Who is God?

I am helping a friend write some discipleship curriculum for a church he is starting out in Colorado and I get to help people explore the different forms of the Trinity and I figured I would share what I am writing here.  I  would like to start off with a question that Joan Osborne’s ask in one of her more famous songs and that’s "What if God was one of us?" Is God just as dysfunctional and a big of a slob as we are, or is God someone or something that is greater than we are who has the world at His fingertips. We can dive deeper into God becoming one of us more in depth when we talk about who Jesus is, but one of the essential questions that we need to answer as a Christian or looking into the Christian faith is that who is this God and is He someone who is almighty as He is billed to be, or just a fake and a crutch that people rely on just to get through life. If we really claim that God is who He says He is, lets take a look at some of the essential characteristics of who God is.

The first characteristic that wee need to look at is that God is love. This characteristic along with His holiness is the basis for everything who He is and everything that God does. If God is the beginning and the end, and the creator of all things (will be discussed next) what is Gods motivation for doing it and what do these characteristics say about who He is as a being. What does it mean that God is love? We see in 1 John that not only God is love, but love originates from Him. Love seeks to be in a relationship that is open and that hides nothing. Love also means that there are consequences for wrong actions. Consequences does not mean God hates me, but it is designed to bring us back into a full relationship with God and to rely on Him only?

The second characteristic of God is His holiness. What does holiness mean and does God sit in some ivory tower untouched? The basic meaning of holiness means that God is without sin and to be separate from sin. Sin is more than just having a blemished record, or doing a wrong action, but it is a character flaw. The character flaw is putting the created above the Creator. Gods holiness disallows Him from being around things or people who have this character flaw. This character flaw takes us out of a relationship with God and if not corrected, will lead to an eternal separation from God. To go along with holiness is this idea of transcendant. The most basic definition of this is that God is greater than we are and no matter how hard we try, we can never be God, because we can never be all knowing, all powerful, or everywhere at once. With God being holy and sinless, this makes Him the Judge of all things. With God having never sinned, this means His character is without blemish and can see for things as how they really are. This means that God judges everything based on His very character and intention and not our corrupt character and intentions that aim to lift us up.

The third characteristic that we need to look at is the concept that God is eternal. To put in basic terms, He has no beginning or no end. God. Outside of the Trinity, this is one of the more difficult things to wrap our heads around because how can something have no beginning or end, and will always be there. If God were to just randomly appear or be formed from something, that would not make Him God because it would mean that He is apart of the creation and not the Creator. The major take away that I want people to come away with is that God will always be there, long before the earth was ever created, and even if the world were to somehow cease to exist He would still be in existence.

The fourth characteristic that belongs to God and that ties into the first concept of being eternal is that He is the Creator of all things. How can something not be in existence and create, that would be a foolish idea. One of the big ideas of evolution is that everything evolved from some sort of cosmic stew or a big bang. If this was true, how did the cosmic stew get formed or who made the big bang go bang? One of the cool things about being God is that He can create things out of nothing. The big theological word for this is ex nihlo. As we see through the first few chapters of Genesis, God spoke and it came into being. With being God and having that type of authority, He doesn’t need to be wearing the white lab coat and being that crazy sciencetist hoping what is brewing in lab will work out. He speaks and it happens, and there is no questions asked.

The fifth characteristic that God is, is that He is a relational God. God did not create the earth to walk away and leave it alone to run itself into the ground (this is also known as dualism). God wants to be in relationship with us and this is why He sent His very Son to earth to take the punishment four our sin. Just as a parent wants to be in a good relationship with their children, so does God. He does not want anything to come between us, but He also will let us suffer the consequences of our actions.

Application

1. Define who God is in your life. Is He non existent, a defiant thug, or a loving Father?

2. Is our goal to reach God to be in relationship with Him, or to make ourselves look good?

3. If God’s goal is to be in relationship with us, what are the things in our lives that help or hinder with this process?

Discussion Questions

1. After reading 1 John 4, what does love God to do with it and is there anything that you wont do for love?

2. If God is holy and His character unblemished, can or should we strive for those things and are they obtainable?

3. After reading Genesis 1-3, what are your observations and some of the consequences of this passage?