sign in sign up
<<
Home , Godhead, God the Father, God the Son

Summary of Fundamental – The

od the Father is an eternally existing Spirit, a perfect, personal Being of supreme love, intelligence, knowledge, justice, power and authority. It was through the Word (who G became ) that He created all things that exist. The Father is the Source of life, the Sustainer of the universe through His power. There is one , Jesus Christ, who has eternally existed. He came to earth to do the will of the Father. He is the , the Christ and the divine of the living , who was born of human to the virgin Mary. God is an eternal family currently consisting of the Father and the Son. Both the Father and Son are involved in the creative work of expanding this family by bringing many children ( and daughters) to . The is the power of God and the Spirit of life eternal, not a separate entity or being.

Scriptural support: Ephesians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 8:6; :1-4; Colossians 1:16; Ephesians 3:15; 2 Timothy 1:7; Hebrews 2:10; 2 Corinthians 6:18.

Summary:

We believe that God is the sovereign of the universe, existing supremely above all else. God is spirit (John 4:24), existing in a different realm than humans, who are flesh. Our understanding and perception of God, therefore, is based upon that which God has revealed to us, which is primarily through His written word, the .

The Bible reveals God as the “Father” and Jesus Christ as His “Son.” The distinction between the two is suggested from the very beginning of God's (Genesis 1:1), where the Hebrew word “” is used, which is the plural form of the Hebrew word for God, “Eloah.” There has been communication between these two from the beginning, seen in the example of Genesis 1:26, where the pronouns "us" and "our" are used with Elohim as the antecedent.

The focuses on the God of Israel, who identifies Himself as "" and " God of , , " (Exodus 3:14-15), (the word “LORD” being derived from the Hebrew “YHWH”). In John 8:58, Christ refers to Himself as “I am.” This is the same God who delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and accompanied them in the wilderness, and who was later known in the as Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). Both the Old Testament and New Testament contain references to more than one personage in the Godhead (Psalm 110:1, for example, which is quoted in Acts 2:29-36). The New Testament identifies them as and Jesus Christ the Son (1 Corinthians 8:6). The Son is also called God (Titus 2:10, 13; Hebrews 1:8-9).

Jesus Christ is called the "Word," who "was with God" in the beginning and is also identified as "God" (John 1:1-2). He created all things (John 1:3,10), and later became flesh and dwelt with humans (John 1:14). He is also called “the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). Humans have the wonderful potential and opportunity to enter the family of God (Romans 8:14, 19; John 1:12; 1 John 3:1-2).

The relationship between the Word and the Father is more clearly defined in the New Testament, when “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14, KJV)(Philippians 2:5-11), revealed the Father to His disciples (:25-27), was sacrificed for the of our sins, and has now

Page 1

Summary of Fundamental Belief – The Godhead been once again exalted by the Father (John 17:5). The New Testament emphasizes the unity between the “Father” and “Son,” yet makes the distinction between the two clear in numerous scriptures (e.g., John 20:17, Romans 15:6). We read in Ephesians that: God "...created all things through Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:1-3). The relationship between the Father and the Son demonstrates God's perfect and eternal way of life. The Father has always loved the Son, and the Son has always loved the Father (John 17:4,20-26). The harmony between the Father and the Son is a singularity of mind and purpose, which Jesus Christ asked the Father to bring about among His disciples, Himself, and the Father (John 17:20-23).

“God” as used in the Bible can be a reference to either the Father (e.g., Acts 13:33; Galatians 4:6), Jesus Christ the Son (e.g., Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1, 14; Titus 2:13), or both (e.g., Romans 8:9), depending on the context of the Scriptures. The power and mind that proceeds from God is called the Spirit of God or the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 11:2, Luke 1:35, Acts 1:8 and 10:38, 2 Corinthians 1:22 and 2 Timothy 1:7). The Holy Spirit of God is not identified as a third person in a , but is consistently described as the power of God. The Holy Spirit is given to mankind upon repentance and (Acts 2:38) to serve as an earnest payment on eternal life (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:14; KJV).

God wants us to know Him so we can have confidence in Him and love Him. He has disclosed much more about Himself through the names which He revealed to those He worked with through the ages. These names reveal that God possesses supreme intelligence, power, glory and wisdom; that He embodies all righteousness, perfection and truth; that He possesses and earth, that He is immortal and is worthy of all praise. God is our provider, healer, shield, defense, counselor, teacher, law-giver, judge, strength and salvation. He is faithful, merciful, generous, patient, kind, just and compassionate. God hears our , makes a with us, is a refuge in trouble, gives us knowledge and desires to give us immortality that we might share eternal life with Him.

Page 2

Plurality of God Study Material

Excerpts from the book “Beyond the Cosmos” by Hugh Ross, PH.D., NAVPRESS, Bringing Truth to Life, NavPress Publishing Group, P.O. Box 35001, Colorado Springs, Colorado 89035. 1996.

Chapter Nine, Page 81

“More than five hundred Scripture verses, Old and New Testament refer to God as both singular and plural. Genesis opens with a reference to God the Creator. . .When the narrative zooms in on the creation of humans, the writer assigns both singular and plural pronouns to God: ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.’ ‘So God created man in his own image.’ Several other Bible verses refer to God with both singular and plural pronouns. One of God’s names in Scripture, Elohim, is the Hebrew plural form for [Eloah], the word for God, or god, in the widest possible sense. Elohim used as a plural in Scripture can denote pagan images and the imaginary or demonic they represent (Deuteronomy 4:28 and 12:2). Yet in verses such as Genesis 1:1, the plural form denotes the singular supreme . The Bible declares emphatically there is only Savior, one Creator, one , and one Resurrectionist. The one name God assigns to Himself is the unpronounceable YHWH. In one paragraph of scripture, both God the Father and lay claim to this name.”

Table 9.1: Bible Verses Expounding God’s Plurality

Genesis 1:1-3, 26-27 Isaiah 44:6-8 Genesis 3:22 Isaiah 45:5, 14 Genesis 11:7,9 Isaiah 46:9 Genesis 16:7-13 Isaiah 48:12-17 Genesis 18:1-32 Isaiah 59:15-20 Genesis 22:11-16 Isaiah 61:1-3 Exodus 23:20-23 Jeremiah 23:5-6 Deuteronomy 4:35, 39 Hosea 12:3-5 Deuteronomy 5:7-11 Micah 5:2-5 Deuteronomy 6:4, 13 Zechariah 6:12-13 Deuteronomy 32:39 :16-17 2 Samuel 22:32 Matthew 11:27 Nehemiah 9:6 Matthew 12:28 Job 33:4 Matthew 22:41-46 Psalm 2:2-12 :10-11 Psalm 110 Luke 1:35 Psalm 139:7-10 Luke 3:21-22 Proverbs 30:2-4 Luke 10:22 Isaiah 6:8 John 1:1-3, 32-34 Isaiah 7:14 John 5:17-23, 37 Isaiah 9:6-7 John 6:27 Isaiah 37:20 John 8:58 Isaiah 41:4 John 10:17-18, 30-39 Isaiah 43:10-11 John 14:6-11, 16-26

Page 1 Plurality of God Study Material

John 15:26 1 John 4:2-3 John 16:7-15 1 John 4:9-15 John 17:1-11, 21-24 2 John 3-4, 9 John 20:28 Jude 1-4, 20-21, 25 Acts 2:20-36 Revelation 1:1, 4-5 Acts 5:3-4 Revelation 2:27-29 Acts 17:29-30 Revelation 4:8-11 Acts 20:28 Revelation 5:2-7, 12-13 Romans 1:4, 7 Revelation 6:16-17 Romans 3:30 Revelation 15:3-8 Romans 8:9-11, 26-29 Revelation 19:15-16 Romans 9:1-5 Romans 16:25-27 1 Corinthians 1:3 1 Corinthians 2:10-16 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 1 Corinthians 12:3-6 2 Corinthians 1:2, 21-22 Galatians 1:3 Galatians 3:20, 26 Ephesians 1:2, 13-14, 17 Ephesians 4:-6 Philippians 1:2 Philippians 2:5-11 Colossians 1:15-17 Colossians 2:9-10 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5 2 Thessalonians 1:2 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 1 Timothy 1:2, 17 1 Timothy 2:5 1 Timothy 6:13-16 2 Timothy 3:15-4:1 Titus 1:2-4 Titus 2:11-14 Titus 3:4-6 Philemon 3 Hebrews 1:1-8 :14 James 2:19 1 Peter 1:2 1 Peter 2:4 1 Peter 3:18 1 Peter 4:14 2 Peter 1:1-2, 16-17 1 John 1:2-3

Page 2 Foundation Institute Quotes about the Trinity

1. “No Apostle would have dreamed of thinking that there are three divine Persons” (Emil Brunner, Christian of God, Dogmatics, Vol. 1, p. 226). 2. “Theologians agree that the New Testament also does not contain an explicit doctrine of the Trinity (Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 15, p. 54). 3. “The New Testament writers...give us no formal or formulated doctrine of the Trinity, no explicit teaching that in one God there are three equal divine persons.... Nowhere do we find any Trinitarian doctrine of three distinct subjects of divine life and activity in the same Godhead” (Fortman, The Triune God, pp. xv, xvi, 16). 4. “Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament” (The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1985, Vol. 11, p. 928). 5. “As far as the New Testament is concerned one does not find in it an actual doctrine of the Trinity” (Bernard Lohse, A Short History of Christian Doctrine, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966, p. 38). 6. “The New Testament does not contain the developed doctrine of the Trinity” (The New International Dictionary of New Testament , ed. Colin Brown, Zondervan, 1976, Vol. 2, p. 84). 7. “The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence” (Karl Barth, cited in the New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, above). 8. “Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon, and nowhere in the New Testament does the word Trinity appear. The idea was only adopted by the three hundred years after the death of our Lord” (Arthur Weigall, The Paganism in our , G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1928, p. 198). 9. “Primitive Christianity did not have an explicit doctrine of the Trinity such as was subsequently elaborated in the ” (New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 2, p. 84). 10. “The early , however, did not at first think of applying the TRINITY idea to their own . They paid their devotions to God the Father and to Jesus Christ, the , and they recognized the...Holy Spirit; but there was no thought of these three being an actual Trinity, coequal and united in One” (Arthur Weigall, The Paganism in Our Christianity, p. 197). 11. “At first the Christian faith was not Trinitarian…It was not so in the apostolic and sub- apostolic ages, as reflected in the New Testament and other early Christian writings” (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings, 1922, Vol. 12, p. 461). 12. “The formulation ‘One God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century.... Among the , there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective” (New Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. 14, p. 299). Page 1 Foundation Institute Quotes about the Trinity

13. “Fourth-century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary a deviation from this teaching” (The Encyclopedia Americana, p. 1956, p. 2941). 14. “The New Testament gives no inkling of the teaching of Chalcedon. That council not only reformulated in other language the New Testament data about Jesus’ constitution, but also reconceptualized it in the light of the current Greek philosophical thinking. And that reconceptualization and reformulation go well beyond the New Testament data” (A Christological Catechism, Paulist Press, p. 102).

Page 2