God's Self-existence, God's Nature — His Personality, Spirit, Unity, His Triunity (Trinity), The Godhead.
((God's Self-existence)) Another aspect of God's existence is His self-existence. God not only exists, but He is also self-existent. He is not dependent upon anything outside Himself, but the source of His being is within Himself. God lives by His own life, not depending on anything to give Him life. In John 5:26 Jesus said, "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." God is the fountain of life. "For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9). God's nature is "to be." This is seen in His very name. When Moses asked God, "What is your name?" He said, in effect, call me the one who is—call me "I AM." "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" (Exodus 3:14).
Although God is the ground of His own existence, this does not mean that He is self-caused or self-originated; for God is eternal—without beginning and without end. The Scriptures declare this very clearly. The significance of this is seen in the fact that this makes God sovereign. Since He is self-existent. He alone is free and independent to do what He chooses, and what He chooses is righteous. All of His decrees, His works, and His plan of salvation are wrought according to His own will and good pleasure. "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Ephesians 1:11).
God's self-existence also makes Him self-sufficient. He did not create because He needed anything outside of Himself, for God was complete and perfect within Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created the world as a "theater" for His glory. According to Isaiah 43, Israel was created for the glory of God. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). The Christian has been redeemed so that he might be "to the praise of the glory of his grace" for eternity (Ephesians 1:6). God's self-existence also means that He is the source of life; He has life in Himself. He created man, permitting him to partake of this life and have fellowship with Him, so that man might glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
((God's Nature—His Personality)) The study of God's nature includes His personality, God as Spirit, God's unity and His triunity. The Scriptures re- veal God's personality or the evidence that God is a personal God. This is significant in view of the fact that most of the cults deny His personality, making Him "the absolute," "the source of all things," "the first cause," or a principle like "love." On the contrary, the Scriptures represent God as a personal being, not as a spiritual principle, or mere influence, or power, or immanent in nature as the Pantheists teach. God has the attributes of personality. He is a God who acts, a God who speaks, a God who thinks, a God who decrees and wills things to come to pass.
The God of the Bible is self-conscious. In Exodus 3:14 God's self-consciousness is seen in that He has the ability to say "I AM." This ability shows that one has the power to know himself and the world around him. It is the mark of personality. An animal, for example, lacks this capacity to think or say, "I am, I exist, and this is a world around me." God is also self-determining; and this self-determination is seen in many Scriptures, such as Isaiah 40:13-14 and Ephesians 1:9-11. In Daniel 4:35 the prophet said that God "doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth."
As previously pointed out, God has self-life. He is called the "living God" throughout Scripture, for example, Jeremiah 10:10 and 1 Timothy 3:15. The Scriptures speak of God as a living God, meaning that He is a God who speaks and acts, in contrast to the non-living, non-personal idols or gods that men have made. Life is a requisite for personality. God proves His life by His works and by His activity on behalf of His people.
((God's Nature—Spirit)) God is also Spirit. The Bible does not define God's essential nature except in this one phrase—He is Spirit. "God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). This means that God is a non-material, invisible, personal being who is not bound by the limitations of time or space. Spirit has no weight, size, or shape, and does not occupy space. A being which has no parts cannot be divided and needs no space. In contrast to man, God is pure Spirit.
Those passages of Scripture that speak of God as having eyes, heart, hands, and ears are called anthropomorphic. Man's vocabulary and understanding are limited to earthly concepts; so God, who is formless Spirit, has revealed Himself in terms which can be understood, as having eyes, ears, heart, and so forth. This does not mean that God is impersonal or that He is a mere figure of speech. God as "person" can feel love and compassion, although He has no heart. The Scriptures say that He has no ears, and yet He can hear; nothing is done that He does not see, though He has no eyes. "A spirit hath not flesh and bones," Jesus said in Luke 24:39. God is all-wise, all-knowing Spirit. He comprehends all things, but the only way finite creatures can comprehend this is by anthropomorphic analogies.
In Isaiah 31:3 God contrasts His nature as Spirit with that which He created, which is flesh. God, as Spirit, is present everywhere at the same moment; however, this does not mean that He cannot manifest Himself in any form at any one place if He chooses. On the contrary, although His Spirit is everywhere throughout the universe and heaven, the Scriptures declare that He sits upon His throne in the heavens and rules with Jesus Christ at His right hand. He sat upon His throne in Israel. He spoke to Moses "from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark" (Numbers 7:89). He seemed pleased, also, to take upon Himself the form of man which He created. "And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26f.; see also Philippians 2:7).
((His Unity)) Another aspect of God's nature is His unity, which means that God is one. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:4). This was in contrast to the other nations who had many gods. The full meaning of the oneness of God as stated in the Old Testament must be understood by the Christian in the light of the full revelation, if for no other reason than that Jesus Christ came calling Himself the Son of God. In fact. He said He was God. To say that God is "one" means that He is the only God (Isaiah 44:6-8). It means He is one essence or nature. He is Spirit—one divine Spirit (John 4:24).
To say that God is one does not mean that this one God cannot manifest Himself eternally in three personifications as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In John 10:30 Jesus said, "I and my Father are one," and in John 17 He prayed to the Father. Thus, they are not the same personality, though they are the same God. To say that God is one means that there is a unity of nature, or essence, or being in God. The one God is one Divine Spirit personified eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Modern-day Israel, along with Unitarians and others who deny the deity of Christ, stumble at this truth, confining themselves only to the Old Testament revelation in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." But His oneness is a oneness of essence or nature, that is. He is only one God. "I and my Father are one," Jesus said, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 10:30; 14:9). Obviously, they are not the same personality, but the same being or nature—God. There is but one God essence, one Divine Spirit. The Jews correctly interpreted the meaning of Christ's words when He said, "I and my Father are one," for they said He had claimed equality with God. He did say that He was one with the Father; but He did not say He was the Father, because He prayed to the Father, and He said that the Father sent Him into the world. If He were the one sent, He could not have been the sender. God's oneness means that He is one essence, one Divine Spirit.
Religious significance should not be given to the number "one" as the Jews and others do who deny the deity of Christ. His oneness is not a mathematical oneness. It is not the number one, but a qualitative oneness. It is a personal oneness, a unique oneness that belongs only to God. There is one Divine Spirit which is God. Monotheism and its emphasis in the Old Testament had its necessary purpose—to guard Israel against idolatry. The Israelites did not philosophize about the oneness of God or the nature of God, nor did they try to reason this out. They did not come to this truth by discovery, but God revealed Himself to them as the one God. Egypt and some other nations were polytheistic, worshiping many gods. His oneness of nature was in contrast to other religions of the day.
There are no other gods, but this does not mean that Christ is not God. Christ and the Father are one—one essence, one being, one nature, one Divine Spirit, but different personalities. God is triune or has tri-personality. "Whosoever denies the Son," Jesus said, "has not the Father." God's unity means the Divine nature is undivided, indivisible, and there is but one infinite and perfect Divine Spirit.
((His Triunity)) (Trinity) The doctrine of the triunity of God logically follows the study of the unity or oneness of the Godhead. The Scriptures show that in the nature of the one God there are three distinct personalities revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the triunity or the triune nature of God is a revelation from His Word and cannot be conceived by observing the created order or general revelation.
Some critics point out that the term "trinity" does not occur in Scripture, which is true; but that does not mean that the doctrine of the trinity or triunity of God is not from the Word of God. There are other words used in theology which are not found in the New Testament, yet they support valid principles. For example, the word "atonement" does not occur in the Greek New Testament. The term translated "atonement" in Romans 5:11 is the Greek word "reconciliation," yet that is the basic doctrine of the New Testament and also the church's message. Even though a term may not occur in Scripture, the principle, the teaching, or the idea may be there, as in the case of the triunity or trinity of God.
The tri personality of God is not tritheism, that is, three separate Gods. There are three eternal personalities—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—but only one divine essence called God. According to Scripture, the three personalities are equal and eternal. There are no earthly analogies to adequately express the truth of the triunity of God. While there have been many attempts to do this, none are adequate. However there is one that is helpful. Think of the Sun as Father and source of the light, and the Son as the essence of light, and the Holy Spirit is what light consists of. All three are distinct. One never exists apart from the other. Light is one with source. Light is a reflection from the source. Light and essence are one with the source. Therefore, it is advisable to take the Scriptures for what they say. God is what He reveals Himself to be in His Word—not what men say He is, not what the Unitarians or the liberals say He is—He is one Divine Spirit, eternally personified as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It should be obvious that if God is not what He reveals Himself to be in His Word, then He is yet unrevealed, and man does not know what He is like.
To find the truth of the triunity of God, the place to begin is where most would probably not look, and that is in the Old Testament. The triunity is not clearly revealed there, yet the Old Testament does lay the foundation for the full revelation which is found in the New Testament. The plurality of the Godhead is suggested in certain passages such as Genesis 1:26. "And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Plural pronouns are used there both in the Hebrew and in the English translation. To whom is He speaking? Obviously, to the other personalities in the Godhead. Another suggestion of the plurality of the Godhead is in Genesis 19:24. "The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." The Lord on earth, who appeared as an angel, rained down fire from the Lord who was yet in heaven.
There is also an interesting statement in Isaiah 48:16, which is a prophetic passage speaking of the future Messiah. "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me." Notice the triune suggestion. The "me" is the Messiah or the preincarnate Christ who is speaking. The "Lord God and His Spirit" sent the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Certainly this passage is more than a hint about the triune nature of the Godhead!
In the Old Testament the Messiah as God is distinguished from God the Father. This is seen in Isaiah 9:6, 48:16, Zechariah 12:10, 13:7, Psalm 45:6-7, Daniel 7:13-14, Psalm 2. The Old Testament revelation—while it stresses monotheism and the oneness of God—very carefully lays the groundwork for the New Testament doctrine of the triunity of the God-head. The Old Testament stressed the truth that God is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4); but this one God has a Son who is called God, and has a Spirit who is designated as the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God.
((The Godhead)) God is revealed as the Father (John 6:27), the Son (John 6:69), and the Spirit (Acts 5:3,4,9). These three as the one God are called in theology the "Godhead." There are many erroneous views about the Godhead. Some make God one in the sense that the Father became the Son, and He later became the Holy Spirit. He was the Father in the Old Testament, they say, the Son in the New Testament, and in the church age He is now manifest as the Holy Spirit. While God truly is one, it is not a mathematical oneness; it is qualitative, as was pointed out previously.
There are people who deny the deity of Christ or the personality of the Holy Spirit. They deny that God is three eternal personalities. It has already been stated that God is not what men may say that He is, but He is what He reveals Himself to be in the Scriptures. The Bible clearly shows God to be one Divine essence, one Divine Spirit, who reveals Himself from all eternity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There was never a time when He was not Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, nor shall there ever be.
Both the unity and the distinctions in the Godhead are seen throughout the New Testament, and certainly they are suggested in the Old. The distinction between the Divine personalities in the Godhead can be seen in such passages as John 3:16 and Galatians 4:4, where the Father sent the Son into the world. The Father, Son, and Spirit are distinguished in John 15:26 where Jesus said that after He had returned to heaven. He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit. The unity of the Godhead is seen in Ephesians 4:4-6. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." There the Spirit, the Lord Jesus, and God the Father are distinguished, but it says clearly that they are all one. See these verses for another example showing this truth. Matthew 3:16-17. “When He had been baptized, JESUS came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the SPIRIT OF GOD descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice from heaven(FATHER), saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Scriptures also show two truths regarding the revelation of the Godhead. Since God is one, there is no real distinction between having God with man, having Christ in man, or having the Holy Spirit indwelling man, because the three are one God. This fact can be seen in John 14:15-26. The Scriptures also differentiate between the three personalities. The Father is the source or the ground of all things (1 Corinthians 15). The Son is the Creator and Redeemer (Colossians 1). The Holy Spirit is the agent of all life, both in the creation of the world and in the regeneration of the sinner. Edited. Shared.
God willing, more will be posted soon. All glory to Jesus alone.
❤️ God's Self-existence, God's Nature — His Personality, Spirit, Unity, His Triunity (Trinity), The Godhead.
❤️ ((God's Self-existence)) Another aspect of God's existence is His self-existence. God not only exists, but He is also self-existent. He is not dependent upon anything outside Himself, but the source of His being is within Himself. God lives by His own life, not depending on anything to give Him life. In John 5:26 Jesus said, "For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself." God is the fountain of life. "For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light” (Psalm 36:9). God's nature is "to be." This is seen in His very name. When Moses asked God, "What is your name?" He said, in effect, call me the one who is—call me "I AM." "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" (Exodus 3:14).
Although God is the ground of His own existence, this does not mean that He is self-caused or self-originated; for God is eternal—without beginning and without end. The Scriptures declare this very clearly. The significance of this is seen in the fact that this makes God sovereign. Since He is self-existent. He alone is free and independent to do what He chooses, and what He chooses is righteous. All of His decrees, His works, and His plan of salvation are wrought according to His own will and good pleasure. "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (Ephesians 1:11).
God's self-existence also makes Him self-sufficient. He did not create because He needed anything outside of Himself, for God was complete and perfect within Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created the world as a "theater" for His glory. According to Isaiah 43, Israel was created for the glory of God. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork" (Psalm 19:1). The Christian has been redeemed so that he might be "to the praise of the glory of his grace" for eternity (Ephesians 1:6). God's self-existence also means that He is the source of life; He has life in Himself. He created man, permitting him to partake of this life and have fellowship with Him, so that man might glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
❤️ ((God's Nature—His Personality)) The study of God's nature includes His personality, God as Spirit, God's unity and His triunity. The Scriptures re- veal God's personality or the evidence that God is a personal God. This is significant in view of the fact that most of the cults deny His personality, making Him "the absolute," "the source of all things," "the first cause," or a principle like "love." On the contrary, the Scriptures represent God as a personal being, not as a spiritual principle, or mere influence, or power, or immanent in nature as the Pantheists teach. God has the attributes of personality. He is a God who acts, a God who speaks, a God who thinks, a God who decrees and wills things to come to pass.
The God of the Bible is self-conscious. In Exodus 3:14 God's self-consciousness is seen in that He has the ability to say "I AM." This ability shows that one has the power to know himself and the world around him. It is the mark of personality. An animal, for example, lacks this capacity to think or say, "I am, I exist, and this is a world around me." God is also self-determining; and this self-determination is seen in many Scriptures, such as Isaiah 40:13-14 and Ephesians 1:9-11. In Daniel 4:35 the prophet said that God "doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth."
As previously pointed out, God has self-life. He is called the "living God" throughout Scripture, for example, Jeremiah 10:10 and 1 Timothy 3:15. The Scriptures speak of God as a living God, meaning that He is a God who speaks and acts, in contrast to the non-living, non-personal idols or gods that men have made. Life is a requisite for personality. God proves His life by His works and by His activity on behalf of His people.
❤️ ((God's Nature—Spirit)) God is also Spirit. The Bible does not define God's essential nature except in this one phrase—He is Spirit. "God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). This means that God is a non-material, invisible, personal being who is not bound by the limitations of time or space. Spirit has no weight, size, or shape, and does not occupy space. A being which has no parts cannot be divided and needs no space. In contrast to man, God is pure Spirit.
Those passages of Scripture that speak of God as having eyes, heart, hands, and ears are called anthropomorphic. Man's vocabulary and understanding are limited to earthly concepts; so God, who is formless Spirit, has revealed Himself in terms which can be understood, as having eyes, ears, heart, and so forth. This does not mean that God is impersonal or that He is a mere figure of speech. God as "person" can feel love and compassion, although He has no heart. The Scriptures say that He has no ears, and yet He can hear; nothing is done that He does not see, though He has no eyes. "A spirit hath not flesh and bones," Jesus said in Luke 24:39. God is all-wise, all-knowing Spirit. He comprehends all things, but the only way finite creatures can comprehend this is by anthropomorphic analogies.
In Isaiah 31:3 God contrasts His nature as Spirit with that which He created, which is flesh. God, as Spirit, is present everywhere at the same moment; however, this does not mean that He cannot manifest Himself in any form at any one place if He chooses. On the contrary, although His Spirit is everywhere throughout the universe and heaven, the Scriptures declare that He sits upon His throne in the heavens and rules with Jesus Christ at His right hand. He sat upon His throne in Israel. He spoke to Moses "from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark" (Numbers 7:89). He seemed pleased, also, to take upon Himself the form of man which He created. "And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26f.; see also Philippians 2:7).
❤️ ((His Unity)) Another aspect of God's nature is His unity, which means that God is one. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:4). This was in contrast to the other nations who had many gods. The full meaning of the oneness of God as stated in the Old Testament must be understood by the Christian in the light of the full revelation, if for no other reason than that Jesus Christ came calling Himself the Son of God. In fact. He said He was God. To say that God is "one" means that He is the only God (Isaiah 44:6-8). It means He is one essence or nature. He is Spirit—one divine Spirit (John 4:24).
To say that God is one does not mean that this one God cannot manifest Himself eternally in three personifications as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In John 10:30 Jesus said, "I and my Father are one," and in John 17 He prayed to the Father. Thus, they are not the same personality, though they are the same God. To say that God is one means that there is a unity of nature, or essence, or being in God. The one God is one Divine Spirit personified eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Modern-day Israel, along with Unitarians and others who deny the deity of Christ, stumble at this truth, confining themselves only to the Old Testament revelation in Deuteronomy 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." But His oneness is a oneness of essence or nature, that is. He is only one God. "I and my Father are one," Jesus said, "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 10:30; 14:9). Obviously, they are not the same personality, but the same being or nature—God. There is but one God essence, one Divine Spirit. The Jews correctly interpreted the meaning of Christ's words when He said, "I and my Father are one," for they said He had claimed equality with God. He did say that He was one with the Father; but He did not say He was the Father, because He prayed to the Father, and He said that the Father sent Him into the world. If He were the one sent, He could not have been the sender. God's oneness means that He is one essence, one Divine Spirit.
Religious significance should not be given to the number "one" as the Jews and others do who deny the deity of Christ. His oneness is not a mathematical oneness. It is not the number one, but a qualitative oneness. It is a personal oneness, a unique oneness that belongs only to God. There is one Divine Spirit which is God. Monotheism and its emphasis in the Old Testament had its necessary purpose—to guard Israel against idolatry. The Israelites did not philosophize about the oneness of God or the nature of God, nor did they try to reason this out. They did not come to this truth by discovery, but God revealed Himself to them as the one God. Egypt and some other nations were polytheistic, worshiping many gods. His oneness of nature was in contrast to other religions of the day.
There are no other gods, but this does not mean that Christ is not God. Christ and the Father are one—one essence, one being, one nature, one Divine Spirit, but different personalities. God is triune or has tri-personality. "Whosoever denies the Son," Jesus said, "has not the Father." God's unity means the Divine nature is undivided, indivisible, and there is but one infinite and perfect Divine Spirit.
❤️ ((His Triunity)) (Trinity) The doctrine of the triunity of God logically follows the study of the unity or oneness of the Godhead. The Scriptures show that in the nature of the one God there are three distinct personalities revealed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the triunity or the triune nature of God is a revelation from His Word and cannot be conceived by observing the created order or general revelation.
Some critics point out that the term "trinity" does not occur in Scripture, which is true; but that does not mean that the doctrine of the trinity or triunity of God is not from the Word of God. There are other words used in theology which are not found in the New Testament, yet they support valid principles. For example, the word "atonement" does not occur in the Greek New Testament. The term translated "atonement" in Romans 5:11 is the Greek word "reconciliation," yet that is the basic doctrine of the New Testament and also the church's message. Even though a term may not occur in Scripture, the principle, the teaching, or the idea may be there, as in the case of the triunity or trinity of God.
The tri personality of God is not tritheism, that is, three separate Gods. There are three eternal personalities—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—but only one divine essence called God. According to Scripture, the three personalities are equal and eternal. There are no earthly analogies to adequately express the truth of the triunity of God. While there have been many attempts to do this, none are adequate. However there is one that is helpful. Think of the Sun as Father and source of the light, and the Son as the essence of light, and the Holy Spirit is what light consists of. All three are distinct. One never exists apart from the other. Light is one with source. Light is a reflection from the source. Light and essence are one with the source. Therefore, it is advisable to take the Scriptures for what they say. God is what He reveals Himself to be in His Word—not what men say He is, not what the Unitarians or the liberals say He is—He is one Divine Spirit, eternally personified as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It should be obvious that if God is not what He reveals Himself to be in His Word, then He is yet unrevealed, and man does not know what He is like.
To find the truth of the triunity of God, the place to begin is where most would probably not look, and that is in the Old Testament. The triunity is not clearly revealed there, yet the Old Testament does lay the foundation for the full revelation which is found in the New Testament. The plurality of the Godhead is suggested in certain passages such as Genesis 1:26. "And God said. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Plural pronouns are used there both in the Hebrew and in the English translation. To whom is He speaking? Obviously, to the other personalities in the Godhead. Another suggestion of the plurality of the Godhead is in Genesis 19:24. "The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven." The Lord on earth, who appeared as an angel, rained down fire from the Lord who was yet in heaven.
There is also an interesting statement in Isaiah 48:16, which is a prophetic passage speaking of the future Messiah. "Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me." Notice the triune suggestion. The "me" is the Messiah or the preincarnate Christ who is speaking. The "Lord God and His Spirit" sent the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Certainly this passage is more than a hint about the triune nature of the Godhead!
In the Old Testament the Messiah as God is distinguished from God the Father. This is seen in Isaiah 9:6, 48:16, Zechariah 12:10, 13:7, Psalm 45:6-7, Daniel 7:13-14, Psalm 2. The Old Testament revelation—while it stresses monotheism and the oneness of God—very carefully lays the groundwork for the New Testament doctrine of the triunity of the God-head. The Old Testament stressed the truth that God is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4); but this one God has a Son who is called God, and has a Spirit who is designated as the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God.
❤️ ((The Godhead)) God is revealed as the Father (John 6:27), the Son (John 6:69), and the Spirit (Acts 5:3,4,9). These three as the one God are called in theology the "Godhead." There are many erroneous views about the Godhead. Some make God one in the sense that the Father became the Son, and He later became the Holy Spirit. He was the Father in the Old Testament, they say, the Son in the New Testament, and in the church age He is now manifest as the Holy Spirit. While God truly is one, it is not a mathematical oneness; it is qualitative, as was pointed out previously.
There are people who deny the deity of Christ or the personality of the Holy Spirit. They deny that God is three eternal personalities. It has already been stated that God is not what men may say that He is, but He is what He reveals Himself to be in the Scriptures. The Bible clearly shows God to be one Divine essence, one Divine Spirit, who reveals Himself from all eternity as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There was never a time when He was not Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, nor shall there ever be.
Both the unity and the distinctions in the Godhead are seen throughout the New Testament, and certainly they are suggested in the Old. The distinction between the Divine personalities in the Godhead can be seen in such passages as John 3:16 and Galatians 4:4, where the Father sent the Son into the world. The Father, Son, and Spirit are distinguished in John 15:26 where Jesus said that after He had returned to heaven. He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit. The unity of the Godhead is seen in Ephesians 4:4-6. "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." There the Spirit, the Lord Jesus, and God the Father are distinguished, but it says clearly that they are all one. See these verses for another example showing this truth. Matthew 3:16-17. “When He had been baptized, JESUS came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the SPIRIT OF GOD descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice from heaven(FATHER), saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Scriptures also show two truths regarding the revelation of the Godhead. Since God is one, there is no real distinction between having God with man, having Christ in man, or having the Holy Spirit indwelling man, because the three are one God. This fact can be seen in John 14:15-26. The Scriptures also differentiate between the three personalities. The Father is the source or the ground of all things (1 Corinthians 15). The Son is the Creator and Redeemer (Colossians 1). The Holy Spirit is the agent of all life, both in the creation of the world and in the regeneration of the sinner. Edited. Shared.
❤️
God willing, more will be posted soon. All glory to Jesus alone.
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