THEOLOGY PROPER
The Study of
the Doctrine of the Divine Being
(Five Sessions)
|
Session Six: JESUS, ILLUMINATOR OF GOD
|
PURPOSE OF SESSION
|
To come to know that the knowledge of God can be understood only as the
Revelation of God, Jesus Christ, is experienced.
|
EMPHASIS OF SESSION
|
The study of theology exists because the revelation of God presupposes the
existence of God and that God has chosen to reveal Himself to mankind.
|
Introduction
|
Two of the first questions ever raised by
man. (Job 11:7)
|
|
"Can thou by
searching find out God?
|
|
Can thou find out the
Almighty unto perfection?"
|
|
|
When faced with the
struggles of living life, the ways of God are mysteriously hid
from the intellect of man.
|
|
Attempting to understand
the perplexities of life from man’s point of view can produce
nothing but futility.
|
|
As Job’s friend
further stated, ". . . the limits of the Almighty . . . are
higher than the heaven--what can you do? They are deeper
than the depth of the grave--what can you know?"
|
|
In the New Testament the same concern is
expressed.
|
|
"Where is the wise?
Where is the scribe? Were is the disputer of this world? Hath not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God . . ." (1 Cor.
1:20,21).
|
|
The essence and
existence of God cannot be known by the wisdom of this world.
|
|
One of the great truths of the Scriptures is
that the Bible not only states that man cannot know God from his own
searching but that the existence of God itself cannot be proven by logic
and reason.
|
|
The Scriptures begin
with a simple statement of faith, "In the beginning God . .
." (Gen. 1:1).
|
|
The Word of God
presupposes the existence of God.
|
|
This is not to say that the believer cannot
know that he knows that God exists.
|
|
John in his first letter
stated, "And hereby we do know that we know him . . ."
(1 John 2:3).
|
|
The believer can come to
know that he knows God exists.
|
|
It is a knowledge that
begins with the experiencing of Jesus.
|
|
It is a knowledge that
is grounded in faith.
|
|
For man to experience any knowledge of God,
God has to be the giver of that knowledge.
|
|
Concerning the hidden
wisdom of God, Paul wrote, ". . . God hath revealed [it] unto
us by his Spirit . . ." (1 Cor. 2:10).
|
|
|
With the word revealed
literally meaning, "a drawing back of the veil," man can
come to know the ways of God only as God allows Himself to be
disclosed.
|
|
Man comes to know God only as he encounters
God through the revelation of God.
|
|
God reveals Himself in a
self-opening out of His being.
|
|
As one of the early
followers of Jesus stated, "And we know that the Son of God
is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him
that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son
Jesus Christ . . ." (1 John 5:20).
|
|
If it had not been for
the coming of Jesus Christ, the ultimate revelation of God,
creation could have never come to "know him that is true . .
. the true God"--God chose to reveal Himself.
|
|
It is this revelation of God that provides the
material for any study of the ways of God.
|
|
Theology is the
technical term for the study of God.
|
|
Theology is not
philosophy and philosophy can never be theology.
|
|
|
They cannot be mixed
because the starting point of each is different.
|
|
Philosophy is man-centered.
|
|
It is man studying
himself and his environment.
|
|
After observing himself
and his environment, man then draws out of himself his
conclusions.
|
|
In philosophy, man moves
from self-study to interpretation.
|
|
Theology does not base interpretation on man’s
experiences but on the revelation of God he has received.
|
|
True, man encounters the
revelation of God as he experiences life but the source of truth
is not the experience of man but the revelation of God.
|
|
The revelation of God
presupposes the existence of God and that God has chosen to reveal
Himself to mankind.
|
|
Theology is the study of
that revelation.
|
|
God exists and that He has chosen to reveal
Himself are the two basic presuppositions of knowing God.
|
|
Believers can acquire
the ways of life, the knowledge of God revealed, because the Son
of God has come down to dwell among them in this material world.
|
|
One of the early
followers of Jesus recorded His words, "And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3).
|
|
Another early
believer in Jesus wrote, ". . . unto all riches of the full
assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery
of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; In whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:2,3).
|
|
God can be known, but
that which man can know will come only by experiencing Jesus.
|
|
The reason why the search for ultimate wisdom
and knowledge is always futile is that people mistakenly believe that it
is their study that will produce the understanding.
|
|
The study of any body of
wisdom and knowledge, any collections of writings, will eventually
produce disappointment.
|
|
|
Oh, the excitement of
being purpose driven as one sets out to study will always produce
a momentary satisfaction.
|
|
However, it will
ultimately produce frustration because wisdom and knowledge cannot
reproduce themselves.
|
|
Wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ.
|
|
The illuminator of God,
the sum of all wisdom and knowledge, must be experienced.
|
|
Listen
to CD 6
(Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in John 17:1-26)
|
Order
Basic
Bible Beliefs Part One Now
|
|
Return
to Basic Bible Beliefs Part One
|
Session Seven: JESUS, THE REVELATION OF GOD
|
PURPOSE OF
SESSION
|
To
come to know that Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God that man can
experience.
|
PURPOSE OF
SESSION
|
Man
can experience God because God reveals, inspires, and illuminates
Himself.
|
Introduction
|
All
the tenets of knowing God hang on the belief that there is a God and
that He has chosen to reveal Himself to man.
|
|
An early follower of
Jesus wrote, "But without faith it is impossible to please
him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that
he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb.
11:6).
|
|
The Revelation of God,
which is all that man will ever know of God, did not set out to
prove God’s existence but simply stated, "he that hath
seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9).
|
|
Jesus also said,
". . . if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father
also" (John 8:19).
|
|
The Revelation of God
is the only way God can be known.
|
|
Perhaps the leading spokesman concerning the
knowing of God, the knowing of Jesus, in the first century, Paul, wrote,
"And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of
speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God" (1
Cor. 2:1).
|
|
He further added,
pertaining to the testimony of God, "For I determined not
to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him
crucified" (2:2).
|
|
Paul knew that to know
God man must know Jesus who did not lift Himself up but was
crucified.
|
|
Paul also desired, hoped, and prayed that
for his readers to know him would be to know Jesus.
|
|
Paul came to them not
lifting himself up by excellency of speech or of wisdom but
"in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling"
(2:3).
|
|
To put it in the
context of the Revelation of God, what Paul wanted his readers
to know of Paul was "him crucified."
|
|
|
His speech and his
preaching "was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom .
. ." (2:4,5).
|
|
He wanted their faith
to stand in the power of God and not in the wisdom of man.
|
|
The pathway to God can never be the wisdom
of man simply because the starting point is erroneous.
|
|
It begins with the
mind of man observing his environment and his experiences.
|
|
Then, based upon that
observation, he comes up with a conclusion that he perceives is
understanding or wisdom.
|
|
Man's wisdom will be limited by the accuracy
of his observation and the capability of his reasoning.
|
|
The wisdom of the
world is as varied as the number of minds who observe and
reason.
|
|
The wisdom of the
world is not only as diversified as the numbers of minds that
think but it also fluctuates as each mind changes in its own
thinking.
|
|
The Revelation of God, the wisdom and the
knowledge of God, as Paul quoted, ". . . as it is written, Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the
things which God hath prepared for them that love him" (2:9), is
centered in God Himself.
|
|
The knowing of God
does not start with the seeing, the hearing, nor the
contemplation of man.
|
|
It begins, exists, and
ends with the self-disclosure of God.
|
|
Getting the knowledge of God out of the mind
and heart of God into the mind and heart of man is only by the power and
the work of God Himself.
|
|
First, the mind and
the heart of God must be revealed.
|
|
|
As Paul stated,
"But God hath revealed [the hidden wisdom of Himself] unto
us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God" (2:10).
|
|
Paul explained,
"For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit
of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no
man, but the Spirit of God" (2:11).
|
|
|
For example, for someone to know another man
it is an invasion of the other man’s innermost being.
|
|
Only when a person
chooses to reveal himself can he be known by someone else.
|
|
Regardless of how much
one might try to get to know someone else, it is useless unless
that individual wants to be known. |
|
|
One creature cannot
know another creature unless there is an opening out of the
inner self. |
|
|
How much greater then
is it for the creature to try to know not another creature but
the Creator. |
|
|
|
God
must reveal Himself.
|
|
The veil that stands
between man and God must be pulled back.
|
|
|
To reveal something is
to remove the obstruction which hitherto has had it concealed.
|
|
|
The Revelation of God
is an act of God imparting to man truth incapable of being
discovered by man’s reasoning.
|
|
|
The Revelation of God
comes to man because He chose to give Himself.
|
|
Getting
the mind and the heart of God into the mind and the heart of man
continues past the simple truth of an act of revelation.
|
|
The Revelation of God
must be shared with man in the truth of the revelation.
|
|
|
As Paul again
stated, "Which things also we speak, not in the words which
man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth;
comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (2:13).
|
|
|
It is one thing to be
the Revelation of God and an entirely different thing to speak
that Revelation in such a way that the spoken word means exactly
that which has been revealed.
|
|
It
is the inspired speech of the Holy Spirit that enables the words spoken
to be consistent with the revelation received.
|
|
It is as Jesus stated,
"Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself:
but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works"
(John 14:10).
|
|
The Son of God in
submitting to the Father became the Revelation of God.
|
|
The Son of God in
submitting to the Holy Spirit spoke only those words that were
consistent with the revelation. |
|
Getting
the mind and the heart of God into the mind and the heart of man
continues past the act of revelation and the act of inspiration.
|
|
The revelation of God
spoken by the inspiration of God must be understood by the mind
and the heart of man.
|
|
|
Paul stated, "But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned" (2:14).
|
|
It
is one thing to be the Revelation of God and to speak as the Inspiration
of God; yet, it is another thing for those who hear the Inspired
Revelation to understand Him exactly as He has spoken.
|
|
The mind and the heart
of man must also be illuminated by the Holy Spirit to understand
the Inspired Revelation that he is experiencing.
|
|
The
tenets of Christian faith hang on the belief that there is a God and
that He has chosen to reveal Himself.
|
|
This self-opening-out
of God is passed on to man by revelation, inspiration, and
illumination.
|
|
|
God is the Revelation.
|
|
God is the
Inspiration.
|
|
God is the
Illumination.
|
|
|
Man can experience God
because God reveals, inspires, and illuminates Himself.
|
|
Listen
to CD 7
(Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in John 5:1-25)
|
|
|
Order
Basic
Bible Beliefs Part One Now
|
| Return
to Basic Bible Beliefs Part One |
Session Eight: JESUS, THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
|
PURPOSE OF
SESSION
|
To come to know that the
inherent characteristics of God that can be known will be understood
only by experiencing Jesus.
|
EMPHASIS OF
SESSION
|
Although certain attributes
of God can be known by man, it is impossible to know the absolute being
of the incomprehensible God.
|
Introduction
|
The Revelation of God, the
Christ, describes God only as the true and living God who desires to
enter into a relationship with man.
|
|
Jesus did not attempt
to define the essence of His Father.
|
|
|
Even if he had, man
could not understand that essence because man has nothing with
which to compare Him.
|
|
God is not one of
several species of God.
|
|
The finite mind of man can
never understand the infinite mind of God.
|
|
He cannot be defined.
|
|
There is none like
Him.
|
|
He is incomprehensible
to the mind of man.
|
|
At best, the Revelation of
God has given to man some of God’s attributes.
|
|
By experiencing Jesus
Christ, man can learn of God that which he experiences.
|
|
The words of Jesus,
that which He has spoken, have revealed certain inherent
characteristics of God.
|
|
|
Jesus has spoken of
God’s self-existence--God is totally the independent One.
|
|
It has also been
revealed that God is devoid of all change--God is totally the
immutable One.
|
|
God has also come to
be known as being free from all limitations--He is totally the
infinite One.
|
|
The Revelation of God
has also acknowledged that God is one in number and essence--He
is totally the only and indivisible One. |
|
These revealed attributes do
not allow man to comprehend the exhaustiveness of the absolute being of
God.
|
|
They do enable man to
come to know some of the ways of God.
|
|
He can know, by
experiencing the Revelation, the Inspiration, and the
Illumination of God, those characteristics of God that He has
chosen to disclose.
|
|
By God’s interaction
with man, He has revealed two of his attributes that perhaps come as
close as is humanly possible for God to define Himself.
|
|
In the Old
Testament, God responded to a question raised by Moses.
|
|
|
When Moses was
told to go to Egypt to lead the Children of Israel out of bondage, one
of the objections of Moses was ". . . what shall I say to
them" when they ask me your name.
|
|
|
" . . . God said unto Moses,
I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exod. 3:13,14).
|
|
|
The essence of
God is found in the being of God Himself.
|
|
|
He is the self-existent,
self-contained, absolute independent One.
|
|
God is the "I AM"
but it does not reveal for man the absolute essence of His being.
|
|
|
In the New Testament,
Jesus told the woman at the well that the time had come that the true
worshiper would now worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth.
|
|
|
Then, he
added, "God is a Spirit . . ." (John 4:24).
|
|
|
God is spiritual
as opposed to being fleshly.
|
|
He is of a realm that is not
earthly.
|
|
|
Jesus
has described perhaps the chief attribute of God.
|
|
|
It, however, is a
characteristic of God and does not explain the exhaustiveness of His
being.
|
|
The Knowledge of God has
revealed that the God of the Judeao-Christian belief is not as the gods
of the Greeks, the Romans, or any other ethnic group of men.
|
|
Most men
fall into the trap of creating their god in the likeness of their own
being.
|
|
To them, their god is merely a super human being.
|
|
They look and
act like men but possess fanciful powers beyond the capability of normal
humans.
|
|
In order for the
incomprehensible One to make Himself known to man He has to condescend
to the level of man’s understanding.
|
|
The Son of man came down to the
material world and took on the form and likeness of man.
|
|
The Revelation
of God has to speak to man in human language.
|
|
The understanding of man
can only come to comprehend the unknown by being moved from something he
knows.
|
|
The Master Teacher used parables as the primary means of His
teaching.
|
|
|
He took something that was in the physical world, readily
understood by those who were present, to reveal truths from the
spiritual realm.
|
|
He used the earthly to move the listeners to the
heavenly.
|
|
|
It is the only way man can come to understand that which he
does not know.
|
|
Unfortunately, man keeps
getting trapped by the "shadow of things to come . . ." (Col.
2:17).
|
|
Without Jesus breaking through to be his life, man will always
make the physical the essence of all truth.
|
|
In doing so, he misses the
true meaning of what the Revelation of God is trying to disclose.
|
|
He
will make his god to be in the likeness of his own self. Jesus came in
the form and likeness of man.
|
|
The form of man is not the likeness of
God.
|
|
For example, the Psalmist
prayed to the incomprehensible One in anthropomorphic terms--the
interpretation of what is not human in terms of human characteristics.
|
|
|
Hear the right, O
LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not
out of feigned lips. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;
let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Thou has proved
mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou has tried me,
and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not
transgress. Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I
have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Hold up my goings in
thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. I have called upon thee, for
thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my
speech. Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by
thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that
rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under
the shadow of thy wings. (Psalm 17:1-8)
|
|
In the prayer of the
Psalmist, he addressed God with "let thine eyes," "word
of thy lips," "incline thine ears," "thy right
hand," and "the shadow of thy wings."
|
|
The
incomprehensible God does not have eyes, lips, ears, hands, or feathers
of the comprehendible world.
|
|
The prophet Isaiah proclaimed, "To
whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare unto
him?" (40:18).
|
|
God Himself answers that question, ". . . for I
am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like
me" (Isa. 46:9).
|
|
Listen
to CD 8
(Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in John 5:24-27)
|
Order
Basic
Bible Beliefs Part One Now
|
| Return
to Basic Bible Beliefs Part One |
Session Nine: JESUS, ONE WITH GOD
|
PURPOSE
OF SESSION
|
To
come to know that the incomprehensible, invisible God makes Himself
known in a comprehensible, visible manifestation of Himself--Jesus
Christ, Emmanuel.
|
EMPHASIS
OF SESSION
|
As
God the Father always expresses exactly what is consistent with His
nature, Jesus of Nazareth as that expression is always in complete
oneness with Him.
|
Introduction
|
The
Essence of God.
|
|
God has a concept; the
idea must be expressed; the utterance must be consummated.
|
|
|
God is
conception; God is expression; God is consummation.
|
|
|
|
|
This is how God has
revealed Himself to man.
|
|
|
|
He has come down to man in His thinking, in His
words, and in His implementation.
|
|
Man has come to know God as the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
|
|
|
|
|
He is
all-knowing in that He knows Himself and all things possible.
|
|
He is
literally the knowing of all things.
|
|
|
|
|
He is present
everywhere.
|
|
He is not only present everywhere but everywhere God is, all
of Him is there.
|
|
At the same time all of Him is there, He is everywhere.
|
|
|
|
|
He is absolute and highest source of power.
|
|
He is the
perfect form of power.
|
|
He is power that can never be resisted.
|
|
|
God is
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
|
|
The revealed glory of God.
|
|
Since God is everywhere,
there is no one place that is the only place God dwells.
|
|
Although He
cannot be localized only to one place, He revealed Himself often in what
has been called His glory in one place.
|
|
|
For example, when Moses
expressed a desire to see the glory of God, God said to him,
|
|
|
|
Thou canst not see my
face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said,
Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will
put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand
while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see
my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. (Ex. 33:20-23)
|
|
|
The presence of God is
expressed by other manifestations of the glory of God.
|
|
|
It appeared to
the Children of Israel when God led them from Egypt by a pillar of cloud
and fire (Ex. 13, 14).
|
|
The cloud vindicated Moses against the murmuring
Children of Israel just before God gave them quail and manna (Ex.
24:16).
|
|
The glory of God covered Mount Sinai as Moses communed with God
concerning the ten commandments (Ex. 24:16).
|
|
When the tabernacle was
built and, in turn, the temple was built, God appeared in the cloud upon
the mercy-seat which was on the ark in the Holy of Holies (Lev. 16).
|
|
This cloud of glory
appeared so many times in the history of Israel they coined a word to
signify the visible manifestation of the invisible God.
|
|
The word, which
is of Hebrew origin, comes from the idea of "dwelling."
|
|
|
To the
Children of Israel, the place where God dwells in His glory is the
"shekinah"--the presence of God.
|
|
|
God manifested His
shekinah glory:
|
|
|
by the thick cloud with
thunder and lightening in the Mount Sinai experience in the wilderness
journey:
|
|
by the cloud
hovering over and filling the tabernacle so Moses could not enter, by
the cloud that filled the temple built by Solomon so the priest could
not minister;
|
|
by the smoke that filled the house in Isaiah’s vision,
and by the whirlwind, the great cloud, and the fire in Ezekiel’s
vision.
|
|
|
To the Children of Israel, the dwelling place of God was the
shekinah glory of God.
|
|
There is something far
more significant concerning the shekinah glory of God than the seeing of
the cloud, the hearing of the thunder, the smelling of the smoke, the
feeling of the fire, and the tasting of the sacrifices.
|
|
One of the early
followers of Jesus gave a clue to this greater truth when he said,
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld
his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father) . . ."
(John 1:14).
|
|
|
Without question, this is one of the greatest statements
ever made by a follower of Jesus.
|
|
|
Did John and the other
disciples see something that the multitude did not see?
|
|
|
For in the eyes
of the majority, there was no glory, only humiliation.
|
|
|
He was a poor
woman’s son.
|
|
He remained in poverty all the days of his life.
|
|
He died
the death of a common criminal.
|
|
There was nothing in His appearance,
nothing in His clothing, nothing in His associations, nothing in His
outer circumstances that would justify in the eyes of the people the
expression, "we beheld his glory."
|
|
What did John and the
other disciples see?
|
|
By the Revelation of God, experiencing the
Christ, in their lives:
|
|
|
They knew Jesus was not the terrifying thunder and lightening on Mount
Sinai, but the source of that thunder and lightening.
|
|
They knew He was
not the brightness of the pillar of fire, but the source of that fire.
|
|
They knew He was not the dazzling cloud that filled the tabernacle, but
the fountain of that cloud.
|
|
They knew He was not the type, not the
shadow, not the lesser manifestation, but the real essence of them
all--the shekinah glory of God. |
|
They came to know that
the incomprehensible, invisible God (the Conception) was making Himself
known (the Expression) in a comprehensible, visible manifestation of
Himself (the Consummation).
|
|
Jesus was the Word made flesh.
|
|
Being one
with God, He was Emmanuel--God dwelling among men.
|
|
Listen to CD 9
(Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in John 13:1-14:11)
|
|
Order
Basic
Bible Beliefs Part One Now
|
| Return
to Basic Bible Beliefs Part One |
Session Ten: JESUS, THE EXPRESSION OF GOD
|
PURPOSE OF SESSION
|
To come to know that the ultimate confession of God to man is what is now
known as the Incarnation and the Trinity.
|
EMPHASIS OF SESSION
|
Hidden within the meaning of the Incarnation and the Trinity is the secret
of loving life and seeing good days.
|
Introduction
|
The two great mysteries of the Revelation of
God are what has now become known as the Incarnation and the Trinity.
|
|
Hidden within these
great truths are the secrets of loving life and seeing good days
continually.
|
|
They are the ultimate
confession of God to man.
|
|
Jesus of Nazareth, with the Word of God
incarnate within him, serves as the ultimate expression of how man is to
experience his life.
|
|
With the Son of God
dwelling within the robe of human flesh, Jesus was of two natures
but only experienced His life in the singleness of perfect
harmony.
|
|
The expression of His
life was never as if He had two fathers--two controlling
influences of life.
|
|
Although He had two
natures in the fullest sense of both divinity and humanity, He was
always one person.
|
|
His personality was
always perfect oneness.
|
|
Just as the Incarnation of Christ serves as
the example of how man is to live, the Trinity of the Godhead is
the prototype of where man is to experience his life.
|
|
The oneness of God,
always expressed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the
embodiment of the life principle that God is.
|
|
God is Life and that
life has come down to man in the oneness experienced among three
distinct persons--God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy
Spirit.
|
|
The Revelation of God that came to Moses,
which later became the cry of Judaism to the world, was, "Hear, O
Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4).
|
|
This oneness of God is
revealed from two vantage points.
|
|
|
First, the unity of God
stresses the fact that there is but one divine being.
|
|
|
God is numerically one.
|
|
As one of the early
followers of Jesus stated, "But to us there is but one God,
the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him . . ." (1
Cor. 8:6).
|
|
|
The oneness of God is
also revealed as being free from division into parts.
|
|
|
God is perfect
oneness--free from compositeness.
|
|
He is one simple
whole--God does not consist of parts.
|
|
The three distinct
persons of the Godhead are not separate, not three parts of
God--They are distinct individuals but not separate in their
existence.
|
|
The three persons
subsist in perfect oneness free from any compositeness.
|
|
With man being created in the image and
likeness of God, he also will experience his life in the mystery of
tri-unity.
|
|
The original formation
of man reveals the secret of experiencing the invisible, spiritual
God in a visible, fleshly world.
|
|
|
After God created the
individual man, He does not say to that first person that he was
created in the image and likeness of God.
|
|
He told that first
individual that "it is not good that he should be alone"
(Gen. 2:18).
|
|
With alone meaning
"separation," that is "in part," the first man
is incomplete in his experience of the image and likeness of God.
|
|
It will take two
more parts to give the threeness of the Trinity.
|
|
God put the first person to sleep and took out
of him the essence of the second person.
|
|
Without the first person
there could be no second person just as without a Father there
could be no Son.
|
|
|
Likewise, without the
Son there could be no Father.
|
|
The Father and the Son
are distinct individuals but they have their identity in each
other.
|
|
|
The first person and the
second person of creation are distinct individuals but each of
them have their identity in the light of the other person.
|
|
|
Adam is a male in the
light of not being a female.
|
|
Eve is a female in the
light of not being a male.
|
|
Neither, in their
individuality, could reflect the image and likeness of God.
|
|
It required both of them
to be what it means to be a human being.
|
|
|
After the second person
was created, God then said to the two that they had been created
in His image and in His likeness (Gen. 1:26,27).
|
|
With the creation of the second person, the
second part of their trinity had come into existence.
|
|
Both the first person
and the second person had flesh and blood bodies that had been
animated by the breath of God.
|
|
Although the quickening
force of life for both of them was the Spirit of God, they were in
fact still flesh and blood individuals.
|
|
With flesh and blood
being unable to enter into the heavenly realm, they would have
remained in their incompleteness unless God finished His creative
work.
|
|
After God brought into existence the second
person, He then presented the second person back to the first
person.
|
|
The first person being
taken down to give space for another person would eventually
experience completeness by the very one for which he
"died."
|
|
The third part of the
image and likeness of God was now put in place by the relationship
formed when the two were brought together by God.
|
|
It is only in this relationship, the spirit
that proceeds out of both of them, that the presence of God is ultimately
experienced.
|
|
Although both the man
and the woman are flesh and blood creatures, they can now enter
into the realm of God.
|
|
|
They now have the means
by which their physical world can encounter the spiritual world of
God.
|
|
|
It is only in
relationships between people that heavenly, spiritual, and eternal
things are experienced.
|
|
|
The oneness of the
trinity of the union between people always reflects the oneness of
the Trinity of God.
|
|
Listen to CD 10
(Approximately Forty-Five Minutes of Exposition
on the Words of Jesus Found in John 3:1-21)
|
Order
Basic
Bible Beliefs Part One Now
|
| Return
to Basic Bible Beliefs Part One |
|
|
|

WEBINAR BIBLE STUDIES
BIBLE STUDY COURSES
PUBLISHED BOOKS
LEARN MORE
CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES
|