Baptist Faith and Message, Article 2: God

by Daniel Akin                                                                                                                                            Vol. XV, No. 9, October 2002

When we think about God, two important questions naturally arise. First, does God exist? Second, what is God like?

Americans have been pretty consistent for some time when answering the first question. Atheism continues to bark loudly, but still it has not garnered all that many followers. Ninety-five percent of Americans believe God exists.

However, when we examine the second question, things become more complicated and confusing. Pluralism is the "in-thing" in contemporary culture, and the doctrine of God has not escaped its influence. Choices today include pantheism, finite theism, deism, polytheism (e.g., Mormonism and various varieties of New Ageism) and classic monotheism, just to name a few. A veritable smorgasbord of options is available. "Step up to the plate and choose your god, gods or goddesses..."

Couple this with the present infatuation with tolerance and the democratization of truth, and the "God question" becomes problematic, if not insolvable.

It is at this point that Christianity must choose to swim against the currents of modernity. While recognizing different religions may share some common beliefs and values, basic and fundamental differences divide us when addressing some important issues. The nature of God is one.

The Baptist Faith and Message article affirms "there is one and only one living and true God." This cancels out atheism and polytheism.

This God is "intelligent, spiritual and personal. He is Creator, Redeemer, Preserver and Ruler." This rules out pantheism, panentheism, and deism.

Our God, the Scriptures testify, is "infinite in holiness and all other perfections." He is omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing). "His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of his free creatures." This sets aside finite and open theism.

The Bible reveals a God who rightly deserves our love and obedience.

Our God is also utterly unique from the theological conceptions of all other religions, for the Bible reveals him to be a Trinity of three eternal persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and yet still one -- a unity.

Indeed the biblical witness is clear: whatever it is that constitutes God as God, the Father is all of this, the Son is all of this, and the Holy Spirit is all of this. But, there is still only one God, distinct in person "but without division of nature, essence, or being."

The Christian God is personal and more (a tri-unity). In other world religions like Buddhism, God is less than personal. Islam views God as utterly transcendent and basically unapproachable. Mysticism and its New Age offspring see God as wholly immanent.

The Bible says the one true God is both. He is above us and separate from us, and yet he is also a God who can be known, truly and genuinely known, in a personal relationship.

What is the relevance of our theology of God? Does our thinking about and answer to the God question really make any difference in the day-to-day experience of life? I believe the answer is a resounding yes.

Ivan, in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel, The Brothers Karamozov, got it exactly right -- if God is dead, everything is permissible. To this we can add, if we are all gods, then anything goes, for by definition God (or gods) makes the rules. Ultimately in this kind of world, there are no rules, no norms, no standard by which we can consistently measure truth from error, right from wrong. We do not live in a world where people believe nothing. We find ourselves drowning in a world that believes everything.

Genesis 1:1 teaches us, "In the beginning God..." Southern Baptists speak with one voice in giving affirmation to this proposition and all others in Holy Scripture that reveal to us real and true truth about the God who has created us in his image, redeemed us through his Son, and made us spiritually alive by his Spirit.

God in three persons, blessed Trinity. [BP]

[Akin is vice president for academic administration and dean of the school of theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.]