The Name God Gives Himself
Before we describe God, Scripture invites us to listen to how God has described himself.
There is an old and human habit. We meet something vast, and we try to make it smaller so we can carry it. We do this with mountains, with grief, and sometimes with God. It is worth naming plainly, because Scripture keeps pointing the other way.
When Moses asks God for a name, God answers on his own terms (Exodus 3:14). He is not defined by the one who asks. He tells us who he is, and we receive it.
Jesus says something close in a single line. "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). Spirit here means God is not bound to matter as we are. He cannot be reduced to our categories or bent to our preferences.
So the study is simple, and it asks patience. Read slowly the passages where God speaks about himself. Notice what he claims, and what he does not. Resist the urge to edit him into a shape you find easier. "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).
The aim is not to win an argument about God. It is to let God set the terms of the meeting, to come with reverence, and to be ready to be surprised by who he says he is.
Sources
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