God in Christianity

== Background ==
{{Main|God in Abrahamic religions}}
{{Further|History of Christianity}}

[[Christians]], in common with [[Jews]] and [[Muslims]], identify with the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|biblical patriarch]] [[Abraham]] to whom God [[Revelation|revealed]] himself.<ref name="Firestone 2015">{{cite book |author-last=Firestone |author-first=Reuven |author-link=Reuven Firestone |year=2015 |chapter=Abraham and Authenticity |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_B2DCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |editor1-last=Blidstein |editor1-first=Moshe |editor2-last=Silverstein |editor2-first=Adam J. |editor3-last=Stroumsa |editor3-first=Guy G. |editor3-link=Guy Stroumsa |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Abrahamic Religions |location=[[Oxford]] and New York City |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=3–21 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199697762.013.9 |isbn=978-0-19-969776-2 |lccn=2014960132 |s2cid=170382297}}</ref> It is believed that Abraham was the first to affirm [[monotheism]] (one God) and had an ideal relationship with God.<ref name="Firestone 2015"/> The [[Abrahamic religions]] believe that God continuously interacted with the descendants of Abraham over millennia; both Christians and Jews believe that this [[Covenant (biblical)|covenant]] is recorded in the [[Hebrew Bible]], which most [[Christian denominations]] consider to be and refer to as the [[Old Testament]].<ref name="Firestone 2015"/> In the traditional interpretations of Christianity, God is always referred to with [[Grammatical gender|masculine grammatical articles]] only.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Christiano |editor1-first=Kevin J. |editor2-last=Kivisto |editor2-first=Peter |editor3-last=Swatos |editor3-first=William H. Jr. |year=2015 |orig-year=2002 |title=Sociology of Religion: Contemporary Developments |chapter=Excursus on the History of Religions |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EYtjY7GJav4C&pg=PA254 |location=[[Walnut Creek, California]] |publisher=[[AltaMira Press]] |edition=3rd |pages=254–255 |doi=10.2307/3512222 |jstor=3512222 |isbn=978-1-4422-1691-4 |lccn=2001035412 |s2cid=154932078}}</ref>