Saturday, January 22, 2011

God

God - Theology Proper

For an in-depth discussions about God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit please see the following studies from Ariel Ministries:

The study of God is know as Theology Proper. It is not possible to do justice to this topic in the space available, we therefore try to set down the most important concepts only, and sadly only briefly touch on each.

The Trinity

There is only one God. God is comprised of three persons. These persons are distinct and separate personalities, and are not one person.

Reference to the unity of God is well established in the Old Testament. The most well know example, especially amongst Jews, is the Sh’ma of Deuteronomy 6:4. Sh’ma Y’israel, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad. – Translated this is Hear O Israel, the Lord, your God, is one Lord. Dr Fruchtenbaum again emphasises the fact that the more correct translation here is “your Gods” Therefore the correct translation would be The Lord, your Gods, is one Lord. Thus the Old Testament supports multiple personalities within the single “entity” of God.

Attributes of God

  1. Omniscience - The Omniscience of God comprehends all things - things past, things present, and things future, and the possible as well as the actual.1

  2. Holiness - The holiness of God is active. As a primary motive, it incites all that he does; therefore He is righteous in His ways. Though infinitely holy, He nevertheless maintains a relation to fallen creatures; not a quiescent aloofness from them, but a vital pulsating nearness. His is not a holiness which is engendered by a sustained effort or preserved by segregation from other beings. The holiness of God is intrinsic, uncreated, and untarnished; it is observable in every divine attitude and action. It embraces not only His devotion to that which is good, but is also the very basis and force of His hatred of that which is evil.Thus there is in divine holiness he capacity for reaction toward others which is both positive and negative. 2

  3. Justice - ...God has absolute right and authority over His creatures. In his rebellion against God, the creature steadfastly refuses to recognize the truth concerning the Creator's right and authority. God could have created or not at his pleasure...Since the Creator's authority is absolute, it is a superlative cause for gratitude that God is perfect in justice. Divine justice is exhibited in the fact that righteous laws are given to men, that these laws are given an impartial execution. No favoritism is ever indulged, though infinite favor is extended to those who come under the righteous provisions for salvation made possible through Christ's sacrifice for sin. On this it may be remarked, that at no point is divine justice more observable than in the plan of redemption.

    Holiness dictates that there shall be no leniency towards evil on the part of God. It is true that He considers our frame and remembers we are dust; but God never condones sin...To reject this open door of salvation which Christ is and wherein God without impairment to His holy justice can execute complete and perfect grace toward the sinner, becomes at once the final, all-condemning sin.3

  4. Love - God has not attained to love, nor does He by effort maintain love; it is the structure of his being. He is the unfailing source of all love...As no other attribute, love is the primary motive in God, and to satisfy His love all creation has been formed.That infinite love has always existed between the Persons of the God-head and that God in the most worthy sense loves Himself supremely, cannot be questioned. The divine love thus did not begin to be exercised only when creatures - the objects of His love - were created.4

  5. Goodness - This attribute, if contemplated as that which is within God, is akin to His holiness; if contemplated as that which proceeds from God, is akin to love. The infinite goodness of God is a perfection of His being which characterises His nature and is itself the source of all in the universe that is good.5

  6. Truth - He not only advances and confirms that which is true, but in faithfulness abides by His promise, and executes every threat or warning He has made. Apart from the element of truth in God there would be no certainty whatsoever in this life.6

  7. Freedom - The will of God is free. It acts in the way of wisdom, is exercised by infinite power, and upholds only His righteous purposes and ways; yet it is free in the sense that it is independent of all His creatures as well of all their actions.7

  8. Omnipotence - The infinite power of God.

  9. Simplicity - By this term it is indicated that the divine Being is uncompounded, incomplex, and indivisible...Simplicity of being is not a contradiction of the Trinity of Persons in which mode He subsists. The fact of the Trinity does not predicate three Essences; it rather predicates one Essence and the one Essence is simple in itself.8

  10. Unity - God is one essence.9 There is one God.

  11. Infinity - God transcends all limitations which time or space impose. He cannot be imprisoned either in time or space. In like manner, He knows all things perfectly. He is able to bring things to pass, even to create as He will apart from means or material, and always in measureless perfection. In every moral quality He is complete to infinity.10

  12. Eternity - ...God is said to be "the eternal God." He is from everlasting to everlasting...The pure idea of eternity is too vast for human thought.11

  13. Immutability - Immutability is the state or quality of being that which is not capable or susceptible of change....In no sphere or relationship is God subject to change.12 (James 1:17)

  14. Ommipresence or Immensity - He is everywhere present13

  15. Sovereignty The sovereignty of God is discerned in the absolute manner in which all things have been assigned their respective places in creation, in appointing men their day and generation as well as the bounds of their habitation, and in the exercise of saving grace.He is Creator and hist dominion is perfect and final

    The authority of God is established over the redeemed by the purchase which that redemption was wrought

    He is in authority over those among the redeemed who willingly yield their lives to Him.14

Footnotes:
  1. Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology, Volumes 1 & 2, Prologemena, Bibliology, Theology Proper, (Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, MI 1976), 192
  2. Ibid, 202
  3. Ibid, 203-204
  4. Ibid, 205-206
  5. Ibid, 206
  6. Ibid, 207
  7. Ibid, 209
  8. Ibid, 213 - 214
  9. Ibid, 215
  10. Ibid, 215
  11. Ibid, 216
  12. Ibid, 217
  13. Ibid, 219
  14. Ibid, 222
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