God is eternal and Creator
God did not come into being with the universe. Before the mountains, the earth, and human history, he already existed, as Psalm 90:2 declares. Genesis begins with God bringing the heavens and earth into existence, so everything created depends on him rather than the other way round (Genesis 1:1).
He is greater than the world he made, but he is not distant from it. Paul told the people of Athens that God gives people life and breath, and that he is not far from any of us (Acts 17:24-28). Scripture presents him as one who speaks, sees, hears and acts.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
God is holy, just and merciful
God’s holiness means that he is pure and utterly unlike evil or corruption. When Isaiah saw a vision of God’s holiness, he became sharply aware of his own sinfulness (Isaiah 6:3-5). God does not overlook violence, dishonesty or the ways people harm one another.
Yet his holiness is not harshness. When God made his character known to Moses, he described himself as merciful, gracious, patient, full of goodness and truth, while also making clear that guilt matters (Exodus 34:6-7). His mercy does not cancel justice, and his justice does not erase mercy. Both belong to his good character.
And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
God’s love is dependable
John teaches that love belongs to God’s very being (1 John 4:8). This is more than warm feeling. God’s love moves towards people, gives generously, calls them away from sin and keeps his promises. His love is seen supremely in what he has done through Christ.
God is also faithful and unchanging. James contrasts him with changing shadows, and Malachi points to God’s unchanging character as the reason Israel was not destroyed despite its unfaithfulness (James 1:17; Malachi 3:6). People can be unreliable. God is not.
One God, Father, Son and Spirit
The Bible is clear that there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4). It also speaks of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit together. Jesus told his disciples to baptise in the one name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).
Christians use the word Trinity to describe this biblical teaching. The word itself is not in Scripture, and no simple comparison fully explains God. Still, the Bible gives grounds for taking each person seriously: John identifies the Word, who became flesh in Jesus, as God (John 1:1; John 1:14), and Peter speaks of lying to the Holy Spirit as lying to God (Acts 5:3-4).
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Jesus makes God known
If you want to know what God is like, look closely at Jesus. John says that the Word was God and then took on human flesh (John 1:1; John 1:14). Jesus is not merely a messenger passing on facts about God from a distance.
Hebrews describes the Son as the express image of God’s person (Hebrews 1:3). So the Gospels are a good place to begin. Read what Jesus says and does, then ask what his compassion, truthfulness, authority and self-giving love show you about the God who made you.
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;