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The Christmas Controversy

john — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:58:44 +0000

THE CHRISTMAS CONTROVERSY

What are we as Christians to make of Santa Claus? Well, clearly the Santa we picture today has nothing in common with Nicholas, Bishop of Myra except for his name. It is evident, examining the history of Santa Claus, that his origins are based in pre-Christian, pagan myths. So those who claim that Santa is a Christian figure or that he is based in Christian beliefs or world view do not know what they are talking about. There is nothing Christian about Santa.

On the other hand, is Santa a pagan bent on replacing the biblical message of Christmas—a satanic figure from the pit of hell? Again, there is no doubt that the Santa figure has its origins in pagan traditions and beliefs.

And I’m sure that Satan in his attacks on Christianity uses Santa just as he uses all of the other pagan trappings that have come down to us from the fertile soil that is our western culture. But to shun the Santa figure or to cross ourselves and hurry past every time we see him in a department store, or never let our children be exposed to the Santa myth seems to me to be extreme in the other direction.

THE CHRISTMAS CONTROVERSY

As believer-priests we have the unique privilege of representing ourselves before God. We do this in a moment of self-examination to determine whether we have unconfessed sin in our lives. Then if there are sins, we confess those sins directly to God the Father, who is faithful and just to forgive those sins according to 1 John 1:9.

This restores the Filling of the Holy Spirit, which is absolutely essential if we are to get any spiritual value from our Bible studies. So let’s take a moment to do that before we begin—let us pray:

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the Pearl of Great Price—the infinitely valuable gift of Your Son. As we are in this time when we traditionally celebrate the First Advent of our Lord we pray that we might be more keenly aware of Who He is and of His purpose in giving Himself for us that we might have a life forever in Your presence.

We ask now Father, that You will give us concentration and focus as we study Your Word, that we may grow spiritually into mature believers, able to show the face of Your dear Son to a lost and dying world, for it is in His name we ask it—amen.

Twelve Frequently Asked Questions about Christmas

I ran across this FAQ list while doing research for this post and I found it so interesting that I just have to share it with you. This list was put together by Dr. Richard P. Bucher of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church of Lexington Kentucky:

1. What does the word "Noel" mean?

Most authorities believe that it derives from the French nouvelles (news), and so refers to the good news (the Gospel) of Christ’s birth, which the angels announced on the first Christmas when Christ was born. So the “First Noel” was the first proclamation of the good news.

2. What does the word "Yule" mean?

The word appears to come from Anglo-Saxon word geol (feast). Since in pre-Christian times, one of the great feasts was the celebration of the winter solstice, the whole month of December was called geola (feast month). It was probably later applied to the feast of Christmas.

3. What is the origin of the word "Xmas"?

Unbeknownst to many, the word "Xmas" was not invented by carnal merchants trying to commercialize Christmas. The word is actually an old English one. The "X" in Christmas is the Greek letter chi [Χ], which is the first letter in the Greek word for "Christ", Christos [Χριστός]. Thus, "Xmas" is simply a shortened version of "Christmas."

4. What is the origin of the word "carol"?

The word "carol" comes from the Greek word choraulein [χόραυλειν] which referred to a dance accompanied by a flute. The Romans brought this custom to England. In medieval England, the carol meant a ring dance accompanied by singing. Gradually the meaning of the word changed, so that it referred only to the song itself.

5. Where does the custom of giving gifts at Christmas come from?

Many trace the custom of gift-giving to the old Roman custom called strenae. On New Year’s Day the people of ancient Rome exchanged gifts, as tokens of "good luck" for a happy year … This custom probably influenced the Christmas celebration … Another influence may have been the custom of exchanging gifts at the Feast of St. Nicholas (on Dec. 6) … It is also possible that the gifts the Magi gave to Christ (Matthew 2) inspired the custom of Christmas gift giving.

6. Why are mistletoe, holly, and evergreen branches used at Christmas?

We know that these things were all used by the ancient Romans during their New Year’s celebrations. These plants were used during winter time because of the fact that they remained green or in the case of mistletoe and holly, even bloomed in the winter. This reminded the Romans, as it did other ancient peoples, of returning life in the dead of winter … Mistletoe was considered so sacred [by the ancient Druids] that if even enemies happened to meet beneath a mistletoe in the forest, they had to lay down arms and exchange a friendly greeting and keep a truce to the following day. From this … arose the custom of hanging mistletoe over a doorway as a token of peace and good will to all comers [today this custom has developed mildly romantic overtones].

7. When did Christmas cards get started?

It is claimed that the first Christmas card was engraved by a sixteen year old London artist, William Maw Egley in 1842. It wasn’t until 1860 that the cards were being sold on the market; they were quite common by 1868.

8. When did Christmas pageants get started?

Christmas pageants, plays that depict the birth of Christ, probably go back to the mystery plays of the late Middle Ages. The first children’s pageant was held in 1851 in the German Catholic church of the Holy Trinity in Boston. Children dressed as shepherds carried presents to the manger at the front of the church to present them to the Christ Child, singing carols. They then left the church after the pageant marching out in solemn procession.

9. When did the custom of placing lights in the windows of homes begin?

This is an Irish custom that found its way to this country. In the latter half of the nineteenth century carolers promoted this in the Beacon Hill section of Boston. In time the custom spread to other cities and parts of the country. It still appears to be most popular in New England, however.

10. When did the poinsettia plant first become used at Christmas?

This native plant of Central America was named for Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, United States ambassador to Mexico, because he brought the flower back to his home in South Carolina in 1829, where it flourished. According to many, the flaming star reminds them of the star of Bethlehem. The people of Mexico call the poinsettia the "flower of the Holy Night."

11. What is wassail?

It is a drink that originated with the English. The old Saxon word "wassail" was originally a drinker’s greeting: "Was Haile" "Your health." The wassail drink was made from ale, roasted apples, eggs, sugar, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. It was served hot from a bowl. Later the word "wassailing" was used by the English for any kind of Christmas celebration where drinking occurred.

12. What are the twelve days of Christmas all about?

This refers to the period of twelve days between Christmas (Dec. 25) and the Epiphany (Jan. 6), which forms the Christmas season proper, according to the Church liturgical calendar. The first record we have of this twelve days being recognized as a Christian festival is found in the Church father, Ephraeum Syrus, at the end of the fourth century. It was later officially declared to be a sacred season by the Council of Tours in 567.

So there you have it: twelve things you always wanted to know about Christmas but were afraid to ask.

The Attack on Christmas: A Good Thing?

There is no doubt that the secular holiday we call Christmas has been co-opted by crass commercialism. It used to be you didn’t start seeing Christmas displays in stores until after Thanksgiving. Now we’re seeing them right after Halloween. I guess we’ll start seeing them right after Labor Day next.

In our day what used to be the simple message of Christmas has been drowned out in a deafening cacophony of advertisements. Meaningful Christmas carols imbued with the Good News of the Savior’s birth have been pre-empted by politically correct and “non-offensive” pop songs, and the radiant, simple beauty of the Star of Bethlehem has been lost in a plethora of gaudy decorations.

Yet we should hardly be surprised at this given the increasing worldliness and godlessness of our culture. As Christians we are distressed at these trends and it is natural that we would want to separate ourselves from them. But our struggle is to remain in the world and yet not be a part of the world. It’s certainly harder to do in these last days than it used to be. But there are many aspects of the Christmas season that are worth preserving in my view.

It seems that just in my own lifetime the traditional Christmas holiday has come under increasing attack—and not just from atheists, anti-religionists, and politically-correct nut cases either. It seems that some of the harshest attacks on Christmas are being made by certain segments of fundamentalist, evangelical Christianity who declare Christmas to be at best warmed over pagan celebrations or at worst satanic rituals in disguise.

When I was a boy in a small town in northern Kentucky back in the 1950’s nobody took offense if you wished them a Merry Christmas. There was a really nice nativity scene on the city courthouse lawn, and to my knowledge City Hall was never served a legal notice from any activist atheist organizations demanding that they take it down.

Churches put them up too, and they didn’t have to worry very much about them getting vandalized, or having displays put up next to them declaring the Christmas story to be lies or fairy tales.

Most everybody put up a Christmas tree in their living room, and there were holly wreaths and Yule logs in abundance, mistletoe above doorways—and nobody I knew was taken to task for celebrating a pagan holiday or perpetuating satanic rituals.

It was just a fun holiday, and even if the Gospel message was diluted by cultural tradition and commercialism, everyone I knew still understood that the birth of the baby Jesus was at the center of Christmas.

Now I was not a believer in those days, not even after I reached the age of accountability. I wasn’t saved until my mid-twenties, but I heard a lot about who Jesus was in my youth, and I had a good frame of reference for Him by the time God deemed me ready to respond to the Gospel message. Much of that frame of reference came from the stories I heard during the Christmas seasons of my childhood and youth.

If the anti-Christmas crowd had their way I would have never been exposed to any of that, and it might have been many more years before I would have responded to the Gospel—and perhaps never.

Is Christmas Authorized by the Bible?

Now don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that the traditional observance of Christmas is an essential part of evangelism, but neither am I saying that the traditions of Christmas are an impediment to the spread of the Gospel either. So I’d like us to take a look at some of the traditions surrounding Christmas, and also at some of the attacks leveled at the holiday.

One of the arguments levied by those Christian brothers who would do away with the celebration of Christmas centers around the legality issue. The word “Christmas” is not in the Bible, nor is any celebration of the birth of Jesus authorized in Scripture. Therefore, the argument goes, to celebrate the birth of our Lord is to add to God’s word and wrongly add to the list of ordinances authorized by the Bible.

This type of argument is known in logic as an argumentum e silentio—that’s Latin for an argument from silence. When applied to Biblical proofs the argument from silence says that if the Bible doesn’t explicitly state something as a fact, or in this case explicitly authorize something, then that thing is therefore explicitly not authorized.

By the rules of logic this use of the argument from silence is a logical fallacy. In other words, the argument just doesn’t hold water. For someone to contend that just because the Bible has not specifically established Christmas as a biblical celebration, that it is wrong or even sinful to participate in it, is patently absurd. Where is the Biblical precedent for forbidding Christians from celebrating any gift of God’s grace just because it is not specifically authorized in scripture?

In fact the principle of Christian freedom from the Law—and freedom from legalism in general—argues that it is perfectly fine to celebrate the birth of the Savior. If it had been God’s plan that we not celebrate Christ’s birth, why would He have recorded the rejoicing of the shepherds in the Gospel of Luke chapter 2, or the worship of the wise men in Matt. 2?

Celebration is a natural response to the good news of the birth of our Savior—the fulfillment of a promise that goes back thousands of years all the way to the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.

Having said that, it is true that the celebration of Christmas is not biblically authorized. But then neither are church buildings, ushers, pews, hymnals, Sunday schools, Vacation Bible School, stained glass windows, church organs, choirs, communion wafers and grape juice, etc. Of course there are some that argue against all these trappings of modern-day churches, desiring that we go back to “practicing church” the way it was done in the 1st century AD house churches.

It ought to be self-evident that none of these traditions in and of themselves harm the cause of Christ—unless they rise in importance to the level of Bible Doctrine. Then they can become a problem. But that only happens when the focus of the church is taken off the Person of Jesus Christ and His Word. Then churches can and do slide off into error. But when the focus of the local church is where it should be—on receiving, believing, and applying the Word of God, and growing in the Word into spiritual adults, then there really is very little danger of drifting into apostasy.

Does the Date December 25th Prove Christmas is Pagan?

Another of the biggest criticisms concerns the dating of the Christmas holiday. Now there is absolutely no evidence that our Lord was born on December 25th. Biblical scholars have argued for years that the most likely times for the birth of Jesus was either early fall or late spring. They base this on the fact that the shepherds were grazing their flocks in the hills of Judea—something they would not be doing in the dead of winter.

The plain fact is that the Bible gives us no evidence to base a birth date for the Lord Jesus. Now the Christmas critics say that December 25th was chosen as the date for Christmas because that date is close to the winter solstice—the shortest day of the year—and a day that was considered sacred by the ancient pagan religions. They contend that even though the church fathers may have chosen that day to co-opt the pagan celebrations, that it has had the opposite effect—that of adulterating the purity of the Gospel with pagan traditions.

Others go so far as to say that the Christmas celebration was adapted from Roman celebration of Saturnalia—a fertility festival honoring Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture—which was characterized by gift-giving, merriment, immorality, and interestingly, temporary freedom for slaves during the duration of the celebration. The Saturnalia was also timed to coincide with the winter solstice.

It is true that many of these festivals have pagan roots, and that the timing of the winter solstice was chosen because it represented the time when the days began to grow longer, marking the beginning of the end of the dark chill of winter and the return of green life to the land. This was especially true in the lands in the northern latitudes where many of the strongest Christmas traditions are rooted.

Now Christians had been trying to determine the date of the Savior’s birth almost since the Church’s beginnings. Many dates were proposed: May 20th, April 19th or 20th, March 28th, and January 10th among others. So how was it that the majority of Christendom ended up celebrating Christmas on December 25th?

The earliest recorded celebration of Christmas on December 25th was in 336 AD. And by 400 AD it was being observed everywhere in Christendom on that date, except for the Armenian Church, which celebrated it on January 6th.

One theory holds that Julius, the Bishop of Rome around 350 AD had the official records of the Roman census at the time of Caesar Augustus examined and determined that December 25th was the correct date—but there was never any evidence of this beyond a reference in one of the writings of John Chrysostom, the Bishop of Constantinople around 400 AD.

Another theory—the most prevalent and probably correct one—holds that the Church of Rome deliberately chose December 25th to coincide with the pagan feast of Sol Invictus – the Unconquered Sun God, which was a celebration held throughout the Roman Empire of one of its chief deities. The idea according to this theory was to turn people away from the sun god to the Son of God—the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jolly Old Saint Nick – Santa or Satan?

Another target of the anti-Christmas crowd is that jolly, fat old elf, Santa Claus. Some have claimed that the name “Santa” is a thinly disguised form of “Satan”— an anagram rearrangement of the letters. Others point to the other name of Santa Claus—Saint Nicholas, “Saint Nick” – his “nick” name, as having satanic overtones. After all, they claim, “Old Nick” is a term that refers to the devil.

One of the sadder rites of passage for children in our culture is the epiphany that happens when the child first realizes that Santa Claus is a myth—he isn’t real. It is the entrance into the cynicism that marks the beginnings of their journey into adulthood. But we all love to regale small children with the myth of Santa circumnavigating the globe in a sled full of toys pulled by a team of flying reindeer, and so we perpetuate this pleasant little fraud from generation to generation.

But does this myth have any basis in fact, as so many myths do? It turns out that there was a historical Saint Nicholas. During the early to mid-fourth century AD Nicholas was the bishop of a local church in Myra, a town in what is today central Turkey. He was said to have been born to a wealthy family, but gave up his wealthy position when he accepted the Gospel call. He dedicated his life to the spread of the Gospel and he was an outspoken defender of the Christian faith against the Arian heresy.

Nicholas was well known among the churches for his charity and sacrifice for others, especially the needy and destitute. After he was martyred for his faith around 350 AD the stories about Nicholas and his good works multiplied in Christendom and eventually the Church of Rome canonized him as a saint. Today Nicholas is considered the patron saint of many cities and towns in Europe and even entire countries, including Greece and Russia.

In many of the cultures of the ancient world there is a myth about a magical character who went around once a year spreading gifts to children and the needy. As Christianity spread into what had been pagan cultures this mythical character began to be associated with Saint Nicholas. The churches at that time had developed the custom of celebrating different saints, and Nicholas’s day fell on December 6th. So he began to be associated with the Christmas celebration. And since the winter solstice celebrations had historically also been characterized by gift giving, the whole thing about Santa Claus and presents on Christmas morning got started.

So where did the name “Santa Claus” come from? Well, Saint Nicholas was known to the Dutch people as “Sinter Klaas”, which came down to us as “Santa Claus”. This is not quite the anagram for “Satan” that some would have us to believe, is it? The first depictions of him as a jolly fat man in a red suit came from 19th century Britain. The popular image that we have in America today of Santa became cemented into our collective consciousness by various Coca Cola advertisements and commercials since 1931.

Much of the depictions of Santa appear to have come from pre-Christian legends. The Germanic gods Odin and Thor figure prominently in these legends. Odin was said to have been white-bearded and heavy. Thor would travel in a chariot through the air drawn by two white goats. He dressed in red and his palace was in the far north. He was a cheerful gift-giver, and since he was also the god of fire his preferred entry into homes was down the chimney into the fireplace.

Pre-Christian children would leave a little straw or grain for Odin’s horses, and no doubt this came down to us as the present day tradition of leaving some cookies and milk for Santa. Many a child has come downstairs with breathless anticipation to see if the cookies and milk were gone, and then rushed to the tree to see what presents Santa left for them.

Because of these pagan connections the Protestants of the Reformation abolished the Feast of St. Nicholas in many countries in northern Europe. Instead of venerating St. Nicholas they encouraged veneration of the Christ Child. Still, the customs associated with the feast of St. Nicholas carried over into the Christmas celebration and came to America in the 17th century with the Dutch when they established their colony of New Amsterdam in what is today New York.

So what are we as Christians to make of Santa Claus? Well, clearly the Santa we picture today has nothing in common with Nicholas, Bishop of Myra except for his name. It is evident, examining the history of Santa Claus, that his origins are based in pre-Christian, pagan myths. So those who claim that Santa is a Christian figure or that he is based in Christian beliefs or world view do not know what they are talking about. There is nothing Christian about Santa.

The Solution to the Christmas Controversy

It’s my view that if we as Christians put our priorities where they should be, in Jesus Christ and His word, those Christmas controversies which some see as a problem will not really be a problem at all. If an enemy shoots a wooden arrow at us are we to consider wood evil from then on? If someone flings rocks at us are we then to avoid all contact with stone?

As long as we model God’s Righteousness as revealed in the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ and avoid what the Bible clearly teaches as sin, we should not have any problems discerning those things that are Biblical about Christmas and aligning our Christian walk with them instead of falling into the sin traps Satan sets for us and baits with enticements camouflaged by the trappings of Christmas.

Instead of putting our energy into avoiding all the pagan aspects of our culture we should instead put our energy into following God’s plan for our lives and let Him guide us through the traps Satan sets for us. So with that admonition in mind I’d like you to look at these verses in the sixth chapter of the book of Ephesians beginning with verse 12:

v-12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

v-13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

v-14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

v-15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;

v-16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

v-17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Eph 6:12-17 NASB

Here then, in the famous “Full Armor of God” passage of Ephesians 6 is the solution to the Christmas Controversy.

As believers who are growing in the Word, in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we don’t have to shun all things Christmas just because of its pagan roots if we are fully equipped with the Truth of God’s word.

We won’t become spiritual casualties during the hectic holiday season if our lives are characterized by righteousness in our thoughts and actions.

We can find many opportunities to witness for the Lord as we go to and fro in our activities shod with the Gospel of peace with God. And as Satan fires his arrows at us we can be shielded by our well-exercised faith.

As believers eternally secure in the Helmet of salvation, and wielding the Sword of the Spirit we have nothing to fear even in this most stressful of times, the Christmas season.

This then is my wish and prayer for every person reading this little article that you will all have a wonderful, Christ-filled, and therefore very Merry Christmas.

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for the wonderful season of Christmas and for all that it means as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Help us to focus in application of all the wonderful spiritual truths we have learned during the past weeks, months, and years as we witness to a harried, frenzied, self-absorbed world, about the One who is rest for our souls and balm for our healing—the One who is the true source of all the true blessings of Christmas, for it is in His name we ask it, amen.

To the reader: If you have read this lesson, I would greatly appreciate any feedback, questions, or comments you have. Getting feedback from my readers is very helpful and encouraging to me. I promise to respond to all legitimate questions or comments as appropriate. But please, do keep your questions and comments appropriate and constructive.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics 22 – The Functions of the Trinity

john — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 01:32:24 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Twenty Two: The Functions of the Trinity

Among believers that hold to Christian orthodoxy—the viewpoint that the Bible is the inspired word of God and that it is inerrant in the original languages—there is little or no disagreement on Genesis 1:1 – “… God created the heavens and the earth.” But there is considerable disagreement among those who hold to the creationist viewpoint about the following 30 verses of Genesis chapter one. One school of thought holds that the seven days of Genesis one were literal 24 hour days and that God accomplished the entire creation of the universe including the earth and all its life forms in one literal 168 hour week. Another school of thought contends that the days were not literal 24 hour days, but were much longer in duration—perhaps thousands, millions, or even billions of years—this being an attempt to harmonize Genesis 1 with the geological – evolutionary viewpoint popular with mainstream science today.

However, there is another viewpoint that is held by many believers that contends that the seven days of Genesis 1 were not creative days in the sense of original creation, but rather seven days of restoration. Those who hold to this viewpoint—myself included—contend that the creation of the universe was accomplished by God in Genesis 1:1. This creation was perfect and probably instantaneous—omnipotent God would not require time to accomplish anything, including the creation of the universe. This creation was ex nihilo—a Latin term meaning “out of nothing”. In other words, God did not require any starting material—He simply spoke the universe into existence—a viewpoint anathema to Big Bang theorists.

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Twenty Two:

The Functions of the Trinity

by John McReynolds

As is our custom when approaching the study of the word of God we pause for a moment to be sure that we are in fellowship with Him. If we are not in fellowship with the triune God there is no way that the study of God’s word can become real and effective in our spiritual lives. First John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins God is faithful to forgive those sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Confession of sins is the only way to insure the filling of the Holy Spirit so essential to learning God’s truths. Let us pray:

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for giving us the opportunity to learn about You. This is the central purpose for leaving us to live here on the earth after You saved us, so that we can learn about You and apply these truths to our own lives, and then to tell the world about our incomparable Savior Jesus Christ. Bless now this study to edify us and to conform us more closely to the image of Your dear Son, in Whose name we ask it, amen.

In our last post we looked at the concept of the Trinity, some of the illustrations of the Trinity in nature and a few of the Old Testament and New Testament scriptural references about the Trinity. In this post we want to explore the different functions of the Members of the Trinity and how They impact us as believers in our daily lives.

Different Activities of the Members of the Trinity

Not only does God exist in three different Persons, each of these Persons is engaged in different activities in human history.

Creation

We all know that God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). But each of the members of the Trinity were engaged in the creation.

God the Father Designed the Universe

As the ultimate authority of the universe (Eph. 4:6) God the Father directs the activities of the Trinity (Luke 11:13; Matt. 24:36; John 5:19-20; 8:28). Therefore it was God the Father who designed the universe. This is told us by the first half of 1 Cor. 8:6:

“… yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him… ”

1 Cor. 8:6a

God the Son Created the Universe

Under the authority of the Father the Son of God—the Lord Jesus Christ—was the Creator of the Universe, as we see from the second half of 1 Cor 8:6:

“… and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”

1 Cor. 8:6b

Other scriptures that show Jesus Christ as the Creator:

“All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being … He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”

John 1:3, 10

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.”

Col. 1:16

God the Holy Spirit Restored the Chaotic Earth

Genesis chapter one contains the familiar account of creation:

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Genesis 1:1

Among believers that hold to Christian orthodoxy—the viewpoint that the Bible is the inspired word of God and that it is inerrant in the original languages—there is little or no disagreement on Genesis 1:1 – “… God created the heavens and the earth.” But there is considerable disagreement among those who hold to the creationist viewpoint about the following 30 verses of Genesis chapter one. One school of thought holds that the seven days of Genesis one were literal 24 hour days and that God accomplished the entire creation of the universe including the earth and all its life forms in one literal 168 hour week. Another school of thought contends that the days were not literal 24 hour days, but were much longer in duration—perhaps thousands, millions, or even billions of years. This idea is widely regarded as an attempt to harmonize Genesis 1 with the uniformitarian/evolutionary viewpoint that is popular with mainstream science today and that is taught in American public schools and universities.

However, there is another viewpoint held by many believers that contends that the seven days of Genesis 1 were not creative days in the sense of original creation, but rather seven days of restoration. Those who hold to this viewpoint—myself included—contend that the creation of the universe was accomplished by God in Genesis 1:1. This creation was perfect and probably instantaneous—omnipotent God would not require time to accomplish anything, including the creation of the universe. This creation was ex nihilo—a Latin term meaning “out of nothing”. In other words, God did not require any starting material—He simply spoke the universe into existence—a viewpoint anathema to Big Bang theorists.

Big Bang theorists postulate the the universe started out as matter packed into a tiny, almost infinitely dense sphere of matter, which then exploded forming the galaxies, stars, planets, etc. But they cannot explain the origin of the infinitely dense sphere of matter. Personally I don’t think that God needed a “Big Bang” to get things rolling. The Big Bang theory has been running into a lot of trouble lately, and many scientists are raising serious doubts about its ability to explain the observable facts. But in my opinion—and the opinion of many other students of the word—the Biblical account favors an earth that was created perfect, but later was ruined.

“The earth was [became] formless [tohu] and void [bohu], and darkness [chôshek] was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”

Genesis 1:2

The creation – restoration model of the earth essentially contends that the earth was formed pristine and perfect, but became reduced to a completely frozen wasteland and what was once the surface of the pristine, perfect earth became a homogenous frozen mass, much as if the entire surface—soil, water, atmosphere and all—was whipped into a frappé and quick frozen. Two words are used in Genesis 1:2 to describe the earth at that point: tohu (תּהוּ) and bohu (בּהוּ). Tohu means to lie wasted, desolate, formless, in a state of confusion. Bohu means to be empty of any distinguishable construction, a ruin. Many exegetes say this passage paints a picture of the earth, once perfect, now reduced to utter, icy desolation. This devastation was apparently the result of a tremendous cataclysm brought by God on the earth as a part of His judgment upon angels led by Lucifer who rebelled against God.

Furthermore darkness was over the surface of the deep. The word there is chôshek (חשׁך), and it doesn’t mean just simple darkness—it infers misery, destruction, death, sorrow, wickedness. It infers a darkness brought about by some wicked deed. This then was the condition of the earth when the Holy Spirit brought about the restoration of the earth.

So according to the Creation-Restoration model, during the course of Satan’s rebellion the planet earth—originally created perfect like all of God’s creation—was reduced to a chaotic waste. The Hebrew of Genesis 1:2 paints a picture of the earth as wasted, desolate, formless, in a state of confusion. The next 23 verses of Genesis chapter one record how the Holy Spirit restored the ruined earth and made it into a habitable Eden for the creation of man. As much as I would like for us to explore this passage in detail, this is a study of the activities of the Trinity, and so we must leave it for another time.

Salvation

Obviously the most significant act of God with respect to fallen humanity was the provision of our so great salvation. Each member of the Trinity plays a different role in providing salvation to mankind.

God the Father Planned Salvation

As the Author and Planner of salvation it was He who sent the Son to earth as Jesus Christ to accomplish His will:

“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him [the Father] who sent Me and to accomplish His work.’”

John 4:34

“And Jesus cried out and said, ‘He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.’”

John 12:44

“This was in accordance with the eternal purpose [plan of salvation] which He [the Father] carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord …”

Ephesians 3:11

God the Son (Jesus Christ) Executed Salvation

It was Jesus Christ the Son of God that carried out the actual work of salvation by entering into the world of lost humanity, and becoming a true human being. For 33 years He lived a perfectly righteous life, totally fulfilling every aspect of the Mosaic Law (a law impossible for fallen humans to keep), thus qualifying Himself to be the perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind. So by His work and His death on the cross He made it possible for all of us to be reconciled to God and to have eternal life instead of the eternal death we all deserve.

“But He [Jesus] answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working [the Plan of Salvation].’”

John 5:17

“… and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

1 Peter 2:24

“For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit …”

1 Peter 3:18

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

“Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of Me) to do Your will, O God.’”

Hebrews 10:7

God the Holy Spirit is the Agent in Salvation

God the Holy Spirit plays several key roles in the process of human salvation:

The Holy Spirit Reveals Salvation

The Spirit has been the primary agent for the dissemination of God’s Word—the primary vehicle of His message of salvation to mankind. It was by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the human authors of the 66 books of the Bible recorded the Word of God that brings eternal life to those who believe.

“… for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

John 5:17

The Holy Spirit Makes the Gospel understandable

The Gospel is what we as unbelievers must understand in order to receive Christ as our Savior. It is the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit that enables us to understand the Gospel and make it possible for us to believe. The Scripture says that the unbeliever cannot understand spiritual matters. But the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel message understandable to the unbeliever so that he can make an informed decision relative to Jesus Christ. This is known as the Convicting or Convincing Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

“… a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

1 Cor. 2:14

“… for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction …”

1 Thessalonians 1:5

The Holy Spirit is the Agent of the New Birth

In the Gospel of John chapter 3 Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus that he had to be “born again” to see the kingdom of God. The process of being born again is known theologically as regeneration. We are all born spiritually dead—we are born with bodies and souls, but no human spirits. In this condition we are what 1 Corinthians 2:14 calls “natural men”. The Greek word translated “natural men” is psuchikos (ψυχικός – pronounced “su-ki-KAHS” – literally “soulish”). But at the moment we believe in Jesus Christ for salvation the Holy Spirit creates a human spirit and imputes it to us. Thus we become pneumatikos (πνευματικῶς – pronounced new-mah-ti-KOCE – “spiritual”). This is regeneration—we are literally born again spiritually.

“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [physical birth] and the Spirit [spiritual birth] he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’”

John 3:5

Since we have a living human spirit imputed to us at salvation by the Holy Spirit, we are now by nature spiritual (pneumatikos) men, and are now able to receive the knowledge of God.

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the [spiritual] things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”

1 Corinthians 2:12-13

The Holy Spirit Places Us in Union with Jesus Christ

This is known theologically as the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. This union occurs instantly at the moment of salvation—the moment a person believes and accepts Christ as their Savior. This is totally a grace action of the Holy Spirit—the person plays no role in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit apart from believing in Christ.

The word baptize comes from the Greek word baptizo (βαπτίζω – pronounced bahp-TID-zoh). It means to be completely identified with something as when a person is immersed in water and becomes soaked with it—he becomes completely identified with the water. This is of course what happens in ritual baptism—the person is made to be totally wet. This becomes a picture of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit wherein the Holy Spirit places us in union with Jesus Christ and we are completely identified with Him.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”

1 Corinthians 12:13

Some who are of the Charismatic persuasion mislead new believers by telling them that after they are saved they must pray for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit which they refer to as “the second blessing.” Then they give them the impression that this will be accompanied by ecstatics, speaking in tongues, spontaneous healings and other such spectacular signs. Nothing could be farther from the truth! In 1 Cor. 2:13 it says “we all”. The Greek word translated “all” is pas (πᾶς – pronounced “PAHS”) and it means “all in a category”, the category being supplied by the context. The category referred to here in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 is all believers, not just those who have received some “second blessing”.

The Holy Spirit Seals Us

All of the works of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation have tremendous significance to us, and the Sealing Ministry of the Holy Spirit is no exception. The Sealing of the Holy Spirit is the very basis of our eternal security. The Doctrine of Eternal Security is well established in Scripture, most notably in this passage in the Gospel of John, which also shows the role of the Father in salvation. Jesus, speaking to the Jews, says this:

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

John 10:27-30

This passage of Scripture promises us that we are eternally secure in the hands of both the Son and the Father, but how does the Holy Spirit guarantee our salvation?

“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

Ephesians 1:13-14

When we express faith alone in Jesus Christ alone God saves us—we are assured of an eternity with Him. But He doesn’t take us straight to heaven—we are left here on this cursed earth with all the problems of life seemingly unchanged—not a very reassuring situation. But God gives us the Holy Spirit as a down payment on our eternal inheritance, and the Spirit places a seal on us that establishes God’s ownership of us. That seal establishes once and for all time that we are eternally God’s possession. Incidentally, this passage also shows us the three sequential steps in the salvation process:

We must listen to the message of truth,
We must believe the message of truth, then
The Holy Spirit seals us as God’s own possession for all eternity.

Notice in this verse that the only things required of us is listening and believing—there is no room for human works! All the real work is done by the Holy Spirit at the moment a person believes the message of truth—the Gospel—on the basis of the perfect work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary!

The Holy Spirit Indwells Us at the Moment of Salvation

This action of the Holy Spirit is unique to the Church Age. In the Old Testament times God dwelled with Israel first in the pillar of smoke by day and the pillar of fire by night, and later in the tabernacle in the wilderness, and still later in the Temple. Today in the Church Age God the Holy Spirit again dwells in a temple, but this time the temple is literally us!

“Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

1 Corinthians 3:16

“However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

Romans 8:9

The terms “Spirit of God” and “Spirit of Christ” are both functional titles for the Holy Spirit. The above verse in Romans tells us that whoever does not have the Holy Spirit indwelling in him is not a believer—he does not have a saving relationship with God. On the other hand 1 Cor. 3:16 affirms that as believers we are indeed indwelled by the Holy Spirit. So these two verses show that the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit is exclusive—it is limited only to believers in the Lord Jesus Christ living in the Church Age. This indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes the power of the Holy Spirit available to every believer to enable him to live the spiritual life to which every Church Age believer has been called.

The Holy Spirit Fills us at the Moment of Salvation

The Filling of the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is permanent—every person who is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is indwelled by the Holy Spirit at the moment he or she believes in Christ, and as we have seen, this is permanent—it is the basis for the eternal security of the believer. But the Filling of the Holy Spirit is temporary—it is lost through sin. Any time the believer commits a sin he loses the Filling of the Spirit. But the Filling of the Holy Spirit is regained by confessing the sin or sins directly to the Father—1 John 1:9.

The purpose of the Filling of the Holy Spirit is to provide the Divine power for living the Christian life. This life that God calls us to after salvation cannot be lived by human efforts—it requires Divine spiritual resources. And it is the Holy Spirit that supplies these resources.

The difference between the Indwelling Holy Spirit and the Filling of the Holy Spirit can be visualized like this: Imagine your house—in most parts of the world it is wired for electricity. When the house is built the wires are there, waiting for the electricity to be supplied. When electrical power is supplied the electricity is there indwelling the wires, waiting for you to use it. Now if the light switch is off there is no light in the room—it is just as dark as if there was no electricity in the wires. But once you flip the switch, light fills the room!

When we are saved the Holy Spirit indwells us, energizing the circuits of our lives, waiting to supply power for our Christian walk. And Jesus Christ has paid our electricity bill for all eternity—we don’t have to fear ever getting it cut off. It is always there able to supply the light we need for our Christian walk. But if the light switch is off because of sin in our lives, our way is darkened and we will just stumble around bumping into things.

When we begin at salvation the light is on—the Holy Spirit illuminates our lives the moment His power energizes us. But if we sin we flip the light switch off—and the house goes dark. The Holy Spirit is still there—our circuits are still energized—but the power cannot be used because the light switch is off. It will stay dark until we flip the switch back on. Sin cuts the light switch off and darkens our lives. Fortunately for us God the Father, the architect of our lives, provided the switch for us to use to get light back into our lives:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:9

So the energized circuits of our houses are like the Indwelling Holy Spirit, and our houses filled with light are like the Filling of the Holy Spirit. Our hands are on the switch, however. God gives us the freedom to flip the light switch off when we sin, and then to stumble around in the dark stubbing our toes and banging our shins. And when we’ve had enough suffering as a consequence of our own bad decisions, He gives us the freedom to switch it back on by using 1 John 1:9 to get back into fellowship with Him and begin, once again, walking in the light.

Sanctification

All three members of the Trinity are involved in moving forward the plan of God with respect to redeemed mankind. God’s goal for those who are saved is to make them fit for a glorious future in eternity. This involves the process known as Sanctification. Sanctification simply means to set someone apart for a special purpose, and it involves everything from choosing whoever is to be set apart, to preparing them or making them fit for whatever God’s purpose for setting them apart, and then the actual using of the prepared person for His eternal purpose. This process involves three phases: Positional Sanctification, Experiential Sanctification, and Ultimate Sanctification. Each phase is executed by a different Member of the Trinity.

God the Son Executes Positional Sanctification

At the direction and the will of the Father, the Son entered into the world as true humanity in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He lived a sinless life, perfectly fulfilling God’s Law which had condemned all of mankind. As the sinless, spotless Lamb of God He was qualified to sacrifice Himself upon the cross of Calvary in order to take upon Himself the condemnation that rightfully should have passed to every member of the human race—including you and me.

“After saying above, ‘sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them’ (which are offered according to the Law), then He said, ‘behold, I have come to do Your will.’ He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Hebrews 10:8-10

As a result of this incredible sacrifice on the part of our Lord, anytime a person expresses faith alone in Christ alone he is figuratively covered by the blood of Christ. Now when the Father looks at the sinner He does not see his disgusting sins—instead He sees the perfect, propitiating sacrifice of His Son which He has accepted as payment for sin. So now He accepts the sinner who has been placed in Christ.

“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption …”

1 Corinthians 1:30

“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”

1 Corinthians 15:22

When we receive salvation by believing in Christ we are placed “in union with Christ.” This is our legal standing before God—it is a positional standing only. To be sure, it is a permanent, eternal standing—we will never lose our position in Christ—John 10:27-30. But while from a legal standpoint we are blameless before God, we still reside in our sinful flesh, and we are still prone to sin. And so for the rest of our lives here on earth, God is engaged in cleaning us up and making us fit for eternity—the next stage in the sanctification process.

God the Holy Spirit Executes Experiential Sanctification

When we are saved we are immediately positionally sanctified. This is not anything we are aware of—we don’t know it when it happens; there is no sensation that accompanies it. But Experiential Sanctification we are aware of—it happens to us over the course of a lifetime and it is definitely a conscious experience.

Because God does not take us directly to heaven to be with Him when we are saved we remain here in our sinful flesh after salvation. This poses a real problem for us because while we live in our bodies with our sin natures we have a constant source of temptation to sin—our own old sin natures. God’s intent for us after salvation is to walk in His way while we are here on the earth so that we can represent Him as His ambassadors. But personal sin blocks our effectiveness and opens us up to discipline from our Father. So He gives us the means to recover from sin—1 John 1:9, and to then walk blameless before Him as He commanded us.

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world …”

Philippians 2:14-15

God understands that for us to be able to do this that a transformation must occur. We must be transformed from the slaves to sin as we were born, to the fulfillment of all He intends us to be—free men all, yet who willingly and eagerly work out His will for our lives—Rom 6:16-23. This transformation occurs as we take in God’s word—the very mind of Christ—and allow it to transform our lives.

“… But we have the mind of Christ.”

1 Corinthians 2:16b

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Romans 12:2

And as we approach the end of our lives here on earth we approach the end of that lifelong transforming process—this Experiential Sanctification—which the Holy Spirit performs in us that makes us fit to live in the Father’s eternal kingdom, so that we can say with Paul the Apostle:

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day [the Judgment Seat of Christ]; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

2 Timothy 4:7-8

God the Father Executes Ultimate Sanctification

And so the day will come when we all must face the Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ to give an account of what we did with the time and opportunities He gave us while we remained on the earth after salvation.

“But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God.’”

Romans 14:10-11

At that judgment we will receive all the rewards we have earned while in our Lord’s service here on earth. For some the rewards will be great—for others they will be very little. While we are here on the earth God gives us freedom to participate in the process of experiential sanctification. In other words He allows us to determine the extent of that sanctification process. If we cooperate with the Holy Spirit and exploit every opportunity that God gives us in His grace, we will heap up great treasures in eternity. If we pursue the dictates of our flesh and ignore the opportunities God gives us, we will not accumulate rewards—instead we will receive discipline from the Lord. That will be the only way left for Him to prepare us for eternal life in His Kingdom. But if our minds—our hearts—are occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ, great wealth will accumulate in heaven for us to enjoy for all eternity.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matthew 6:19-21

And so when our rewards are given it is God the Father who welcomes us into Eternity—into the magnificent dwelling places—literal mansions—that our Lord Jesus has prepared for us.

“In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

John 14:2

It is our Heavenly Father that completes our transformation. When we are taken to heaven we will be transformed into creatures that our present minds cannot conceive. Our eternal bodies will be exactly like that of our Lord Jesus Christ, with powers we can only guess at—the ability to travel instantaneously to any point in the universe at will, the ability to pass through solid matter—undoubtedly there is vastly more that we can even imagine.

“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.”

1 John 3:2

So it is a magnificent future we have before us. And our actions here and now on earth will determine how much we will be able to enjoy all that the Father has for is in eternity. Some of us will enjoy unimaginable blessings and vast, eternal joy, while others will simply be glad they aren’t in hell. They are the ones whose works will be burned up at the Judgment Seat of Christ and will have no rewards in heaven except for just being there. It’s up to us to determine which it will be.

If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:15.

“Now to Him [the Father Who provides us with and eternity of blessings] who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Ephesians 3:20

Thank You, Heavenly Father, for Your matchless grace. We thank You for Your provision of salvation, for the sacrifice of Your Son, and for the countless blessings that accrue to us through Your provision. We thank you for Your revealing to us of the wonderful works of the Trinity that have impacted our lives in every conceivable way. Bless now this message—may it edify the hearts of its readers that Your Son Jesus Christ might be glorified, for we ask it in His name, amen.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics 21 – The Persons of God

john — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 02:49:56 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Twenty One: The Three Persons of God

If you search the text of Scripture or any of the exhaustive concordances of the words contained in the Bible you will discover that the term “trinity” does not occur even once. Yet there are few subjects of theology more documented in the Scriptures than the subject of the Trinity. Like many other of the attributes of God that we have looked at in past lessons, the subject of the Trinity reveals characteristics of God that to the human mind are self-contradictory. How can there be just one God and yet at the same time He exists as three Persons? This is a concept so difficult for man to grasp that God Himself had to reveal it to man by gradually by degrees. First He hinted at the existence of the Trinity in the Old Testament, then He revealed it more fully in the New Testament.

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Twenty One:

The Three Persons of God

by John McReynolds

Understanding the Persons of God

As we have been discovering in our studies into the infinite nature of God there is no way that He can be fully comprehended by finite man—especially not this side of eternity. Yet in His word our God has left us many insights into His nature, and these He has left us with the intent that we are to incorporate them into our understanding of God and His purposes for mankind. This is no less true for the subject we take up now: the subject of the Trinity of God.

Whenever God speaks about Himself in the Bible He does so from one of two different standpoints: from the standpoint of His Essence, or from the standpoint of His Persons. From time to time in the previous nine lessons we have mentioned the Persons of God, but our primary focus has been the Essence of God. In the first lesson of this series, Comprehending the Incomprehensible, we dealt with the various qualities of God—those aspects of His Being that relate to His infinite excellence.

One of those aspects is that God is Unity, or God is One. Basically by that we mean that from the standpoint of His essence God is not made up of parts, and that God is unique in all of reality—nothing and no one is equal to Him. It is this oneness that is in view in Deuteronomy 6:4, which makes up the first part of the famous Shema of Israel, which is recited by devout Jews to this day: “Sh’ma Yis’ra’eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad” (שׁמע ישׂראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד) — “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One).” (Note that religious Jews, when they come across the Name of God in Scriptures, יהוה (YHWH), do not pronounce the name Yahweh or Jehovah, which they consider too holy to pronounce; instead they say “Adonai”, which means “Lord”. In fact many of the English speaking among them transfer this piety to written English—they will write “G-d” instead of “God”.)

Taken by itself this verse appears to exclude any possibility of there being more than one Person of God. Based on this verse and others in the Old Testament the religion of Judaism takes the position that God exists only in one Person—the Lord. Judaism does not admit that while God is one in essence He exists as three persons—which is the position of Trinitarianism. The idea that God exists as three Persons draws its greatest support from the Gospels and the New Testament writings—all of which Judaism rejects. Nevertheless there is much in the Old Testament that points to a plurality of Persons and supports the concept of the Trinity, which we will be looking at in detail shortly.

Three In One—a Pattern in Nature

The number three is a number that occurs over and over again in nature. There are three basic states of matter—solid, liquid, and gas. Ancients observed that things were either animal, vegetable, or mineral. They saw three bodies in the skies: the sun, the moon, and the stars. We can see three stages in the life of insects: larvae, pupae, and adult. It’s as if God left us these examples to illustrate His nature.

Light is an example of a trinity in nature that forms an excellent illustration of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The light from our sun is composed of a broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. This light possess three general characteristics: actinic, luminiferous, and calorific. Although these terms are not quite scientifically accurate, they serve well to illustrate the three Persons of the Godhead.

Actinic light is light that cannot be seen nor immediately felt and as such it is a perfect illustration of God the Father—John 1:18. It is contains of the shorter wavelengths of light known as ultraviolet radiation, which both gives life—as in plant photosynthesis—but can be harmful to life by causing cell damage as in a severe sunburn.

“… nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.”

Acts 17:25

“… for our God is a consuming fire.”

Heb 12:29

“Who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.”

1 Timothy 6:16

Luminiferous light is light that is both felt and seen—it is composed of the wavelengths of light in the visible spectrum of light which we see as the colors violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. In these wavelengths known as the visible spectrum light can be seen, and at its lower wavelengths it can be felt as heat. Luminiferous light is the perfect illustration of God the Son in that as the Lord Jesus Christ He can be both seen and felt—He is discernible by our physical and our spiritual senses since He is both God and man.

“See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

Luke 24:39

“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.’”

John 8:12

“O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”

Psalm 34:8.

Calorific light is light that is felt but not seen. Calorific light is composed of the longer wavelengths beyond the red in the visible spectrum. Hence it is known as infrared light. This is the radiation that you feel as heat when for example you turn on an electric heater. Like the Father, who is also pure spirit, the Holy Spirit cannot be seen by human eyes. Nowhere is there any record of the Holy Spirit being visible to mankind. In fact no Member of the Trinity would have been visible to mankind had not the Son agreed to be born into humanity as Jesus of Nazareth.

“No one has seen God at any time …”

John 1:18a

But like infrared light the Spirit can be felt as He works in our lives. The Old Testament is filled with with references to the Spirit coming upon certain individuals, empowering them with special abilities in order to accomplish His purposes. For example, the Holy Spirit came upon those the Lord raised up to lead Israel in the time of the Judges: Othniel—Jud. 3:10; Gideon—Jud. 6:34; Jephthah—Jud. 11:29; Samson—Jud. 13:29. Other examples: Saul—1 Sam 10:10; 11:6; David—1 Sam. 16:13. And in the very next verse of Sam. 16—verse 14—it is interesting to note that the Holy Spirit left Saul, illustrating the fact that the anointing of the Holy Spirit was not a permanent gift in Old Testament times as it is today.

In the New Testament the Holy Spirit indwells every born-again believer, empowering them to live the supernatural Christian life. And this indwelling is permanent—it is part of the 40 things the Holy Spirit give to the believer at the point of salvation. So we see the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers in both the Old and New Testaments—so in that respect He is felt but not seen.

Another illustration of the Trinity uses color. In painting there are three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. All other colors are combinations of two or all three of these colors. When you mix red and blue you get purple, or blue and yellow makes green.

The same is true when you shine a white light through colored plastic sheets called gels. These are commonly used in theatrical productions. Using a red gel with a spotlight gives you a red light, or a blue gel gives you a blue light. But if you shine three spotlights onto the same spot, one equipped with a red gel, another with a green gel, and the third with a blue gel, you see white light!

It works from the other direction too. If you shine a beam of pure white light through a glass prism the light is broken up into a spectrum of colors—primarily red, yellow and blue. This is an illustration of the Trinity, which is white light in its essence corresponding to the essence of God, but composed of three primary colors, representing the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There are many other illustrations of trinity in nature—some better than others. One is the egg. it is composed of the shell, the white, and the yolk. Another illustration—more famous—is the shamrock, a small three leafed plant native to Ireland. It is said that Padriac, the famous 5th century Welsh evangelist to Ireland revered there as St. Patrick, used the shamrock to teach the concept of the trinity to the pagan Irish. Each of the leaves of the plant represent one of the Members of the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but each leaf—even when considered separately—is still a shamrock.

Three In One—a Pattern in Scripture

Numbers hold special significance in the Bible. Among the many that are used in Scripture are 5, representing teaching (the 5 books of Moses, the five wise virgins, the five barley loaves, etc.); 6, representing fallen man; 7, representing perfection and completion; 40, representing a generation and the time of testing, and so on. And of course the number three represents the Trinity.

The number three is used in many different ways in Scripture. Here are a few:

In Isaiah 6:3 the seraphim said “Holy, Holy, Holy” referencing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus was crucified at the third hour of the day—Mark 15:25.
The prophet Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of the great fish—Jonah 1:17.
Our Lord spent three days in the grave and was resurrected on the third day—Matt. 12:40; Acts 10:40; 1 Cor. 5:14
Jesus resuscitated three people during His earthly ministry: 1) the daughter of Jairus, a child—Luke 41, 49-55; 2) the widow’s son, a young man—Luke 7:12-15; and 3) Lazarus, an adult—John chapter 11.
Christ is known as the Prophet—Matt, 21:11, Priest—Heb. 3:1; 4:14; 6:20, and King—John 8:37; 1 Tim. 6:5; Rev 17:14; 9:16.
He is described as the Good Shepherd—John 10:11, 14; the Chief Shepherd—1 Pet. 5:4; and the Great Shepherd—Heb 13:20.
The testing of man occurs in three categories: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—1 John 2:16
Jesus was tested in these same categories during His temptation in the wilderness: 1) Lust of the flesh—Matt. 4:3. 2) Lust of the eyes—Matt. 4:8-9. 3) Pride of life—Matt. 4:5-6.
Three great apostates are named in the Epistle of Jude—Cain, Balaam, and Korah—Jude 11.
God spoke three times from heaven concerning His pleasure in His Son—Matt.3:17; Matt 17:5; and John 12:28.
When a Levitical priest was consecrated blood and oil was applied to three places on his body: the lobe of the right ear (hearing the word of God); the thumb of the right hand (spiritual production of good works); and on the big toe of the right foot (walking uprightly before God).

Where Do We Find the Term “Trinity”?

If you search the text of Scripture or any of the exhaustive concordances of the words contained in the Bible you will discover that the term “trinity” does not occur even once. Yet there are few subjects of theology more documented in the Scriptures than the subject of the Trinity. Like many other of the attributes of God that we have looked at in past lessons, the subject of the Trinity reveals characteristics of God that to the human mind are self-contradictory. How can there be just one God and yet at the same time He exists as three Persons? This is a concept so difficult for man to grasp that God had to reveal it to man by gradually by degrees. First He hinted at the existence of the Trinity in the Old Testament, then He revealed it more fully in the New Testament.

As we have noted the word “Trinity” (Latin Trinitas and Greek triados [τριάδος]) is not found in the Bible. The word first appeared around 170 AD in the writings of the Latin theologian Tertullian, but was not used in its current theological sense until 325 AD. In the First Council of Nicea, convened by the Roman emperor Constantine, an assembly of Church fathers from all over the Christian world analyzed pertinent Biblical passages and adopted what became known as the Nicene Creed. The Creed was expanded and clarified during the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. This definitive statement declared on the basis of the clear evidence of Scripture that Jesus Christ the Son is of the same essence as God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, thus ending the Arian heresy which stated that the Son was only a creation of the Father, and not of the same substance as the Father. And so the doctrine of the Trinity was declared to be biblical and was accepted by the Church fathers as official Church doctrine.

A Working Definition of the Trinity

Basically we can define the Trinity as follows: It is the doctrine that Deity—God—exists as three separate Persons, each One of which is fully and completely God, and co-substantial, co-infinite and co-eternal with the other two. The term “Trinity” describes three Persons who coexist in one Godhead. The term “Godhead” derives from ‘Godhood” and refers to the existence as God of each Person of the Trinity. Let’s break down those terms “co-substantial”, “co-infinite”, and “co-eternal”.

Co-substantial basically means sharing the same substance. But the concept goes far beyond what the term “co-substantial” implies. For example, I share the same genetic makeup of my parents. Our daughter shares the same genetic makeup as my wife and I. But we are still all physically separate in our substance.

In 1996 scientists succeeded in cloning an ewe they named Dolly from a single cell from another sheep. This animal was identical genetically with the sheep that was its progenitor. Dolly was produced from a single parent sheep even though she did not come about through natural conception. Even Dolly could not really be said to be “co-substantial” with her parent. If you had them both side by side you might not be able to tell them apart, but you’d know for sure that one of them was not Dolly. they may have been identical genetically, but they still existed separately. (By the way, Dolly died at a relatively young age for a sheep—6 years compared to a natural life span of 11 or 12 years—and had developed adverse physiological conditions normally found in much older sheep.)

But each of the members of the Trinity not only have the very same essence, they share the same existence. In earlier studies we have seen that as God each member of the Trinity is omnipresent and transcendent—each one is everywhere present in space and time, and they exist infinitely beyond space and time. If it were possible to apply the terms “space” and “time” to the omnipresence of God we would say that the three members of the Trinity occupy the same space and time. Even though Dolly and her parent ewe were genetically identical, they could not occupy the same space at the same time—for them a physical impossibility.

But God is not subject to the same limitations as Dolly and her parent. Everywhere God the Father exists—which is everywhere and everywhen—God the Son exists. Everywhere God the Son exists God the Holy Spirit exists. And everywhere the Spirit exists, the Father exists. So the essence of each is literally the same essence. That means that the existence of the Father is not separate from the existence of the Son is not separate from the existence of the Spirit is not separate from the existence of the Father. All Three exist together in an infinite, absolute intimacy that cannot be comprehended by our finite minds, and they have always existed thus. This is what we mean when we say that the Members of the Trinity are co-substantial in their essence.

Co-infinite refers to the fact that each of the members of the Trinity are infinite in their essence. Thus the essence of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are infinite in all respects. This als/o establishes their absolute equality. Since each of Them are infinite in their essence, no single Member of the Trinity is ahead, above, or superior in any way to either of the other two Members.

Co-eternal means that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have co-existed since eternity past as co-infinite, co-substantial Members of the Trinity. God did not at sometime in the remote past somehow split into three persons. Each member of the Trinity has coexisted with the other two for all eternity.

This diagram illustrates the concept of the Trinity. It is a tri-lobed figure composed of three circles representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three circles share a common area shown by the yellow shading which depicts the common essence shared by all three. It shows the Godhead as three persons who are co-substantial with each other — i.e. sharing the same essence—as shown by the ten attributes represented by their initials overlaying the center of the tri-lobed figure: sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and veracity.

Another figure has often been used to illustrate the relationship between the three Persons of the Trinity, the so-called Scutum Fidei (Latin for “Shield of the Faith”) also known as the Shield of the Trinity. In late medieval England and France, this emblem was considered to be the heraldic arms of God and of the Trinity. It focuses on illustrating that each of the Persons are truly God, yet exist as three persons. It shows that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Yet at the same time each of the three are wholly and completely one God.

Scriptures That Reveal the Trinity

As we have mentioned before the doctrine of the Trinity is developed more in the New Testament than in the Old Testament. Nevertheless there are many references in the Old Testament that reveal that God exists in more than one Person. Genesis 1:26 records God’s decree to create man:

“Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image …”

The Hebrew word translated into the English “Us” is elohim (אלהים). It is a plural form of eloahh (אלוהּ), the word meaning Deity. We also see this in Genesis 3:22:

“Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil …”

And again in Isaiah 6:8:

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’”

Another verse in Isaiah gives more Old Testament documentation of the Trinity:

“Come near to Me; listen to this. From the first, I have not spoken in secret. From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord God [God the Father] has sent Me [God the Son], and His Spirit [God the Holy Spirit].”

Isaiah 48:16

The Psalms differentiated between God the Father and God the Son when it predicted the incarnation of the Son of God:

“I will announce the decree of the Lord [God the Father]. He said to Me [God the Son], ‘You are My Son [Jesus Christ]. This day [the day of the incarnation] I have begotten You.’”

Psalm 2:7

And of course there are many verses in the New Testament that refer to the persons of God:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

Matthew 28:19

Jesus made distinctions between Himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit:

“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the [Holy] Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

John 14:16

But He also declared that He and the Father were essentially the same (of the same essence):

“I and the Father are one.”

John 10:30

And again in an earlier passage in John 14:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, “Show us the Father”?’”

John 14:6-9

Just these few references reveal to us the rich scriptural documentation of the Trinity. So far in our study of the Trinity we have covered the concept of the Trinity, examples of trinities in nature and the Scriptures, and what the Bible tells us about the triune nature of God. There is much more to say about the Trinity than we have room for in this post, so in our next post we will examine the different roles that the Members of the Trinity play in Their activities on this earth.

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father for Your word that reveals to us the mystery of Your nature—of Who You are. Thank You for Your truth that has saved us, that has freed us from our slavery to sin and opened the door to an unimaginably wonderful eternity with You which we will spend plumbing the depth of the riches of Your wisdom and knowledge—the perfect reflection of Your absolute and infinite character. Bless this study and sanctify the things we have learned that we might be more perfectly conformed to the image of our Savior Jesus Christ, for it is in His name we ask it, amen.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics 20 – The God of Truth

john — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:52:41 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Twenty: The God of Truth

In His word the God of Truth makes plain His attitude toward lies and liars, and that those who partake in falsehoods will be judged harshly—which puts just about all of us in a very uncomfortable position. How many lies have each one of us uttered in our lifetime? Today’s post-modern culture is especially prone to lies and falsehood. Usually when the truth is told it is adulterated with shadings and bendings of the truth in order to put a false slant on it. We see it in our courts of law where truth is supposed to be paramount; we see it in our politicians who regularly twist the facts in order to deceive us; we even see it in advertising! This world is bursting with the rottenness of falsehood. It is no wonder to me that we are seeing calamities snowball at an unprecedented rate. When I look at the world through the lens of the truth of the Bible I cannot help but believe that Jesus must come soon to judge this world.

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Twenty:

The God of Truth

by John McReynolds

As we enter into the study of God’s word be sure that you are in fellowship with Him so that the Holy Spirit will make the truths we discover in His word real and effective in your spiritual life. Confession of sins is the only way to insure fellowship with God and the filling of the Holy Spirit so essential to learning the truth of God. First John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins God is faithful to forgive those sins and to cleanse us from the unrighteousness that plagues our lives. Thus we are made fit to take in His word—let us pray:

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father for the opportunity in grace to discover the gems of truth that is your word. Give us focus and concentration as we delve into Your truth, for we ask it in Jesus name, amen.

Finding Truth

In our studies of the essence of God—we take up now the subject of God’s veracity—that is God’s truth. Of all of the aspects of God’s essence, perhaps none have as profound an impact on man’s existence than the fact of God’s veracity. Let us begin with the Gospel of John, in Chapter 18, verses 33 through 38, which record the following conversation between Jesus and the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate:

Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”

Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?”

Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”

John 18:33-38 NASB

“What is truth?” Pilate had no idea what truth was, and neither do most other folk. He assumed that since he—an accomplished Roman governor—didn’t know what truth is, there was no way this unlettered carpenter from Galilee could know it. So his question was not really a question at all, but rather a cynical rebuff. To Pilate, Jesus was just a Jewish mystic, blathering nonsense about some other-worldly kingdom. He concluded that Jesus was no threat to his governorship or to the Roman Empire.

Nevertheless, although he did not intend it, Pilate’s question expressed one of the deepest longings of the human soul. Every person ever born into this fallen, depraved world, once he has elevated his attention above the basic needs of life, has at some point yearned to know “the truth”—whatever it is. Philosophers have devoted entire lifetimes to the pursuit of truth—often fruitless searches because they rejected the God of the Bible.

The Failure of Philosophy

The seventeenth century French philosopher René Descartes (pronounced Re-NAY De-CART) is a prime example. Descartes attempted to create a new philosophy based on the Method of Doubt (also known as Methodological Skepticism)—doubting everything until it could be verified as truthful. Nothing that could not be directly verified was to be accepted as fact. By this method he determined to “start from scratch” as it were by treating all accepted truths as untruth until they could be verified as true. Then and only then would they be admitted into the body of truth. In this way Descartes sought to establish a system of truth that was uncluttered and unfettered by traditions and dogma. But he recognized that he had to start somewhere—there had to be some irrefutable truths to form the basis for his philosophy.

To establish this basis he worked backward down the chains of cause and effect. He finally boiled down his philosophical starting place to three principles:

There can be no doubt of the existence of the doubter—cognito ergo sum—(Latin for “I think, therefore I am.”)
Reason itself cannot be doubted since reason is the basis for the Method of Doubt.
Because reason exists, God must exist, and God guarantees that reason is not misguided.

Descartes, who came from a devout Roman Catholic family, nevertheless believed in God only from a philosophical standpoint—he apparently never made it to faith in Jesus Christ. He rejected the Bible as a source of Divine revelation. Many of Descartes’ contemporaries considered him to be a Deist—one who believes that God created the universe, but plays no active role in its workings beyond the initial creative act.

Descartes rejected the notion of Divine revelation and considered reason to be the only reliable path to truth. So starting from this premise, when he considered the existence of man, he concluded that mental function—thought—was the only real evidence that he existed at all—cognito ergo sum—“I think, therefore I am.” And the best he could do with God was the circular argument that reason demands a God, and God is the source of reason.

God Must Reveal Himself

René Descartes attempted to reason his way to absolute truth without establishing his philosophical base in Divine revelation. But all such attempts are doomed to failure. You might as well try to rise from the ground by pulling on your own shoelaces. God must initiate all discourse with man—man can never find his own way to God.

The Apostle Paul referred to this fact in his famous Mars Hill discourse as recorded in Acts chapter 17. In verses 24 through 27 Paul aptly states the problem that man has in trying to seek God on his own:

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us …”

Acts 17:24-27

Notice that statement “… if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him …” The construction of this phrase in the original Greek text includes what is known as a fourth class conditional clause—this is one of the few verses in the New Testament where the fourth class condition appears. The Greek fourth class condition expresses a hypothetical situation that is extremely improbable or even impossible, no matter how much one may wish for it to be true. Essentially it says “if—I wish it were true, but it isn’t”. In an expanded translation this statement could be rendered, “… that they would seek God, as if it were possible to find Him by groping for Him …”

No, God cannot be found by any effort of man. The best we can do is know He exists—and even that understanding He has given to us:

“… because that which is known about God is evident within them [men]; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made …” ~Rom. 1:19-20.

For all the blind groping of secular philosophy for truth, God has graciously revealed truth to mankind. Indeed, man knowing the truth is a prime necessity for man to be truly a free moral agent:

“… and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” ~John 8:32.

God has revealed truth in many ways throughout the long history of His dealings with mankind, but when Jesus Christ came into the world He became God’s mouthpiece for the communication of truth:

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son …” ~Heb. 1:1-2a.

“For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” ~John 18:37b.

And now that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us (Rom 8:34), we have the Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16) which is the Word of God contained in the Bible, and to guarantee that we interpret it correctly we have the Holy Spirit as our mentor and guide (John 14:16, John 16:13).

Indeed God has graciously revealed truth to us, and He has done this because truth—Veracity—is an intrinsic part of his being. So let us now explore what the Scriptures have to say about the God of Truth.

Veracity and the Divine Nature

At the beginning of this series on the attributes of God we listed certain qualities and attributes of God. One of these was that God is Absolute. We stated that God is perfection itself. Part of the concept of perfection is that perfect God contains no hint of untruth or falsehood. The whole concept of falsehood implies imperfection, so it cannot exist in perfect God. To look at it from the other direction, pure truth admits no imperfection because it is pure, so perfect God must express only perfect truth. This is what is meant when we speak of God’s Veracity.

The word “veracity” comes from the Latin, veracitas, “truthfulness”, which is related to veritas, “truth”. Both words comes from the root verus, meaning “true”. It is where we get our intensive word “very”, and is also the root of the word “verily”, which was used extensively in the King James translation of the New Testament for the word “amen”—a word brought over from the Hebrew meaning “surely”, “faithfulness”, “truly”, carrying with it the connotation of truth and certainty.

All three Members of the Godhead share the same perfections, including the perfection of Veracity or absolute truth:

The Father: “This is eternal life, that they may know You [the Father], the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” ~John 17:3.
Jesus Christ, the Son: “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” ~John 14:6
The Holy Spirit: “It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” ~1 John 5:6c

No Falsehood in God

Because falsehood is deviation from perfection, Veracity allows no untruth, falsehood, or unrighteousness in the Persons of God or in any of their expressions toward each other or toward their creation, including angels and man. The Scriptures expressed this when the prophet Jeremiah contrasted idols to the true God:

“But they [idol makers and worshippers] are altogether stupid and foolish In their discipline of delusion—their idol is wood! … But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.”

~Jeremiah 10:8, 10

The Scriptures always speak of God as righteous and just and exclude any hint or expression of untruth, in contrast to men:

“God is not a man, that He should lie …”

“Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”

~Numbers 23:19a; 1 Samuel 15:29

Indeed, the Scriptures declare that not only does God not lie, it is impossible for Him to do so:

“Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago …”

~Titus 1:1-2

And the author of Hebrews affirms this:

“… so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”

~Hebrews 6:18

Those who would attack the Scriptures and the God they proclaim sometimes point to Jeremiah chapter 20 in an effort to show that God lies when it suits Him—

“O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived …” ~Jeremiah 20:7a

But this attempt, like all such attempts, fails miserably. When we consider the whole context of Jeremiah 20 we see that the prophet, who is extremely burdened and upset at the degree of calamity that God is about to bring upon the people of Judah, is expressing his dismay at the reaction he is getting from them as he tries to warn of impending Divine discipline. He is not claiming that God has deceived him, he is saying that the message God is requiring him to deliver is making him appear silly in the eyes of his hearers. “To be made silly” is one of the meanings of the verb pâthâh [פּתה — pronounced paw-THAW], which is translated in this verse as “deceive”.

But then in verse 9 Jeremiah confesses that his desire to keep this distressing message to himself and escape the scorn and ridicule of his countrymen,

“… becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.”

And then in verse 13 he proclaims,

“Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD! For He has delivered the soul of the needy one from the hand of evildoers.”

This is hardly the attitude of one who feels that God has lied to him.

Veracity – God’s Most Important Attribute?

The Veracity of God is an integral part of His Being. In fact it may be fairly said that of all of the ten attributes we have adopted as describing the essence of God, Veracity is the most essential to His existence. It is a fundamental aspect of the other nine:

God is truly sovereign—he rules the universe in truth, His very name is linked with truth in hundreds of passages of Scripture. Here are just a few:

2 Sam. 7:28a – “Now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are truth …”.

Psa. 31:5 – “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.”

Isa. 65:16 – “Because he who is blessed in the earth will be blessed by the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth will swear by the God of truth …”

John 4:24 – “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Rom 1:25 – “For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.”

2 Thess. 2:13 – “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”

God is perfect righteousness and justice—and as such He is the ultimate judge in the earth: Gen 8:25; Psa. 50:4; 82:8, and many more. And all of God’s judgments are firmly based in truth—He judges in righteousness and truth:

Psa. 19:9 – “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.”

Rev. 16:7 – “And I heard the altar saying, ‘Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.’”

God is love, and His love is based in His truth and inextricably linked with it:

Psa. 57:10 – “For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds.”

Psa. 85:10 – “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

2 John 1:3 – “Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.”

God is eternal life, and His truth is forever:

Psa. 111:7, 8 – “The works of His hands are truth and justice; all His precepts are sure. They are upheld forever and ever; they are performed in truth and uprightness.”

Psa. 117:2 – “For His lovingkindness is great toward us, and the truth of the LORD is everlasting. Praise the LORD!”

Psa. 119:160 – “The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.”

God’s infinite ability—His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence—are wielded in the cause of truth:

1 Cor 1:18 – “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it [the word of truth] is the power of God.”

1 Cor. 1:24 – “but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom [truth] of God.”

2 Cor. 6:7 – “… in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left …”

And God’s perfect truth does not change (God’s immutability):

Psa. 132:11 – “The LORD has sworn to David a truth from which He will not turn back: ‘Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne …’”

2 John 1:2 – “… for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever …”

Psa. 119:89 – “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.”

God’s Attitude Toward Falsehood

Given that truth underlies every aspect of God’s being, it should not come as a shock when we discover what is God’s attitude toward liars and falsehood. But in case we still have not made that connection, God has given us ample evidence in His word of truth.

“What is desirable in a man is his kindness, And it is better to be a poor man than a liar.” ~ Prov. 19:22

In the Old Testament God condemned false prophets:

“So My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord GOD.” ~Ezek. 13:9

From the very beginning of His dealings with Israel God prohibited telling lies about others:

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” ~Exodus 20:16, Deuteronomy 5:20

The Lord prescribed harsh penalties against perjurers—those who lied under oath. For example if a man falsely accused another with the intent that he would have the other man put to death, then he himself was liable for the death penalty:

“If a malicious witness rises up against a man to accuse him of wrongdoing, then both the men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who will be in office in those days. The judges shall investigate thoroughly, and if the witness is a false witness and he has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him just as he had intended to do to his brother. Thus you shall purge the evil from among you.”

~Deuteronomy 19:16-19

In the Proverbs a list is made of the top seven things God hates. Not surprisingly lies figure prominently in the list being mentioned twice, the first time ahead of murder!

“There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.”

~Proverbs 6:16-19

In the Gospel of John Jesus reveals that God considers liars on a par with murderers, and in other places He ties lies and falsehoods with murder:

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” `John 8:44

“You [God] destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.” ~Psalm 5:6

How Should We Then Live?

Truth is what is real. God is the ultimate reality, and so it should not surprise us that God’s Veracity is the most fundamental aspect of His essence. Everything that God is and that He does is stamped with the unmistakable seal of truth. Every human being that has ever lived, is living now, and who ever will live, will ultimately come face to face with the God of truth in judgment. And all of our devices, lies, cover-ups, our shadings and bendings of the truth will be burned away by the pure white light of the Truth that is God, and they will be revealed for what they truly are: cheap, base, shoddy, mean, and useless—the sad attempts of fallen creatures to justify their own perverse lives.

God gave us His truth in the Law of Moses—His commandments as to how we should conduct ourselves before Him. And the truth is that we—all of us members of fallen, depraved humanity—cannot possibly keep the commandments of the Mosaic Law, as the Apostle Paul so effectively demonstrated in the 7th chapter of Romans. Yes, God is just in condemning us for breaking His commandments. But He is also gracious to save those who will accept His salvation in the person of Jesus Christ.

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. For the Law [God’s truth in the Old Testament that condemns us] was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ [God’s truth in the New Testament that saves us].”

~John 1:14, 17

So within the truth of God is both condemnation and salvation. For us who have accepted God’s saving solution to the problem of sin that saves us, the question remains “… how should we then live?”(Ezek. 33:10, KJV). During His temptation in the desert our Lord Himself answered that question for us in His reply to Satan (Matt. 4:4) when He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 —

“… man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”

We will live as God would have us to live when we:

Redeem the time God has given us in our lives, taking God’s Word of Truth—the very Mind of Christ—and transferring it from words on the pages of the Bible to mental comprehension in our minds.
Metabolize that Word of Truth by accepting and believing it, and allowing the Holy Spirit to work a miracle of transformation, converting that mental comprehension—that gnosis—to spiritual comprehension—to epignosis—spiritual truth in our regenerated human spirits ready to be used in our lives.
Complete the cycle of faith by applying this epignosis comprehension to the situations God brings into our lives to test us and to grow us spiritually.
And keep doing this again and again, over and over, little by little letting the Grand Potter of the universe shape the clay of our lives into a Divine work of transcendent beauty that shows the world what Jesus looks like!

We have described this cycle of faith often during this series on Basic Bible Doctrine; it has been one of the primary messages we have tried to impart to you, the reader. It is the key to living the Christian life—the method God uses to sanctify us here on earth so that we become fit citizens of heaven in the next phase of our eternal lives. When we follow His plan for us, faithfully and consistently for the rest of our Christian lives, when we at last stand before His Judgment Throne, having lived our lives according to the truth of God, we will at last hear our Lord Jesus Christ declare:

“Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

~Matthew 25:21, 23

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, that You have shown us truth—the very essence of who You are. We began in this life, fallen children of fallen parents, groping for whatever panaceas might deliver us from the evil conditions of our fallen world, seeking for the truth, but with no hope of ever finding it. But in Your love and grace toward us You have shared Truth—your very essence—with us, and lifted us from the mire of our fallen existence to share eternal life with You.

So thank You for Your truth that has saved us, that has freed us from our slavery to sin and opened the door to an unimaginable wonderful eternity with You. Bless this study and sanctify the things we have learned that we might be more perfectly conformed to the image of our Savior Jesus Christ, for it is in His name we ask it, amen.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics 19 – Our Unchanging God

john — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 03:04:30 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Nineteen: Our Unchanging God

Biblical immutability is a difficult concept for a lot of people. It is one of the most seemingly self-contradictory attributes of God—even the Bible appears to contradict itself in places where the immutability or unchangeableness of God is concerned. For example, the Lord says of Himself in Malachi 3:6a, “For I, the LORD, do not change …” And 1st Samuel 15:29—“Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.” And yet in places the Bible seems to indicate that from time to time God does change His attitude toward people.

For example, Genesis 6:6—“The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” And Jeremiah 26:13—“Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you.”

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Nineteen:

Our Unchanging God

by John McReynolds

As is our custom in these studies, before we begin we again remind you to be sure that you are cleansed of sin and filled with the Holy Spirit. This is especially important as we study the essence and the attributes of God. Understanding the essence and nature of God is particularly difficult, and it can only be done in the filling of the Holy Spirit. So with that in mind, be sure you have confessed all your known sins to the Father per 1 John 1:9 before you continue:

Thank You Father for the opportunity to study what You have revealed to us about Yourself. Give us grace to aid in our understanding as we undertake this challenging subject, for we ask it in Christ’s name—amen.

We are now going to take up the study of God’s Immutability. When we say that God is Immutable we are saying that He does not change. In 1828 Noah Webster defined immutability as follows: “Unchangeableness; the quality that renders change or alteration impossible; invariableness. Immutability is an attribute of God.”

However contradictory these verses appear, when we see what the Scriptures actually say about God’s unchanging character, not only will these apparent contradictions melt away, we will have a new sense of peace and confidence in the promises of God. But before we begin looking at what the Bible has to tell us about our unchanging God, let’s look at what the idea of change means within the culture of mankind.

Change Is Inevitable

“Change is inevitable. Change is constant.” So said the famous 19th century British statesman Benjamin Disraeli. I suspect that you could find very few people of average or above intelligence and a normal degree of sanity who would upon reflection disagree with Disraeli’s observation. Even the most casual observer of the human condition is finally forced to conclude that of all the varied aspects of life, the fact that it changes is the most inescapable. Some changes are gradual, some are abrupt. Some are of marginal consequence, and some are profound. But the fact remains that many changes occur in all different areas of of our lives, until that ultimate transition from life to death.

Hope and Change

Every couple of years in this country the airways are bombarded with appeals from political candidates calling for a different direction and promising wonderful changes if only the electorate will put them into whatever office they are running for, and putting the incumbent in the unemployment line. What they forget—or at least what they hope the voter will forget—is that the incumbent originally got into office on the basis of essentially the same promises.

Recently the office of President was filled by a person who as a candidate promised “Hope and Change”. Two years later economic conditions have prompted a number of sarcastic plays on that slogan: “How’s that ‘Hope and Change’ working for you?” Or, “I just ‘Hope’ to have even a little ‘Change’ in my pocket at the end of the day!” Or “You can keep your Hope—I’d rather just keep my Change, thank you!” The truth to be told, however, had his opponent won the election it is likely that he too would have failed to prevent the economic crisis that has resulted in disillusion with the current president.

Change is Good …

As a part of preparing this lesson I researched the concept of “change” and what many thinkers and men of letters have had to say on the subject. The results were illuminating to say the least. Many—especially those of the 19th century—were of the opinion that all that has passed for progress in mankind has been ultimately good—that through the process of change man is becoming something better and greater than he has been:

“Progress is The law of life, man is not Man as yet.” ~Robert Browning

Like most children of the “Enlightenment” who embraced the new concept of evolution they saw all life as a struggle toward a higher level of being:

“Like plants in mines, which never saw the sun, But dream of him, and guess where he may be, And do the best to climb, and get to him.” ~Robert Browning

“All things journey: sun and moon, Morning, noon, and afternoon, Night and all her stars; ‘Twixt the east and western bars Round they journey, Come and go! We go with them!” ~George Eliot

“And striving to be Man, the worm Mounts through all the spires of form.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

And by progress eventually consuming evil within a much greater good:

“From lower to the higher next,

Not to the top, is Nature’s text;

And embryo good, to reach full stature,

Absorbs the evil in its nature.”

~James Russell Lowell

And according to this evolutionary view, life ultimately attains freedom from God:

“Progress is the process whereby the human race is getting rid of whiskers, the vermiform appendix and God.” ~H. L. Mencken

… Or Is It?

While these thinkers imagined ultimate good coming from changes within the condition of mankind, there were many others who held a more jaundiced view of “progress”:

“Is it progress if a cannibal uses knife and fork?” ~Stanislaw Lec

“What we call ‘Progress’ is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance.” ~Havelock Ellis

“Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long.” ~Ogden Nash

“Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.” ~Russell Baker

And some recognized the effect of the total depravity of mankind—even if they did not identify it as such:

“The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race—is the human race.” ~Don Marquis

Many people have learned that change is a two-edged sword:

“There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one’s position, and be bruised in a new place.” ~Washington Irving

“Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history.” ~Joan Wallach

And that change is not all it’s cracked up to be:

“We spend our time searching for security and hate it when we get it.” ~John Steinbeck

“The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down.” ~Jawaharlal Nehru

“I put a dollar in one of those change machines. Nothing changed.” ~George Carlin

“Change is inevitable—except from a vending machine.” ~Robert C. Gallagher

And, paradoxically, even when we know that changes are necessary, we resist them:

“If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” ~Woodrow Wilson

“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.” ~W. Edwards Deming

“We would rather be ruined than changed; We would rather die in our dread Than climb the cross of the moment And let our illusions die.” ~W.H. Auden

“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof.” ~John Kenneth Galbraith

Change as Part of the Christian Experience

And even from the Christian perspective, when faced with the need for our lives to change we are confronted with the difficulties posed by change:

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

“I find then the principle that evil is present in me—the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” ~The Apostle Paul, Romans 7:18-24

“God, grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; Courage to change the things I can; And wisdom to know the difference.” ~Reinhold Niebuhr—The Serenity Prayer

“God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it’s me.” ~Author Unknown

Interestingly, some secular writers grasped a deep fundamental spiritual truth: For the most profound and lasting changes, something—or someone—must die and something—or someone—must be reborn:

“All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” ~Anatole France

Compare that statement to what Jesus said:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” ~John 12:24

And to what the Apostle Paul said:

“Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” ~Romans 6:11-13

I remember once hearing someone say that Christians are the most conflicted people in the world, being faced with that awful inner battle that Paul describes in Romans chapter 7. I can personally testify to the truth of that statement. As members of the Body of Christ our own personal lives have become the battleground of the Angelic Conflict, and that fact is the most frustrating aspect of the Christian experience. As Paul lamented in Romans 7:24, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” But praise God for the answer in chapter 7 verse 25, and the following verses in chapter 8:

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.” ~Rom. 7:25; 8:1-2

Jesus Christ has solved the sin problem once and for all. In taking upon Himself the sins of all mankind He has freed us from the tyranny of the endless cycles of changes in our lives. And while we cannot escape the changes that must inevitably come to us in this life, because of the unchanging character and essence of God, we can experience blessings through the changes that God intends for us to undergo as a part of His conforming us to the image of Christ. So now let us look at that consistent, unchanging aspect of God’s essence—His Immutability.

Can God Change?

The answer is that it depends on how you look at God. If you view God from the standpoint of His essence, His attributes, and His character, the answer is no—He cannot. As we have seen, we here on earth change constantly—sometimes for the better, probably more often for the worse. But since God is perfect in all of His ways and attributes, any change in His essence would be for the worse, and for Him that cannot be. So one of the fundamental aspects of His nature must be that in order to remain God He does not change, He needs not change, and indeed He cannot change.

Nevertheless the manner in which He relates to mankind can and does change—at least from mankind’s perspective. Actually even in that respect He really does not change—it’s just that different aspects of His character are in view at different times, and He only appears to change, as we will see as we progress in this study. So now let’s look at some of the scriptures that tell of His unchanging essence.

God’s Unchanging Essence

With respect to His attributes, personality, and character God does not change:

“Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end.” ~Psa. 102:26-27

“For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” ~Mal. 3:6

“And like a mantle You will roll them up; like a garment they will also be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end.” ~Heb. 1:12

This unchanging nature is reflected in God’s absolute stability:

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.” ~Isa. 40:28

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” ~James 1:17

Because of God’s immutability neither the Word of God nor the works of God change:

“Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.” ~Psa. 119:89

“I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.” ~Eccl. 3:14

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” ~Isaiah 40:8

God’s immutability is at the core of His absolute faithfulness and lovingkindness:

“Your lovingkindness, O LORD, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” ~Psa. 36:5

“But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness.” ~Psalm 89:33

“Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands.” ~Psalm 119:90

“The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.” ~Lamentations 3:22-23

Because of God’s faithfulness, which rests in the immutability of His Person, we can be absolutely confident that He will keep His promises:

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” ~Numbers 23:19

“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant.” ~1 Kings 8:56

“For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.” ~2 Cor. 1:20

“… in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago…” ~Titus 1:2

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful…” ~Hebrews 10:23

“By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.” ~Hebrews 11:11

Because He is God—one of the Members of the Divine Trinity—Jesus Christ is immutable and faithful in all His ways:

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.” ~Hebrews 3:2-3

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” ~Hebrews 13:8

“… Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.” ~Revelation 1:5

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.” ~Revelation19:11

Immutability and the Believer

God is Faithful to Forgive Us

Now let’s look at the applications of God’s immutability that we can make in our own Christian walk. Many believers, struggling with sin issues in their lives, needlessly succumb to discouragement and despair over their inability to stop sinning. This is because they have forgotten—if they ever understood it to begin with—that God is faithful to forgive us when we sin. That famous verse in the little book of First John tells us:

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” ~1 John 1:9

Of course we have a part in this. The phrase “If we confess our sins …” in this passage is what is known in the Greek as a third class conditional clause, which basically means “maybe we will confess, maybe we won’t”—it is up to us. But if we do confess our sins to the Father, His immutable nature guarantees that He will forgive us—every time—no matter how many times we lapse into sin.

Now this is not a license to sin. God doesn’t grant us the freedom to sin just because He promises to clean us up when we do. We don’t have to repent to be cleansed of sin, but we do have to repent to recover from sin. If we have been thrashing around in the hog wallow of sin and we stand up and get the filth hosed off of us, it does no good if we just lie back down in the muck. We have to turn around and walk away from the pig sty. This takes an act of the will—an act of volition—and it involves more deliberate effort than just standing up and getting hosed off.

Recovery from sin involves both confession of sin (standing up and getting hosed off) and repentance of sin (turning around and walking away from the pig pen). We have covered this concept of recovery from sin in earlier lessons, so we’ll not spend any more time on it here.

God is Faithful to Secure Us

Another fear that many Christians succumb to—often related to the inability to stop sinning as described above—is fear of losing their salvation. But just as God is faithful to save us when we confess our faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, He is also faithful to keep us saved for all eternity—and that includes keeping us saved through all the failures we experience in life. Look at this passage in the Gospel of John:

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” ~John 10:27-30

And this one from 2nd Timothy:

“If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us [the privilege of reigning with Him]; If we are faithless, He remains faithful [in securing us for all eternity], for He cannot deny Himself.” ~2 Timothy 2:12-13

Eternal security is one of the most well-established doctrines in the Bible. No believer should ever fret about whether he has lost his salvation. God’s immutability will not allow Him to change our saved status because “… He cannot deny Himself.” Jesus must be faithful to us because He poured His own life into us—and that guarantees our eternal security:

“I have been crucified with Christ [at the point of salvation]; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” ~Galatians 2:20

God is Faithful to See Us Through

God’s immutable faithfulness will always see us through times of trouble, pressure, and temptation. No matter what the problem is, God provides the solution for it—in fact He provided the solution in eternity past before He ever created man.

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.” ~1 Corinthians 10:13

Yes, God is faithful to see us through any and all of life’s difficulties. But God wants us to respond to His faithfulness with our own faith. In providing His divine solution God seldom—if ever—provides it in the way we would expect Him to, or even the way we would want Him to. Most often in difficult situations the answers to our pressing problems come in a form we could not have possibly imagined. He wants us to look to Him for the solution and call on Him in prayer.

“Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.” ~1 Peter 4:19

And He will answer—just likely not in the way we would expect.

“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” ~Jeremiah 33:3

When it comes to deliverance from life’s hard situations God’s timing very often is not as we expect or want it to be. Usually He brings difficulty into our lives, not so that He can just take it away from us, but so that He can take us through it and bring us out the other side more refined and purified than when we went in.

The process of refining gold involves subjecting the impure ore to extreme conditions to separate the impurities from the precious metal. This requires extremely hot temperatures that melt the gold and cause the impurities to separate or burn away. It is not a comfortable process, nor especially quick. God may seem slow to us from our perspective in time, but from the perspective of eternity—which we will spend with Him—the refining process does not take long at all.

“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” ~2 Peter 3:9

Nevertheless, it can be a frustrating process for us. But that is why we must focus on God’s character and promises as we allow Him to operate in our lives, cleaning us up and purifying us. Job, who is the Biblical poster boy when it comes to suffering, understood this as he waited patiently for God to take him through his extreme distress:

“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him; When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him; He turns on the right, I cannot see Him. But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” ~Job 23:8-10

God is indeed faithful to see us through. And He is faithful to stabilize the believer in these pressure situations.

“But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.” ~2 Thessalonians 3:3

God is Faithful to Provide for Us in Eternity

And just as God is faithful to save us, and to secure us, and to cleanse us, and to see us through life’s difficulties, He is faithful to provide for us in eternity.

“Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” ~1 Thessalonians 5:24

Human imagination is not able to conceive the wonders God has reserved for those who have believed on the name of the only begotten Son of the Father, and who have developed true love for Him through growth to spiritual maturity in the Word.

“But 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.” ~1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)

So then it is the fact of God’s immutability that provides all of the security and stability in our lives. It is the basis for our salvation, it is the basis for our eternal security, it is the basis for blessings in time, and the basis for incredible blessings in eternity. It is the basis for God sustaining the life of every person on earth—even those who hate God. The reason why all people on earth—believers and unbelievers alike—have food to eat, water to drink, and air to breath, is because God is a God whose nature it is to bless. It is always His nature to be a blessing, gifting God because He is immutable in His essence. And it is His immutability that is the foundation of our God’s incomprehensible faithfulness. The hymnwriter Thomas O. Chisholm got it exactly right in that wonderful hymn he penned in 1923, Great Is Thy Faithfulness:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

As we leave the year 2010 and enter into 2011 we may be tempted to view the coming year with a certain amount of dread and foreboding. But God is faithful to His children, and He is faithful because He is immutable. His character and attributes cannot change, and that provides us with the ability to live the Christian life with maximum stability and confidence, because we know the unchanging God of the universe is on our side.

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, that You have revealed to us the perfection of your character and attributes. Knowing even a little of who You are gives us confidence to live by faith—even as You have said in your word, “… the just shall live by faith.” So thank You for displaying Your immutable nature to us so that we can face this world with lack of fear and the confident expectation of your grace and mercy, rewards and blessings.

Thank you Father for your word. May it be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Bless now this study and sanctify the things we have learned to conform us more perfectly to the image of Your dear Son, for it is in His name we ask it, amen.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics 18 – The Infinite Ability of God

john — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 12:50:56 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Eighteen: The Infinite Ability of God

God is everywhere. He is everywhere there is to be. Right now I’m sitting here typing in these words. You are somewhere out there, in places I don’t know, doing things I can’t see, thinking thoughts or saying words I can’t hear. And we are separated by time as well as space. By the time you read these words I am no longer typing them—I have finished.

But God is watching me type these words, and at the same time He is watching you read them. God can do this because He is present exactly where I am, and He is also present exactly where you are. In fact I don’t think it would be inaccurate to say that God is closer to us than we are to ourselves! But someone might say, “Wait a minute! You already wrote this, but I’m just now reading it. God could have moved from where you are to where I am in the meantime!”

It doesn’t matter if a week or a month or a year separate when I wrote it and when you read it. God is timeless—it’s all the same to Him.

“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day”—2 Pet. 3:8.

This issue of God’s omnipresence doesn’t just cover distance and space. When we think of omnipresence we tend to think it only means that God is everywhere—but it also means that God is everywhen, too! God is present at every point of space and time in the universe.

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Eighteen:

The Infinite Ability of God

by John McReynolds

“God is spirit, and those that worship Him must worship in Spirit and in truth.” So says the Gospel of John, chapter 4, verse 24. Our Lord has provided the means whereby we can be assured of the filling of the Holy Spirit by confession of our sins as per 1 John 1:9—“If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So let’s take this opportunity to confess our known sins if necessary and to otherwise to prepare our hearts for the study of the Word of God. Let us pray:

Thank You, Father, for another grace opportunity to take in your wonderful Word. May God the Holy Spirit take the truths we are studying and make them a source of blessing, growth and challenge in our lives that we might be built up spiritually and that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ might be glorified, for we ask it in His name—amen.

He Is Able

There is a praise song that expresses the aspect of God’s essence that we are going to take up now—“He Is Able”:

He is able, more than able
to accomplish what concerns me today.
He is able, more than able
to handle anything that comes my way.
He is able, more than able
to do much more than I could ever dream,
He is able, more than able,
to make me what He wants me to be.

This song is expressing God’s infinite ability to do whatever pleases Him. It is this ability we are going to attempt to explore in this lesson.

One of the best Biblical descriptions of God’s awesome abilities was written by King David over 3,000 years ago in the 139th Psalm. I’m going to quote it at length, so please open your Bibles to Psalm 139. Beginning with verse one listen to this wonderful expression of God’s limitless understanding, presence and power:

… O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,”

Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.
For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You,
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me,
O God! How vast is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

Divine ability can be considered a composite of three attributes of God by which God is able to accomplish all things that He pleases. Anything His sovereign will pleases to do, His infinite abilities enable Him to do. God is able to do whatever He pleases because:

His infinite understanding comprehends exactly and completely what He needs to do down to the most infinitesimally small detail. We refer to this attribute as God’s Omniscience.
His immanent, transcendent nature places Him simultaneously at every location in time and space, so that He is always exactly where He needs to be to immediately accomplish His will. This complements both His infinite understanding and his infinite power. We call this His Omnipresence.
His infinite power enables Him to accomplish any and all of His purposed actions without reducing His infinite resources by even the tiniest amount. In theological terms this is called Omnipotence.

Psalm 139 presents aspects of all three of the attributes that comprise the infinite ability of God. As we examine these three attributes we will be looking analyzing passages in this psalm in more detail.

If you have been following this series Understanding God you may have noticed that we have been following a pattern in our studies of the characteristics of God. First we try to describe a characteristic of God in terms of His Deity in an attempt to wrap our relative, finite minds around His absolute, infinite nature.

When we fail miserably in that attempt we then try to understand the way in which that aspect of God’s nature affects us personally and try to assess its impact on our existence. Hopefully we are a little more successful at that. So in keeping with the practice we have established, we are going to first of all try to describe these three attributes of God—omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence.

Omniscience—God Is All Knowledge

The words omniscience and omniscient are from the Latin compound word omniscientia, which is made up of two Latin roots, omni, meaning all, and scientia, meaning knowledge or understanding. Literally then omniscience means “all knowledge” or “all understanding”, and omniscient means “possessing all knowledge and understanding”. When these terms are used to describe attributes of God they mean “infinite knowledge and absolute understanding”.

If you read the last lesson you may remember the statement that “… God doesn’t possess eternal life, He is eternal life.” Along those same lines we can say that God does not possess all knowledge, He is all knowledge. All of us know some things—some folks more or less than others. I know a few things, and nearly anything I can think of that I know about I had nothing to do with its existence.

For example, I live in my house. I know it pretty well, but I had nothing to do with it being here—someone else built it before we ever got into it. Oh sure, we’ve done a few things to it over the years, but nothing in comparison to the carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and bricklayers who built it long before Linda and I came to occupy it.

But God not only knows everything in the universe, He is the One who caused every one of those things to come into being. Since God is the cause of all reality, it follows that He knows all of the knowable in its entirety, and in all of it’s infinitely complex detail.

Do you know what an elementary particle is? Basically, an elementary particle is a primary building block of matter—the stuff of which all the physical universe, including our bodies, is made. All of the atoms and molecules that make up our world are composed of these elementary particles. Scientists believe there are many different kinds of these—composite particles such as protons, neutrons, and electrons—these are the ones I’m more familiar with. And then these are made up of many other even more elementary particles such as mesons, bosons, leptons, baryons, photons, neutrinos, quarks, and more. I can’t even pretend to understand any of these.

Now by a series of very obscure computations someone has estimated that there are on the order of 5.4 X 10^80 of these elementary particles in the universe (that’s 5.4 times 10 to the 80th power in scientific notation). That would be 540 with 78 zeroes, or 540 with 26 groups of three zeroes behind it. I don’t even know how to say a number that large. Writing this number out looks like this:

540,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Human comprehension is left behind after about the 3rd or 4th set of zeroes.

Now I have no idea if that number is anywhere close to right, or if it is sheer fantasy. But it will serve to make my point. God’s omniscience not only knew exactly how many of these elementary particles there were at the moment He created them—whether there were 5.4 X 10^80 or vastly more—but he knows where each individual one has been at every moment since creation. He knows where each individual one will be from now until the end of time. He knows every atom that each of these particles make up, and how those atoms combine together—some of them forming the strands of DNA that make up the stuff of physical life, and He knows all of the interactions they will undergo between now and the end of time. And He knows all of this in His real time, which views everything as one vast, eternal now.

If God’s infinite intellect comprehends all of this, it is absolutely no problem for Him knowing the affairs and interactions of each human on this little planet located in an average-sized star system on the edge of a modestly sized galaxy that is one of perhaps trillions of others that are all contained within God’s infinitely comprehensive understanding.

And of course this is the point of this little exercise—God in His omniscience knows you and I, and all of our affairs and issues, far better than we will ever know ourselves. And God comprehends all of this vast complexity without diminishing His resources by the tiniest amount—without “breaking a sweat” as it were.

And isn’t this what Psalm 139 is telling us?

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

God knows it all. There are many more Scriptures telling us of God’s omniscience. Here are just a few that show different aspects of God’s omniscience:

God knows all that is knowable

1 Sam 2:3—“Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; For the LORD is a God of knowledge, And with Him actions are weighed.”

2 Chron. 16:9a—“For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.”

Job 26:6—“Naked is Sheol [the grave] before Him, and Abaddon [Hades] has no covering.”

Job 31:4—“Does He not see my ways And number all my steps?”

Heb. 4:13—“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”

Matt. 10:29-30—“Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”

We cannot hide our sins from God

Job 34:21-22—“For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, and He sees all his steps. There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”

Jer. 16:17—“For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes.”

1 Sam 16:7b—“for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

God’s wisdom and understanding are limitless

Psa 147:4-5—“He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.”

Prov. 3:19-20—“The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens. By His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the skies drip with dew.”

Jer. 51:15—“It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom, And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.”

God’s omniscience includes foreknowledge

Isa 46:9-10—“Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure …’”

Acts 2:23—“… this Man [Jesus Christ], delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

Matt. 6:8b—“… for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”

As God the Lord Jesus Christ is omniscient

Matt. 9:4—“And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?”

John 2:24-25—“But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”

Peter recognized that Jesus was omniscient: John 21:17—“He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, "Do you love Me?" And he said to Him, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep.”

We can take comfort in His omniscience

God knows what He wants us to be: Job 23:10—“But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

God knows exactly what we need: Matt. 6:31-33—“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

God wants us to understand His will and His ways in our lives: James 1:5—“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

We can understand what is God’s wisdom, and what is not: James 3:17—“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.”

Omnipresence—God Is Everywhere

The words omnipresence and omnipresent are similar to omniscience. Here again we have two Latin roots: omni, again meaning “all”, and praesens, which means exactly what the English version “presence” means. So essentially omnipresent means “all present” or “everywhere present”, while omnipresence refers to the quality or attribute of “being everywhere present”.

It doesn’t matter if a week or a month or a year separate when I wrote it and when you read it. God is timeless—it’s all the same to Him.

“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day”—2 Pet. 3:8.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

Immanence and Transcendence—what are those?

Well, God must be awfully big to be able to do that! But don’t get the idea that God’s omnipresence means that God is merely infinitely large. There is another aspect to the omnipresence of God. God is said by theologians to be immanent and transcendent. Immanent means that God exists everywhere in His entirety at every point in His creation. Transcendent means that God extends infinitely beyond His creation, and cannot be contained, even partially, by it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.

Notice that this phrase says, “You are there.” It doesn’t say, “Your big toe is there.” If I lay down on my bed I cannot claim that I am entirely at all points where I am contacting the mattress. My head is up at my pillow, my toes are somewhere down near the foot of the bed, my hands are somewhere in between—all the different parts of my body are at different locations on the bed.

But God is at every point in the universe in His entirety. His entire Person is right here where I am right now. His entire Person is right there where you are right now. And His entire Person is at every point of time and space in between. God’s entire Person pervades every aspect of time and space—that is what we mean when we say God is immanent.

The term transcendent comes from the verb transcend, which means to go or exist beyond defined limits. “Limits” in the context of the verb “transcend” generally mean limits that cannot be exceeded. An example: For years it was considered physiologically impossible for a human being to run a mile in four minutes or less. Yet in May 1957 a young medical student at Oxford University named Roger Bannister broke the four minute barrier with a time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. Roger Bannister transcended the four minute barrier for milers.

In theoretical physics the speed of light is considered a physical speed barrier that is impossible to break. The speed of light in a vacuum is about 186,000 miles per second, or about 300,000 kilometers per second. Nothing in our physical universe has ever been observed exceeding the speed of light. Now science fiction is rife with stories involving faster than light space travel—very necessary if the characters are going to be flitting around the universe. In many of those stories those who developed faster than light travel were described as having transcended the speed of light barrier.

I have heard some Bible teachers say that prayer regularly breaks the light speed barrier—prayer reaches God’s ear instantly. But that’s probably not the best illustration, considering that—as we have just seen—God is right where the the prayer is being offered. In the case of prayer it doesn’t have to travel any distance at all before God hears it. God’s omniscience and omnipresence transcends all physical limitations.

So with respect to God’s created universe God is said to infinitely transcend it. In other words God extends infinitely beyond the universe. Now this doesn’t at all mean that God simply spills over the boundaries of the universe—that is not what’s in view here. To say that you would have to say that part of God is contained in the universe and part of Him is outside the universe. This is not correct.

We used to have a sweet dog named Maddie—she was a Staffordshire Terrier, and a fairly good sized one at that. At her full adult size she was about 80 pounds. The problem with Maddie was that she had no idea how big she was. She regularly tried to climb up into our laps when we were sitting around the living room, the way she did when she was just a little puppy. We had bought a large round doggie bed for her, and another small round doggie bed for our poodle, Sophie.

For some reason Maddie got it into her head that Sophie had the better bed, so she would always try to get into her much smaller bed—with predictable results. It was comical to watch her try to fit herself into Sophie’s bed. No matter how small she tried to coil herself up, there was always a substantial part of Maddie overflowing onto the floor. Sophie would finally give up and trundle over to Maddie’s bed to sleep.

That is not what is meant by Divine transcendence. God does not “spill out of the universe” like Maddie spilled out of Sophie’s bed. When we say God is transcendent we mean that God is infinitely higher than His creation; that He extends infinitely beyond it, and that He cannot be contained—even partially—by it. King Solomon understood this about God, as he indicated during his dedication of the temple he had built for God.

“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

So we see that God is immanent—He is simultaneously, in His entirety, at every point of the universe. Yet He is also transcendent—He is infinitely beyond His created universe, and He is not contained by the universe. This is one of those Divine paradoxes that cannot be resolved logically. For us it seems impossible that God could exist in His entirety at all points in His creation and at the same time not be contained by it. Yet these are the logical conclusions of the concepts God presents to us about Himself in His word.

Here are more Scriptures that speak of God’s omnipresence:

God is immanent in the universe

Jer. 23:23-24—“‘Am I a God who is near,’ declares the LORD, ‘and not a God far off? Can a man hide himself in hiding places so I do not see him?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?’ declares the LORD.”

Acts 17:26-27—“… and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us …”

No part of the universe can contain God

1 Kings 8:27—“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!”

Acts 17:24—“… He is Lord of heaven and earth, [and] does not dwell in temples made with hands …”

God’s throne is heaven and the earth His footstool.

Deut. 4:39—“Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”

Isa. 66:1—“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”

Man cannot escape the presence of God.

Job. 34:21,22—“For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps. There is no darkness or deep shadow Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”

Psalm 139:7-10—“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me.”

Prov. 15:3—“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good.”

The presence of God is a comfort to believers

Gen. 28:15—“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Josh. 1:9—“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Ex. 33:14—“And [God] said, "My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Psalm 121:3,4—“He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.”

Matt. 18:20—“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

1 Cor. 3:16—“Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

Heb. 13:5—“Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you …”

Omnipotence—God Is All-Powerful

Just like the words omnipresence and omniscience, we again have a compound word with two Latin roots: omni, meaning “all”, plus potens, which means power. Potens is where we get our word potent, which of course means powerful. So essentially omnipotent means “all-powerful”, and omnipotence refers to the quality or attribute of “being all-powerful”.

What this means in essence is that God is able to do anything that he purposes to do. Anything that God in His omniscience desires to accomplish, he can do anywhere He pleases in His omnipresence, by means of His omnipotence.

Now when we think of power we often think in terms of great massive machinery such as huge earth scooping shovels or giant cranes able to lift many tons. A number of years ago when I was on a consulting job I worked for a while at a fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas near Corpus Christi. They made giant offshore oil platforms there. It often took two or three years to build one of those gigantic platforms, and when they were ready to put them in place they had to load them onto multiple barges and float them down the Intercoastal Canal and out into the Gulf of Mexico.

To load these huge structures that were often 100 feet or more in height required a truly colossal crane capable of lifting many hundreds of tons. The one they had towered several hundred feet in the air and was capable of lifting 4,000 tons. There were dozens of lifting cables, each one as thick as a man’s thigh that stretched a quarter of a mile behind the main vertical structure of the crane to where the lifting winches were located. The size and power of that machine truly boggled the mind.

God established the laws of nature …

Of course such an arrogant display of horsepower shrinks to nothing beside the power that can be marshaled by the One who hung the stars and planets in their place and started the galaxies spinning. The Book of Job in chapter 38 verses 4 through 11 records something of the power of God in the creation of the earth:

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,
Who set its measurements, since you know?
Or who stretched the line on it?
On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
When the morning stars sang together
And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Or who enclosed the sea with doors
When, bursting forth, it went out from the womb;
When I made a cloud its garment
And thick darkness its swaddling band,
And I placed boundaries on it
And set a bolt and doors,
And I said, ‘Thus far you shall come, but no farther;
And here shall your proud waves stop’?

More passages in Job tell of His infinite power, such as Job 26:7-14—

He stretches out the north over empty space
And hangs the earth on nothing.
He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
And the cloud does not burst under them.
He obscures the face of the full moon
And spreads His cloud over it.
He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters
At the boundary of light and darkness.
The pillars of heaven tremble
And are amazed at His rebuke.
He quieted the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He shattered Rahab [the proud].
By His breath the heavens are cleared;
His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.
Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;
And how faint a word we hear of Him!
But His mighty thunder, who can understand?

Of course God’s omnipotence isn’t just limited to massive power—it also includes the ability to create the most delicate of structures, as we have already seen in Psa. 139:13-15:

For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You,
For I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;

And not only is God’s power manifest in His creative acts, He also displays it in His limitless ability to control all the forces of nature. By His command He establishes the laws of nature—Psa. 19:4-6:

“[The heavens’] line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
Its rising is from one end of the heavens,
And its circuit to the other end of them;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Deut. 11:14-15:

“… that He will give the rain for your land in its season,
The early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain
And your new wine and your oil.
He will give grass in your fields for your cattle,
And you will eat and be satisfied.”

Matt. 5:45b:

“… for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

… And what He established He can revoke.

But the same God who set the laws of nature in their place has the power to revoke them. From time to time in the history of man God has intervened supernaturally, using a reversal of the laws of nature to display His power and reveal His purpose to men, and sometimes to bring judgment on the wicked:

“Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven,”—Gen. 19:24

Through Moses, God performed the miracles of the ten plagues in Egypt culminating in the parting of the Sea of Reeds: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.”—Exo. 14:21

At Joshua’s request God caused the sun to stand still so that he could gain the victory over the Amorites, as recorded in Josh. 10:13—“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.”

God’s omnipotence was again displayed when God defended Jerusalem against the Assyrian army under Sennacherib:

“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead.”—2 Kings 19:32-35

And of course, Jesus stilled the wind and waves in Matt. 8:26; Mark 4:39; Luke 8:24—“But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm.” —Luke 8:23-24 (This was the literal fulfillment of a prophecy recorded in Psa. 107:29).

God actively sustains all of creation …

The infinite power of God is manifested not only to believers, but the unbelieving world also benefits from God’s control of nature. Again, Matt.5:45 that we quoted earlier: “… for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Many people who believe in God are under the impression that God just sort of started things off at the beginning and then just stepped back and is letting the universe wind down as it were. But that viewpoint is not what is indicated by Scripture. Col. 1:16-17 says this:

“For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

This verse is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures indicate that not only did Jesus Christ create the universe, He actively sustains it. Look at Hebrews 1:1-3:

“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He [Jesus Christ] is the radiance of His [the Father’s] glory and the exact representation of His [the Father’s] nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power …”

The word “upholds” is pheron [φέρων—pronounced FAIR-own], in the Greek. It is the present active participle of phero [φέρω—pronounced FAIR-oh], which means to bear up, uphold, or sustain. The present tense means that this upholding is a continuous action on the part of the Lord—He literally “keeps on sustaining” the universe by the word of His power.

The active voice means that He is actively engaged in sustaining the universe. He didn’t just tell the universe “Be ye sustained!” and then walk off and forget about it.

And the participle stresses the circumstances of the verse, namely that Jesus Christ is the Creator of the universe. So this verse tells us that Jesus Christ is actively, continually sustaining the universe He created.

Can you get your head around the implications of that? Jesus Christ in His omnipotence as the Second Person of the Trinity, created the universe by the word of His power. As we saw earlier this involved bringing into existence all of the roughly 5.4 X 10^80 elementary particles, assembling all of them into atoms, molecules, assembling all of these into the various galaxies, stars, planets, and all of the life forms contained therein—all of the stuff of reality.

Then He continues to hold all this stuff together, holding all of the atomic nuclei together and keeping all of the electrons whirling around the nuclei of all the atoms, and actively ensuring that all of the interactions of all of matter continues to conform to the laws of nature that He ordained—what the scientists call the laws of physics and chemistry.

This also means that during all aspects of His earthly life He was actively holding together all of the components of reality. This is a staggering thought. While Jesus was laying in a manger in Bethlehem—even before that, when we was just an embryo in Mary’s womb—He held the planets and stars in their courses. While He was hanging on the cross—bearing your sins and mine, paying the penalty of death for every one of the sins of all mankind—He held the incredible energies trapped in matter in their proper place. We have described elsewhere in this series the incredible suffering Jesus went through. Even with that unfathomable distraction He never wavered from His task of sustaining the universe.

The Lord was able to do this because of His infinite power (omnipotence), His infinite understanding (omniscience), and the fact that He is at every point in the universe (omnipresence) where there is matter to be held together. All of His “omni” characteristics are involved in His work of sustaining the universe.

The real “Big Bang” …

Now let’s look at a scientific implication of the Lord’s holding all things together. Theoretical physicists understand that something keeps the atoms together. They know that if whatever that “something” is, did not do its job that all atoms would violently fly apart. They call that “something” the strong nuclear force. In fact in the 1930’s and 1940’s scientists figured out a way to overcome this strong nuclear force in an unstable isotope of the element uranium, and the result was the atomic bomb.

They can mathematically describe this strong nuclear force and calculate how strong it has to be to keep the atoms together. These scientists postulate that this force arises from elementary particles called quarks and gluons, but they don’t have any idea what really causes it, nor can they account for its existence.

They do know, however, that if the strong nuclear force did not exist, all matter would fly apart in the mother of all nuclear explosions. Hold that thought and turn to 2 Pet. 3:10-12, which says this:

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”

Whether or not He holds things together by using quarks and gluons, or simply by the word of His power, is really not the issue. The Bible indicates in 2nd Peter that there will come a time when the Lord will relax his “strong nuclear force” grip on matter, and then we really will have the Big Bang! This event will happen at the time of the Great White Throne judgment described in Rev. 20:11 and following.

Jesus’ power—and the Christian life …

There are many more verses about God’s power over nature. But right now I want to focus on the mighty power of God that is manifest in our lives. When Jesus walked the earth He often displayed His Divine power to validate His claims of being Messiah. The Gospel’s accounts of Jesus’ miracles are many, and we could cite many of them here, but instead we’ll just cite a few that deal with Jesus’ power and authority.

The Father granted Jesus the power to forgive sins.

Matt. 9:4-7—“And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, ‘Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven,” or to say, “Get up, and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority [exousia—ἐξουσία – authority with power, force and strength] on earth to forgive sins’—then He said to the paralytic, ‘Get up, pick up your bed and go home.’ And he got up and went home.”

The Father granted Jesus the power to rise from the dead.

John 10:17-18—“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority [exousia] to lay it down, and I have authority [exousia] to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

And because God gave Jesus this power to rise from the dead unto eternal life, He also has the authority to grant eternal life to all people that are His:

John 17:2,3—“even as You [the Father] gave Him [Jesus] authority [exousia] over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

God works in circumstances and in the thoughts, words, and deeds of men. He weaves the events of our days and the affairs of men all together in the tapestry of His will, and He does it to our benefit and His glory.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”—Rom. 8:28.

God’s infinite ability has a direct bearing on the Christian Way of Life. So let’s look at some of the ways that God’s ability affect us as Christians:

We are not to try to fight life’s battles in our own strength. Even as a young man David understood this in his encounter with Goliath: 1 Sam. 17:47—“… that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”
We are not to fear our enemies but rely instead on God’s ability to protect us: Psa. 27:1—“The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread?”
We can have perfect peace when we place our trust in our powerful Lord: Isa. 26:3-4—“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You. Trust in the LORD forever, For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.”
God does not grow tired of upholding us: Isa. 40:28-29—“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth Does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary, And to him who lacks might He increases power.”
Omniscient God never lacks an answer to issues and problems that seem insurmountable to us: Jer. 33:3—“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
God is able to provide us a glorious future in a spiritual, resurrection body: 1 Cor. 15:41-44—“There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
God always makes sure that we have an abundance of those things we need to accomplish our work for Him: Cor. 9:8—“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed …”
The blessings of both time and eternity proceed from God’s infinite ability: Eph. 1:18-19—“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might …”
And there are many more Scriptures that address God’s mighty power in our lives:
Phil. 4:13—“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

2 Tim. 1:12—“For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”

Heb. 7:25—“Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

1 Peter 1:3-5—“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

The most important thing we can take away from this study of the infinite ability of God is not merely that God is infinite, and that his power and might is beyond our comprehension. We need to understand how His infinite ability impacts our lives.

As believers we have the tremendous assurance that if God is able to sustain the universe, He is certainly able to sustain us through any trial or bad situation.

Only one way to eternal life …

And those who have never believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior can be assured that He is able to save them. And not only is He able to save them, He is the only means of salvation that God will ever provide.

Many people think that there are many ways to get to heaven. That is a very foolish and arrogant thought. As we have seen God is infinite in His abilities. Not only was He able to devise a plan to save fallen mankind, it was the only plan He ever came up with—not because He couldn’t, but because He didn’t need to. God did not need a “Plan B” because His “Plan A” was perfect!

And God’s plan was centered in the Person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Godhead, the Divine Trinity, by Whom He created the universe.

We are told of Him in God’s word the Bible, and it is that Word which we as God’s children have committed our lives to receive, believe, apply, and allow to transform our lives.

Every line of the Word of God is saturated with Jesus—and yet He has still not revealed all He is to us. Someday we will be in His presence—and we will have an infinite eternity to continue learning more about Him, because there will be an infinity more to learn!

The Apostle John expressed it well in the last verse of his Gospel:

“And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.”

Father, we thank you for Your marvelous, perfect Person, infinite in ability, wisdom, and love. We do not know why You deigned to save us who were born lost, and we will never understand it full this side of heaven. But we are thankful that you have revealed Yourself in the Person of Your Son, our Lord and Savior, and our God Jesus Christ.

Thank You Father, for your so great salvation, and for the opportunities You give us to declare that so great salvation. May the concepts You have revealed to us find a home in fertile hearts, that the lost might believe unto salvation, and we, the children of God, might fulfill the very reason that You leave us alive on this earth.

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.”

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics 17 – The Eternal Life of God

john — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:00:40 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Seventeen: The Eternal Life of God

In considering the Life of God one of the most profound aspects we encounter is that God does not possess eternal life—He is eternal life. As we just mentioned it has pleased Him to share that life with us. So we say that as created beings we possess life—it is something we’ve been given. The Bible makes this very clear from the beginning:

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen 2:7 (KJV)

There are dozens of scriptures that present God as the only One who gives life, for example Job 33:4—“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

There is no one beside or beyond God: Isa. 44:6b—“… I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.”

God has no antecedent which means that there was no one before God that caused Him to be. This is reflected in Psa. 90:12—“Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting [infinity past] to everlasting [infinity future], You are God.”

He is the self-existent One—that is the true meaning of God’s personal name YHWH, pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah. So it follows that God does not possess life—He is life itself. He is the Life-Giver. He is the cause of all existence and all life.

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Seventeen:

The Eternal Life of God

by John McReynolds

Before we begin our study we’ll spend a few moments in silent prayer. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and justified to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So let’s take this opportunity to confess our known sins if we need to and otherwise to prepare our hearts for the study of the Word of God. Let us pray:

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father for another opportunity in grace to feast on your marvelous Word. We pray that the Holy Spirit will take these doctrines and make them a source of blessing and growth in our lives that we might be more conformed to the image of our dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for we ask it in His name—amen.

Where We Have Been

In the last several lessons we have been exploring the essence of God in an attempt to gain some small understanding of the One who is the cause of our existence, and who profoundly affects our continuing existence. But despite the tremendous moment-by-moment effect He has on our lives, we cannot detect His presence in our lives with our physical senses—indeed He would remain completely unknown to us if He had not deigned to reveal Himself to us.

As we have seen in our previous studies, theologians have ascribed a number of perfections and attributes to God in a rather feeble attempt to make Him understandable to us. There have been many attempts to do this—all of them falling woefully short. The one we are presenting here is no more adequate than others we have seen—no finite human being can come anywhere close to accurately describing the essence of our ineffable Creator. Nevertheless, this presentation of the essence of God has served our purposes in the past, and so we give it again today.

In our past studies we made a distinction between God’s perfections and His attributes. God’s perfections are aspects of His Divine nature that relate to His infinity, His absoluteness, and His excellence. In other words these are the characteristics of God we observe if we regard Him only as He relates to Himself and the Members of the Trinity. To review, we listed eight of God’s perfections:

1. God is Infinite,

2. God is Immense,

3. God is Absolute,

4. God is Unapproachable,

5. God is Undiminishable,

6. God is Eternal,

7. God is Unity (He is one in essence and unified in His attributes),

8. God is perfectly, absolutely, infinitely, undiminishably Happy.

Now in contrast to His perfections, God’s attributes are aspects of His Divine being that relate to His creation in general, and specifically to His intelligent creation—angels and men. We have listed His attributes as:

1. God is Sovereign,

2. God is Righteous,

3. God is Just,

4. God is Love,

5. God is Eternal Life,

6. God is Omnipotent,

7. God is Omniscient,

8. God is Omnipresent,

9. God is Immutable,

10. God is Veracity (Truth),

So far in this series we have dealt with God’s Sovereignty (lesson 13) and we dealt with Righteousness and Justice together under the concept of God’s Holiness (lesson 14). In lesson 15 we dealt with the perfection of His Happiness, and in the last lesson we touched on a few of the aspects of God’s amazing love. Now in this lesson we embark on yet another mind-bending aspect of God—His Eternal Life.

Fathoming the Life of God

How can we as limited, mortal, fallen human beings understand the infinite, eternal life of God? The answer of course is that we cannot. We have attempted to grasp the concepts of infinity and eternity along with other of God’s perfections back in Lesson 12, so I refer you to that lesson if you need a frame of reference to what we will be discussing here. In fact, if you are viewing this lesson for the first time and have not read the previous five, I would strongly encourage you to go back and start with Lesson 12.

In the list of perfections and attributes we gave above, the word eternal appears twice—once as a perfection, and once as an attribute. Remember that we distinguish between God’s perfections and God’s attributes: His perfections are aspects of His essence that relate to Himself and are characteristic of all the members of the Trinity. On the other hand, His attributes are aspects of His essence that relate to His creation—specifically to fallen mankind, both lost mankind and redeemed mankind.

We covered the concept of eternality back in lesson 12—how eternality relates to the person of God. But how does eternality relate to us? The short answer is that it has pleased God to share His eternal life with us—His creation. And we’ll spend the bulk of this lesson exploring the ramifications of this fact. But first, let’s expand a little on what the concept of God’s life means.

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen 2:7 (KJV)

There are dozens of scriptures that present God as the only One who gives life, for example Job 33:4—“The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.”

There is no one beside or beyond God: Isa. 44:6b—“… I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.”

The Life of God’s Creation

At this point we should turn our attention to trying to understand life as God grants it to His creation—including us. An even cursory examination of nature reveals that there are profound differences in the kinds of life God has bestowed on His creation. There is life which is for all practical purposes non-sentient (i.e. not self-aware), such as plant life, and microbial life. Then there is life that is sentient—that is aware of itself and its surroundings.

There are many degrees of sentient life that we classify as lower forms and higher forms of life. For example, we can show that an earthworm is sentient—it reacts to its environment and other external stimuli. But we could not equate it with a dog or a cat or a horse, and certainly not with a human. It has no personality that we could relate to. Higher mammals manifest distinct personalities as a part of the life God gave them.

When we try to understand life in its higher forms the question inevitably arises whether animals have souls. There is no space here to adequately address the question, but my opinion is that yes, they do—the higher forms at least. And if animal souls exist do they survive physical death? I really don’t know the answer to that, but I see no reason why they wouldn’t—after all human souls survive physical death, why wouldn’t animal souls? You can do what you want with that—I won’t dispute with anyone on this issue.

When we discuss human life, however, we do have to consider the immaterial life of man. The usual Christian view is that the human soul is the real person—the body is simply that which God has provided for the real person to live, move around in, and manipulate in the physical realm. But the Bible makes a further distinction within the immaterial life of man—it distinguishes between the human soul and the human spirit. Whenever the term soul is used in the New Testament the Greek word is psuche [ψυχή – pronounced su-KAY]. And when the term spirit is employed the word is pneuma [πνεῦμα – pronounced NEW-ma]. The most marked Biblical distinction is given in Heb. 4:12:

“For the word of God is quick [living], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul [psuche] and spirit [pneuma], and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (KJV).

Man: God’s Unique Creation

The Bible states that God created man in His own image, distinct from His animal creation—Gen 1:26a. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness …” Since God is spirit (John 4:24—“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”) then He created man as a being of spirit. But man is also a soul as quoted above in Gen 2:7—“And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

A further distinction between soul and spirit is made in 1 Cor. 15:45—“So also it is written [in Gen 2:7, quoted above], ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul [psuche].’ The last Adam [a reference to Jesus Christ] became a life-giving spirit [pneuma].”

Of course God also created man as a physical creature as Gen. 2:7 also reveals: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground …” So from these Scriptures we we can see that God created man as a tripartite being—a being of three parts—that is composed of body, soul, and spirit. The theological term for this is that God created man as a trichotomous being.

Dividing Asunder the Soul and the Spirit

Now it’s worth stating that some theologians dispute this distinction between the human soul and the human spirit—notably Dr. Charles Ryrie, who in his Basic Theology, 5th edition, in pages 196-197 argues against the trichotomous view of man as opposed to the dichotomous (spirit and body). In his view there was no real distinction between the human soul and the human spirit. However, it seems to me that the Biblical evidence heavily favors the view of trichotomy over dichotomy with regard to the makeup of man.

The view of trichotomy is the one which Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, adopted in His Systematic Theology, in which he pointed out the Biblical distinction of unregenerate or soulish man as psuchikos [ψυχικός – pronounced “soo-ki-KAHS”], and regenerate or spiritual man as pneumatikos [πνευματικός – pronounced “new-mah-ti-KAHS”]. This distinction is clearly seen in 1 Cor. 2:12, 14-15 where the Apostle Paul is distinguishing between redeemed, spiritual man and natural, unregenerate man, and what they can and cannot understand:

“Now we [regenerate ones] have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God … But a natural [unregenerate, psuchikos] man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual [redeemed, pneumatikos] appraises all things …”

Trichotomy and the Fall

Furthermore, the trichotomous view is consistent with what we know about the fall of man. Adam and Eve were created by God as trichotomous beings. In their essence they were souls created by God with the mentality to understand things in the world around them—Gen. 2:19-20. They had physical bodies by which they could fulfill God’s mandate to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Gen. 1:28. And they had human spirits by which they were able to understand spiritual things—they had fellowship with God every evening in the Garden as implied by Gen. 3:9-10.

When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they died. They sinned by disobeying God, and as Rom. 6:23a tells us, “… the wages of sin is death …” God had told them this would happen in Gen. 2:16-17:

“The LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.’”

That phrase “you will surely die” is very interesting. In the Hebrew the word for “die” is mûth [מוּת– pronounced “mooth”]. But in this passage the word is doubled—it appears twice, side by side—mûth-mûth. A literal interpretation of this would be “dying, you will die.” As an English interpretation that phrase didn’t make a lot of sense, so most interpreters opted for the phrase “you will surely die”, since a Hebrew doubling of a word generally intensifies it.

But if you take literally the interpretation of “dying, you will die”, this can mean two separate deaths—“dying” and “you will die”. And in fact, this is exactly what happened to Adam and Eve. When they sinned they immediately died spiritually—totally unable to fellowship with God as they had before the fall. Then years later—930 years in the case of Adam—they died physically—the physical consequence of sin.

Adam and Eve were created trichotomous—body, soul, and spirit. But when they sinned they died spiritually, in effect becoming dichotomous beings—body and soul. After the fall, when God made skins for them to wear to cover their nakedness, they apparently expressed faith in God by accepting His provision for them. Thus they were redeemed from their fall, and became trichotomous once more—spiritually alive, and able to again have fellowship with God.

But something had changed, and things would never again be as they were before the fall. For one thing the world was now cursed—never again would they enjoy the world and manipulate it with the easy competence that characterized their life before the fall. Now their lives would be characterized by toil and hardship:

“Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; and you will eat the plants of the field; by the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Gen. 3:17-19.

They also had acquired sinful natures, which now predisposed them to sin. Later, as a result of the curse, as God had predicted in Gen. 3:19 they also died physically. Adam and Eve passed down the legacy of the fall and the subsequent curse of Gen. 3:17-19, including the old sin nature they acquired, to all of their descendents—including you and me.

So now we have taken a quick look at what happened to man as a result of the fall, and how it drastically and dramatically affected the life that God had granted to His creation—man. Sin had separated man from God and put a seemingly insurmountable barrier between them—insurmountable at least from the perspective of man—but not from God’s perspective, since “… with God nothing shall be impossible.” Luke 1:37.

From Flying Pigs to Spaceflight

Essentially, this was the problem: God loved His creation. So when He had created man it pleased Him to give—as the highest possible expression of His love—His very own image to man. He created man with the faculty of choice. Not even to the highest of animals had He given this gift—they had freedom within the instincts God had programmed into them, but the animals did not have total freedom. They were not able to exceed their boundaries.

To illustrate: Years ago there was a TV program—I think it was called Mel’s Diner—about a couple of waitresses that worked there. A pet expression of one of the waitresses when she wanted to express that something was impossible was, “When pigs fly!” It made the audience laugh, but it expressed a fundamental truth: you will never see pigs fly under their own power. Why? First, they have no natural ability to fly—they don’t have wings. Second, they have no imagination to picture themselves out of their natural habitat—the pig wallow. They can see birds fly, but it does not even occur to them to try.

God created man differently: He created us in His image. He gave us imagination, He gave us creativity, He gave us a desire to explore—to exceed our limitations. Man looks at flying birds and wonders, “Could I do that?” And the result is airplanes and space flight.

Crossing Forbidden Boundaries

But it is risky to allow creatures to test their limits. Inevitably the creature will try boundaries that may never be crossed. In the case of angels that boundary was to never attempt to assume the prerogatives of God. Isa. 14:13-14 records the thoughts of Lucifer as he did just that:

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

These are the famous five “I will’s” of Lucifer as he declared that he would do those things that God had reserved only unto Himself.

In the case of man that same desire—to be like God—was the irresistible lure. Satan, in the guise of the serpent, exploited that desire in Gen. 3:5 when he tempted the woman to eat of the forbidden fruit:

“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Now God is omniscient—knowing all things—and He knew when He created both angels and man that they would transgress His boundaries. The fall of Lucifer and the fall of man did not take God by surprise. He knew the consequences of the fall of man, and the terrible dilemma that it posed to Him.

God’s Dilemma—and How He Solved It

At the root of God’s dilemma was His perfect character—all of the attributes we have been studying: Sovereignty, Justice, Love, Eternal Life, Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Immutability, and Veracity. From His Sovereignty God had decided to create man to share His eternal life. As we have seen He created man in His own image—that is He created man with free will. He did this, realizing from His Omniscience that man would abuse his freedom and commit sin.

Now God’s Immutability—His unchangingness—would not allow Him to change his mind and destroy His ruined creation. At the same time God’s Righteousness demanded that man be penalized for his sin—and that penalty was death. God’s Justice would have to execute that penalty by imposing eternal death on sinful man. I have more to say on the subject of eternal death, and I will return to it, but for now let’s continue with God’s dilemma.

God had to offer an alternative solution to man, because in His Love He was “… not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” God did not want to have to condemn man to eternal death. Therefore He had to devise a way to deliver man from his predicament.

In His Omniscience God found a way. God knew that the only way man could be made acceptable to Him would be for man to possess perfect Righteousness. The only source in the universe for that perfect Righteousness is God. Therefore God Himself would have to carry His own Righteousness into the human race—God Himself would have to become a man.

But that in itself was a problem, since the only way to become a true man was to be born into humanity, and humanity was depraved—completely defiled with sin—so how could a righteous God insert Himself into humanity without defiling Himself?

Now many theologians believe that the sin nature is passed down to children through their human fathers. There is plenty of Biblical support for that view, but there is no space here to deal with it. God willing we will cover this subject in some future study of Christology. But for now this is essentially how we believe it worked:

God realized that because the woman was deceived she did not deliberately sin, but Adam sinned deliberately—1 Tim. 2:14. Eve’s sin did affect her own flesh, and she acquired a sin nature, but because her sin was not deliberate, God graciously allowed her eggs to be pure—uncontaminated by sin! Adam’s sin also affected his flesh and he also acquired a sin nature—BUT, because his sin was deliberate, God decreed that his seed would be contaminated by sin. So his sin also infected the flesh of those who issued from his seed. Thus it is the man—not the woman—who passes the sin nature down to their children.

But in the case of Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit in His omnipotence created 23 Y chromosomes that had no contamination from the OSN, since they were not from a human father, and inserted them into the pure egg inside the womb of the virgin Mary. The result was that the fetus that became the body of Jesus Christ had no old sin nature.

So now, God the Son had a pure, uncontaminated body within which He entered into the world as a true human but without being defiled by sin. In that body, in hypostatic union, Jesus lived a sinless life and arrived at the Cross “without spot or blemish,” a sinless human who would offer Himself as the perfect substitute for man.

And so God in all His perfections solved the unsolvable problem of reconciling fallen man to Himself, without compromising any of His perfections or diminishing Himself in any way. God in His omniscience saw everything that man would do, all of his sins and failure. God saw all that He would have to do, the incredible price—the enduring of unspeakable, eternally felt pain—that He Himself would have to pay to redeem mankind. And because He would not compromise his infinite, eternal love for us He sovereignly decided to pay that price. And He decided all of this before He created us.

And because Jesus Christ—who was free to reject the cross—chose to accept the role of Savior and gave Himself to suffer separation from God and die in our place, God is now free to share His Eternal Life with those of us who have chosen to accept His perfect work on our behalf. But for those who have rejected Jesus and the salvation He offers, only eternal death awaits.

Chaos and Hell

This concept of eternal death is very horrifying, because eternal death does not mean cessation of existence. Some folks believe that when you die it’s “lights out”—you just simply cease to exist. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We are studying God’s Eternal Life. When God created man in His own image one of the ramifications of that was that he also granted man eternal existence. Eternal existence is just that—eternal! God will not cause the unbeliever to stop existing—if He did that He would be reneging on His gift of eternity to man. Everybody is going to exist forever—somewhere! Eternal life with God means life that will go on forever in beauty, fulfillment, happiness, and perfect order—that’s what sharing the life of God means.

But eternal death means eternal separation from God—the only Source of all that is perfect and good. Separation from God for eternity, or eternal death has to be just the opposite of life with God for eternity: Instead of perfect beauty you have horrifying, disgusting ugliness. Instead of perfect fulfillment you have pure regret and an eternal sense of total failure. Instead of happiness you have unending, conscious, infinite misery. Instead of perfect order you have total chaos—total disorder. Have you ever seen a house after it burned to the ground? It is total chaos. The most total chaos—the most complete disorder—is in a fire. That’s what Hell is—that’s what the Lake of Fire is—chaos and disorder in its most pure and fundamental form.

God is not cruel, although some people have depicted Him that way. He does not hate the unbeliever that rejects him, nor does He sit around thinking of the most awful ways to punish him. Ezek. 33:11 says this:

“‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked [unbelievers], but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die [eternal death], O house of Israel?’”

He doesn’t want anybody to die and go to hell. God is “… not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”—2 Pet. 3:9.

The awfulness of Hell is the natural consequence of man rejecting eternal life with God. Eternal death is the only other option—and remember: eternal death does not mean cessation of existence—it means everlasting existence in a state of pure chaos, infinite misery, and profound horror. It is not somewhere you want to go. If you have never believed in Jesus Christ and accepted His work on your behalf, look back up at Ezekiel 33:11. It says “O house of Israel”—but it’s talking to you, too.

Amazing Love

So now we have had a glimpse of the Eternal Life of God. We have seen that God created us in His image and that as a part of that God has shared eternal existence with us. We have seen here and elsewhere that sin separated us from God, which would doom us to spend a horrible eternal existence apart from God. But thanks be to God, and great praise and glory to His Son, our Savior, that we have seen the infinite genius of God come up with the perfect solution to that terrible dilemma.

And can it be
That I should gain
An interest in
My Savior’s blood?

Died He for me
Who caused His pain,
For me who Him
to death pursued!

Amazing Love!
How can it be?
That Thou, my God,
Shouldst die for me!

Father, thank You for solving the problems that would have condemned us to the Lake of Fire. Thank you for the precious gift of Your Son, “… who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own.”

Cause us to realize that since we have been purchased for a very great price and we now share Your very own Eternal Life, and since You have left us here to be Your ambassadors to this lost and dying world, we have a responsibility to You to “redeem the time, for the days are evil.” Cause us to hunger and thirst for you in this dry and thirsty land, for we know that only through Your provision can we be blessed—Your provision and no other.

And, Father, if anyone hearing this message has never believed in Your Son and is without that so-great salvation, we pray that the Holy Spirit will make plain the Gospel of salvation. For You have said in Your Word, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” May that person do that this day, and become forever more your child.

We ask, Heavenly Father, Your blessing on this lesson—may the things we have studied be a source of spiritual food for our growth toward maturity. And now, Heavenly Father, “… unto him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of Your glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics 16 – The Love of God

john — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 23:30:08 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Sixteen: The Love of God

In today’s modern world Love is probably the most misunderstood of all of God’s attributes because we have such a distorted view of love as it relates to humanity … The English word “love” has come to cover a wide variety of meanings. Especially in today’s modern culture love is linked with emotion: “I love music”, “I love my new car”, “I love my wife”,“I love my children”, “I love my friend”, etc. These are all statements of love that encompass a variety of meanings, and all evoke a variety of emotions. In less decadent times the concept of love had a stronger component of morality and high personal character prone to doing the right thing, and is less dependent on emotions. But in today’s post-modern culture love has become so linked with sex and emotions, and so many marriage relationships have become so dependent on emotions or “feelings” of love and sexual attraction, that when “the thrill is gone”—to quote the old song—the couple is ready to head for the divorce court.

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Sixteen:

The Love of God

by John McReynolds

Before we begin our study let’s spend a few moments in silent prayer, confessing our known sins if need be—claiming the promise of I John 1:9—and otherwise preparing our hearts for the study of the Word of God. Let us pray:

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father for another opportunity in grace to feast on your marvelous Word. We pray that the Holy Spirit will take these doctrines and make them a source of blessing and growth in our lives that we might show forth the Love of Christ to a lost and dying world, for we ask it in His name—amen.

We are about to approach one of the most difficult subjects in the Word of God. It is difficult, not because the Bible has little to say about it—on the contrary, the Bible has a great deal to say on the subject. The subject of Biblical love—which encompasses both the Love of God and the love of man—is difficult because love is so misunderstood by so many people.

In the space available we cannot possibly hope to treat the subject thoroughly—we will only be able to hit the highlights. But I do hope to cover the basic concepts of Divine Love enough so that the reader can come away with an adequate enough understanding of it that he can s uccessfully apply the principles of God’s love to his own Christian walk.

A Review of God’s Perfections and Attributes

In previous lessons we have spoken of God in His essence—His ultimate nature—as having a number of perfections and attributes. We distinguished between perfections and attribute thus:

God’s perfections are aspects of His Divine nature that relate to His infinity, His absoluteness, and His excellence. In other words these are the characteristics we observe if we regard God only as He relates to Himself and the other Members of the Trinity. To review, we listed seven of God’s perfections:

1. God is Infinite

2. God is Immense

3. God is Absolute

4. God is Unapproachable

5. God is Undiminishable

6. God is Eternal

7. God is Unity (He is one in essence and unified in His attributes)

And then in the last lesson we added an eighth perfection we had overlooked: God is perfectly, absolutely, infinitely, undiminishably Happy.

Gods attributes are aspects of His Divine being that relate to His creation in general, and specifically to His intelligent creation—angels and men. We have listed His attributes as:

1. God is Sovereign

2. God is Righteous

3. God is Just

4. God is Love

5. God is Eternal Life

6. God is Omnipotent

7. God is Omniscient

8. God is Omnipresent

9. God is Immutable

10. God is Veracity (Truth)

So far in this series we have dealt with God’s Sovereignty (lesson 13) and we dealt with Righteousness and Justice together under the concept of God’s Holiness (lesson 14). And of course in the last lesson we back-tracked a little and dealt with Happiness as one of His perfections.

Love: Everybody Seeks It, But Few Understand It

In today’s modern world Love is probably the most misunderstood of all of God’s attributes because we have such a distorted view of love as it relates to humanity. It seems everybody is looking for love, but not many people know how to go about getting it. They don’t know because they don’t understand love. Even the movie character Forrest Gump had a better idea of what love is than the average person today. So before we begin to try to fathom the depths of Divine Love, let’s try to sort out the mess we’ve made of human love.

The English word “love” has come to cover a wide variety of meanings. Especially in today’s modern culture love is linked with emotion: “I love music”, “I love my new car”, “I love my wife”,“I love my children”, “I love my friend”, etc. These are all statements of love that encompass a variety of meanings, and all evoke a variety of emotions. In less decadent times the concept of love had a stronger component of morality and high personal character prone to doing the right thing, and is less dependent on emotions. But in today’s post-modern culture love has become so linked with sex and emotions, and so many marriage relationships have become so dependent on emotions or “feelings” of love and sexual attraction, that when “the thrill is gone”—to quote the old song—the couple is ready to head for the divorce court.

There are several different forms of love—we’ll cover all of them in a moment. But all forms of love have two factors in common: there is a virtue on which the love is dependent, and there is some expression of the love. What do I mean by “virtue”? Virtue is the basis for the love and determines what type of love is expressed. This is virtue in a neutral sense. As we are using the word here virtue is merely the attractive quality—it does not necessarily connote good or bad. I want to point out that virtue can also mean godly virtue, or what we can call Christian virtue. But for this discussion when I use the term “virtue” I mean virtue in the general sense.

As we will see in a moment, for example, a person may be physically attractive to another person, so that person can be said to possess the virtue of physical beauty or attractiveness. Another person may display the virtue of a superior intellect, and so someone may be attracted to that person because of their “braininess”. In each case the nature of the love relationships that develop will be quite different because of the nature of the attractions.

Four Greek Words for Love

The Koine Greek spoken in New Testament times had four different words to describe the several meanings encompassed by our English word love. These were the words eros, storge, philos, and agape. Let’s look briefly at each one of these:

Eros [ἔρως – pronounced AIR-ohs] – is passionate love, with a strong element of sensual desire and longing. It is the root of such English words as erotic, erotica, and eroticism. Eros is a neutral word: it encompasses all of the meanings of romantic and physical love in all of its varied expressions, both legitimate—as within proper courtship and marriage, and illegitimate—carnal expressions of lustful desires outside of God’s design, as in adulterous or perverted relationships.

In eros, the virtue possessed is sensual in nature—it is based on physical attractiveness—what we could call “romantic chemistry”. The expression of eros is likewise sensual and ultimately sexual in nature, and often preliminary to a sexual act. You will not find the word eros used in the New Testament. However, the Jewish scholars of Alexandria who translated the Old Testament Scriptures into the Greek language translation known as the Septuagint, used eros to translate certain Hebrew words describing sexual encounters in the Old Testament (Pro. 7:8).

Eros by itself is very undependable as the sole basis for a love relationship since it tends to be grounded only in physical / romantic / emotional attraction. It requires a strong component of physical attraction or at least physical desire. Once the attraction has waned the intensity of eros wanes with it. It is usually very emotional in its expression—although the emotions tend to be very unstable, especially when the relationships are illicit or not tempered by godly virtue. A biblical example of this is the incestuous rape of Tamar by her half-brother Amnon which is recounted in 2 Sam. 13.

Storge [στοργή – pronounced stor-GAY] – is natural affection, like that felt by parents for offspring. This is familial love and encompasses any feelings of kinship. It is only used twice in the New Testament (Rom. 1:31, 2 Tim. 3:3), both times in a negative sense to describe someone without natural affection. Storge is similar in some respects to agape love (see below) in that it too can be unconditional and it can have a strong sacrificial component. Nevertheless it is much more limited in its scope than agape.

In storge, there is no intrinsic virtue other than the familial relationship. Storge can develop in any relationship where there is familiarity—as occasioned by frequent and prolonged contact. Storge does not necessarily require any particular quality on the part of the one who is loved—merely the fact of the relationship can be enough. We illustrate that truth when we say that someone or something “has a face only a mother could love.”

Storge can be very intense—naturally so in the case of mother and child. But it can be very intense in other situations: Extreme danger can greatly intensify storge—examples are the relationships that develop between comrades-in-arms on the battlefield. In war soldiers have often sacrificed themselves for their comrades, demonstrating extreme examples of the self-sacrificing aspect of storge. The normal self-sacrificial expression of storge is seen when the person doing the loving provides for the needs of the object of their love, sacrificing out of their own substance with no thought of reciprocation. The most basic and primal picture of this is the mother nursing her young. This “providing for” or provisional expression of storge normally continues throughout the childhood and adolescent phases until the offspring is self-sufficient.

The provisional aspect of storge is similar to the agape love associated with God as we noted above. This aspect is reflected in one of the Hebrew names of God that relates to His infinite power or His omnipotence—El Shaddai—translated “God Almighty”. The word shaddai is thought by some Hebrew scholars to come from a Hebrew root meaning breast and it pictures a mother suckling her young. In every instance where the phrase “God Almighty” or “Almighty God” appears in the Old Testament it is this Hebrew phrase El Shaddai. It could be translated literally, “the God of many breasts”—an aspect which is in view in Gen. 42:25. Thus El Shaddai speaks not only of God’s infinite power being brought to bear on protection from enemies, but also in God’s infinite ability to supply all of our needs.

Philos [φίλος – pronounced PHIL-ahs] – friend, or philia [φιλία – pronounced phil-EE-ah] – friendship. It is a dispassionate virtuous love; it includes loyalty to friends, family, and community, and requires a high degree of virtue, equality, and an easy familiarity between the two parties. In this respect it is similar to storge. Philos or philia is the root of the English words Philadelphia (brotherly love) and philanthropy (love for mankind as expressed in generosity). Other words also derive from philos: philately means love of stamps or stamp collecting!

Philia love does not require intense feelings between the parties. However, a philia relationship can develop into storge and result in more intense emotions than romantic love—witness the relationship between David and Jonathan (2 Sam. 1:26). In its highest expressions philia requires the virtues of mutual loyalty, reliance, and familiarity based on trust. There must be an equal footing between the friends, with all contributing equally toward the friendship for philia to survive. Philia generally develops out of common interests. It is a higher form of love, but it does require intrinsic virtue on the part of both parties and in that respect it is conditional, not unconditional.

Agape [ἀγάπη – pronounced ah-GAH-pay] – this is unconditional love with a strong self-sacrificial component. Agape is generally considered to be the highest form of love—it is closest to the Divine expression of love, and is most often the word used in the New Testament to describe it. The unconditional aspect of agape is very important: agape does not require virtue on the part of the one receiving it—rather agape depends strictly upon the character of the one bestowing it. The Divine attribute of Love (agape) is the motivator behind grace—without agape, grace could not be sustained.

Agape love has its source in God—it is not a type of love that develops naturally in fallen man. When it is found in people it is there because it has been developed either through the God-given laws of Divine Establishment in the case of unbelievers, or for believers through the development of the Spiritual House of the Soul as we have described it in previous lessons.

A person who exhibits true agape love displays such a strong attitude of selflessness and self-sacrifice that those who observe it can readily see that it is unnatural—it is not something they would expect based on their own experiences and natural inclinations. And people are either attracted to it or repelled by it. When people are attracted to the agape love displayed in the life of the believer, that is often what makes them receptive to the Gospel—when they see agape love in the life of the believer they see a tiny glimpse of our Lord.

Complex Love Relationships

Now, human love relationships are very complicated—especially between men and women. The relationship between a man and a woman may begin with a strong romantic attraction to each other, which may or may not last very long. It is generally eros that initiates courtship. If the attraction lasts, then a component of philia may begin to develop as the couple discovers common interests beyond the purely physical.

Then the couple begins to also discover things that are not so attractive about each other. But because their other attractive qualities are stronger they find ways to put up with what they consider unattractive weaknesses for the sake of the other, more desirable aspects of the relationship.

And so a new component develops—storge, which is a more familiar type of love—the kind of love that has an unconditional element that is willing to put up with shortcomings for the sake of the more positive aspects of the relationship. If the relationship continues for a significant portion of the couple’s lifetime, because of natural progression of aging and other factors, the erotic component usually diminishes, but if the relationship is healthy the philia and storge components will tend to sustain it and keep it stable.

What Makes Agape Different?

Notice that I have not included agape in the above marriage scenario. As we have said earlier, agape is Divine love. We just saw how eros, storge, and philos combine in complex ways to form love relationships. When the couple is a Christian couple and both are growing in the Lord, agape love comes to the fore and becomes the primary stabilizer of the relationship. This is because a couple that is advancing in the Christian life together becomes progressively aware that the real purpose for their marriage is to glorify God. And the development of agape love in their own lives enhances and stabilizes their marriage.

Agape Always Seeks the Good

Agape is love that does not occur naturally, for two reasons. First, because with agape love the goal is the good of the object.

“For God so loved [agapao, the verb form of agape] the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”—John 3:16.

God gave His Son so that mankind might be redeemed and have eternal life. And He did it while men were completely estranged from Him—we had no relationship with God whatsoever.

“But God demonstrates His own love [agape] toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”—Rom. 5:8.

How many people do you know that would willingly sacrifice their only son just to give someone they have absolutely nothing in common with the chance to establish a relationship with them? That is pure agape. And that is simply not something that is natural to us humans.

Godly Virtue in the Lover

Second, agape requires that the virtue reside in the object—in the person doing the loving, not the person receiving it. This is why agape is purely unconditional—it does not depend on virtue in the subject—the person receiving the love. In other words the recipient of agape does not have to earn or deserve the love in any way—it depends totally on the virtue–integrity of the person doing the loving.

All forms of natural human love require some virtue on the part of the subject—the person being loved. Even storge, which comes closest to agape in terms of demonstrating unconditional love, depends on some pre-existing relationship between the one loving and the one being loved. A mother loves her wayward child unconditionally, but it is natural because the child is related to her by birth—the relationship is the virtue on the part of the child.

Redeeming Love

But, as Rom. 5:8 tells us, when God demonstrated His love toward us we were totally estranged from Him. There was no virtue in us because we were born sinners, and therefore we had no relationship with God—it was severed. The only reason God saved us was because of the agape love that resides in Him. We were completely abhorrent to Him. There was nothing about us that was attractive to Him—yet He took action to save us. Such is the nature of Divine agape love.

The Old Testament book of Hosea illustrates this principle. God commanded the prophet Hosea to go out and take a known harlot to be his wife. He did this and brought the woman, Gomer, into his house. In spite of repeated chances Gomer kept returning to her old ways of promiscuity and loose living. During the course of their marriage she presented Hosea with three children—and he was not the father of the last two. Finally she ran away from him and “hooked up” with another man. When that relationship fizzled, Gomer became a cheap prostitute and ended up in a slave market. Again God commanded Hosea to go and purchase her from the slave market and restore her to full status as his wife.

The story of Hosea and Gomer is a picture of the situation that exists between God and man, and it paints a vivid picture of the lengths to which God will go to redeem us when we are totally unlovely and undeserving. There is a romantic novel by Francine Rivers, Redeeming Love, that was inspired by the book of Hosea. Normally I’m not a fan of romantic novels, but this one is excellent—I heartily recommend it.

Loving, or Just Feeling?

We’ve been examining the various types of love. But now let’s go back and review some love basics. We have established that love relationships require a subject and an object. We have seen that love can be objective—focused on the object, the one receiving the loving. Or love can be subjective—focused on the subject, the one doing the loving.

Love is also directional. The expression of love is normally from one person toward another. If we look at the sentence “I love you” we see a subject—“I”—a verb—“love”—and an object—“you”. A simple sentence like this always expresses action which is initiated by the subject and is directed toward the object—the verb of action links the subject and the object together. In this sentence the action verb is love.

Now let’s look at the statement, “I feel love for you.” In this case the word “love” is not a verb—it is a noun. The verb is “feel”. And it’s not really even an action verb—it’s a passive verb, because feeling love for someone does not require any overt action on the part of the “feeler”. So if we compare the two sentences, “I love you”, and “I feel love for you”, we see that the first sentence is objective. That is, the action of the verb “love” is directed toward the object— “you”. But the second sentence, “I feel love for you”, is subjective. That is because the action verb, “feel”, is directed toward the subject “I”.

This illustrates an important truth about love. If I say “I love you” and I really mean “I feel love for you”, then my love is subjective—directed toward myself—and it’s basically selfish in character. But if I say “I love you” and really mean “I love you”, then that love will result in some overt action intended for your good. This is because true love always seeks the best for the object of love. This is the Biblical perspective of love. It is always objective—always directed toward the object. In Biblical agape love, those that are doing the loving derive their satisfaction from benefitting the objects of their love.

The Love Chapter

The book of 1st Corinthians, chapter 13 is the quintessential chapter in the Bible on the subject of love. Look at verses 4 through 7:

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

When a person truly loves another person—when they can say “I love you” and truly mean it—then they will exhibit all these qualities through their actions. Their actions will say “I love you” far louder than their words.

As we have already seen Divine love is almost exclusively described in the New Testament by the Greek word agape—deep, abiding, unconditional, self-sacrificing love. It describes the love which God has for man—John 3:16, and it describes the love with which God expects His children to love Him.—Matt. 22:37. The verses in 1 Cor. 13 we quoted above were describing agape love. We’ve already seen some truths relating to agape love, but let’s try to get just a little better understanding of Divine love by listing some of the characteristics that make it distinct from the other, lower, human types of love.

Agape is Unconditional

Agape love places no restraints on its object as conditions for the love—it is totally unconditional. In the other three forms of love there are always some restraints—some limits—placed on the object of love. For example, pure eros love is dependent on the virtue of romantic or physical attractiveness, and erotic love often does not survive the loss of that attractiveness on the part of the object. Philos requires a common interest or at least a common situation. Remove that commonality and you remove the basis for the friendship.

Even storge requires family ties or at least ties of familiarity. But if those are missing then the love relationship usually does not develop. If you have ever watched shows about wild animals you may have seen episodes where an orphaned young animal was rejected by other mothers. Only in animals where there is a well developed herd or pack instinct is the baby taken to nurse by a foster mother.

God’s agape love for mankind is not predicated on man’s inherent virtue. Instead it is dependent entirely on God’s character—and when agape is expressed in the life of the believer the virtue is godly virtue, and no other. It proceeds from God Himself. Man cannot hope to earn or deserve the virtue which motivates God’s agape love for us. Man possess no righteousness by which he can hope to earn the approbation of God—yet because of His agape love He has sovereignly elected us to salvation.

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.”—Isaiah 64:6-8 (KJV)

Agape is Objective

Pure agape love is objective—its focus is on the object of love. Agape is not selfish. While it is true that it has pleased God to bestow the grace of salvation on us, and to share the infinite blessings of an eternity with Him, it came at a terrible cost. His uniquely born Son, Jesus Christ, had to suffer excruciating death to pay that price, and suffer the much more agonizing weight of all the sins of all mankind plus the righteous wrath of the Father on each and every one of those sins. As we will see momentarily, God paid an infinite price to redeem us. That is not the action of a selfish Deity.

No, God is not selfish, and therefore His love is not selfish. It is the ultimate agape love, focused totally on the object of His love. He loves Himself infinitely, but that is not a selfish love, because each member of the Godhead loves the other two members with this same infinite love. And because He loves Himself, He loves the creation He has made. And because He loves it He has sovereignly decided to redeem it from its fallen state. And to those of the race of men that have chosen to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, He has sovereignly imputed His very own Righteousness, making them acceptable to Him, and freeing Him to impute endless blessings from the riches of His agape love.

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great [agape] love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”—Eph. 2:5-7

This begs the question: If God has this infinite love for His creation, how can we reconcile His love with the fact that He condemns the unbeliever to the Lake of Fire for all eternity? I’m going to put off that question momentarily—not to avoid it, but because I want to finish this analysis of agape. We will return shortly to the issue posed by the question.

Agape’s Virtue Resides in the Subject

As we have seen, all love requires virtue. It either resides in the object receiving the love or in the subject initiating the loving—and in the complex realities of human love it generally resides in both to one degree or another. As we have seen there is attractiveness in the object in eros or romantic love. There are family or familiarity relationships—either close or not so close—that form the basis of storge love, which can reside in any or all of the parties to the relationship. There is commonality of interests that reside in all of the parties to philos relationships.

But in agape love the virtue resides in the personal integrity of the one loving. And although it can—and should—reside in both parties to the relationship, it only needs to reside in the one who initiates the agape love—the subject of the relationship. The receiving party—the object of the love—does not have to have any virtue at all. This is the message of the book of Hosea, and this is the kind of love—redeeming love—with which God loves us.

Now at this point I must insert a very strong qualification—and a very stern warning. Just because it is the nature of agape love to require virtue only in the subject, do not think for one minute that God does not require godly living from us. Do not get the idea that just because He loves us that God will turn a blind eye toward sin. At the same time that we are under the Love of God we are also under His Justice and His Righteousness. You cannot get away with that kind of laissez faire thinking in the Christian life. Even the unbeliever must understand the reality of his sin in order to realize his need of a Savior, and that understanding must include some realization that his sin has profoundly offended God. That understanding must precede his putting faith alone in Christ alone to obtain his eternal salvation.

Agape is Optional

The last point I want to make about agape love is that it is optional. By that I mean that expressing agape love to someone who may or may not deserve it is strictly a matter of volition. God did not have to send His Son into the world to save us. But in His Plan He sovereignly decided that the Second Person of the Trinity would come into this fallen world as Jesus of Nazareth, live a perfect, sinless life and arrive at the cross as the perfect Lamb of God, there to give up His life as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. This was an expression of God’s infinite agape love—

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

Now what motivated God to take this action was His infinite agape love. But it was not just His love for mankind that impelled Him to make this sacrifice—it was also His love for His own perfect essence which is resident in all three of the Members of the Trinity—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God could have simply blinked mankind out of existence when Adam and Eve fell in the Garden. But since mankind was a initially a part of His perfect creation, He was motivated to include in His Plan a way to redeem fallen mankind and restore our depraved race to its initial state of perfection.

Likewise, when we express agape love to someone who is unloveable—a disagreeable spouse, a disobedient child, an agressive driver in traffic, a difficult co-worker—it takes an active decision of the will to express it. It is a matter of volition—of choice. Why then would we even consider treating some driver who just sent a rude gesture our way, or the co-worker who just spread false rumors about us, with courtesy and deference? We do it because our Lord commands us to do it! God left us here after salvation as ambassadors—representatives—for Christ. We are to display God’s perfect agape love for the rest of the world to see. Matt. 5:28-48 gives Jesus’ instructions regarding how we are to express this perfect agape love of God:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons [ambassadors] of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Notice that God commands us to be perfect. Now, I don’t know about you (well—yes, actually I do), but there is no way that I could do any of the selfless actions Jesus commanded in the above verses from my own nature. When God tells us to be perfect He does so knowing perfectly well that we cannot possibly fulfill His command to be perfect. This is why we must be born again—regenerated—and given a new nature from which it is possible to be perfect. And even then it requires a lifelong process of perfecting our imperfect lives—what we call experiential sanctification—to achieve.

Three Stages of Sanctification

To be sanctified means to be set apart for God’s special purpose. All believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are sanctified. Sanctification occurs in three stages: Stage one occurs at the moment of salvation when we are born again. This is called Positional Sanctification. This simply means that we are marked by God as His possession. Nobody would be able to tell that we are set apart unto God by looking at us.

The second stage of sanctification occurs when the born-again believer takes in the Bible Doctrine God makes available to him, believes it, and applies it in His daily life. As we have seen again and again in our studies it is the receiving, believing, and applying of God’s truth in our lives that effects a spiritual transformation in us. This is called Experiential Sanctification, and when this occurs it is visible to other people. They can look at us and tell that we are different—that we are set apart unto the Lord.

Stage three is known as Ultimate Sanctification, and it occurs when we depart from this life and are given our eternal rewards and blessings in heaven. How great these rewards and blessings are depend on how much and how consistently we fulfilled the God-given opportunities to “… grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ …” while we were on the earth (2 Pet. 3:18). The rewards and blessings we receive in heaven depend on how well we “redeem the time …” while we’re here on earth (Eph. 5:16). This is the only way we can “be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect” as Jesus commanded us in Matt. 5:48. And it is the only way we can display the agape love of God to those around us during the time God has given us here after salvation.

It’s taken us a while to get through this little analysis of God’s love—agape love. Just to recap we have seen that agape love is unconditional, it is objective, the virtue in agape resides in the subject—the one doing the loving, and it is optional—which is to say that it is not natural to us—it requires obedience on our part.

The Love of God and the Lake of Fire

Now, a while ago we posed a question which we temporarily put off answering. But as I promised then, we are now going to address it. The question was, “If God has infinite, agape love for His creation, how are we to reconcile this with the fact that He condemns the unbeliever to the Lake of Fire for all eternity”?

This has been a question which has plagued Christians and those considering Christianity for many, many centuries. Because of the absolute nature of God there is no pat answer to this difficult question.

To begin to understand this thorny issue we must review what we have studied about God up to this point. We are currently studying God’s love. Many people have criticized the Christian faith because of this very issue. They ask, “How can a loving God condemn a person to eternal hell just because they refuse to believe in His Son?” The answer is based in the fact that we cannot separate Divine Love from His other characteristics—the whole Person of God must be considered.

God is not like us. With us everything is relative. What is a big deal to us may be no big deal to others. But with God everything is absolute. Either a thing is perfectly good or it is completely unrighteous. With God everything is black and white. Things are shades of gray for us because we are limited in our understanding, and because we cannot discern where white stops and black starts, we just sort of mix it all together in shades of gray. But God is omniscient—He understands everything. He can see clearly what is black and what is white. It is no problem for Him to see the absolute truth of every matter. He knows every man’s thought and action, which ones are righteous and which ones are sin. And even though He loves us, because of His perfect character He must still judge us for our sin.

Now it is true that “… God is Love” (1 John 4:8, 16). But He is also Righteousness and Justice (Psalm 145:17—“The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works”). As perfect Holy God He cannot tolerate any sin. God is sovereign over all the universe—indeed over all of reality. As Sovereign God He must judge His creation. His Righteous standard is absolute, utter perfection—nothing less than this perfection can be tolerated from His creatures. And when His perfect standard is transgressed, infinite God is profoundly and infinitely offended (Psalm 7:11—“God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day”).

God must then pass judgment on sin, and specifically on those who have refused His solution to the sin problem—the work of His Son Jesus Christ. He pronounces a sentence in keeping with the extent of His infinite anger:

“But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds … to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [He renders] wrath and indignation.” Rom.2:5-6, 8

God Will Judge Sin

The Bible makes it plain that there is coming a day of judgment, and that at some point every person must stand before God. God understood that because of the fall and the effects of sin on the whole human race and His own perfect character there was no way that any member of the human race would be able to survive His wrath against sin.

Every person with a human father—that’s all of us—is born depraved. We are all under the curse of sin. Every one of us has three strikes against us right from the start. First, because all of us are descended from Adam we all share the guilt of Adam’s sin. Second, we also inherited a sinful nature that is willful, rebellious, and selfish at its very core. Our very natures rebel against boundaries, moral constraints, and anyone who acts as an authority over us. Third, from that sinful nature we commit acts of personal sin. And not one of us is exempt from the effects of the fall: “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one”—Rom. 3:10. So none of us could possibly hope to survive our day in court before God in judgment.

Why the Father Sent Us Jesus

It was for this reason that God the Father, out of His agape love for us, sent His Son into the world to pay the just penalty of sin—John 3:16. Jesus was a true human, born of a human mother, but because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, not by a human father, Jesus was not under the curse of sin: He did not share in the guilt of Adam, He did not inherit a sinful nature, and for the entire 33 years He lived here on planet earth, Jesus lived a perfect human life, committing no acts of personal sin. He constantly and continually remained within the plan and will of His Heavenly Father from the moment He was born until His last breath on the cross of Calvary. And because He was a perfect, sinless human being, Jesus qualified as the perfect sacrifice for us. Because He had no sin in Him, Jesus was the only human being ever born who was able to take our sins upon Himself, and satisfy the righteous anger of the Father by dying in our place.

Yes, Jesus is truly a human being, but He is also God—He is true Deity. And because He is God He was able to take His life up again after He laid it down at the cross. Look at what Jesus said in John 10:17-18:

“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. [As true humanity] I have authority to lay it down, and [as true Deity] I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

The Lord’s Eternal Pain

We asked the question, “How can a loving God condemn men to the Lake of Fire for all eternity (Rev. 20:14)?” So in these final words of this lesson let me try to give you a perspective on that. As humans we have a great deal of difficulty trying to grasp what may seem to us to be an arbitrary and heartless aspect of God. But the difficulty arises with the essential nature of how we perceive the universe, and how God perceives it. God is infinite; we are finite. God is omniscient (all-knowing); we are deficient (especially with respect to knowledge). God is eternal (not constrained by time); we are temporal (constrained by time). Let’s see what some of these things really mean.

God knows all; we know almost nothing. Because God is omniscient He knows with perfect understanding all things. By perfect understanding I mean that His knowledge and the quality of understanding is perfect. It cannot be diminished. By contrast our knowledge is incomplete, and it tends to deteriorate. I got a degree in chemistry, but that was over thirty years ago. I’ve forgotten most of what I ever knew about chemistry, because I don’t use it anymore. But God never loses knowledge. Because He is unrestrained by time, his knowledge is fresh and new and real to Him. That’s because for Him there is no past or future. For God the entire universe is here, and what we call time—all of the past, present, and future, as well as all of eternity—for God is now.

The Bible says that we will be able to see His scars, the ones he obtained at Calvary, when we see Him face to face. But how does God view His own scars? How does He perceive His own sufferings on the Cross?

I don’t think we’ll ever know that fully—probably not even in eternity. But maybe we can get a tiny glimpse of how much Christ suffered. We know that He took the penalty of our sins in his own body upon the tree. Jesus Christ suffered the full wrath of God, which God had graciously stored up to pour out on the Lamb in the fullness of time, instead of consuming us in atomic flame as we deserved. We can never—thank God—know what agony He must have felt.

But, whatever He felt, it must have been finite, right? After all, He died for all men, and there’s just so many of them, right? He suffered for three hours on the Cross. Three hours isn’t all that long…right?

The Infinite Penalty for Sin

Wrong! Remember, for Him there is no past or future. For God all of what we call time—all of the past, present, and future, as well as all of eternity, is one all-inclusive, ever-present NOW. So to Him, the unspeakable agonies of the Cross are real, and present, and utterly now. Someday, in what is for us the future, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we will be with Him. In that day, while we bask in His love and fellowship, He will still be feeling the agonies of the Cross, and the penalty He continues to pay for our sins, undiminished, right then. For Him the agony is timeless; it will never end. Being God, I seriously doubt that He shows it. Many people have suffered back or knee or other injuries that cause them debilitating pain all of their lives. They control it, live with it, and get on with their lives. They can do this because they have the capacity to endure the pain. I think that’s the way it is with Jesus Christ. The only difference is that He is the only unique person of the universe who is capable of suffering that kind of timeless pain for us. Because He is God, and infinite in nature, His capabilities are not in the least diminished by what He suffers—including His infinite capacity to love us. In the words of the old hymn Amazing Love:

“And can it be, that I should gain,

An interest in my Savior’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain

For me who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be

That Thou my God shoudst die for me?”

We caused our Lord the pain that He eternally feels. Every time we sin that sin caused Jesus to scream aloud while He hung on the cross. Every act of sin, every lie you tell, every impure thought you have adds to the pain our Lord suffers for all eternity.

Let us never again imagine that Christ paid a finite price for us. It was infinite in every respect. The Lord Jesus Christ, our God, paid that price for us. Is it so hard to understand then How God would be justified in His punishment of those who spit in His face when offered that free gift of salvation? Our Lord will still be suffering the pain of our redemption a trillion, trillion years from now. Should not those who reject His offer to suffer in their place, themselves suffer eternal punishment?

Let us never again question God’s fairness in sentencing unbelievers to an eternity in the Lake of Fire. Instead let us remember the pain He continually suffers the next time we are faced with those decisions we are faced with continually: to sin, or not to sin. God gave us the means and the ability through the Holy Spirit to choose not to sin. It’s simply up to us to choose rightly.

Thank You, Heavenly Father, that in your boundless, infinite love You authored the perfect plan of salvation. We are so grateful that our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to carry out that plan when He came to this cursed earth, becoming a man, living the perfect life, and choosing to obey Your plan by giving Himself on the cross as the acceptable substitute for us.

We are the ones who deserve Your wrath, but because of your amazing love, we who accept Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, are assured of a future with You. Help us through Your word and by means of Your Holy Spirit to gain the spiritual growth and maturity to develop a proper gratitude for our Lord’s unspeakable gift. Help us to repent and turn away from sin, realizing that when we don’t we are adding to the eternal pain of our Lord.

Bless now Your word to our hearts. Cause it to edify us and conform us more perfectly to the image of our Lord, for it is in His name and to His glory we ask it, amen.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics 15 – The Happiness of God

john — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:40:00 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Fifteen: The Happiness of God

God is happy. His happiness is an intrinsic part of who He is. He was happy in eternity past, He is happy now, and He will be happy for all eternity. There never was a time when He was not happy. His happiness, like all of His other attributes, is infinite and absolute. It is not subject to fluctuation. It can neither increase nor decrease. God did not attain His happiness, nor can He ever lose it. It is an integral part of His being and has been so from eternity past. Because God is absolute, infinite, and eternal, His happiness is absolute, infinite, and eternal. God does not depend on anything external to Himself as a source of happiness. He does not even need to do anything to keep His happiness. God’s happiness has no need of sustenance or maintenance. He is the God of perfect, absolute, and infinite well-being…

It is different for us humans. Obviously, as finite beings our happiness and well-being is subject to change. External and internal influences can dramatically change our sense of well-being. Our happiness must be maintained—at least in part—by some external source. And, being fallen creatures, slaves to sin, prone to evil, and living in a fallen, cursed world, our happiness and well-being is drastically impacted. If you think about it, human circumstances for the majority of people living on this planet are generally so negative that we would all be driven to the pit of blackest despair if it were not for one vital ingredient in our lives—hope.

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Fifteen:

The Happiness of God

by John McReynolds

Before we begin our study let’s spend a few moments in silent prayer, utilizing the principle of confession of sin if we need to regain fellowship with God, and otherwise preparing our hearts for the study of the Word of God. Let us pray:

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father for another opportunity in grace to feast on your marvelous Word. We pray that the Holy Spirit will take these doctrines and make them a source of blessing and growth in our lives, that we might achieve one of the chief benefits of spiritual maturity—sharing the happiness of God—and by this show a lost and dying world the blessings that are available only in Christ, for we ask it in His name—amen.

The Frustrating Search for Happiness

When I began this study I had intended it to be about the Divine attribute of Love. The more I got into it, however, the more I realized that when I had dealt with God’s essence in earlier lessons I had completely overlooked one of God’s chief perfections—happiness. As I considered this and researched what the Bible has to say on the subject, I realized that we needed to devote at least an entire lesson on God’s Happiness—and how His happiness relates to us.

The chief goal in the life of any person is to find happiness. This concept was embodied in our own Declaration of Independence: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Whether a person is blessed to be born in a country where personal freedom and prosperity are the normal state of its citizens, or privation and oppression are their lot, every person’s ultimate, foundational goal is personal happiness.

This is no less true of God. All things He does He does to please Himself. Obviously with God, being happy is utterly simple: He has infinite abilities and resources by which He could achieve and maintain happiness—if He even needed to. But as we will see shortly, God’s happiness does not depend on anything external to Himself—His happiness is completely self-contained. It is not so for us. Being fallen men, for us the pursuit of happiness is no simple thing—it requires much effort, and success is by no means assured. For us happiness requires external sources which we usually cannot control. For most if not all people, personal happiness remains a frustratingly elusive goal.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

In 1943 psychologist Abraham Maslow developed his famous hierarchy of human needs. He broke down what he perceived as human needs into five different categories, each more basic that the next. This is depicted in the well-known pyramid illustration to the right. At the bottom of the pyramid was purely physical needs, air, water food, sleep and so on. Then it moved on to environmental needs—those things that would insure safety and security. The next level dealt with fulfillment of emotional needs—love, and a sense of belonging to family or community. Then the hierarchy moved on to psychological needs—self-esteem, confidence, the respect of others, a sense of personal achievement, and so on.

The apex of Maslow’s pyramid dealt with the so-called needs of self-actualization. These were the urges to discover and fulfill one’s potentials in life—to “be all you can be” to borrow a phrase from the US Army’s recruiting campaign. In Maslow’s theory a person who has attained the maximum in this category would become a secure, mature, well-balanced individual, characterized by a high degree of personal morality, creativity, and spontaneity; skilled at problem solving—a non-prejudicial person at peace with the world around him.

Most people would agree that a person in this state could be characterized as happy indeed. But Abraham Maslow was a humanist. Like most humanists, Maslow did not believe that man was inherently sinful with a pronounced bent toward evil. He believed that mankind was good at its core and that all human progress was attainable through the proper understanding of human potential and application of human effort. Maslow did not recognize, much less accept, the notion of the Old Sin Nature (OSN) passed down to all mankind from Adam. But from a strictly human viewpoint, Maslow’s model was accurate: All of the striving motivated by Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs is aimed toward the fulfillment of one goal—happiness. But because of the reality of the OSN, and the fact that because of sin we live in a fallen, cursed world, when pursued only by human efforts and resources, as we stated earlier, human happiness remains a frustratingly elusive goal.

God’s Happiness

However, this is not the case with Divine Happiness—God is subject to none of the limitations and handicaps of human beings. God is happy. His happiness is an intrinsic part of who He is. He was happy in eternity past, He is happy now, and He will be happy for all eternity. There never was a time when He was not happy. His happiness, like all of His other perfections, is infinite and absolute. It is not subject to fluctuation. It can neither increase nor decrease. God did not attain His happiness, nor can He ever lose it. It is an integral part of His being and has been so from eternity past. Because God is absolute, infinite, and eternal, His happiness is absolute, infinite, and eternal. God does not depend on anything external to Himself as a source of happiness. He does not even need to do anything to keep His happiness. God’s happiness has no need of sustenance or maintenance. He is the God of perfect, absolute, and infinite well-being.

Why is God happy? He is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe that He created. He rules all of reality and there is no power in the universe that is not subject to Him. This makes Him happy. He is perfect Righteousness and perfect Justice—all of His standards are perfect and cannot be improved or diminished, and all of His judgments are perfect and based on perfect truth. This makes Him happy.

He is perfect Love. Because He is perfect He loves all that He is with infinite self-esteem, and the three members of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—love each other with this same infinite love. He loves His creation and holds it in such high regard that even after it was ruined through the sin of His creatures, He is pleased to redeem it and them. His Love in all of its infinite extent makes God happy. He is Eternal Life. It has pleased Him—made Him happy—to share this eternal life with His creatures.

God is Omniscient—all knowing; He is Omnipresent—simultaneously everywhere there is to be. Thus, He knows all things and has determined all their causes, effects, interactions, all of their paths from the First Cause—His Creative Decree in eternity past—to their certain destinies in eternity future, all of the choices of those of His created beings to whom He sovereignly granted volition, and the effects of those choices upon all things—and He is able to simultaneously perceive all of these, like threads winding through the vast pathways of time. He is Omnipotent—all powerful. He is able to individually take all of the immense complexity of those innumerable threads, and flawlessly weave them into the tapestry of His sovereign will, while at the same time never violating the free will He has sovereignly granted His creatures. All of this infinite ability and His perfect use of it makes Him happy.

God is Immutable. He is unchangeable in His essence. He cannot improve because He is perfect, and He cannot diminish or be diminished in any way. His immutable essence is the stability of all reality. This unchangeability assures the certain successful outcome of His plan for all of creation, and for all He has decreed concerning His creatures. This also absolutely cements the eternal security of those who have chosen to put their trust in His Son. What He has decreed concerning those He has redeemed He cannot rescind—eternal lives of infinite blessing as children of God and joint heirship of all things with Jesus Christ. Nor can those who have chosen to ignore His plea to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior ever hope to obtain mercy once they have rejected Him. God is immutable—the God of absolute stability and security—and this makes Him happy.

God is Veracity—He is absolute truth. He cannot lie. His essence defines truth and He decrees it as the basis for all reality. His sovereign judgments, His righteous standards, His perfect integrity—all are based on the absolute truth of His Being. He loves truth, and His infinite abilities and His perfect use of them bear witness to and reflect His truth. This perfect integration of all of the flawless facets of His character into the perfect, unchanging Oneness of His Person makes God very happy.

The Antidote for Despair

It is different for us humans. Obviously, as finite beings our happiness and well-being is subject to change. External and internal influences can dramatically change our sense of well-being. Our happiness must be maintained—at least in part—by some external source. And, being fallen creatures, slaves to sin, prone to evil, and living in a fallen world, cursed by sin, our happiness and well-being is drastically impacted. If you think about it, human circumstances for the majority of people living on this planet are generally so negative that we would all be driven to the pit of blackest despair if it were not for one vital ingredient in our lives—hope.

The word “hope” can be verb or a noun. When used as a verb hope means to wish for something with some expectation of its fulfillment. When used as a noun it means a wish or desire accompanied by some expectation of its fulfillment. The Hebrews used the word tiqvâh [תּקוה—pronounced tik-VAW], and the Greeks used elpis [ἐλπίς—pronounced el-PES]. Both words had the meaning of a confident expectation of a desired outcome.

Strange as it may sound, God has no hope. God has no need for hope. When men hope, they have a reasonable expectation of the thing they hope for coming to pass, yet it is always accompanied by an understanding that it may not work out as they hope. It is that element of uncertainty that makes hope what it is. But with God there is no uncertainty. He sees the future as clearly as He sees the present and the past. He knows the beginning from the end. So God does not have hope, because He doesn’t need hope. Rom. 8:24—“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”

Doubtless every human has experienced the loss of hope in some situation. Perhaps a financial reversal, or the life direction of a child, or a loved one’s lack of recovery from a serious medical condition resulting in permanent impairment or death. There are many things that can cause us to lose hope. But the Scriptures enjoin us not to put our hope and confidence in the things or the people of this world—not even in those who are nearest and dearest to us. Instead the Bible tells us to put our hope and trust in God: Psa. 42:5—“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence [Omnipresence].” Psa. 42:11; Psa. 43:5; Psa. 146:5; Jer. 14:22; Rom. 5:12—“… through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.”

Satan and his world system offer a false hope to mankind, but God offers true hope. Hoping in people or the things of this world means hope is misplaced, but hoping in God means hope is well placed. 1 Tim. 6:17—“Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us [Omnipotence] with all things to enjoy.” After Germany had suffered a humiliating defeat in World War One most of the people of Germany ended up putting their hope in a demon-possessed, anti-Semitic, power mad dictator named Adolph Hitler. This resulted in the horrors of World War Two, the Holocaust in which six million Jews perished, and utter ruin for Germany. Hope in the world and hope in God are mutually exclusive—they do not coexist. Misplaced hope is the same as no hope at all. Job 18:3—“So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish …”

God wants us to have hope, because He wants us to be happy. But we can only have hope—and happiness—if we put our hope in the One whose promises are true. Heb. 6:17-18—“In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose [Immutability], interposed with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, [Veracity] we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”

True Happiness—the Gift of God

God has determined to share His happiness with mankind. He is the One in whom man finds true happiness—Psalm 43:4, “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. I will praise you with the harp, O God, my God.” God has a plan to share His happiness with those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. When He imputes His own Righteousness to the believer at salvation (see Basics 14) He imputes the basis for man to share His happiness—Psalm 97:12, “Rejoice [be happy] in the Lord, you who are righteous [imputed Righteousness of God], and praise His holy name.”

About seventy years ago when Abraham Maslow first came up with his humanist view of how men could find happiness when he proposed his hierarchy of human needs, he believed it would result in happy, well-adjusted people, once those needs were progressively fulfilled. But in eternity past, before time even began, God came up with the perfect plan to share His happiness with redeemed man. And it pleased God—made Him happy—to reveal that plan to those he chose to bless with His happiness, through the pages of His Word. It is that way we hope (confidently expect) to summarize for the remainder of this lesson.

Building a Spiritual House

We are going to present this plan in the form of a blueprint of a structure, similar to Maslow’s pyramid. We call this structure we have illustrated in the graphic to the right the Spiritual House of the Soul. It functions in the very real spiritual realm analogous to the way a physical house functions. It provides shelter and protection for those that dwell in it. It is a place where we can retreat from the storms of life and fellowship with our spiritual family—and I’m talking primarily about God here—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—not just other believers. It is a spiritual dwelling that God expects us to build—He supplies all the materials and the energy and wherewithal to do the job—even the opportunities to build it. We just need to do it.

Now, as you have probably guessed all the different parts of this structure we have illustrated have a specific meaning. We’re going to cover the significance of each of these components in order as though we were building it. But first, if you have your Bible I’d like you to turn to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, verse 24. When you get there please read verses 24-27:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

To truly understand what Jesus is talking about here we would need to study all of chapters 5, 6 and 7, but we just don’t have the space, so I’ll just content myself with a brief summary statement. This is Jesus’ first major teaching to the crowds that had begun to follow Him at the beginning of His ministry.

In chapter 5 He delivers the famous Beatitudes. Then for the rest of that chapter and the next two chapters after that He just dispenses a tremendous amount of Bible doctrine—Biblical truth after Biblical truth. He teaches about the Laws of the Kingdom; how to deal with others; mental attitude sins; the law of love; hypocrisy; prayer. He deals with accumulating spiritual wealth instead of worldly goods; He covers worrying; judging; guarding spiritual treasure; the Golden Rule; how to recognize false teachers. So it’s in the context of all of this tremendous teaching that He makes his statement in verses 24-27. When Jesus says “these words of mine,” He’s referring to everything He’s been teaching in chapters 5-7. But since the Bible is the mind of Christ—1 Cor 2:16—we can say that, by extension, this also refers to the whole realm of Bible doctrine. The main idea I want us to see is the analogy of the two houses—the one built on the rock and the one built on sand. In this sermon He delivered to the crowds, Jesus is referring to this concept of the Spiritual House of the Soul.

The Foundation—Filling of the Holy Spirit

So let’s begin looking at the components of our Spiritual House. You can see that in this illustration we have the foundation of the house—the FHS—anchored firmly in the bedrock—Salvation by Faith Alone in Christ Alone. Without salvation there is no power of God available. Salvation is the absolute requirement—and it is only available through the Person of Jesus Chirst. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”—Acts 4:12 (KJV).

Once a person is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ he has permanently secure eternal salvation. He has the Filling of the Holy Spirit (FHS) available at all times. We have studied in earlier lessons how to regain and maintain the FHS by confession of sin (1 John 1:9) so I won’t get into it here (see Basics 01 in my blog if you need to review this).

Notice in our illustration that the Filling of the Spirit forms the foundation of our Spiritual House. We will begin building floors onto our house, but without the strong foundation of the FHS these floors will have no stability. Also, I’m sure you have noticed the two pillars extending through the foundation. These pillars represent the Word of God. They provide stability and support for the rest of the floors of the Spiritual House. Now this is not just the Word inside the pages of the Bible gathering dust on your bookshelf. This is the Word of God taken into your mind, believed, and applied in your life. This is how the Word of God becomes “alive and powerful”—Heb. 4:12. Again, these are concepts we have covered in previous lessons (see Basics 07 to review them).

One last feature of this illustration: notice the sand beneath the foundation. This represents the works of the flesh which proceed from man’s sinful nature. God’s plan totally excludes any efforts of man in building the Spiritual House—this is why the pillars of the foundation extend all the way down to the Bedrock of Salvation. Man’s works are completely rejected by God in salvation: “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”—Eph. 2:8-9.

While eternal salvation is the context in Ephesians 2, the principle of grace is also extended to the Christian life. The word “saved” is sozo [σώζω – pronounced SO-dzo] in the Greek, and it does mean “save”, but it also means “deliver”, “protect”, “heal”, and “preserve”. This refers to God delivering man from slavery to the sin nature which is the source of all our works of the flesh. Just as God rejects man’s works at the point of eternal salvation, He rejects energy of the flesh deeds in living the Christian life as well. We are not to try to “help” God with our works of the flesh—rather we are to allow God to direct us in our activities, since He knows exactly what He wants us to do in life. This is why the Apostle Paul goes on to say in verse 10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

Thinking Objectively

God’s plan is for us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”—2 Pet. 3:18. To do this we are to consistently, daily take in the Word of God, the Bible, which is declared to be the “mind of Christ” in 1 Cor 2:16. When we consistently take in the Word, over time our thinking becomes like that of Jesus. In fact this is what the Apostle Paul commanded in Phil. 2:5—“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus …”

The first thing we notice as this process occurs is that our thinking becomes objective—we no longer base decisions on the impulsive instability of emotionalism. This objective thinking becomes the first floor of our spiritual house. Now whenever we encounter the various trials of life, we are able to bring to bear objective thinking based on the Word, instead of hitting the panic button and getting all stressed out about the situation. We are able to use problem solving techniques given in the Word to allow us to stabilize ourselves in whatever adversity has confronted us. We are able to think logically with objectivity and apply specific Bible doctrines we have learned. We have given examples of using these problem solving techniques when we presented the Faith-Logic technique in Basics 07.

Being Humble

Floor two of our Spiritual House is genuine humility. Genuine humility develops in the believer who stays consistent in the Word of God. He develops a balanced view of himself based on the rational objectivity of biblical truth, and it results in true humility as the believer begins to understand who God truly is, and who he or she truly is. It is what renders believers teachable. The only path to happiness and fulfillment in life is through the consistent perception and application of spiritual truth, and humility on the part of the believer is an absolute requirement. You can’t properly orient to life if you think you’re the center of the universe.

God designed spiritual truth in the Church Age to be learned primarily under the God-delegated authority of the local pastor-teacher (PT). Of course, in our day He has made available many supplemental sources for Biblical truth—especially needed in our spiritually anemic western culture. These include books, pamphlets, audio recordings, the internet, and so on. But where God has provided a local pastor teaching His Word, that is His primary provision for the spiritual edification of local believers.

And God has designed His word to be received in humility. Only the humble believer can properly orient to the authority of the PT. Failure to orient to this authority blocks the perception of truth and shuts down the function of the Grace System of Comprehension, which is perception and application (see Basics 07 – Perception and Application).

Loving God

The third floor of the Spiritual House of the Soul is personal love for God. As we have seen earlier the Bible is the mind of Christ—the very mind of God. As we learn what is in the mind of God we cannot help but develop a deep and abiding love for Him. As we begin to fathom Who He is and then begin to comprehend what He has done to personally redeem each of us from our fallen condition we begin to fulfill the Scripture, “We love him, because he first loved us …”—1 John 4:19.

Standing upon a foundation of genuine humility, the believer develops a gratitude for Divine provisions. A steadily increasing spiritual understanding of who Jesus Christ really is causes this gratitude to deepen into a personal love for Him. As perception and application is consistently pursued in the Grace System of Comprehension (GSC), this love matures into an ever-increasing occupation with Christ.

The subject of Christian love encompasses far more than we can possibly go over in this lesson. The next lesson in the series Understanding God, will go into more depth than we can right now. Even then we will barely scratch the surface. The most dedicated, consistent Christians will spend a lifetime delving the riches of Biblical love, and when they are finally face to face with our Lord, they will find that there is still an eternity more to learn.

Loving People

Floor four is impersonal love toward other people plus a Relaxed Mental Attitude (RMA) toward the various circumstances of life. Notice that love toward other people is built with personal love for God as its foundation. There is no way that you will ever develop proper Christian love for others until you have begun to develop a true and abiding Love for God.

Now why in the world are we referring to love toward man as impersonal? Well, as I mentioned earlier, we will be dealing in more detail with the subject of love in the next lesson. But suffice it to say right now that categorically, love toward our fellow man must be impersonal. We are finite creatures—we cannot develop personal love relationships with every person we meet. As we will see next time, personal love relationships depend on virtue residing in the person being loved. Not everyone has adequate virtue in them to merit a love relationship with another—in fact, often you have to look pretty hard to find something loveable about some people! But as I said, we’ll get into that more deeply next time.

The Penthouse

The 5th floor is the penthouse of the SHS, described as true happiness, or joy. The word most often translated joy in the New Testament is the Greek word chara [χαρά—pronounced cha-RA]. The definition of this word is cheerfulness or calm happiness. This is the happiness of complete well-being. Although it is accompanied by the emotions of happiness and joy, it is not based on these emotions, nor is it dependent on them. This is true happiness that is completely independent of circumstances and is completely dependent on divine virtue. This divine virtue of chara is found both in the members of the Godhead, and it is developed in the soul of the believer by continuous and function of the GSC, and development of all the other virtues represented by the first four floors of the SHS.

Every believer who is consistently receiving, believing, and applying the Word of God is going to progressively develop chara—happiness—to an extent that is dependent on how quickly he is growing into spiritual maturity. Sharing God’s happiness can begin to be the experience of the new believer and continue on through the maturing process, but the degree and the consistence of the happiness depends on the level and the progress of spiritual maturity. And, of course, that is dependent on how long and how consistent he has been in the Word. The new believer who has barely learned the basic skills of the Christian life, who has just begun to understand the importance of genuine humility, and who has just started to take in the Word, will have less capacity for happiness than a more advanced, mature believer.

But as capacity develops via the Grace System of Comprehension the believer will gradually begin simultaneously to develop personal love for God, impersonal love for mankind, capacity to endure the inevitable hardships and difficulties of life, and ultimately as a seasoned, tested, mature born-again believer, develop capacity for true happiness. This is the point in the believer’s life when he becomes what we call an echo-zone believer.

The term echo-zone believer comes from the Greek word echo [ἔχω – pronounced ECH-o], which means to have and to hold. This refers to the blessings of grace that the mature believer “has and holds” and that characterizes his life. These are blessings that God preordained specifically for the mature believer, and are permanently imputed during his earthly lifetime to the believer who has attained this status of an echo-zone believer. It should be the goal of every born-again child of God to attain echo-zone status in this life. And the only way that will happen—as we have said over and over, and as we will continue to say over and over—is by following the procedure God has given us for growth to spiritual maturity:

Stay filled with the Holy Spirit by avoiding temptation and turning away from sin.
When you fail to remain free of sin and you lose the Filling of the Holy Spirit (FHS), regain the FHS by claiming the promise of 1 John 1:9 and confess your sin directly to God the Father so that He will forgive your sin and restore the FHS.
Consistently—daily—spend time in God’s Word the Bible. Take every opportunity to listen to the proclamation of the Word in the assembly of the local church. If that is not available, or you need to supplement those teachings, take advantage of the many resources available on the radio or internet or directly from the many ministries God has raised up to hear or read the teaching of the Word. If you stay filled with the Spirit, He will guide you to godly churches and ministries and He will teach you the truth—and only the truth—of what is being presented.
Believe the truth the Holy Spirit reveals to you from the Word.
And lastly, apply these truths to the situations that God allows in your life. Remember, you will be tested by life’s circumstances. God allows temptations and tests to promote your spiritual growth, but He never tests you beyond what you are able to endure. “No temptation [test] has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted [tested] beyond what you are able, but with the temptation [testing] will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”—1 Cor 10:13.

God is infinitely, absolutely, supremely happy. He wants to share this happiness with His children, and so He has laid before us the perfect way to acquire His very own happiness. All we have to do is pick it up.

We praise You and thank You, Heavenly Father, that you have sovereignly allowed us to share Your happiness. You have designed the perfect spiritual house, Father, to shelter us from the storms of life, within which we can grow and develop the capacity to become all You intended us to be, and to fulfill the very reason You left us here on earth—blessed Children of God here to be a blessing to a lost and dying world. Bless now the spiritual precepts presented in this message—cause them to be a blessing to all who receive them, for we ask it in Christ’s name, with thanksgiving, amen.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds

Basics-14 – The Holiness of God

john — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:38:53 +0000

BASIC BIBLE DOCTRINE

Understanding God

Lesson Fourteen:

The Holiness of God

by John McReynolds

As always, let’s take a moment to be sure that we are cleansed of sin and filled with the Holy Spirit. God is spirit, and He can only be worshipped in spirit and in truth. If we have lost the filling of the Spirit, it can only be regained by the principle of 1 John 1:9—“if we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” So let’s prepare ourselves to get back into the Word—let us pray:

Thank You Father for the opportunity to study what You have revealed to us about Yourself. Give us grace to aid in our understanding as we seek to grasp Your ineffable Holiness, for we ask it in Christ’s name—amen.

God has chosen to reveal two aspects about Himself through the pages of His word: first, God exists as three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The collective term for these three Persons is the Trinity. We will look in detail at the subject of the Trinity in a later lesson of this series.

Secondly, God is One in essence—that is, all three members of the Godhead have identical essences. This means that when viewed from the standpoint of their Deity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are absolutely identical. The are infinitely more alike than the most identical triplets in human history. Even so-called identical twins and triplets have different fingerprints and retina patterns, but in their essence, the members of the Godhead are absolutely identical down to the infinitesimally smallest detail. This is why Jesus said to Philip in John 14:9, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

By way of review of earlier lessons, we have adopted ten characteristics that we feel best describes what the Bible reveals to us about the essence of Deity. These characteristics are:

Sovereignty,
Righteousness,
Justice,
Love,
Eternal life,
Omnipotence,
Omniscience,
Omnipresence,
Immutability, and
Veracity.

In our last lesson we focused on the first of these attributes—Sovereignty, which basically means that God is the absolute ruler of all creation—indeed of all reality. Today we will take up the study of God’s Holiness. Undoubtedly someone is asking, “Holiness? I thought Righteousness was next—Holiness isn’t even on the list!” And you’re right, but actually we’re going to be looking at the next two attributes in the list: Righteousness and Justice. Together these two attributes make up what we call the Holiness of God.

What’s In a Word?

Let’s start by looking at the word “holy”. Merriam Webster gives one definition as, “exalted or worthy of complete devotion, as one perfect in goodness and righteousness …” This is the meaning most speakers of modern English intend when using the word in connection with God. But the Old English word “hālig” that evolved into our word “holy” came from another Old English word “hāl”, which meant “whole”. In other words the idea behind the English word “holy” came from the concept of wholeness or completeness, which as we have seen can easily be ascribed to God along with the more modern meaning of exalted perfection.

The Hebrew word most often translated “holy” in the English Bible is qôdesh [קדשׁ pronounced KOH-desh], meaning sacred, dedicated, consecrated, set apart, separate, etc. The Greek the word is hagios [ἅγιος, pronounced HAHG-ee-awss], which comes from the Greek root hagos [ἅγος, pronounced HAHG-awss], meaning an awful thing. When used in connection with God, as in “Holy Spirit” it describes something or Someone who is infinitely higher than us, and who is to be regarded with complete respect, awe, and even fear. Hagios was used to translate qôdesh in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures around 132 BC. Thus hagios retains the Hebrew meaning of set apart, or separated. When used in connection with believers, the word is translated saints or saint 61 times in the New Testament, and so the true meaning of the word “saints” is actually set apart, blameless ones.

So what does all this have to do with the Divine attributes of Righteousness and Justice? Well, again we need to do word studies in order to understand the concepts behind these words. Starting with righteousness, Merriam Webster defines it as “acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin …” The Hebrew word is tsaddı̂yq [צדּיק, pronounced tsad-DEEK] meaning just, lawful, or righteous. The word implies an absolute moral standard of “rightness”, and was used to refer to the absolute, perfect, humanly unattainable standard of God.

The Alexandrian scholars who translated the Hebrew scriptures into the Greek Septuagint translated tsaddı̂yq with the Greek word dikaios [δίκαιος, pronounced DIH-kai-ahs]. Dikaios comes from another Greek word, dike [δίκη, pronounced DIH-kay], which means obviously or self-evidently right—a reference to the absolute, Divine, standard of righteousness. There are a number of New Testament words that come from this same root word dike, but we won’t go into them here.

There is one more word we need to look at: Justice. Turning once again to Merriam Webster, we find several definitions, but I want to focus on these:

The maintenance or administration of what is just, especially by the impartial … assignment of merited rewards or punishments;
the quality of being just, impartial, or fair;
the principle or ideal of just dealing or right action;
conformity to the principle or ideal of righteousness;
the quality of conforming to law;
conformity to truth …”

Now when we look at the Hebrew words for justice, we find two of them. One is mishpâṭ [שׁפּט pronounced mish-PAWT] which refers to a judicial verdict, a sentence or formal judicial decree, or which describes proper action according to a lawful or righteous standard. The other is tsâdaq [צדק pronounced tsaw-DAK] which is the root word of tsaddı̂yq—the word for righteousness—thus in Hebrew righteousness and justice are closely related words.

Likewise in Greek the words for both righteousness and justice come from the same root. There are two words most often translated “justice” in the New Testament. The first of these is krisis [κρίσις, pronounced KREE-sis], which basically means a judicial decision, verdict or condemnation. The second is any of several words rooted in dike, the same root word of dikaios which, as we have seen, is also translated righteous.

Why are we going into so much detail in these word studies? Well actually we’re not—there’s a lot more we could go into here in both the Hebrew and the Greek. But what I want you to see is that, unlike English, both Hebrew and Greek use the same words to express the ideas of both Divine Righteousness and Divine Justice. In fact as we will see shortly, both of these Biblical languages present Righteousness as the standard of Holiness, while Justice is the actual judgment made by God on the basis of His Righteous standard. In other words, Righteousness is the passive side of Holiness and Justice is the active side of Holiness.

Righteousness—the Perfect Standard of God

The Bible says much about the perfect, Holy, Righteous character of God in such verses as 1 Sam. 2:2; Psa. 22:3; Psa. 111:9. The Book of Leviticus 19:2c “… I, the Lord your God, am holy.” Psalm 145:17—“The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” Isaiah 6:3b “… Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” There are many other verses that reveal His goodness and His perfect Righteousness.

God’s absolute Righteousness is the perfect moral standard that God applies when dealing with any of His creatures (notice I have been writing “Righteousness” with a big “R” when referring to God’s Righteousness—I have a reason for this). It is what God uses to judge all of our choices. Since it is an integral part of His character, God always deals with us according to His Righteousness. The reason this is necessary is because God created us with free moral choice. If God had just made us little robots without free choice God would not deal with us according to His Righteousness because we would never do anything wrong. But as it is we do have choice, and we can exercise our choice wrongly. And as the sovereign Judge of the universe, God does judge us and all of our actions. And God judges us according to His perfect, absolute Righteousness.

Now as mankind fallen from birth, this is very bad news for us. It means that we all are condemned right from the start. You could say that we have three strikes against us before we even step up to the plate, to use a baseball illustration. Even as newborn infants, before we committed any acts of personal sin, we already were under condemnation from God’s Righteousness because of our fallen condition. So before we proceed any further with the study of Righteousness, let’s review our fallen condition, and why we find ourselves in such a sorry state.

When Adam committed his original sin back in the Garden of Eden he received the penalty of his sin in his own body, Rom. 6:23—“For the wages of sin is death …” When he first received God’s prohibition against eating the forbidden fruit, he was warned of this penalty in Gen. 2:17—“but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Because the curse of mortality was a curse on Adam’s flesh, that meant that everyone who issued from his flesh shared in his curse. As a result, all of his descendants—including you and me—have this curse of mortality, 1 Cor. 15:22—“For as in Adam all die …” This is strike one of our baseball metaphor. Not only that, but we share in Adam’s spiritual death also. In other words, every one of us—every member of the human race—is born spiritually dead; totally unrighteous in God’s sight, Rom 3:10—“as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one …’” This is strike two.

As if that weren’t enough, as a result of Adam receiving sin’s curse in his own body, there remained in his flesh a propensity to sin—Adam would always have the tendency and the urge to commit sin. We refer to this as the “old sin nature” (OSN). Biblically it is referred to as the “old man” or the “old self” in such passages as Rom. 6:6; Eph. 4:22; and Col. 2:9. Our inheritance of this OSN is strike three. These three results of Adam’s sin are passed down universally to every member of the human race (except One). This is part of what we call the Doctrine of the Total Depravity of Man.

Now someone may be thinking, “Hey look: I’m not all that bad! I’ve done a lot of good things—you’re making it sound like we’re all a bunch of scum bags. Almost everybody has some good in them!” If you’re thinking that, you’re right. Even Adolph Hitler was kind to stray animals, and he reportedly helped many of them! But did those kindnesses make up for the unspeakable evils he perpetrated? What about somebody like Mother Theresa? While there’s not much bad you can say about her, even Mother Theresa had an OSN, and from time to time it expressed itself in her life. And all of the considerable good she did was tainted by her OSN—as were the good works of every other good person who ever lived (except One).

The point is that while it’s true that fallen humans are capable of much good, it’s just relative righteousness—that’s righteousness with a little “r” (now you know why I wrote God’s Righteousness with a big “R”). Now different people produce different amounts of relative, human righteousness during their lives. Mother Theresa’s relative righteousness was undoubtedly much bigger compared to Adolph Hitler’s relative righteousness. But when they are compared to God’s infinite Righteousness, they both shrink to zero—as does our relative righteousness, and that of every person ever born (except One).

A few paragraphs ago we stated that God judges us based on His perfect, infinite standard of righteousness. And as we just saw, all of our righteousness shrinks to zero when compared to God’s. So how can any of us stand on our own merits before God? The answer of course is that we cannot. In fact, our righteousness is not just zero in God’s sight, it is disgusting to Him. Isaiah 64:6 tells us, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags …” The term “filthy rags” is a term evoking extreme disgust, especially to Jews since it also references a condition of ceremonial uncleanness. The reason our righteousness is disgusting to Him is because at it’s very best it still originates from our sinful nature—it is still inextricably tainted with sin.

Basically, this means that from a human standpoint there is nothing we can do to merit, earn, or deserve anything but condemnation from God—whether we are a Mother Theresa, or an Adolph Hitler. We are all the same to God when it comes to comparing our puny righteousness to God’s infinite Righteousness—and to God that is disgusting. That doesn’t leave us in a very good position, does it? Of course God did something about the problem since we couldn’t, but before we get into that we need to look at the other side of God’s Holiness—His Justice.

Justice—the Executor of God’s Righteousness

In our justice system, when the Judge of a court hands down a judgment from the bench, he does not personally carry out the judgment. There are always different officers of the court designated to do that. It may be the Bailiff, or it may be attorneys attached to the case under judgment, or in criminal cases it may be the state or Federal prison system. Whoever it is, that person or organization is called the executor of the judgment of the court.

When Holy God judges someone, as we have seen He judges them according to His standard of Righteousness. Because God is omniscient—that is He knows everything that is knowable—He has a perfect understanding of all the facts surrounding the case. So all of His judgments are based on absolute truth and perfect understanding, and therefore when He pronounces a judgment, it is perfectly appropriate to the case before Him, and perfectly fair. When God judges disobedience, His Righteous standard hands down a sentence of punishment—a penalty. When it is time for the punishment to be administered, God’s Justice is the executor of His Righteous judgment.

Bible verses speaking of God’s Justice and His Righteous judgments include:

Heb. 10:30,31—“For we know him that hath said, ‘Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord.’ And again, ‘The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.’”

Psalm 58:11 “…verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.”

Psalm 19:9 “… the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”

Others verses include Psa. 50:6; Heb 12:23; 1 John 1:9; Rev. 15:3.

The Dilemma of God’s Justice and God’s Love

Many people have a difficult time reconciling God’s Love with the extent of God’s eternal punishment for sin. We don’t have the space to deal in detail with that here, but I do plan to take up that subject more thoroughly in the next lesson. Right now though, I do want to touch on it briefly.

As we have seen, God is an absolute, infinite Being. His character is absolute and infinite, and therefore His Righteous judgments must also have that same absolute, infinite aspect, since they proceed from Him. As we have seen, God is disgusted with even the good things that proceed from our sin-contaminated characters. Therefore, like all else with God, His disgust is absolute and infinite. So His righteousness demands a penalty in keeping with the absolute, infinite extent of His anger and disgust with us.

God has imputed everlasting existence to humans—we will all live forever, somewhere. Everlasting existence is a part of God having made us in His image, Gen, 1:26—“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness …” So even His punishments must have the same eternal character—this is one of the reasons why those who refuse to accept God’s offer of salvation must spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. There are other reasons, but as I said, I plan to take those up at a future time.

We have been focusing on the very negative aspects of this situation, so now let’s look at the very positive side. Since God is Love (the subject we’ll deal with next time), it was never His desire to condemn anyone to everlasting punishment.

Matt. 18:14—“Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”

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.”

2 Pet. 3:9—“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

By now we’re all familiar with God’s solution to the problem of fallen man and how God might redeem him. He sent His Son Jesus into the world to take the penalty due mankind—all of us—for our sins, so that God would be able to grant us eternal life with Him. God did the hard part—the part we could not do for ourselves. But He did leave one thing for us to do—and He made it possible—even easy—for us to do that, and that is to exercise choice. Each person is to choose for himself whether he will accept God’s provision for salvation, and of course how each one chooses determines that person’s eternal future. So how is it that God’s perfect character is satisfied just because we choose to accept God’s solution for our salvation? The answer is imputation.

God’s Solution: Imputation

Some of you may be saying right now, “Oh no—more big words! Preacher, you’re killing me!” I know, but when we learn these big words we’re learning about Jesus. And when we are filled with the Spirit—as we should be anytime we are studying the Word of God, He makes learning even big words easy. As He said in Matt. 11:29-30, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me … For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

All right—in researching the definition of imputation I found three definitions that will serve as a starting place to understand this concept. Imputation means:

1. to attribute or ascribe (usually something dishonest or dishonorable, especially a criminal offence) to a person.

2. to attribute to a source or cause: e.g. “I impute your success to nepotism.”

3. (Business / Commerce) to give an notional value to goods or services when the real value is unknown.

Let’s look at the first definition. To paraphrase it, to impute something can mean to falsely ascribe some criminal offense to an innocent party. That’s exactly what happened to Jesus. He was the spotless, sinless Son of God, yet he willingly allowed His Father to impute all of mankind’s sins onto Himself even though He was guiltless of any of them. Now in the human realm that definition of imputation means that the accused party is getting what we used to call a “bum rap”. This is precisely what happened to Jesus in His trials before the Sanhedrin, Caiaphas, Herod, and Pilate. There was no truth whatever in the accusations the scribes and Pharisees made against Him.

But that was not the only imputation Jesus suffered. The much greater imputation was the one God made when He imputed the sins of the world to Jesus. Unlike the false accusations the Jews made against Jesus, this imputation was based on two things: First, God’s plan to redeem fallen mankind called for Someone innocent to take the penalty on behalf of the real offenders—all of mankind—all of us. Second, It was based on Jesus’ willing acceptance of the guilt of the sins of all mankind and of the penalty of death imposed as a result of that guilt. This imputation of guilt was totally undeserved, but totally necessary if we were to be saved. That’s the theological slant on the first definition.

The second definition, to attribute to a source or cause, essentially means to attribute some undeserved value to a object or person based on that object or person’s relationship to something else. Now Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man—that’s one of the things that qualified Him to be the Savior. Since He is fully God, He possesses God’s perfect, absolute, infinite Righteousness (that’s Righteousness with a big “R”).

When a person acknowledges Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf and accepts Him as their Savior, they immediately establish a relationship with Him as their Lord and Savior. The instant that happens another imputation occurs—God imputes the very Righteousness of Jesus (big “R”) to the believer.

Replacing “righteousness” with “Righteousness”

Here’s where I need for you to pay close attention: Now, man’s relative righteousness (little “r”) has been replaced with Jesus’ perfect, absolute, infinite Righteousness (big “R”). So now when God looks on the person who is a new believer, He views him, not with the disgust He formerly viewed his relative righteousness, but with the joy, pleasure, and love with which He viewed His own Son! Now He looks at us and sees Jesus’ Righteousness (big “R”)!

This is where I have been trying to get for this entire lesson. Even though none of us deserve it, when we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God imputes Divine Righteousness to us. This then becomes the basis for our eternal salvation, and our relationship with God in time and in eternity. This is the theological slant on the second definition—to attribute some undeserved value to an object or person based on that object or person’s relationship to something else.

As believers we are related to Jesus Christ, and the infinite value of His Righteousness is imputed to us based on that relationship. This then becomes the basis for our eternal salvation, and our relationship with God in time and in eternity. We don’t deserve it, and we certainly cannot earn it or work for it.

The “Notion” of Righteousness

Now the third definition of imputation: to give a notional value to goods or services when the real value is unknown. This definition is closely related to the second definition. To give a “notional” value to something means to assign an arbitrary value to something which is not related in any way to its real value. When I originally gave this lesson in a recent Bible class I used US coinage as an example, wherein the government mints cheap nickel clad coins and calls it money, instead of the silver and gold coins that used to be minted many years ago—back when we had a sound economy.

After I gave this message, a friend who works in the energy trading business came up to me and gave me a much better illustration. He related how in the energy business they trade shipments of energy commodities on the futures market. Because the actual value of the future shipment is not known at the time of the transaction, a notional value—basically their best guess as to what the value will be—is given, or imputed, to the shipment so that the transaction can be processed. This notional value may be greater or less than what the actual value turns out to be. Whatever it is, a final value based on current market conditions is made when the shipment actually occurs. Depending on which way the market goes, money—sometimes lots of it—can be made or lost in the futures market.

But God, in a similar way takes something that is worthless—you and me—and imputes the infinite value of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ to us when we believe on His Son, and thus imputes His infinite worth to us. And unlike the futures market, the value of the Righteousness He imputes to us remains a part of us for all eternity—no future adjustment of our value will ever be made.

When He looks at you now, He sees the Righteousness of Christ, not your own relative righteousness, which formerly disgusted Him. Now the Sovereign of the Universe is able to open His infinitely vast store of riches from which He can bless us. God, who has the infinite riches of Heaven at His disposal, “…is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think …” Eph. 3:20. Now He can “… supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” without compromising His own holiness, (Phil. 4:19).

The main idea I want you to take away from this study of Holiness is this: Righteousness is the standard or principle of Holiness. Justice is the function or manifestation of Holiness. Righteousness is the perfect standard of God with which He judges our every thought and action. So depending on whether He approves or condemns what we think or do, His Justice will either dispense blessing or punishment. In other words, what the Righteousness of God condemns, the Justice of God punishes, but what the Righteousness of God approves, the Justice of God blesses.

Holiness and the Christian Way of Life

So far we have looked at the Holiness of God from God’s perspective. Now, we need to look at holiness as it applies to our Christian walk. We have looked at Righteousness as the principle of Holiness, and it is no less so in the way we should conduct our own lives.

Justice is the manifestation of God’s Holiness. And again, it is no less so in our own lives. Holiness is manifested in our lives first, by right thinking. If we are rightly related to God—that is walking with the Lord as His children—we will manifest right thinking. And our right thinking will be manifested by right doing.

God imputed His own Righteousness to us at the moment of our salvation. As believers we have God’s own perfect principles of Righteousness available to us in His word. So we can take in these principles by the function of the Grace System of Perception.

But God leave the follow-through to us. We must determine to apply them in our own lives—in the moment by moment contingencies we encounter outside of Bible class. This is how we manifest the Holiness of God in our own lives, and how the rest of the world is able to see Jesus Christ in us.

“But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:25

James 1:25 refers to the perfect law—the expression of the perfect Righteousness of God. This perfect law is encapsulated in the whole word of God.

The principle of the law was given in the Mosaic Law and the Prophets in the Old Testament.

The fulfillment of the Law occurred in the earthly life of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels.

And finally the illumination of the perfected laws of Grace, Love, and Liberty as revealed in the New Testament. This is the perfect law of liberty. It is for us to look into intently and absorb, and for us to abide by and manifest in our own lives, so that we will become not forgetful hearers, but effectual doers of God’s wonderful word.

We’re thankful, Father, that You have revealed Your perfect Holiness to us. As we grow in grace and knowledge of You we gain a greater appreciation and love of Your Righteousness and Your Justice toward us. You have imputed Your own perfect Righteousness to those who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation. And to those who believe, Father, You have given Your word to become “… doers of Your Word, and not hearers only.” May we always seek to abide by Your Word, so that we will be blessed in all we do.

Bless now Your word; let it not return unto you void. Bless all reading these words, confident in the knowledge that … “You who began a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ,” in whose name we ask with thanksgiving, amen.

Thank you very much.

In His Service,

John McReynolds