Who is God?
God cannot be searched out by human effort, yet He has not left Himself unknown — He has spoken, and He has come near in a Person. The Bible answers the question "Who is God?" in two directions at once: what He is in Himself, and what He has made known of Himself to us.
He Alone Has Life in Himself
Everything else that exists once began. God did not, and the names He takes for Himself say so.
William KellyGod, and God only, has self-being. He is the "I am," and so speaks of Himself. He is the Most High, the Almighty, and the Eternal, and thus made His name known in due time; and He alone can rightly say "I will."
Beyond Reach, Yet Made Known
There is a real limit to what any creature can discover about God — and a real revelation that breaks past that limit.
William John HockingOn the one hand, the inscrutability of God in His essential Being is first stated; "dwelling in unapproachable light; Whom no man has seen, nor is able to see," as it is expressed in another place (1 Tim. 6:15, 16). On the other hand, the same text shows that what the creature could not by any means discover has been made known by the Son, Who alone knew Him, being the Only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. Marvelous revelation this! for it includes not only God's hand in its omnipotent power, not only God's mind in omniscient wisdom and knowledge, but also, and chiefly in this passage, God's heart in its infinite and eternal love as the Father.
Where to Look for the Answer
That settles where the enquiry should be directed. If the Son alone can describe God, then every other route is the wrong address.
J T MawsonWhat is God like? "No man has seen God at any time." Then who can describe Him for us and introduce us to Him? "The only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." Then if that is so, if we would know God, we must listen to the Lord Jesus, for He is the only-begotten Son. No man can be excused if he does not know God now, for the truth as to Him is fully revealed, and the truth is not vague; but not to nature, not to science, not to philosophy must we go for the truth, but to JESUS.
Light and Love
Two short statements sum up what God is in His nature, and both were read off the life of Christ by men who watched Him.
Hamilton SmithThe Apostles, as they looked upon Christ, saw the perfect revelation of all that God is. They saw the perfect purity of Christ, and they realised that God is light — absolute holiness. They saw the perfect love of Christ, and they realised that God is love.
Israel's leaders already knew God as righteous and good. The second half of that description was still out of view.
Truth & TestimonyThe elders of the children of Israel had to do with God in His holiness and righteousness; they knew Him as the righteous Ruler over Israel. Of course, they also proved God's mercy and infinite goodness in His ways with His people but they did not know His love. The words "God is love" remained hidden from them. God's love could only be revealed in the Son of His love and His atoning death.
One God, Three Persons
Scripture speaks of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as God, without ever making them three Gods.
A J PollockThe Father is God; the Son is God; the Spirit is God — the Spirit equal in nature and substance to the Father and the Son. If the three Persons of the Godhead are each of them God, it does not follow that there are three Gods. That were impossible. There can be only one God, supreme and unique… We may not, nay cannot, comprehend this. It is a mystery hidden in the Godhead, yet the Godhead is pleased to reveal Itself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Name That Includes You
Each name God took marked out how many people it covered. The last one is the widest — and it comes with a condition.
James BoydTo Abraham He called Himself the Almighty God; and later on to Israel He says, "I am Jehovah." But the first took in but one man, and the second but one nation. When we come to the name of Father, every family in heaven and upon earth is taken in. Therefore to be in true relationship with Him Christ must be owned.
Knowing Him Shapes How We Approach Him
Because of who He is, the way we come to Him cannot be a matter of ritual or of clever reasoning.
F. B. HoleWorship must be "in spirit," the very opposite to being "in flesh," as ritualism supposes. It must be "in truth" (that is, in godly recognition of all that God is as perfectly revealed in Christ, for "truth" connects itself with the knowledge of God), in contrast to being "in nature" or "in reason," as rationalism supposes.
Summary
- Self-existent. God alone has life in Himself — "I am," the Most High, the Almighty, the Eternal.
- Unsearchable. In His essential being He dwells in light no one can approach or see.
- Declared. The Son who was in the Father's bosom has made Him known; so we go to Jesus, not to nature, science or philosophy.
- Light and love. Watching Christ, the apostles read off God's absolute holiness and His love — a love hidden until the Son came and died.
- Father. One God in three Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — and the name Father takes in every family, on condition that Christ is owned.