(44) Defining God

How would you define God? Give it a try. Pretty difficult isn’t it? You can describe God, using His attributes fairly easily, but its pretty hard to define God with any kind of brevity. Theologians and denominations have sought to give concise statements regarding the nature of God but even these statements end up being more descriptive than defining.

The historic Baptist Faith & Message states, “There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the Universe. God is infinite in holiness and all perfections. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.”

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, “God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.”

Of course these are just two of many attempts to define God. What we see in these definitions is that in their quest to define God apart from an extended description certain distinctives of God’s nature are often mentioned.

1. Spirit:

God is not composed of matter and does not possess a physical nature.

2. Person:

God is a personal being, with self-consciousness and self-determination, capable of feeling, choosing, and having a relationship with other personal and social beings.

3. Life:

God is alive and is the originator of all life. In that life He is self-existent and eternal.

4. Triunity:

God is one being, eternally existing in three persons.

5. Infinite:

God is limitless and measureless. All of God's attributes are limitless and measureless.

6. Unchangeable:

God is not capable of or susceptible to change in nature, but is constant, enduring, stable.

7. Unique:

God is one of a kind, one-and-only, different form all we know and even what we can conceive.

8. Perfect:

God is the embodiment and standard of all that is good and desirable by which all else is judged.

9. Sovereign:

God alone is the autonomous, free, independent ruler of all creation, exercising absolute control and direction over all creation.

With these distinctives in mind, I will venture to add one more futile attempt to define God:

God is a spirit, eternally self-existing and personal trinity, the source of all other existence, infinite and unchangeable in the totality of His nature, uniquely existing as the one and only God. He is the embodiment of all that is of value and that which His creation exists to describe.
 
This is the complexity and glory of God.  Even in the simple exercise of trying to give a basic definition of God we are left with futility and inadequate words.  There is nothing simple about God here and we have not begun to explore the true depth of His glory.  Perhaps Mark Altrogge has captured the reality in his song, I Stand in Awe of You.
 

You are beautiful beyond description

Too marvelous for words

Too wonderful for comprehension

Like nothing ever seen or heard

Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom

Who can fathom the depth of Your love

You are beautiful beyond description

Majesty enthroned above

And I stand I stand in awe of You

And I stand I stand in awe of You

Holy God to whom all praise is due

I stand in awe of you

Soli Deo Gloria