Church of God Knowledge Encyclopedia

God

God is the Creator of the universe, the Omnipotent and the Eternal Supreme Being who rules over all things in the universe through providence. God is also the Judge who discerns good and evil, and brings down the Last Judgment. God typically refers to the deity believed in Christianity and Catholicism, but in a comprehensive sense, it encompasses all objects of religious faith. The God spoken of in the Bible is the true deity who created heaven and earth, and is the loving God who sacrificed His life to save humanity as the Father and Mother of souls.

Almighty God the Father, Part of the ceiling painting depicting God in the chapel of Versailles Palace, France, by Antoine Coypel, 1708

Etymology

The English word God originates from the word used by the Germanic people to refer to deity. Germanic peoples referred to gods as god, Gott, etc., meaning a sacred spirit summoned through rituals.[1] This is a word derived from the Indo-European word ĝhau-,[2][3] which means to call. The oldest record of the Germanic word God is Codex Argenteus,[4] a Gothic gospel manuscript produced in the 6th century. Today, God, starting with a capital letter, is used to refer to the God of monotheistic religions, and god, starting with a lowercase letter, is used to refer to the gods of polytheistic religions.

Elohim

The Hebrew words for God are El (אֵל), Eloah (אֱלוֹהַּ), Elohim (אֱלֹהִים). In Hebrew, the singular term meaning God is El and Eloah. When the suffix -im (ים) is added to Eloah, it becomes the plural term Elohim, which means Gods. Among the three words for God, Elohim is the most commonly used and is written about 2,500 times throughout the Old Testament.

בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃

Hebrews Bible Genesis 1:1


Elohim is translated as God in English.

God’s Name

God has His own name. The name of God is the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19


The name of God the Father, who worked in the Age of the Father, is Jehovah. The name of God who came to this world in the flesh during the Age of the Son is Jesus. In the Age of the Holy Spirit, God accomplishes the work of salvation with a new name.[5]

According to the biblical truth of the Holy Trinity, Jehovah the Father, Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one and the same God the Father. God the Father, who is one, plays the roles of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at different times for the salvation of mankind, and uses different names for each.

The Image of God

Male and Female

 
Adam and Eve by Ephraim Moshe Lilien, 1923: Man and woman created in the image of God.

The common belief is that God is a monotheistic male god. The accurate record of the image of God can be found in the book of Genesis in the Bible.


Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness . . .” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:26–27


When God created man, He did not say, “Let me make man in my image, in my likeness,” but rather, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.” The man created in the image of God, as referred to as “us,” is male and female. This is evidence that God exists in both male and female images. For a long time, humanity understood God only in masculine form and referred to Him as God the Father. However, there is also a female God who is called God the Mother.[6] That is, there are two Gods: God the Father and God the Mother.

The Bible records refer to God as “us” when the construction of the Tower of Babel was halted[7] and when prophets were sent.[8]

The Meaning of ‘One God’'

God, who expresses Himself as “us,” exists as God the Father and God the Mother. Elohim, the original Hebrew word for God, is also a plural noun meaning Gods, implying that God is more than one. However, there is also a Bible record that says, “There is only one God.”[9][10][11][12] The meaning of one God can be known through Adam and Eve, the first man and woman created in the image of God.

In the Bible, Adam and Eve are considered one person, and the person who represents them is Adam.


Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man . . . Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam . . . For if the many died by the trespass of the one man.

Romans 5:12–15


The “trespass of the one man” refers to the sin of Adam. In fact, the first person to sin in the Garden of Eden was not Adam but Eve.[13] However, considering Adam and Eve as one person, it is referred to as the “sin of Adam,” rather than the “sin of Eve alone” or the “sin of both Adam and Eve.” The reason for considering Adam and Eve as one person is that Eve was created from Adam’s rib.[14]

Just as Adam and Eve, who are separate beings, are expressed as one body, the original form of God, who exists as God the Father and God the Mother, can also be referred to as one God.

The Power of God

Omnipotence

 
Abraham and the Three Angels by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1667: Abraham received God who appeared as a man. Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1667

God is the Creator who made the world with words, and the Almighty who has the power to save all humanity and to judge the world.[15] As the omnipotent and omnipresent God,[16] His sovereignty extends throughout the entire universe, such that even the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him.[17][18]

God governs and manages the countless objects within the infinite expanse of the universe according to His providence,[19] so there is nothing in the universe, no matter how small, that is beyond God’s reach. Also, God’s eyes observe everything.[20] No matter how much we hide in secret, it is fully revealed before God.[21] In the presence of such God, this world is as small as dust and merely a drop in the bucket.


Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? . . . Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales; he [God] weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before him all the nations are as nothing.

Isaiah 40:12–17


Moreover, God exists fundamentally as Spirit.[22] However, not only does He exist as Spirit, but He freely transcends between the realm of God and the realm of humans, and also manifests in this world in the form of flesh.[23] It is not surprising that God appears in human likeness. Because God is omnipotent, He can be born as an ordinary person and even appear as a passerby on the road. God who came in the flesh through this power is Christ.

Everlasting and Unchangeable

God is an everlasting and unchangeable being that is not affected by the constraints of space and time.[24][25] Only God possesses immortality, meaning eternal life, and through God, humanity can receive the promise of eternal life.[26]


Who [God] alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

1 Timothy 6:16


The Work of God

 
Ceiling painting of Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo, c. 1473–1481: Michelangelo’s ceiling frescoes depicting the Genesis narrative, including the creation of heaven and earth by God.

God is the Creator and Redeemer who carries out the work of redemption for the salvation of mankind.[27] God’s work of redemption is also a spiritual creation process that transforms human life, which is doomed to death in the image of the earthly man, into the image of the heavenly man with eternal life.[28] Through the love and sacrifice manifested in the work of redemption, humanity obtains salvation in the Last Judgment and receives the blessing of entering heaven.

Creation

 
The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, c. 1490–1510

As the Creator, God created light and darkness, the sky and the sea, the earth and all kinds of trees, the sun, the moon, and the stars, fish, birds, beasts of the earth, and human beings through the word in six days.[29] When He created man, He formed a body from dust and breathed the breath of life into it.[30] The breath of life refers to the soul. After completing six days of creation, God rested on the seventh day.[31] This day, the Sabbath, was established as a holy day to commemorate the power of the Creator.[32] God created not only the world visible to human eyes, but also the universe and everything that exists in it, the invisible world.[33]

Work of Redemption

  • Jehovah

In the Old Testament times, Jehovah God became the redeemer of the Israelites. The event where the work of the Redeemer is clearly revealed in the Old Testament times is the book of Exodus. God commanded the Israelites to slaughter lambs so that they could celebrate the Passover and be liberated from the slavery in Egypt. As a result, the Israelites were saved from the disaster that fell on Egypt and were liberated from Egypt.[34]

The Israelites who entered Canaan after the Exodus established a kingdom through the period of the judges, the once-united kingdom later split into the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Throughout all ages, God protected and redeemed the people from tribulation and oppression when they kept God’s covenant such as the Passover and obeyed His commandments.[35][36][37]

  • Jesus Christ
 
The Last Supper by Valentine de Boulogne, 1626: Jesus fulfilled the law of the new covenant on the Passover.

God came into this world in the flesh for the salvation of humanity. It is Jesus Christ. Jesus was baptized at the age of 30 and preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. Three years later, Jesus became a ransom on behalf of all mankind,[38] who had been condemned to death for sins committed in heaven.[39] He redeemed humanity from sin and death by sacrificing Himself on the cross. The truth established through the sacrifice of Christ is the new covenant, and the core truth of the new covenant is the Passover.


And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” . . . And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Luke 22:15, 19–20


Jesus said that the Passover wine of the Holy Supper is the new covenant established with His blood and then died on the cross the next day. Just as the blood of animals was shed for the forgiveness of the sins of the Israelites in the Old Testament times,[40] Jesus, the reality of the sacrifice, shed His blood on the cross to complete the law of the new covenant that grants the forgiveness of sins and salvation to mankind.

  • Second Coming Christ

Jesus Christ, who died on the cross 2,000 years ago, comes back to this world in human likeness symbolized by clouds, before Judgment Day in order to bring salvation to humanity.

[S]o Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:28


The reason Christ comes again in the flesh before Judgment Day is that God’s people are in the situation where they cannot be saved.[41] The gospel of heaven taught by Jesus, including the New Covenant Passover and the Sabbath, disappeared after the Apostolic Age, and the world became filled with false doctrines, such as Sunday worship, the holy day of the sun god, and Christmas, the birthday of the sun god.

Second Coming Christ leads the world to salvation by completely restoring the truth of the new covenant.[42] Also, at the Second Coming, God the Father and God the Mother, prophesied as the Holy Spirit and the Bride, appear together and give the water of life to mankind through the truth.


The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

Revelation 22:17


The Last Judgment

 
The Last Judgment by Michelangelo, 1534–1541

God judged the world when it was full of sin.[43][44] When the Israelites worshiped idols and committed evil deeds, God judged them with disasters, wars, etc.[45][46] In the last days, at the end of redemption work, He will bring about the Last Judgment.

On that day, God appears as a fearful figure surrounded by fire[47][48] and judges the world with fire.[49][50] God’s judgment does not end with the judgment of the flesh but continues with the judgment of the souls of the dead.[51] God, who knows all human actions and secrets, will reward or punish each person according to their deeds.[52][53] The wicked will be punished according to their sins, and the Antichrist and Satan (the devil) will suffer forever in the lake of fire in hell.[54] On the contrary, the righteous, God’s people, receive rewards according to their deeds and reign as kings in heaven forever.[55]

The Love of God

 
The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, 1669: The parable of the father welcoming back his prodigal son illustrates the love of God for humanity. The Return of the Prodigal Son

God is love.[56] God willingly sacrificed Himself to save humanity as the Creator of souls and as a parent. God’s love is a perfect love that demands nothing in return from receivers. Such unconditional, absolute love of God is also referred to in Greek as agapē (αγάπη).[57]

God Who Has Come in the Flesh

God came to this world as the Messiah. The life of Jesus 2,000 years ago was no different from that of an ordinary person. He experienced hunger,[58] thirst,[59] and fatigue,[60] shed tears,[61] and felt sorrow and anguish the day before facing destiny on the cross.[62] God, incarnated in flesh, experienced the same pain and difficulty as humans, leading the weak human life to heaven.


Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. . . . For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 2:14–18


God who came in the flesh proved His love by sacrificing Himself on the cross on behalf of the sins of sinful souls.[63] God is not only in the glory of heaven but also walks alongside humans, as a God of love who even laid down His life for humanity.

Children Who Are Born Again Through Love

The greatest commandment in the Bible is love.[64] The laws of the Old and New Testament are also completed through love.[65] So Jesus gave a new commandment: “Love one another just as I have loved you.”

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

John 13:34


These words were spoken at the Holy Supper of the Passover, where the new covenant was established.[66] The love of Jesus, who sacrificed Himself on the cross for the sins of mankind, is contained in the New Covenant Passover. Through the New Covenant Passover, the people of God, who have become one body with Jesus by eating and drinking His flesh and blood, come to realize that they should love their brothers and sisters as if they were their own bodies.[67]

Additionally, Jesus personally set an example of serving others,[68] being kind,[69] and hoping that Christians would become the light of the world through good deeds.[70] God’s people, who properly realize God’s love, glorify God through good deeds and serve souls that God saved through His sacrificial love.[71] Moreover, they can maintain unwavering faith even in the face of hardships and trials.[72] Eventually, by following the example of God, who is love, and practicing and preaching the way of love of the new covenant, they are called God’s children of love.[73][74]

See also

External links

Related videos

  • Sermon: Our Almighty God

References

  1. ↑ “god,” Online Etymology Dictionary, The notion could be "divine entity summoned to a sacrifice."
  2. ↑ “ĝhau-, ĝhau̯ə-,” J. Pokorny’s Indo-European Etymological Dictionary
  3. ↑ “god,” Collins Dictionary
  4. ↑ “God,” World History Encyclopedia
  5. ↑ "Revelation 3:12".
  6. ↑ "Galatians 4:26".
  7. ↑ "Genesis 11:6–9".
  8. ↑ "Isaiah 6:8".
  9. ↑ "1 Timothy 2:5".
  10. ↑ "1 Timothy 6:15".
  11. ↑ "John 8:41".
  12. ↑ "Ephesians 4:6".
  13. ↑ "Genesis 3:6".
  14. ↑ "Genesis 2:22–24".
  15. ↑ "Zephaniah 3:17".
  16. ↑ "Job 42:2".
  17. ↑ "Jeremiah 23:24".
  18. ↑ "2 Chronicles 6:18".
  19. ↑ "Job 28:23–28".
  20. ↑ "Psalms 33:13–15".
  21. ↑ "Psalms 139:1–18".
  22. ↑ "John 4:24".
  23. ↑ "Genesis 18:1–4".
  24. ↑ "Genesis 21:33".
  25. ↑ "Daniel 6:26–27".
  26. ↑ "1 John 2:25".
  27. ↑ "Ephesians 1:4–6".
  28. ↑ "1 Corinthians 15:48–49".
  29. ↑ "Genesis 1:1–31".
  30. ↑ "Genesis 2:7".
  31. ↑ "Genesis 2:1–3".
  32. ↑ "Exodus 35:2".
  33. ↑ "Colossians 1:16–17".
  34. ↑ "Exodus 12:5–13".
  35. ↑ "Exodus 19:5".
  36. ↑ "Nehemiah 1:5".
  37. ↑ "2 Samuel 7:23–24".
  38. ↑ "Matthew 20:28".
  39. ↑ "Romans 6:23".
  40. ↑ "Leviticus 4:1–35".
  41. ↑ "Luke 18:8".
  42. ↑ "Micah 4:1–2".
  43. ↑ "Genesis 6:5–7".
  44. ↑ "Genesis 18:20–21".
  45. ↑ "2 Kings 18:9–12".
  46. ↑ "Jeremiah 44:22–23".
  47. ↑ "Isaiah 66:15–16".
  48. ↑ "2 Thessalonians 1:7–9".
  49. ↑ "Zephaniah 1:14–18".
  50. ↑ "2 Peter 3:6–10".
  51. ↑ "Hebrews 9:27".
  52. ↑ "2 Corinthians 5:10".
  53. ↑ "Revelation 20:12".
  54. ↑ "Revelation 20:10".
  55. ↑ "Revelation 22:5, 12".
  56. ↑ "1 John 4:8".
  57. ↑ "agape," Britannica
  58. ↑ "Mark 11:12".
  59. ↑ "John 19:28".
  60. ↑ "John 4:6".
  61. ↑ "John 11:35".
  62. ↑ "Matthew 26:37–38".
  63. ↑ "Romans 5:7–8".
  64. ↑ "Mark 12:30–31".
  65. ↑ "Romans 13:8–10".
  66. ↑ "Luke 22:20".
  67. ↑ "1 Corinthians 10:16–17".
  68. ↑ "Matthew 20:26–28".
  69. ↑ "Philippians 2:5–8".
  70. ↑ "Matthew 5:13–16".
  71. ↑ "1 John 4:16–21".
  72. ↑ "Romans 8:35–39".
  73. ↑ "Ephesians 5:1–2".
  74. ↑ "1 John 3:1-19".
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