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Directory:Article Heaven/Biblical definition of God (view source)

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The [[Bible]] does not provide one single, integrated, '''definition of [[God]]''', in part because the perception of God changed over the centuries, and the Bible, whose discussions of the subject range from (in Sonsino's words) "vestiges of primitive beliefs" to "remarkable expressions of ethical monotheism", reflects this.  Neither the [[Torah]] nor the [[New Testament]] contain any systematic [[theology]]: No attempt is made to give a [[philosophy|philosophical]] or rigorous definition of God, nor of how God acts in the world.  There are, however, several aspects of God that scholars have derived from the text of the Bible.<ref name=Sonsino>{{cite book|title=Teaching about God and Spirituality: A Resource for Jewish Settings|editor=Sherry Helene Blumberg and Roberta Louis Goodman|author=Rifat Sonsino|chapter=The Changing Perceptions of God in Judaism|pages=6&ndash;10|date=2001|publisher=Behrman House, Inc|id=ISBN 0867050535}}</ref>
 
The [[Bible]] does not provide one single, integrated, '''definition of [[God]]''', in part because the perception of God changed over the centuries, and the Bible, whose discussions of the subject range from (in Sonsino's words) "vestiges of primitive beliefs" to "remarkable expressions of ethical monotheism", reflects this.  Neither the [[Torah]] nor the [[New Testament]] contain any systematic [[theology]]: No attempt is made to give a [[philosophy|philosophical]] or rigorous definition of God, nor of how God acts in the world.  There are, however, several aspects of God that scholars have derived from the text of the Bible.<ref name=Sonsino>{{cite book|title=Teaching about God and Spirituality: A Resource for Jewish Settings|editor=Sherry Helene Blumberg and Roberta Louis Goodman|author=Rifat Sonsino|chapter=The Changing Perceptions of God in Judaism|pages=6&ndash;10|date=2001|publisher=Behrman House, Inc|id=ISBN 0867050535}}</ref>
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== God as immaterial and unrepresentable by any physical object ==
 
== God as immaterial and unrepresentable by any physical object ==
 
Lightner,<ref name=Lightner>{{cite book|title=The God of the Bible and Other Gods: Is the Christian God Unique Among World Religions?|author=Robert Paul Lightner|date=1998|publisher=Kregel Publications|id=ISBN 0825431549|pages=33&ndash;35}}</ref> in discussing definitions of God that are most closely supported by Scripture, states that "perhaps the best and most biblical definition of God" is that of chapter 2 of the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]], which defines God as being
 
Lightner,<ref name=Lightner>{{cite book|title=The God of the Bible and Other Gods: Is the Christian God Unique Among World Religions?|author=Robert Paul Lightner|date=1998|publisher=Kregel Publications|id=ISBN 0825431549|pages=33&ndash;35}}</ref> in discussing definitions of God that are most closely supported by Scripture, states that "perhaps the best and most biblical definition of God" is that of chapter 2 of the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]], which defines God as being
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God as defined in the Bible is almost entirely free of [[mythology|mythological]] traits.  God has no commerce with other divinities, and is involved in no conflicts between gods.  Night and day, the sun and moon, the seasons, and the stars, are simply secular realities, wonders created by God, rather than divinities in their own rights.  God has no mythological history.  God is not born, and does not die.<ref name=Gowan>{{cite book|title=The Westminster Theological Wordbook of the Bible|author=Donald E. Gowan|pages=180&ndash;181|date=2003|location=Westminster|publisher=John Knox Press|id=ISBN 066422394X|chapter=God}}</ref>
 
God as defined in the Bible is almost entirely free of [[mythology|mythological]] traits.  God has no commerce with other divinities, and is involved in no conflicts between gods.  Night and day, the sun and moon, the seasons, and the stars, are simply secular realities, wonders created by God, rather than divinities in their own rights.  God has no mythological history.  God is not born, and does not die.<ref name=Gowan>{{cite book|title=The Westminster Theological Wordbook of the Bible|author=Donald E. Gowan|pages=180&ndash;181|date=2003|location=Westminster|publisher=John Knox Press|id=ISBN 066422394X|chapter=God}}</ref>
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== God's gender ==
 
== God's gender ==
 
The [[Hebrew language]] has no sex-neutral gender, therefore all references to God are either masculine or feminine.  Primarily in the Torah these are masculine, which Sonsino attributes to being a reflection of the patriarchal nature of society in Biblical Israel.  God is described in Exodus 15:3 as a male warrior, and in Psalms 103:13 as a caring father.  Yet God is compared in Isaiah 66:13 as a comforting mother.  As the supreme being of a monotheistic theology, God has no consorting deity.  Where God is described as a consort, such as in Jeremiah 2:2 and Ezekiel 16, it is always as a consort of a human community, not of a deity.<ref name=Sonsino /><ref name=Gowan />
 
The [[Hebrew language]] has no sex-neutral gender, therefore all references to God are either masculine or feminine.  Primarily in the Torah these are masculine, which Sonsino attributes to being a reflection of the patriarchal nature of society in Biblical Israel.  God is described in Exodus 15:3 as a male warrior, and in Psalms 103:13 as a caring father.  Yet God is compared in Isaiah 66:13 as a comforting mother.  As the supreme being of a monotheistic theology, God has no consorting deity.  Where God is described as a consort, such as in Jeremiah 2:2 and Ezekiel 16, it is always as a consort of a human community, not of a deity.<ref name=Sonsino /><ref name=Gowan />
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