Day 28: The Nature of God (198-204)

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in heaven, we give you praise. You are the Father in heaven. You are the Father on earth. You are the Lord of everything. And you've sent us your son Jesus Christ, who is also God, to be our Savior. And you've sent us your Holy Spirit, who is also God, to guide us and to sanctify us. So Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God, help us to understand your nature, help us to understand what you are, and help us to understand even more fully who you are, that we might be drawn into your heart even more deeply. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and the power of the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God the Father. Amen”

Scripture References & Reflections

- compiled by Andrew Adamany


Bible Translation - RSVCE


CCC 198 "Our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last, the beginning and the end of everything.


Isaiah 44:6–7

"Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel 

and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: 

“I am the first and I am the last; 

besides me there is no god. 

Who is like me? Let him proclaim it, 

let him declare and set it forth before me. 

Who has announced from of old the things to come?

Let them tell us what is yet to be."


 The Credo begins with God the Father, for the Father is the first divine person of the Most Holy Trinity; our Creed begins with the creation of heaven and earth, for creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works."


Genesis 1:1–2

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters."


CCC 199 "I believe in God": this first affirmation of the Apostles' Creed is also the most fundamental. The whole Creed speaks of God, and when it also speaks of man and of the world it does so in relation to God. The other articles of the Creed all depend on the first, just as the remaining Commandments make the first explicit. The other articles help us to know God better as he revealed himself progressively to men. "The faithful first profess their belief in God."


Exodus 20:1–6

"And God spoke all these words, saying, 

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 

“You shall have no other gods before me. 

“You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."


CCC 200 "These are the words with which the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed begins. The confession of God's oneness, which has its roots in the divine revelation of the Old Covenant, is inseparable from the profession of God's existence and is equally fundamental. God is unique; there is only one God: "The Christian faith confesses that God is one in nature, substance and essence."


1 Timothy 2:1–7

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way. This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony to which was borne at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth."


CCC 201 "To Israel, his chosen, God revealed himself as the only One…"


Deuteronomy 6:4–9 

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."


"Through the prophets, God calls Israel and all nations to turn to him, the one and only God.."


Isaiah 45:22–25 

“Turn to me and be saved, 

all the ends of the earth! 

For I am God, and there is no other. 

By myself I have sworn, 

from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness 

a word that shall not return: 

‘To me every knee shall bow, 

every tongue shall swear.’ 

“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me, 

are righteousness and strength; 

to him shall come and be ashamed, 

all who were incensed against him. 

In the Lord all the offspring of Israel 

shall triumph and glory.”


CCC 202 "Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must love "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength". At the same time Jesus gives us to understand that he himself is "the Lord".


Mark 12:35–37

"And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared, 

‘The Lord said to my Lord, 

Sit at my right hand, 

till I put thy enemies under thy feet.’ 

David himself calls him Lord; so how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly."


To confess that Jesus is Lord is distinctive of Christian faith. This is not contrary to belief in the One God. 


Philippians 2:9–11 

"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."


Romans 10:8–13

"But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved. The scripture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him. For, “every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”


Nor does believing in the Holy Spirit as "Lord and giver of life" introduce any division into the One God


John 6:63 

"It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life."


Romans 8:11

"If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you."


2 Corinthians 3:4–6

"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not in a written code but in the Spirit; for the written code kills, but the Spirit gives life."


CCC 204 "God revealed himself progressively and under different names to his people, but the revelation that proved to be the fundamental one for both the Old and the New Covenants was the revelation of the divine name to Moses in the theophany of the burning bush, on the threshold of the Exodus and of the covenant on Sinai."


Exodus 3:13–14 

"Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”