Who Is the First and Supreme Being? - Catechism Questions and Answers

Q. Who is the first and supreme being?

A. God is the first and supreme being. 

Doctrine

The answer to this question has one primary concern--the primacy of God. God, by his very nature, is preeminent; he is above and greater than all things. The writers of the Baptist Catechism demonstrated this first by showing that he is preeminent because he is first. In Isaiah 44:6, the Lord said, "I am the first and the last, besides me there is no god." God, as eternal, is not in time or limited by time, though he operates with respect to time for his creation. When there was nothing but God, when he had not yet made the heavens and the earth, God existed perfectly and wholly as God. He is the first. 

John Snyder / CC BY-SA 

I've changed the words from the Baptist Catechism which said that God is the first and chiefest being. The use of the word chief, which we will still use for a later question, isn't used regularly--especially chiefest. Therefore, I opted to use the word supreme. The supremacy of God is self-evident. There is no one like him. He alone fashioned the heavens and the earth. He alone is life and gives life. There is no one like him or comparable to him. He has no rivals. Therefore, the psalmist writes, "For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above the gods." God is exalted because he is supreme in power, love, justice, compassion, vengeance, mercy, righteousness, and more. There are no gods, or idols, that can compare to him or who deserve the honor he commands. 

Problem

Here lies the problem. Though God is the first and supreme being, fully worthy of all of our worship and respect, fear and love, we do not honor him as we should. We foolish creatures so often neglect our great purpose and instead celebrate and venerate the creation over the Creator. Though we were fashioned in his image to display his glory to the world (Genesis 1:26), we instead fall short of that glory (Romans 3:23) and make much of idols. Man has rejected God--no one is righteous, no one seeks God, and we have all become worthless (Romans 3:11, 12). 

Solution

Herein lies the greatest story ever told. God looked upon man that he had created and had mercy. He would have been fully justified to destroy humanity at the very moment our first parents sinned against him and every moment we have sinned against him since. Yet, he restrains himself--for his glory. God, because there was nothing that man could do to spare his own life, redeemed his people through the death of God the Son in the God-man Jesus. The Christian, that is he who has been united to Jesus through faith, can sing with the psalmist, "Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." 

Virtue

As a result of who God is (the first and supreme being) and what God has done (there are many reasons here but the salvation accomplished through Jesus should be at the forefront of our thoughts), you should do all that lies within your power to honor God as you should by fearing him with reverent respect and obedience (Deuteronomy 10:12) and by loving him "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37) for his glory. 

Written by Michael Naaktgeboren.