Study the Bible with Pastor Gregory

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1. The Essence of the Godhead: – "We believe in the Triune God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - …"
   
   
1. The Triunity of God
   
   
1. The Bible begins with the existence of God as an established reality – needing no proof or support.
2. Despite the modernist’s claim that mankind’s awareness of God "evolved" from polytheistic to monotheistic, the devotion to the single Creator exists from the beginning.
3. The Scriptures clearly establish that there are not a plurality of gods to be feared; but, only one true God – Deuteronomy 6:4; 4:35; John 17:3
4. The doctrine of the Trinity – is not something that teaches that we have three gods – the heresy called "Tritheism" – the accusation that the Jews, Muslims, and Jehovah’s Witnesses accuse us of being.
5. Neither does it necessitate the attempt to make God one by denying the existence of the differing Persons of the Godhead by claiming that they merely reflect roles played by the same Being.
   
   
2. The Tripersonality of God
   
   
1. However, after emphasizing that God is One we also understand that this one God exists in Three Persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – Matthew 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 28:19
2. Such awareness is not something that would be devised by men attempting to start a religion – their behavior would be to eliminate such difficult issues to understand.
3. However, the doctrine of the Trinity is not something that is rationally derived – but not irrational; it is not the result of human reason but a direct result of God’s self-revelation.
4. The demonstration of the doctrine:
1. All Three Persons are declared to be God
2. All Three Persons possess the attributes of God including:
1. Holiness
2. Righteousness
3. Life
4. Mercy
5. Omnipresence
6. Omniscience
7. Grace
3. All Three Persons exercise the prerogatives of God
4. All Three Persons execute the works of God including:
1. Creation
2. Providence
3. Revelation
4. Resurrection
5. Judgment
5. There is revelation of this doctrine from the very beginning of the Bible – Genesis 1:1 (Elohim is a plural – literally "gods") cp. Genesis 1:26
6. Throughout the early church, various heresies surfaced as the tension between acknowledging that God in One and yet recognizing the the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each God.
7. It came to a climax when a man named Arius began teaching that Jesus was not truly divine, but was uniquely preexistent.
8. A council was called called the Council of Nicea in AD 325 that condemned Arius as a heretic for denying the divinity of Jesus Christ and declared that Jesus was of the same essence as the Father – saying that he was of the same substance.
9. Athanasius held firmly to the Council’s conclusion and developed an aggressive defense of Christ’s deity that resulted in the Athanasian Creed that states:
   
   
2. The Equality Within the Godhead: "… co-eternal in being, co-identical in nature, co-equal in power and glory …"
   
   
1. The Equality of Existence – "… co-eternal in being …"
   
   
1. We believe that the Godhead has existed eternally in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. Obviously God has existed throughout eternity as the Eternal God – Deuteronomy 33:27; John 1:1
1. The Father is Eternal – 1 John 1:2
2. The Son is Eternal – John 1:1
3. The Spirit is Eternal – Hebrews 9:14
2. The Equality of Essence – "… co-identical in nature …"
1. Non of the members of the Trinity are superior to another – each are co-equal in nature.
2. This was the issue surrounding Nicea – of what substance was Christ – different? Similar? Or the same? – the conclusion was that he was of homo-ousia – the same substance.
3. We therefore believe that the Father, Son and Spirit are co-identical in nature – that is, that each Person is fully God; but , God does not exist independently of each Person.
3. The Equality of Evidences – "… co-equal in power and glory"
1. In addition – they each possess equal power and authority as God
2. It is our belief therefore, that all three are equally deserving of worship and obedience.
   
   
3. The Evidences of the Godhead: "… and having the same attributes and perfections."
   
   
1. The Delineation of His Attributes – "having the same attributes"
   
   
1. The categorization of God’s attributes is varied depending on what theologian you consider.
2. One of the most basic categorizations is that of communicable versus incommunicable attributes
3. First, the communicable attributes include:
1. Spirituality
2. Intelligence – Knowledge, Wisdom, Veracity
3. Morality – Goodness (Love, Grace, Mercy, Longsuffering), Holiness, Righteousness, and Justice
4. Sovereignty
4. Second, the incommunicable attributes Include:
1. Self-Existence – God has the ground of His existance in Himself and is dependent on nothing for this existence – cp. Exodus 3:14
2. Immutability – He is changeless - Malachi 3:6
3. Infinity - Immensity [space] and, Eternity [time]
4. Unity
   
   
2. The Distinctiveness of His Attributes – "… perfections."
   
   
1. The perfections of God describes the degree that God possesses His attributes.
2. He possesses perfect knowledge, power, love, mercy, justice, righteousness, holiness, and grace.
3. These characteristics never conflict with one another – ie. God’s love and justice never contradict one another.
4. Thus, the attributes of God are held in perfect relationship with all His other attributes –without ever contradicting Himself.

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