Every world-view, held by any person, no matter what religion or culture has one most important and essential element above all others. This is what one believes, or does not believe about God making it the absolute cornerstone for one’s entire world-view.
For the Christian, God is the one ultimate being, perfect in every way. In simplest terms, God can be defined as, “He IS!” This makes Him eternal, pre-existent, independent, and self-existent. He is infinite and unlimited, and therefore, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. He is the uncaused first cause of all things seen and unseen, sovereign over all of creation. He is unchanging and immutable. He has will, emotions, is moral, and probably most importantly, He is love. The latter makes Him personal, the giver of life and forgiver of sins. He consist of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in perfect unity as One, and completely separate from all things created. Yet He is concerned with and involved in the happenings of humanity and all of creation, and has been since the beginning of creation.
The closest we can relate to knowing God in this age is through the person of Jesus Christ, God incarnate. For a believer to have a correct world-view, it is essential to understand God in order to properly interpret our experiences and beliefs. Without basing one’s world-view on a proper understanding of who God is results in a confused and misleading testimony of truth to others and a misled life.
God told Moses the meaning of His name by responding in Exodus 3:14, “I AM that I AM.” The meaning here is that His name is connected to the verb “to be” expressing his eternal nature, character, and essence. God is eternal, meaning He was not a created being. The principle of causality, which states that every event has an adequate cause, does not apply to God. This principle does not state that all things need a cause, rather, it means that all things that have a beginning must have a cause. Saying that God must also have a beginning is to make a categorical mistake by placing God in the category of things created. The existence of God is eternal, His existence is truth. Without His existence, rationality and first principles are indefensible.
Regarding His character and essence, Jesus claimed to be the living God incarnate and the only way one could possibly know of Christ before His incarnation is through what is called Special Revelation, i.e., the Bible. Knowing Christ is knowing God. Support for His claims come via messianic prophecy, a miraculous and sinless life, and His resurrection from the dead through Special Revelation. By General Revelation, the Bible begins by assuming that every man believes in God and makes no case that God exists for the simple fact that He has already revealed Himself to man. The Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 1:20 that all men are without excuse having knowledge of God. 1 John 4:8 tells us that God is love. While there are other sources less credible being tainted by the biases of men, we also have other letters outside of Scripture that tell us about God:
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, revealing that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.
NET, 2 Co. 3:2-3
All things that exist, exist because of a first cause. We know by using the laws of logic, otherwise known as first principles, along with philosophy and reasoning that God is self-existent, uncaused, infinite, and unchangeable, thereby making God the first cause of all things seen and unseen. And we know the claims of Jesus Christ to be true because He shares in these non-transferable attributes of God. In John 8:56-59, we read where Jesus referred to Himself as YHWH, meaning “I AM.” We see this again in John 18:4-6. Jesus lets us know the relationship between being saved and His true identity in John 17:3-5. In John 5:23 we find that Jesus wants us to worship Him in the same way that we worship the Father. John 17:5 He asserted that He shares in the glory of God throughout eternity.
You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!
NET, Phl. 2:5-8
Having a correct perspective of God is absolutely fundamental in the world-view of a believer. Without believing these truths, we become confused and mislead other with our testimony, we walk through life not realizing how others are affected by the decisions we make, nor are we able to discern the influences upon us by an unbelieving world.
Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
NET, Col. 2:8
Basing our world-view on the truths of God helps us in developing a stronger and deeper faith while protecting us from the ideas of a secular culture.
Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God – what is good and well-pleasing and perfect.
NET, Rom. 12:2
Biblical Studies 