Which God Are You Talking About?

There is a story of an Anglican Bishop who, while teaching at Oxford (England) and serving as a resident Chaplain, encountered a first-year undergraduate student at orientation who said to him, “Hello. You know, you probably won’t be seeing much of me. You see, I don’t believe in God.” To this the Chaplain calmly responded, “Hmmm, interesting, which ‘god’ is it that you don’t believe in?”

With a look of puzzlement, the young student responded back to the Chaplain, “Well, umm, the old man who sits up in the sky on a cloud and occasionally looks down to condemn people of this or that.” To this the Chaplain nodded in recognition and with a slight smile replied, “Hmm, I see. You know, I don’t believe in that god either. I believe in the God we meet in Jesus Christ.”

For Christians in the twenty-first century, it is remarkably important to remember that the word “God” is not univocal—in other words, not everyone means the same thing when they use it. For most twenty-first century individuals who are not committed either to reading Scripture or to some other religious tradition, the word “god” refers to some distant, all-powerful being who is essentially devoid of serious affection and fundamentally disinterested in the daily concerns of this world and the individuals who inhabit it.

When the early Christians used the word “God,” however, they meant something remarkably specific. They were not vaguely referring to some faceless, distant figure in the heavens. In the first century, as in our own, the word “God” had many possible meanings and the kind of figure to whom one was referring was an open question. In fact, if you wanted to be clear, you had to find ways of further defining the sort of figure to whom you were referring.

And this is exactly what the early Christians did: “the God of Israel” (Matt 15:31), “the God of Abraham” (Matt 22:32), “the God of glory” (Acts 7:2), “the God of steadfastness and encouragement” (Rom 15:5), “the God of hope” (Rom 15:13), “the God of peace” (Rom 15:33), “the God of all comfort” (2 Cor 1:3), “the God of love and peace” (2 Cor 13:11), “the God of all grace” (1 Pet 5:10), and “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 1:3).

What we find across the 27 books of the New Testament is a remarkably consistent picture. They’re crystal clear about what kind of God they’re talking about. Among all the options, all the pictures, all the competing conceptions, this is the God of “encouragement,” “hope,” “peace,” “all comfort,” “love,” and “all grace.” For the early Christians, this fresh meaning for the word “God” had been decisively unveiled. As far as they were concerned, on Friday, Nisan 14, in the early 30s of the first century, this God had unveiled His face, a face surrounded by a crown of thorns, dripping with drops of blood, and announcing, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). As far as they were concerned, the word “God” would never be the same again.

If you’re interested in learning more about THIS God, come join us at Ooltewah United Methodist Church!