Based on my last post, we know there is a God. So, who is he? What is he like? How do we know Him? Those are tough questions to answer! And really, God is incomprehensible, which means we can never FULLY know God, because he is that amazing! But, there is good news....he has revealed himself to us in a way in which we can know him in part. And by in part, I mean, as sinful humans, we can know him as much as our finite minds can comprehend. To know who God is and what he is like, we have to look to the Bible to get answers. Some may say..."why the bible?". To that, I would say because it is His Word and how He has revealed himself to His creation. For more on why the Bible is His Word, come out to The Point every Wednesday (especially in March). We are going to begin an Apologetics study soon and answer some of these tough questions. Now, back to the point! God has clearly shown us who he is through the word. So, lets look at His word to learn a little about who God is...
1. There is only ONE God....Deuteronomy 6:4 - [4] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (ESV) We believe that there is only one God. Although He exists as three eternal persons, we do not believe in polytheism (many gods). As Christians we believe that there is one source of ultimate truth, one sustainer, one creator. There cannot be more than one god, because by definition God is the supreme, authority of creation. If there were more than one god, there would not be an ultimate authority. 2. God exists eternally in 3 persons...This is the kicker! Much debate and heresy has been raised over this issue. God is trinity. That doesn't mean that there are 3 gods! This means that from eternity past to eternity future, God has always existed in perfect submission and love in three distinct persons. He has always existed as Father, Son, and Spirit. Each of these three persons is equally God, however, its important to remember, there is only ONE God! That can get confusing, but when you read the bible and understand God's plan for creation, you see the trinity! You see the distinctness of each member of the trinity, yet you also see the unity within the trinity, and the submission that each plays. God is love...We all know that. Love is an action. God has always been love. He didn't become love when he created the world! That would mean that he is dependent upon something else in order to be Love. And we know, God doesn't depend on anything! If that were the case, He wouldn't be God. Back to the point. If God has always been love, and love is an action, then God must have been loving someone from eternity past! Who was he loving? In this question, we see the trinity and the union among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father was loving the Son and the Spirit. The Son was loving the Father and the Son. And, the Spirit was loving the Son and the Father! God is Love. The word "trinity" is nowhere in the bible. This is why there has been so much false teaching about this topic. However, we see the trinity at work throughout the bible. In fact, you don't have to read far before you see the trinity at work! Genesis 1:1-3 -[1] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3] And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (ESV) In those 3 verses, we see the entire Trinity at Work. We see the Father in vs. 1, The Spirit in vs. 2, and the Son in vs. 3. You may ask how we see the Son in vs. 3? Well, the Son is the Word (John 1:1). We see the trinity throughout the bible. Here are a few more passages in which you can see the trinity...Matthew 28:19, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 2 Corinthians 13:14. In the next post, we will continue to look at who God is and some specific attributes of God. For more info on the trinity visit these web pages: carm.org/cut-trinity, www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-doctrine-of-the-trinity, s3.amazonaws.com/Challies_VisualTheology/Trinity_LowRes.jpg,
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorJoe Burrows Archives
May 2017
Categories |