I have noticed a variety of redefinitions people use to describe God. He has been called The Great Spirit, The Divine, The Consciousness, The Essence, and The Cosmos. While God can reflect some of those names, He is very distinct. He is God the Father, and Jesus is His Son.

When Paul visited Athens, he noticed that the Athenians described God as the “Unknown God.” Paul wrote, “As I was walking along, I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about” (Acts 17:23). Paul brought definition and clarity to what the Athenians did not yet understand.

This Unknown God can become known with specification for those who believe and trust Him. He is not some undefined presence that orbits in the heavens or a name more aligned with a cultish New Age description of God. God is the Father, and Jesus is His Son. We have been described as His sons and daughters. Those definitions have meaning and purpose.

Paul did not leave the Unknown God undefined, “This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.” His description would include the name of Jesus, who is the Redeemer.

The writer of Hebrews wrote, “Long ago, God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now, in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

The writer continued, “The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names” (vs. 3-4).

The text in Hebrew uses specific language, “For God never said to any angel what he said to Jesus: ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.’ God also said, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son’” (vs. 5-6).

To leave God and Jesus undefined among all the unredeemed descriptions of who He misses the point of our calling. We have called to reveal Jesus Christ, who is the only One who can lead someone to God. To leave a culture imprisoned in human attempts to define God is what Paul meant when he said that God “Is the one I’m telling you about.”

Without that clarity, people will continue to wander about within human definitions of what they do not yet fully comprehend. People will not hear about Jesus, the Son of God, who said these words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). At some point we need to be specific or all our efforts of evangelism will be for not.