How does Christianity define "God" and does it apply to all denominations across Christianity?
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Creeds are statements of theology that Christians believe. A widely accepted Christian creed is the Apostle's Creed, which begins "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth." From this very brief statement we agree that God reveals Himself as Father - implying an intimate relational Being, not an impersonal or distant force; that He is almighty - or all powerful - able to perform any possible act or cause anything to occur; and that He is the Creator of heaven and earth - He made everything that exists. Much more can be said of course, but the creed provides a solid basis. |
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I've formulated the following clear, simple definition for some "essentials of the faith" classes I've taught: God is triune. This is the one true God revealed in three persons--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are eternally distinct yet inseparable. God is one in nature and essence, and three in personality and identity. The full nature of the infinite God cannot be fully understood by the finite human intellect. We know who God is and what he is like by understanding God's statements about himself, his law, his works, his salvation, and his judgment, as found in the Bible. Particularly, much of the moral law is revealed in Exodus 20 and Matthew 5-7; Romans 1-8 and Galatians both give a clear account of his salvation. God often proclaims himself as the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob", indicating that he is the God of his special people Israel, who grew them from nothing and gave them every blessing. He also proclaims himself as the "God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery," indicating his faithful love and kindness and willingness to save. Some of God's attributes are:
Let me know (perhaps in a new question?) which of these you'd like elaboration on. |
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The scope of this question is rather wide! The whole Bible is a history of God's revelation of himself to humankind, so a proper answer to this question would quote the entire book. You could say that the entire universe is here to answer the question of what God is like, as every aspect of creation was designed to reveal God's nature to us. Although this is a truly marvelous demonstration of God's nature, this web page is too small to contain it! Most importantly, the Christian view of God is best understood by developing an understanding of Jesus. The Bible records a conversation between Jesus and his disciple Philip. John 14:8 records Philip's words, "Lord, show us the Father". Jesus reply includes the statement, "The person that has seen me has seen the Father too." These surces of information about God apply to every denomination, but each denomination has a different view of how these three sources of answer to the question. |
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Exodus 3:14 describes how God defines himself to us, in response to Moses asking what he should say when the Israelites in Egypt ask who sent him:
From the Message; emphasis mine. |
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The Bible takes some things for granted, such as the existence of God. You will not find a chapter in the Bible dedicated to proving the existence of God. It takes for granted that everyone understands and simply declares that those are fools who think anything else (Psalm 53:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God). Similarly, the Bible doesn't spend a lot of time giving out any strict definition of God. It lists certain attributes here and there, but not a definition per se. |
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