A helpful way to describe God
These terms help Christians talk about two truths the Bible holds together. God is unlike anything he has made, yet he made men and women in his image (Genesis 1:26-27). We can genuinely reflect him, but we never become divine.
Communicable means “shareable”. God gives his people real, though limited, ways to show qualities that come perfectly from him. Incommunicable means “not shared” in that same sense. These are attributes belonging to God alone, without limits, dependence, or beginning.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Attributes God alone possesses
God is eternal. Before creation existed, he already was God, and he will always be God (Psalm 90:2). Every person has a beginning and depends on God for every breath. He does not.
God is also unchanging in his character and purposes (Malachi 3:6). His knowledge has no limit (Psalm 147:5), and no place lies beyond his presence (Psalm 139:7-10). God is all-powerful too, able to do what no created being can accomplish (Jeremiah 32:17).
These truths are meant to bring steadiness, not distance. The God who is beyond our limits is never overwhelmed by what overwhelms us.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Attributes God graciously reflects in people
God calls his people to grow in holiness because he himself is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Our holiness is not flawless or self-made. It is a life increasingly set apart for God, shaped by his goodness in ordinary choices.
People can also love, show mercy, practise justice, forgive, and seek wisdom. God is love in the fullest sense (1 John 4:8), while our love is often mixed with weakness and selfishness. Still, when love becomes patient, truthful, and sacrificial, it reflects something real about its source.
God invites those who lack wisdom to ask him for it (James 1:5). So even qualities we share are gifts received from him, not reasons for pride.
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Shared does not mean equal
The difference is one of measure and source. God loves perfectly and eternally. We love imperfectly and need his help. God is just in every judgement. We can pursue justice, but our understanding is partial and our motives need testing.
This keeps both sides clear. Don't shrink God into a larger version of us. But don't assume his greatness means he is unreachable either. Through Christ, believers are changed to reflect the Lord more and more (2 Corinthians 3:18).
When reading Scripture, notice both what God alone can be and what he calls his people to become. That pattern leads to humility, worship, and practical growth.
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.