THE NATURE OF GOD 

IN ORTHODOXY

     God is self existent and is distinguished from all other beings for He is a primary reality, set apart from created substances and beings. His existence is necessary, eternal and not subject to change.  He is distinct from other beings that change from worse to better.

     God always remains the same, complete and whole being perfect,  his self existence is necessary. He lacks nothing being himself the cause of everything that exists. All things are empty and must acquire what they lack in order to be completed. These qualities of God are put forth when men think properly about God, it being unable to think of him with different qualities. If anyone thinks of God in completely different terms it would be false for God cannot be other than His true nature. Descriptions of God that differ do not describe God and therefore are irrational and false. History shows many various false opinions of the nations regarding the nature of God in both ancient and modern times.   

        

     St.Paul the Apostle speaks of this, saying: “For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by things that are made; even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse, because that, when they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:20-22).  St. Paul faulted the ancient world because instead of the true concept of God they falsified it changing His incorruptible glory into images of man, into birds and beasts and creeping things.   They worshiped the creature instead of the Creator and the truths concerning God into a lie.  This was true of the entire ancient world until Greek philosophy established the existence of orthos logos as being the cause.

     Against the eternal existence of God has been proposed by pseudo scientists that matter is the source of created beings and that life is accidental not intentional. God is declared to be a specific force who merely shapes formless matter into different types of creatures. 

THE GOODNESS OF GOD

     God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is absolutely perfect lacking nothing and is the source of everything that exists. God is good and possesses all things in himself being filled with all  blessings.  Giving everything existence He endowed many creatures with life, power and intellect It is   in His wonderful and divine will to share all of His blessings with His many creatures, who, not being complete fail to possess everything. God being  good does not keep his blessings to himself, for it His fervent desire to create beings beside like himself and grant each of them a share of His goodness. 

     So God created all the other beings outside of himself and through Christ the Godman He shows them the way of perfection. Every creature has an ultimate goal set by the Creator which is best for its individual nature and purpose.  Thus we and all creatures have come into being out of the goodness of God and are so made so that they fit into His eternal and perfect plan.

     We have all received our being, our faculties and purpose out of the goodness of God. In fact everything that exists in our universe comes out of His goodness. All creatures that exist have come to be out of the goodness of God. High on the list of creatures is man who was created in the image of God.  His destiny will be fulfilled when he becomes also the perfect likeness of God. This agrees with  God’s plan: “Let us create man in our own image and after our own likeness.”

     We see in the entire universe the goodness of God, which causes our hearts to sing out in praise of His glory and majesty. Nothing is left undone, nothing that He established can undergo improvement because everything is perfect from the beginning, and marked for its ultimate purpose according to God’s perfect fore-knowledge.

     Concerning God’s perfect nature, we see that it has perfect power, perfect will and purpose for the good, which is the ultimate purpose for all His creation, in particular the destiny of man. The God we believe in is the glory and exultation of all Orthodox Christians, for he is the God of truth. He is the God of power and infinite goodness. And to Him, the uncreated one, is due all glory and honor, to the Father Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.