Bible Doctrines L3 Theology Proper
Bible Doctrines • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsAdapted from “Major Bible Themes” by Chafer / Walvoord
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Lesson Objectives
1. Be able to defend the Trinitarian view of God.
2. Be able to recognize the attributes of God.
3. Understand in what way God is the Father of Jesus Christ.
Memory Verse
Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, And his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; And beside me there is no God.
(Isaiah 44:6)
Lesson Notes
Lesson Notes
The doctrine of the trinity is crucial for Christianity. It is concerned with who God is, what he is like, how he works, and how he is to be approached. - Erickson
God the Trinity (or Triunity)
God the Trinity (or Triunity)
Belief in the existence of God
Belief in the existence of God
Man is constantly suppressing the knowledge of God.
Question: Why are men suppressing the knowledge of God?
All of humanity knows that there is a God
Rom. 1:19–20
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Those who claim that there is no God are fools
Ps. 14:1
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.
There are many beliefs concerning a higher being.
Two of these systems of thought include:
(a) Polytheism - belief in many gods
(b) Pantheism - God is in everything
The Bible assumes God’s existence (Gen. 1:1).
However, some have tried to reason that God must exist outside of the Bible.
Some arguments include (Keep’er movin here)
(a) Ontological Argument — God must exist because man universally believes in His existence
(b) Cosmological Argument — Everything has a cause and effect; therefore, the universe and everything created (effect) must have an ultimate Cause (namely, God)
(c) Teleological Argument — Every design has a designer and thus the universe and created order must have an ultimate Designer
(d) Anthropological Argument — Man cannot be explained apart from the existence of God
Although some of these arguments are valid, ultimately the only way for a person the embrace God as existing and Savior will only do so because of the Word being used in a supernatural way by the Spirit.
The Unity of the Divine Trinity
The Unity of the Divine Trinity
The Old Testament consistently emphasizes the unity of God. For example:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.
That there is ONE is clear.
God does not share His kingdom with any other deity.
He is One and there is no other god in existence besides Him. That being said, Scripture asserts the triunity of God.
Genesis 1:26 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 fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 3:22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Genesis 11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
That there is a TRIUNITY is clear.
The Scriptures reveal that God is one in essence (in other words, He is not multiple Gods—He is of one essence) and three in persons (namely, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
[To see all three persons of the trinity in one place, see Matt. 28:19–20]
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
The trinity (or better, triunity) is a mystery; humanity will not be able to comprehend God.
The Names of God
The Names of God
There are three names of God used in the Old Testament. The author points to these as a hint at the trinity I would place that in the “very interesting” category.
Elohim — The most prominent name of God in the Old Testament is Elohim (cf. Gen. 1:1ff).
Jehovah — The covenant name of God is Jehovah (or Yahweh) which is designated by an all caps “LORD” in our English Bibles. The first time it appears in the Old Testament is Gen. 2:4 and it defines the eternality of God (cf. Ex. 3:13–14).
Adonai — This is a term that refers to God as our Lord and Master. It is frequently used in conjunction with Elohim (e.g. Gen. 15:2).
The Attributes of God
The Attributes of God
Key attributes shared by all three persons of the Godhead.
(a) God is Spirit (John 4:24-26)
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
(b) God is infinite (Ps. 145:3)
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
(c) God is eternal (Ps. 90:2)
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
(d) God is holy (1 Pet. 1:16; 1 John 1:5)
since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
(e) God is omnipresent (Ps. 139:8)
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
(f) God is omniscient (Ps. 147:4–5)
He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
The Sovereignty of God / Decree of God
The Sovereignty of God / Decree of God
· God’s sovereignty is His unequivocal and total rule over all things by His unparalleled power.
· God ordains what He will, and He is capable of doing what He wills (Is. 46:11).
· He exercises His sovereignty for His own glory (Is. 48:11).
· God is sovereign over human events (e.g. Daniel 1–6).
· He is sovereign in salvation (John 6:44; 16:7–11; Eph. 1:4–6; 1 Pet. 1:3–9).
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
· Divine sovereignty asserts the freedom of God yet does not negate man’s responsibility to believe on Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).
· Further, God will hold men responsible for their evil actions even when He is orchestrating them for His own purposes (Gen. 50:19–20; Isaiah 10:5–7).
The last two ease or erase some of the fatalism that can arise “well if God is sovereign then why even do or why even try”
Isaiah 10 sends Assyria as his hand to judge the people of God for their rebellion.
God the Father — The first person of the Trinity
God the Father — The first person of the Trinity
God the Father is the first person in the Trinity. God is referred to as the Father by virtue of His designation in Scripture.
With the first member of the Godhead – there is not debate over his deity.
Scripture describes His fatherhood in four ways:
a. Fatherhood Over Creation
All three persons of the Trinity participated in the work of Creation. However, Scripture describes God as “the Father of lights” (James 1:17), the Father of Adam by virtue of the fact that he was “the son of God” (Luke 3:38), the One by whom all things exist (1 Cor. 8:6), and the one Father over all (Mal. 2:20).
b. Fatherhood by Intimate Relationship
Though there is a sense in which God is the Father over creation, He is most notably recognized as Father intimately to His children. For example, God described Israel as His son (Ex. 4:22). The Lord declares that His care as Father will be over those who trust in Him as their God.
Psalm 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, So the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
c. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
The most important way in which Scripture portrays God as Father is through His relationship as Father to the Second Person of the Godhead, namely, Jesus Christ (e.g. Eph. 1:3). The fact that Jesus is described in Scripture as having the same attributes as God verifies the Son’s deity.
The question many have wrestled with is “in what way is God the Father of Jesus, the Son?” The terms “father” and “son” are used to describe an intimate relationship. There are several passages of Scripture that seem to describe Jesus as becoming the Son (implying that He was not so before He came to earth). Some texts of Scripture include words like begotten and today:
Psalm 2:7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
Hebrews 1:5 For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”?
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 3:16 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.
The word begotten seems to indicate an origin at a point in time. The implication drawn by some theologians is that Jesus, though He existed in eternity past, did not exist as the Son. Those who draw this implication believe that Jesus voluntarily submitted Himself to the Father at the incarnation thereby relegating Himself to the role of Son.
This is the Incarnational Sonship View.
This view essentially means that Christ became God’s Son when He was conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:31–35). The problem with this position is that it relegates Christ’s Sonship to a temporal moment in time. The question that poses a problem for those who hold to this view is this: if Jesus only became the Son of God upon His incarnation, what was the nature of His role and function as deity before that time?
The other view (and the best view) is to recognize that the Son of God has and always will be the Son—the second person of the trinity. This view is the Eternal Sonship View. In Psalm 2, the phrase “today I have begotten you” is a “decree” that the Lord makes. The temporal language is meant not to be taken literally, but figuratively. In John 3:16, the word for “only begotten” (KJV, NKJV) is the Greek word μονογενῆ (monogenēs) which means “one of a kind” or “only and unique.” Thus, the idea Jesus is conveying is that He is the special and unique Son, signifying that Jesus shares the very same essence of the Father.
Those who hold to the Incarnational Sonship View argue that their view is supported by the fact that:
· Jesus was declared by the Father to be the Son of God at His birth (Mark 1:1; Luke 1:32, 35)
· Jesus was declared by the Father to be the Son of God at His baptism (Matt. 3:17)
· Jesus was declared by the Father to be the Son of God at His transfiguration (Matt. 17:5)
However, the point of each of these events is to express the approval of the Father for the ministry and work of the Son. Further, the phrase “that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” can be best understood as the Lord indicating the One who would be born is, in fact, the second Adam. Thus, Jesus has always been the eternal Son of God, existing as the second person of the trinity, possessing the same essence and absolute equality with the Father.
“The relationship of Father and Son, therefore, relates to the deity and unity of the Holy Trinity from all eternity, in contrast to the Incarnation, in which the Father was related to the humanity of Christ which began in time” (Major Bible Themes, p. 48).
d. The Father of All Who Believe in Christ —
God is the spiritual Father of those who place their faith in Jesus Christ (John 1:12; Eph. 2:19). To be a Christian is to be a joint heir with the Son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:16–17). Not all men are children of God. Those who have not believed on Jesus Christ are children of Satan (e.g. John 8:44; Matt. 13:38; Eph. 2:2–3). God’s Fatherhood over Christians should provide comfort in knowing that He will care for His children and give them good gifts (Matt. 7:11; Luke 11:13; James 1:17).
Try to explain it and you’ll lose your mind.
Try to deny it and you’ll lose your soul.