Question 7c – What Is God?
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” – Jas 1:17 ESV
Every good gift and every perfect gift, Whether of nature, providence, or grace, and especially the latter; spiritual gifts given along with Christ, or spiritual blessings in him; every such gift is; as the Vulgate Latin version reads, the “best” gift; better than those which only relate to the present life: and is “perfect” such as the gifts of righteousness, remission of sins, adoption, regeneration, and eternal life. The Jews say (k), that the good things of this world are not truly good, in comparison of the good things of the world to come, and are not טוב גמור, “a perfect good.” And every such an one is from above; is not from a man’s self, from the creature, or from below, but from heaven, and from God who dwells there:
and cometh down from the Father of lights; or author of lights; of all corporeal light; as the sun, moon, and stars; of all natural, rational, and moral light, in angels and men; of all spiritual light, or the light of grace in regenerate persons; and of eternal light, the light of glory in the spirits of just then made perfect:
with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning: as there is in that great luminary, the sun in the firmament, which has its parallaxes, eclipses, and turnings, and casts its shadow; it rises and sets, appears and disappears every day; and it comes out of one tropic, and enters into another at certain seasons of the year: but with God, who is light itself, and in him is no darkness at all, there is no change, nor anything like it; he is changeable in his nature, perfections, purposes, promises, and gifts; wherefore he being holy, cannot turn to that which is evil; nor can he, who is the fountain of light, be the cause of darkness, or admit of any in him; and since every good and perfect gift comes from him, evil cannot proceed from him, nor can he tempt any to it. [Gill]
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” – Exo 3:14 ESV
And God said unto Moses, I am that I am, This signifies the real being of God, his self-existence, and that he is the Being of beings; as also it denotes his eternity and immutability, and his constancy and faithfulness in fulfilling his promises, for it includes all time, past, present, and to come; and the sense is, not only I am what I am at present, but I am what I have been, and I am what I shall be, and shall be what I am. The Platonists and Pythagoreans seem to have borrowed their το ον from hence, which expresses with them the eternal and invariable Being; and so the Septuagint version here is ο ων: it is said (z), that the temple of Minerva at Sais, a city of Egypt, had this inscription on it,”I am all that exists, is, and shall be.” And on the temple of Apollo at Delphos was written ει, the contraction of ειμι, “I am” (a). Our Lord seems to refer to this name, John 8:58, and indeed is the person that now appeared; and the words may be rendered, “I shall be what I shall be” the incarnate God, God manifest in the flesh:
thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you; or as the Targum of Jonathan has it,”I am he that is, and that shall be.” This is the name Ehjeh, or Jehovah, Moses is empowered to make use of, and to declare, as the name of the Great God by whom he was sent; and which might serve both to encourage him, and strengthen the faith of the Israelites, that they should be delivered by him. [Gill]
Answer – God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal; and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.
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