The Identity and Character of God

God
Written By Gerardus Gerry Yuwono

God is the Creator of the world and everything in it (Gen 1:1-2:25; Ps 146:6; Isa 44:24; Acts 17:24). Being the Creator of all things, He is also the rightful Owner of the whole earth (Exod 19:5) who sustains all things by His powerful word (Heb 1:3). Human beings are stewards of the world (Gen 1:28; Matt 21:33-46). True stewardship begins by knowing the God who has revealed Himself through creation (Rom 1:19-20), the revelation of His word (Heb 1:1-2) and the person of Jesus Christ (Heb 1:3-4), who will return again to judge the living and the dead (2 Tim 4:1).

In the Old Testament, God is first referred to asʾĕlōhîm (Gen 1:1), which covers the overall notion of God but could also be used to refer to other gods (Gen 31:30; Ezek 28:9; Ps 86:8).[1] God is also referred to as the “Holy One of Israel” (Isa 1:4; 41:14; Jer 50:29; Ps 71:22), the “Mighty One of Jacob” (Gen 49:24; Isa 49:26; 60:16; Ps 132:2) or “Father” (Isa 63:16; 64:8; Mal 2:10). However, throughout the Old Testament, God is most often referred to as “the LORD” (e.g. Gen 2:4; Exod 3:2; Josh 1:1; Isa 1:2), which is a translation of Yahweh, God’s personal name.[2] Yahweh means “I AM” (Exod 3:13-15) and the name highlights God’s constancy and perpetual existence,[3] which is consistent with the Bible’s testimony of Jesus (Heb 13:8; Rev 22:13), who had explicitly referred to Himself as “I AM” (John 8:58), and used the same language to speak of Himself (e.g. John 6:35; 8:12; 10:7; 14:6). Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15; John 14:9), and His name is the Greek form of Joshua,[4] which means “God saves” (Matt 1:21).

  • God is holy (Lev 11:45; 1 Sam 2:2; Isa 6:3). His holiness means that He is completely and perfectly pure (Ps 145:17), set apart from creation (Exod 15:11), high and lifted up (Isa 6:1).

  • God is righteous and just (Ps 89:14). His righteousness means that He always does what is right, and His justice means that He judges rightly (Ps 98:8-9).

  • God is loving (Ps 26:3). His love is unfailing (Ps 36:7) and endures forever (Ps 100:5). But God is not only loving, He Himself is love (1 John 4:7). That is to say, in the persons of God—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit—we find the ultimate expression of love eternal. In the Trinity, we see a perfect, all-embracing mutual love.[5]

  • God is gracious (Exod 34:6) and true (Num 23:19). In His grace and mercy, God has offered mankind forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ (Eph 1:7-8). His truthfulness means that all His words are true (Prov 30:5-6; John 17:17). The Bible testifies that Jesus is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). He is indeed the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being (Heb 1:3).

[1] Koehler, Baumgartner and Stamm, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), " אֱלוֹהַּ and אֱלֹהִים: I אֵל."

[2] God’s personal name is considered as a sacred name that pious Hebrews and Jews did not pronounce, substituting for it the common Semitic word meaning “lord”. See E. C. B. MacLaurin, "YHWH, the Origin of the Tetragrammaton," Vetus Testamentum 12 (1962): 447.

[3] John Calvin, Commentaries on the Four Last Books of Moses: Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; Volume 1, trans. Charles William Bingham (Legare Street Press, 2022), "Exodus, Chapter 3."

[4] Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010), "Ἰησοῦς."

[5] Gerald Bray, God is Love, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2012), ch.7, "The Mystery of the Trinity."

Gerardus Gerry Yuwono