God - Summarised

• Which areas are examined under christian monotheism?

  1. One God
  2. Omnipotent creator
  3. Controller of all things
  4. Transcendent and unknowable
  5. The trinity
  6. Jesus is the son of God
• One God

  Christians understand that there is only one God. In early Christianity, this understanding did not come straight away because they believed that other Gods existed, without power. However, in Mark’s Gospel it was established that there was only one God with the command in Deuteronomy 6:4, ‘The Lord our God is One’. This phrase forms the heart of the Shema prayer in Judaism and is said to be the ideal expression of ethical monotheistic belief. God alone has the complete power, love and authority to save humanity from its sins
• Omnipotent creator

  As there is only one God, he must be omnipotent. For some, to say that God is omnipotent means that he can do absolutely anything, including the logically impossible. Others think that he can only do what is logically possible. If God is omnipotent, then he must be the creator of everything that exists. This establishes a range of opinions surrounding the creation of the universe with Christians debating whether it was created ex deo, ex nihilo or ex materia.
• Controller of all things

  Christians believe that God is the controller of all things; this is evidenced by his immanence and capability to sustain the universe. For example, God preserves the universe from falling back into the chaos it was before God put it into order. Furthermore, as monotheism for Christians is ethical monotheism, God sustains human morality by providing a code by which Christians are expected to live; basically the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Jesus.