The Bible asserts that God created all things (Genesis 1:1). As He sustains our universe and all living organisms, His being can only be described as infinite.
He is an immaterial force who brings about change. According to Scripture, men were created in God’s image – having greater mental capacity and the capacity for prayerful communion with him.
Material
The Bible asserts that nothing created God (Genesis 1:1). Therefore, He exists eternally and non-materially – meaning He must be spirit in nature and the source of all life on Earth; He created itself according to His standards of excellence – this being known as “God” within Scripture.
There has long been the question: What exactly does God consist of? Most people tend to assume He’s made of flesh and blood – an inaccurate assumption as He doesn’t exist physically but does have a body, such as Jesus did with His incarnation two millennia ago when He adopted human qualities including physical bodies as part of His Divine nature – though these will eventually dissolve away back into pure spirit bodies that exist unseen realms.
God used only materials already present to form the Universe. When creating sun, mountains, and animal life He combined earthly materials (dust) with His life-giving power for each element to produce them; while in creating humans He used both dust from earth and His breath; this underscores their special place within God’s creation while attesting to their dependence upon Him for survival.
One reason that a physical God is unacceptable is that it restricts what He can do. For instance, physical God would need space and matter in order to exist – elements which weren’t present before He created the Universe – so his existence relies on something not identical with himself, making Him vulnerable to suffering and emotion that have no place within an infinite and immortal Being like Himself.
There is, fortunately, an alternative solution for this dilemma. A Platonist metaphysics of immateriality places God beyond time and change; thereby distancing Him from suffering or experiencing emotions. Unfortunately, however, this philosophy is less popular among theologians since it makes Him dependent upon what isn’t Him and more appealing to many Christians than making Him subject to similar struggles as us humans do every day.
Energy
Pure energy interacts with itself to form all things, without regard for physical laws, which only exist as tools to help it maintain what has already been made. It cannot be destroyed and exists outside our finite universe; thus creating something entirely new with each interaction between energy, thought, and love; something the medieval theologian Johannes Scotus Eriugena called God’s perpetual becoming, an ongoing process.
Energy pervades every part of our universe and manifests in various forms such as stars such as our Sun or lower intensities like rocks that hold pent-up energy that releases when broken. Energy holds everything together – that includes us. God is one manifestation of this energy; when we are still enough and unencumbered from thought processes that interfere with perceiving it we will experience peace and wholeness through its energy of Love and wholeness.
Scripture captures this energy with words such as, “He cannot be touched by death; his light shines so bright that none can approach. No one has ever seen him; such is his splendor that our eyes cannot comprehend its splendor” (1 Timothy 6:16 MSG).
When the Bible describes God as light, what it really means is that He is an energy combo composed of Gamma rays, X-rays, Ultra Violet rays, visible light, Infra red rays, Micro waves and Radio waves all working in unison to radiate out his influence over us all. He’s like one massive energy system; He radiates it throughout space-time.
The Bible states that when God said, “Let there be light,” it happened immediately in a space and time that did not previously exist. A physicist reading this would immediately think of photons, while theologians may interpret this verse as bara – which in Hebrew can be translated into English as create out of nothing (creatio ex nihilo). Both perspectives offer valid descriptions of who or what God is.
Thought
The Image of God (Hebrew: Tselem Aelohiym; Greek: Tseimon tou Theou; Latin: Imago Dei) is a central doctrine in all three Abrahamic religions that holds that humankind reflects their Creator in some manner. This belief forms part of their founding doctrine, Christianity, Judaism and Islam all recognize this concept; Christianity bases it on humanity being superior over other animals in terms of knowledge of and worship for their creator; while Judaism ground this belief by acknowledging mankind’s covenant partner status within their community of love covenant partner relationship as covenant partner covenant partners who bear this image through mutual communion of sexual sex bearing this image alongside this concept of bearers of bearing this image on both sides as male and female peoples share in bearing this image within ourselves in accordance with both religions’ foundational elements.
Early theologians were not quite clear on what “image of God” meant. Some, such as Saadia Gaon and Philo, suggested that Genesis 1:27 refers not only to physical characteristics but to a special honor bestowed by God upon humanity that no other creature enjoyed. Others, like Irenaeus, saw this concept more as a metaphor that symbolized how Christ can shape both our bodies and minds today.
Later theologians have understood God as an eternal, uncreated Spirit Being who identifies themselves by Scripture using the term “God”. Logic students cannot help but see that anything that has always existed must have some non-physical aspect; hence this non-material thing must have spirit at its core.
Spinoza (1534-1604), Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), and Descartes’ (1717-1650) theories all support an understanding of God as a spiritual Being. Furthermore, these philosophers and others have proposed that the universe contains many diverse elements which interact in harmony to support this idea that they form part of one intelligent Being.
Theologians who subscribe to Augustine’s philosophy hold that God is all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent and morally good; He created everything out of nothing. However, this view is frequently challenged by process theology, Christian Science and some post-Holocaust thinking which suggests that evil exists due to free choice rather than any divine flaw or mistake.
Love
Love is at the core of God’s character and personhood, and does not conflict with His holiness, righteousness, justice or even His wrath. In fact, He so deeply cares for us that He made a way for us to spend eternity together by accepting Jesus as our personal savior.
The Bible illuminates God’s love for us through Scripture, showing His unfailing devotion as evidenced by his Word’s use of the term, “God is Love.” Agape, defined by Greek scholars as unconditional and selfless love, describes how our Creator showed his great agape when He sent His son Jesus Christ to die on our behalf for our sins.
God shows His affection through creation. According to Scripture, all of creation was made in God’s image – not only physically but spiritually as well. Our souls reflect Him perfectly and we were designed in his likeness spiritually, mentally, and socially.
Spiritually, we were designed in God’s image as loving and caring individuals. Our purpose is to live in communion with Him and share in His triune nature – this has always been mankind’s primary aim since its existence on Earth! According to Scripture, communion was mankind’s primary aim from its inception.
Mentally, we were created in God’s image as free and rational beings who have the freedom to choose whether or not to believe in Him. Additionally, He gifted us with creative intellect which allows us to invent machines, write books, paint landscapes, compose symphonies or calculate sums with ease – each act representing God’s gift and purpose in our lives.
Socially, we were designed to live in relationships of mutual love and service. God Himself models this pattern through His Father-Son-Spirit relationship of eternal and perfect love; Scripture suggests that mankind should follow this same model in its relationships.
Only by receiving God’s Spirit can we truly experience or understand His love in its entirety. Doing this will enable us to unlearn any old concepts of love which were taught us from Satan and replace them with His. When this happens, we can begin loving others like He does us.
