Our Saviour Human or Divine? (The Godhead Book 3)

Learning about the Godhead

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A number of illustrations have been suggested. They all are useful as long as you remember they are only illustrations. For water can exist as solid, liquid, or steam. That's okay, but usually water only exists in one state at a time. However, there is a physical condition in which water can exist as solid, liquid and steam at the same time—which would be a much better illustration of the Trinity.

There are others we could mention. An egg is made up of a shell, the eggwhite, and the yolk. All three are needed for an egg to be complete. One of the more interesting illustrations note the different roles a person can play. I am a father, a son and a husband at one and the same time.

A Catholic Land

Yet I am only one person. Perhaps a more biblical approach is to consider that a husband and wife are two persons yet in God's eyes they are "one flesh. Tony Evans commented that the pretzel is a good illustration because it consists of one piece of dough with three holes. Take away any one of the holes and the pretzel isn't really a pretzel anymore. According to some people, the pretzel was actually invented in Europe several hundred years ago by a monk who wanted to illustrate the Trinity to the children of his village so he took some dough, looped into the familiar three-hour shape, based it, and gave it to the children as an edible object lesson.

My personal favorite illustration comes from noted scientist Dr. He notes that the entire universe is trinitarian by design. The universe consists of three things: Take away any one of those three and the universe would cease to exist. But each one of those is itself a trinity. Thus the whole universe witnesses to the character of the God who made it cf.

Church Doctrine

It's important to remember that all illustrations fail eventually. They don't "prove" the Trinity, they simply help us understand the concept. I am sure that many Christians think this doctrine has no practical value. That is, even if it's true, it doesn't and shouldn't matter to them. However, that simply isn't true.

Let me suggest five important ramifications of this truth. The Trinity helps us answer the question, "What was God doing before he created the universe? But skeptics like to ask it as well. You may remember Augustine's answer: But the Trinity teaches us that before the foundation of the world, God was having fellowship within his own being. That's why the Bible tells us that the Father loves the Son John In some sense we can never understand that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have forever communicated and loved each other. Francis Schaeffer emphasized this point in his books.

This, he says, is where the human desire for intimacy and communication comes from. We were made to communicate.

That design is part of the image of God within each of us. It also teaches us that God is never "lonely. God could have existed forever without us. That he made us at all is a statement of his great love and the wisdom of his plan. The Trinity sets the limits on human speculation about the nature of God.

There is so much we would like to know about God, but our finite minds cannot comprehend it. We are not free to create God in our own image. The Trinity sets the limits for human speculation. God is more than the Trinity, but he is not less than that. The Trinity teaches us that God is beyond all human comprehension. After all, if we could explain God, he wouldn't be God. I have no doubt that God is much more than "one in essence, three in Person," but since I can't even understand those simple phrases, I don't worry at all about what else might be true about God. If you feel baffled by the Trinity, join the crowd.

The greatest minds of history have stood in amazement before a God so great that he cannot be contained by our puny explanations. The Trinity exalts the Son and the Spirit. We all know that God the Father is to be worshiped. But what about Jesus Christ? If he is God, should we not also worship him? The answer of course is yes. But that truth leads us back to the Trinity. He is not merely the Son of God but also God the Son.

The same thing may be said about the Holy Spirit. He is not just a "force" but a Divine Person. Not an "influence" or some vague power, but the Third Person of the Trinity. Let me draw one important inference. That, by the way, is the number one question I have been asked about the Holy Spirit since writing Names of the Holy Spirit. Many Christians simply do not feel comfortable praying to the Spirit even though we often sing songs that are essentially prayers to the Spirit, such as "Spirit of God, descend upon my heart" and "Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

If he is God, our prayers may be directed to him. I shall not stoop to petty wranglings about semantics but shall stay with matters of substance. I shall simply go back to basics and set forth fundamental doctrines of the kingdom, knowing that everyone who is sound spiritually and who has the guidance of the Holy Spirit will believe my words and follow my counsel. Please do not put too much stock in some of the current views and vagaries that are afloat, but rather, turn to the revealed word, get a sound understanding of the doctrines, and keep yourselves in the mainstream of the Church.

Now, it is no secret that many false and vain and foolish things are being taught in the sectarian world and even among us about our need to gain a special relationship with the Lord Jesus. I shall summarize the true doctrine in this field and invite erring teachers and beguiled students to repent and believe the accepted gospel verities as I shall set them forth.

There is no salvation in believing any false doctrine, particularly a false or unwise view about the Godhead or any of its members.

“True Doctrine, Understood, Changes Attitudes and Behavior”

Eternal life is reserved for those who know God and the One whom he sent to work out the infinite and eternal atonement. True and saving worship is found only among those who know the truth about God and the Godhead and who understand the true relationship men should have with each member of that Eternal Presidency. It follows that the devil would rather spread false doctrine about God and the Godhead, and induce false feelings with reference to any one of them, than almost any other thing he could do.

The creeds of Christendom illustrate perfectly what Lucifer wants so-called Christian people to believe about Deity in order to be damned. These creeds codify what Jeremiah calls the lies about God see Jeremiah They say he is unknown, uncreated, and incomprehensible. They say he is a spirit, without body, parts, or passions. They say he is everywhere and nowhere in particular present, that he fills the immensity of space and yet dwells in the hearts of men, and that he is an immaterial, incorporeal nothingness.

They say he is one-god-in-three, and three-gods-in-one who neither hears, nor sees, nor speaks. Some even say he is dead, which he might as well be if their descriptions identify his being. These concepts summarize the chief and greatest heresy of Christendom. Truly the most grievous and evil heresy ever imposed on an erring and wayward Christianity is their creedal concept about God and the Godhead! But none of this troubles us very much. God has revealed himself to us in this day even as he did to the prophets of old.

We know thereby that he is a personal Being in whose image man was made. We know that we are his spirit children; that he endowed us with the divine gift of agency; and that he ordained the laws whereby we might advance and progress and become like him. We know that God is the only supreme and independent Being in whom all fullness and perfection dwell and that he is omnipotent, omniscient, and, by the power of his Spirit, omnipresent. These three are one—one God if you will—in purposes, in powers, and in perfections. But each has his own severable work to perform, and mankind has a defined and known and specific relationship to each one of them.

It is of these relationships that we shall now speak. Let us set forth those doctrines and concepts that a gracious God has given to us in this day and which must be understood in order to gain eternal life. We do not worship the Son, and we do not worship the Holy Ghost. I know perfectly well what the scriptures say about worshipping Christ and Jehovah, but they are speaking in an entirely different sense—the sense of standing in awe and being reverentially grateful to him who has redeemed us.

Worship in the true and saving sense is reserved for God the first, the Creator. And gave unto them commandments that they should love and serve him, the only living and true God, and that he should be the only being whom they should worship. For unto such hath God promised his Spirit. And they who worship him, must worship in spirit and in truth. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy might, mind, and strength; and in the name of Jesus Christ thou shalt serve him.

These, then, are the commandments of commandments. They tie the Father and the Son together, as one, so that both receive our love and service. Though Christ is God, yet there is a Deity above him, a Deity whom he worships. That God is the Father. To Mary Magdalene, the first mortal to see a resurrected person, Jesus said:.

All of us, Christ included, are the spirit children of the Father; all of us, Christ included, seek to become like the Father. In this sense the Firstborn, our Elder Brother, goes forward as we do. The plan of salvation originated with the Father; he is the Author and Finisher of our faith in the final sense; he ordained the laws by obedience to which both we and Christ can become like him.

What he did was ask whom he should send to be the Redeemer in the plan he devised. Christ and Lucifer both volunteered, and the Lord chose his Firstborn and rejected the amendatory offer of the son of the morning. And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness. And he received all power, both in heaven and on earth, and the glory of the Father was with him, for he dwelt in him.

Note it, please, the Lord Jesus worked out his own salvation while in this mortal probation by going from grace to grace, until, having overcome the world and being raised in immortal glory, he became like the Father in the full, complete, and eternal sense. Thus spake the Lord: As temporal and spiritual death came by the fall of Adam, so immortality and eternal life come by the atonement of Christ. Such was and is and ever shall be the plan of the Father. Adam was sent to earth to fall, and Christ came to ransom men from the fall.

Thus the Father sent forth this call in the councils of eternity: Christ is the Redeemer of men and the Savior of the world because his Father sent him and gave him power to do the assigned work. He said he had power to lay down his life and to take it again because he had been so commanded by the Father. The great and eternal redemption, in all its phases, was wrought by Christ using the power of the Father. I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross.

There are enough evidences for God's existence to convince anyone who seriously tries to discover the truth about Him. Yet faith is a prerequisite for "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" Heb. Faith in God, however, is not blind. It is based on sufficient evidence found both in God's revelations through the Scriptures and through nature.

At the time the Scriptures were written, names were important, as they still are in the Near East and Orient. There a name is considered to reveal the character of the bearer, his true nature and identity. The importance of God's names, disclosing His nature, character, and qualities, are revealed in His command "'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain'" Ex. These names emphasize the majestic and transcendent character of God.

Ray Pritchard

Other names reveal God's willingness to enter into a relationship with people. On occasions God even revealed Himself more intimately as "Father" Deut. Bible writers spend more time describing God's activities than His being.

He is introduced as Creator Gen. He makes plans Isa. He forgives sins Ex. His actions confirm that He is a personal God. The writers of Scripture provide additional information on the essence of God through testimonies about His divine attributes. God's incommunicable attributes comprise aspects of His divine nature not given to created beings. God is self-existent, for He has "life in Himself" John 5: He is independent in will Eph. He is omniscient, knowing everything Job God is omnipresent Ps. Yet He is fully present in every part of space. He is eternal Ps.

Our Relationship with the Lord

God is all powerful, omnipotent. That nothing is impossible to Him assures us that He accomplishes whatever He purposes Dan. He says, "I am the Lord, I do not change" Mal. Since, in a sense, these attributes define God, they are incommunicable. God's communicable attributes flow from His loving concern for humanity. They include love Rom.

Here's What's Often Missing When We Speak of the Final Judgment As Being According to Works

These gifts come only with the Giver Himself. No one can restrain His hand" Dan. So Solomon could say, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes" Prov. Paul, aware of God's sovereignty, wrote, "'I will return again to you, God willing'" Acts Predestination and Human Freedom. The Bible reveals God's full control over the world. He "predestined" people "to be conformed to the image of His Son" Rom. What does such sovereignty imply for human freedom? The verb to predestinate means "to determine beforehand.

But study of the context of these passages shows that Paul does not speak about God's capriciously excluding anyone. The thrust of these texts is inclusive. The Bible clearly states that God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" 1 Tim. He is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" 2 Peter 3: There is no evidence that God has decreed that some persons should be lost; such a decree would deny Calvary, where Jesus died for everyone.

The whoever in the text, "'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life'" John 3: Bible predestination consists in the effective purpose of. God that all who choose to believe in Christ shall be saved John 1: The context of these texts shows that Paul's concern is mission and not salvation. Salvation was equally available to Jacob and Esau, but God chose Jacob, not Esau, to be the line through whom He would take the message of salvation to the world.

God exercises sovereignty in His mission strategy. When Scripture says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart it is merely crediting Him with doing what He allows, and not implying that He ordains it. Pharaoh's negative response to God's call actually illustrates God's respect for his freedom to choose.

Foreknowledge and Human Freedom. Some believe that God relates to persons without knowing their choices until they are made; that God knows certain future events, such as the Second Advent, the millennium, and the restoration of the earth, but has no idea who will be saved. They feel that God's dynamic relationship with the human race would be in jeopardy if He knew everything that would transpire from eternity to eternity.

Some suggest that He would be bored if He knew the end from the beginning. But God's knowledge about what individuals will do does not interfere with what they actually choose to do any more than a historian's knowledge of what people did in the past interferes with their actions.

Just as a camera records a scene but does not change it, foreknowledge looks into the future without altering it. The foreknowledge of the Godhead never violates human freedom. Dynamics Within the Godhead Is there only one God? What of Christ, and the Holy Spirit? The Oneness of God. In contrast to the heathen of surrounding nations, Israel believed there was only one God Deut.

The New Testament makes the same emphasis on the unity of God Mark The Plurality Within the Godhead. Although the Old Testament does not explicitly teach that God is triune, it alludes to a plurality within the Godhead.

At times God employs plural pronouns such as: At times the Angel of the Lord is identified. Various references distinguish the Spirit of God from God.

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