What are some of the key things to know about the nature of God?

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?

God’s nature is greater than human understanding. He is infinite (Habakkuk 1:12) and eternal (Psalm 90:2) while humans are finite and created. God cannot be comprehended fully (Isaiah 55:8–9; Romans 11:33). Yet God is not unknowable, because He has chosen to reveal Himself. While creation reveals God’s power (Romans 1:19–20), the Bible is the primary means by which God makes His nature known. In Scripture, God is revealed as one God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). Each Person is fully God, yet God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4). This triune God saves: the Father sends the Son, the Son accomplishes redemption, and the Spirit applies that work to believers (Ephesians 1:3–14). The Bible also teaches that God is self-existent, depending on nothing outside Himself for life or being (Exodus 3:14; Acts 17:25). He is holy, morally pure and entirely set apart from sin (Isaiah 6:3; James 1:13). He is also merciful, gracious, faithful, and just, holding sinners accountable while providing forgiveness through Jesus Christ (Exodus 34:6–7; Romans 3:23–26). Jesus, fully God and fully human, is the fullest and final revelation of God’s nature, making the Father known through His person and work (John 1:18; Hebrews 1:1–3).

FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT

• The psalmist writes of God’s timelessness: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:2). He is uncreated and “his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalm 147:5). He is infinite, unable to be contained by creation (Jeremiah 23:24).
• Finite, created human beings cannot fully comprehend God. God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8–9). We cannot know God through our own wisdom. This is why God asked, “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him?” (Isaiah 40:25). God is unlike anything in creation, so we can’t understand Him as He is.
• While we cannot discover God on our own, we can truly know Him because He has revealed Himself through Scripture. His Word, “is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7).
• Scripture also teaches that “the LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This confession establishes that God is not one among many gods, nor is He divided in being. Everything Scripture reveals about His nature flows from the fact that He alone is God.
• God reveals Himself as self-existent and independent. When asked for His name, God replied, “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14). He always is. This doesn’t just mean that He is eternal, though it includes that; it also means that He is self-sufficient. He has everything He needs to continue to exist within Himself.
• God also reveals Himself as holy. In one of Isaiah’s visions, angelic beings are continuously in His presence, saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3). God’s holiness includes moral purity, which means He stands opposed to sin. God would not be holy if He allowed sin to continue unabated, which is why He must judge all sins.
• God’s judgment of sin shows His justice, yet God also reveals Himself as merciful. He proclaimed of Himself, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness … forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6–7a). That statement presents truths about God’s nature: He mercifully forgives, and He truly judges.

FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

• The New Testament indicates that God has made Himself known most fully through Jesus Christ. John wrote, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). John was talking about Jesus, who is God (John 1:1). When Jesus added on humanity, still being fully God, He also became fully human. While God was known before in what He revealed, Humanity was able to see the character of God perfectly revealed for the first time through Jesus’ person and work. That is why Jesus could say, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
• The Bible also reveals that God is triune. That is, He is one in essence in three distinct Persons. This is evident during Jesus’ baptism, where the Spirit joined Jesus, and the Father spoke from heaven (Matthew 3:16–17). This is why it was no surprise that Jesus also expresses it at the end of His ministry when He told His disciples to make disciples, “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). God is One (one name)---- three Persons who share one essence, so they work in unison for our salvation (Ephesians 1:3–14).
• God is self-existent, not dependent on anything outside Himself to continue to exist. That is, He “is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). God is not sustained by creation but is the Source and Sustainer of all life.
• The New Testament also shows God’s holiness and justice. He is entirely without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 3:5; James 1:13) and cannot allow sin to continue unabated. Being holy means that He must also judge sin. Paul explains that all people have sinned (Romans 3:23) and that sinners must die (Romans 6:23a).
• Though we were all condemned to death, God revealed His mercy when He provided His own Son as a substitute for sinners. As the God-man, Jesus lived like us but without sin (Hebrews 4:15), so He did not need to die. However, He did so to pay for the sins of others (2 Corinthians 5:21). Through Jesus, God could be both “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

IMPLICATIONS FOR TODAY

God is sovereign and above all. Yet, in His mercy, God has provided us a way to know Him through His Son, revealed to us in Scripture. When we read His Word, when we pray for Him to reveal Himself to us, we learn that He is eternal, self-existent, holy, just, merciful, and faithful. He does not change, and He does not depend on anything outside Himself—yet he loves us and has provided everything for us to love Him. In fact, we were created to know Him. Believers should not spend even one day without connecting with God. He wants to be known and makes Himself known to us.

Eventually, we realize that God did not need us. As a perfectly self-sufficient being, He didn’t need to create us—-but He did. God’s mercy and grace explain why relationship with Him is possible. God has not hidden Himself or remained distant. He has revealed His character in His Word. And most clearly, He has made Himself known through Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God shows both His justice and His mercy, dealing with sin while offering forgiveness to those who trust Him.

UNDERSTAND

• God is infinite, eternal, and self-existent.
• God is completely beyond human comprehension yet reveals Himself to us so He can be known.
• God is merciful, and He is love.

REFLECT

• How does seeing God’s mercy and justice fully revealed in Jesus affect the way you view your relationship with Him?
• How does knowing that God is infinite and holy shape the way you approach Him in worship and prayer?
• How do you recognize when you are relying on your own understanding instead of trusting what God has revealed about Himself?

ENGAGE

• How can we hold together the truth that God is beyond our full understanding while still seeking to know Him?
• What do we learn about God in the truth that He reveals Himself to us?
• How does understanding God’s nature shape the way we talk about Him and His call for us to have relationship with Him?