Doctrinal Statement
There is one God - eternal, omnipotent, self-existent, sovereign over all things. He exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is not a passive observer but the blazing, holy, uncreated Reality by whom and for whom all things exist. He is infinitely worthy of fear, awe, delight, worship, and obedience.
This doctrine has five main claims:
God is one.
God is eternal and self-existent.
God is sovereign over all things.
God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
God is the final reason, source, goal, and judge of all reality.
This doctrine must be guarded from two opposite errors.
First, it must reject polytheism [belief in many gods], tritheism [belief in three gods], and any idea that Father, Son, and Spirit are three separate divine beings.
Second, it must reject modalism [the belief that Father, Son, and Spirit are merely three roles or appearances of one person]. Scripture does not reveal one God pretending to be three persons. It reveals one God eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Primary Texts
The controlling texts for this doctrine are:
Deuteronomy 6:4 - the one God of Israel
Psalm 90:2 - the eternality of God
Matthew 28:19 - the one divine name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
Romans 11:36 - all things are from Him, through Him, and to Him
Psalm 96:4-9 - the Lord is worthy of fear and worship
Hebrews 12:28-29 - God is a consuming fire
These texts do not give an abstract philosophical definition of God first. They reveal God covenantally, worshipfully, historically, and redemptively. The Bible teaches who God is by showing that He alone creates, rules, speaks, judges, redeems, reveals, sanctifies, and receives worship.
Exegesis of Deuteronomy 6:4
Hebrew Text and Key Terms
Deuteronomy 6:4 is the Shema, the central confession of Israel's covenant faith:
shema yisrael yhwh eloheinu yhwh echad
A careful rendering is
"Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one."
Key Hebrew words
shema - "hear," "listen," "obey."
In Hebrew thought, hearing is not bare sound reception. To hear God's covenant word is to receive it with allegiance. The command is not merely "understand this information," but "listen with covenant loyalty."
YHWH - the covenant name of God, often represented as "LORD" in English Bibles.
This name identifies the God who revealed Himself to Moses, redeemed Israel from Egypt, made covenant with His people, and bound His name to His promises.
eloheinu - "our God."
This is covenantal language. Israel is not confessing an abstract deity but the God who has revealed Himself, redeemed them, and claimed them.
echad - "one."
This word means "one," "single," or "unified." The term itself does not prove the Trinity, but it strongly affirms monotheism [belief in one God]. Israel's God is not one tribal deity among many. He alone is God.
Theological Meaning
Deuteronomy 6:4 establishes the non-negotiable foundation of biblical theology: there is one God. The doctrine of the Trinity never contradicts this. It does not teach three gods. It teaches that the one God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The order matters
Scripture first gives monotheism. Then, through progressive revelation [God revealing more over time], Scripture shows that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, while still insisting that God is one.
Therefore, the Trinity is not an escape from monotheism. It is the full revelation of the one God.
Exegesis of Psalm 90:2
Psalm 90:2 says that before the mountains were brought forth, from everlasting to everlasting, God is God.
Hebrew Terms
me'olam ad olam - "from everlasting to everlasting."
The word olam can mean a long duration, ancient time, future age, or everlastingness depending on context. In Psalm 90:2, the phrase contrasts God with creation. Before mountains, earth, and world, God already is. The context pushes the meaning beyond long duration into divine eternality.
attah el - "You are God."
This is not merely a statement that God lasts longer than creation. It means God is not measured by creation's beginning, decay, or end. He is God before all created things.
Theological Meaning
God does not begin. God does not become God. God does not develop into deity. God does not depend on time, matter, energy, space, angels, humans, or history. He is eternally God.
This establishes the doctrine of divine aseity [God's self-existence]. God has life in Himself. Everything else receives existence. God simply is.
This is why Scripture begins with "In the beginning, God..." The Bible does not argue God into existence from a prior principle. God is the starting point because God is the absolute Reality behind all contingent [dependent] realities.
Exegesis of Matthew 28:19
Matthew 28:19 commands baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Greek Text and Key Terms
The key phrase is:
eis to onoma tou patros kai tou huiou kai tou hagiou pneumatos
A wooden rendering is
"into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Key Greek words
onoma - "name."
This is singular: "the name," not "the names." The singular name is then shared by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is highly significant. In biblical thought, "name" refers not merely to a label but to revealed identity, authority, reputation, and covenantal ownership.
patros - "Father."
The Father is personally distinct from the Son and the Spirit.
huiou - "Son."
The Son is personally distinct from the Father and the Spirit.
hagiou pneumatos - "Holy Spirit."
The Spirit is personally distinct from the Father and the Son.
Theological Meaning
Matthew 28:19 does not give a fully developed systematic theology of the Trinity, but it provides a deeply triune structure for Christian baptism. Baptism brings disciples under the one divine name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This text rules out three errors:
It rules out unitarianism [denying the deity of Son and Spirit], because the Son and Spirit are placed within the divine name.
It rules out modalism, because Father, Son, and Spirit are distinguished.
It rules out tritheism, because the name is singular.
The triune formula is not ornamental. It is covenantal. Christian disciples are marked by the one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Exegesis of Romans 11:36
Romans 11:36 says that all things are from Him, through Him, and to Him.
Greek Text and Key Terms
The key phrase is:
ex autou kai di' autou kai eis auton ta panta
A wooden rendering is
"from Him and through Him and unto Him are all things."
Key Greek words
ex autou - "from Him."
God is the source of all things. Creation is not self-originating.
di' autou - "through Him."
God is the sustaining means of all things. Reality is not independent after creation.
eis auton - "unto Him" or "for Him."
God is the goal of all things. Creation does not have its final meaning in itself.
ta panta - "all things."
This is comprehensive. Nothing created stands outside God's origin, sustaining rule, or final purpose.
Theological Meaning
Romans 11:36 is one of the most metaphysically dense statements in Scripture. It says that God is not merely the first cause who starts the universe and then steps back. God is the source, sustainer, and final end of reality.
The logic is
All things are from God -> therefore nothing is ultimate except God. All things are through God -> therefore nothing continues apart from God. All things are to God -> therefore nothing has final meaning apart from God.
This means the universe is not God, but the universe is radically dependent on God. Biblical Christianity is not pantheism [everything is God], and not deism [God creates but remains distant]. It is creation by, through, and for the living God.
Exegesis of Psalm 96:4-9
Psalm 96 calls all nations to ascribe glory to the Lord and worship Him in holy splendor.
Hebrew Terms
gadol YHWH - "great is Yahweh."
God's greatness is not merely greater size or power. It is incomparable divine majesty.
mehulal me'od - "greatly to be praised."
The worthiness of God demands worship. Worship is not primarily human self-expression. It is the rightful recognition of God's glory.
nora hu al kol elohim - "He is to be feared above all gods."
The "gods" of the nations are exposed as nothing compared with Yahweh. The psalm asserts the supremacy of the Lord over every rival claim.
havu laYHWH kavod - "ascribe to Yahweh glory."
kavod means "glory," "weight," "honor," or "heaviness." God's glory is the weight of His revealed excellence.
behadrat qodesh - "in the splendor of holiness."
God's beauty is holy beauty. His glory is morally pure, transcendent, and set apart.
Theological Meaning
Psalm 96 shows that the doctrine of God must end in worship. God is not an object to be analyzed with detached neutrality. He is the Lord before whom all nations must tremble, rejoice, and bow.
This does not make theology anti-intellectual. It means true theology is morally accountable. To know God truly is to recognize His worth, His holiness, and His claim upon the whole creature.
Exegesis of Hebrews 12:28-29
Hebrews 12:28-29 calls believers to offer acceptable worship with reverence and awe, because God is a consuming fire.
Greek Text and Key Terms
Key Greek words:
latreuomen euarestos - "let us serve/worship acceptably."
The verb latreuo can refer to religious service or worship. Worship is not self-directed creativity but acceptable service rendered to God.
meta eulabeias kai deous - "with reverence and awe."
eulabeia means reverent caution, godly fear, or careful devotion.
deos means awe, dread, or serious fear in the presence of divine majesty.
pyr katanaliskon - "consuming fire."
This imagery draws from Old Testament revelation, especially God's holy presence at Sinai. It does not mean God is irrationally destructive. It means God's holiness consumes what is unholy and cannot be domesticated.
Theological Meaning
Hebrews 12 corrects casual, entertainment-shaped, man-centered religion. The God Christians worship is not less holy under the New Covenant. Believers approach God through Christ, but they still approach the consuming fire.
Grace does not remove reverence. Grace makes acceptable worship possible.
The Trinity: One God in Three Persons
The doctrine of the Trinity can be stated carefully:
There is one God. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father. The three persons are not three parts of God, but each fully possesses the one divine essence.
Technical terms
Essence [what God is] - God is one in essence.
Person [who God is] - God exists eternally as three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Consubstantial [same essence] - Father, Son, and Spirit share the same divine being.
Perichoresis [mutual indwelling] - the Father, Son, and Spirit eternally indwell and relate without division, mixture, or separation.
The Trinity is not a contradiction. A contradiction would be saying God is one person and three persons in the same sense. The doctrine says God is one in essence and three in person.
The Father Is God
Scripture repeatedly identifies the Father as God. This is widely acknowledged across orthodox Christian traditions.
The Father sends the Son, loves the Son, gives life, receives prayer, and is glorified through the Son. He is not the whole Trinity by Himself, but He is truly and fully God.
Important distinction
The Father is not more God than the Son or Spirit. The Father is personally first in order of relation, not greater in divine nature. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and, in Western formulation, from the Father and the Son. These are eternal relations, not created beginnings.
The Son Is God
The deity of Christ is not optional to biblical Christianity.
Key biblical lines of evidence include
John 1:1 - the Word was God.
John 1:14 - the Word became flesh.
John 20:28 - Thomas addresses Jesus as "my Lord and my God."
Colossians 1:16-17 - all things were created through Him and for Him.
Colossians 2:9 - the fullness of deity dwells bodily in Christ.
Hebrews 1:3 - the Son is the radiance of God's glory and exact imprint of His nature.
Titus 2:13 - Christ is called our great God and Savior.
Greek Note: John 1:1
The key phrase is:
kai theos en ho logos
A careful rendering is
"and the Word was God."
The word theos appears before the verb for emphasis. John does not say the Word is the Father. He says the Word was God. This preserves both distinction and deity.
The Word is pros ton theon - "with God" - indicating personal distinction. The Word is theos - "God" - indicating full deity.
Thus John 1:1 is deeply compatible with later Trinitarian formulation: the Word is distinct from God the Father and yet fully God.
The Holy Spirit Is God
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, energy, mood, or symbol of divine influence. He is the divine person who gives life, speaks, teaches, leads, convicts, sanctifies, distributes gifts, and glorifies Christ.
Key biblical lines of evidence include
Acts 5:3-4 - lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God.
1 Corinthians 2:10-11 - the Spirit searches the depths of God.
1 Corinthians 12:11 - the Spirit distributes gifts as He wills.
2 Corinthians 3:17 - the Lord is the Spirit.
Ephesians 4:30 - the Spirit can be grieved.
Matthew 28:19 - the Spirit shares the one divine name.
Pneumatological Significance
The deity of the Spirit is essential for worship, sanctification, and spiritual gifts. If the Spirit is not God, then His indwelling would not be the presence of God in believers. If the Spirit is merely a force, then His will, holiness, grief, teaching, and gift-distribution are unintelligible.
A cautious continuationist doctrine of spiritual gifts must begin here: the Spirit is sovereign God. Therefore, gifts are not human techniques, emotional states, or ministry branding tools. They are distributed by the divine Spirit according to His will and must always serve the glory of Christ and the edification of the Church.
The Absolute Reality of God
Calling God "the Absolute Reality" means that God is not dependent, derivative, contingent, or caused. He is the ultimate ground of all existence.
Technical terms
Aseity [self-existence] - God exists from Himself and depends on nothing.
Simplicity [God is not made of parts] - God is not assembled from components such as power, goodness, wisdom, and love. He is wholly and perfectly God.
Immutability [unchangeableness] - God does not change in His being, character, or covenant faithfulness.
Omnipotence [all-powerfulness] - God can do all His holy will.
Sovereignty [supreme rule] - God rules over all things without being ruled by anything.
Transcendence [God is above creation] - God is not contained within the created order.
Immanence [God is near and active] - God is present to and involved with His creation.
Biblically, God is not a larger version of man. He is not the highest being inside the universe. He is the uncreated Creator. All creatures participate in existence. God is existence's eternal source.
God Is Not a Passive Observer
The doctrine specifically rejects a passive view of God.
God does not merely watch history unfold. He creates, sustains, commands, judges, redeems, disciplines, answers, reveals, sanctifies, and consummates.
Romans 11:36 rules out deism [belief that God made the world but does not actively govern it]. Hebrews 1:3 says the Son upholds all things by the word of His power. Colossians 1:17 says all things hold together in Christ.
The universe does not continue by its own independent power. Every moment of creaturely existence depends on divine preservation. If God withdrew His sustaining will, creation would not continue as a self-standing system.
God as Holy Fire
The phrase "blazing, holy, uncreated Reality" captures a biblical theme: God's holiness is not mild religious niceness. It is burning purity, infinite moral perfection, and unapproachable majesty apart from grace.
Biblical examples
Moses before the burning bush.
Israel before Sinai.
Isaiah before the throne in Isaiah 6.
Ezekiel's vision of divine glory.
John before the risen Christ in Revelation 1.
Hebrews 12 declaring God a consuming fire.
God's holiness means He is set apart from creation and morally perfect within Himself. He is not measured by an external moral law above Him. His own nature is the final standard of goodness.
Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
A Free-Choice, non-Calvinist doctrine of God must affirm robust divine sovereignty without collapsing human responsibility into determinism.
God is sovereign. He rules over all things. Nothing surprises Him. Nothing can overthrow His purposes.
Yet Scripture also teaches that human beings make meaningful choices, respond to God's Word, resist grace, obey, disobey, repent, believe, fall away, and are judged for real moral responsibility.
The biblical balance is not
God is sovereign, therefore human response is unreal.
Nor is it
Humans choose, therefore God is limited or reactive.
The better synthesis is
God is the sovereign Creator who freely made morally responsible creatures and governs history in such a way that His purposes stand while creaturely choices remain real and accountable.
This preserves the sincerity of biblical commands, warnings, invitations, and judgments.
Moderate Dispensational Considerations
A moderate dispensational framework emphasizes that the one Triune God administers His purposes through distinct covenants and historical economies [ordered stages of God's redemptive plan].
The God of Israel is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Trinity does not replace Israel's monotheism; it reveals the fullness of the one God's identity.
Important affirmations
The God of the Old Testament and New Testament is one and the same.
The Father, Son, and Spirit are active throughout all Scripture.
Israel and the Church should not be flattened into the same entity.
God's covenant promises should be interpreted according to their textual and historical context.
Christ is the center of redemptive history without erasing the particularity of Israel's promises.
The Trinity gives unity to Scripture's storyline, while dispensational distinctions protect the historical specificity of God's dealings.
Contrast With Calvinist and Reformed Theology
On the doctrine of the Trinity, conservative Free Will evangelicals and conservative Reformed theologians share substantial agreement. Both affirm one God in three persons, divine aseity, sovereignty, holiness, omnipotence, and the full deity of Father, Son, and Spirit.
The divergence usually appears in the relation between divine sovereignty and human freedom.
Reformed theology commonly emphasizes exhaustive divine decree [God ordaining all that comes to pass] and compatibilist freedom [human choices are free if they align with one's desires, even if those desires are governed by decree].
A Free Will or Provisionist approach emphasizes that God's sovereignty does not require divine determinism. God can sovereignly create a world in which human beings possess genuine response-ability under His rule. This view argues that biblical invitations, warnings, and conditional statements should be given their full force.
Both sides must be tested by Scripture, not by philosophical preference.
Eastern and Jewish Thought Context
Modern Western thought often asks, "What is God?" in abstract categories. Biblical thought more often asks, "Who is the Lord, and what has He revealed, done, commanded, and promised?"
This does not mean Scripture lacks metaphysical depth. It means biblical metaphysics is covenantal and revelational.
In Hebrew thought
God's name reveals His identity.
God's word accomplishes His will.
God's glory demands worship.
God's holiness orders moral reality.
God's covenant faithfulness grounds hope.
God's oneness demands exclusive allegiance.
The Shema is not merely a metaphysical proposition. It is a summons to total covenant love: heart, soul, and strength. The one God demands the whole person.
Ancient Jewish and Early Christian Background
Second Temple Judaism strongly affirmed the uniqueness of Israel's God. Jewish monotheism distinguished the Creator from the creature and rejected pagan idolatry.
The New Testament writers did not abandon this monotheism. Instead, they included Jesus and the Spirit within the identity, activity, and worship belonging to the one God.
This is visible when New Testament texts:
apply Old Testament Yahweh texts to Jesus
describe creation through the Son
present the Spirit as divine and personal
place Father, Son, and Spirit together in worship, blessing, baptism, and salvation
retain the confession that there is one God
Early Christians did not begin with abstract speculation about divine essence. They began with the worship of the risen Christ, the sending of the Spirit, and the continued confession that Israel's God is one.
Early Church Fathers
The Church Fathers are not equal to Scripture, but they help show how the early church defended biblical monotheism and the deity of Christ and the Spirit against distortions.
Important historical developments
Irenaeus defended the one Creator God against Gnostic systems that divided the God of creation from the God of redemption.
Tertullian used language that helped clarify one divine substance and three persons, especially against modalistic confusion.
Athanasius defended the full deity of the Son against Arianism [the belief that the Son is a created being].
The Cappadocian Fathers helped clarify the distinction between essence and persons.
The Nicene Creed confessed the Son as "of one substance" with the Father.
The Constantinopolitan expansion clarified the deity and worship of the Holy Spirit.
[Unverified] Exact page-level references to patristic works are not supplied here because I cannot verify printed page numbers in this environment. For publication with academic footnotes, citations should be checked directly against standard editions such as ANF, NPNF, or critical Greek and Latin texts.
Errors This Doctrine Rejects
This doctrine rejects:
Atheism - denial of God.
Polytheism - belief in many gods.
Pantheism - identifying God with the universe.
Panentheism - treating the universe as contained within God in a way that compromises Creator-creature distinction.
Deism - reducing God to a distant creator.
Modalism - treating Father, Son, and Spirit as temporary roles of one person.
Arianism - treating the Son as a created being.
Pneumatomachianism - denying the deity of the Holy Spirit.
Tritheism - treating Father, Son, and Spirit as three gods.
Process theology - treating God as developing or dependent on the world.
Open theism where it denies exhaustive divine foreknowledge.
Moralistic therapeutic deism - treating God as a distant helper for human self-fulfillment.
Prosperity distortions - treating God as a mechanism for wealth, health, or personal success.
Hyper-charismatic distortions - treating the Spirit as an impersonal force to be activated.
Hyper-rationalist reductionism - treating God as a concept mastered by human intellect.
Pneumatological Evaluation
The doctrine of the Triune God is foundational for a biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
Because the Spirit is God:
His gifts are holy, not theatrical.
His power serves Christ, not human celebrity.
His leading agrees with Scripture, not private fantasy.
His presence produces holiness, not disorder.
His work builds the Church, not spiritual elitism.
His activity is sovereign, not mechanically controlled by technique.
A cautious continuationist position should affirm that the Spirit may still heal, speak, empower, guide, and distribute gifts today. But because the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, every claimed manifestation must be tested by Scripture.
The Trinity protects continuationism from excess. The Spirit who gives gifts is the same Spirit who inspired Scripture, glorifies the Son, and brings believers into obedient worship of the Father.
Metaphysical Analysis: What Reality Itself Is Doing
God is not inside reality as one item among others. God is the reason reality exists at all.
Created things are contingent [dependent]. They might not have existed. They receive being. They change. They decay. They depend.
God is necessary [not dependent]. He cannot not be God. He does not receive existence. He is not made. He is not improved. He is not diminished. He is not measured by time. He is not contained by space.
Romans 11:36 gives the deepest structure of reality
Origin: all things are from God.
Continuance: all things are through God.
Purpose: all things are to God.
This means reality is doxological [ordered toward glory]. The universe is not finally about human happiness, self-expression, civilization, science, power, pleasure, or survival. It is finally about God.
Human beings become disordered when they live as though created reality is ultimate. Idolatry is not merely bowing to statues. It is treating a dependent thing as if it were absolute.
Psychological-Spiritual Analysis: What This Doctrine Does to the Soul
The doctrine of the Triune God confronts the deepest disorder of the human soul: the desire to be central.
Sinful man wants God to be useful, not ultimate. He wants God to assist his desires, validate his identity, support his plans, and bless his ambitions. But the Triune God is not a supporting character in man's story. Man is a creature inside God's story.
This doctrine restores the soul's proper order:
fear replaces arrogance
awe replaces triviality
worship replaces self-absorption
obedience replaces autonomy
delight replaces restless idolatry
humility replaces self-exaltation
The soul becomes sane when it stops trying to be absolute.
Divine-Perspective Analysis: How God Sees This Doctrine
From God's perspective, He alone is God. He does not compete for deity. He does not negotiate His glory. He does not depend on creation for completion. He does not need worship to become glorious. He commands worship because He is glorious.
The Father eternally loves the Son. The Son eternally glorifies the Father. The Spirit eternally searches, knows, and proceeds in divine communion. Creation is not born from divine loneliness. It is the free act of the Triune God who creates for His glory.
God sees idolatry as rebellion because it gives created things the honor due only to Him. God sees false worship as moral disorder because it lies about reality. God sees casual worship as irreverence because it treats holy fire as religious atmosphere.
Practical Application for Doctrine, Worship, and Ministry
A church that believes in the Triune God as Absolute Reality must:
worship God with reverence and awe
preach God as central, not man
avoid entertainment-driven worship that trivializes holiness
baptize and disciple in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
teach the full deity of Christ without apology
teach the full deity and personhood of the Spirit
reject spiritual practices that manipulate divine power
resist cultural attempts to remake God in man's image
interpret all doctrine in light of God's holiness, sovereignty, and triune identity
build ministry around God's glory, not branding, growth metrics, or emotional spectacle
For personal Christian life, this doctrine means
God is not an accessory to life.
God is the source and goal of life.
Prayer is approach to holy Reality.
Worship is not mood management.
Obedience is not optional spirituality.
Fear of the Lord is rational sanity.
Delight in God is the soul responding to supreme worth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the doctrine of the Trinity mean?
The doctrine of the Trinity means there is one God who exists eternally as three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, yet there are not three gods, but one God.
Does Deuteronomy 6:4 contradict the Trinity?
No. Deuteronomy 6:4 teaches that Yahweh is one. The Trinity does not deny this. It explains, from the full revelation of Scripture, that the one God eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Does Matthew 28:19 teach the Trinity?
Matthew 28:19 strongly supports the Trinity because baptism is commanded in the singular "name" of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three are personally distinguished, yet united under the one divine name.
What does it mean that God is self-existent?
God's self-existence, or aseity, means He depends on nothing outside Himself for His being. Everything created receives existence from God, but God does not receive existence from anything.
Why call God the Absolute Reality?
God is the Absolute Reality because He is not dependent, created, temporary, or derived. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him. He is the source, sustainer, and goal of all existence.
How should belief in the Triune God affect worship?
Belief in the Triune God should produce reverence, awe, obedience, humility, and joy. Worship is not entertainment or self-expression first. It is the creature's fitting response to the holy, eternal, triune Creator.
Final Doctrinal Summary
The Triune God is the absolute, eternal, holy, self-existent Reality behind all things. He is one God, not many gods. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not one person wearing three masks. He is before creation, above creation, present to creation, and sovereign over creation. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him.
Therefore, the proper response to God is not casual religious interest but fear, awe, delight, obedience, and worship. The universe is not centered on man. The Church is not centered on trends. The Christian life is not centered on self-fulfillment. Reality itself is centered on the glory of the Triune God.