Reduced to its simplest definition, a divine attribute is whatever God has in any way revealed as being true of himself. Some theologians prefer the word perfection to that of attribute.

Theologian Millard Erickson distinguishes divine attributes from properties in the context of the Trinity:

When we speak of the attributes of God, we are referring to those qualities of God which constitute what he is. They are the very characteristics of his nature. We are not referring here to the acts which he performs, such as creating, guiding, and preserving, nor to the corresponding roles he plays—Creator, Guide, Preserver.

The attributes are qualities of the entire Godhead. They should not be confused with properties, which, technically speaking, are the distinctive characteristics of the various persons of the Trinity. Properties are functions (general), activities (more specific), or acts (most specific) of the individual members of the Godhead.

The attributes are permanent qualities. They cannot be gained or lost. They are intrinsic. Thus, holiness is not an attribute (a permanent, inseparable characteristic) of Adam, but it is of God. God’s attributes are essential and inherent dimensions of his very nature.

While our understandings of God are undoubtedly filtered through our own mental frameworks, his [p. 453] attributes are not our conceptions projected upon him. They are objective characteristics of his nature. In every biblical case where God’s attributes are described, it is evident they are part of his very nature. (Christian Theology, p. 265)

A. W. Tozer argues that there are hidden facts of God’s nature wholly unknown (and perhaps unknowable) by any created being, even angels. They are known only by Jehovah God himself.

In the awful abyss of the Divine being may be attributes of which we know nothing and which can have no meaning for us, just as the attributes of mercy and grace can have no personal meaning for seraphim or cherubim. These holy beings may know of these qualities of God but be unable to feel them sympathetically for the reason that they have not sinned and so do not call forth God’s mercy and grace. So there may be, and I believe there surely are, other aspects of God’s essential being which He has not revealed even to His ransomed and Spirit-illuminated children. (The Knowledge of the Holy, p. 52)