Why do we need to define God? The truth is we don't need it and we cannot really define God. What we need however is to know God and to form a deep and meaningful relationship with Him. For that, we need to recognize God for who He is and this is achieved through characterizing Him according to our perceptions and His revelations.
Knowing God is also important for another purpose, albeit a very personal one. God made us in His own image. We need to know and recognise God in order to acknowledge our own natural state, the state in which we were intended to be before the Fall. God's purpose of forming us was to have fellowship with Him and to achieve that we need to know Him and form a relationship with Him.
There is a number of 'words' used to describe or characterize the nature of God. God is Spirit (John 4: 24a), Infinite (Psalm 147:5), Eternal (Psalm 90: 2), Unchangeable in His being (Numbers 23:19), Wisdom (Job 36:5), Power (Matthew 3:9) Holiness (Revelations 4:8), Justice (Psalm 89:14), Goodness (Psalm 86:5) and Truth (John 17:17). However, God is not fully knowable. God is infinite while our comprehensions are finite. If I imagine our minds as finite vessels they cannot hold the infinite knowledge of God.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isa 55:9)
This brings us to the humble realization that all that we know of God is what He has revealed to us regarding Him. This He does through His divine revelations which are broadly divided into four categories:
The Bible is the Primary revelation of God in the life of a believer and it reveals a number of things about God. These answers not only reveal the nature of God but also the Will of God. As a believer, it is important to identify the significance of these revelations not only to our faith but also to how we live. There is a lesson in every revelation of God.
Let us discuss a number of such revelations and what it signifies for the life of a Christian.
I. God is Love
So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (1Jn 4:16)
The Greek word used for love is ἀγα´πη (agape¯). In the Greek language, there are seven different words for love each having a different connotation.
God's love is a love of the soul and a believer is said to abide in exactly that kind of love, love the soul. The Bible gives us a very detailed account of this kind of love.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1Co 13:4-8a)
Again the word used for love here is agape. But how does that affect the life of a believer? That is the most important question. How do you love as a believer? You see the word is very easy to use in a sentence. But love isn't just a word. It is an action. Jesus has commanded us to love.
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (Mat 5:44)
How do you love your enemies? The most common response is that you love them by forgiving them, by not holding a grudge, by submitting to their injustice. That is not loving. That is meekness. Though the Lord has blessed the meek (Matthew 5:5), you cannot profess love by showing meekness.
You do not forgive in a feeble attempt to love. You forgive because it is the first step in loving another. When you have forgiven someone their faults you are free to care for them and think of their betterment. Being a believer is not being a doormat. When the apostles were persecuted they did not pray for endurance. They prayed for boldness.
And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, (Act 4:29)
When your enemies confront you, you need to forgive them to liberate your own emotional turmoil and then you need to speak up. You need to point out their mistakes. You need to work for their betterment and improvement and pray for their conviction and repentance. That is the love a believer shows to their enemies that while the enemies plot to bring you down you pray to build them up.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1Jn 4:7-11)
II. God is Holy
For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. (Lev 11:44a)
The Word of God is often nominative and dictatorial. But a believer needs to understand the significance of the holiness of God. In Hebrew, the word used for holy is קָדֹשׁ (qâdôsh)
which may mean sacred (ceremonially or morally). In Greek, the word is ἁ´γιος
(hagios) derived from ἁ´γος (hagos) which means sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated). An important part of the ceremonial consecration is the moral consecration. Let us recall the instruction of Jesus.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Mat 5:27-28)
In other words, it is not the action that only counts but also the thought behind it. Holiness is not a physical state alone. It is a mental one. The opposite, however, is also true. You cannot be ceremonially pure if your heart is full of deceit and falseness. Similarly, you cannot be morally refined while remaining covered in filth.
But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. (Isa 5:16)
So the state of holiness can be characterized by righteousness. You need to place yourself right with God, through obedience, submission and acceptance. It is not really easy. It makes you rely on the righteousness of Jesus. Romans 3:10 tells us that none is righteous on his own and is only made righteous in the reflected glory of Jesus. Holiness is intrinsically related with purification. Purification in the Old Testament occurred through the altar.
Whatever touches the altar shall become holy. (Exo 29:37b)
Purification in the New Testament is through faith Jesus.
They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev 7:14b)
The lamb refers to Jesus and it is the example and reminder of His sacrifice that purifies our heart and mind making us holy. However, can a person remain holy in filth? Purification is a state of being. It is both moral and physical. The faith in Jesus not only purifies us of the unrighteousness within but also separates from the faith without. The challenge is to allow that separation and sanctification. To be sanctified means to be set apart. In this case, it means to be set apart as holy.
III. God is Spirit
The simplest application of this is that God is not confined to any physical space. God is not bounded by any physical medium. But God is Spirit not just in the sense that He remains beyond a corporeal frame.
The word for Spirit in Greek is πνεῦμα (pneuma) which by analogy or figuratively refers to a spirit, that is, (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, daemon, or (divine) God, Christ’s spirit, the Holy spirit: - ghost, life, mind.
Let us discuss each one of these words:
Ghost refers to an otherworldly existence, a supernatural one. God is supernatural. Often times the Holy Spirit is referred to as Holy Ghost.
Life is in the spirit. The expression of life is in the expression of the Spirit. This grants us a very unique picture of the Spirit. When we observe the exuberance of life in action and consequence they are in fact the action of the Spirit.
Then we come to the mind. The Spirit leads to wisdom and knowledge.
And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. (Isa 11:2)
IV. God is truth
The Gospel of John describes Jesus as God's spoken words. The same Gospel also describes Him as God made into flesh. Jesus is complete divinity manifest in complete human-nature. Thus what we find is a revelation of God nature. The same Gospel of John describes the nature of God's word as truth.
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (Joh 17:17)
When we realize that God's Word in the form of Jesus calls His Word as truth we realize that God is truth. That creates a special place for truth in the life of a believer. Lies are abhorrent to God. Hence a believer should adhere to the truth. Lies are a characteristic of the wicked and not the righteous.
The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. (Psa 58:3)
That is not the way of a believer.
V. God is Eternal and Unchangeable in His Being
God is constant. That has a great significance on the action of a believer. It basically means that nothing that a believer can or cannot do will ever alter God. The nature of God does not change with the rupturing of the veil in the temple, only our perception does.
The unchangeable state of God also describes His Omnipotence. In the book of Job, we find "But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does." (Job 23:13).
Does this then invalidate the doctrine of free will? Imagine it in this way that God is so vast that the existence of the individual believer is nothing but a ripple in a large ocean of His grace that does not change with a change of the ripple. The individual wave does not have the capacity to change the ocean but the ocean has the capacity to absorb any change in the ripple and yet bring its own storm to the shore. God allows us free will but that does not invalidate predestination.
God is unchangeable, so are His promises and His covenants.
So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, (Heb 6:17)
VI. God is Infinite
The image of God as an infinite ocean still limits Him within the shores of comprehension. Such limits are non-existent. His infinite existence reveals itself through His infinite power, wisdom, understanding, etc.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. (Psa 147:5)
Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O LORD. (Psa 36:5-6)
VII. God is Justice
Our God is a just God. Jesus does not tell you to offer the other cheek when one cheek is hit because God decides that some of His children should hit and others are hit. God is neither partial nor unfair. What God is, however, is that He is our Deliverer. God does not want us to take justice into our own hands because Vengeance is His.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. (Psa 89:14)
We have a righteous Judge in God. We must rely on His judgement. We must trust in His authority.
For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” (Heb 10:30)
VIII. God is Good
Lastly, we have the most defining nature of God. God is good. Goodness is one of the fruits of the Spirit. We receive it from God to exhibit into our lives.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things, there is no law. (Gal 5:22-23)
God cannot help but be Good. Evil is not from God. It is the absence of Him. Hence the life of a believer needs to reflect that goodness in any and every way. Goodness is not always blamelessness though. To be good in an evil world is not easy. But it is simply the mark of a believer. David believed in that goodness because God revealed it. However, the world sees goodness through the life of a believer, the ambassador of Christ. So the next time you are in prayer ask God if you reflect that goodness well enough. Then you may get to witness that Goodness in your life, action and testimony.
I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! (Psa 27:13)