‘The God who is’

In recent years I’ve discovered and learned to appreciate the Westminster Shorter Catechism. It’s a bit of a niche thing – not that well known even in some evangelical circles – but, for all that it dates all the way back to 1647, it still contains some of the best and most concise doctrinal definitions to be found.

Its fourth question asks: “What is God?”, to which the set answer is: “God is a spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.” I told you it was good!

This is the final article in our mini-series looking at some of the doxologies found in Scripture, and Paul’s words to Timothy in the 17th verse of the opening chapter of his letter to his mentee, the young church leader Timothy, always remind me of question number four of the Westminster Catechism.

There’s a beauty in its precision, but even more so in the glorious truths about the God to whom it points.

Having reflected on his own conversion, a habit to which he’s prone, Paul moves on to highlight the greatness and power of the God from whom he’s received mercy.

Kings have been in the news a bit lately. Our king has visited America where he was hosted by a President who has been the subject of three “No Kings” protests, but while earthly kings (and kingdoms) pass away, Paul turns our attention to One with an eternal Kingdom that will outlast them all and who is, Himself, immortal. The God who not only rules over all, for all time and eternity, but who has always been and will always be. Not just the God of the present, but of eternity past and future.

There’s more than a hint of compare and contrast in Paul’s doxology, too. Highlighting God’s invisibility not only identifies Him as spirit but also emphasises His superiority over other ancient-world gods. In a culture saturated with idols, statues and created representations of false gods, here we find a God described who cannot be crafted or contained in any physical form made by human hands. Paul’s God is a transcendent God.

And then, as if all that isn’t enough, Paul declares the uniqueness of the God of the Bible. This God is “the only God”. Not only is He entirely unlike other gods and unwilling to share the right to be worshipped with them, but where they are only figments of human imagination, He is real and the One who defines what reality is and looks like.

The result of all of this? Well, it’s a doxology so, obviously, it’s an outburst and outpouring of praise and worship. Not just because Paul has a deep appreciation of his salvation and what he’s been saved from and for, but also because such an outpouring is the only appropriate response (to steal a phrase from Francis Schaeffer) to “the God who is”. It’s what He deserves and it’s what we were made to do. After all, to return to where we began and the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”. It strikes me that the apostle Paul was the ultimate cheerleader for such a pursuit.