The Triune God

“In the beginning, God . . .” The first four words of the Bible commence thusly. When Moses asked God who he should say sent him to Pharaoh, God said, “I AM”. Unquestionably contained in those two words is the transcendence of the living God. In all times God is I AM. He has always been and always will be. He is complete in and of Himself. The infinite cannot gain identity in reference to the finite, but only within the infinite. Therefore, the triune God (The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) finds identity self referentially. To put it another way, The Father can only be the Father because of His Son and the Son can only be the Son because of His relationship with the Father. For instance, I cannot be a Wife without my Husband. I cannot be a Daughter without a Mother. In contrast, Islam never refers to God as a Father and cannot do so because Jesus is seen as simply another prophet in a long list of prophets, and not God. The only way God can be our Father is because He first gains that identity with reference to God the Son (Jesus). Therefore it is essential theology for the Son (Jesus) to be God.

Other religions often speak of a god that has no such ability to exist because they merge their idea of the gods (pantheism) with nature instead of God being a complete being apart from nature. If God needs finite nature to find identity, He is not God.

To proceed to add the fifth word of the Bible to our discussion “In the beginning, God created. . .” For God to be God He must be uncreated. Jesus said, “before Moses was, I am.” The Jews picked up stones to stone Him for such blasphemy because they knew that statement contained His claim to be uncreated while at the same time referring to Himself as I AM.

If God is uncreated then “the beginning” is the beginning of creation—this is our beginning. God lovingly created mankind in His image. He impressed His likeness into mankind. It would follow that we would need to know God to know ourselves and our purpose in this world. Humans have so many great questions regarding our existence and we try so many different ways to find the answers when the only answer for created beings is found by knowing the Creator. The Creator is the Answer. Only He can give meaning to the question and at the same time be its Answer.