The basis of this post comes from the book “Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe” by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears. I found this list in the book’s section on creation and thought that it was pretty unique in that I had never really seen this topic dealt with too thoroughly. Most of what you’ll see below is taken directly from Driscoll and Breshears, but I did include some of my own thoughts to these points.

---

1. God is the only God. The opening line of the Bible says that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” There is no mention of “gods” that all worked together, similar to Greek mythology, and there is no intimation of one god among many creating the universe, like what Mormonism would teach. Isaiah tells us: “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it… “I am the LORD, and there is no other” (45.18).

2. God is Trinitarian. Genesis 1.26 reveals that there is a plurality in the Godhead: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” I don’t consider myself one of those who see the Trinity in the Old Testament. Instead I believe that the Trinity is not fully revealed until the New Testament. I do however think there is enough information in the Old Testament to see that there is a plurality in God. When you look elsewhere in Scripture you can see that each member of the Trinity was involved in creation.

The Father – “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things.” 1 Cor. 8.6

The Son – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” John 1.1-3, 14

The Spirit – “And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Gen. 1.2.

3. God is eternally uncaused. God existed eternally before creating the universe. He Himself is uncaused, and not created. (Tied to this point is the idea that the universe has not existed eternally.)

4. God is living. God is the source of life. Without Him breathing life into His creation there would be no living things.

5. God is independent. Creation is dependent on God, to the point that without Him, creation would never have come into existence or could even continue to exist. God Himself is uncaused, independent, and without need, lack, want, or dependence upon anyone or anything. While preaching at Mars Hill, Paul had this to say: “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (17.24,25).

6. God is transcendent. The Genesis account of creation introduces a sharp divide from other religious systems. It shows that God is separate from His creation. This is opposed to pantheism, which says that nature is God, and panentheism, which claims that God lives within nature. Moses, when writing Genesis, wanted to teach his fellows Israelites that their God is different from the religious system of the Egyptians and the people groups in the promised land. Whereas the Egyptians worshiped the sun as god, the Israelites worshiped the God who created the sun.

7. God is immanent. Deists would claim that after creating the universe and setting in motion the laws of nature, God left His creation and now we are on our own. The Bible paints the picture that God not only created the universe, but He stayed in intimate contact with it, actively guiding and sustaining the universe. While God interacted with mankind throughout history, the most prominent example of this is the person of Jesus Christ. He was God who took on human flesh so that he could offer a way to repair the broken relationship between man and God.

8. God is personal. God created mankind in a personal way. He gave us personality and personhood. God is a personal “he,” not an impersonal “it.”

9. God is powerful. God created the universe from nothing by Himself. His power is further demonstrated through the use of miracles throughout history.

10. God is beautiful. God is gloriously beautiful, and creation reflects His beauty.

11. God is holy. God is without evil, and creation originally reflected His holy purity until it was marred and stained by human sin.

12. God is a prophet. It was through speaking that God brought creation into existence by His word. Similarly, God also uses the preaching of his Word to bring forth life.

13. God is gracious. The grace of God is seen in how He provides for those in His creation. From basics like food and shelter, to the ultimate form of grace, salvation from sin.

14. God is a sovereign king. As Creator, God is king over all that is made, including Satan, demons, angels, mankind, planets, stars, animals, and so on. All of creation comes from God, is ruled over by God, belongs to God, and will give an account to God.