Who Is God?

When people ask, “Who is God?” there are many different answers they might hear. Some people think of God as a distant being somewhere in heaven, while others think of Him as a force or simply a higher power. The Bible gives us something much more personal than that.

God is the Creator of everything that exists, but He is not part of creation. He has always existed, He is completely holy, He is perfectly good, and He knows everything about us. Most importantly, the Bible shows us that God wants us to know Him.

We cannot understand everything about God because He is greater than we are, but God has revealed Himself to us through His Word, through creation and, most clearly, through Jesus Christ.

So, who is God?

God Is the One True God

The Bible begins with God already existing.

It does not begin by explaining where God came from because God did not come from anywhere. He has always been.

Genesis 1:1 — God Created the Heavens and the Earth

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

Everything we see around us had a beginning, but God existed before creation.

The universe is not God, and God is not part of the universe. He is the Creator who brought everything into existence.

Psalm 90:2 — God Is Eternal

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”

God has no beginning and no end.

That can be difficult for us to understand because everything we experience in this life has a beginning. We were born, the world around us was created, and everything we can see eventually changes or passes away. God is different because He is eternal.

He has always been God, and He always will be.

God Created Everything

The Bible teaches that everything that exists was ultimately created by God.

Colossians 1:16 — All Things Were Created Through Christ

“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:”

God created both the things we can see and the things we cannot see.

This means that our lives are not meaningless accidents. We were created by God and for God.

There is a reason we exist, even when we have not yet discovered what that purpose is.

God Is Holy

One of the most important things the Bible tells us about God is that He is holy.

Holiness means that God is completely pure and set apart from sin. There is nothing corrupt, evil or sinful in Him.

Isaiah 6:3 — Holy, Holy, Holy

“And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”

God’s holiness is not simply one small part of His character.

It is central to who He is.

Because God is holy, He does not simply ignore sin and pretend that evil does not matter. His holiness means that He is completely righteous, and His justice is always based on what is right.

God Is Love

The Bible also tells us that God is love.

This does not mean that everything we call love is automatically like God’s love. God’s love is pure, faithful and completely consistent with His holiness and righteousness.

1 John 4:8 — God Is Love

“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

God’s love is not merely something He occasionally shows.

Love is part of His character.

We see this most clearly in what God did for humanity through Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 — God Loved the World

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God’s love was demonstrated through action.

He did not simply tell humanity that He loved us. He sent His Son so that sinners could be reconciled to Him.

God Is Good

God is not only powerful; He is good.

Everything God does is consistent with His character.

Psalm 34:8 — Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.”

There will be times when we do not understand what God is doing. We may go through suffering, disappointment or circumstances that seem completely unfair.

Not understanding God does not mean that God has stopped being good.

His goodness does not depend on whether our circumstances are currently comfortable. God remains good even when life is difficult.

God Is Just

God’s goodness also means that He is just.

He does not call evil good, and He does not treat righteousness and wickedness as though they are the same thing.

Deuteronomy 32:4 — All His Ways Are Judgment

“He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”

God always does what is right.

Human justice can fail because human beings are limited, biased and sometimes corrupt. God does not have those limitations.

His judgment is completely righteous.

God Is Merciful and Gracious

Although God is holy and just, Scripture also shows us that He is merciful and gracious.

This is important because every person has sinned.

Exodus 34:6 — The Lord Is Merciful and Gracious

“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 does not delight in destroying people.

He is patient and merciful, giving people opportunities to turn back to Him.

That does not mean sin does not matter. It means God has made a way for sinners to receive forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

God Knows Everything

God is also all-knowing.

There is nothing about us that He does not know.

Psalm 139:1–4 — God Knows Us Completely

“O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.

Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.”

God knows our thoughts, our words, our actions and the things we carry in our hearts.

That might sound frightening at first, especially when we know our own failures. But Scripture also shows us that God knows us completely and still calls us to come to Him.

There is nothing we can hide from Him, yet there is also no need to pretend to be someone we are not when we pray.

God Is Everywhere

God is not limited to one physical location.

Psalm 139:7–10 — There Is Nowhere We Can Go From God’s Presence

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.”

There is nowhere we can go where God is unaware of us.

For someone who feels alone, this is an incredibly comforting truth.

Even when people leave us, misunderstand us or fail us, God is not absent.

God Is All-Powerful

God is also omnipotent, meaning that He has unlimited power.

Jeremiah 32:17 — Nothing Is Too Hard for God

“Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:”

God created the heavens and the earth.

Nothing is beyond His power.

At the same time, God’s power does not mean He will do everything we ask. God acts according to His character, wisdom and purposes.

He is powerful, but He is also good and wise.

God Is Our Father

The Bible describes God as Father, which tells us something beautiful about the relationship He wants with His people.

Jesus taught His followers to pray, “Our Father.”

Matthew 6:9 — Our Father in Heaven

“After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.”

God is not simply a distant Creator.

Through Christ, believers can know Him as Father.

That does not mean God is exactly like an earthly father. Human fathers can fail, but God is perfect.

Psalm 68:5 — A Father to the Fatherless

“A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.”

God cares about people who have been hurt, abandoned and forgotten.

If someone’s experience with an earthly father has been painful, it is important not to assume that God will treat them the same way. Scripture gives us a picture of a Father who is compassionate, faithful and trustworthy.

God Is the Trinity

The Bible teaches that there is one God, yet it also reveals the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as distinct Persons who are each fully divine.

This is what Christians mean by the Trinity.

Matthew 28:19 — Father, Son and Holy Spirit

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:”

The Bible does not teach that Christians worship three separate gods.

There is one God.

The Father is God, Jesus Christ the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. At the same time, the Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Holy Spirit.

This is a mystery that we cannot completely explain, but Scripture gives us enough to know what God has revealed about Himself.

Jesus Shows Us Who God Is

If we want to understand what God is like, we should look at Jesus.

Jesus did not come simply to give humanity good advice. He came to reveal the Father and bring us back into relationship with God.

John 14:9 — Jesus Reveals the Father

“Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”

When we look at Jesus’ life, we see God’s compassion toward people, His hatred of sin, His willingness to forgive and His desire to bring people back to Himself.

Jesus shows us the heart of God.

Jesus Is God the Son

Jesus is not merely a prophet who was created by God.

Scripture teaches that He is God.

John 1:1 — The Word Was God

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

John then explains that the Word became flesh.

John 1:14 — The Word Became Flesh

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Jesus existed before His birth in Bethlehem.

He entered the world as a human being while remaining divine.

This is why Jesus can reveal God to us in a way that no ordinary human being could.

The Holy Spirit Is God

The Holy Spirit is also fully divine.

He is not simply a force or an impersonal energy.

Acts 5:3–4 — Lying to the Holy Spirit

“But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?

Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.”

Peter says that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit and then describes that action as lying to God.

The Holy Spirit works in believers, teaches them, guides them and brings them into deeper relationship with God.

God Wants Us to Know Him

God has not hidden Himself from humanity.

He has revealed Himself through creation and Scripture, and He has revealed Himself most clearly through Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:20 — God’s Power Is Seen in Creation

“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”

Creation points toward its Creator.

When we look at the world around us, we see evidence of order, power and design. Creation does not tell us everything about God, but it points us toward Him.

Scripture gives us a much clearer revelation of His character and His plan.

God Wants a Relationship With Us

Knowing about God and knowing God are not exactly the same thing.

The Bible repeatedly calls people to seek Him, trust Him and draw near to Him.

Jeremiah 29:13 — You Will Find God When You Seek Him

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”

God does not want us to simply collect information about Him.

He wants us to know Him.

That relationship is made possible through Jesus Christ.

We Can Know God Through Jesus

Sin separates humanity from God, but God made a way for us to be reconciled to Him.

John 17:3 — Eternal Life Is Knowing God

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Jesus describes eternal life in terms of knowing God.

This shows us that Christianity is not simply about following religious rules.

At the heart of Christianity is a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

God Is Close to the Brokenhearted

Sometimes people ask who God is because they are hurting.

They may not be looking for a theological definition. They may simply want to know whether God sees what they are going through.

The Bible says He does.

Psalm 34:18 — God Is Near the Brokenhearted

“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.”

God is not indifferent to human suffering.

He sees the brokenhearted, and He draws near to those who turn toward Him.

That does not mean He promises that we will never experience pain. It means that suffering does not place us outside His presence or beyond His ability to work in our lives.

God Is Worth Trusting

There will always be things about God that we cannot fully understand.

We may not understand why He allows certain things, why prayers sometimes seem unanswered or why His timing is different from ours.

But we can know His character.

Psalm 46:10 — Be Still and Know That I Am God

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

When we do not understand what God is doing, we can return to what we know about who He is.

He is holy.

He is good.

He is just.

He is merciful.

He is loving.

He is faithful.

He is our Creator and, through Christ, He invites us to know Him as Father.

So, Who Is God?

The Bible’s answer is much bigger than simply saying that God is a higher power.

God is the eternal Creator who made everything that exists. He is holy, righteous, loving, merciful, just and completely good. He knows us completely and yet still invites us to come to Him.

He is the one true God, revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ came into the world so that we could be reconciled to God, and the Holy Spirit works within believers to guide, teach and strengthen them.

Most importantly, God is not distant from us.

He wants us to know Him.

James 4:8 — Draw Near to God

“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”

If you have ever wondered whether God is real, whether He cares about you or whether you can actually know Him, the Bible’s invitation is simple: seek Him.

You do not need to understand everything before you come to God.

You can come with your questions, your doubts, your pain and your mistakes. God already knows everything about you, and He still calls you toward Himself.

The more we learn about who God is, the more we begin to understand that knowing Him is not simply about knowing facts about a distant Creator.

It is about discovering the God who created you, loves you, calls you, forgives you and wants you to walk with Him.

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