Session 2 - The Nature of God and the Trinity
Christian Theology • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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This goes beyond our human understaning which is something we should expect. It would be a limited God if we could understand all about Him from our minds. It would make our mind equal to God.
If God had not chosen to reveal Himself to us we could know nothing. There is no way apart from God making the effort. There is no way for us to reach out and know God.
1. General Revelation
1. General Revelation
God has firstly made Himself know through creation.
Romans 1:18–20 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse:”
God making the world means that He has revealed Himself sufficiently that we are without excuse. Men are are guilty of suppressing the truth that God exists.
2. Special Revelation
2. Special Revelation
It is the Scriptures (Bible) that we get this special revelation that God revelas Himself in very specific terms. It was initially given to the Children of Israel. It begins with the revelation to Moses.
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
God refers to Himself “I AM” he is expressing that He is eternal without beginning or ending. In Isaiah God reveals Himself as unique and alone.
Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
God is not only eternal but that He is the only true God. There is no other. This is monotheism in the midst of polytheism.
There is a further boost in the New Testament. We get new insights into the nature of God. God is more than one person.
That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we beheld, and our hands handled, concerning the Word of life (and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us); that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you also, that ye also may have fellowship with us: yea, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ:
Jesus is the final revelation of the nature of God. Jesus is the most special revelation from God, there is no need to look any further to understand the nature of God.
God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
3. The Plurality of the Godhead
3. The Plurality of the Godhead
Theconcept of more than one person in the Godhead is a revelation from reading the Scriptures. It is an impossiblle concept for humans to grasp but important to understand the nature of God. There is clues throughout the Bible.
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
We are getting a glimpse of a conversation within the Godhead. How is God talking to? Is it the angels? Man is crrated in the image of God and not that of angels. This is the first major hint in the Bible.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.
It all breaks into the open with the New Testament. The Word was with God and was God.
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.
It is clear that John is writing about about Jesus. There is another person in the Godhead which is the Holy Spirit.
And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.
But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of me:
But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you.
The Holy Spirit has personality and is distinct from the Father and Son. Do Christians follow a 3-headed monster? No.
Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:
God declares Himself to be one. The word one does not refer to a numerical one. It is saying that He is unique.
Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Our God is unique in that He is the only true God and has revealed Himself in the persons of the Father, SOn and Holy Spirit. Unique as persons but one as God.
“Our sincerest effort to grasp the incomprehensible mystery of the Trinity must remain forever futile, and only by deepest reverence can it be saved from actual presumption.
Some persons who reject all they cannot explain have denied that God is a Trinity. Subjecting the Most High to their cold, level-eyed scrutiny, they conclude that it is impossible that he could be both One and Three.
These forget their whole life is enshrouded in mystery. They fail to consider that any real explanation of even the simplest phenomenon in nature lies hidden in obscurity and can no more be explained than can the mystery of the Godhead.”
AW Tozer - Knowledge of the Holy
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.
