LIFE COACHING

SERIES

Who is God - Humanity's God-sized

question

RightMind Books
 Who is God - Humanity's God-sized question

PART I - Who is God?

The De nition

To start with, a good summary de nition of God is “the Supreme Being; the Creator and Ruler of all that

is; the Self-existent One who is perfect in power, goodness, and wisdom.” That is to say that no one, no

man, woman or child is, or other gods will be like God. There is none other like him.

Five truths about God

1. God alone is a self-existent being and the rst cause of everything else that exists. It means God

was not created by anyone, He exists by his own power and volition.

2. God is a necessary being. A necessary being is one whose nonexistence is impossible. Only God

is a necessary being; all other things are contingent beings, meaning they could not exist.

However, if God did not exist, then neither would anything else. He alone is the necessary being

by which everything else currently exists.

3. God is a personal being. The word personal in this context does not describe personality (e.g.,

funny, outgoing, etc.); rather, it means “having intent.” God is a purposeful being who has a will,

creates, and directs events to suit Him.

4. God is a triune (Three in One) being. This truth is a mystery, yet the whole of Scripture and life in

general speaks to this fact. Scripture in various places clearly calls the Father God, Jesus God, and

the Holy Spirit God. For example, the fact that Jesus possesses self-existence and is the rst

cause of everything is stated in the rst verses of the Gospel of John.

5. God is a loving being. In the same way that many things can exist but only one thing can be

existence, people and other living things can possess and experience love, but only one thing

can be love. First John 4:8 makes the simple ontological statement, “God is love.” No other gods

in other religions make such claim, they talk, teach, practice love, but no one claims to “Be love”.

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Summary

God is the only one who can say, “I be that I be.” God is pure existence, self-existent, and the source of

everything else that possesses existence. He is the only necessary being, is purposeful/personal, and

possesses both unity and diversity.

God is also love. He invites you to seek Him and discover the love He has for you in His Word and in the

life of His Son Jesus Christ, the one who died for your sins and made a way for you to live with Him for

eternity.

Scripture References

God’s Self-existence

John 5:26 simply says, “The Father has life in Himself.” Paul preached, “He is not served by human

hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else”

(Acts 17:25).

God’s Necessary existence

He alone is the necessary being by which everything else currently exists – a fact that Job states: “If He

should determine to do so, If He should gather to Himself His spirit and His breath, All esh would

perish together, And man would return to dust” (Job 34:14–15).

God is a personal God

The prophet Isaiah wrote, “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,

declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying,

‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9–10).

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God is a Triune God (Three in One)

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He commanded His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of

all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew

28:19). Notice the singular “name” in the verse; it does not say “names,” which would convey three gods.

There is one name belonging to the three Persons who make up the Godhead.

God is a Loving Being whose very character and nature is Love.

The apostle John in his First letter wrote: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God

is love.” 1 John 4:8.

PART II – Nature, Character, Work and Relationship

His Nature

We know certain things to be true of God for one reason: in His mercy He has condescended to reveal

some of His qualities to us. God is spirit, by nature intangible (John 4:24). God is One, but He exists as

three Persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16-17). God is in nite (1

Timothy 1:17), incomparable (2 Samuel 7:22), and unchanging (Malachi 3:6). God exists everywhere

(Psalm 139:7-12), knows everything (Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 40:28), and has all power and authority

(Ephesians 1; Revelation 19:6).

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His Work

We cannot understand God apart from His works, because what God does ows from who He is. Here

is an abbreviated list of God’s works, past, present, and future: God created the world (Genesis 1:1; Isaiah

42:5); He actively sustains the world (Colossians 1:17); He is executing His eternal plan (Ephesians 1:11)

which involves the redemption of man from the curse of sin and death (Galatians 3:13-14); He draws

people to Christ (John 6:44); He disciplines His children (Hebrews 12:6); and He will judge the world

(Revelation 20:11-15).

A Relationship with God

In the Person of the Son, God became incarnate [human esh] (John 1:14). The Son of God became the

Son of Man and is therefore the “bridge” between God and man (John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5). It is only

through the Son that we can have forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), reconciliation with God (John 15:15;

Romans 5:10), and eternal salvation (2 Timothy 2:10). In Jesus Christ “all the fullness of the Deity lives in

bodily form” (Colossians 2:9). So, to really know who God is, all we have to do is look at Jesus.

PART III - Attributes of God

The Bible, God’s Word, tells us what God is like and what He is not like. Without the authority of the

Bible, any attempt to explain God’s attributes would be no better than an opinion, which by itself is

often incorrect, especially in understanding God (Job 42:7). To say that it is important for us to try to

understand what God is like is a huge understatement. Failure to do so can cause us to set up, chase

after, and worship false gods contrary to His will (Exodus 20:3-5).

Only what God has chosen to reveal of Himself can be known. One of God’s attributes or qualities is

“light,” meaning that He is self-revealing in information of Himself (Isaiah 60:19; James 1:17). The fact that

God has revealed knowledge of Himself should not be neglected (Hebrews 4:1). Creation, the Bible, and

the Word made esh (Jesus Christ) will help us to know what God is like.

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Let’s start by understanding that God is our Creator and that we are a part of His creation (Genesis 1:1;

Psalm 24:1) and are created in His image. Man is above the rest of creation and was given dominion over

it (Genesis 1:26-28). Creation is marred by the fall but still o ers a glimpse of God’s works (Genesis 3:17-

18; Romans 1:19-20). By considering creation’s vastness, complexity, beauty, and order, we can have a

sense of the awesomeness of God.

Reading through some of the names of God can be helpful in our search of what God is like. They are

as follows:

Elohim - strong One, divine (Genesis 1:1)

Adonai - Lord, indicating a Master-to-servant relationship (Exodus 4:10, 13)

El Elyon - Most High, the strongest One (Genesis 14:20)

El Roi - the strong One who sees (Genesis 16:13)

El Shaddai - Almighty God (Genesis 17:1)

El Olam - Everlasting God (Isaiah 40:28)

Yahweh - LORD “I Am,” meaning the eternal self-existent God (Exodus 3:13, 14).

God is eternal, meaning He had no beginning and His existence will never end. He is immortal and

in nite (Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17). God is immutable, meaning He is unchanging;

this in turn means that God is absolutely reliable and trustworthy (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19; Psalm

102:26, 27). God is incomparable; there is no one like Him in works or being. He is unequaled and perfect

(2 Samuel 7:22; Psalm 86:8; Isaiah 40:25; Matthew 5:48). God is inscrutable, unfathomable, unsearchable,

and past nding out as far as understanding Him completely (Isaiah 40:28; Psalm 145:3; Romans 11:33,

34).

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God is just; He is no respecter of persons in the sense of showing favoritism (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm

18:30). God is omnipotent; He is all-powerful and can do anything that pleases Him, but His actions will

always be in accord with the rest of His character (Revelation 19:6; Jeremiah 32:17, 27). God is

omnipresent, meaning He is present everywhere, but this does not mean that God is everything (Psalm

139:7-13; Jeremiah 23:23). God is omniscient, meaning He knows the past, present, and future, including

what we are thinking at any given moment. Since He knows everything, His justice will always be

administered fairly (Psalm 139:1-5; Proverbs 5:21).

God is one; not only is there no other, but He is alone in being able to meet the deepest needs and

longings of our hearts. God alone is worthy of our worship and devotion (Deuteronomy 6:4). God is

righteous, meaning that God cannot and will not pass over wrongdoing. It is because of God’s

righteousness and justice that, in order for our sins to be forgiven, Jesus had to experience God’s wrath

when our sins were placed upon Him (Exodus 9:27; Matthew 27:45-46; Romans 3:21-26).

God is sovereign, meaning He is supreme. All of His creation put together cannot thwart His purposes

(Psalm 93:1; 95:3; Jeremiah 23:20). God is spirit, meaning He is invisible (John 1:18; 4:24). God is a Trinity.

He is three in one, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. God is truth, He will remain

incorruptible and cannot lie (Psalm 117:2; 1 Samuel 15:29).

God is holy, separated from all moral de lement and hostile toward it. God sees all evil and it angers

Him. God is referred to as a consuming re (Isaiah 6:3; Habakkuk 1:13; Exodus 3:2, 4-5; Hebrews 12:29).

God is gracious, and His grace includes His goodness, kindness, mercy, and love. If it were not for God’s

grace, His holiness would exclude us from His presence. Thankfully, this is not the case, for He desires

to know each of us personally (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 31:19; 1 Peter 1:3; John 3:16, 17:3).

Since God is an in nite Being, no human can fully answer this God-sized question, but through God’s

Word, we can understand much about who God is and what He is like. May we all wholeheartedly

continue to seek after Him (Jeremiah 29:13).

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 Humanity's Most
Important Question

How do we know that God exists? The answer can be given in two parts: First, all people have an
inner sense of God. Second, we believe the evidence that is found in Scripture and in nature. 

All persons everywhere have a deep, inner sense that God exists, that they are his creatures, and
that he is their Creator. Paul says that even Gentile unbelievers "knew God" but did not honor him
as God or give thanks to him (Rom. 1:21). He says that wicked unbelievers have "exchanged the
truth about God for a lie" (Rom. 1:25), implying that they actively or willfully rejected some truth
about God's existence and character that they knew. Paul says that "what can be known about
God is plain to them," and adds that this is "because God has shown it to them" (Rom. 1:19). Yet
Scripture also recognizes that some people deny this inner sense of God and even deny that
God exists. It is "the fool" who says in his heart, "There is no God" (Ps. 14:1; 53:1). It is the wicked
person who rst "curses and renounces the Lord" and then in pride repeatedly thinks "there is no
God" (Ps. 10:3-4). 

These passages indicate both that sin leads people to think irrationally and to deny God's
existence, and that it is someone who is thinking irrationally or who has been deceived who will
say, "There is no God." Paul also recognizes that sin will cause people to deny their knowledge of
God: he speaks of those who "by their wickedness suppress the truth" (Rom. 1:18) and says that
those who do this are "without excuse" for this denial of God (Rom. 1:20). A series of active verbs
indicates that this is a willful suppression of the truth (Rom. 1:23, 25, 28, 32). In the life of a
Christian this inner awareness of God becomes stronger and more distinct. We begin to know
God as our loving Father in heaven (Rom. 8:15), the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirits that
we are children of God (Rom. 8:16), and we come to know Jesus Christ living within our hearts
(Eph. 3:17; Phil. 3:8, 10; Col. 1:27; John 14:23). The intensity of this awareness for a Christian is such
that though we have not seen our Lord Jesus Christ, we indeed love him (1 Peter 1:8).
This portion extracted from Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, published by Zondervan.