God
(Greek θεός; lat. deus) - A Being that cannot be higher and more perfect than Whom. Being pre-eternal (beginningless), God is the Creator of all things (John 1:3). God is a real Person, much more real than ourselves.
The concept of God is inextricably linked with the concept of Revelation. We could not know anything about Him if God Himself had not revealed Himself to us. Everything we know about God is revealed to us by Him Himself.
Only the Church is the true guardian and interpreter of the Divine Revelation given to it by the Lord. Therefore, reliable reasoning about God is possible only on the basis of the teaching taught by the Church, that is, within the framework of church theology. Emphasizing the exceptional authenticity of its vision of God and realizing its special historical role in preaching about Him to the world, the Church at the same time sees in world culture, history, public and individual consciousness a variety of forms of perception of God by man, in which, to one degree or another, elements are present truth.
It is wrong to consider the doctrine of God as a static and self-sufficient truth. God revealed Himself gradually in history, and in the historical dynamics of Revelation one can see a single salvific plan, which gives meaning and purpose to the history of mankind, understood as the history of salvation.
You need to understand that any attempt to talk about the limitless and all-perfect God will inevitably run into the limitations of the human mind and the conventions of linguistic terminology, therefore such a story usually comes down to listing individual properties of God revealed to humanity through Revelation. There are two methods of discursive knowledge of God, called cataphatic (positive) and apophatic (negative) theology. The first applies to God all the highest perfections that are only conceivable in the world (for example, goodness, wisdom, life, love, being), and the second denies everything unusual for God (materiality, limitation, creatureliness, etc.).
What do we know about God? 9 properties of God
Once at a book fair, a teenager asked us: “Do you have anything that isn’t about God?” And we suddenly realized that no. Because He is everywhere for us, even if we don’t directly write about it. And here is an excerpt from the book “The Law of Love. The Shorter Modern Catechism speaks specifically about God and how a Christian should understand Him.
Law of love. A short modern catechism for those who want to be with God
Olga Klyukina
430 RUR
There is one Christian parable. One day an atheist came to the elder and began to tell him that he did not believe in God. He did not want to believe in a certain “Creator” who created the Universe.
A couple of days later, the elder paid a return visit to the atheist and brought with him a magnificent painting. The atheist was amazed. Never before had he seen a more perfect canvas.
-What a wonderful painting! Tell me, who wrote this? Who is author?
- Like who? Nobody. There was a blank canvas, and above it a shelf with paints. They accidentally overturned, spilled - and here is the result.
- Why joke like that? – the atheist didn’t believe it. – After all, this is impossible: excellent work, precise lines and combination of shades. Behind all this splendor one can feel the depth of the plan. You can’t do this without an author!
The elder smiled and said:
– You are unable to believe that this small painting appeared by chance, without the author’s prior intention. And do you want me to believe that our beautiful world - with forests and mountains, oceans and valleys, changing seasons, sunsets and moonlit nights - arose by the will of blind chance, without the Creator’s plan?
This parable helps to understand that our world could not have arisen by chance, without the creative will of the Creator. In everything we see around us, in every line of the “great book of nature,” we can read the power and wisdom of God the Creator.
Every language has its own word meaning the Creator; in Russian we call Him God.
God is invisible, He is an incorporeal and invisible Spirit (John 4:24). “Man cannot see Me and live,” the Lord announced to the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai. (Ex. 33, 20). After all, we cannot even see the sun up close, so as not to go blind.
Although sometimes, out of love for people, God revealed himself on earth to some of His chosen ones - as if in His reflections, so that they could endure the rays of His greatness and glory.
God is invisible, but if you look at it, everything that is most important in a person’s life is also invisible. We cannot describe, much less weigh or measure with a ruler, what kindness, joy, grief, intelligence, conscience, character are. Although we know for sure that they exist - this is what manifests itself every day in our actions and life situations.
God of Hosts. Vasnetsov V.M. 1885-1896.
By what a person says and how he acts, we can judge how smart or kind he is. We unmistakably know when we experience joy and at what moment we experience grief. We suffer when we go against our conscience, and we live “with a light heart” if we act justly. It is no coincidence that they say that conscience is the voice of God in man. The more goodness, truth and love in our soul, the more enlightened each of us feels, in other words, closer to God.
In His greatness, God is incomprehensible to the human mind. No one, even the wisest person, is able to fully comprehend God, because the Lord is higher, deeper, more powerful than any human mind.
But by reading the Bible, which tells us how God has manifested Himself in history over thousands of years, we can draw some conclusions about His basic characteristics.
- God is eternal
(Ps. 89:3; Is. 40:28)
God has always been, is and will be - unlike our world, in which everything is temporary, has a beginning and an end.
- God is unchangeable
(James 1:17; Mal. 3:6)
There is no change in God - unlike our world, where everything is constantly changing, one thing gives way to another. Only God, as he has always been, will remain so forever.
- God is omnipotent
(Gen. 17:1; Luke 1:37)
Nothing is impossible for God, if He could even create the world out of nothing with His one word.
- God is omnipresent
(Ps. 139:7-12)
God can always, at all times, be everywhere. There is no place on earth where He would not be.
- God is omniscient
(1 John 3:20; Heb. 4:13)
This means that God sees everything, hears everything and knows everything - present, past and future.
- God is all good
(Matt. 19:17)
God works for good in everything and always. He always cares for each of us like a loving Father.
- God is all-righteous
(Ps. 7:12; 10:7)
God has the highest degree of justice. He knows when to punish and when to forgive.
- God is well pleased
(Acts 17:25)
God has everything, is pleased with everything, and needs nothing for Himself. He does not need anything for Himself - He always gives everything to everyone.
- God is all-blessed
(1 Tim. 6:15)
God has in Himself the highest joy, the fullness of being. Therefore, no person can find happiness without God.
***
To better understand the properties of God, you need to constantly read the Bible. And then it will become clear to you why we call God not only Creator and Creator, but also Almighty, Ruler and King of the world. Through His omnipotent will, He has wisely controlled everything that He has created for many centuries.
At the same time, the Lord and King of the world created man in His image, that is, he made us free. God the Almighty does not want to force us to live according to His laws; He patiently waits for us to come and turn to Him.
From the book
“The Law of Love. A Short Modern Catechism .
The Lord controls time
How God Moved Philip
The Bible says Philip was an evangelist. And we are all called to be Evangelists. Philip was in Samaria, where there was a revival, there were miracles there. A special gift of healing was manifested through Philip - the city's lame received healing. This is where the awakening takes place.
(Acts 8:26)
And to Philip the Angel of the Lord said: Get up and go at noon, to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza, to the one that is empty.
This is a desert.
Why does God ask man to take the first step? Why should the Lord ask him to take the first step that will lead him into the desert?
Sometimes God's ways seem strange to us. Here's one feature of the spiral staircase in Solomon's Temple - at first you go straight, but after two steps the direction changes.
(Ps 119:105)
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
It all starts with the first step. Sometimes we believe that God's direction does not lead to the fulfillment of our dreams. It will not lead to where you would like to go, and it seems that the road is turning in the wrong direction. But, in fact, the road leads higher and higher, to the place that God has prepared for you. This is where awakening occurs.
The angel of the Lord told Philip to go to the road and said nothing more. And he didn’t say what to do next and what would happen next. Obedience is the first step.
Eunuch
(Acts 8:27-28)
He got up and went. And so, the husband of the Ethiopian, the eunuch, the nobleman of Candace, the queen of Ethiopia, the keeper of all her treasures, who came to Jerusalem to worship, returned and, sitting on his chariot, read the prophet Isaiah.
The eunuch read, but did not understand anything.
(Acts 8:29)
The Spirit said to Philip: Come and dock with this chariot.
Notice what the Spirit says now.
When the Spirit tells you, “You are going to this place, and I want you to spend more time listening than talking,” then you should obey the Spirit and then something will happen. Even if God didn't give you the gift. Even if you only take the first step, the rest will follow.
A comment!
Often the Lord tells us to do something simple - “take up your bed”, and you need to do it.
Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, “Stretch out your hand,” and when he tried to stretch out his hand at the command of the Lord, he was strengthened and healed.
Eternal
«Before the mountains were born, and You formed the earth and the universe, and from everlasting to everlasting You are God
"(Ps. 89:3)
Whether we like it or not, everything that exists in our world began once and will end someday. Everything is born and inevitably dies. In the human world, as we know, there is no constancy; everything ends sooner or later. And only He – Our Creator – is eternal and will never end. He will always be there.
Once upon a time, a very, very long time ago, there was neither this world nor even the universe. But he was God. He existed even when there was nothing, even before the beginning of everything. He existed before the very beginning of the world, so He is outside of what we experience as “time”, which scientists are still studying.
Ubiquitous
«Where will I go from Your Spirit, and where will I flee from Your presence?
"(Ps. 139:7)
Humanity is trying to study the planet and there are still places on Earth that are poorly studied; there are even so-called “anomalous” zones where inexplicable phenomena occur. And this is only on our planet. And there is so much we don’t know about the universe. A person cannot, even with all the technical capabilities of our time, be in many places at the same time. And God exists everywhere.
At the same time He is everywhere. You cannot hide from Him or hide anything. He is everywhere and always, unchangeably, and for Him there are no barriers or distances.
The Lord rules time and space
The Lord Jesus controls time and gives periods when every Christian needs to endure and wait. Time works with our character, it develops perseverance, patience, then long-suffering and, finally, joy. God strengthens you.
The Lord controls time and space. It happens that He speeds up time and He knows what needs to be done. Take it one step at a time.
Philip baptizes a eunuch
(Acts 8:30)
Philip came up and, hearing that he was reading the prophet Isaiah, said: Do you understand what you are reading?
(Acts 8:31)
He said: How can I understand if someone does not instruct me? And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him.
Philip spoke about Christ. Meanwhile they approached the water, and the eunuch said: Here is the water; What prevents me from being baptized?
(Acts 8:37)
Philip said to him: if you believe with all your heart, it is possible. He answered and said: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And the eunuch was baptized.
All-Blessed
«...in due time the blessed and only strong King of kings and Lord of lords will reveal
"(1 Tim. 6:15).
However, unlike us, God is also all-blessed, that is, he always arrives in endless and never passing joy, he has no other state other than happiness, the highest and true, such as we have never had. After all, we often feel sad, worry, grieve, cry and suffer.
Therefore, real joy and happiness can only be found in God, only from Him Himself. No one can ever give what God gives.
We don't know what God looks like, and most likely He has no form
The Lord God created man in his own image and likeness. For many believers, this is an indication that God is similar to people in appearance. In general, the first books of Genesis describe the appearance of God quite mundanely: there are hands, a physical body. Actually, God wanders through the Garden of Eden, which he personally planted.
But all this is fair to consider figurative language. Theologians also pointed out that the image and likeness of God is an indication of the spiritual nature, and not the material. After all, the Holy Scriptures do not deny that animals and plants could also be created in His image and likeness?
Divine origin of man
This is a matter of guesswork. What is more important for us is that nothing is said specifically about the appearance of God. There are only symbols and poetic descriptions of the prophets. Surely the Lord is not limited to any body.
At least, the Holy Scriptures do not clearly indicate one appearance: either God is the height of a man (the battle and the patriarch Israel), then about 20 meters (vision of Moses), or sits among the stars in space.
All-good
«...No one is good except God alone...
"(Matthew 19:17).
There are no good people. We can be both good and, alas, evil. Every person dislikes someone or something, if not something worse. This is almost the main reason for the mistakes of many people: we look for goodness in people, friendliness in people, sincerity and selflessness in people.
Only God is able to love us no matter what. People can turn away from us, and this has definitely happened to us, because people can be evil and heartless. Yes, we ourselves are like that too. This is characteristic of sinful human nature.
Omnipotent
«Abram was ninety-nine years old, and the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him: I am God Almighty; walk before Me and be blameless
"(Gen.17:1)
To do something, we need tools, material, conditions, and even with everything we need, a person may not be able to cope with the task. And if a person or all of humanity were faced with the task of creating a star in the universe, then this would not be feasible, since our capabilities are limited.
«...no word will remain powerless with God
"(Luke 1:37)
But God not only can do everything and He has no impossible tasks, we know from the Holy Scriptures that not a single Word of His remains helpless and powerless - He can do everything, is capable of everything, brings everything to the end. If God wants something, He will definitely do it. Nothing is impossible for Him.
All-satisfied
«...and does not require the service of human hands, as if he needed anything, Himself giving to all things life and breath and everything
"(Acts 17:25).
We constantly want something, we constantly lack something. Often it is because of this that a person has all his problems, he cannot calm down and begin to live, being content with what has been given to him by God, no, he wants something else, he wants a dream, desire, aspiration to come true, something to happen, what is intended. And a person is dissatisfied even when not only everything happens for the better for him, but also even better than planned!
However, God is pleased with everything. He does not need anything, on the contrary, since He created everything and has everything, He wants only one thing - to give and give everything that He has, so that people, everything, have it, so that everything is in contentment, as and He Himself is pleased with everything.
