I have heard from time to time on the nature of God's wrath.

(Note on timelessness - when I say 'before creation', I am referring to a logical condition, not a temporal one, since it does not follow that God is a subject of time)

Consider that God has an attribute X.

If God is Eternal and independent of his creation, X can either be necessary or contingent.

Note that we start with the idea that God is a necessary being - i.e. God's existence is not conditional or reliant on anything. For all realities God exists since He must exist. Creation is entirely contingent upon God.

This argument is presented in a semi-formal way. I am trained in some logic, but it may be there are errors below.

1. It is not true for X that all possible X is necessary.

Proof: If X is judgement, X cannot exist where there is nothing to Judge. Thus judgement is a contingent or derivative attribute - it derives from another characteristic of God - in this case, goodness. Goodness exposed to evil results in Judgement.

2. God does not require his creation to be perfectly Himself, thus we reject that God can have "dormant" characteristics.

3. All contingent attributes are derivatives of necessary attributes. Proof: if God is perfect in and of himself, He does not require creation to be perfect (He was perfect prior to creation). Thus any "new" attribute must be an expression of an existing necessary attribute.

4. Any attribute which would appear to invalidates God's trinitarian co-equalness is contingent. For example, Judgement -  God has no one to judge before creation. If the father were to judge the son, the son could not be co-equal with the father, since judgement requires one to be above the other. To avoid semantics I take judgement here in the sense that God is Just with His creation.

5. Two examples

Sovereignty misused:

here are two possible definitions in context for sovereignty:

(a) Sovereignty in the sense of rulership. Implies no one dictates to a sovereign.

(b) Sovereignty in the sense that the sovereign controls every aspect of the subject.

(note that sovereignty implies a subject)

Sb -(Sovereignty B) is cannot be a necessary attribute. Proof: If Sb is necessary, it follows that there must be found a subject before creation. The subject may not be part of the Godhead, since this violates co-equality.  Sa may exist independently of creation. Thus the claim that Sb is the correct definition implies God is dependent on his creation to be sovereign.  (Note: There is nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but one must then agree that God was not sovereign before creation).
 
Wrath misused:
 Wrath is contingent since before creation there was nobody to be wrathful with. Any other view makes God dependent on creation in order to be God. Wrath is therefore a result of God's other attributes (Holiness, Goodness, Love, etc) to evil.

6. Love is not a necessary Attribute of God.
Within the trinity God loves. Love is contingent on there being someone to love, however, since our God is Trinitarian and  love exists in this necessary being, it follows that love is not a contingent attribute of God.

Notes:
A focus on God's necessary attributes will lead to understanding of God's contingent attributes, and not the other way around. Many modern Christians have put the cart before the horse.

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