What I believe about God

TRINITY

I believe that God exists as a Triune being whose very nature is that of one essence sustaining three persons in perfect relationship—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. His essence admits of no separation among the three but remains always One. Nevertheless, the three persons remain eternally distinct both in person and in role (Dt 6:4; 1Ch 21:15; Isa 63:9f.; Mk 1:10f.; Mt 28:19)

I believe that within the Trinity, there is an eternal hierarchy of function. The Son is sent by the Father and is submissive to the Father’s will for redemption (Jn 8:28f.). The Spirit is sent from both the Son and the Father to continue the work (Jn16:7f.). The Spirit points people to the Son (Jn 15:26), and the Son is the way to the Father (Jn 14:6). I believe this in no way mitigates the full equality of the members of the Trinity (Jn 10:30; cf. 1Co 15:28).

THEOLOGY PROPER

God’s Essence

I believe that God is the only eternally self-existent, active, personal spirit (Ps 90:2; Isa 46:9; Jn 5:26; Rev 4:8).

I believe that God possesses His attributes as essential and not accidental to His being such that He is ultimately characterized by His own unity (Dt 6:4). Never will one attribute conflict with another, for they each reside fully and perfectly in God’s nature.

I believe that God is totally other than His creation. Holy and Transcendent, He exists independent of anything He created, yet He is omnipresent (Ps 139; Isa 57:15).

I believe God’s essence is His alone and incommunicable to any other (Isa 46:9).

God’s Character

I believe that intellectually, God is omniscient and wise. He fully knows past, present, future, and possible states of affairs so that He knows even what free human creatures will do (Ps 139; Jn 21:17). Further, He is perfectly wise regarding His knowledge so that His choices are always the best (Dan 2:20; Jer 29:11).
I believe that ethically, God is perfectly righteous. There is to be found in Him no moral wrong. His perfect goodness is intrinsic to His character (1Jn 1:5, 3:5).

I believe that God is an emotional being. He hates evil, may be saddened or grieved, feels compassion, anger, and jealousy, and deeply loves (Ge 6:6; Dt 6:15; Ps 103:13; Isa 61:8; Jn 3:16).

I believe that God is a relational being. God is loving, cares for all, desires relationship with all people, and dwells with some (Ex 34:6; Isa 57:15; 2Pe 3:9). Further, though God acts toward people like a Father and also like a Mother, God is not to be understood in categories of gender (Job 9:32; Ps 103:13; Isa 66:13).

I believe that God is utterly free and omnipotent to accomplish whatever He desires (Isa 46:10; Lk 1:37). However, God is limited to do only what comports with His character (2Ti 2:13). Also, in His complete freedom God chooses to be influenced by prayer (Ex 33:17).

I believe that God, in sovereign freedom, has chosen to create the universe, to redeem sinful people, to leave room for human agency, to permit evil in the present world, and to eventually judge all people (Ge 1:1; Jos 24:15; 2Co 5:18; Mt 19:8; Ac 17:31). Further, I believe that God the Father is to be understood as the source and initiator of both Creation and Redemption and that the other members of the Trinity are in eternal, willful, functional subordination to him (Jn 6:38-40, 15:26, 16:13).

I believe that God’s character may be communicated to humans in lesser degrees—freedom without omnipotence, intelligence without omniscience (Ge 1:26; 1Sa 16:7).