Cultures have put forward many theories about what God is like throughout history. However, no definition encompasses everything about God, even though God revealed himself in the scriptures.
So, what is God like? The first thing to note is that, in every way, God is immensely more significant than we are. He is invisible to us; thus, we cannot establish God personally. As a result, we will never fully comprehend him or be able to express him. We have some knowledge of God, but it is up to him to reveal himself. He has accomplished this through both the Bible and his son, Jesus Christ.
Contents
Who Is God?
God exists as an eternal, ever-living Father. As the first person, he has no beginning or end[1] and is a fully self-aware individual. He is loving and the source of all love. He is a just judge as well. God is the Creator and Father of everything. The universe was not simply created by God and then abandoned. He’s still very much a part of it.
We Speak The Personality Of God
We can say that God is all-powerful and keeps the cosmos going. He is the universe’s sovereign and exists outside of it, but he is also everywhere. He is present in nature, but he is not constrained by its laws, unlike pantheists who claim he is nature. He is the origin of everything that is, including eternal life.
God Appears To Be Beyond Our Ability To Understand
The Bible is God’s self-revelation. It describes God as something that people cannot fully comprehend because, as sinful creatures, we are unable to perceive God in all his grandeur. His appearance is inconceivable and too brilliant to be safely perceived by an evil man.
God Is Like The Clouds
The vertical shape of the cloud and its contour, which resembles a man in a robe, were compared to God’s likeness by locals in Cape Coral, Florida, where it was initially spotted. According to Fiona Finn of HuffPost, “But, regardless of the answer, lots of us will continue to glance to the sky, searching for life’s greater meaning.”
God Is Like The Sunset
The Blaze reported on a picture that was supposedly taken in the UK and featured the visage of God. The appearance of a face—one that many claimed resembled the face of God—appeared as the sun’s glaring brightness contrasted with the dark, gloomy clouds.
God Is Like Jesus
Jesus is God. Numerous scriptures make it evident that Jesus claimed to be God and the Father’s equal as the only begotten Son of God. That implies that since God and Jesus are the same, God will appear as Jesus does.
God Is Everything
God is not merely an ordinary man or a cloud in the sky. When contemplating God, it is better to ponder what he stands for and what he contributes to the world than to focus on an image of him.
What Is God Like?
God’s judgment reveals another aspect of who he is: he is a moral entity. Jesus revealed the Father to us when he entered our planet. We realize that God wants to save the lost because of Jesus. He exhibits mercy, compassion, and forgiveness.
Jesus Christ Is A Loving Child Of God
Jesus also demonstrates that God will punish wrongdoing that has not been repented of and that He is enraged with people who live deceptively and refuse to accept the truth. Jesus, most importantly, revealed to us that God is love.
God is a holy and just being. For every act of wrongdoing committed in the world, a price must be paid. But even though he had never sinned, God, in the person of Jesus, accepted responsibility for it by dying on the cross. Christians hold that because of what Jesus accomplished, humanity can be absolved of responsibility and have an eternal connection with God.
God sent his one and only Son into the world out of love. The Bible teaches us, “God loves us so much that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal salvation.” Jesus died on the cross for sinners out of love. He continues to call sinners to repentance out of love so they can receive God’s grace and be referred to as his children.
Can God Be Defined?
It is said that God cannot be expressed in words. Some others emphasize that anything spoken about God is merely an approximation and that human language cannot adequately describe God. Furthermore, since God is a heavenly, eternal, and infinite being, it is challenging to express God using terms intended to articulate limited beings effectively.
As a result, the Bible never seeks to establish God’s existence; instead, it does so from the very beginning (Genesis 1:1). The purpose of the Bible is to make God’s attributes, actions, and nature clear.
Having the proper perspective on God is crucial since distorted conceptions of him constitute idolatry. To begin with, a decent summary definition 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.” God reproves the wicked man with this allegation in Psalm 50:21.
Because what God does flows from who he is, we cannot understand God apart from his acts. God created the world, actively maintains it, is carrying out his everlasting plan to redeem human beings from the effects of sin and death, brings people to Christ, disciplines his children, and judges the world.
Can God Be Described?
God is someone who, though more significant than we are, explains why we exist. He is personal (we can know him), boundless (meaning limitless), and diverse within himself. We can also characterize God by comparing him with human limitations. This means that the Lord is the “Triune God,” or one God in the Holy Trinity.
The Idea Of What Is God Like
The Christian view of God is comprised of all the qualities mentioned earlier. It is crucial to remember that, as Christians, this is not how we imagine God to behave. We get our ideas about God directly from holy Scripture, not from our wishful thinking. The Bible is a sacred trust we did not create; as a result, we are bound by what has been written (1 Corinthians 4:6).
The personal name version of “I am,” “Yahweh,” is how God introduces himself to his people in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14). In modern English Bibles, “Yahweh” (YHWH in the original Hebrew) is translated as “the Lord.” This translation aims to convey both the reverence and personal nature of the divine name while accommodating English-speaking readers’ linguistic and cultural context.
A Tradition Of Biblical Translations
The choice to translate “Yahweh” as “the Lord” is rooted in a long-standing tradition within the biblical translation history of ancient texts. There was a strong reverence for the divine name YHWH in the Hebrew Scriptures, to the point where its precise pronunciation was eventually lost or deliberately obscured. As a result, Jewish scribes and scholars began using alternative terms, such as Adonai (meaning “Lord”), to refer to God in written and spoken contexts.
It is important to note that “the Lord” is a title rather than a personal name. However, it is a recognizable substitute for the personal name Yahweh, which carries deep theological and historical significance. Although “the Lord” captures the essential meaning of the name, it is still a translation and does not fully convey the richness and uniqueness of the divine name as initially spoken by God.
Explaining What God Is Like To A Child
There are children’s books available that can help adults teach kids about God. As a concrete example, in the children’s book entitled “What Is God Like?” by the late and beloved Rachel Held Evans (herself the author of one of The New York Times bestselling books), she answers many children’s questions about God. The children’s book is a gorgeous picture book co-written with her good friend Matthew Paul Turner.
Nevertheless, it’s worth mentioning that Matthew Paul Turner and Rachel Held Evans adhere to progressive Christian doctrines. As a result, their book focuses more on the emotional aspect. It portrays a loving and compassionate image of God as a source of safety and love for children rather than relying heavily on explicit biblical references.
Despite this perspective, many conservative Christians view the book as a valuable resource for teaching children the importance of discernment. The book also encourages young hearts to be open to God.
What God Is Like As Described In The New Testament
The word “God” (ho Theos) is frequently used to allude to God the Father in the Greek of the New Testament, particularly in the writings of the apostle Paul. Interestingly, Paul uses “Lord” (Kurios in Greek) so often to refer to Jesus, given that that is the word used in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint) to refer to Yahweh. God the Son, being manifested on earth as a man named Jesus, is rightly referred to as either “Jesus” or “the Lord.”
The Holy Spirit is referred to as “the spirit” in the New Testament. He is also known as the Advocate, the Spirit of Christ, and for a variety of other roles that he fulfills. In conclusion, when someone asks you about God, reply, “God is the infinite, personal, Triune Lord, who is higher than all but present in all, and who has exercised rule and control over all things.”
God’s Nature: How He Exists
Certain truths about God’s love and full revelation are known to us because he has chosen to reveal some of his characteristics to us out of kindness and love. God is a spirit intangible by nature and the source of life. God is One, but he has three personalities. God is unfathomably big, unmatched, and constant. From God’s revelation, he is mighty, understands everything, and is omnipresent.
“God is like a spirit, and those who worship him must do so in spirit and truth,” Jesus said to the Samaritan woman (John 4:24). The original language should be translated to read “God is spirit,” which characterizes his nature. Even though the King James Version utilizes the article “a” with Spirit, God should not be referred to as a Spirit, which signifies “one of many.”
A physical form does not bind God, since he is a spirit. “Spirit” refers to an angelic being. God is a genuine being; he does not dwell in or operate through a physical body. God is not to be interpreted as having a physical body, even though he is stated to have hands, feet, eyes, and fingers. God adopts a human appearance and personality to relate to humanity in ways that are significant to us.
Consider how certain traits of God’s character apply to more than just him. Some qualities are shared, for instance, with angels. The angels being revealed are immortal spiritual beings. Being made of spirit, light, or eternity does not, therefore, make God, God. Even Satan is an evil spiritual entity that can appear as a good angel. There are also qualities that, albeit imperfectly, we, as humans, are capable of possessing.
The most important aspect is his supreme character as the creator of all things and the possessor of an eternal spirit, with everything existing in perfect harmony with himself and his creation. We can affirm that there is only the Lord as God in heaven above and on Earth below. Still, there is a lot about God to ponder and dwell on.
Conclusion
You can know God and go through a life-changing transformation because God’s love has made it possible for you to do so. Though our thoughts are finite, we can’t comprehend God fully. Faith can help with it. We accept his plan for redemption through faith.
God continues to play a significant role in the world he created. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit after he had ascended to heaven to reside with Christ-followers. He founded the Church, a global community of Christians. He also desires a continuous relationship with everyone. Because of this, humanity was created.