New City Catechism Q2

Q: What is God?


A: God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will.


There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,
nor are there any works like yours.
All the nations you have made shall come
and worship before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wondrous things;
you alone are God. . . .
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Psalm 86:8–10, 15


The first thing we need to clarify when we ask the question “What is God?” is: What god? The first line of our key verse today, shows that this important distinction regarding this question has been needed as long as we have been around to ask it. Psalm 86:8(a) says “There is none like you among the gods, O Lord”. When we speak of God, we speak of the God of the Bible, who has revealed himself to us fully through his Word. I do not mean that he is fully known by us, but that all we can know of him now, is recorded for us in the Scriptures, and its truth revealed to us by his Spirit. We do not speak of Buddha, the god of Islam, or even the god of the Jewish faith. No religion but Christianity can claim to know the one and only true God. This may seem at first both a shocking and inflammatory claim, but Scripture is clear that only those who know the Son can know the Father. Jesus said in Matthew 11:27 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” and again in Hebrews 1:1-2 the author says “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”
The question then, is who has the God of the Bible revealed himself to be? We define the traits of God as communicable attributes, or traits we see reflected in ourselves, and incommunicable, these are the traits that belong to God alone and in these we see his transcendence. His communicable traits are things such as: loving, merciful, gracious, patient, jealous, righteous, wrathful, slow to anger, holy, just and sovereign. His incommunicable traits are things such as: eternal, immanent (not separate from his creation), omnipotent, self existent, aseity (self sufficient), immutable (unchanging) and perfect. It is important to remember, God has revealed himself to be all of these things, not one in isolation from the other. We say that God is a simple being, meaning he is not divisible into parts. His justice cannot be separated from his love, or his jealousy from his holiness. If we remove any of the truths that God has revealed about his character, he is no longer perfect in these traits - and is indeed no longer God.
So as with any question of theology, why is this important? What impact should this have on our hearts? First, it should produce in us awe, which is good and right, he is incomprehensible, not unknowable, but not completely knowable. He has revealed himself to us in his creation, and as fully as we are able to know him (now) in his Scripture, by his Spirit, and through his Son. In spite of this, we are finite, and will never know everything there is to know about him.
Second, it should produce in us hope, he is sovereign - not just sovereign as we think of earthly rulers - but truly sovereign, a type of sovereignty that only God in his perfect omnipotence, omniscience and aseity can claim. He needs no one; needs nothing; he is completely perfect unto himself in every respect. All things were created by him and sustained through him, be he is no more complete because of that creation. Indeed creation exists only for his glory, but he is not less glorious without it. Yet, he has chosen to glorify himself by redeeming a broken creation to himself through his Son. In his mercy, he has shown grace to a rebellious people and declared us righteous through a work only Jesus could accomplish, that we would be heirs along with him. So we rejoice in his immutability, resting secure in every promise he has made, knowing God is faithful to his Word and does not waiver from his nature. We rejoice in the words of Numbers 23:19 “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” Only God has the power to make and keep every promise without fail, so we can rest secure in the arms of a good and heavenly Father.


For further reflection; follow the link to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, Chapter 2: Paragraphs 1 & 2. https://www.the1689confession.com/chapter-2