01.07 - Chapter 7 - The Nature of God
Chapter 7 THE NATURE OF GOD The Oneness of God The oneness of God is indicated in part by the Law of Parsimony (i.e., economy) which does not assign more causes than necessary to explain something. It can be argued that the universe is one system indicating one Designer. There is no reason to look for a multitude of other causes for the universe. Reinforcing this law of logic, the Scriptures declare that there is but one God.
♦ Deuteronomy 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
♦ 1 Kings 8:60 "That all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else." The Personality of God God displays all of the facets involved in personality including self-consciousness and self-determination.
God Creates ♦ Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
God Eliminates
♦ Genesis 18:20; Genesis 19:24-25 “And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous...Then the Lord raid upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.”
God Furnishes what is Needed to Sustain Life
♦ Psalms 104:27-30 “These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them that gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hiddest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.”
God Exalts
♦ Psalms 75:6-7 “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”
God Loves
♦ John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
God Is Concerned
♦ 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.”
God Answers Prayer
♦ Psalms 94:9-10 “He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see? He that chastieth the heathen, shall not He correct? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?”
God Hates ♦ Proverbs 6:16 "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination to him"
God Repents
♦ Genesis 6:5-6 "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart."
Objections to the Personality Of God Materialism, Agnosticism and Rationalism deny that God is a personal Being by arguing that mankind cannot know reality.
• Materialism declares that Ultimate Reality cannot be known because all knowledge of the external world comes through the senses. Individuals perceive only phenomena, and not things themselves. Therefore, no one has any certain knowledge of anything beyond the senses.
• Agnosticism undermines Materialism by teaching that even the senses cannot be trusted--and so knowledge grows more limited!
• Rationalism pretends that the mind cannot reach assurance of anything outside of itself. But if this is true, then Rationalism itself has a problem. The question is raised: “Is it possible that the mind [i.e. reason] is only clothing itself, or its ‘non-self’, with conceptions of its own fabrications?“ This disturbing inquiry is called, “The Relativity of Knowledge.” In other words, “Can the mind trust the mind? Can reason really trust reason?” Who is to say? The Substance of God
Substance, which has being, power, and permanence, is that in which certain attributes (or characteristics) reside. There are two substances: matter and spirit. The universe is matter while God, angels, and souls of men are spirit. The substance of God is pure spirit unmixed with matter. “The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of Himself, infinite in being and perfection, whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but Himself; a most pure spirit...” (The Baptist Confession of Faith Of 1689, Chapter 2, Section 1). The Attributes of God An attribute may be defined as a distinguishing mark of the Divine essence. Simply put, an attribute is anything that is true about God. The Bible says, "God is love". Love is a Divine attribute. The Bible says that, "God is merciful." Mercy is an attribute of God.
! Special Note: Sometimes the attributes of God are spoken of in terms associated with physical parts of the body. It must be remembered that when the Scriptures speak of God’s eye, ear, and hand they speak in a metaphorical sense called anthropomorphism (lit. form of man). There is a language of accommodation that is used by which God is described in order for man to understand Him better. Dr. John Gerstner like to point out with humor that God is not a cosmic chicken simply because Psalms 91:4 says that, "He shall cover thee, with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler."
• Omnipresence. God fills all space and pervades all things with His invisible and immaterial substance while being distinct from all things. "Can any hide himself in secret places, that I shall not see him? Saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? Saith the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:24) "No place can be imagined that is deprived of the presence of God; and therefore, when the Scripture anywhere speaks of the presence of God, it joins heaven and earth together: He so fills them, that there is no place without Him." (Stephen Charnock) Because of this attribute God is able to make special manifestations of Himself at certain times to particular persons (Psalms 139:7-12; Matthew 18:20).
• Infinitude. God has no limitations. He is bounded only by His own nature and will. Solomon recognized this and asked at the dedication of the Temple, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee: how much less this house that I have builded?" (1 Kings 8:27).
• Eternality. "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God" (Psalms 90:2). God has existed from all eternity and will continue to exist to all eternity having no beginning and no end. The past and the future is equally lucid to Him. There is no succession of thoughts in God. There are no succession of feelings or purposes. As God is eternal, He is self-existent, and absolutely independent of others as to His purpose, action or Being. "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them." (Deuteronomy 33:27)
• Immutability. God is immutable which means that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. "This is a steadfast anchor for the believer in this uncertaint ime when events are changing with such rapidity that it makes one’s head swim! Oh, the JOY to know that He who is in control of all events is the unchangeable One! Oh, to have faith in that fact that all is working according to His eternal purpose, for His glory, and for the good of the elect!" (Ferrell Griswold)
• Sovereignty. As the Lord of creation, God has the absolute right to govern and dispose of the universe as He pleases despite the attempts of man to frustrate His will. It was the Divine complaint to an apostate Israel once that, "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself" (Psalms 50:21) A.W. Pink is correct when he asserts that, "The absolute and universal supremacy of God is plainly and positively affirmed in many Scriptures."
♦ 1 Chronicles 29:11-12 "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory and the majesty: for all in the heaven and all in the earth is Thine; Thine is the Kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as Head above all...And Thou reignest over all".
♦ Daniel 4:35 "He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest thou?"
♦ Matthew 20:15 "It is not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?"
♦ Romans 9:21 "Hath not the potter power over the clay?"
! Special Note. Because God is sovereign He can answer prayer. Every man who prays that God would heal the sick or convert a sinner from the error of his ways, acknowledges God’s sovereignty. Because God is sovereign man is encouraged to pray and to seek the Lord. "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near." (Isaiah 55:6) The hope and fate of humanity does not rest with a powerless God but with the mighty One who can save. "Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear." (Isaiah 59:1) The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is a most helpful and encouraging doctrine. "If we had our choice, which would we choose--to be governed by blind fate, or capricious chance, or irrevocable Natural Law, or short sighted and perverted self, or a God infinitely wise, holy, loving and powerful?" (David Clark) ! Special Note. Because God is sovereign He can do all things as L. R. Shelton notes.
1. God is able to perform that which He promised Romans 4:21 2. God is able to deliver us Daniel 3:17 3. God is able to give us grace to bear temptation 1 Corinthians 10:13-42 4. God is able to make all grace abound toward us 2 Corinthians 9:8 5. God is able to do abundantly above all that we ask Ephesians 3:20 6. God is able to subdue all things Php 3:21 7. God is able to keep that which I have committed to Him 2 Timothy 1:12 8. God is able to succor them that are tempted Hebrews 2:18 9. God is able to save to the uttermost Hebrews 7:25 10. God is able to keep us from falling Jude 1:24
• Transcendence. The attributes of God are further manifested in the fact that He is transcendent to the world that means that God is above and beyond His creation "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee." (Psalms 139:7-12).
Theologians speak of God being supra mundane or extra-mundane which means that He is above (supra) and apart (extra) from the world. When belief in the transcendence of God is lost, man’s sense of sin and accountability vanish.
• Immanence. God’s immanence speaks of God being in the world. The Bible declares that God does act within and through His creation. While He is above and separate from the physical universe, He still pervades all things with His mystical invisible substance. This is more than omnipresent law and power; it is immanent personality. The immanence of God is revealed in the way He works. Man works upon matter from without. God can and does work on matter from within. Man builds a house or ship by taking a tree and refashioning it. God builds the tree by instilling the life principle from within to make it grow. "The transcendence of God must not be stressed to the point that He become a mechanical God. Nor should His immanence be stress so that He is lost in the laws of nature or is made the author of evil. There is still the reality of second causes to account for sin." (David Clark) A Trinity of Persons
There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory. The doctrine of the Trinity is a matter of truth which could not be know except by Divine revelation. “In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences, the Father, the Word (or Son), and the Holy Spirit, of one substance, power, and eternity, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided: the Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son; all infinite, without beginning, therefore but one God, who is not to be divided in nature and being, but distinguished by several peculiar, relative properties and personal relations; which doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and comfortable dependence on Him.” (The Baptist Confession Of Faith Of 1689, Chapter 2, Section 3; study 1 John 5:7; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Exodus 3:14; John 14:11; 1 Corinthians 8:6; John 1:14, John 1:18; John 15:26; Galatians 4:6).
Affirmation of the Trinity
Rather than trying to "prove" the Trinity, it is better to simply affirm what the Scriptures teach concerning God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
• Personal pronouns are applied to each of the persons of the Trinity. The Father addresses the Son, the Son addresses the Father. The Father is God (John 6:44-46; Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2). The Son is God (Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1; John 20:28; 1 Timothy 3:16; Titus 2:13; Hebrews 1:8). The Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18; Hebrews 10:15-16 cp Jeremiah 31:34; Hebrews 9:14; Matthew 24:36; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16).
• The Son is God (John 1:1-2). According to 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, there is only one God (cp. Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:6-8; Isaiah 45:5-6). If Jesus is not the one true God then He is false and evil and all the apostles are evil as well for they wrote of Jesus that He was very God of very God (Php 2:6; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; Colossians 2:9; Colossians 1:16-17
• Professing believers are to be baptized as disciples in the name of all three persons "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 28:19). Notice that the word "name" is singular, not plural. There is only one name that is ascribed to all members of the Godhead. The Son and the Holy Spirit are as much God as the Father or else the Father is united to beings or creatures in a way that is unworthy of Him.
• One person of the Trinity sends another. The Father sends the Son (John 16:5), and the Father and Son sends the Spirit (John 15:26). The distinction of three persons is plain.
• God is proclaimed as the one God (Galatians 3:20 cp. Deuteronomy 6:4; Deuteronomy 4:35; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:6-8; Isaiah 45:5-6), Jesus claims divinity (John 8:58) and divinity is claimed for Him (John 1:1-2; Php 2:6; Romans 9:5; John 20:28; 1 John 5:20; Titus 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:12; Colossians 2:9; Colossians 1:16-17; Ephesians 4:10 cp. Psalms 139:1-24; Hebrews 1:8-10;), and the Spirit is recognized as deity (cf. John 14:1-31, John 15:1-27, John 16:1-33).
! Special Note. Sometimes Jesus refers to the Father as God. This is taken to suggest that Jesus is in some manner less than God. For example, in John 20:17, the Lord said, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God, and your God." And yet, there is nothing unusual in Jesus referring to the Father as God because that is exactly what God is: Father.
During the days of His humiliation, in His incarnation, it should be expected that the Son would refer to God as the Father. But then, the Son is also called the Father. "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6) • The blessings of Paul include the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 13:14).
• Peter refers to the election of the Father, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:2).
• Jesus accepted the worship of others (Matthew 16:16; John 20:28).
• Jesus was recognized as God by the Apostles (John 1:1 cp. John 1:14; John 20:28; 1 John 2:20).
• Jesus is the God of the Old Testament. John 1:18 declares that no one has ever seen God (cp. John 6:46) but at least seventy-eight people did see God according to Exodus 24:9-11; Genesis 18:1-33; Isaiah 6:1-3; Numbers 12:6-8; Judges 13:20-23; and Job 42:5. How can this be unless Jesus, the God of the Old Testament is the Son of God? That this is the case is proven in part by Paul in Romans 10:9-13. Paul quotes Joel 2:32 but applies the statement to Christ. Peter does the same thing in Acts 2:21. Quoting Joel, Peter applies the ancient prophecy to Christ (see also Isaiah 43:11).
Denial of the Trinity The doctrine of the Trinity refutes all false doctrines that have been advocated.
• Arianism. This heresy which arose c. AD 320 maintains that God the Father alone is eternal, that Christ was created out of nothing as the first and greatest of all creatures, and that He in turn made the universe.
• Semi-Arianism. In the fourth century, many in the Church decided to affirm that the Son is in essence like (homoiousios), but not identical with (homoousios), the Father. This position was taken to mediate between the Arians, who held that the Son is different from the Father (heteroousios) and the Nicene Council, which proclaimed their identify. This middle position was wrong and offered no lasting solution to the theological debate. Either Jesus is very God of very God or He is not. The Bible says that He is (John 1:1).
• Sabellianism. Deriving its name from the teaching of the third century Sabellius, this view of the Trinity reduced the three persons of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to three characters, modes, or relations of the Godhead. It was thought that God was one in essence but revealed Himself in three roles much like a man could be considered a husband, a father, and an employee. The biblical revelation is that Jesus is wholly God and no mere mode or function of the Divine essence. Jesus is the eternal, pre-existent Son (John 17:3, John 17:3, John 17:24). In AD 263 at a church council at Rome, under the leadership of Pope Dionysius (260-267), Sabellius and his teachings were denounced and declared to be heretical.
• Unitarianism. Over the centuries Unitarianism has changed to become more and more extreme. Modern thinking has become increasing humanistic to deny any type of supernaturalism associated with Christ while denying the distinctiveness of the Holy Spirit.
Defenders of the Faith
While there has always been opposition to the Doctrine of the Trinity, the Church Fathers defended the faith from the first. The list of defenders is impressive: Justine Martyr (d. c. 165 AD); Irenaeus (d. c. 200 AD); Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215 AD); Tertullian (d. c. 230 AD); Hyppolytus (d. c. 235 AD); and Origen (d. C. 250 AD). Each person raised his voice to vigorously reaffirm the Doctrine of the Trinity.
• Justine Martyr. "For He exclaimed before His crucifixion: ’The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the Scribes and Pharisees, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ And David predicted that He would be born from the womb before sun and moon, according to the Father’s will, and made Him known, being Christ, as God strong and to be worshipped." (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume 1, Dialogue With Trypho, LXXV)
• Irenaeus. "Therefore the Father is Lord, and the Son is Lord, and the Father is God and the Son is God; for He who is born of God is God. And thus God is shown to be one according to the essence of His being and power; but at the same time, as the administrator of the economy of our redemption, He is both Father and Son: since the Father of all is invisible and inaccessible to creatures, it is through the Son that those who are to approach God must have access to the Father." (Joseph P. Smith, Ancient Christian Writers, Proof of the Apostolic Preaching)
• Clement of Alexandria. "And the Son is neither simply one thing as one thing, nor many things as parts, but one thing as all things; whence also He is all things. For He is the circle of all powers rolled and united into one unity. Wherefore the Word is called the Alpha and the Omega, of whom alone the end becomes beginning, and ends again at the original beginning without any break. Now God, who is without beginning, is the perfect beginning of the universe, and the producer of the beginning. As then, He is being, He is the first principle of the department of action, as He is good, of moral; as He is mind, on the other hand, He is the first principle of reasoning and judgment. Whence also He alone is Teacher, who is the only Son of the Most High Father, the Instructor of men." (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. II. The Stromata, or Miscellanies, Book IV, chapter XXV)
• Tertullian. "For God alone is without sin; and the only man without sin is Christ, since Christ is also God." (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. III, Tertullian, Parts I-III, Chap. XXI)
• Hyppolytus. "For Christ is the God above all, and He has arranged to wash away sin from human beings, rendering regenerate the old man." (The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V. The Refutation of all Heresies, Chaps. XXVIII-XXIX)
• Origen. "We worship one God, the Father, and the Son, therefore, as we have explained; and our argument against the worship of other gods still continues valid. And we do not ’reverence beyond measure one who has but lately appeared,’ as though He did not exist before; for we believe Himself when He says, ’Before Abraham was, I am.’" (Origen de Principiis) The Tri-unity The story is told of St. Augustine that, on one occasion, when his mind was engaged in the contemplation of the doctrine of the Trinity, he was walking by the sea, and saw a child filling a shell with the water, which it then carried and poured into a cavity in the sand. “What are you doing, my boy, with that water?” asked Augustine. “I am,” replied the child, “going to put all the sea into this hole.” Augustine smiled and walked on when suddenly a voice seemed to say to him, “And thou too art doing the like, in thinking to comprehend the depths of God in the narrow limits of thy finite mind.” While mysterious and incomprehensible (Job 5:7-9; Job 11:7-9; Psalms 36:5-6; Romans 11:33), the Bible does teach the unity of the Godhead by ascribing all of the divine attributes equally to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Though the Trinity cannot be fully understood or fathomed, it can be affirmed by faith. The Relation between Father, Son and Holy Spirit
God the Father stands in a paternal relation to the God the Son (John 8:58) who is called the Only begotten (John 1:15, John 1:27, John 1:39; John 3:16; Php 2:6-8). The word "beget" or "begotten" as applied to the Godhead, does not express a mode of becoming, but a mode of existing. The Nicean and Athanasian Creeds speak of Christ as "very God of very God.” Therefore, the “begetting” of the Son must never be understood as meaning that the substance (i.e., that in which the Divine attributes reside) of the Son was derived from the substance of the Father instead of being co-existent and co-eternal with the Father (note John 1:1, John 1:14, 1 John 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20). Rather, the "begetting" must be understood to mean that the Son existed in this mode from eternity past. The Spirit proceeds from Father and Son. The Value of the Doctrine of the Trinity
"My heart demands the Trinity as much as my reason. I want to be sure that God cares for us, that God is our Father, that God has interfered, stooped, sacrificed Himself for us. I do not merely want to love Christ whose will and character, for ought I know, may be different from God’s. I want to love and honor the abysmal God Himself, and none other will satisfy me. No puzzling texts shall rob me of this rest of my heart that Christ is the exact counterpart of him in whom we live and move and have our being. I say, boldly, if the doctrine of the Trinity be not in the Bible, it ought to be, for the whole spiritual nature of man cries out for it." (Charles Kingsley) The Holy Spirit The term "Spirit" is not applied to the third person to differentiate His substance from that of the Father and Son for all are equal one to the other. Rather, the term "Spirit" is used to distinguish His person from that of the Father and the Son. Where the Holy Spirit is referred to in Scripture it is evident that He is regarded as God. He is united with the Father and with the Son in the Baptismal Benediction of Christ and in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20 cp. Matthew 3:16-17). Divine attributes are assigned to the Holy Spirit such as omnipresence (Psalms 139:7), omniscience (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), omnipotence (Genesis 1:2), and eternal existence (Hebrews 9:14). Divine worship is offered to Him. Divine works are attributed to Him such as inspiration, regeneration, and sanctification. Divine names are applied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4).
♦ He is called the Spirit of God 1 Corinthians 3:16 ♦ He is called the Spirit of Christ Romans 8:9 ♦ He is called the Spirit of Truth John 16:13 ♦ He is called the Eternal Spirit Hebrews 9:14 ♦ He is called the Spirit of Holiness Romans 1:4 ♦ He is called the Spirit of Wisdom Romans 8:2 ♦ He is called the Spirit of Grace Hebrews 10:29 The Spirit Is A Person
Personal pronouns are applied to the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:27). He speaks (Acts 8:29; Acts 10:19) and is spoken to (Acts 13:2). The Church has always prayed to and by the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26).
♦ The Holy Spirit reveals John 16:13 ♦ The Holy Spirit convicts John 3:18 ♦ The Holy Spirit forbids Acts 16:6-7 ♦ The Holy Spirit permits Acts 16:10 ♦ The Holy Spirit regenerates Titus 3:5 ♦ The Holy Spirit comforts John 14:26 ♦ The Holy Spirit seals Ephesians 1:13; 2 Corinthians 1:22 ♦ The Holy Spirit intercedes Ephesians 2:18 ♦ The Holy Spirit bestows gifts 1 Corinthians 12:7 ♦ The Holy Spirit loves Romans 15:30 The Christian is commanded not to grieve (Ephesians 4:30), quench (1 Thessalonians 5:19), or lie to (Acts 5:3) the Spirit. To grieve the Holy Spirit involves committing sin. To quench the Spirit is to persist in known sin. To lie to the Spirit is to misrepresent to others one’s spiritual intentions and conditions.