'God' in the Bible

He had also, after He suffered, shown Himself alive to them with many sure proofs, appearing to them at intervals during forty days, and speaking of the Kingdom of God.

Yet we all alike hear these Galilaeans speaking in our own language about the wonderful things which God has done."

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, God says, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall have dreams;

"Listen, Israelites, to what I say. Jesus, the Nazarene, a man accredited to you from God by miracles and marvels and signs which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know, Him--

But God has raised Him to life, having terminated the throes of death, for in fact it was not possible for Him to be held fast by death.

Being a Prophet, however, and knowing that God had solemnly sworn to him to seat a descendant of his upon his throne,

This Jesus, God has raised to life-- a fact to which all of us testify.

"Being therefore lifted high by the mighty hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out this which you see and hear.

"Therefore let the whole House of Israel know beyond all doubt that God has made Him both LORD and CHRIST--this Jesus whom you crucified."

For to you belongs the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, whoever the Lord our God may call."

praising God and being regarded with favour by all the people. Also, day by day, the Lord added to their number those whom He was saving.

Leaping up, he stood upright and began to walk, and went into the Temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God.

All the people saw him walking and praising God;

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has conferred this honour on His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to let Him go.

The Prince of Life you put to death; but God has raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses as to that.

But in this way God has fulfilled the declarations He made through all the Prophets, that His Christ would suffer.

Heaven must receive Him until those times of which God has spoken from the earliest ages through the lips of His holy Prophets--the times of the reconstitution of all things.

Moses declared, "'The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet for you from among your brethren as He has raised me. In all that He says to you, you must listen to Him.

"You are the heirs of the Prophets, and of the Covenant which God made with your forefathers when He said to Abraham, 'And through your posterity all the families of the world shall be blessed.'

It is to you first that God, after raising His Servant from the grave, has sent Him to bless you, by causing every one of you to turn from your wickedness."

be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that through the name of Jesus the Anointed, the Nazarene, whom *you* crucified, but whom *God* has raised from among the dead-- through that name this man stands here before you in perfect health.

But Peter and John replied, "Judge whether it is right in God's sight to listen to you instead of listening to God.

The Court added further threats and then let them go, being quite unable to find any way of punishing them on account of the people, because all gave God the glory for the thing that had happened.

And they, upon hearing the story, all lifted up their voices to God and said, "O Sovereign Lord, it is Thou who didst make Heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them,

While it remained unsold, was not the land your own? And when sold, was it not at your own disposal? How is it that you have cherished this design in your heart? It is not to men you have told this lie, but to God."

Peter and the other Apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than man.

The God of our forefathers has raised Jesus to life, whom you crucified and put to death.

God has exalted Him to His right hand as Chief Leader and as Saviour, to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.

And we--and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him--are witnesses as to these things."

But if it is really from God, you will be powerless to put them down--lest perhaps you find yourselves to be actually fighting against God."

Then they privately put forward men who declared, "We have heard him speak blasphemous things against Moses and against God."

The reply of Stephen was, "Sirs--brethren and fathers--listen to me. God Most Glorious appeared to our forefather Abraham when he was living in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,

"Thereupon he left Chaldaea and settled in Haran till after the death of his father, when God caused him to remove into this country where you now live.

And God declared that Abraham's posterity should for four hundred years make their home in a country not their own, and be reduced to slavery and be oppressed.

"'And the nation, whichever it is, that enslaves them, I will judge,' said God; 'and afterwards they shall come out, and they shall worship Me in this place.'

"The Patriarchs were jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery in Egypt. But God was with him

"But as the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people became many times more numerous in Egypt,

He supposed his brethren to be aware that by him God was sending them deliverance; this, however, they did not understand.

"'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.' "Quaking with fear Moses did not dare gaze.

"The Moses whom they rejected, asking him, 'Who appointed you magistrate and judge?' --that same Moses we find God sending as a magistrate and a deliverer by the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

This is the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, "'God will raise up a Prophet for you, from among your brethren, just as He raised me up.'

So God turned from them and gave them up to the worship of the Host of Heaven, as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, "'Were they victims and sacrifices which you offered Me, forty years in the Desert, O House of Israel?

Yes, you lifted up Moloch's tent and the Star of the God Rephan--the images which you made in order to worship them; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'

That Tent was bequeathed to the next generation of our forefathers. Under Joshua they brought it with them when they were taking possession of the land of the Gentile nations, whom God drove out before them. So it continued till David's time.

David obtained favour with God, and asked leave to provide a dwelling-place for the God of Jacob.

But, full of the Holy Spirit and looking up to Heaven, Stephen saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand.

To him people of all classes paid attention, declaring, "This man is the Power of God, known as the great Power."

But when Philip began to tell the Good News about the Kingdom of God and about the Name of Jesus Christ, and they embraced the faith, they were baptized, men and women alike.

And in the synagogues he began at once to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God;

He was religious and God-fearing--and so was every member of his household. He was also liberal in his charities to the people, and continually offered prayer to God.

About three o'clock one afternoon he had a vision, and distinctly saw an angel of God enter his house, who called him by name, saying, "Cornelius!"

Looking steadily at him, and being much alarmed, he said, "What do you want, Sir?" "Your prayers and charities," he replied, "have gone up and have been recorded before God.

Again a second time a voice was heard which said, "What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy."

He said to them, "You know better than most that a Jew is strictly forbidden to associate with a Gentile or visit him; but God has taught me to call no one unholy or unclean.

who said, "'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your charities have been put on record before God.

Then Peter began to speak. "I clearly see," he said, "that God makes no distinctions between one man and another;

It tells how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, so that He went about everywhere doing acts of kindness, and curing all who were being continually oppressed by the Devil--for God was with Jesus.

That same Jesus God raised to life on the third day, and permitted Him to appear unmistakably,

not to all the people, but to witnesses--men previously chosen by God--namely, to us, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.

And He has commanded us to preach to the people and solemnly declare that this is He who has been appointed by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.

For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling the majesty of God. Then Peter said,

"But a voice answered, speaking a second time from the sky, "'What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy.'

"If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we first believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, why, who was I to be able to thwart God?"

This statement of Peter's silenced his opponents. They extolled the goodness of God, and said, "So, then, to the Gentiles also God has given the repentance which leads to Life."

On getting there he was delighted to see the grace which God had bestowed; and he encouraged them all to remain, with fixed resolve, faithful to the Lord.

So Peter was kept in prison; but long and fervent prayer was offered to God by the Church on his behalf.

and the assembled people kept shouting, "It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!"

Instantly an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the glory to God, and being eaten up by worms, he died.

So Paul rose, and motioning with his hand for silence, said, "Israelites, and you others who fear God, pay attention to me.

The God of this people of Israel chose our forefathers, and made the people great during their stay in Egypt, until with wondrous power He brought them out from that land.

Next they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a Benjamite, who reigned forty years.

"It is from among David's descendants that God, in fulfilment of His promise, has raised up a Saviour for Israel, even Jesus.

"Brethren, descendants of the family of Abraham, and all among you who fear God, to us has this Message of salvation been sent.

"But God raised Him from the dead.

that God has amply fulfilled it to our children in raising up Jesus; as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'Thou art My Son: to-day I have become Thy Father.'

But He whom God raised to life underwent no decay.

And, when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout converts from heathenism continued with Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to hold fast to the grace of God.

We also are but men, with natures kindred to your own; and we bring you the Good News that you are to turn from these unreal things, to worship the ever-living God, the Creator of earth and sky and sea and of everything that is in them.

Everywhere they strengthened the disciples by encouraging them to hold fast to the faith, and warned them saying, "It is through many afflictions that we must make our way into the Kingdom of God."

Thence they sailed to Antioch, where they had previously been commended to the grace of God in connexion with the work which they had now completed.

Upon their arrival they called the Church together and proceeded to report in detail all that God, working with them, had done, and how He had opened for the Gentiles the door of faith.

Upon their arrival in Jerusalem they were cordially received by the Church, the Apostles, and the Elders; and they reported in detail all that God, working with them, had done.

and after there had been a long discussion Peter rose to his feet. "It is within your own knowledge," he said, "that God originally made choice among you that from my lips the Gentiles were to hear the Message of the Good News, and believe.

And God, who knows all hearts, gave His testimony in their favour by bestowing the Holy Spirit on them just as He did on us;

Now, therefore, why try an experiment upon God, by laying on the necks of these disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear?

Then the whole assembly remained silent while they listened to the statement made by Paul and Barnabas as to all the signs and marvels that God had done among the Gentiles through their instrumentality.

Symeon has related how God first looked graciously on the Gentiles to take from among them a People to be called by His name.

"My judgement, therefore, is against inflicting unexpected annoyance on those of the Gentiles who are turning to God.

So when he had seen the vision, we immediately looked out for an opportunity of passing on into Macedonia, confidently inferring that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to the people there.

Among our hearers was one named Lydia, a dealer in purple goods. She belonged to the city of Thyateira, and was a worshipper of the true God. The Lord opened her heart, so that she gave attention to what Paul was saying.

She kept following close behind Paul and the rest of us, crying aloud, "These men are the bondservants of the Most High God, and are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

and bringing the Apostles up into his house, he spread a meal for them, and was filled with gladness, with his whole household, his faith resting on God.

For as I passed along and observed the things you worship, I found also an altar bearing the inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' "The Being, therefore, whom you, without knowing Him, revere, Him I now proclaim to you.

GOD who made the universe and everything in it--He, being Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries built by men.

that they might seek God, if perhaps they could grope for Him and find Him. Yes, though He is not far from any one of us.

Those times of ignorance God viewed with indulgence. But now He commands all men everywhere to repent,

So he left the place and went to the house of a person called Titius Justus, a worshipper of the true God. His house was next door to the synagogue.

So Paul remained in Corinth for a year and six months, teaching among them the Message of God.

"This man," they said, "is inducing people to offer unlawful worship to God."