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3 God's Character:

The Basis of His Reign

Exodus 20:3

You shall have no other gods before me.

Acts 17:27-28

He is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and

have our being.

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Isa 6:3 Rom 1:20 Geneses 1:1|

Exod 3:14-15 Isa 45:15 Rom 2:14-15

Exod 34:6-7 Isa 55:8-9 Heb 11:6

Lev 11:45 Acts 14:6-17

Ps 53:1 Acts 17:22-31

with this defined. But the problem wit two-stage approach is that his Who and what is God? No question

is more fundamental to religion, or to

all of human life. What we think

about God affects our attitude toward

philosophical ideas and modes thought can dominate our thi

everything else. Is life worth living?

Do human choices really matter? Is

there hope for the future? Our

understanding of God makes all the

difference in our answers to these

and obscure the biblicalaking God.4 Start with philosophical arguments and concepts, and it is

f God up with an idea

that is, at best, only marginally

easy to wind

religious. A better approach is to examine the biblical portrayal God

questions. Most important, it will

determine our understanding of

ourselves. To paraphrase John

Calvin, human beings never achieve

a clear knowledge of themselves

unless they first look on God's face.

first and then turn to the various questions people ask about God

today. We will then not only be less likely to lose sight of the biblical view; we will also have in hand the

resources it provides as we meet

these challenges.

The central task of Christian

theology-some would say, its only task2-is to develop an adequate

understanding of God.

While the importance of knowing God is clear, the best way to develop

this knowledge is not. Many

theologians follow an agenda like

"The Existence and Attributes of

God."3 They begin by examining various philosophical proofs for

God's existence, and then work their

GOD THE FATHER OF JESUS CHRIST

One description of God surpasses all

others in importance. For Christians,

God is first and foremost "the Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ." The

way through a list of divine

attributes, such as spirituality,

eternity, immutability, omnipresence, and holiness. This approach assumes that theology should first clear away people's objections to God and then, piece by piece, one attribute at a time, assemble a doctrine of God in their place.

It is true that a doctrine of God today must deal with the issue of God's existence, and that God's vari-

implications of this designation are

profound. For one thing, it means

that everything we say about God

must be informed by what we find in

Jesus. Otherwise, no matter how

much biblical and philosophical

material we accumulate, our concep

of God will never be fully and

distinctively Christian.

The central claim of Christian

faith appears in a number of

familiar

biblical passages, including John and

1:14, "The word became flesh,"

and

ous attributes need to be carefully

GOD'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

53 2 Corinthians 5:19, "God was in

not simply that God revealed himself in Jesus, but that God revealed himself in Jesus as nowhere else. God communicated with humans hefore Jesus' life and death, and he

to it. In certain cultures, it is a sign of respect to address people as Father of.." or "Mother of ... followed by the name of their child. Whatever else these people may be, this practice implies that their identity as parents is the most important thing about them. The theological point here is a little like that. God's relation to Jesus identifies him as

Christ." The essential claim here is

has communicate with them since but Jesus was the high point of the whole process. God tells us more in this particular life, and he says it more clearly, than anywhere else in the sphere of creaturely existence. The revelation of God in Jesus is not only unique in scope and clarity; it is definitive. What we see in Jesus is nothing less than God himself.

God. If we want to know God, we need to go to Jesus.5 So, what do we learn about God from the revelation in Jesus? What portrait of divine

esus? What

from his life and ministry? We can summarize it in the shortest, most im-

portrait of divine reality emerges This is the thrust of Jesus' dramatic pronouncement, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). His disciples were evidently hoping to learm more about God than what Jesus had given them. "Show us the Father," Philip asked, "and that will be enough for us" (John 14:8). Jesus replied, in effect, "That's exactly what I am doing. What you see in me is the Father. There is

portant statement in the Bible: God is love.

LOVE AS THE CHARACTER OF GOD

Love is the first and last word in the biblical portrait of God. One famous biblical passage asserts that love is so basic to God's nature that we cannot know God unless we know

nothing further God could do to make himself known." What comes to something about love: "Whoever

does not love does not know God because God is love" (1 John 4:8). This is as close as the Bible comes to

expression in the life and ministry of Jesus is nothing less than the inner- most reality of God.

From a Christian standpoint, the identification of God with Jesus is so close that it is proper to say not only Jesus is God, but God is Jesus. This one human life so fully and clearly reveals God that from this point on

giving us a definition of God,o and Christians have always viewed it as the Bible's most important descrip tion of the divine reality.7 lt indicates that love describes the inner reality of

God. Love is not an affection God sometimes shows, or a quality God people could define God by referring8

REIGN OF GOD

that he loved us and sent his Son might or might not display. Love is

the essence of God's nature. Love is

what it means to be God.

Son an atoning sacrifice for our sins" ( (1 as

John 4:9-10).

According to the Bible, love i. not only God's most important quality; it is also his most fundamental quality. All his attributes arise from love. The assertion God is love therefore includes everything there is to say about God. As one theologian writes, "All our further insights about who and what God is must revolve round.. the mystery of His love.. [T]hey can only be repetitions and amplifications of the one statement that God loves."9 Love unifies all the attributes of God.10

To be faithful to the Bible, we

ve i Although it appears only once in

the Bible, the statement God is love

succinctly summarizes a pervasive biblical theme. The Psalms describe God as "abounding in steadfast love" (Ps 103:8; ef. vs. 13). A prophet says he has everlasting love for his people (Isa 54:8). According to many passages, his love or kindness goes on forever.8 God's love led him to

establish Israel as a nation: "It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a

mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery" (Deut 7:8 [NRSV]). God's love explains his enduring commitment to his people: I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving- kindness" (Jer 31:3); "in his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old" (Isa 63:9).

According to the New Testament, God's love comes to its fullest

must therefore try to show how each divine attribute expresses an aspect of his love. We will examine God's love more closely and then explore its relation to his other qualities. The English word "love" covers an enormous range of meaning. We use it to describe our attitudes toward everything from our favorite food to the people who mean the most to us. But in Greek, the original language of the New Testament, there are several different words for love. Two

expression in the life and death of Jesus. "God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8); "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son" (John 3:16). "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but

of them are particularly important for

understanding the nature of divine love. They are eros and agape.

Bros is the Greek root for such

English words as erotic and eroticism. While these derivations have distinctly sexual overtones, tne

original meaning of eros is not GOD'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

ecessarily sexual

the attraction people feel for

omething they find

at all. It refers to nationality; ethnic, linguistic, or educational background; financial or social status; mental, physical, or

moral condition. In a word, there is

desirable and

want to possess. Eros may refer to

the desire of one person for another.

Som

but it can also refer to our attraction

for anything, such as knowledge,

no one God does not love. The all-inclusive, unconditional

quality of God's love is particularly evident in his actions toward those money, or power. Eros is conditional

love. It depends on the desirability

of its object. In contrast to eros, agape does

who oppose him. "But God shows his love for us in that while we were

not depend on desirable qualities in

its object. It flows entirely from the nature of the lover. And instead of

seeking to possess its object, agape

leads to self-giving, self-sacrificing actions. It is untainted by self

interest. So we can say that agape is

unconditional. To use Shakespeare's words, it does not "bend with the re- mover to remove." It continues

whether or not it is ever returned.

yet sinners Christ died for us" (Romn 5:8). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus relates divine perfection to the way God treats sinners. "Love your

enemies and pray for those who persecute you," he instructs his followers, "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and

the unrighteous.... Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:44-45, 48). So, God's love extends to everyone, even

The New Testament uses the second of these words to describe God's attitude toward human beings.

His unconditional love exhibits a his enemies.

Like an endless fountain, God's love pours forth in a steady, uninterrupted stream. It perfectly embodies Paul's famous description: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not

proud. It is not rude, it is not self-

seeking, it is not easily angered, it

keeps no record of wrongs. Love

does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects,

always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails" (1 Cor

13:4-8).

number of remarkable qualities. For one thing, it takes the initiative. "We

love, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19); "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved

us..." (1 John 4:10). God's love is also generous. It leads him to bestow lavish gifts on his beloved. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (John 3:16). As this text indicates, God's love is also all-inclu- sive. It embraces the entire human family. It includes every human Deing, regardless of race, age, sex, or The unconditional nature of

REIGN OF GOD

our own.

This is the sort of difference that lies behind the familiar passage, a "My

God's love gives it an extravagant,

iTational quality. It is filled with

surprises. On any rational scale of

values, God's love makes no sense.

It defies all logic. It contradicts all

"normal" behavior. This is vividly

apparent in Jesus' parable of the

prodigal son. 12 A rebellious,

disrespectful son demands his share

of the family estate and then wastes

the entire amount in disgusting

behavior. Later, utterly destitute, he

comes dragging home, hoping to

work as a servant for something to

eat. But instead of treating him as he

deserves, his father joyfully welcomes him back to the family, restores him to all the privileges of sonship, and celebrates his return

thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than

your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa 55:8-9). This is not a general aftirmation of divine

inscrutability in spite of the way it is often interpreted.3 Instead, it refers to God's willingness to forgive, in contrast to our typical reluctance to do so. "Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts." states the preceding verse. "Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon" (Isa 55:7). God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours because he is willing to forgive where we would not be.

with a sumptuous feast. Un- derstandably, the boy's older brother can't figure their father out. It makes no sense to treat a scoundrel that way. He was right. His father's

lavish affection defies explanation. And that's the point of the story.

God's love is so powerful and tenacious that it sometimes takes on a

fierce, wild quality. It can be scary to discover that you are the object of intense, relentless affection. In a

well-known poem Francis Thompson compares God's search for sinners to a hound's pursuit of its prey.14 No matter what we do to evade him, God

God's love for sinful men and women transcends all the boundaries of ordinary experience; it explodes every conventional expectation.

The transcendent quality of God's love is a familiar theme in the Old Testament prophets. It is one of the most important differences between his nature and ours. God is like us in being sensitive to the experiences of others, but radically different from us in the profound depth of his feelings. His sensitivity and love are infinitely greater than

never abandons his quest for our affection. He promises never to leave or forsake us (Heb 13:5; ct. Exod 31:5, 8). "How can I give you up" he exclaims (Hos I1:8).

The relentless intensity of divine love helps resolve an apparent dilemma in the biblical portrait o D'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

destroy themselves. Because God

loves human beings, he cannot ignore human sin. In the final analysis, God's wrath is nothing less than ar

expression of his love.5 In spite of their basic compati-

bility, there are striking difierences in

the biblical descriptions of God's

wrath and his love. For one thing,

God. As the Bible describes him,

God is adically opposed to sin and

ermined to eliminate it from the

He is a "jealous God"

vill by no means universe.

(Exod 20:5), "who

clear the guilty (Exod 34:7). He

will bring "every deed into

iudgment" (Eccl 12:14) and finally

destroy the wicked in a lake of fire

the Bible refers frequently to God's

love and only a few times to his

anger. Words like "good," "righteous," "merciful," "gracious, are applied to God throughout the

Bible, but the expression "angry God" appears in the Old Testament

only once (Nah 1:2).16 Second, God's anger is fleeting or temporary,

while his love is permanent: "His an-

ger is but for a moment, but his favor

is for a lifetime" (Ps 30:5); "In over-

flowing wrath for a moment I hid my

face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you"

(lsa 54:8). And third, God is reluctant to get angry, but eager to

show mercy (Exod 34:6; Ps 103:8).

Clearly, then, God's fundamental

disposition is one of love, and his

anger is only incidental. Unlike love,

wrath is not an attribute of God, a

(Rev 20:14-15). People often wonder

how the same being can be at once a

compassionate, forgiving parent and a

stern judge of evildoers. So, what is

the relation between divine love and

divine wrath? If God loves sinners

so much, why is he intent on

punishing them?

God's wrath marks the difference

between genuine love and mere

indulgence. Because God's love is

unconditional, people are tempted to

think of it as a form of benign

indifference. They suppose that God

doesn't really care what we do, since

he goes on loving us no matter what.

But nothing is farther from the truth.

God's love is unconditional, to be

sure, but it is deadly serious, too.

God loves us so much that

everything we do matters to him.

Consequently, he is satisfied with

nothing less than the best for us.

This explains why God is utterly ruthless in the face of sin, why it never goes unnoticed or unresponded to. It is not because God is

quality inherent in his nature. It is

"something that happens rather than

something that abides."17

With the centrality of God's love

firmly in place and its various quali-

ties in mind, we can now explore

other aspects of the doctrine of God. determined to even the score, to take revenge for every slight he has suffered. It is because he cannot stand idle while those he loves

REIGN OF GOD

disclosed the Father and Son as one, vet distinct at the same time, The presence of the Son in the erson of the Spirit also reveals

the a

THE TRINITY: LOVE AS THE

INNER BEING OF GOD

For many people, the idea of the tri-

nity is the most baffling aspect of the

Christian doctrine of God. It seems

unity that includes a distinction. Though physically absent, Jesus is nevertheless personally resent with to present us with a mathematical ab-

surdity. How can something be three

and one at the same time? The con-

his followers by means of the Holy Spirit. Through the ministry of the Spirit, Jesus fulfills his promises: "Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matt 18:20); "Surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matt 28:20). Though clearly united, the Spirit and the Son are not identical. The Spirit is someone sent from the Father into the world (see John 14:16; 15:26).

Another factor that contributes to the concept of the trinity is the nature of love. Love is inherently social; it

cept of the trinity also strikes some

people as a relapse into polytheism, the belief in a plurality of gods. How

can we reconcile the claim that God

is somehow three with the biblical

emphasis on divine oneness? In response to this question,

many people treat the trinity as a sort of numbers game. They search for

analogies to show that something can be three and one at the same time, like a triangle, for example, which has three sides, or water, which exists in three different states--solid, liquid, involves relationship between the and gas. But such approaches all miss the mark. The trinity is not an intellectual puzzle, a challenge to our ingenuity. Its basis lies in God's saving activity.

The gift of the Son and the gift of the Spirit are the two most important moments in the history of salvation. They show God moving toward the world, manifesting his love in personal form. In giving himself to his creatures as the Son

lover and the recipient or object of love. In other words, love requires an object of devotion. Accordingly, if love is what God is, as Christians affirm, if love is the very essence of the divine reality, then there must never have been a time when God did not love. God must have experienced love within himself from all etemity.

and the Spirit, the one God discloses his inner reality. He shows that his nature is not monotonous; it is not sheer undifferentiated oneness. The

The understanding of Father, Son, and Spirit as relations of love within the divine reality makes this comprehensible.

It this all seems a bit confusing let us try to reduce the idea of he trinity to its simplest elements. ro

manifestation of God in Jesus all its complexity, the doctrine of the GOD'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

conviction: God's revelation in Jesus

is a genuine self-revelation. The

was the first element that eventualy produced the doctrine of the trinity. The second was the experience of Je

sus personal presence through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the

meaning of the Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the early Christians and enabled them to fulfill the gospel commission (Acts 2:1-4; cf. 1:8). The experience assured them that Jesus was with them at that

trinity expresses one fundamental

history of salvation discloses and corresponds to distinctions within the

inner being of God himself. What

threefold manifestation of God in the

God reveals himself to be is exactly what he is. Now, let's try to unpack

the development of this doctrine a

bit. The earliest Christians, the ones

who had personal contact with Jesus, found God unbelievably close to them in his life-so close, in fact, that they had to speak of God as be- ing personally present in him. Jesus was not simply a messenger from

God. He was God. There was no

very time, guiding and leading in their activities. Though physically absent, Jesus remains with his people through the Spirit as the Comforter he promised to send (John 14:16, 17,

26; 15:26; 16:7-14). The doctrine of the trinity thus

unifies the revelation and the identity of God. It expresses the belief that God is really what he presents himself to be in his saving activity. God appears in human history as Father, Son, and Spirit because that's exactly what he is in himself. Our threefold experience of God

corresponds to a threefoldness in the inner reality of God.

To some people this doctrine may look like a presumptuous effort

to probe the inner depths of God. But far from transgressing the

boundaries of revelation, it is really an attempt to do justice to its

profound content. The dramatic claim that God was in Christ-truly,

personaly present in this human

life-requires us to identity Jesus

with God. The gift of the Son was

nothing less than the gift of God

other way to express their experience of him.

At the same time, all the early Christians were confirmed monotheists. They never spoke of Jesus as another god, alongside, or in addition to, the ruler of the universe. They never thought of God and Jesus as two separate objects of devotion.

We might say they experienced God in Jesus, not God and Jesus. But

even as they identified Jesus with

God, they made a distinction between the Father and the Son, as Jesus himself had done. Jesus was aware of the Father as another. He prayed to the Father, for example, and he urged his followers to do so in his name

The experience of God as

personally present in the life of Jesus

REIGN OF GOD

fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."18 In addition, there ah

Testament references to

But is the doctrine of the trinity

truly biblical? Or is it, as some

people argue, merely a product of

human speculation, an unfortunate

distortion the gospel suffered as it

made its way into the classical world

and became an object of

philosophical speculation? It is true

that the word "trinity" never appears

in the Bible, nor is the idea ever

several New

Jesus and to the Holy Spirit as divi (e8, Acts 5:3-4).

During the fourth and fifth centuries Christian thinkers sought to express more fully the threefold manifestation of God we find in the New Testament. They faced two heretical tendencies-an

explicitly spelled out. So, the

doctrine is not something you can

read right off a page of Scripture. The concept of the trinity does, however, express themes that are central to the biblical portrait of God. The doctrine brought them to full

expression when the church faced heretical tendencies that would have destroyed its understanding of God.

We find hints of this doctrine in the Old Testament and preliminary expressions of it in the New. The Old Testament speaks of the "spirit of God" and the "word of the Lord" in

overemphasis on diVine unity and an

overemphasis on divine complexity. Some Christians thought of Father Son, and Spirit, not as real

distinctions within God, but merely as modes through which the single divine Person manifested himself. In contrast, others subordinated the Son to the Father in such a way that he was less than fully God.

It is no simple task to describe God in a way that avoids these ex- tremes. But out of the complicated discussion of those early years came connection with the creation of the a number of terms which are still in world (Gen 1:2; Ps 33:6). There is also a famous passage in Proverbs where "wisdom" seems to enjoy near-divine status (8:22ff.). These

expressions suggest a complexity within the being of God. This divine complexity is much more apparent in the New Testament. Two texts mention the three together: Matt 28:19, "baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and

use today. Two of them appear in the formula, "one substance, three persons." The term "substance" refers to what makes something wnat It is. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one in their essential divinity. But as

persons, the three are distinct. The Latin word persona, the

origin of our word "person," first referred to the mask an actor wore identify his part in a play. In the

the

of the Holy Spirit," and 2 Cor 13:14, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the trinitarian formulas, it referred to tne distinct manner of subsisting OD'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM Characteristics of each of the three.

61 d not indicate an independent center or wll and consciousness, as the word "persor does today.

mething fferent now, some of the

affectation on God's part, or a temporary expedient. It is a disclosure of God's inner reality. In the work of salvation, God truly gives us himself. With these basic points in mind, let us consider some of the important attributes of God. If self-giving love is the essential nature of God, then everything about him is related to his love.

center of wil.

Because person" means

familiar analogies for God break We cannot, for down rather quickly. reak

example, think of God as a family for of three, or as a committee that always votes unanimously. This separates the persons and compromises God's unity. On the other hand, we obscure the distinctions within God if we think of the three persons merely as different functions. A single individual, for example, may be a teacher, a parent, and an amateur

THE REIGN OF GOD AS THE SOVEREIGNTY OF LOVE Our guiding theme, the reign of God, is a metaphor that connotes great power. It afirms God's sovereignty over all that exists and implies that God's rule eventually overcomes all opposition. However, the mere no-

Son, and Spirit. But this view fails to tion of sovereignty tells us nothing of

radio operator, all at once. Similarly, some people think, the one divine person variously functions as Father,

tion of sovereignty tells us nothing of the kind of power in question. We don't know if its effects are positive or negative, whether it benefits or ex-ploits its subjects. Consequently, we

recognize how essential these distinctions are to God.

A g0od deal has been written about the trinity during the past few years. Recent discussions urge us to keep our reflections about God's nature firmly anchored in the history of salvation,19 When people separate God's inner life from his saving activity and make it an independent object of speculation, they warm, the doctrine inevitably becomes esoteric and irrelevant. To avoid losing our way when we reflect on the trinity, therefore, we must keep in mind the basic conviction it expresses: The history of salvation reveals God as he really is. The threefold manifestation of Father, Son, and Spirit is not an

need to examine the theme of divine power and sovereignty in light of the biblical emphasis on God's love.

What is the relation between God's power and God's love? At first glance power and love seem opposed to each other. As we

typically experience them, love is something positive, power is something negative. Love values,

supports, and nourishes. Power dominates, subjugates, and exploits. Ethicists often argue that vast

differences in power in a society inevitably result in injustice, and

REIGN OF GOD

implication of the biblical rtrait of history confirms their judgment.

People who have lots of power

almost always take advantage of

those who have very little of it. When

we think of figures legendary for

their power, we usually encounter

cruelty on a massive scale. Human

sovereigns often become "great" by

destroying their opponents and terri-

fying their subjects. Herod the Great

slaughtered infants. Ivan the Terrible

tortured his enemies. The rulers of

God. If what God reveals in Jesus is really true, and it is love that ma God God, then ivine power is nothing other than the power of love God is supremely powerful precisel because of the intensity and m- mensity of his lovve. This prevents us from opposing God's power to his

ancient Sparta could summarily

execute any of the serfs that farmed

their fields; no excuse was needed.

Some of the most powerful men in

recent decades brutally ended the

lives of millions of people. To

describe God as universal sovereign,

then, seems to put him in bad

company. We have to wonder if

God's great power compromises his

love. Is it possible to reconcile the

most obvious characteristic of deity

love. God's sovereignty is the fom God's love takes toward those who depend on him for their existence,

As we noted earlier, this relation between power and love requires us

to rethink the traditional concept of God. For if God's love is basic to his power, if it is actually the source of his power, then the reign of God is

radically different from the rule of any earthly monarch. Properly understood, the reign of God tuns

the whole idea of reign upside down. Unlike human kingdoms, the purpose of God's reign is to benefit his

subjects, not to dominate them or to

glorify himself. And unlike any

earthly king, God places the welfare

of his subjects above his own. By

human standards, the idea of a self-

sacrificing monarch is an oxymoron,

with the central element in the

biblical portrait of God? Can the

same being possess supreme love as

well as supreme power? The comprehensive quality oof

love we discussed earlier provides an answer to this question. If love is the a contradiction in terms. As anyone

who plays chess knows, the king's

Survival is a nation's highest priority.

Everyone else in the kingdom is

expendable in the interest of keeping

him alive. But things are different in

the kingdom of God. Here the king

puts the interests of his subjects tirst.

He makes incomprehensible sacrifices to ensure their survival.

ultimate source of all God's qualities, then God's love must be the source of his power. He has great power

because he has great love. The idea

that God's universal sovereignty derives from and depends on his love is difficult for our minds to grasp, because power seems so "detachable" from love. But it is a necessary

GOD'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

Saying that God's power is the

fy God. The first verse of the Bible Summarizes his creative work,20 and the idea of creation is central to the general idea of divinity. Most people think of God as a powerful being who brought the world into existence. The concept of creation is basic to God's revelation in Jesus Christ. It tells us that the power that appeared in Jesus and reaches out to the world

as absurd. It is easy to imagine

power

flove will also strike people

examples. And it is possible to

imagine someone who is powerful

someone who is powerful and

filled with vivid unloving History is

to imagine someone who is powerful

andi loving as well. But it is difficult

because of her love, someone whose love is what makes him powerful.

through his ministry is the very power that brought the world into being to start with.21 And the motive for both manifestations is the same

The problem here is our inability to

imagine power apart from force Take the force out of power and we

ceem to have weakness, not strength. It is hard tO envision a Sovereign who

does not exert force against his

enemies. Yet we know there can be

no force in love. So, if love is central

to God's reality, then brute force is

alien to his character. God could

never reign merely by coercing his subjects to submit to him. That would violate his character.

Hard as it is to grasp, the idea

that supreme love is the ultimate power in the universe is the heart of the Christian portrait of God. To

flesh out our doctrine of God we now

1amely, love. The world is therefore the expression and the object of divine love. God brings into existence something other than himself and lavishes on it his affection and care.

The idea of reign involves sovereignty, of course--the idea of superior power and authority. If God's love is the fundamental quality of his character, however, we cannot think of God's power apart from his love. A loving God is not autocratic or overbearing. His sovereignty never consists in the application of sheer force. Every manifestation of divine power is also a manifestation of love. We see the unity of divine power and love in the two most

important activities the Bible ascribes

need to develop this idea along the lines of traditional theological reflection.

MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

to God, creation, and salvation.

Although systematie theologians typically develop the doctrine of God

by commenting on a list of divine

qualities, the Bible gives more

attention to God's actions than his

An ancient confession of faith refers to God as "maker of heaven and earth." This is a good way to identi

REIGN OF GOD

attributes. Is writers identify God by

describing what he does rather than

defining what he is. We see this in

the opening verse of Genesis: God

created. It is also evident in the con-

God by GOD IS ONE

Even though it is primarily intereste in God's activity, the Bible does bute a number of qualities to God God, of course, is supremely power.

fession Hebrew worshipers made

when they offered their sacrifices:

"The Lord brought us out of Egypt"

(see Deut 26:5-11). If we could ask

them who God is, ancient Hebrews

would not offer a philosophical definition of supreme power, they would speak of God's mighty acts of

ful (Jer 32:17). He is everlasting f (lsa 45:5), or immortal ( Tim 6:16); he is everywhere (Ps 139:7-8; Acts 17:27. 28), and he knows everything (1 John 3:20). Because of his unrivaled

greatness, God is utterly unique,

unlike anything or anyone else (see Isa 45:5; 46:9). Other supposed

salvation. gods are vastly inferior, and in the final analysis they amount to nothing

was active in the ministry of Jesus for at all. He alone is God (Deut 6:4). The utter uniqueness of God is

basic to biblical religion. It is the theme of the most important text in

the Old Testament, "Hear, O Israel:

The New Testament continues this interest in divine actions. God

human salvation (2 Cor 5:19). His resurrection, in particular, was a

manifestation of divine power: "God

raised him up" (Acts 2:24). Creation and salvation are the The Lord our God, the Lord is one"

two most important divine activities, but associated with them are a num-

(Deut 6:4). It emphasizes the distinction between God and

ber of other things God does. He up- holds the world (Neh 9:6; Heb 1:3); he forgives sins (Exod 34:7); he com municates with human beings (Amos 3:7; Heb 1:1-2); he makes and keeps promises (Deut 15:6; 2 Pet 3:9); he predicts the future (lsa 46:10); he makes plans (Isa 46:11); and occa- sionally he changes his mind (Gen 6:6; Jer 18:7-9). God's actions reveal that he is a personal being, for only a

person can make plans and work to fulfill them, and only a person can communicate with other persons.

everything else and the unity of the divine reality.

God's uniqueness derives from his status as creator. The concept oT

creation divides all reality into two

categories: God and world, creator and creation. For the biblical wrters,

this distinction is comprchensive. Everything falls into one category or

the other. Whatever is not God was

created by God and owes its

existence to God. This distinction 1s

also absolute. The creator never

loses his status, and the creature never becomes the creator. We can

never equate God with anything in

GOD'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

the creaturely world,

This sharp distinction etween

vorthy of worship. It provides the

ommandment" (Matt 22:38).

Immediately after the confession that

God is one, we find the injunction,

"Love the Lord your God with al

crea

and creature is basic to i

biblical

insistence that God alone

rationale

for "the greatest and first

natural object like a stone or a tree, a natural force like wind or rain, or it may be a human artifact. Either way, it crosses the boundary between creator and creature. It brings God

down to the level of a creature, or it

Hon

elevates something creaturely to the status of divinity.

ldolatry also involves an attempt to limit and manipulate God. If God is restricted to some specific object or

place, then we can control him to our

heart and witi all your soul and

with all your strength" (Deut 6:5).

Because God is one, God is worthy

of total devotion. The distinction

also explains the first two of the ten

commandments, "You shall have no

other gods before me," and "You

shall not make for yourself an idol in

the form of anything in heaven above

some extent. We may be able to

appease his anger with sacrifices or curry his favor with gifts. At least, we can limit his control over us by running away. But Jonah discovered that you can't run away from God; he

rules the sea as well as the land. Neither is his love restricted; he loves the Ninevites along with the Israelites.

or on the earth beneath or in the waters below" (Exod 20:3,4). God alone is worthy of worship, because

he alone is creator. To worship any- thing else is to worship something God has made, something less than divine. We must never identify God With an object or power in the

creaturely world, because nothing in the creaturely sphere adequately represents him. As Paul said in

We often think of idolatry as

something typical of primitive or an- cient peoples. But idolatry is not restricted to the adoration of wood and stone. People are guity ot

idolatry whenever they cross the line between creator and creature--when- ever they give God less than our

ultimate devotion, or give ultimate devotion to something less than God. Few people worship idols in contem porary Western society, but many have a distorted attitude toward God.

Athens, "We ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and

magination of man" (Acts 17:29). The emphatic distinction between

God and creation excludes idolatry, the practice of deifying some finite Teality. In its most rudimentary form, 1dolatry attributes divinity to some physical reality. An idol may be a

They view him as a source of gratifi- cation and seek him primarily to sa-

tisfy their wants or meet their needs. Human beings also have a

persistent tendency to devote

REIGN OF GOD

to God, like the sanctuary where God themselves to finite objects of

loyalty. They glorify human

potential, scientific

knowledge, or

military strength. In the

modern

world we often make idols out of

money, political power,

and personal

prestige. We care about such things

more than we care about God, and

we often trust in them more than wee

with it, dwells, the things associated e God the priests and sacrificial ithi and even the people God clain his special possession. as

The moral dimension in ivine holiness represents another distinctive feature of the biblical portrait of God. The God of the Bible combines supreme power with supreme goodness. This marks a

trust in him. People also "idolize"

other human beings. They view

political leaders, professional

athletes, and entertainers with the

awe and admiration that only God

deserves. But if we trust or value

striking contrast between the God o

anything more than God, according

to the Bible, we are idolators. In its

essence, then, idolatry is not an

outdated phenomenon. It is the

perpetual rival of genuine religion.

d of the biblical communities of faith nd the gods of surrounding cultures, The gods of the ancient Near East generally personified the forces of nature, and people depended on them for fertile crops and fertile families

These gods demanded sacrifices and offerings, but they did not

require people to treat others in a

decent way. In fact, whether or not

someone was moral in this sense was

not a matter of distinctly religious significance. After al, the gods

themselves did not display virtuous behavior. The deities of classical

GOD IS HOLY

The radical difference between God and everything else lies behind the

idea of divine holiness (Lev 11:44; Isa 6:3). We tend to think of"holy" as meaning "pure," "undefiled," or

"morally upright," and it does include

these ideas. But more basically, it refers to the quality of being utterly different from ordinary things. As one famous study analyzes it, something holy exudes a distinctive aura of "uncanniness." It fascinates and terrifies us at the same time.22 In

Greece and Rome were superior to

humans in beauty, power, and

intelligence, but not in morality. In

fact, their behavior was often

immoral. Zeus, for example, the

head of the Greek pantheon, was re

nowned for his sexual escapades. Neither were these ancient deities

the biblical sense of the word, "holy" applies primarily to God and only secondarily to things closely related

always considerate of their human

subjects. Variously objects of divine anger and affection, humans providea

amusement to the gods. "Like flies

to us are we to the gods," remarked

GOD'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

ical writer. "They kill us for When God did not destroy Nineveh as Jonah had announced, the frustrated prophet exclaimed, "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending

calamity" (Jonah 4:2).

one

their spo.

therntrast, In

the God of the Bible

is himself supren

uires moral behavior from his

Divine integrity, God's

remely good, and he

uprightness

and reliability, is a

nersistent theme in the P'salms, the

pens ncient hymns of the Hebrew people. concened with the way his followers

followers. Di

As a moral being, God is more

nd the New Testament avers that treat other people than he is with the And

God cannot lie (Tit 1:2; cf. Heb 6:18). forms of worship they employ. The

dard of all goodness. "Be perfect," particular concern of the prophets of Moreover, God's goodness is the stan- moral dimension of religion was a

on the Mount, "as your heavenly

Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48).

Another aspect of God's goodness

lesus told his followers in the Sermon the Old Testament. Rituals are worth-

less, even offensive, in God's eyes,

they insisted, if people abuse the weak

and ignore the needs of the poor. God

is even more pronounced. This is his values justice above sacrifice. "I hate,

I despise your religious feasts," God

showers his people with blessings and proclaimed through Amos, "I cannot

stand your assemblies. Even though

you bring me burnt offerings and

grain offerings, I will not accept them.

Though you bring choice fellowship

times are his seasons." Compassion is offerings, I will have no regard for

them. Away with the noise of your

Bible's most important descriptions of songs! I will not listen to the music of

your harps. But let justice roll on like

a river, righteousness like a never-

failing stream!" (Amos 5:21-24).

Similarly, Micah declared, "And what

does the Lord require of you? To act

generosity and forbearance. od

affection. He is constantly giving

them good things and forgiving their

faults. As John Donne wrote, "All

occasions invite his mercies, and all

the quality listed first in some of the

God, such as Exod 34:6-7: "And he

passed in front of Moses, proclaiming,

The Lord, the Lord, the

Compassionate and gracious God,

SlOw to anger, abounding in love and

taithfulness, maintaining love to thou- justly and to love mercy and to walk

sands, and forgiving wickedness,

rebellion and sin.""

humbly with your God" (Mic 6:8).

As the supreme principle of

goodness, God is the ultimate arbiter

of human behavior. According to one

willingness, indeed eageness, to Oof biblical writer,

to the whole

"fear God duty

and of

AS we have seen, God's

Telent from punishing people is one of biblical writer, the whole duty of

his defining characteristics. It is one

of the things that makes God God.

human beings is to "fear God and

keep his commandments....

For

REIGN OF GOD

68 To believe in God's goodness s

God will bring every

deed into

judgment,

including

every

hidden

thing, whether

it is good or

evil" (Eccl

order in the

universe

12:13-14).

God is thus responsible

for upholding

the moral

order, for

seeing to it that good

and evil are

properly

rewarded.

The Bible

often

draws a sharp contrast

between the

blessings that come

to the godly and

the punishment

that awaits the

therefore to

believe that there is moral verse, that good is

order in the univer

inherently beneficial and evil

inherently destructive. It is also to

believe that good is ultimately more

powerful than evil and will eventually triumph over it.

It is not easy to affirm God's

goodness in the world we live in. One

wicked. The first Psalm, for example, prooiem

S tne apparent breakdown ne

problem is the apparer breakdown of

the order we would expect a moral

tree: Whatever they do prospers.

But God to uphold. In a well-ordere

world, we logically assume, the compares the righteous

to a fruitfu

God to uphold. In a well-ordered

the wicked are like "chaff that the righteous prosper and the wicked

wind blows away." They "will not suffer. But things are often the other

stand in the judgment." "For the Lord

sutfer But things are often the other

way around: The righteous suffer and

watches over the way of the righteous, way around: The righteous suffer and

the wicked prosper. How can a good

but the way of the wicked will God sustain such a world? The

perish."

As judge, God has the

responsibility to see that sin and

sinners are condemned. He cannot

question has perplexed people for

centuries, and there is no easy answer

to it. Job is the classic example of an innocent person who suffers. Psalm

73 deals with the other version of the overlook violations of the moral law.

According to one typical statement,

The Lord is slow to anger, abounding problem-the wicked who prosper.

in love and forgiving sin and

rebellion. Yet he does not leave the

problem-the wicked who prosper.

How can we affirm God's

goodness amid this moral discord?

We address this question elsewhere in

this book, but here let us say that

the third and fourth generation" (Num God's goodness does not guarantee

guilty unpunished; he punishes the

children for the sin of the fathers to

14:18). Such words sound harsh to

modern ears, but the principle is

immediate rewards or punishments for

every misdeed. Only over the long

important. Unlike pagan deities, who course of human history-indeed,

frequently fly into a rage or capri- only with the eventual climax ot

ciously decide to make life miserable history-will the superiority of

for certain people, God treats people goodness be finally established.

as they deserve. What happens to The idea of a solid moral order

human beings is the outcome of their presents us with another question, those own choices. They bear responsibility Is there any hope for sinners, for those

for their destiny. who violate the noral law and deserve

D's CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

to be punish

phere, a good

cquits the

ished? In the human

judge is one wh innocent and ndemns

God's attempt to express himself in human history was the disclosure of the divine name. For ancient people, a name was more than a means to

God is truly moral, and punishes

the guilty So, the

refer to someone. It was thought of as bearing the person's identity. It

expressed the inner essence of its object. The various names for God that appear in the Bible epitomize the

divine reality in distinctive ways. The two most important names

of God in the Old Testament are

gument goes,

if (

sinners.

But is condemnation God's

capable

of mercy as well as justice?

He is bound by his nat to punish he would

have to condemn the guilty.

to sinners Is God only response

As we have seen, the biblical answer

to this question is a resounding Yes. to

God is not bound by a moral

code that limits him to a strict, merit-

only distribution ot rewards. He has

resources of mercy that transcend

judgment. In the words of a famous

Psalm, "The Lord is compassionate

and gracious, slow to anger,

abounding in love. He will not

always accuse, nor will he harbor his

anger forever; he does not treat us as

our sins deserve or repay us

according to our iniquities. For as

high as the heavens are above the

earth, so great is his love for those

who fear him" (Ps 103:8-11).23 As

we have seen, God is not only

generous; it is his very nature to be

generous. With him, forbearance and

forgiveness are more fundamental than justice.24

Elohim and Yahweh. El was the word used by the peoples surrounding the

ancient Israelites to refer to a divine

being. Elohim is its plural form in Hebrew. El and Elohim are a little like the word "god" in English, which is used both to refer to a divine

being ("god") and as a proper name

("God"). Elohim appears 2,570 times in

the Old Testament, beginning with

Gen 1:1. As a name for God, it

indicates that all divine power is

concentrated in him. He performs

many of the functions attributed to

the gods of other peoples. He is the

creator and sustainer of nature.

Yahweh is the most important of

God's names in the Old Testament,

where it occurs more than 6,800

times. Unlike Elohim, it never refers

to other gods, but only to the God of

Israel. God identities himself as NAMES OF GOD

We have said that God reigns by reaching out in love. He seeks to Establish a personal relationship witn human beings. An important part or

Yahweh especially in connection with

the most important events in Hebrew

history. As Yahweh, he delivered

them from bondage, adopted them as

a chosen nation, and guided them

REIGN OF GOD

that God is a person. To nama into the promised

land.

These two important names

something is to elevate it fro realm of things to the realm of e the

point, respectively, to God's

sOvereign power and redemptive

presence. Elohim names the creator

and Yahweh, the redeemer. Together,

they identify the comprehensive work

of God in the world.

In the New Testament we find

persons. We give names to peo We sometimes name animals : machines to indicate tha they are more to us than mere objects in the physical world. The fact that God has names indicates that he is

personal in nature. He is a "thou" wo interesting developments in the

divine name. First, one Greek word

replaces the various proper names

that appear in the Old Testament. It

is theos, the equivalent of "God" in

English. Second, the identification of

God as "father" represents a

significant advance on the Old

Testament view of God. In many

ways, it summarizes the unsur-

passable revelation of God in the

person of Jesus. God is the Father of

Jesus (Rom 15:6), and Jesus is the unique Son of God (John 3:16). More than this, in Jesus God

not an "it." Moreover, in revealing his names to us, God calls us into a personal relationship with him. When we exchange names with

someone, or introduce ourselves, we have the beginning of a personal relationship. To give your name is to offer your friendship to someone.

Finally, in giving us his names, God gives us himself. In Hebrew thought, as we noted, a name summarizes the identity of its bearer

God's names, therefore, tell us what God really is. In sharing his names with us, God shares himself. He

wills to bea vital, dynamic presence manifests and extends his fatherho0od to all human beings. By responding to this gracious overture, we are

brought into an intensely close and

personal relationship with God. We, too, become the children of God, and we can speak of him and to him as

our Father (Matt 6:9; 1 John 3:1, 2). Jesus, in fact, used the Aramaic word "Abba" to show how intimate our

in our lives.

God eagerly reveals his most

fundamental qualities in hopes that

we will respond to his offer of

companionship and open our lives to

him. God's loving overtures do no mean that we can ever take a casual

attitude toward God, or treat him like

Something common and familiar

When we encounter the divine, a

relation to God can be. It is roughly equivalent to familiar English words like "Daddy" and "Papa."

We can learm several things from this biblical emphasis on the names of God. The most basic is the fact

"take-it-or-leave-it" attitude is wholly

out of place. Not only does Gods

communication to us demand a

response, as we saw in our discusst sion

CHARACTER: THE BASIs OF HIS KINGDOM

divine revelation, but only as he that love defines the nature of God has important implications. It means that God is essentially relational. His inner reality is a complex of relationships, not sheer undifferentiated unity. It also means that creation is not an incidental

to com ll extent of the mystery that

municates himse do we come see God is.

The more we know about some objects, the less mysterious they

ome. But with other things, the beco

opposite. is true. As we lean more activity for God, but an expression of his very nature. It shows us what God is really like.

about them, they get more and more mysterious. It is this way with God.

in reality, or the imaginable, is an

The mere idea of the absolute, the Itimate principle

greatest power

awesome object of thought. But this is relatively simple compared to the majesty that appears when God

The idea that God is relational also reminds us that everything we say about God is based on our experience of him. We may assert that God is independent from the world in the sense that he does not

eveals himself. We really begin to need it in order to exist. But every-thing we know about God comes from his relation to us. It derives

see how truly immense, overwhelming, and unfathomable God is when he tells us about himself. Ironically, then, the full mystery that God is becomes apparent only in revelation.

from the way we, his creatures, experience him. To understand God we must therefore explore his relation to the world more fully. What kind of God created the world? What kind of world did God create? The CONCLUSION

questions go together. In Chapter 4 we will examine the biblical view of We have described God as a living, personal power who creates a reality distinct from himself and embraces it

God's relation to the world.

with love. The lordship or reign of God therefore consists in the SOvereignty of divine love. Love accounts for the fact that he created to begin with, and love characterizes everything he does as the history of Creation unfolds. Moreover, the love manifest in God's relations to the Creaturely world expresses the deeper love that God is in himself. The idea

REIGN OF GOD

STUDY HELPS

Questions for review

. How and why is our knowledge of God limited?

2. What should we require of our language about God?

3. Why is it difficult for people to believe in God? 3.

4. What evidence supports God's existence?

5. What are the biblical names for God, and what do they signify?

6. What actions and qualities does the Bible attribute to God?

7 What is the nature of God's love, and how does it react to sin?

Questions for further study

8. How is the language about God in a book like this different from the language about God we use in prayer, or in singing hymns? 9. In sharing their faith in God, should Christians appeal primarily to personal experience or to rational evidence?

10. The French thinker, Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), proposed the following wager in response to the question of God's existence. Do you thinkit provides a good basis for believing in God? "Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us co these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing.

imate wagering that God is. Let us est Wager, then, without hesitation that He is" (Pensees: Thoughis and Other Subjects, trans. William Finlayson Trotter, ed. H. S. Io

ensees: houghts on Religion York: Washington Square Press, Inc., 1965), p. T2). tter, ed. H. S. Thayer

11. How does our concept, or understanding, of God aftect our i ather" g, of God affect our relationsh

God? What experience of God does each of these terms sugE "shepherd," "uncaused cause"? es each of these terms sugge gest: "fathe

GOD'S CHARACTER: THE BASIS OF HIS KINGDOM

ancept people have of God generally changes as they grow. How is

12. ow of God you have now different from the one you had as a child or the vie as an adolescent?

13. Many

people: see chan anging ideas of God in human history. How has the hanged since biblical times? Do Seventh-day Adventists have

of God today than they had a hundred years ago? idea of God a different view What actors cou contribute to such changes?

Suggestions for Bible study

Scholars sometimes distinguish three types of language about God: Literal 14.

language means exactly what it says. Symbolic language uses what is obviously a figure of speech. And analogical language apples to God terms that also apply to creaturely objects. Which of these categories would you use to describe each of the following biblical statements about God?

Gen 1:1 1 Tim 6:16 John 4:24

1 John 4:8 Mal 3:6a Exod 43:14 Ps 90:2b 1 John 3:20 Matt 19:26b

Gen 6:6 Ps 23:1 Ps 18:2

Isa 46:11b Exod 34:7

15. Read Gen 1. Write a list of all the things you can learn about God from this one chapter of the Bible.

In several passages describing or written by Paul, the apostle appeals to the evidence for God in nature. Analyze the folowing examples in light of

these questions: (1) To whom is Paul speaking/writing? (2) What things does he mention as evidence of God's existence? (3) How do people

respond to this evidence?

16.

Acts 14:14-18 Acts 17:22-32 Rom 1:18-25

Some people see a developing concept of God in the Bible. Do you think the following passages support this idea? a. Exod 18:11; Exod 20:3; Ps 86:8; Isa 37:19-20

Gen 1:1; John 1:3; Heb 1:2 b.

C. Exod 20:5-6; Ps 103:8-14

REIGN OF GOD

Gen 3:8; Exod 25:8; John 1:14; Rev 21:3

d. Sam 16:14; Isa 45:7; Rom 8:28; 1 John 1s

SUGGESTIONS FOR