God: Is He? Who is He? - Part 2

God Is One

Deuteronomy 6:4 was key to God revealing Himself in the Old Testament

Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Part of the Hebrew identity was their belief in One God.

They lived in an area where there were many groups of people who had many gods.

They lived with the Egyptians for a very long time and held to their belief in one God.

When they were there, if you started believing there was more than one God, you could be put to death.

Jesus also affirmed this monotheistic theology.

Mark 12:29–30 ESV

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

Jesus didn’t deny His deity, but acknowledged there was only one God.

He taught the greatest commandment was to give total allegiance to God with all their heart, mind, and soul.

The Father and the Son Are One

Jesus affirms this in John 10:30.

John 10:30 ESV

I and the Father are one.”

This is a claim that Jesus was equal with God, but also told them that the was only One God.

Paul also emphasized this in his first epistle to the Corinthians who were living in a polytheistic society. Idols were every where in their city.

Christians were buying food which had been offered as sacrifices to other gods which greatly disturbed those who had come out of those religions.

1 Corinthians 8:4 ESV

Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.”

Paul writes this to let those who were having issues that this food was sacrificed to idols to have no problem with it. Since there is no other god than the one we serve, this food is being offered to no one. Don’t let it concern you.

1 Corinthians 8:5–6 ESV

For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

In these verses, there may have been confusion since he mentions both God and Jesus here. Paul is simply teaching that God and Jesus are one and they both hold equal importance in our faith.

The Father and the Spirit Are One

Acts 5:3–4 ESV

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”

In these verses, Paul shows that the Holy Spirit and God are one. How can you lie to the Holy Spirit and not lie to God as he mentions later on in this group of scripture.

More verses which support this view.

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Both of these verses show how the Holy Spirit is equal to God. The Holy Spirit is God.

God is a Trinity

This truth is taught throughout the Bible.

This is the doctrine of the Trinity

This is the Athanasian creed which explains this so clearly.

“the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.”

“And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another; but the whole three Persons are co-eternal together and co-equal. So that in all things, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.”

The easiest way to understand the Trinity is to read the Bible from beginning to end.

The word for God in Genesis 1 is “Elohim.

The im ending of the noun in Hebrew makes the noun plural.

Even though the noun is plural, the verbs that go along with it are singular.

If the Bible, the original transcripts, are God breathed through the ones who wrote it, this was no error in grammar. It is exactly the way God wanted it.

If you look at the benediction that God gave to Moses, you can see that it alludes to the Trinity since it asks for the blessing of the Lord three different times.

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

In Isaiah as the seraphim are worshipping, they cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Once again, in reference to the Trinity.

Isaiah 48:16 ESV

Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there.” And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.

This is a prophetic mentioning of Jesus being sent and His Spirit.

The New Testament also mentions the Trinity.

In Matthew, we see when Jesus is baptized, we hear the voice of God, we see Jesus being baptized, and we see the Holy Spirit descending in the dove.

John 14:16–17 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 ESV

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

2 Corinthians 13:14 ESV

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

1 Peter 1:2 ESV

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

All of these verses make reference to the Trinity.

God is one, yet He is three.

I have no idea how this works. This is one of those God things we have to take on faith. We are too small to understand this. Our humanness cannot take this in and understand how it works.

It’s alright for us not to understand. We don’t need to. There are somethings we just need to accept as God-things that only He is going to understand. Do you remember in Job? Basically chapters 40 & 41.

There is nothing we can really relate in human terms to be able to explain the Trinity. So why try? I think it is just better to say this is one of the things we take on faith.

God is, and We Can Know Him

True worship has at its object the true God.

Worship no matter how beautiful, well-intentioned or consistent is unacceptable to God if it is directed anywhere else but Him.

Who is God?

He is a person, and we can know Him personally.

He is a spirit, and we can know Him in a spiritual sense.

He is one. There is no other god, but Him.

He is a Trinity, who is working on our behalf.

If we are to give our God worship that is acceptable and meaningful, we must believe in Him the way He has revealed Himself to us.

“When we begin to know God as He is, our response has to be that of magnifying Him, giving Him glory for who He is and what He does for us.