2. Who is God?
God is the one true, holy, and living God, the Eternal Spirit, the Holy Trinity.
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Both the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments affirm the reality, the genuineness, of only one God—the God historically associated with the Israelites. Confessing the “one God” as “maker of heaven and earth” recalls the prophet Jeremiah’s spirited contrast between the God of Israel and “the gods who did not make heaven and earth,” between the only genuine God, the living God, in contrast with the lifeless idols that represent the empty gods of the nations (Jer. 10:1–11; see also Isa. 44:9–20; Ps. 115:4–8). As the early church’s mission pushed out into Gentile territory, the starting point of the gospel for most Gentiles was to learn the truth about who was God and who was not. Paul recalls this as an essential facet of coming to Christ for the Gentiles to whom Paul preached the good news: “you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God” (1 Thess. 1:9). Indeed, it is astounding to consider the degree to which Jeremiah’s prediction has proven true throughout the world—“the gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens” (Jer. 10.11)—though this still represents an important facet of conversion for people in areas dominated by Hinduism, for example, with its great variety of gods and goddesses.
An important descriptor of God throughout the Scriptures is “holy.” Angels declare: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isa. 6:3); “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty” (Rev. 4:8). God repeatedly commands his people to “be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. 11:44; see also 11:45; 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15–16). To say that God is holy is to acknowledge that God is morally perfect, untainted by corruption of any kind such as permeates the fallen creation. It is a quality that sets God apart from and above all creation, such that God alone is worthy of worship. At the same time, it is a quality that God invites people to embody both as a result and as a requirement of their association with him (Heb. 12:10, 14). And God alone is “eternal,” existing not just before creation, but before and apart from time itself. God is simply other, and more, than we have the power to imagine or express.
So far, Christians speak in one voice with the witness of Israel and the Jewish people concerning God. But Christians take a definitive step in regard to their confession of this “one true, holy, and living God” that represents a major departure from the faith of Israel: the one God is, at the same time, a Trinity.
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Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. (Deut. 6:4 NIV)
You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. (Lev. 19:2)
The Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. (Jer. 10:10)
See also Matt. 28:19; John 17:3; Heb. 9:14
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This is an excerpt from Christian Faith and Doctrine: An Annotated Catechism for the Global Methodist Church. Seedbed is pleased to partner with The Global Methodist Church to offer this companion resource to A Catechism of Christian Faith and Doctrine for the Global Methodist Church.
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