Who is God?

Published September 1, 2026

God is the eternal, self-existent Creator and rightful Lord of everything. He is one, holy, righteous, loving, all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere. The Bible does not present God as an idea invented by human beings, but as the living God who made us, speaks through His Word, judges sin, shows mercy, and has made Himself known supremely through Jesus Christ.

“But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king.” — Jeremiah 10:10 (KJV)

No brief answer can contain everything true about God. He is infinite, while we are finite. Yet God has revealed enough for us to know Him truly, trust Him, worship Him, and obey Him.

God is the Creator, not part of creation

The Bible begins, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Everything else owes its existence to Him. God did not arise from the universe, depend upon matter, or develop through a natural process. He existed before all created things and brought them into being by His will and power.

Isaiah 45:12 records God’s declaration: “I have made the earth, and created man upon it.” Because He created us, He has authority over us. Human life is not ownerless. We belong to the One who gave us breath.

God is eternal and self-existent

Moses prayed, “Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Psalm 90:2). God has no beginning and will have no end. He does not receive life from another source. When God revealed His name to Moses, He said, “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14), expressing His independent and unchanging existence.

All creatures depend upon God, but God depends upon no creature. Acts 17:25 says He is not worshipped “as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.”

God is one

Scripture is unmistakably monotheistic: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4). There are not many competing gods who divide the universe among themselves. Idols are not alternative forms of the true God.

At the same time, Scripture reveals the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Jesus commanded baptism “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). The Bible requires us to receive all that it says without reducing God to the limits of human analogy. Christians have historically used the word Trinity to summarize this biblical revelation: one God, revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

God is holy and righteous

The seraphim cry, “Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3). God is completely pure and set apart from all evil. He never lies, acts unjustly, or excuses wickedness as though it were harmless.

Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “All his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” God’s holiness explains why sin is serious and why every person is accountable to Him.

God is loving and merciful

God’s holiness does not make Him cold or distant. “God is love” (1 John 4:8). His love is seen not merely in pleasant gifts, but most clearly in giving His Son for sinners.

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” — 1 John 4:9 (KJV)

God is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). His mercy, however, never requires Him to deny justice. At the cross, God’s love and righteousness meet: Christ bore the judgment sinners deserve so that God might be “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere

God asked Abraham, “Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14). His power is unlimited by any created rival, though He never acts contrary to His own truthful and holy nature.

God knows every thought and every hidden thing. Psalm 147:5 says, “His understanding is infinite.” Nothing surprises Him, and no future event catches Him unprepared.

David confessed that there was nowhere he could flee from God’s presence (Psalm 139:7–10). God is not contained by a building or limited to one nation. He is present everywhere while remaining distinct from the world He made.

God is personal

The God of Scripture thinks, wills, speaks, loves, judges, hears prayer, and enters covenant with people. He is not an impersonal energy. Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Our Father which art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9).

Calling God personal does not mean He is merely a larger version of us. Humanity was made in His image; God was not made in ours. We must let His Word correct every false picture of Him.

God has made Himself known through Jesus Christ

We do not discover God fully through speculation. John 1:18 says that the only begotten Son “hath declared him.” Jesus said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). Christ reveals God’s character, speaks God’s words, exercises divine authority, and provides the only way for sinners to be reconciled to God.

Jesus is not merely a moral teacher pointing toward an unknown deity. He is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), and “all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16).

Knowing facts about God is not the same as knowing God

A person may accept that God exists and still remain alienated from Him. Sin separates us from the holy God (Isaiah 59:2). Religious works cannot erase guilt. Eternal life is found in knowing the Father through Jesus Christ (John 17:3).

God calls every person to repent and believe the gospel. Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). Whoever trusts in Him receives forgiveness and everlasting life, not as wages earned by good behavior, but as the gift of God’s grace.

The biblical answer

God is the one true and living God: eternal, uncreated, sovereign, holy, just, loving, merciful, and faithful. He created all things and deserves all worship. He has spoken through Scripture and made Himself known through Jesus Christ.

The most important response is not merely to define God, but to turn from false gods and self-rule to “serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9). He is not far from those who seek Him according to truth. Come to Him through the Son whom He sent.