Who Is God?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The image of God in the Bible is the one who comes near. He is, after all, God Emmanuel. He sees us when we are burdened. He knows us when we are broken. He hears us when we cry out to him. One of the most beautiful imageries in the scripture, personally, is the imagery of God in Revelation where we hear he wipes away our tears.
We are made to draw near to each other in our relationships. That's because we're made in the image of God who draws near to us. But what about the other attributes of God? Today on Renewing Your Mind, we join Reverend Joel Kim from Ligonier's 2026 National Conference as he answers the crucial question, who is God? And please listen until the end to learn how you can receive a study guide and hardcover edition of Dr. R.C. Sproul's book, Heroes of the Christian Faith. But right now, here's Reverend Kim.
Romans 8, verses 31 through 39, as we attempt to answer the question, who is God? Hear now the word of the Lord. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised? Who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long.
We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Amen. So far the reading of his word. I think it's actually right to say that many of us, and especially many Christians in our day, are practical deists. Perhaps you've heard that word before in some form, but according to the sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Denton in their groundbreaking work in 2005 titled, The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, they coined the term moralistic, therapeutic deists to indicate to us how we functionally practice our faith each and every single day. And this is how they summarize what this deism might look like.
Here, a deist is someone who believes that there is a God who created the whole earth and orders the world and watches over human life. Certainly, there is resonance with Orthodox theology. God, number two, wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. And certainly, none of us wants to dispute that morally good people are good things. Three, that the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. And the pursuit of that is what many people have in mind. Four, God does not need to be particularly involved. In fact, he's detached and separated in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve problems, whether it be individuals or corporate bodies.
And then finally, good people go to heaven when they die. Good people go to heaven when they die. This doesn't actually summarize the creeds and confessions of our church, as you might hear. And in fact, this God is unengaged, detached, and distant. And functionally, that makes the believers independent, self-reliant, and conditional in the way they relate to God. In many ways, they place God in certain restrictions because certainly he's bound by some of these restrictions that we have created in our own minds. And the question for us tonight is that, is this the God of the Bible and the confessions that you and I share together? I cannot overstate the significance of this question. Misunderstanding of God leads to idolatry that deforms, but right understanding of God leads to worship that reforms all of us.
So here tonight, the question is simply this. In the passage that we read, who is God according to the apostle Paul? As we begin to get into Romans chapter 8 in particular, you realize he's actually ending a section with an argument with a question that he poses when he says, what then shall we say to these things?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–7:20
2
How does Romans 8:31–39 frame the question 'Who is God'?
7:20–16:52
3
What is 'therapeutic deism' and how does it misrepresent God?
16:52–38:33
4
How does Paul summarize humanity's problem and God's rescue through chapters 1–8 of Romans?
38:33–46:31