Who is the God of the Bible? What is He like? This is a huge question, and we only begin to scratch the surface in these theology notes on the Doctrine of God.
Leadership Training and Development
Systematic Theology
The Doctrine of God
IMPORTANT OBSERVATIONS:
A. Great men of God are preoccupied with knowing God (Knowing God evolves into monumental service for God. Examples: Moses (Ex.33), David (Pss), Daniel (Da.6), Paul (Phil.3), Josiah (2 Chron.34), Jeremiah (Jer.9:23-24). Think about great servants you know. Is there passion to know God? What about those who have no appetite to know God. Are they making an impact for God’s Kingdom? 2 Pet. 3:18.
B. The development of one’s spiritual life is dependent upon his knowledge of God. Trust, worship, faith. Jb.19:25; Ps.56:9; Hos.4:6; 2 Pet.2:1-2
C. Knowing God is an endless process… God is ultimately incomprehensible. Isa.40; Job.38-42. This truth engenders reverence, humility, worship. There is no place for arrogance. God is infinite; we are finite. Even if we could understand everything that the Bible said, still God is beyond that. Incomprehensibility means we don’t know God’s qualities completely and exhaustively. God is more than the sum total of His perfections we know. While His self-revelation is accurate, it is not exhaustive.
THE EXCELLENCIES (PERFECTIONS, ATTRIBUTES) OF GOD: The excellencies of God are not synonymous with the acts of God (creating), nor the roles He embraces (Creator), nor a definition of Him, but a description of those qualities which constitute what He Isa. Attribtutes = qualities inherent to someone. Sometimes they are called perfections (all His qualities are perfect). Sometimes they are called excellencies (1 Pet. 2:9).
A. Preliminary Observations
1. God’s excellencies are permanent qualities. They cannot be added to, taken away, gained or lost. They are intrinsic qualities. They are essential and inherent dimensions of His eternal nature.
2. God’s excellencies are objective characteristics of His nature, not our conceptions projected upon Him. They are who He is whether anyone believes them or not. It is possible for us to emphasize one attribute of God to the exclusion of another. Our perceptions of God can be distorted.
3. God’s excellencies are not component parts of God. Each describes His total being. Love is not a part of God’s nature; His total being is love. He is not 10% mercy, 10% just, 10% holy. This is what we mean by the Unity of God or the doctrine of Divine Simplicity.
4. God always acts in complete harmony with all of His excellencies. While He may display one quality or another at a given time, no quality is independent of or preeminent over any of the others. (Example: heresy of universalism — God loves, so He will save all people)
5. God’s excellencies describe equally the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They are intrinsic to each member of the Godhead.
B. A Catalog Of Excellencies:
1. Eternity: God exists endlessly, both backward and forward from our viewpoint of time (Ps.90:2; Gen.21:33; Dt.33:27; Isa.57:15; 1 Tim.1:17). There is no division of past, present, future with God. This is inherent in His name “I AM.” He possesses the whole of His existence in one individual present. This is sometimes called His Self-Existence. God never came into existence nor was He ever caused to come into existence. This is a comforting doctrine. God will never cease to exist — therefore His sustaining control of all things is assured.
2. Freedom: He is independent of His creatures and His creation (Isa. 40:13-14; Rom.11:33-36). Application of Doctrine: God is not obligated to us in any way unless He chooses to initiate an obligation. He owes us nothing. We cannot put Him in our debt.
3. Immutability: God is unchangeable and unchanging (Mal.3:6; Ps.102:26‑27; James 1:17; Ps.33:11). This does not mean that God is inactive or immobile, but He is never developing or growing. Application of Doctrine: God’s promises never fail; His purposes never change. He is our immovable Rock in this shaky world! What comfort!
4. Infinity: God has no bounds or limits (1Kings 8:27; Acts 17:24-28; Isa. 66:1; Jer.23:23). God is not limited by His universe nor time and space. This is different from omnipresence in that it focuses on His transcendence (not bound by time and space, separate from creation, superior to it), while omnipresence focuses on the immanence (everywhere present and active in creation).
5. Omnipotence: God is all-powerful and able to do anything consistent with His own nature (Gen.17:1; Job 42:2; 2 Cor.6:18; Rev.1:8; 19:6) Does God’s omnipotence have any limitations? Yes: 1) natural limitations — when it is contrary to His nature (Tit.1:2; James 1:13; 2 Tim. 2:13); 2) Self-imposed limitations. Example: He has not chosen to save all people.
6. Omnipresence: God is everywhere present with His whole being at all times (Ps.139:7-11; Jer.23:24). His whole being is everywhere and everyplace, not diffused throughout the universe. Even in the lake of fire, men will not be separated from Him who is omnipresent (Rev.14:10), although he will be separated from the face presence (prosopon) of God (2 Thess.1:9). No presence of fellowship. Separated from God’s mercy, but not from God’s wrath.
7. Omniscience: God knows everything, things actual and possible, effortlessly and equally well (Ps.139:1-6; Mt.6:8; Jn.21:17; 1Jn.3:20). Application of Doctrine: Comfort! Nothing that happens in a believer’s life would surprise God. Also, since God knows all things, heed what He says!
8. Holiness: Negatively, that God is separate from all that is unclean and evil; positively, that God is wholly pure (Ex.15:11; Lev.11:44; Ps.99:3; Isa.6:1-3; 1 Pet.1:15). Application of Doctrine: Sinners must be separated from God unless somehow they become holy. Lifestyle of believers: shouldn’t ask is something permissable, but is it holy.
9. Love: Affection; seeking the highest good for the object loved (1Jn.4:8, 10-11, 19; Rom.5:5,8; 8:35,39; Jude 1:1; Rom.9:13; Heb.12:6; Rev.1:5). We show love to children both by cuddling and correcting — both are expressions of love.
10. Goodness: God’s benevolent concern for creatures (Ps.145:9,15; Mk.10:18; Acts 14:17; Mt.5:45).
11. Mercy: An aspect of God’s goodness which causes Him to show pity and compassion (Eph.2:4; James 5:11; 1Pet.1:3; Lu. 1:50; Rom.9:15‑16,18,23; Titus 3:5). Sometimes this is referred to as compassion.
12. Patience: Self-restraint in the face of provocation (Rom.2:4; Rom.9:22; 2 Pet.3:9,15; 1 Pet.3:20; 1Tim.1:16).
13. Graciousness: Unmerited favor of God shown to man, based on the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the eternal and absolute free favor of God manifested in the bestowal of spiritual and eternal blessings to the guilty and unworthy. It is what all need, what none deserve, and what God alone can give! (Ex.34:6-7; Neh.9:31; 2 Cor.8:9; Eph.2:5-8; Rom.3:24)
14. Justice: God’s treatment of the creature according to what is righteous. God’s justice is inflexible. (Nahum 1:3; Rom.12:19; Dt.32:4; Ps.99:4; Acts 17:31; Rom.2:5-6; 3:26).
15. Sovereignty: God is the Supreme Person and the Supreme Power in all the universe. (Ps.103:19; 115:3; Dan.4:25,34-35; Eph.1:11; Isa.46:9-10; 1 Tim.6:15). God does whatever He wants, whenever He wants, however He wants, to whomever He wants.
16. Veracity: God is absolute truth (Num.23:19; Jn.17:3; Rom.3:4; Titus 1:2; Heb.6:18). Carries with it the idea of faithfulness and consistency. Application of Doctrine: what comfort! His promises will never be broken!
THE TRIUNITY OF GOD: “Trinity” not biblical word, yet very early use in church. Latin “trinitas” which means threeness used by Tertullian 220. Helpful, because sometimes one word helps to capture systematized biblical idea.
A. Definition: “There is only one and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three co-eternal and co-equal persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence” (necessary existence) B.B. Warfield. One life substance existing consciously as 3 persons.
1. Nicene Creed (325): “We believe in one God – And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, light of light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father – And in the Holy Ghost.”
2. The Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed (381): clauses concerning Father & Son practically same as Nicene Creed, but concerning the Holy Ghost is changed to: “And in the Holy Ghost, who is the Lord and giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father, who, with the Father and Son, is worshipped and glorified, who spake by the prophets.”
3. The Athanasian Creed (origin uncertain): “And the Catholic Faith is this: that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the Substance; for there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord, so we are forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, There are three Gods, or three Lords.”
4. The Augsburg Confession (1530) – the oldest Protestant creed and the accepted standard of Lutheranism: “There is one Divine essence which is called and is God, eternal, without body, indivisible, of infinite power, wisdom, goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible. And yet there are three Persons of the same essence and power, who also are co-eternal, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”
5. The Thirty-Nine Articles (1571) – the creed of the Church of England and of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States: “There is but one living and true God. And in the unity of this Godhead there are three Persons, of one substance, power and eternity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.”
6. The Westminster Confession (1647), the creed of the Presbyterian Church, agreeing with the Canons of the Synod of Dort: “There is but one living and true God. In the unity of the Godhead there are three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is one, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.”
B. Distortions:
1. Arianism (Modern Day Jehovah Witnesses): Claimed that the Son was created by the Father and that the first creation of the Son was the Holy Spirit.
2. “Oneness” Doctrine (United Pentecostal Church): Claim that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are 3 successive modes in which God reveals Himself. Believe only 1 person in Godhead. Terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit denote this 1 Person in different capacities. Same God who in OT times was known as Father, afterward became incarnate as the Son, and reveals Himself in Church as the Holy Spirit. Similar to a man known in family as father, in church as elder, and in community as doctor. But destroys distinction in Persons. Also, if the phases are successive God has ceased to be the Father when He became the Son, and He ceased to be the Son when He became the Holy Spirit.
3. Tritheism: Belief in 3 different gods.
C. Scriptural Proof of the Doctrine of the Trinity:
1. There is Only 1 God: Deut.6:4; Isa.44:6; James 2:19; 1 Cor.8:4; Eph.4:5-6. Christians don’t believe in 3 Gods!
2. This 1 God Exists Eternally As Three Persons: Christians don’t believe in 1 Person.
A. The Father is God: 1 Cor. 8:6; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 4:6; Mt. 11:25; Jn. 6:27;
1 Pet. 1:2; Phil.2:11; Jn.20:17
B. The Son is God: Rom.9:5; Col.2:9; Jn.20:28; Jn.10:30; Titus 2:13; Jn.5:18; Mk.2:5; Jn.1:1
1) He Possesses the attributes of God:
Holiness – Jn.6:69; 2Cor.5:21; Heb.7:26
Eternity – Jn.1:1; 8:58; 17:5
Life – Jn.1:4; 14:6; 11:25
Immutability – Heb.13:8; 1:11,12
Omnipotence – Mt.28:18; Rev.1:8
Omniscience – Jn.16:30; Mt.9:4; Jn.6:64; Col.2:3
Omnipresence – Mt.28:20; Eph.1:23
Creation – Jn.1:3; Col.1:16-17
Raising the Dead – Jn.5:27-29
Judging All Men – Mt.25:31-46
Receives Prayer & Worship – Jn.14:14; Lu.24:51-52; Acts 7:59
C. The Holy Spirit Is God: Acts 5:3-4; Jn.15:26; Mt.28:19; 2 Cor.13:14.
1) He is not a power, influence, or force. Has attributes of personality:
Speaks: Acts 8:29; Acts 10:19-20; 13:2
Teaches: Lu.12:12; Jn.16:13-14
Intercedes: Rom.8:26
Can Be Grieved: Eph.4:30
Can Be Blasphemed: Mt.12:31-32
Can Be Resisted: Acts 7:51
Strives: Gen.6:3
Equips: Num.11:26,29
Directs: Acts 16:6-10
Gifts: 1 Cor.12:11
Regenerates: Jn.3:5; Titus 3:5
Inspires: 2 Pet.1:20-21
Convicts: Jn.16:8
Guides: Jn.16:13
Discloses: Jn.16:13
2) He Possesses the Attributes of God:
Omnipresence – Ps.139:7-10
Omniscience – Isa.40:13-14; 1 Cor.2:10-11
Omnipotence – 1 Cor.12:11; Rom.15:19
Eternity – Heb.9:14
Creation – Gen.1:2; Job 26:13; 33:4
Raising the Dead – Rom.8:11
3. The Terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit Designate Distinct Persons: Mt.17:5; Jn.17:1; 16:28; 16:13. Father loves Son; Son loves Father; Spirit glorifies Son; Son prays to Father; Father sends Son; Father & Son send Holy Spirit. Therefore, they can’t be the same persons.
D. Ramifications Of A Triune Doctrine Of God:
1. All Persons of the Godhead are involved in the work of Redemption
(1Pet.1:1‑2; Eph.1:3-14)
2. Priority without inferiority as seen in the Trinity is the basis for proper relationships between husbands and wives: Eph.5:22-33; 1 Cor.11:3
3. Prayer is practiced in a trinitarian way: Though we may address any person of the Trinity, ordinarily according to biblical precedent we address the Father in the name of Christ as the Spirit directs us (Jn.14:14; Eph.2:18; 3:14; 6:18). All members of trinity are worthy of worship!
Try to explain it, and you’ll lose your mind; but try to deny it and you’ll lose your soul.
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