God–
THERE IS ONLY
ONE TRUE GOD
The attributes of
God
An attribute is a characteristic
quality of any person or thing. The attributes of God are the several qualities
and characteristics of the perfect Divine nature. These attributes are commonly
divided into two classes, called the NATURAL and the MORAL.
We will list the NATURAL ATTRIBUTES first.
The nature or substance of God.
John 4:24; 2 Cor. 3:17
His
UNITY
God is one.
Deut. 4:35; 4:32, 39 ;2 Sam. 7:22; 2 Kings 19:15;
Isa. 44: 6, 8; 45:5; John 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6; Eph 4: 6; 1 Tim. 1:17;
James 2:19.
There is one God, and there are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, 1 Pet. 1:2. When Scripture describes the Father, he is described as a "person." When the Bible speaks of the Son, we see a "person." When we see the Holy Spirit described, we see a "person." Yet, we also see that the Father is not the Son, and the Spirit is not the Father or the Son, and the Father is not the Son or the Spirit. All three are called "God" in Scripture, yet there is only One God. Too many people demand that what is physical must be the same in the spiritual realm and do not look at "One" as a term of unity. An egg is "one " egg. Yet it has a shell, a yoke, and a white. All three are "egg," and all three are "one," yet all three are different.
We can see this in Scripture concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Who raised Jesus from the dead?
Was it:
A) Jesus? (John 10:18, 2:19)
B) The Holy Spirit? (Rom. 8:11)
C) The Father? (Gal. 1:1)
D) All of the above? (Acts 2:24)
The answer is "D", and
A, B, and C! All Three are responsible, and all Three are God, yet none of them
are the same! This unity while maintaining singular personalities is what is
commonly known in theology as the TRINITY.
For most, the Trinity must remain
a mystery to the finite mind. For many the Trinity is, and will always remain an incomprehensible
concept. This should not be a reason for rejecting the concept, but a reason to
reflect upon our own finiteness of intellect before the Creator of all the
Universe! This humble admission is based on the practical experience that I have
by talking with many people that cannot grasp this concept. Some have taken a
jab at this statement as if it were a contradiction, but it is not. It remains
what it is: an admission that the concept is difficult for many to grasp. It is
no reflection in the intellect of these individuals, for God seems to reveal an
understanding to some and not others. I can relate to this, for the idea of
"eternal" or "without time" is a concept out of time that I
have never been given clarity from God about; it is difficult to wrap my mind
around it, yet others have no difficulty with it whatsoever.
An inadequate and over-simplified example of the Trinity is to look to ourselves. Everyone is a living example of a trinity and unity in their own person. We have a soul, a rational mind, and a body, and we call each by the same name, " person." Just as the "egg" example above, it can only fall short of the majesty and depth of the Trinity of God.
The goal here is not to be
exhaustive on the subject, for some have already written volumes on the Trinity
and the nature of God. But brevity does not equate to inaccuracy. We can know
the truth accurately without knowing absolutely every minute detail. We can
truly know God without knowing with absolute exacting detail, everything there
is to know about Him.
Just because the term "Trinity" is not a Biblical term, such terminology is not anti-biblical if it accurately comprises the Biblical data concerning the revealed nature of God.
Eternity
of God
Eternal, is without beginning or
ending. Only God is eternal. The eternity of God is proved by the following:
Deut. 33:27; Isa. 57:15; Rom.
16:26; 1 Tim. 1:17.
Also Gen. 1:1; John 1:1, show Him
to have existed before the beginning of all things. Gen. 21:33; Isa. 40:28; Rom.
1:20, show Him to be the everlasting God.
The
Immutability of God
To be immutable is to be
incapable of change in character, nature or substance.
That God is immutable may be seen from the following:
1 Sam. 15:29, Psa. 102:27; Mal. 3:6; Heb. 6:17; James 1:17; and from the
expression “I Am,” Ex. 3:14; John 8:58. Sometimes it appears that God has
changed, Gen. 6: 6,7; Ex. 32:14; Jonah 3:10. But it was not God that changed, it
was man that changed. God’s
character remains for ever the same, but His dealings with man change as man
changes.
God
is Omnipotent
To be Omnipotent is to be all
powerful, able to do all things. GEN. 17:1; 18:14; Job 9:12; 42:2; Isa. 43:13;
Jer. 32:17; Matt. 19:26; Rev. 1:8; 19:6. This
power is limited only by God’s moral attributes of wisdom, goodness, holiness,
love and justice. He can do everything consistent with His attributes, but He is
not obligated to act, or to always do everything Isa. 59:1.
God
is Omniscient
Omniscience is all knowing,
perfect knowledge, infinite intelligence. He knows the past, present, and
future. He knows the whole plan of the ages both for man and all other things
from all eternity. Ex. 3:19; 2 Kings 7:12; Psa. 41:9; Isa. 46: 9,10; Matt.
20:17-19; John 6:70, 71; 13:21, 26; Gal. 1:15, 16; Eph. 1: 9-12; 3:4-9; Col. 1:
25-27.
God knows whether a certain
person will be lost or not, but that does not mean that it is His will that they
be lost. Ezek. 33:11. It is God’s desire that all should be saved, 2 Pet. 3:9,
and He has made it possible for all to be saved. Knowledge is just that...
knowledge! It is not foreordination or predestination; it is knowledge. Knowing
what someone will do does not decrease God's will to save all. It does not imply
or demand that everyone is given equity in opportunity to be saved.
God
is Omnipresent
God exists everywhere, not in a
pantheistic way as existing in and of all matter, but ever present and aware of
all moral beings. 1 Kings 8:27; Psa.
139:7-10: Jer. 23:23, 24; Eph. 1:23.
“Tell me where is God ,"
said an atheist to a child. “I
will," said the child, “If you
can tell me where he is not."
The Holy Spirit is the Initiator of our salvation. "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God." Rom.3:11. We do not seek God, but God first seeks us. This Divine initiative is what is called prevenient grace. Through His work of reaching out and drawing us, He has enabled us to make a free choice to either accept or reject his influences in our lives.
Errors about God
A denial of the Trinity is common among "Oneness" groups, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Unitarian Universalists, but in different ways. Oneness groups accept the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit as God, but deny separate persons. The difficulty here is the confusion of Scripture and honesty of Christ as he claimed to pray and communicate with the Father. This suggests dishonesty and deception in God if He was only "doing so for our example." There would be no reason for Christ to deceive us when he could have just as easily have told us the truth!
Jehovah's Witnesses and Unitarian Universalists are in a different category. They make Jesus to be nothing more than just a man. Imagine the Day they stand before Him in Judgment, saying, "you're not God!" In order to have salvation, we must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Heb.11:6). They do not believe Jesus "is" God, and before His Throne, they will deny that he is the "Rewarder." I believe that this is a spiritually fatal doctrine that excludes someone from salvation according to Scripture. The Mormon version that Jesus is a "god," and we are all "god's" is different, but equally fatal and insulting to the efforts of the one True God to reveal Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ. We cannot have the atonement of Jesus Christ if we reject the revealed Deity of Christ! "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that (I am) he, ye shall die in your sins" (John 8:24). The word "he" in the King James is italicized, indicating that it is not in the original. Jesus stated in verse 58 of the same chapter, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was , I am." They understood what He meant by "I am," it was God's self description of Himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14. They understood his claim to Deity, for otherwise, they would not have taken up stones to stone him in verse 59! According to the context, we should look very hard at the implication of denying the Deity of Christ! " I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins. "