Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Trinity
GOD IN THREE PERSONS:
THE TRINITY
How can God be three persons, yet one God?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.
- The Doctrine of the Trinity Is Progressively Revealed in Scripture
- Partial Revelation in the Old Testament.
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Genesis 1:26
“God, your God, has set you above your companions” Psalms 45:7
“And now the Lord GOD has sent me and his Spirit.” Isaiah 48:16
2. More Complete Revelation of the Trinity in the New Testament.
2. More Complete Revelation of the Trinity in the New Testament.
“the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’”
Matt. 3:16-17
“According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood” 1 Peter 1:2
B. Three Statements Summarize the Biblical Teaching
B. Three Statements Summarize the Biblical Teaching
- God is three persons.
- Each person is fully God.
- There is one God.
- God is Three Persons.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1-2
“It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” John 16:7
2. Each Person Is Fully God
2. Each Person Is Fully God
“baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Matthew 28:19
“Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit...? You have not lied to men but to God.”
Acts 5:3-4
3. There Is One God.
3. There Is One God.
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Deuteronomy 6:4-5
4. Simplistic Solutions Must All Deny One Strand of Biblical Teaching.
5. All analogies Have Shortcomings.
6. God Eternally and Necessarily Exists as the Trinity.
C. Errors Have Come By Denying Any of the Three Statements Summarizing the Biblical Teaching
4. Simplistic Solutions Must All Deny One Strand of Biblical Teaching.
5. All analogies Have Shortcomings.
6. God Eternally and Necessarily Exists as the Trinity.
C. Errors Have Come By Denying Any of the Three Statements Summarizing the Biblical Teaching
- Modalism Claims That There Is One Person Who Appears to Us in Three Different Forms (or “Modes”).
The fatal shortcoming of modalism is the fact that it must deny the personal relationships within the Trinity that appear in so many places in Scripture (or it must affirm that these were simply an illusion an not real).
2. Arianism Denies the Full Deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
2. Arianism Denies the Full Deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- The Arian Controversy
“the first-born of all creation” Colossians 1:15
“only begotten”>>>325 Nicene Creed “begotten, not made”
b. Subordinationism
c. Adoptionism
d. The Filoque Clause
b. Subordinationism
c. Adoptionism
d. The Filoque Clause
led to the split between western Christianity and eastern Christianity in 1054
e. The Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity
e. The Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity
“In the confession of the Trinity throbs the heart of the Christian religion: every error results from or upon deeper reflection may be traced to, a wrong view of this doctrine.” Herman Bavinck
3. Tritheism Denies That There Is Only One God.
D. What Are the Distinctions Between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
3. Tritheism Denies That There Is Only One God.
D. What Are the Distinctions Between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?
- The Persons of the Trinity Have Different Primary Functions in Relating to the World.
“economy of the Trinity”
God the Father - planned redemption and sent his Son into the world
The Son - obeyed the Father and accomplished redemption for us
The Holy Spirit - sent by the Father and the Son to apply redemption to us
2. The Persons of the Trinity Eternally Existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. The Persons of the Trinity Eternally Existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The only distinctions between the members of the Trinity are in the ways they relate to each other and to creation.
“equal in being but subordinate in role”
3. What Is the Relationship Between the Three Persons and the Being of God?
3. What Is the Relationship Between the Three Persons and the Being of God?
Father, Son and Spirit each possesses the whole being of God and each is all of God’s being.
There is no difference in attributes between Father, Son and Spirit at all. The only difference between them is the way they relate to each other and to the creation.
4. Can We Understand the Doctrine of the Trinity?
4. Can We Understand the Doctrine of the Trinity?
The Trinity is a mystery...man cannot comprehend it and make it intelligible. It is intelligible in some of its relations and modes of manifestation, but unintelligible in its essential nature...The real difficulty lies in the relation in which the persons in the Godhead stand to the divine essence and to one another; and this is a difficulty which the Church cannot remove, but only try to reduce to its proper proportion by a proper definition of terms. It has never tried to explain the mystery of the Trinity but only sought to formulate the doctrine of the Trinity in such a manner that the errors which endangered it were warded off.
Louis Berkhof
E. Application
Thursday, April 8, 2010
THE CHARACTER OF GOD: “COMMUNICABLE” ATTRIBUTES (PART 2
How is God like us in attributes of will and in attributes that summarize his excellence?
Attributes of Purpose
Will
God’s will is that attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation.
God’s Will in General:
the final or most ultimate reason for everything that happens
“who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11)
“For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created”
(Rev. 4:11)
James encourages us to see all the events of our lives as subject to God’s will.
‘if the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that’ (James 4:15)
Distinctions in Aspects of God’s Will:
Necessary will and free will:
What does God will necessarily?
He wills himself.
“I AM WHO I AM” or, “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE” (Ex. 3:14)
God cannot choose to be different than he is or to cease to exist.
God’s free will includes all things that God decided to will but had no necessity to will according to his nature.
ex. creation & redemption
Secret will and revealed will:
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed
belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this
law” (Deut. 29:29).
God’s revealed will is sometimes also called God’s will of precept or will of
command.
God’s secret will is sometimes also called God’s will of decree.
“Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10) must be understood
as an appeal for the revealed will of God to be followed on earth.
When James tells us to say, “If the Lords wills, we shall live and we shall do
this or that” (James 4:15), he teaches that to trust in the secret will of God
overcomes prides and expresses humble dependence on God’s sovereign
control over the events of our lives.
Freedom
God’s freedom is that attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases.
“Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases” (Ps. 115:3).
Omnipotence (Power, Sovereignty)
God’s omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will.
God’s exercise of power over his creation is also called God’s sovereignty.
“Summary” Attributes
Perfection
God’s perfection means that God completely possesses all excellent qualities
and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for him.
Blessedness
To be “blessed is to be happy in a very full and rich sense.
Paul calls God “the blessed and only Sovereign” (1 Tim. 6:15) and speaks of “the glorious gospel of the blessed God (1 Tim 1:11).
eulogetos - often translated blessed
makarios - which means happy
God’s blessedness means that God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects
his character.
“Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change”
(James 1:17)
Beauty
God’s beauty is that attribute of God whereby he is the sum of all desirable
qualities.
Glory
God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself.
This glory of God is the visible manifestation of the excellence of God’s
character.
God made us to reflect his glory. Paul tells us that even now in our Christian
lives we all are being “changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to
another” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Attributes of Purpose
Will
God’s will is that attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation.
God’s Will in General:
the final or most ultimate reason for everything that happens
“who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11)
“For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created”
(Rev. 4:11)
James encourages us to see all the events of our lives as subject to God’s will.
‘if the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that’ (James 4:15)
Distinctions in Aspects of God’s Will:
Necessary will and free will:
What does God will necessarily?
He wills himself.
“I AM WHO I AM” or, “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE” (Ex. 3:14)
God cannot choose to be different than he is or to cease to exist.
God’s free will includes all things that God decided to will but had no necessity to will according to his nature.
ex. creation & redemption
Secret will and revealed will:
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed
belong to us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this
law” (Deut. 29:29).
God’s revealed will is sometimes also called God’s will of precept or will of
command.
God’s secret will is sometimes also called God’s will of decree.
“Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10) must be understood
as an appeal for the revealed will of God to be followed on earth.
When James tells us to say, “If the Lords wills, we shall live and we shall do
this or that” (James 4:15), he teaches that to trust in the secret will of God
overcomes prides and expresses humble dependence on God’s sovereign
control over the events of our lives.
Freedom
God’s freedom is that attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases.
“Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases” (Ps. 115:3).
Omnipotence (Power, Sovereignty)
God’s omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will.
God’s exercise of power over his creation is also called God’s sovereignty.
“Summary” Attributes
Perfection
God’s perfection means that God completely possesses all excellent qualities
and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for him.
Blessedness
To be “blessed is to be happy in a very full and rich sense.
Paul calls God “the blessed and only Sovereign” (1 Tim. 6:15) and speaks of “the glorious gospel of the blessed God (1 Tim 1:11).
eulogetos - often translated blessed
makarios - which means happy
God’s blessedness means that God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects
his character.
“Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change”
(James 1:17)
Beauty
God’s beauty is that attribute of God whereby he is the sum of all desirable
qualities.
Glory
God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself.
This glory of God is the visible manifestation of the excellence of God’s
character.
God made us to reflect his glory. Paul tells us that even now in our Christian
lives we all are being “changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to
another” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Friday, January 29, 2010
THE CHARACTER OF GOD:
THE CHARACTER OF GOD:
“COMMUNICABLE” ATTRIBUTES (PART 1)
How is God like us in his being and in mental and moral attributes?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A. Attributes Describing God’s Being
1. Spirituality.
“God is spirit” (John 4:24)
We should not think of God as having size or dimensions. He also forbids
his people to think of his very being as similar to anything else in the
physical creation.
God’s spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any
matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence.
2. Invisibility.
“To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and
glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17)
God’s invisibility means that God’s total essence, all of his spiritual
being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself
to us through visible, created things.
B. Mental Attributes
3. Knowledge (Omniscience)
“God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:20)
God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible (past, present,
and future) in one simple eternal act.
4. Wisdom
“the only wise God” Romans 16:27
God always knows and chooses the best goals and the best means to them.
Wisdom is a moral and intellectual quality.
5. Truthfulness (and Faithfulness)
“The LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King…The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish
From under the heavens” (Jeremiah 10:10-11)
God always represents things as they really are. All of God’s knowledge
and words are true and the final standard of truth.
God will always do what he has said and fulfill what he has promised.
C. Moral Attributes
6. Goodness
“No one is good but God alone” (Luke 18:19)
All that God is and does is worthy of approval, and he is the final standard
of goodness.
7. Love
“God is Love” (1 John 4:8)
God is freely and eternally giving of himself for the good of others.
8. Mercy, Grace, Patience
“I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the LORD for his mercy
is great…” (2 Samuel 24:14)
God’s kindness toward those in misery and distress.
“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on
whom I will show mercy” (Romans 9:15)
God’s kindness toward those who deserve only punishment.
“slow to anger” (Exodus 34:6)
God’s kindness in withholding punishment of those who sin over a period
of time.
9. Holiness
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3)
God is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor.
10. Peace (or Order)
“God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (I Corinthians 14:33)
In God’s being and actions he is separate from all confusion and disorder,
yet he is continually active in innumerable well-ordered, fully controlled,
simultaneous actions.
11. Righteousness, Justice
“All his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4)
God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the
the final standard of what is right.
12. Jealousy
“For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it…My glory I will not give
to another” (Isaiah 48:11)
God continually seeks to protect his own honor.
13. Wrath
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
wickedness of men” (Romans 1:18)
God intensely hates all sin.
“COMMUNICABLE” ATTRIBUTES (PART 1)
How is God like us in his being and in mental and moral attributes?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A. Attributes Describing God’s Being
1. Spirituality.
“God is spirit” (John 4:24)
We should not think of God as having size or dimensions. He also forbids
his people to think of his very being as similar to anything else in the
physical creation.
God’s spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any
matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence.
2. Invisibility.
“To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and
glory for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17)
God’s invisibility means that God’s total essence, all of his spiritual
being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself
to us through visible, created things.
B. Mental Attributes
3. Knowledge (Omniscience)
“God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.” (1 John 3:20)
God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible (past, present,
and future) in one simple eternal act.
4. Wisdom
“the only wise God” Romans 16:27
God always knows and chooses the best goals and the best means to them.
Wisdom is a moral and intellectual quality.
5. Truthfulness (and Faithfulness)
“The LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King…The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth shall perish
From under the heavens” (Jeremiah 10:10-11)
God always represents things as they really are. All of God’s knowledge
and words are true and the final standard of truth.
God will always do what he has said and fulfill what he has promised.
C. Moral Attributes
6. Goodness
“No one is good but God alone” (Luke 18:19)
All that God is and does is worthy of approval, and he is the final standard
of goodness.
7. Love
“God is Love” (1 John 4:8)
God is freely and eternally giving of himself for the good of others.
8. Mercy, Grace, Patience
“I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the LORD for his mercy
is great…” (2 Samuel 24:14)
God’s kindness toward those in misery and distress.
“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on
whom I will show mercy” (Romans 9:15)
God’s kindness toward those who deserve only punishment.
“slow to anger” (Exodus 34:6)
God’s kindness in withholding punishment of those who sin over a period
of time.
9. Holiness
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isaiah 6:3)
God is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor.
10. Peace (or Order)
“God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” (I Corinthians 14:33)
In God’s being and actions he is separate from all confusion and disorder,
yet he is continually active in innumerable well-ordered, fully controlled,
simultaneous actions.
11. Righteousness, Justice
“All his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4)
God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the
the final standard of what is right.
12. Jealousy
“For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it…My glory I will not give
to another” (Isaiah 48:11)
God continually seeks to protect his own honor.
13. Wrath
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
wickedness of men” (Romans 1:18)
God intensely hates all sin.
Friday, December 4, 2009
The Character of God: Incommunicable Attributes
THE CHARACTER OF GOD:
“INCOMMUNICABLE”
ATTRIBUTES
How is God different from us?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A. Introduction to the Study of God’s Character
1. Classifying God’s Attributes.
- incommunicable attributes (that is, those attributes that God does not share or “communicate” to others)
ex. God’s eternity, unchangeableness or omnipresence
- communicable attributes (those God shares or “communicates” with us)
ex. Love, knowledge, mercy or justice
2. The Names of God in Scripture.
In a broad sense, God’s “name” is equal to all that the Bible and creation tell us about God.
Matthew 6:9 – we pray that people would speak about God in a way that is honoring to him and that accurately reflects his character
Matthew 5: 16 – our actions reflect the character of the Creator whom we serve
Exodus 20:7 – commands that we not dishonor God’s reputation either by words that speak of him in a foolish or misleading way, or by actions that do not reflect his true character
Individual names attributed to God all reflect some true aspect of his character.
Descriptions of God taken from creation: God is compared to a lion (Isa. 31:4), an eagle (Deut 32:11), a lamb (Isa. 53:7), a hen (Matt. 23:37), the sun (Ps. 84:11), the morning star (Rev. 22:16), a light (Ps. 27:1), a torch (Rev. 21:23), a fire (Heb. 12:29), a fountain (Ps. 36:9) a rock (Deut. 32:4), a hiding place (Ps. 119:114), a tower (Prov. 18:10), a shadow (Ps. 91:1), a shield (Ps. 84:11), a temple (Rev. 21:22) and so forth.
Descriptions of God taken from human experience: God is called bridegroom (Isa. 61:10), husband (Isa. 54:5), father (Deut. 32:6), judge and king (Isa. 33:22), man of war (Ex. 15:3), builder and maker (Heb. 11:10), shepherd (Ps. 23:1), physician (Ex. 15:26), and so forth.
Furthermore, God is spoken of in terms of human actions such as knowing (Gen. 18:21), remembering (Gen. 8:1; Ex. 2:24), seeing (Gen. 1:10), hearing (Ex. 2:24), smelling (Gen. 8:21), tasting (Ps. 11:5), sitting (Ps. 9:7), rising (Ps. 68:1), walking (Lev. 26:12), wiping away tears (Isa. 25:8), and so forth.
All of creation reveals something about God to us…
All that Scripture says about God uses anthropomorphic language…
God made the universe so that it would show forth the excellence of his character…
It muse be remembered that though all that Scripture tells us about God is true, it is not exhaustive. Scripture does not tell us everything about God’s character. Thus, we will never know God’s full or complete “name” in the sense that we will never understand God’s character exhaustively. We will never know all there is to know about God. For this reason theologians have sometimes said, “God has many names, yet God has no name.” God has many names in that we know many true descriptions of his character from Scripture, but God has no name in that we will never be able to describe or understand all of his character.
3. Balanced Definitions of God’s Incommunicable Attributes.
Attributes will be defined with a two-part sentence. The first defines the attribute under discussion, and the second part guards against misunderstanding the attribute by stating a balancing or opposite aspect that relates to that attribute.
B. The Incommunicable Attributes of God
1. Independence.
God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy.
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).
“Who has given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine “ (Job 41:11).
“Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.” John 17:5
God exists by virtue of his very nature, and that he was never created and never came into being. He always was.
“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’” Exodus 3:14
The balancing consideration with respect to this doctrine is the fact that we and the rest of creation can glorify God and bring him joy.
God speaks of his sons and daughters from the ends of the earth as “every one who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isa. 43:7).
It is also true that we are able to bring real joy and delight to God.
…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. (Isa. 62:3-5)
The LORD “will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival” (Zeph. 3:17-18).
God does not need us for anything, yet it is the amazing fact of our existence that he chooses to delight in us and to allow us to bring joy to his heart. This is the basis for personal significance in the lives of all God’s people: to be significant to God is to be significant in the most ultimate sense. No greater personal significance can be imagined.
2. Unchangeableness.
God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.
Evidence in Scripture:
But you are the same, and your years have no end. (Ps. 102:25-27)
For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6).
“with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).
The contrast between being and becoming marks the difference between the Creator and the creature. Every creature is continually becoming. It is changeable, constantly striving, seeks rest and satisfaction, and finds this rest in God, in him alone, for only he is pure being and no becoming.
---Herman Bavinck
Does God Sometimes Change His Mind?
Ex. 32:9-14
Isa. 38:1-6
Jonah 3:4, 10
These instances should all be understood as true expressions of God’s present attitudes or intention with respect to the situation as it exists at that moment.
The Question of God’s Impassibility:
God rejoices (Isa. 62:5). He is grieved (Ps. 78:40; Eph.4:30). His wrath burns hot against his enemies (Ex. 32:10). He pities his children (Ps. 103:13). He loves with everlasting love (Isa. 54:8; Ps. 103:17).
The Challenge From Process Theology:
Scripture is clear that our ultimate significance comes not from being able to change
being of God, but from the fact that God has created us for his glory and that he
counts us as significant. God alone gives the ultimate definition of what is significant
and what is not significant in the universe, and if he counts us significant, than we
are!
God Is Both Infinite and Personal:
Apart from the true religion found in the Bible, no system of religion has a God who is both infinite and personal.
The Importance of God’s Unchangeableness:
If God is not unchanging, then the whole basis of our faith begins to fall apart, and our understanding of the universe begins to unravel. This is because our faith and hope and knowledge all ultimately depend on a person who is infinitely worthy of trust – because he is absolutely and eternally unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises.
Eternity.
God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God see events in time and acts in time.
God Is Timeless in His Own Being:
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:2
“’I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8; cf. 4:8).
“Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8: 58).
God Sees All Time Equally Vividly:
“For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” Psalm 90:4
“with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).
God Sees Events in Time and Acts in Time:
“when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law” (Gal. 4:4-5).
“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed…” (Acts 17:30-31).
We Will Always Exist in Time:
There will still be a succession of moments one after another and things happening one after another in heaven. We will experience eternal life not in an exact duplication of God’s attribute of eternity, but rather in a duration of time that will never end.
Omnipresence.
God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.
“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it” (Deut. 10:14).
God Is Present Everywhere:
Whither shall I go from your Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right had shall hold me. (Ps. 139:7-10)
God Does Not Have Spatial Dimensions:
God cannot be contained by any space, no matter how large.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).
God is a being who exists without size or dimensions in space.
God Can Be Present to Punish, to Sustain, or to Bless:
God is present in different ways in different places.
Not one of them shall flee away, not one of them shall escape. Though they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search out and take them; and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. (Amos 9:1-4)
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).
(continually) “upholding the universe by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3).
“in your presence there is fullness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).
Unity.
God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times.
“God is light” (1 John 1:5)
“God is love” (1 John 4:8)
We must remember that God’s whole being includes all of his attributes: he is entirely loving, entirely merciful, entirely just, and so forth. Every attribute of God that we find in Scripture is true of all of God’s being, and we therefore can say that every attribute of God also qualifies every other attribute. It is God himself in his whole being who is supremely important, and it is God himself in his whole being whom we are to seek to know and to love.
“INCOMMUNICABLE”
ATTRIBUTES
How is God different from us?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A. Introduction to the Study of God’s Character
1. Classifying God’s Attributes.
- incommunicable attributes (that is, those attributes that God does not share or “communicate” to others)
ex. God’s eternity, unchangeableness or omnipresence
- communicable attributes (those God shares or “communicates” with us)
ex. Love, knowledge, mercy or justice
2. The Names of God in Scripture.
In a broad sense, God’s “name” is equal to all that the Bible and creation tell us about God.
Matthew 6:9 – we pray that people would speak about God in a way that is honoring to him and that accurately reflects his character
Matthew 5: 16 – our actions reflect the character of the Creator whom we serve
Exodus 20:7 – commands that we not dishonor God’s reputation either by words that speak of him in a foolish or misleading way, or by actions that do not reflect his true character
Individual names attributed to God all reflect some true aspect of his character.
Descriptions of God taken from creation: God is compared to a lion (Isa. 31:4), an eagle (Deut 32:11), a lamb (Isa. 53:7), a hen (Matt. 23:37), the sun (Ps. 84:11), the morning star (Rev. 22:16), a light (Ps. 27:1), a torch (Rev. 21:23), a fire (Heb. 12:29), a fountain (Ps. 36:9) a rock (Deut. 32:4), a hiding place (Ps. 119:114), a tower (Prov. 18:10), a shadow (Ps. 91:1), a shield (Ps. 84:11), a temple (Rev. 21:22) and so forth.
Descriptions of God taken from human experience: God is called bridegroom (Isa. 61:10), husband (Isa. 54:5), father (Deut. 32:6), judge and king (Isa. 33:22), man of war (Ex. 15:3), builder and maker (Heb. 11:10), shepherd (Ps. 23:1), physician (Ex. 15:26), and so forth.
Furthermore, God is spoken of in terms of human actions such as knowing (Gen. 18:21), remembering (Gen. 8:1; Ex. 2:24), seeing (Gen. 1:10), hearing (Ex. 2:24), smelling (Gen. 8:21), tasting (Ps. 11:5), sitting (Ps. 9:7), rising (Ps. 68:1), walking (Lev. 26:12), wiping away tears (Isa. 25:8), and so forth.
All of creation reveals something about God to us…
All that Scripture says about God uses anthropomorphic language…
God made the universe so that it would show forth the excellence of his character…
It muse be remembered that though all that Scripture tells us about God is true, it is not exhaustive. Scripture does not tell us everything about God’s character. Thus, we will never know God’s full or complete “name” in the sense that we will never understand God’s character exhaustively. We will never know all there is to know about God. For this reason theologians have sometimes said, “God has many names, yet God has no name.” God has many names in that we know many true descriptions of his character from Scripture, but God has no name in that we will never be able to describe or understand all of his character.
3. Balanced Definitions of God’s Incommunicable Attributes.
Attributes will be defined with a two-part sentence. The first defines the attribute under discussion, and the second part guards against misunderstanding the attribute by stating a balancing or opposite aspect that relates to that attribute.
B. The Incommunicable Attributes of God
1. Independence.
God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy.
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).
“Who has given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine “ (Job 41:11).
“Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory which I had with you before the world was made.” John 17:5
God exists by virtue of his very nature, and that he was never created and never came into being. He always was.
“God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’” Exodus 3:14
The balancing consideration with respect to this doctrine is the fact that we and the rest of creation can glorify God and bring him joy.
God speaks of his sons and daughters from the ends of the earth as “every one who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isa. 43:7).
It is also true that we are able to bring real joy and delight to God.
…as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. (Isa. 62:3-5)
The LORD “will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing as on a day of festival” (Zeph. 3:17-18).
God does not need us for anything, yet it is the amazing fact of our existence that he chooses to delight in us and to allow us to bring joy to his heart. This is the basis for personal significance in the lives of all God’s people: to be significant to God is to be significant in the most ultimate sense. No greater personal significance can be imagined.
2. Unchangeableness.
God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.
Evidence in Scripture:
But you are the same, and your years have no end. (Ps. 102:25-27)
For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6).
“with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).
The contrast between being and becoming marks the difference between the Creator and the creature. Every creature is continually becoming. It is changeable, constantly striving, seeks rest and satisfaction, and finds this rest in God, in him alone, for only he is pure being and no becoming.
---Herman Bavinck
Does God Sometimes Change His Mind?
Ex. 32:9-14
Isa. 38:1-6
Jonah 3:4, 10
These instances should all be understood as true expressions of God’s present attitudes or intention with respect to the situation as it exists at that moment.
The Question of God’s Impassibility:
God rejoices (Isa. 62:5). He is grieved (Ps. 78:40; Eph.4:30). His wrath burns hot against his enemies (Ex. 32:10). He pities his children (Ps. 103:13). He loves with everlasting love (Isa. 54:8; Ps. 103:17).
The Challenge From Process Theology:
Scripture is clear that our ultimate significance comes not from being able to change
being of God, but from the fact that God has created us for his glory and that he
counts us as significant. God alone gives the ultimate definition of what is significant
and what is not significant in the universe, and if he counts us significant, than we
are!
God Is Both Infinite and Personal:
Apart from the true religion found in the Bible, no system of religion has a God who is both infinite and personal.
The Importance of God’s Unchangeableness:
If God is not unchanging, then the whole basis of our faith begins to fall apart, and our understanding of the universe begins to unravel. This is because our faith and hope and knowledge all ultimately depend on a person who is infinitely worthy of trust – because he is absolutely and eternally unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises.
Eternity.
God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God see events in time and acts in time.
God Is Timeless in His Own Being:
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:2
“’I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8; cf. 4:8).
“Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8: 58).
God Sees All Time Equally Vividly:
“For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.” Psalm 90:4
“with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8).
God Sees Events in Time and Acts in Time:
“when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law” (Gal. 4:4-5).
“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed…” (Acts 17:30-31).
We Will Always Exist in Time:
There will still be a succession of moments one after another and things happening one after another in heaven. We will experience eternal life not in an exact duplication of God’s attribute of eternity, but rather in a duration of time that will never end.
Omnipresence.
God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.
“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it” (Deut. 10:14).
God Is Present Everywhere:
Whither shall I go from your Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right had shall hold me. (Ps. 139:7-10)
God Does Not Have Spatial Dimensions:
God cannot be contained by any space, no matter how large.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house which I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).
God is a being who exists without size or dimensions in space.
God Can Be Present to Punish, to Sustain, or to Bless:
God is present in different ways in different places.
Not one of them shall flee away, not one of them shall escape. Though they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search out and take them; and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good. (Amos 9:1-4)
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).
(continually) “upholding the universe by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3).
“in your presence there is fullness of joy, in your right hand are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).
Unity.
God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times.
“God is light” (1 John 1:5)
“God is love” (1 John 4:8)
We must remember that God’s whole being includes all of his attributes: he is entirely loving, entirely merciful, entirely just, and so forth. Every attribute of God that we find in Scripture is true of all of God’s being, and we therefore can say that every attribute of God also qualifies every other attribute. It is God himself in his whole being who is supremely important, and it is God himself in his whole being whom we are to seek to know and to love.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD & THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
How do we know that God exists?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A. Humanity’s Inner Sense of God
All persons everywhere have a deep, inner sense that God exists, that they are his creatures, and that he is their Creator.
- even Gentile unbelievers “knew God” (Romans 1:21)
- “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25)
- “what can be known about God is plain to them”
- “because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:19)
- it is “the fool” who says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalms 14:1)
- the wicked person first “curses and renounces the Lord” then in pride repeatedly thinks “there is no God” (Psalms 10: 3-4)
B. Believing the Evidence in Scripture and Nature
If we are convinced that the Bible is true, then we know from the Bible not only that God exists but also very much about his nature and his acts.
- God’s eternal nature and deity have been “clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20)
- The “rains and fruitful seasons” as well as the “food and gladness” that all people experience and benefit from are also said by Barnabas and Paul to be witnesses to God (Acts 14:17)
- “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge” (Psalms 19:1-2).
In one sense everything that exists gives evidence of God’s existence. Everything in Scripture and everything in nature proves clearly that God exists and that he is the powerful and wise Creator that Scripture describes him to be. Therefore when we believe that God exists, we are basing our belief not on some blind hope apart from any evidence, but on an overwhelming amount of reliable evidence from God’s words and God’s works.
C. Traditional “Proofs” for the Existence of God
Constructed by Christian (and some non-Christian) philosophers in attempts to analyze evidence, especially from nature, in extremely careful and logically precise ways, in order to persuade people that it is not rational to reject the idea of God’s existence.
4 major types of proofs:
The cosmological argument
The teleogical argument
The ontological argument
The moral argument
The value of these proofs lies chiefly in overcoming some of the intellectual objections of unbelievers.
D. Only God Can Overcome Our Sin and Enable Us to Be Persuaded of His Existence
“the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
“since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
“in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5).
In this sinful world, human wisdom is inadequate for coming to know God. We are dependent upon God to remove the blindness and irrationality caused by sin and to enable us to evaluate the evidence rightly, believe what Scripture says, and come to saving faith in Christ.
THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD
Can we really know God? How much of God can we know?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A. The Necessity for God to Reveal Himself to Us
“because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:19)
“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27)
“in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:21)
The Bible alone tells us how to understand the testimony about God from nature. Therefore we depend on God’s active communication to us in Scripture for our true knowledge of God.
B. We Can Never Fully Understand God
It is not true to say that God is unable to be understood, but it is true to say that he cannot be understood fully or exhaustively.
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalms 145:3)
“Great is our LORD, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalms 147:5)
“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psalms 139:6)
“no one comprehends the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12)
It is not only true that we can never fully understand God; it is also true that we can never fully understand any single thing about God.
C. Yet We Can Know God Truly
Even though we cannot know God exhaustively, we can know true things about God.
God is:
- love (1 John 4:8)
- light (1 John 1:5)
- spirit (John 4:24)
- just (Romans 3:26)
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the might man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
How do we know that God exists?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A. Humanity’s Inner Sense of God
All persons everywhere have a deep, inner sense that God exists, that they are his creatures, and that he is their Creator.
- even Gentile unbelievers “knew God” (Romans 1:21)
- “exchanged the truth about God for a lie” (Romans 1:25)
- “what can be known about God is plain to them”
- “because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:19)
- it is “the fool” who says in his heart, “There is no God” (Psalms 14:1)
- the wicked person first “curses and renounces the Lord” then in pride repeatedly thinks “there is no God” (Psalms 10: 3-4)
B. Believing the Evidence in Scripture and Nature
If we are convinced that the Bible is true, then we know from the Bible not only that God exists but also very much about his nature and his acts.
- God’s eternal nature and deity have been “clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20)
- The “rains and fruitful seasons” as well as the “food and gladness” that all people experience and benefit from are also said by Barnabas and Paul to be witnesses to God (Acts 14:17)
- “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge” (Psalms 19:1-2).
In one sense everything that exists gives evidence of God’s existence. Everything in Scripture and everything in nature proves clearly that God exists and that he is the powerful and wise Creator that Scripture describes him to be. Therefore when we believe that God exists, we are basing our belief not on some blind hope apart from any evidence, but on an overwhelming amount of reliable evidence from God’s words and God’s works.
C. Traditional “Proofs” for the Existence of God
Constructed by Christian (and some non-Christian) philosophers in attempts to analyze evidence, especially from nature, in extremely careful and logically precise ways, in order to persuade people that it is not rational to reject the idea of God’s existence.
4 major types of proofs:
The cosmological argument
The teleogical argument
The ontological argument
The moral argument
The value of these proofs lies chiefly in overcoming some of the intellectual objections of unbelievers.
D. Only God Can Overcome Our Sin and Enable Us to Be Persuaded of His Existence
“the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4)
“since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe” (1 Corinthians 1:21).
“in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:5).
In this sinful world, human wisdom is inadequate for coming to know God. We are dependent upon God to remove the blindness and irrationality caused by sin and to enable us to evaluate the evidence rightly, believe what Scripture says, and come to saving faith in Christ.
THE KNOWABILITY OF GOD
Can we really know God? How much of God can we know?
EXPLANATION AND SCRIPTURAL BASIS
A. The Necessity for God to Reveal Himself to Us
“because God has shown it to them” (Romans 1:19)
“No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matthew 11:27)
“in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:21)
The Bible alone tells us how to understand the testimony about God from nature. Therefore we depend on God’s active communication to us in Scripture for our true knowledge of God.
B. We Can Never Fully Understand God
It is not true to say that God is unable to be understood, but it is true to say that he cannot be understood fully or exhaustively.
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable” (Psalms 145:3)
“Great is our LORD, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure” (Psalms 147:5)
“Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psalms 139:6)
“no one comprehends the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:12)
It is not only true that we can never fully understand God; it is also true that we can never fully understand any single thing about God.
C. Yet We Can Know God Truly
Even though we cannot know God exhaustively, we can know true things about God.
God is:
- love (1 John 4:8)
- light (1 John 1:5)
- spirit (John 4:24)
- just (Romans 3:26)
Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the might man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth; for in these things I delight, says the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Next Meeting...
Hey kids! Hope that this post finds all well. Just wanted to let you all know that we will be meeting next @ the Bennett house on Tuesday October 6th @ 6pm. We will take up our studies w/Part 2: The Doctrine of God.
Notes for this next meeting will be posted soon...(before the 1st) for your perusal & to make available for printing off this site to bring w/you!
See you soon...
Notes for this next meeting will be posted soon...(before the 1st) for your perusal & to make available for printing off this site to bring w/you!
See you soon...
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