The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church affirms the classical Christian understanding of God as one, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, all-good, and the creator of all things visible and invisible. Ethiopian theology draws deeply on the Alexandrian patristic tradition, mediated through the Coptic Church of Alexandria (to which Ethiopia was ecclesiastically subordinate until 1959), and expresses knowledge of God through both the rich biblical tradition and the extensive Ethiopian theological literature in Ge'ez.

A distinctive feature of Ethiopian Christian identity is the profound sense of continuity with the Old Testament. The Ethiopian tradition traces its connection to the God of Israel through the Kebra Nagast (Glory of Kings), an Ethiopian national and religious epic claiming that the Queen of Sheba bore Solomon's son Menelik I, who brought the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia. This Solomonic heritage deeply colors Ethiopian conceptions of God as the Lord of Israel and the fulfiller of the covenant through Christ.