What is God like?

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What is God like? (Acts 17:23)

Theologians have tried to describe God in many ways. He is the substance of all human virtues. He is all–wise and all–knowing. He can do anything and everything we cannot do, and He is everything good that we would like to be. So we say that He is omnipotent (all–powerful) or omniscient (all–knowing) or omnipresent (present everywhere).

On the other hand, we can describe God by contrasting Him with our human limitations. For example, we are mortal, but God is immortal. We are fallible, but God is infallible.

God is the Father of all creation, the Creator of all. He is all–powerful and sustains the universe. He exists outside the universe (theologians call this transcendence), yet He is present throughout the universe (theologians say He is immanent) and is its ruler. He exists in nature, but He is not nature, nor is He bound by the laws of nature as the pantheists assert. He is the source of all life and everything that is.

The best description of God is the name that He gave for Himself to the early Israelites, Yahweh. Yahweh is usually translated "Jehovah" or "LORD." Scholars believe that this is the hiphil tense of the Hebrew verb "to be" and literally means "He who causes (everything else) to be."


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