tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-43850837460484729962024-03-19T04:46:52.882-04:00Growing Christian ResourcesWelcome to Growing Christian Resources, where you can search over 2,000 resources pertaining to your Christian walk, the explanation and defense of the Christian worldview and links to audio and video resources. Please checkout the New Hope podcast at www.gcrpodcast.wordpress.com and www.newhope-ny.org. For those desiring to dig-deeper into the scriptures, please check out www.biblicalexegete.wordpress.com. mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.comBlogger2407125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-44472556219070580472024-03-17T15:45:00.002-04:002024-03-17T15:45:56.217-04:00Post #39 The Doctrine of God - Bridging How To Discuss God As One God To His Triune Identity <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jyQa4QqgftUtfevDBg_AGD6-2WRQjTG3iz2RaEYX2gCViFsMGNwe5770y2p9WxUOTnVIRNMTqUO-vcGSEmuBtoQm8zuKNurWI_mWhCiyWgHEQAFUrgcM46JsOkx8ztYpWRlyYwo9Vdcl4we9OrVL44UIhIG2YVN0YY9CVB7_03Dz7nk7v4qZxBajUt4/s1600/truth-and-Bible%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1062" data-original-width="1600" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3jyQa4QqgftUtfevDBg_AGD6-2WRQjTG3iz2RaEYX2gCViFsMGNwe5770y2p9WxUOTnVIRNMTqUO-vcGSEmuBtoQm8zuKNurWI_mWhCiyWgHEQAFUrgcM46JsOkx8ztYpWRlyYwo9Vdcl4we9OrVL44UIhIG2YVN0YY9CVB7_03Dz7nk7v4qZxBajUt4/w640-h424/truth-and-Bible%20(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In the last post I gave readers links to all 37 posts that detailed God's being and attributes here </span><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/03/post-38-doctrine-of-god-gods-glory-in.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/03/post-38-doctrine-of-god-gods-glory-in.html</a>. The point of the last post was to bring together this series for readers to grasp the "big-picture" of what we mean when we study theology proper or the doctrine of God in regards to His being and attributes. In my very first post of this series I noted how there are five ways to begin one's study of theology proper here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/07/post-1-doctrine-of-god-map-to-explore.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/07/post-1-doctrine-of-god-map-to-explore.html</a>. The series up until this point has focused on the first major area of the doctrine of God, namely the oneness of God in His being. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span> </span>In any work of systematic theology, we constantly bump up against that perfection of God which is identified as God's "incomprehensibility". This means God is by no means comprehensively exhausted or mastered by the human intellect. We can truly know God because of Divine revelation (Job 42:1-5; Philippians 3:7-10), yet we can never comprehend Him. This is proved by such Biblical phrases as God "dwelling in unapproachable light, which no man has seen nor can see" (1 Timothy 6;16). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> As we push on ahead, I want to use all the prior posts as our launching point for the next leg of our study of the doctrine of God - the doctrine of the Trinity. Much like we did in the very first post, where we enumerated various starting points for studying the doctrine of God as a whole, I want to lay out ways we may begin to bridge our conversation and study between God's Divine nature (also called His "Godhead", the subject of the last 38 posts in this series) to that of His Triune identity.</span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><b>1. The glory of God as a bridge between discussion of the Divine nature and the Trinity. </b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> I hinted at this in the last post and will continue to draw on this throughout the remaining posts. Scripture certainly points us in this direction. </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><span> </span>For example, Psalm 19:1 tells us how "the heavens decalre the glory of God", with "glory of God" gesturing toward contemplation of God in all that He is as revealed through the general revelation of creation. We then see God's glory as a theme in a key Trinitarian passage, reminding us in Hebrews 1:3 of how the Son is "the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of His being". The term "God" in Hebrews 1:3 refers to the Person of the Father, of whom the Son discloses in His effulgence as the Divine Son. God's glory bridges any discussion of the Divine Godhead to the Persons in the Godhead. </span></span></span></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">2. The Old Testament's preparation for the full revelation of the Trinity in the New Testament. </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><b> </b>Not only does God's glory help us bridge between discussion of God's oneness of being and Triune identity, but also the Old Testament revelation of God. Genesis 1 reveals what we could call the "twin pillars" of any Biblical doctrine of God - God's oneness of being and plurality of personhood. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Genesis 1:1 squarely tells us that God created the heavens and the earth. The Hebrew text utilizes a singular masculine verb in the third person to tell us of a singular God verbalizing everything into existence. Yet, the subject of the sentence, "God", is the Hebrew name for God "Elohim", which is a plural masculine noun. We see this same sort of phenomenon in Genesis 1:26, with the third masculine singular verb for "make" in reference to the making of man as male and female. Yet, the subject of that verb in the sentence is the Hebrew name of God "Elohim". </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Furthermore, Genesis 1:26 also includes </span>pronoun "our" in reference to the image He would stamp into the moral and spiritual make-up of the man and woman. God is no doubt a singular entity, Creator of all things. At the same time, this one God is a plural personality. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Throughout the Old Testament revelation we see references hinting at the personages in the Godhead. For instance, we see "The Spirit" (Genesis 1:2) and "The Son" in Psalm 110:4 and Proverbs 30:4. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The Old Testament doesn't get to the level of detail we find in the New Testament revelation to how it ties together the oneness of God with the plurality of personality. Nonetheless, The Old Testament sets up for what would be that eventual bringing together of the complete picture of "One God in Three Persons" observed in the New Testament. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><b>3. The mutual indwelling of Father, Son, and Spirit as One God by nature. </b></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> Jesus' teaching on the doctrine of God is a quantum leap forward in the progressive revelation of Scripture in bridging God's oneness of nature and plurality of personality. As only Jesus could do, He utilizes the language of what theologians call "mutual indwelling", which is to say the "Father is in me and I in the Father" type of expressions. For instance, we read Jesus' words in John 14:10-11</span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><i>"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves."</i></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><span> </span>What Jesus taught in John 13-17 about Himself, the Father, and Holy Spirit being One in unity and distinct in identity moves our understanding forward in formulating a Biblical doctrine of God that affirms a oneness in being and three in identity. </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Closing thoughts for today</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b> </b>As I have read various theologians and studied God's Word over the years, it appears there are at least three ways of bridging our discussion of God's oneness of being to His Triune identity. Such bridging is comprised of three conceptual truths.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> First, God's glory, revealing the inner reality of His nature, attributes, and relationships between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Secondly, grasping how the Old Testament introduces to the main points of the doctrine of the Trinity, followed by how the New Testament draws those points together into a coherent picture of the Triune God. Then thirdly, studying the words of Jesus as He taught the doctrine of God, especially in His final teaching before His crucifixion in John 13-17. The posts that will follow will attempt to map out the main contours of the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity, and how that brings a complete picture of our overall understanding of God in His oneness of being and threeness of identity. </span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>More next time....</span></span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-36331665001105761432024-03-09T16:59:00.002-05:002024-03-09T17:02:21.186-05:00Post #38 The Doctrine of God - God's Glory In His Being And Attributes: Links To All Previous Posts In Our Study Of The Doctrine Of God<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFsCaEEFZs0vaQd6Imcdjt7lXIU7Qpb5kzNGqqmlMnDRBwWsemKc1GPBCTRZFBPg_Tsw105vmHymzdBnR7AVyybaBE0JKsJHrNB8nFqTY2mGaz15GLx477zuipvo9JnN9aBdNdnbKLvmaXSpKDnfVCCL2mMOqRMg4QbkmO0rESvv5pZ1sKf8CwXjds90/s5087/worlds-best-stained-glass-windows-02.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2861" data-original-width="5087" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTFsCaEEFZs0vaQd6Imcdjt7lXIU7Qpb5kzNGqqmlMnDRBwWsemKc1GPBCTRZFBPg_Tsw105vmHymzdBnR7AVyybaBE0JKsJHrNB8nFqTY2mGaz15GLx477zuipvo9JnN9aBdNdnbKLvmaXSpKDnfVCCL2mMOqRMg4QbkmO0rESvv5pZ1sKf8CwXjds90/w640-h360/worlds-best-stained-glass-windows-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> For the last 37 posts I've endeavored to give readers an introduction to the doctrine of God or theology proper. The links to the past 37 posts, along with topical headings, are given now for the reader to click upon who wants to review posts related to the doctrine of God in His existence, being, and attributes. The latter part of today's post will then detail the glory of God and how His glory ties together our study of God in His being, attributes, Triune identity, and actions in creation, providence, and redemption.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Posts #1-#7 God's existence, nature, and revelation of Himself.</b></span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/07/post-1-doctrine-of-god-map-to-explore.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/07/post-1-doctrine-of-god-map-to-explore.html</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-2-doctrine-of-god-gods-existence.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-2-doctrine-of-god-gods-existence.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-3-doctrine-of-god-how-names-of-god.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-3-doctrine-of-god-how-names-of-god.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-4-doctrine-of-god-mans-inner.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-4-doctrine-of-god-mans-inner.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-5-doctrine-of-god-role-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-5-doctrine-of-god-role-of.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-6-doctrine-of-god-necessity-for.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-6-doctrine-of-god-necessity-for.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-7-doctrine-of-god-by-nature-god.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-7-doctrine-of-god-by-nature-god.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Posts #8-#37 God's nature in His attributes.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Introduction to the attributes </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-8-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-8-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine Aseity (God's self-existence)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-9-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-9-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Divine immutability or unchangeableness</span></b><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-10-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-10-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine eternity</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-11-doctrine-of-god-attribute-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-11-doctrine-of-god-attribute-of.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine omniscience</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-12-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-12-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine spirituality (God's non-physicality, immateriality)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-13-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-13-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-14-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-14-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine truthfulness</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-15-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-15-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine invisibility (God's unseeableness) </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-16-doctrine-of-god-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-16-doctrine-of-god-gods.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine Wisdom</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-17-doctrine-of-god-p1-reflections.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-17-doctrine-of-god-p1-reflections.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-18-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-18-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine attribute of peace</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-19-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-19-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine Wrath</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-20-doctrine-of-god-attribute-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-20-doctrine-of-god-attribute-of.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine Love</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-21-doctrine-of-god-p1-attribute-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-21-doctrine-of-god-p1-attribute-of.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-22-doctrine-of-god-p2-attribute-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-22-doctrine-of-god-p2-attribute-of.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine attribute of perfection</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-23-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-23-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-24-doctrine-of-god-p2-attribute-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-24-doctrine-of-god-p2-attribute-of.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine omnipotence</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-25-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-25-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine Mercy</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-26-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-26-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-27-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-27-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine impassibility (God's constant emotional life)</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-28-doctrine-of-god-gods-constant.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-28-doctrine-of-god-gods-constant.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-29-doctrine-of-god-p2-introduction.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-29-doctrine-of-god-p2-introduction.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-30-doctrine-of-god-p3-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-30-doctrine-of-god-p3-divine.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-31-doctrine-of-god-p4-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-31-doctrine-of-god-p4-divine.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-32-doctrine-of-god-p5-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-32-doctrine-of-god-p5-divine.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine omnipresence and immensity</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-33-doctrine-of-god-p1-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-33-doctrine-of-god-p1-divine.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-34-doctrine-of-god-p2-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-34-doctrine-of-god-p2-divine.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: large;"><b>Divine Simplicity (God has no parts, He is all that He is, He is one God undivided, and all that is in God is God, thus we have His undivided attention).</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-35-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-35-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-36-doctrine-of-god-gods-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-36-doctrine-of-god-gods-divine.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: medium;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-37-doctrine-of-god-praying-through.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-37-doctrine-of-god-praying-through.html</a></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In our study, we've looked at "what God is" by nature and "how he is" in the attributes that fully express His nature. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>God's glory: what it is and how His glory ties together everything</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan writer and preacher of the 17th century, wrote an essay entitled "The end for which God created the world". The essay represents one of the most comprehensive discussions anywhere on the subject of the God's glory. Edwards gives the following definition of God's glory,</span><br /></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"The thing signified by that name, the glory of God, when spoken of as the supreme and ultimate end of all God’s works, is the emanation and true external expression of God’s internal glory and fullness."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In this series so far, we've hardly touched what I feel to be "the hem of the garment" of God's glory. When I survey the various Hebrew words translated "glory" in the Old Testament, as well as the various Greek words rendered by the same word in the New Testament, such meanings as "weight" and "honor" and "brightness" and "effulgence" and "radiance" come to mind. </span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> In this first part of our overall study, we've surveyed but a portion of the major attributes of God. We've explored God's existence, being, and attributes. God's glory of His otherwise invisible Divine essence is manifested gloriously in His perfections. This survey of the Divine essence and attributes is but the first part of our overall study, and but the beginning of our gaze at the glory of God. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> When we consider God's glory, we do indeed understand it as He manifests His glory by way of His perfections. Moses requests God to show him His glory in Exodus 33:18-23</span><br /></span></p><p><span><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” 19 And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” 21 Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; 22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”</span></i></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">It is then in Exodus 34:6-7 that God sets forth His glory, expressing His attributes, before Moses</span></span></p><p><span><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"The Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord. 6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; 7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>Paul reminds us of God's glory in 1 Timothy 6:16 <i>"who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen"</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>God's glory in His grace enables us by faith to apprehend Him who cannot be comprehended by the finite mind. This is why we have the mediation of the Second Person of the Trinity, the incarnate God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. We see God's glory in His attributes, and we also see His glory in the Persons of the Trinity. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The doctrine of God covers not only God as He is in His existence, being, and attributes, but also who He is in the three members of the Godhead. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God's glory manifests through His acts in creation, providence, miracles, the angels, and even the unwilling participation of Satan and the angels. We see God's glory in His ways of salvation, with all that is entailed from His decrees in eternity past to final judgment and glorification of sinners and saints in eternity future. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Closing thoughts</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Truly, God's glory ties together theology proper and all other branches of theological inquiry. In forthcoming posts, I intend to continue this series by exploring God's glory in the Trinity. The Trinity answers for us "Who God is". <i>Soli deo gloria</i> (to God be the glory!)</span><br /></p><p><br /></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-72592601400552483312024-02-24T06:09:00.000-05:002024-02-24T06:09:47.665-05:00Post #37 The Doctrine of God - Praying through God's Attributes and How Divine Simplicity Grounds The Prayer-life<p><b style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large;"><i></i></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjee0YXqaElMlQqe-IooGYzn58o7UzaClMAy26mjjEGBEmy4BtlVcRZuug3bcHkRpV6UaYsRrtfGBLGBOO0MfjYnV1_hbQE6T64NbYWvdQeE6qBZ2E26mRwqEmdGHej34Yrf2urhHo8uOAp-vkK-Jv1NTQQBP2ao4MC-n0_ncjwpXa9Iwz8kBneeG6E6qY/s500/sound-doctrine.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjee0YXqaElMlQqe-IooGYzn58o7UzaClMAy26mjjEGBEmy4BtlVcRZuug3bcHkRpV6UaYsRrtfGBLGBOO0MfjYnV1_hbQE6T64NbYWvdQeE6qBZ2E26mRwqEmdGHej34Yrf2urhHo8uOAp-vkK-Jv1NTQQBP2ao4MC-n0_ncjwpXa9Iwz8kBneeG6E6qY/w640-h384/sound-doctrine.png" width="640" /></a></i></b></div><b style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large;"><i><br /><span><br /></span></i></b><p></p><p><b style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large;"><i><span>Introduction:</span></i></b></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> In this blog series, we've navigated through the being and attributes of God. I wanted to devote a couple posts to the important truth of Divine simplicity, and its particular application to our prayer life. My hope is these current posts are causing us to seek God at a deeper level. Eventually, we will devote future posts to what I will call "part two" of our study of the doctrine of God or "Theology Proper" - the doctrine of the Trinity. </span></span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>For now, I want to take today to show the reader the benefit of praying through God's attributes, what that looks like, and conclude with why the doctrine of Divine simplicity is the basis for our prayer life. </span></span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>It wasn't to long ago that I found myself having one of those days that left me anxious about a whole host of life's areas. As I prayed, I asked God to help me arrive at a point of peace about the situations in question (Philippians 4:6-7). As I continued to pray and wrestle with the thoughts going through my mind, a sudden idea occurred: </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">"why not select an attribute of God and pray about the situations through that attribute?" </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>I don't doubt that at that very moment, the Holy Spirit was illuminating me to an insight in connection with the Scripture (compare 1 Corinthians 2:10-13). </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">So, I sought the Lord at that moment as God that is always loving, always merciful, always opposed to sin, always happy with Himself, unchanging in His love for me, and always loyal in knowing about my circumstance. In praying that way, I dwelled respectively on His love, mercy, holiness, blessedness, immutability, and omniscience. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Do you know that the instant I prayed that prayer, an enormous peace came over me! Since that day, I have pondered on what it would be like to base one's prayer-life on the attributes of God. Let me assure the reader that this notion is not novel. Millennia attest to the scores of Christian writers who have expounded at length on using the perfections of God as a means of prayer. </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>What are God's attributes?</i></b></span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>An attribute of God is a perfection that is an expression of His essence as God. To take but one example, we read in 1 John 4:8 that "God is love". For God, love is not just an attribute that God possesses as a feature, but rather, love is God's very essence expressing itself perfectly as love. In other words - "God is love", incapable of being less or more in how that expression could ever be expressed from the standpoint of what He is as God. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Another example is found in Psalm 99:5, were we read: "holy is He". God doesn't merely "have" holiness", He is Holy". Holiness is a perfection that is an expression of His very essence. </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>As we think about God and His attributes, all of His attributes are rooted in His very essence. No one single attribute is better than the other. All of them, without exception, capture and grant to us all of who God is (as Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and what God is (the One, undivided God). </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Concerning that last statement of "what God is", we come to find that God is indeed the "undivided God" or what theologians refer to as "Divinely simple". Thus, in the above examples, God is "lovingly-holy" and "holy-loving".</span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Divine simplicity and the believer's prayer-life</i></b></span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Divine simplicity means God is not composed of parts, whether we speak of attempting to separate God's attributes from His Divine being or presupposing some cause that brought about God. Put another way, Divine simplicity means every attribute equally grants us God, His eternal perfections, and identity. When we bring Divine simplicity down to the most practical level of prayer, we refer to how God is never at odds with Himself, and thus undivided when we come to Him in prayer. One writer has noted that due to God not being composed of parts, that means that when I'm falling apart, God can hold me together by virtue of His Divine simplicity.</span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Divine simplicity may very well be an attribute which is hardly discussed today, yet, it can help us in gaining confidence in God in prayer. How is it that we can pray to God according to His Divine simplicity?</span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>1. Praying through Divine simplicity affirms we have </i></b></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i><span>God’s undivided attention.</span></i></b> <b><i><span>Romans 11:33-35</span></i></b></span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Sometimes Debi, my wife, will ask: "are you here?" because my mind is thinking in different directions. We all have “divided-attention”. We all, like every other created thing, can never be all nor give all of ourselves to everything. God alone can because He is "Divinely-simple”. </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">Wherever you see Biblical phrases like “God is” or </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">“is He” or God acting out an attribute, that </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">points us to God’s divine simplicity. Consider the following passages: </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>1.</b> Psalm 99:5 “Holy </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">is He”. </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>2.</b> Malachi 3:6 “I the Lord do not change”. </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>3.</b> James 1:17 “…with whom there is no variation or </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">shifting of shadow.” </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>4.</b> 1 John 4:8 “….God is love”. </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The Apostle Paul in Romans 11:33-36 indicates how God is undivided with respect to His abilities to give attention. Paul references God's Wisdom, Knowledge and ways as undivided and thus - unfading. My favorite passage in all the New Testament hints at God's Divine simplicity, namely <b><u>Romans 11:36</u></b> - <i>"for from Him, and to Him and through Him are all things". </i></span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Therefore, no matter what I am praying about, I realize that to God, past, present and future are one-big eternal now with respect to His omniscience, and that particular attribute grants me access to all His other attributes which He steadily applies in bringing about His will in my life. God's Divinely simple nature as "the undivided God" means I have His undivided attention. But notice also how this attribute strengthens our faith in prayer...</span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><b><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>2. Praying through Divine simplicity affirms we have </i></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><i>God’s undivided ability at hand. Romans 11:36</i></span> </span></b><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>No creature is good at everything. Even in our universe, we see varying levels of stars, things wearing out, things changing (see Psalm 102). God’s ability alone never diminishes. His attributes, or perfections, never fade. Such thoughts grant confidence in prayer. How? </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> Practically, as mentioned above, God won’t ever fall-apart because He has "</span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">no parts" as defined by the doctrine of Divine simplicity. In other words, God's essence or "what He is" and existence or "that He is" are not divided and are not separated from His perfections. </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>As Divinely simple, God is incapable of improvement and without need of anything. When it comes to prayer, God is our all sufficiency in prayer because </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> He needs nothing to make Him better. We on the other hand need God, since without Him and His perfection of omnipotent, I can never have that endless source of strength needed to get through everyday life.</span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Again, certain passages imply to us God's Divine simplicity by the way they mention other attributes. For example, God's immutability or His inability to change, as stated in <b><u>Numbers 23:19 </u></b></span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">“God is not a man, that He should </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">will He not make it good?" </span></i><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">Or again, the prophet Malachi writes in <b><u>Malachi 3:6</u></b> </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">“For I, the </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">are not consumed."</span></i><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>One more example in the New Testament, <b><u>James 1:17</u></b> </span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">“For I, the Lord, do </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">consumed."</span></i><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Since God's Divine simplicity grants me access to every attribute that He is as God, this means that at any given point, I have all of God's unending ability to bear on the things I pray about in everyday life. Put another way, Divine simplicity teaches that </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">since every attribute equally grants us God, we have </span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">perfections and Personal identity involved with us every step of the way.</span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><b><i>Closing thoughts</i></b></span></span><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Today we emphasized praying by way of God's attributes. This led us to focus upon God's Divine simplicity, which refers to God being "undivided", whether in terms of His attributes, being or existence. Such a God grants us all the confidence we need in prayer. As Divinely simple, God grants to us His undivided attention and undivided power by how we have accesses to all that He is and who He is in prayer.</span> </span></div></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-54210540091886786392024-02-17T18:10:00.000-05:002024-02-17T18:10:10.817-05:00Post # 36 The Doctrine of God - God's Divine Simplicity and the Christian's prayer-life<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9h65WjzljgW-uljBb50n_j3nO_Na3JvpZTueek6U_lyZp1rkR0_DWtat6LU-SnSP1hIKhNz-qtzOYH0rW5qQBG8AOqcj_HEwioMf0bUkHO7HmFmzdEpSquTYiMva_jjConj0ezb1Xar4LkrSb8M8rOaSGFe3BYNXTwkJg8YSTeJOiUuIa4UAEnF8_ErU/s3150/the-power-of-prayer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2100" data-original-width="3150" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9h65WjzljgW-uljBb50n_j3nO_Na3JvpZTueek6U_lyZp1rkR0_DWtat6LU-SnSP1hIKhNz-qtzOYH0rW5qQBG8AOqcj_HEwioMf0bUkHO7HmFmzdEpSquTYiMva_jjConj0ezb1Xar4LkrSb8M8rOaSGFe3BYNXTwkJg8YSTeJOiUuIa4UAEnF8_ErU/w640-h426/the-power-of-prayer.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In the last post I introduced the reader to the doctrine of Divine simplicity here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-35-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-35-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html</a>. To say God is Divinely simple is to say He has no parts. When we talk of God's attributes, being, and the Persons of the Trinity, its not like we have those three in three seperate piles, awaiting our assembling. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God is not some sort of "lego-man" deity, where I have a piece of God here and a piece of God there. Those who believe that the universe is some sort of deity would commit to such an error (known as "pantheism", or the belief that god is everything and everything is god".) The God of the Bible is omnipresent yet transcendent, not confined to our universe and responsible for its existence. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>These opening observations are vitally important when it comes to prayer. When the Christian prays, how important is it to know we have God's undivided attention? Further, God is personal, not impersonal, as pantheism would lead us to believe. The Apostle John writes in 1 John 5:14-15 what I would argue links the relevance of Divine simplicity to our prayer-life,</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him."</span></i></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> I would argue that Divine simplicity is vital for God to be the prayer-hearing God of the Bible. How so? Five attributes of God come to mind with respect to how I would show the relevance of Divine simplicity to our prayer-life: Divine spirituality, Divine immutability, Divine omniscience, Divine omnipotence, and Divine wisdom. </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>If God's underlying unity of being and attributes is not what the Bible says, then all bets are off when it comes to affirming that God is a God who can equally hear, respond to, and thus include prayer in how He excecutes His will. Let's trace this out, since the last thing I want for the reader to have is only a theoretical understanding of Divine simplicity, unrelated to prayer. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Divine simplicity the the spirituality of God in our prayer-life</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> Since the doctrine of Divine simplicity asserts that God is without parts, and that everything in God is God, the spirituality of God is a good attribute to start in seeing how Divine simplicity is relevant to prayer. </span>J.P. Boice in his "Abstract of Theology", page 62 notes,</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"But when we ascribe spirituality to God, we do not intend to simply assert that He possess a spiritual nature, but that His nature is exclusively spiritual. By this we mean that He has no material organization, that He has neither body nor members (parts) of the body such as we have, neither shape or form, neither passions (the trait that causes change in a being when acted upon by something outside of itself), nor limitations, but only a spiritual nature."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>It was Jesus who gave the clearest summary of this perfection of Divine spirituality in the context of prayer in John 4:24 <i>"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."</i> The Apostle Paul affirms a similar idea about God not being confined to temples, since God is by nature spiritual, thus <i>"in Him we live and move and have our being"</i> (Acts 17:25-28). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>To know that God is Divinely simple in His spirituality is to assert that this is what God is, and as such, God's whole activity in hearing and answering prayer is not limited by time, space, or circumstance. As Dr. Steven J. Lawson comments in his own work on the attribute of Divine spirituality, God is <i>"infinite, without limitations in regards to any attribute, His being, and thus His character."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Divine simplicity and Divine immutability for our prayer-life.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Whenever we talk about Divine simplicity, what we're saying is that God in His being is His attributes. Put another way, whatever attribute I'm talking about, I am talking about the God who is by nature what that attribute conveys. The attributes of God are whole expressions of the Divine nature, since everything that is in God is God. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God's Divine unchangeability or immutability is affirmed in the Bible as not just something that God has, but rather what He is by nature (see Number 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8). When it comes to anchoring our confidence in prayer, God's immutability entails Divine simplicity, since an unchanging God, by nature, is required for prayer's answers to allign with His unwavering character. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>One of the clearest examples of how we connect Divine simplicity, Divine immutability, and prayer relate is in James 1:3-17. James 1:5-8 states,</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> It is later that James writes in James 1:17 <i>"</i><i>Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>Here we see that God is a God without parts, whereby in Him there is no variation, no change, no element of changeability that characterizes everything else that is created and thus not God. We live in a world that is prone to change, variation, and thus is composed of parts. God and God alone can be our Divine reference point whenever we need an anchor for our prayer-life. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Divine simplicity and Divine omniscience in our prayer-life</b></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> Divine simplicity asserts that God is, by nature, all His attributes, since those perfections are each a whole expression of His Divine being. Omniscience is vitally important to consider when we pray to God. Note David's words in Psalm 139:1-6</span><br /></span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high, I cannot attain to it."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>The doctrine of Divine simplicity, as it relates to Divine omniscience, assures me that God's knowledge cannot have any division, weakening, nor improvement, since Divine Simplicity asserts that God was never composed by anything outside of Himself and thus cannot get better or worse. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>You and I can forget, or demonstrate limits to our knowledge. We are comprised of parts, meaning we have memories, impressions of thoughts, recollections - in other words, different activities of our intellects. For God, He simply "knows". William Ames, a 17th century writer, states in his "Marrow of Divinity", <i>"The attributes of God set forth What God is, and Who he is."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> As for our prayers, God knows what we are going to pray, how He will use our prayers, and the answers He will give - all in one Divine intellectual act. For God - past, present, and future are equally known, seen, and fully apprehended. </span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Divine simplicity, Divine omnipotence, and our prayer-life</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> So far we've seen how Divine simplicity undergirds God's spirituality, immutability, and omniscience in our prayer-life. But what about God's Divine omnipotence? For God to execute all the other prior perfections, it necessarily follows He would be omnipotent, since infinite power is befitting to His charcter as God. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>God as a Divinely simple being tells me that the Divine nature cannot be divided, which means that God's power cannot wax and wane as everything else apart from Him does. Prayer in our Christian experience can of course wax and wane. We get tired. Our devotion to God fluctuates. Yet our omnipotent God never waxes and wanes in His power (Isaiah 40:28). </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>An example of what I'm talking about with respect to Divine simplicity, omnipotence, and our prayer-life is in the contrast the psalmist presents between the idols of the nations and the omnipotent God in Psalm 115:3-9,</span><br /></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. 4 Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. 5 They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see;6 They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; 7 They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat.8 Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>The deities worshipped by the nations are "complex deities", that is, they are composed, made of parts by the hands of men, and conceived of in the sinful human imagination. God, on the otherhand, doesn't "have" this or that attribute, He just simply "is" His perfections. Furthermore, God is omnipotent, executing His Sovereign purpose "as He pleases". For prayer to work, we need an omnipotent God who is Divinely simple in His essence. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Divine simplicity, Divine wisdom, and our prayer-life</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span> God's wisdom is that perfection whereby He guides and executes His intended means and goals according to His good pleasure. Divine wisdom requires the Divine will to be unified, without division. The doctrine of Divine simplicity ensures that God is indeed "God only wise" (1 Timothy 1:17, KJV, NKJV). We read in Proverbs 2:6 </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The doctrine of Divine simplicity tells us that God does not merely have wisdom to give, rather He is only wise, and thus when He communicates wisdom, nothing is subtracted from Him. James 1:5 reminds us of God's wisdom as it pertains to our prayer-life, </span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." </span></i></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> As I've been stating throughout this post, whenever I am focused upon any one of God's attributes, I have all of God in that attribute, since the doctrine of Divine simplicity states God is His attributes. Put more concretely, I literally have God's undivided attention, whether I'm seeking Him as He is as God only wise, God omnipotent, God omniscient, God unchanging, or God that is entire spirituality by nature.</span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Closing thoughts for today:</b></span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In this post I've attempted to relate the doctrine of Divine simplicity to the Christian's prayerlife. We've done so by observing how Divine simplicity operates in our prayerlife by our interractions wirh God in His spirituality, immutability, omnipotence, omniscience, and wisdom. I'd like to close out with a prayer that seeks God as the Divinely simply God. </span></span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">O great God, you are without parts. There is no variation nor shifting of shadow within you. You are eternal, and nothing, anyone, or anything was responsible for why you are God. You are God, and there is no other. You are alone wise, you never forget me nor do you love me for what you would see me do or neglect to perform. You are alone loving, love without beginning, without ending, lovingly sending the Son to die and raise for my sins, choosing me in love, without beginning, only because you love. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>You alone are holy, too pure to look upon sin and too transcendent to be reached by any creature. You, great God, God without parts, are self-sufficient, nothing in you is missing. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>You are the one who is, who was, who ever will be. Your Divine Godhead, without division, wholly resides in who you are as Father, Son, and Spirit. To you Father I do come, you are without origin, wholly Divine, without parts as truly God, who chose me, loves me, and is all-compassionate, all-holy, hollowed be your name. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>To you Father I come through the Son, equal in all respects to you, sharing in the simplicity of nature, begotten from you from eternity. Lord Jesus Christ, you are, by your deity, God without parts, without passions, ever loving me, became man to suffer for my sake, and rise as man, ascending as man, all for my sake. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>To the Father and through the Son I come by the Spirit, who with the Father and Son is to be worshipped and glorified. Thank you Lord Jesus for having the Father send the Spirit in your name. He who proceeds from the Father through you gives me access to the undivided God. </span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Oh great LORD, you who are without parts, constant in every perfection, I know that through the Son I have your undivided attention. Your mercy is unceasing only because of the merit won for me by the Son dying and rising in His humanity. He in His deity, one with you and the Spirit, is my Mediator, perfect, complete in-and-of Himself. To you God I trust this prayer is heard. Whatever you deem best, may your will be done in my life this day, amen. </span><br /></i></p><p><br /></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-9000166278880140972024-02-07T11:58:00.000-05:002024-02-07T11:58:28.500-05:00Post #35 The Doctrine of God - An Introduction To God's Divine Simplicity<p><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6pGxEiNlFZCokVqnpJzpxd_13wOZi9JIH0TtPtk1Cy-n7rAbQ23qgEJXdZrvNGWncnddfbdTuBt9Mry5-3UR2FQZM9haoryzM57cznHEPpSeZ8QqtBzhSswCZ3u6D3uSKM82vE_esRdIw-_yjuGsh6Qc0PzwI-4p-WZuPJjMOTDXEeMVmQHI4Qq94rd0/s728/abstract-car-composite-exploded-view-diagram-wallpaper-preview.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="728" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6pGxEiNlFZCokVqnpJzpxd_13wOZi9JIH0TtPtk1Cy-n7rAbQ23qgEJXdZrvNGWncnddfbdTuBt9Mry5-3UR2FQZM9haoryzM57cznHEPpSeZ8QqtBzhSswCZ3u6D3uSKM82vE_esRdIw-_yjuGsh6Qc0PzwI-4p-WZuPJjMOTDXEeMVmQHI4Qq94rd0/w640-h360/abstract-car-composite-exploded-view-diagram-wallpaper-preview.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Introduction: </b></i></span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> In the last post I briefly mentioned the doctrine of "Divine Simplicity" at the beginning before finishing out our study of God's Divine immutability and omnipresence. Interested readers may view the last post here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-34-doctrine-of-god-p2-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/02/post-34-doctrine-of-god-p2-divine.html</a>. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> Matthew Barrett in his book "Simply Trinity - The Unmanipulated Father, Son, and Holy Spirit", writes the following about what is meant by "Divine Simplicity",</span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><i>"To confess God as one is also to confess God is one. He is one by nature, he is one in nature."</i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><i> </i>What Barrett is stressing here is God's one undivided nature or essence. What makes God, God, and what makes up God is, well, "God". There is nothing in God that isn't God by nature. This is what Barrett is saying. He then goes on,<br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><i>"He is not made up of parts but a God without parts. There is in Him no composition, nor can He be compounded by parts. If He could, then He would be a divided being (parts are divisible by definition), a mutable being (parts are prone to change), a temporal being (parts require a composer), and a dependant being (parts require a composer)."</i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><i> </i>When Barrett speaks of "parts", what is he meaning? </span></span></span>When the doctrine of Divine simplicity asserts "God without parts", by "parts" is meant how we typically talk about things in the created realm that makes them what they are, or what we call "properties". I as a human being have the "properties" or "parts" of being a physical or material body, and an immaterial soul, with a mind, emotions, a will, and containing that innermost "part" - my human spirit. Such properties or "parts" have developed and grown over time. When we speak of people, universes, or angels, we talk about them as having "parts" or properties that combine together to make them what they are. In my soul are the functions of mind, emotions, and will. I think, feel, and choose way differently than I did when I was younger. As the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:11, </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><i>"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things."</i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> When we talk of God having "no parts", we mean that in discussing His being and attributes, we don't have "being" in one pile and "attributes" in another pile. If God had these as "properties", this would entail He was somehow constructed to become the God He is today - which would make the parts or process of making God <i>"God"</i> to be greater than God Himself. Divine simplicity is crucial to preserving the unity of God in His being and attributes. James 1:17 reminds us, <i>"</i><i>Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."</i></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> <br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>As we continue on in our study of the doctrine of God, I want to spend this post and the next few exploring this fundamental doctrine in the overall study of theology proper. </span>To aid myself and the reader alike, I will underline certain terms in the first part of this posting that will come in handy as we move forward. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><i>My Boyhood Fascination With Model Cars</i></b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> When I was a boy, I came to enjoy the hobby of building model cars. Whenever my parents and I would go to the store, they would allow me to purchase a model kit - along with assorted paints and glue. I can recall sitting up until the "wee-hours" of the morning assembling the kit from the parts. The box included the "<u>parts</u>" for the car. Now think about what I just said above about "parts" with respect to creatures on the one-hand, and God not having "parts" on another. The analogy I am about to share will hopefully serve to shed further light.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> The nature or "<u>essence</u>" of such cars were certain materials such as plastic (molded clear and colored parts) along with rubber tires, metal axles and my favorite - the decals. Once I began the project of assembling and painting the model, although I had the parts, paint and glue, one could legitimately say that until completion, the given model car did not yet <u>exist</u>. The assembling of the model represented a certain "<u>potential</u>" for it becoming what was pictured on the box. Once I completed a given model car, I would proudly bring it to my father for him to inspect and approve. The car as assembled, officially "<u>existed</u>" in the sense that all of its parts were fitted together to complete the "<u>form</u>" recognized on the box. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Model cars, universes, humans and angels are "complex" and thus created things</i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> The opening illustration does serve a purpose besides that of a charming memory. As we build on some of the terms used in the story, we can begin to understand what is meant by "<u>complexity</u>" with respect to what classifies all created things. Model cars represent a feature common to all created objects and beings - including human beings - a feature deemed "<u>complexity</u>" by theologians and philosophers. Words change usage and meaning with time - with terms such as "<u>complex</u>" and its opposite, "<u>simple</u>", being no different. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> Whenever anything is described by the term "<u>complex</u>", we're not referring to that object or person as "too difficult to be truly known". Instead, the word "<u>complex</u>", as used in describing a given object or being, refers to how it is composed of parts and how such parts or properties relate to the whole of its being. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> The opposite concept that is the focal point of today's post and the next is the term "<u>simplicity</u>". Simplicity describes how something is "not composed of parts" and whose whole being and attributes have existed from all eternity (more on this later). It will be argued that God alone occupies, in the most purest sense, what is meant when we say He is "Divinely simple". </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>By describing first what defines "<u>complex</u>" objects and beings, we are presenting a contrast that will aid us in beginning to understand what we mean when we that God, by essence and existence, is not composed of parts. </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> So, back to model cars and such. The model car illustration entails an object that has parts. The "parts" represent the various features that require assembly by an assembler (which, in the case of the above illustration, would involve a model-car builder). Complex entities also involve their <u>essence</u> (that is, "what" makes an object or being what it is") as coming before their <u>existence</u> (that is, "how" an object or being carries forth what it is upon the completion of its creation). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Model cars, people and universes have, at some point in their past, had <u>potential</u> to become what they were. All created things had a beginning and at some point neither had "essence" nor "existence". The model car did not even have its parts formed at some point in its past. However, a designer and a factory produced the parts - making kits that contained "potential" model-cars. Only when the car was constructed did it go from a "<u>potential</u>" to an "<u>actual</u> car". </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Our universe, at sometime in the finite past, did not exist. The Old and New Testament scriptures (i.e. Genesis 1:1; Psalm 33:6; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6) tell us that God created all things by the word of His mouth. Moreover, current findings by astronomers have corroborated models of the universe that give strong evidence to the universe having a beginning. The universe was "assembled" from nothing to become "something" - containing all sorts of "parts" (i.e. atoms, forces, planets, galaxies, ourselves). The universe is the biggest example of a "<u>complex</u>" object.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Then we come to beings such as ourselves. Human beings are "composite" or "complex". Scripture indicates that, at bare minimum, human beings are non-physical minds or souls endowed with freedom of the will and moral intuitions (see Genesis 1:26; 2:7; Numbers 16:22; 27:16). Human beings are immaterial persons dwelling in and interacting with a physical body composed of a brain with trillions of neurons connected to a body of bone, muscles and blood (Genesis 1:26; 2:7; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 4:12). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Further distinctions show human beings are special above their animal counterparts in how they are made in God's image. The image of God refers to how humans are created with the potential for interaction with God (Genesis 1:26; 9:6; Psalm 8:1-4; Hebrews 11:1,6). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Human beings fit the category of "<u>complexity</u>" or "composite" as described above. In other words, there was a point when each human being's essence was nothing more than 23 chromosomes from each parent. Once conception took place, the immaterial aspect of personality or soul (i.e. "life") initiated the existence of that person in embryonic form (since they had not ever pre-existed). Those physical and non-physical elements, which represented a "<u>potential but not-yet person</u>", came together in the womb to become an "<u>actual</u>" person in the fullest sense (Psalm 139:7; Jeremiah 1:5; Galatians 1:15). The "essence" or "stuff of existence" comes before the final composition or "existence" of the above examples. Such qualities describe such things as "<u>complex</u>" and thus created things.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> So, what about the angels? Even angels, which are described as "ministering spirits" (Hebrews 1:14) and "flames of fire" (Psalm 104:4), are "complex", since there was a point that they didn't exist and God's formation of their immaterial "<u>essence</u>" or "whatness" came before they were completed as His servants that do His bidding (Job 38:7; Psalm 104:4; Revelation 19:10).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>God is not "complex" or composed of parts, but rather, is what is referred to as Divinely simple</i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> As noted earlier, words can change their meanings or add additional senses over time. Whenever we come to God and describing what sets Him apart from all creation, the term "simple" is employed by some theologians and philosophers. By the term "<u>simple</u>", we're not at all saying God is easy to figure out or that we can comprehend Him in all His entirety. Instead, the term "simple", as used millennia ago by Christian thinkers in the ancient church such as Irenaeus of Lyons (180 A.D.) and middle ages (Anselm of Canterbury 1078 A.D. and Thomas Aquinas, 1270's) refers to how God is not composed of parts. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> Furthermore, in contrast to "<u>complex</u>" created beings and things whose "<u>essence</u>" proceeds their "<u>existence</u>" (that is, the stuff they're made of, including various traits, require composition by a composer to bring them from a state of "<u>potentially</u> being something" to "<u>actually</u> being something" or existence), a simple being like God is eternally complete. All of God's traits and attributes by way of His "existence" (i.e. "how God is God") and His eternal, immaterial nature by manner of His "essence" (i.e. "what God is as God) have eternally and simultaneously continued as one, living, uncreated reality. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> These thoughts, hopefully, direct our minds toward contemplating what kind of God God is and why He is worthy of our worship. For now, we will end today's post and continue on in the next. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">More next time.....</span></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-74537321380389235442024-02-03T12:07:00.003-05:002024-02-03T12:09:23.515-05:00Post #34 The Doctrine of God: P2 Divine Omnipresence and Immensity - Distinctions, Reflections, and Applications<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoE_q3TUadM5sBtpjWKNX5k9iL8V_neK3CAFyIVhD5sDbSZgLMc3ZvNA7PD2opfG-wKxln6zCfBnQFZ8qeoTIfsIuDEX5NhDIdcAT5PU7kTMv4RUT9SvnVHZ2CDgBrPSj9Cp5kBG2u3nHam_c2S0IdgxkUvXWUbKk3LMBliypoP_mtVI4KY4IxYf6xMzU/s400/worlds-best-stained-glass-windows-01-sized.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="400" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoE_q3TUadM5sBtpjWKNX5k9iL8V_neK3CAFyIVhD5sDbSZgLMc3ZvNA7PD2opfG-wKxln6zCfBnQFZ8qeoTIfsIuDEX5NhDIdcAT5PU7kTMv4RUT9SvnVHZ2CDgBrPSj9Cp5kBG2u3nHam_c2S0IdgxkUvXWUbKk3LMBliypoP_mtVI4KY4IxYf6xMzU/w640-h428/worlds-best-stained-glass-windows-01-sized.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Introduction:</span></b></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> As we once more explore the wonderous eternal nature of the Biblical God, we are to be reminded of how God's attributes and nature are related. God's attributes are not a group of "parts" that attach somehow to God's being like lego bricks to a base. As theologian James Dolezal is fond of saying "all that is in God is God", which means the attributes are of the same "substance" as the Divine nature because the attributes themselves are but full expressions of the selfsame nature. In future posts I'll deal with what is called "Divine Simplicity", which is at the heart of the classical Christian theism being studied in this current series. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Suffice to say, the attributes of God are full expressions of the Divine essence. God doesn't "have" attributes, instead, He is His attributes. Put another way, God's love means God is loving by nature. This is what John refers to when he writes in 1 John 4:8 and 4:16 "God is love". Or again, God's holiness means God is holy by nature, as expressed by the psalmist in Psalm 99. To say God is unchangeable means He is so by nature, as God Himself expresses in Malachi 3:6. As to God's impassible emotional life, we mean He is impassible or constant in His affections by nature, as touched upon in Numbers 23:19 and 1 Samuel 15:29. Whatever other attributes we speak of pertaining to the Biblical revelation of God, identical remarks can be made of them as well. The 17th century author William Ames summarizes our point in his work "Marrow of Theology", <i>"</i></span><i>The attributes of God set forth What God is, and Who he is." </i>I only touch upon these truths to remind ourselves that whichever attribute we will speak of or have covered thus far, we are still looking at the same undivided essence of the One God revealed in Scripture - this includes our current topics of Divine immensity and omnipresence.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Divine Immensity and Omnipresence more closely defined</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> We spent time in the last post noting how Divine omnipresence and immensity operated within the Trinity here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-33-doctrine-of-god-p1-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-33-doctrine-of-god-p1-divine.html</a>. As I noted in the last post, </span>omnipresence speaks of how God by nature is everywhere present at all points. Divine immensity tells us that God cannot be contained nor bounded by anything. In this post we want to explore how God's omnipresence and immensity operate relative to the created order.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>One of my favorite Biblical passages to consider about God's omnipresence is Psalm 139:7-12,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold,You are there.9 If I take the wings of the dawn,<br />If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will over whelm me, And the light around me will be night,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You."</i><br /><br /> In having discussed briefly how omni-presence was already operative within the Trinity from all eternity, it makes sense that this perfection would spill-over into the very universe God made. It is helpful to do a thought experiment about omnipresence to help us grasp a little bit of the enormity of this perfection.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEii5liE0CSgHrhPT8PsPYAZmILw2AAYWHOHdn4NJu3gm_yl-x7KdR03kQ37Bu-qrxPQ0D2NxAsXWWdWP1JDSPBYoz8DfhYeaxwJUEtLxPEabJhMkpPoHW-Tp2z14EFX9HrVXCRimAfu5RRuyQMQYiM_PYUZUAwzA2GL0W1gC2jymy8DA3cq--HQ0kP7iOo"><img height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEii5liE0CSgHrhPT8PsPYAZmILw2AAYWHOHdn4NJu3gm_yl-x7KdR03kQ37Bu-qrxPQ0D2NxAsXWWdWP1JDSPBYoz8DfhYeaxwJUEtLxPEabJhMkpPoHW-Tp2z14EFX9HrVXCRimAfu5RRuyQMQYiM_PYUZUAwzA2GL0W1gC2jymy8DA3cq--HQ0kP7iOo=w640-h358" width="640" /></a><br /><br /> The above photograph is that of the so-called "Sombrero Galaxy" (so-called due to its resemblance to the hat), or as known by its more technical designation "M104". Astronomers tell us that the Sombrero Galaxy is some 28 million light years from earth and measures 50,000 light years across (see NASA's link to this galaxy at <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_283.html">https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_283.html</a> ). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>It is amazing to think that God is as much present at that Galaxy as He is here with me in the chair in which I am typing this post. Remember, omnipresence describes God occupying every point in and throughout the created order.<br /><br /> So what about God's immensity? The 19th century Baptist theologian J.P. Boice in his "Abstracts of Systematic Theology" describes immensity as follows,<br /><br /><i>"God is not confined to space any more than he is measured by time."</i><br /><br />Boice later adds,<br /><br /><i>"When, therefore, we speak of God’s immensity, we mean more than his filling all space, just as when we speak of his eternity, we mean more than his existing throughout all time."</i><br /><br /> To distinguish these two perfections of God: God's immensity deals with God's relationship to space; whereas omnipresence deals with how God occupies every point in space. Immensity tells me God cannot be confined by space, and thus transcends it; whereas omnipresence informs me God's presence expresses His being as wholly present, entirely at work, and in every point of all creation. Psalm 139:7-12 was shown as a good example of God's omnipresence. 1 Kings 8:27 reminds us of God's immensity,<br /><br /><i>“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built!"</i><br /><br /> A New Testament counterpart to 1 Kings 8:27 is found in Stephen's speech in Acts 7:49, quoting Isaiah 66:1,<br /><br /><i>"Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; what kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,<br />‘Or what place is there for My repose?"</i><br /><br /> It is because God is immense (transcendant and not bounded by all He has made) that He can be omnipresent (active and present in all He has made). Acts 17:24-28 features these attributes working together,<br /><br /><i>"The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’<br /></i><br /> Paul's point is that God is not bounded by His creation, and thus doesn't require a temple (hence God's immensity). As He is omnipresent, God is not localized as He would be if he were like one of the pagan deities. Rather, God's omnipresence in and through all things and His immensity above and outside all things means He can be wholly present and at work equally and everywhere.<br /><br /> Author A.W. Tozer, in his classic book "Knowledge of the Holy", writes of God's omnipresence (and we could include God's immensity),<br /><br /><i>"The doctrine of the divine omnipresence personalizes man’s relation to the universe in which he finds himself. This great central truth gives meaning to all truths and imparts supreme value to all his little life. God is present, near him, next to him, and this God sees him and knows him through and thorough."</i><br /><br /><b>Practical distinctions to note when talking about God's immensity and omnipresence.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> As we move forward, Elmer Towns in his very accessible systematic theology entitled, "Theology for Today", notes on ppgs 119-121 some observations about God's omnipresence and immensity that aids us in application to our lives. I'll use some of his headings and then comment on each of them for our application.<br /><br /><b>1. God's omnipresence is a manifestation of His immensity.</b><br /><br /> As we've noted already, Divine immensity means God's nature knows no limits and is not enclosed by space. God's omnipresence means He is everywhere in, through and at every point in space and outside of it. God is not confined to my little circle of life and circumstances. He is immense. He operates wholly and completely in and outside my circumstances, due to Him being also omnipresent. Recourse back to Psalm 139 shows us how David applied these two attributes to his life's circumstances. <br /><br /><b>2. God's omnipresence allows for His transcendence.</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> What Towns is speaking of here is God's relationship to the universe itself. God as transcendance is to the created realm as an author is to a book. The author operates outside the thought-world of the book he or she is writing. With that said, theologians will often speak of another attribute that works in tandem with "transcendance", namely God's "immanance". Again, the author of a book, though "transcendant" to he thought-world of the characters and plot, nonetheless operates in and through the plot and characters to move along the plot to the intended conclusion. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> God's omnipresence and immensity operates along these lines of transcendance and imminance. The prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:23-24 is where I find confirmation of these observations,</span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Am I a God who is near,” declares the Lord, '</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">And not a God far off? </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">24 Can a man hide himself in hiding places s</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">o I do not see him?' declares the Lord. '</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?' declares the Lord." </span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>3. God's omnipresence means He will manifest Himself in some places more than others.</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> We know by definition that God's omniscience means He is everywhere. When God makes His presence known, He is raising the apprehension of His creatures so that they can sense Him, interract with Him, and respond to Him. Ultimately, there is no place where God's influence and presence is not felt. I tend to use three terms when describing how God makes known His omnipresence and immensity. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> The first is what we call God's "Providential presence" or omnipresence proper. God is everywhere present in a general sense, working forth His will and wisdom throughout all of the creation and through the wills of people (Acts 17:22-28). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> The second sense in which we can apprehend God's omnipresence and immensity is what I call His "covenantal presence". This includes an environment fitted to sensing God's presence already at work, specifically in the local church where God's Word is preached and the ordinances of Lord's Supper and Baptism are practiced. The second Person of the Trinity, the incarnate Son, mediates this "covenantal dimension" of God's omnipresence and immensity in the lives of Christians and the church (see Ephesians 1:22-23). <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> The third sense that we can talk of God's omnipresence and immensity involves what theologians call His "manifest presence". This is often-times referred to how God makes His presence known and felt, primarily in Heaven among the glorified saints who have passed on from this world to Heaven (Hebrews 12:22-24). God's manifest presence can be at times experienced here in this life, whether in unusual seasons of revival, such as when He filled the tabernacle or temple in the Old Testament, or when He so moved in His church to revive it, as in the first Great awakenings of New England led by the likes of Jonathan Edwards in the 17th century<br /><br /><b>4. God's omnipresence implies His omnipotence and omniscience.</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> As Towns rightly points out, any one of the so-called "omni" attributes presupposes the other two. God must have all power in order to directly affect every point and moment in time and space as the omnipotent God, henceforth referring back to His omnipresence. In like manner, God must know the outcomes and means by which the effects of His causing all things occurs by way of His omnipotence. <br /><br /> The practical ramifications of God's omnipresence is brought home in the following observation by Towns: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"The fact that God is means that God is here and now. He comforts, guides and protects the believer with His omnipresence. And the fact that God is here, implies that God is everywhere."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Certainly such Bible passages as Psalm 23 or where Jesus in His incarnation could walk the earth as man while still holding sway over creation as God (see John 3:13; Colossians 1:13-16) gives us great comfort in knowing that He will never leave us nor forsake us (see Matthew 28:18-20).<br /><br /><b>Final thoughts for our application: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Today we've looked at God's omnipresence and immenisty. God's omnipresence covers the highest, deepest, largest, most remote and darkest regions of created reality and life. This is the God you and I need dear reader. God's omnipresence is that constant reality that is unimpaired by life's darkness, isolation, overwhelming moments, deepest valleys and highest obstacles. God's immensity tells me He can work forth His will and purposes for me beyond the horizon of my immediate circumstances. God is not limited. Let us thank God today for His omnipresence and immensity.</span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-29004669773201284412024-01-27T15:03:00.003-05:002024-01-27T15:03:49.034-05:00Post #33 The Doctrine of God: P1 Divine Omnipresence and Immensity Within the Trinity.<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjZMM2uMeK4nnslm3_OCgi6Gvd1OL8Fvj9YEHK8CgCDEpIlQjeIUNOJVxA7AkeHGzTIaVqrMm1V7JZDkkQTM3bVRc74cvXCJLkEeEBQKgtxmacj1qzgMJPTx9ckcCYV1B-eiP1NPdKxq3_6l3dAW4C6VRqQVwwgW8oZF6y0FtZf_XdMVyAPp80CdCfcY/s474/forest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="474" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGjZMM2uMeK4nnslm3_OCgi6Gvd1OL8Fvj9YEHK8CgCDEpIlQjeIUNOJVxA7AkeHGzTIaVqrMm1V7JZDkkQTM3bVRc74cvXCJLkEeEBQKgtxmacj1qzgMJPTx9ckcCYV1B-eiP1NPdKxq3_6l3dAW4C6VRqQVwwgW8oZF6y0FtZf_XdMVyAPp80CdCfcY/w640-h400/forest.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b> </b>In today's post I want to begin by quoting a prayer from the early church father, Gregory of Nazianzus (329-390 A.D.) that I heard Dr. Carl Trueman mention in the closing of his recent lecture "Classical Theology and the Modern Mind", <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>“Oh all-transcendent God, what words can sing your praises? No word does you justice. What mind can probe your secret? No mind can encompass you. You are alone, beyond the power of speech, yet all that we speak stems from you. You are alone beyond the power of thought, yet all that we can seek conceive springs from you. All things proclaim you, those endowed with reason and those bereft of it. All the expectation and pain of the world coalesces in you. All things utter a prayer to you a silent hymn, composed by you. You sustain everything that exists and all things that move together. You are the goal of all that exists. You are the one and you are the all, yet you are none of the things that exist - neither apart nor the whole. You can avail yourself of any name. How shall I call you, the only unnamable, all transcendent God?” </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>That prayer touches upon the two attributes of God that are of interest in today's post - omnipresence and immensity. To say God is "omni-present" means He is everywhere ("omni") present at every point in all of creation, wholly and completely. To say God is "immense" describes His relationship to all of creation, whether visible or invisible, in how nothing can contain God. Together, the attributes of immensity and omnipresence confront us with the very nature of God Himself who is Father, Son, and Spirit. What I want to specifically consider today is how we can speak of God's omnipresence and immensity within His own nature as He is as Father, Son, and Spirit. In other words, how do we talk of God as omnipresent and immense before there was a creation? These explorations will serve to show that these attributes are intregal to our overall understanding of the doctrine of God.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">A word on how God's Divine nature and attributes work in relationship to the Persons of the Trinity</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In our continuing study of "Theology Proper" or the doctrine of God, we once again remind ourselves that the goal of this overall study is to understand what the Bible teaches about the being, attributes, and identity of God. As we will focus today upon God's omnipresence and immensity in more detail, I felt it necessary to remind us of how the Divine nature operates within and among the three persons of the Godhead. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God's being and attributes summarize His nature, essence, or being. I often use the phrase "what God is" to refer to His essence; and the phrase "how God is" to talk about the attributes or perfections of God. As for God's identity, I use the phrase "who God is" to point us to the Biblical truth of the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>We can never make God's being and attributes something like a "fourth" piece of God on the one side, and the Triune persons as somehow "parts" of God on another side. Rather, the Biblical and historical doctrine of the Trinity asserts that God's being is equivalent to His attributes (what theologians call "Divine simplicity"). The term "simplicity" derives from the Latin <i>"simplex"</i>, meaning "unmixed, uncompounded, and uncomposed". </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Thus, God's attributes aren't like a cake recipe that has eggs, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and water to make a cake. Those said ingredients are not cake, but instead their own respective substances, composing together the said cake. When we say "God, by nature, is His attributes", we're meaning that all that is in God is God. In reference to the "stuff" or substance of Divine being (eternal, unchangeable, omnipresent, omniscient, and all the rest), each perfection is an active expression of the Divine nature. In this classical, historical understanding of Theology proper, each attribute operates as an action of the Divine nature. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Consequently, the Divine nature or essence of God resides entirely and wholly in each of the Divine persons, with each distinguished only by their eternal relationship to one another - what theologians call "eternal relations of origin". How is this spelled out historically and Biblically? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The Father begets or communicates the Divine nature to the Son. In a portion of the historic Athanasian creed we are reminded, <i>"The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten".</i> Sometimes early theologians, such as Gregory Nazianzus (cited above) and later John Calvin called the Father "the fountain of the Divine nature within the Trinity". The Father and Son's co-equality, co-eternality are affirmed in these statements, with the idea of designating the Father as "unbegotten, not made" for the purpose of distinguishing Him from the person of the Son. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The Son is defined historically and Scripturally as "the only-begotten" from the Father (John 1:14,18; 3:16; 1 John 4:19). What this means is that the Son is truly God by nature. All the divine attributes of the Divine essence which the Father has maps point-by-point, quality-by-quality in the Son. Biblically, the entire Divine nature resides in the Son as much as it resides entirely within the Father (see Colossians 2:9). Both Father and Son share the undivided, simple, Divine essense (John 10:30; 1 Corinthians 8:6-7). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The Holy Spirit, in His co-equality and co-eternality with Father and Son, is said to "proceed" from them both. In other words, the same divine essence is communicated to the Spirit by way of "spiration" or breathing forth from the Father through the Son (see John 15:26). To quote the Athanasian Creed once more, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Now this is the catholic (i.e. 'universal') faith: We worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>The nature of God, the Trinity, and the Divine attributes of omnipresence and immensity</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Again, the whole divine nature resides in the Spirit as much as it does in the Son and the Father. The Three Persons, in turn, mutually indwell one another, thus enabling us to say that the one undivided essence of God truly is in the Three Persons (see John 14:21-23). </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">When we consider the Divine nature in the Trinity, we include of course the attributes of omnipresence and immensity. Since the eternal relations between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit constitutes their sharing of the Divine nature, the nature itself necessarily includes omnipresence and immensity. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> God cannot be contained by any created thing. Before there was a creation, God as a Trinity was self-sufficiently existing. With no such things as time and space coordinate with God's existence, we can say that God has existed from all eternity without boundaries, "inhabiting eternity" and persisting, world without end, from eternity to eternity (Psalm 90:1-2; Isaiah 57:15; Hebrews 1:10-12). </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>These truths are at the very heart of what we talk about when referring to God's "immensity".</span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> On the same token, the Divine nature is wholly and completely in the Divine persons of the Trinity. The nature and attributes of the Divine essence, being forever truly in the Father without beginning, is communicated by the Father's eternal begetting of the Son. Within the Trinity itself, the whole eternal essence truly and wholly fills each person - as one author notes, "three times over". </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jesus Himself affirms this point of the "Father indwelling Him and He indwelling the Father" (John 10:38; John 14:10-11). Thus, before God created the heavens and the earth, the attributes of Divine omnipresence and immensity were being expressed by His very nature among the Father, Son, and Spirit.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> In our next post we will continue discovering further truths about God's omnipresence and immensity, noting how they work in relationship to all that God has made.</span><br /></span></span></p><p><br /></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-90638139340403186082024-01-20T16:39:00.002-05:002024-01-20T16:39:18.688-05:00Post #32 The Doctrine of God - P5 Divine Impassibility, Human Passibility, And How They Illuminate Our Understanding Of Jesus Christ And His Cross<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_U659ZVHjUXJ0YLwXJb_lhDIA5LfZpUZala4y4-CiJTXvH-YTedjs4tgIeTWlYOmbhq3316RzTwoZF6H1ewq9TT8QcPpx9o32kNGwwTwqOu9oWlka9Mdc6IeRifWoeSMDK88ldRV0X6zWtc0GLryfNSmMM-PzEx48TMJ1j8R2qGEnowH1JSkQtj2w0Hk/s500/sound-doctrine.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_U659ZVHjUXJ0YLwXJb_lhDIA5LfZpUZala4y4-CiJTXvH-YTedjs4tgIeTWlYOmbhq3316RzTwoZF6H1ewq9TT8QcPpx9o32kNGwwTwqOu9oWlka9Mdc6IeRifWoeSMDK88ldRV0X6zWtc0GLryfNSmMM-PzEx48TMJ1j8R2qGEnowH1JSkQtj2w0Hk/w640-h384/sound-doctrine.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In our current doctrine of God series, we've spent some extra time exploring that particular perfection of God that pertains to His constant, unchanging emotional affections - the doctrine of Divine Impassibility (DDI). As a reminder, the term "impassible" refers to not being happened or affected upon from the outside. God's emotional life flows from what He is as the unchanging God and who He is as the Triune God. He is forever merciful towards the pitiable, wrathful towards sin, and just toward what is right. Impassibility tells me that God is never more loving nor was ever less loving, since that affection emerges from what He is as a loving God. For review, we can note what was looked at in the last four postings,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>1. An introduction to DDI here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-28-doctrine-of-god-gods-constant.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-28-doctrine-of-god-gods-constant.html</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">2. How Divine impassibility is related to God's unchanging nature or immutability here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-29-doctrine-of-god-p2-introduction.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-29-doctrine-of-god-p2-introduction.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">3. How DDI explains why God not suffering reveals Him to be far more in-tune with our sufferings than if He suffered in His Divine nature here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-30-doctrine-of-god-p3-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-30-doctrine-of-god-p3-divine.html</a></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">4. Then in our last post, we discussed how an impassible God still has affections, and how the Bible speaks of God's emotional life here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-31-doctrine-of-god-p4-divine.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2024/01/post-31-doctrine-of-god-p4-divine.html</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>As we draw our exploration of the doctrine of Divine impassibility (DDI) to an end in this overall series on "The Doctrine of God", we need to understand how the Divine and human natures of the Son of God operate in how He expresses His emotions, and why that sheds light upon the meaning of the cross. </span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> <b><span>Understanding how the Son was Divinely impassible and human passible at the cross.</span></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> We first need to understand the historic Christian confession of the Son's two natures. We can begin with the Chalecedonian Creed of 451 A.D. I'll cite its opening statements,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><i>"We, then, following the holy Fathers, all with one consent, teach men to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood; truly God and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and body; consubstantial [that is, sharing in the same nature] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial (sharing in the same nature) with us according to the Manhood; in all things like unto us, without sin."</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> We note the opening line of how Jesus Christ is "truly God" and "truly man". In affirming the two natures of Christ, we acknowledge the Son having two ways of expressing His existence. His Divine nature is how He expresses Himself Divinely - without beginning, eternal, and unchanging. As we've argued in these last several posts, God by nature has a constant emotional life, with affections expressed from within himself and not imposed upon from the outside. God always hates sin. He always loves those upon whom He set His affection and foreknew (Romans 8:29-31, Baptist faith and Message 2000 Article 5). He is always willing to show mercy, compassion, and pity. These expressions arise from the kind of God, God is. The Son, as truly God, was impassible.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> When the Son became incarnated as the man Christ Jesus</span>, He expressed Himself humanly. To say "humanly" means being finite in knowledge, strength, and not possessing characteristics such as omnipresence. For our discussion here, the incarnate Son would express His affections in a passible way - just like ourselves - with the exception of sin. He ever remained the One Person, the Son, having two natures of which He partook, each with their own respective qualities. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> One more creed, the Athanasian Creed, describes the two natures of Christ in the following excerpt that is relevant to our discussion in this post,</span></span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>He suffered</u> death for our salvation. He descended into hell and rose again from the dead."</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><b>How the Son's impassible Divine nature and passible human nature can help us better understand the cross</b> </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The cross is the place we go to see how well any understanding of the person of Christ holds water. It is at this juncture that we see the relevance of our whole discussion on impassibility (and its opposite "passibility"). </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The Son, as truly God by nature, approached going to the cross impassively (that is, with constant emotions of mercy, justice, and love). Hebrews 10:5-7 tells us of what the Son was doing prior to His entrypoint into history via the incarnation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>As the Divine Person of the Son took unto Himself a truly human nature, He would suffer or be "passible" as a man. As man, the incarnate Son would experience what it was like to have pain, sorrow, and rejection happen to Him. As the man Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son would become "passible", undergoing His "passion", His "suffering", and having Divine wrath inflicted upon Himself. (see Isaiah 53:4-5). The sufferings of the Son of God would fulfill all the Old Testament predictions of He being "the Lamb of God" and "being a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief". He as God by nature would ensure that as the impassible God, He could always be the Savior who is always merciful, pardoning sin and forgiving the transgressions of His people (see Exodus 34:6-7; Psalm 136). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In short, the Son of God, as truly man, did indeed suffer for our sins. As truly God, He Divinely remained merciful, loving, and just. By Divinely offering Himself as the believer's High Priest and humanly as the Lamb of God, the ncarnate Son could fulfill both roles. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Why affirming an impassible Divine nature and passible human nature in the Incarnate Son guards against heresy.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Some may argue that the Father must have had a bad day when Jesus died on the cross. Yet whenever we look at the Trinity, and Divine impassibility, we must understand that God was in complete control of what all occured at the cross. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>It was not that the Trinity was disconnected from the cross, since as we've already noted, the cross was pre-planned by the Trinity from all eternity. If for anything, the Father's sending of the Son was a constant expression of mercy and love, while also being an unchanging expression of His justice (see Romans 3:21-24).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The Son, experiencing and undergoing the events of the cross as a man, did indeed suffer as a man. As the incarnate Son of God, his emotions as man would had been "passible" or subject to undergoing suffering. This understanding prevents us from succoming to an ancient heresy that suggested it was the Father who suffered on the cross (called "patripassionism"). The Father, Son, and Spirit were involved inseperably in the outpouring of wrath at Calvary. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>As I noted earlier, the Son was both Priest and sacrifice. He as a Divine Person would had experienced the wrath of God, which includes feeling the sense of absence of God's blessing and favor. Mysteriously, in ways we do not comprehend, the incarnate Son would be both ever beloved and the very object of wrath all at once. Hebrews 7:26-27 perfectly captures my otherwise feeble attempts to grab hold of this point,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; 27 who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><b>Bringing home some applications </b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>By noting the two natures of the Son (truly Divine and truly human), we can preserve the Divine impassibility of the Son in His deity, while recognizing that as man, it was the Son alone who endured the suffering in the cross. I agree with R.C. Sproul who once noted about the hymn "And can it be", that rather than singing,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God shouldst die for me".</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">We ought to sing a change in lyrics which rightly focus upon the Son bearing our sins, suffering in His humanity,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Amazing love, how can it be, that thou my LORD should die for me."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>Author Samuel Renihan, writing in a 2016 article for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, gives this pastoral application of Divine impassibility, and God's love shown at the cross,<a href="https://www.placefortruth.org/blog/trinity-impassibility-what-denied">https://www.placefortruth.org/blog/trinity-impassibility-what-denied</a></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"God cannot be moved to be anything other than what he is, he cannot be acted upon in that highest of metaphysical senses, nor is his existence time-bound like ours in which we interpret and react to objects. Furthermore, God’s love is immutably set upon his Son, Jesus Christ. Thus, those who are in the Son by faith cannot be separated from the infinite, eternal, immutable, and impassible love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:39)."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><b>Closing thoughts:</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> In today's post we attempted to further our understanding the doctrine of Divine impassibility (DDI) by seeing how it functions in three major areas. We first distinguished God's affections by how He expresses such impassibly. Again, to go back to author James Dolezal's descriptions in an earlier post, we can say God truly cares, and that He does so constantly or impassibly. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>We secondly were reminded of how the Bible speaks of God in two ways, figuratively or analogically and directly as He truly is. Divine impassibility speaks of God as He truly is. In His relating to His creatures, their experience of God changing emotions shows the changes occuring with them as they transfer from being exposed to one emotional perfection to the next (from, say, wrath to mercy). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Then finally, we looked at the Son's two natures as God and man. We noted the differences between Him as Divinely impassible God and a truly passible man. As impassible deity, the Son constantly looked forward to accomplishing redemption, since He and the Father and Spirit, with one will, as one God, agreed upon the provision of salvation. The Son, as was appropriate to Him being the Eternal redeemer of sinners, would come be man for our sakes. By becoming a passible man, the incarnate Son could suffer and die in fulfillment of Scripture. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span></span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-51175233574919086802024-01-14T10:02:00.006-05:002024-01-14T10:07:44.949-05:00Post #31 The Doctrine of God - P4 Divine Impassibility, How An Impassible God Can Have Affections, And The Two Ways The Bible Talks About God<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxlZHgxj7bPes7DyPeAInSzK5a8zVSP4fxSggr60ewj8S2GpDelV4aUPqxnJo_v-v_Bl-H0Dj5mFRO5mBPFNgnLTXL4qXTRUMHrn_s6Y1dADqNKEDl5mYsvcdwMz0U53ztxLu5hLzHuUDYc-fQK-wupNa-JjCrE-pph01tUk8scsmQZrKnbMPImT38FL0/s1920/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxlZHgxj7bPes7DyPeAInSzK5a8zVSP4fxSggr60ewj8S2GpDelV4aUPqxnJo_v-v_Bl-H0Dj5mFRO5mBPFNgnLTXL4qXTRUMHrn_s6Y1dADqNKEDl5mYsvcdwMz0U53ztxLu5hLzHuUDYc-fQK-wupNa-JjCrE-pph01tUk8scsmQZrKnbMPImT38FL0/w640-h360/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> <span>For the last three posts, I've dwelled on the subject of God's constant emotional life, otherwise known as "the doctrine of Divine impassibility". In today's post, I want to further our discussion of Divine impassibility. First, we will look at an important distinction about God having affections and He being impassible. Then, we will revisit an area we've talked about before in this overall series, namely the two-fold way the Bible speaks of God, and how that can shed even more light on the doctrine of Divine impassibility. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>God's affections and impassibility</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>How we understand the Bible's teaching on God's emotional expression is tied to how we understand His very nature. If God is immutable (i.e. unchangeable), and yet we posit that He can change His emotional response to somehow fit with circumstances, then we have an inherent contradition. Alternatively, if we propose that the Bible teaches God having some sort of change in His very being (whether limited omniscience, a limitation of power, or a limitation upon His presence), then by default we have to conclude God's emotions are as fickle as our own. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span></span>What I've noticed about objections to DDI is they assume Divine impassibility denies God any affections. I've read opposing viewpoints that think an impassible God is devoid of emotions, or that He is somehow detached from the plight of His creatures. As I've observed these discussions over the years, it has occurred to me (and no doubt others) that a distinction must be made between "affections" and "passions". As I'll explain below, classical, Trinitarian theism affirms God having affections, while denying Him having passions. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>What are affections? How do we distinguish "affections" from "passions"? Why can an impassible God have affections?</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> As in any discussion, definitions are important. </span>I get confirmation of this point from noting author James Dolezal's teachings on Divine impassibility. In his work, he gives a careful distinction between "passions" and "caring", noting that God can certainly care, even though He would not do so as a passible being. As a constantly caring God, Dolezal shows that Divine impassibility is what makes God's caring a constant reality. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>At issue in this discussion is not about whether God has affections (which I'll define momentarily), but more to do with "how" those affections are expressed. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>It is in terms "passibility" and "impassibility" that we talk about the manner in which God exercises His Divine affections (such as mercy, love, long-suffering, wrath, etc). So lets lay out some definitions.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span><u>The first is what we call God's "affections". </u>An affection is an older term that is synonymous with our term "emotion". An affection refers to how the deepest part of someone is stirred or inclined in preparation toward a specific act. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The second set of distinctions are words we ought to have become more familiar (<u>"passiblility" and "impassibility"</u>). These have to do with "how" or "in what way" the affections are stirred. For us creatures, our affections are activated when something happens to us is a "passive way" - i.e. "passible affections". </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>When I as a creature observe a moving scene in a film or hear a touching story from someone who is undergoing great difficulty, my affections are stirred to sorrow, get angry, or motivated to want to do something to allviate the pain. That describes human "passibility" and the accompanying affections. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> God has given human beings passible affections that mimic His impassible affections. God constantly loves, shows mercy, is angry with sin, injustice, and unrighteousness. As God's image-bearers, we too express those affections, except in a passible way. We can get angry about injustice and show love and mercy when stirred to do so. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God's affections (such as mercy or justice) are constantly in motion as a result of His impassibility. In other words, God doesn't need to be moved to pity or mercy, since He is by nature always merciful. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God doesn't require an event or another creature to convince him or motivate him to anger over injustice, since He by nature is holy, and thus is always hating sin. Divine impassibility explains "how" God expresses the Divine affections which are His very nature (love, holiness, wrath, long-suffering, just, merciful, and so-forth). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Keep in mind the two ways God is spoken of in the Bible</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Now that we have expounded a little on "affections" and the terms "passible" and "impassible", how can we understand the Bible's way of speaking of His emotions? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Let me remind the reader of the two ways the Bible speaks of God. He is spoken of "directly" in "being language" or what theologians refer to as God communicating Himself ontologically (the term "ontos" speaks of "being"). This first method used by the Bible means we will see God revealed "as He is". For example Malachi 3:6 "I the Lord do not change", or Hebrews 13:6 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever". </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Then there is that second way Scripture speaks of God, namely in figurative or analogical language. Thus, God can be described as having arms, eyes, and feet, even though we know that He by nature is not some physical humanoid in the sky, but rather is non-physical or spirit by nature (see John 4:24). Instead, we understand such language is using human expressions (called "anthropomorphisms") to convey how God is relating to His created world. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The figure of speech that uses human emotional expressions to convey God's relating to His creatures is what we call "anthropapathism". By nature, God is impassible, constant in His emotional life. In His relating to us, the Bible uses anthropapathism to show the change brought about in the creature's experience of God. The experiences of God's people in regards to how they perceive His emotional expressions are legitimate situations, viewed from their vantage point. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> If we keep in mind the two-ways the Bible speaks of God, we will avoid faulty interpretations of His emotional expressions, just as we saw in understanding how He shows forth His will, actions, and attributes to accomodate our understanding versus the kind of unchanging, impassible God He truly is.</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span><b>Closing thoughts for today</b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> We've attempted to shed further light on the meaning of Divine impassibility by distinguishing "affections" from the terms "passibility" and "impassibility". We noted that God and humans have affections. God expresses His affections impassibily or constantly. Human beings demonstrate their affections passibly or as occassions come upon them. </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> </span>We then reviewed how the Bible speaks of God in two ways - directly revealing God as He is in His being or "ontologically" and indirectly through figures of speech or "analogically" when describing people's experiences of Him. By observing the Bible's two ways of talking about God, we avoid the mistake of viewing God as passible in His emotional life, and thus running into the error of introducing some sort of change in God. In the next post, we will see how the discussion of Divine emotional impassibility and human emotional passibility is relevant to understanding Jesus Christ as God and man at the cross.</span></span></span></span></p><p><br /></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-65490933823174809572024-01-04T18:23:00.005-05:002024-01-04T18:24:30.576-05:00Post #30 The Doctrine of God P3 Divine Impassibility And The Question About Divine Suffering <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdZcS9zdESNDEtWE1IupXf1BIiVyW3LX2sa_nFz_VSxCbKbVKCmPreBieJ5bUSfl8nmVAHkKA2JAP82v5tfECHQ5l2WkYf-6kq4NDEsfz-H8jBRh4qqspAhy55WrvN7okZIprZotiE3WELbohDxPlhnLAxGVGTdIEW4wkT-K9P0BLt-x0cWTcxWkXLKs/s768/Holy%20Bible%20picture.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="768" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBdZcS9zdESNDEtWE1IupXf1BIiVyW3LX2sa_nFz_VSxCbKbVKCmPreBieJ5bUSfl8nmVAHkKA2JAP82v5tfECHQ5l2WkYf-6kq4NDEsfz-H8jBRh4qqspAhy55WrvN7okZIprZotiE3WELbohDxPlhnLAxGVGTdIEW4wkT-K9P0BLt-x0cWTcxWkXLKs/w640-h360/Holy%20Bible%20picture.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> Does God ever suffer? As we further explore the Biblical doctrine of Divine impassibility in our current series "The Doctrine of God", we will endeavor to answer this most practical question. But first, review. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>In the two prior posts, I've written on God's unchanging emotional life, otherwise known as "The Doctrine of Divine Impassibility" (DDI). Readers who want to review those posts may look here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-28-doctrine-of-god-gods-constant.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-28-doctrine-of-god-gods-constant.html</a> and here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-29-doctrine-of-god-p2-introduction.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-29-doctrine-of-god-p2-introduction.html</a>. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span> Divine impassibility is closely related to the doctrine of God's unchangeability or "immutability". In an illuminating quote, t</span></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he 19th century Baptist theologian J.P. Boice summarizes God's immutability (and its related doctrine Divine impassibility) in chapter seven of his work "Abstracts of Systematic Theology",</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"It (Divine immutability) is expressly taught by the Scriptures in the following as well as in other particulars. A few passages out of many are referred to in support of each."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> Boice's entire section speaks in detail of</span> God's unchangeable nature with respect to His Divine life, nature, and will (interested readers may read the endnote at the end of today's post that features Boice's entire discussion.)<b>1</b> To keep on point, I'll cite what Boice states concerning Divine impassibility. Boice continues under "point '(d)'" of His discussion....</span></p><p><br /></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"(d) His character is also said to be immutable, as for example <u>his justice</u>: Gen. 18:25; Job 8:3; Rom. 2:2; <u>his mercy</u>: Ex. 34:7; Deut. 4:31; Ps. 107:1; Lam. 3:22, 23; Mal. 3:6; his truth: Num. 23:19; 1 Sam. 15:29; Mic. 7:20; Rom. 3:3; 11:2, 29; 2 Tim. 2:13; Titus 1:2; his holiness: Job 34:10; Hab. 1:13; James 1:13; and his knowledge: Isa. 40:13, 14, 27, 28." </span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The reader will note I underlined J.P. Boice's mention of God's mercy and justice as emotional, impassible attributes in his discussion of Divine immutability. For here we will focus mainly on God's mercy and justice (with passing comments about God's</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> love) as we make our way to the question about God's suffering. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>The unchanging mercy, justice, and love of God.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>These two attributes, along with God's love, are found at the cross. They also involve God's divine work and action in how brought about creation and redemption through the Son. The issue of Divine impassibility, suffering, mercy, and justice attempt to deal with whether a Divinely passible deity or the impassible God of Scripture is superior. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Why a Divinely impassible God is superior to a passible deity when it comes to mercy, justice, and love.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Divine mercy and justice are but a sample of God's emotional perfections. With God's unchanging justice, we have the expression of Divine wrath. Put another way, God always hates sin. In His omniscience, God always knew the Fall of Adam and Eve would occur. God's eternal justice would demand the punishment of the sin brought forth in history by the Fall. God as Trinity had eternally preplanned the cross as a consequence of the love of the Father for the Son in giving to Him redeemed sinners from the mass of fallen humanity (Acts 2:23-24; 4:27-28; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2). The choice to send the Son to become incarnate was a consequence of the Father's unchanging, impassible mercy, shared with the Son and Spirit.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> Like mercy, </span>God's justice has forever operated unvarying. God has always hated sin, since He knew it would begin in our world, and since it is opposite of His holy character. If God were passible, He would require provocation from something outside of Himself to act just. Also too, He would require something outside of Himself to convince Him to act mercifully. Consequently, the ground of redemption would no longer be the Triune Creator, but the creation (see Ephesians 1:11). This would result in a passible deity needing a "plan B" as a panic response to the Fall. As Adrian Rogers once preached, <i>"The Trinity never has to hold an emergency session"</i>. </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: xx-large;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>If Divine impassibility is denied, then God's justice and mercy would become potential emotions added to and subtracted from God. It would mean that at some point in eternity, God may not have had the level of opposition to sin He has now. If we deny God's Divine impassibility, and rather affirm God as "passible", then we have a God who is not constantly, immutably just, which is contrary to the Biblical revelation of the always just God (See Genesis 18:25; Psalm 89:14; Romans 3:26).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The same problems plague a passible view of God's mercy. In Scripture, God's mercy is what issues from His very nature. We've argued in a prior post of God being by nature eternally merciful here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-27-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-27-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God's mercy is extended to whomever He pleases (Romans 9:14-15). How does affirming Divine impassibility reveal that God's mercy is superior to us who are passible creatures? If God were a passible God, He would only show His mercy when moved upon by His creatures or their dire need. Whereas a constantly merciful God is always ready to show mercy upon those who undergo moral and spiritual humility as a consequence of contact and response to His Divine activity in their lives.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>A God that could suffer by nature ends up being far less emotionally connected to our sufferings.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>To deny Divine impassibility makes for a deity that may had been indifferent to the plight of creatures whom He knew about in His natural knowledge of all possible histories, as well as our actual world known from His decree to create it. This surprising observation shows that contrary to those opposing Divine impassibility, it is the denial of the doctrine that makes for a lesser, emotionally connected God!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> When we look at what it means to suffer, t</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he term "suffer" derives from the Latin verb "</span><i style="font-family: verdana;">patior", </i><span style="font-family: verdana;">whence our words "patient" and "passion". To suffer involves something happening to me for which I did not anticipate, have control, nor the emotional resources to react. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>As passible creatures, we in this world undergo various forms of suffering (emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical). This is why we can have "bad days". Bad days happen to passible, emotionally unprepared, and varying creatures such as ourselves.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Divinely impassible God of the Bible, on the otherhand, is always merciful, since mercy flows from the kind of God that He is (see Exodus 34:6; Lamentations 3:23-27; Romans 5:6; Titus 3:5-6). </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Contrary to what many claim, the doctrine of Divine impassibility (DDI) does not weaken, but instead strengthens one's understanding of God's revelation of attributes such as mercy. For God, there is never such thing as a "bad day", since He is ever involved and ever knowing, always expressing the whole range of Divine emotions. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>This is why God always has the appropriate emotion on hand to befit people and their situations. God is always "in-tune" with my sorrows, pain, and despair, since His eternal, emotional attributes are included in His omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence (see Psalm 139). </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Closing thought for today</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Divine impassibility affirms emotional excellence in God, meaning God doesn't just have mercy and justice, He is such by nature (See for instance Exodus 34:6; Psalm 136; 1 John 4:8,16). To say "God does not suffer" means His mercy, justice, love, and other emotions are not "put upon" or "made to respond", but instead are constant, always ongoing expressions. God's emotions flow from the kind of God He is. I close with a quote from author Barry Cooper commenting on Divine impassibility from a Ligonier podcast here </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/simply-put/impassibility#:~:text=Impassibility%20is%20the%20notion%20that%20God%20does%20not,inevitably%20from%20the%20fact%20that%20God%20is%20unchangeable.">https://www.ligonier.org/podcasts/simply-put/impassibility#:~:text=Impassibility%20is%20the%20notion%20that%20God%20does%20not,inevitably%20from%20the%20fact%20that%20God%20is%20unchangeable.</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"the fact that God cannot suffer or be swept away by changing passions means that He is able to rescue us."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In the next post of this series, I'll deal with how Divine impassibility (Divinely constant emotions) and human passibility (human varying emotions) operated in the two natures of the incarnate Son of God when He went to the cross. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Endnote:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>1. </b><i>"(a) They declare him to be unchangeable in duration and life: Gen. 21:33; Deut. 32:39, 40; Ps. 9:7; 55:19; 90:2; 102:12; Hab. 1:12; Rom. 16:26; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16.</i></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">(b) They affirm the unchangeableness of his nature: Ps. 104:31; Mal. 3:6; Rom. 1:23; James 1:17.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">(c) They also assert that his will is without change: Job 23:13; Ps. 33:11; Prov. 19:21."</span></i></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span></span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-4841082520047946342023-12-28T19:56:00.004-05:002024-01-04T18:24:58.726-05:00Post #29 The Doctrine of God - P2 An Introduction To Divine Impassibility (God's Constant, Unchanging Emotional Life): How Divine Impassibility Is Related To His Immutability<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZjGlxIiHumqsoBDQsF8JQEidtZ23PvBgK9dLmdq3k-u2iNX6qtoa2Wc6A0vUtd2jTDeEB-SR23Jyr-3BcrOdbFJqMVrboDFfetH6g3mgT1ue3LTAZGCMaJo25hSHLqxj0fkTI49Mvuz_biSxTw-kZmvxCQ8YLNOISJ3DaCOKzHSgK4ZDABzS96cItzzY/s1920/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZjGlxIiHumqsoBDQsF8JQEidtZ23PvBgK9dLmdq3k-u2iNX6qtoa2Wc6A0vUtd2jTDeEB-SR23Jyr-3BcrOdbFJqMVrboDFfetH6g3mgT1ue3LTAZGCMaJo25hSHLqxj0fkTI49Mvuz_biSxTw-kZmvxCQ8YLNOISJ3DaCOKzHSgK4ZDABzS96cItzzY/w640-h360/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><b><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Introduction:</span></i></b></p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> In our last post for this series we introduced readers to the doctrine of Divine impassibility (DDI) here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-28-doctrine-of-god-gods-constant.html.">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-28-doctrine-of-god-gods-constant.html.</a> When we talk of this attribute, theologian J.I. Packer helps us out,</span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><i>"What was it supposed to mean? The historical answer is: Not impassivity, unconcern, and impersonal detachment in the face of the creation. Not inability or unwillingness to empathize with human pain and grief, either. It means simply that God’s experiences do not come upon him as ours come upon us." </i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>Packer then writes,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><i>"His are foreknown, willed, and chosen by himself, and are not involuntary surprises forced on him from outside, apart form his own decision, in the way that ours regularly are."</i></span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> The reader will note that J.I.Packer alludes to the relationship between DDI (Doctrine of Divine Impassibility) and the question of whether or not God suffers along with us. I'll touch upon that particular issue in the next post. </span></span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> </span>What we will note from Packer's observations is how God is "not surprised" nor "caught off guard". In the previous post of this series, we noted how human beings as "passive" agents in the emotional sense have the potential to be affected and changed emotionally from the outside. </span></span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> To put it colloquially, w</span>e are an "up-and-down" folk. God, on the other hand, is constant in His emotional life. For God, there is no such thing as a "bad day", since within His own being and eternal blessed existence, He knows all things that happen because of His decree. In such a decree, God's intutive awareness of all there is and all there will be includes a constant, steady, appropriate emotional state. By not having "ups and downs" and not being "affected", this makes God's Divine impassibility a superior emotional-life, since we can trust that whatever happens in our world, our God always knows the appropriate response - since such emotional expressions are rooted in His goodness, Sovereignty, and wisdom. </span></span></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> </span>In today's post, we want to understand how DDI is closely related to another doctrine which I've written about in this series - Divine immutability here </span></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-10-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-10-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html</a>. </span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>God's unchangeability and His emotional impassibility</b></span></p><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> God is unchanging in His being and attributes, which means He can never get better nor get worse. The Westminster Confession of Faith in its Article 2: "Of God and the Holy Trinity", paragraph 1, gives a summary definition of God with a list of attributes. The reader can note how God's Divine impassibility is listed next to Divine immutability,</span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, <u>without</u> body, parts, or <u>passions</u>, <u>immutable</u>, </i></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>immense, </i></span></span><i style="font-family: verdana;">eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free,o most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will, for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him; and withal most just and terrible in his judgments; hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty."</i></div><div><i style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></i></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Scriptures such as Malachi 3:6 and Hebrews 1:8-11 talk about Divine unchangeableness or immutability. It would seem that in the Malachi 3:6 passage, God's impassible or eternal love for His chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:7-8), Israel, whom He foreknew (Amos 3:3-4), was why He never "consumed them" as an outworking of His unchangeable character. Since it is the case that God does not change His nature and attributes, it follows that He would not vary when it comes to His emotional life. </span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Author Barry Cooper in the December 2021 issue of Ligonier "Tabletalk Magazine" notes on this very point,</span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"If you think about it, God’s impassibility flows inevitably from the fact that God is unchangeable. An unchanging God cannot, by definition, have passions, which in the technical language of theology are emotional states that can be affected or changed by external forces."</i></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> We dealt in the last post with a few Scriptures that affirm the Biblical reality of Divine impassibility. It is important to bring out this point futher, Why? Two reasons. </span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>First, if it can be shown that God internally changes when acted upon by His creation, then DDI would lose its claim as a Biblical doctrine. </span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Secondly, we must understand how the Bible talks about God to see how the doctrines of Divine immutability and impassibility accurately express the Biblical doctrine of God. </span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><b>Clarifying the Biblical language of God changing His emotions</b></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Some people will claim that God changes His being and His emotions by noting the passages that describe God as "relenting" or "changing His mind". The conclusion typically drawn is that such a God does change. As the argument goes, since God changes, then He alters His emotions too. Consequently, as the argument would follow, DDI is an unbiblical doctrine. </span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>My response to this is to note that often, such objections to DDI stem from unclear definitions of DDI (which I have attempted to clarify in the last post and at the beginning of this one). </span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Secondly, DDI has ample proof from Scripture when we note how the Bible uses two ways of talking about God. It is to this point I'll turn our attention.</span></span></span></div><div style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><b><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">So what does the Bible mean when it says "God changed His mind", even though it elsewhere describes God as unchanging?</span></b><br /><b><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></b><b><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">1. Scripture does present God as unchanging in terms of His being while using figurative language when expressing His "changing His mind".</span></b><br /><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> Scripture says that on several occasions (for instance in the book of Jonah), that Jonah is talking to God in chapter three of His prophecy. Jonah said something to the effect: <i>"I knew that you were a God who would change your mind".</i> Jonah had been told by God to proclaim throughout the city of Nineveh in three days God was going to judge them. Then, the King of Nineveh decreed a time of repentance where everyone was to dress in sackcloth and sit on ashes (a customary ancient form of mourning) and cry out to God for repentance. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Jonah notes in Jonah 4:1-2 that God changed His mind<i>.</i> So, some people have asked: "well, how can that be the case?" We read, for instance, in Numbers 23:19 </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"God is not a man that he should change his mind nor son of man that he should repent". </i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> Yet, there in the book of Jonah, we see God changing his mind. </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">Although God is by nature unchanging, we see instances in scripture where we see him described as changing his mind that is referring to God from the standpoint of the creatures. What is going on then?<i> </i></span><br /><i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>2. God, in Scripture, uses two different methods of expressing His nature and identity.</b></span><br /><i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>Scripture talks of God in two ways. There are those verses that speaks of God as He is in and of Himself - namely, He's unchanging. Then, there are those verses in which God adapts the revelation of Himself in forms of figurative language to bridge understanding to His people (older writers liken this to a parent speaking baby-talk to their child).</span><br /><img alt="Top Surprises of Life After Baby Arrives" height="434" src="https://img.webmd.com/dtmcms/live/webmd/consumer_assets/site_images/articles/health_tools/life_after_baby_slideshow/getty_rf_photo_of_parents_kissing_infant.jpg" width="640" /><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> As to the first sort of way scripture refers to God, we turn to James 1:17, which says - </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of heavenly lights with whom there is no variation nor shifting of shadow." </i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> S</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">o, with respect to God from God's perspective, there is no change within Him. His emotions are constant. They are "always-on", so-to-speak. God's emotional life is unvarying. </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">Romans 2:4 says this: </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience, knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance".</i> </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> So, we understand that it is God's intention to change people and to change their lives. So whenever we read in scripture those places where God is described as "changing his mind", that is, figurative language used in scripture to ascribe changeable human-like emotions to God (called "anthropopathism", or "human-like emotions"). God does this in revealing Himself by adapting the revelation of Himself to people so that they can relate to Him. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> The author A.W. Tozer puts it this way, more-or-less:</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"that whenever we read of God changing his mind that means there's been a change in the moral situation of the person. So, for example, a person who perhaps all their lives was in rebellion against God and opposition against God hears the Gospel. The Spirit of God does His work in them and now they're responding by faith to Jesus Christ. What has taken place? Has there been a change in God? No. God's always angry at sin and He hates it. God is always gracious and merciful towards those who repent. So what's changed? It's not God. Instead, its the person that's changed." </i></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>3. God has an emotional-life without the frailties and sin we typically have because of what kind of God He is by nature.</b><i> </i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>Sometimes I have been asked: how is it that God can have an emotional life and yet we have emotions? First of all, we've been made in the image of God. We read in Genesis 1:26 where God says: <i>"Let Us make man in our image in our likeness."</i> </span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>And so when God made human beings, He included in His design of human beings that they were to have emotions. Moreover, they were to have a creaturely emotions that were expressive of their Creator. Of course, when man fell into sin, that meant that the entire nature of man's being (emotionally, psychologically, intellectually) was affected by sin. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>We as human beings have "passible" emotions, subject to change. As sinful creatures, those changeable emotions are tainted by sin. Although God has communicated emotions to us, His image bearers, the one feature He did not communicate is that trait of "impassibility". </span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Thus, God's emotional life derives from within Himself. He as a Holy God cannot sin, nor can He even look at it (Habakkuk 1:13). Therefore, God's impassible emotional life means He is always joyful about what is good, since He is good. He always approves what is holy, since He is holy. He always hates what is sinful, since He is not sinful. God's emotions flow from the kind of God He is, unchanging, constant, without beginning and without end. This gets us to the heart of what we are talking about in regards to the doctrine of Divine impassibility (DDI). </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Closing thoughts</b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> So, emotions in of themselves are not sinful. Rather, they are expressed in connection with the nature of the one that expresses them. For God, God has emotions that are expressed without sin because He is God, that by nature, cannot sin (see Habakkuk 1:13; Titus 1:2; James 1:17; 1 John 1:5-7). </span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>We express emotions and they are subject to change. We respond to the changes of circumstances. Just because God has emotions, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are sinful. As a final thought, Scripture certainly bears out that God has an emotional life, even though it is different from our own."</span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> In our next post we will deal with the question of whether God suffers, and how Christ in His two natures can aid us in seeing the importance of affirming the doctrine of Divine impassibility. </span></span></span></span></div></span>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-42450251378803810482023-12-22T15:48:00.003-05:002023-12-22T15:59:06.297-05:00Considering The Importance Of The Incarnation As We Get Ready To Celebrate December 25th <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1pZ0XC376ZrMa_LdOl7m_R39-6OXlm4VIDkHcaBNhFsVoarCxgrtQAfhdgkjG5AFr4wq4GzJo6dNj8F8TgWpuacqYi2ejhmYxTljyljOXBaBjrC9TuNkmBmcs4bNjJFpTjI-abxhbbJmLEvlVU8LU3JDNPwsUM8RTlbjbbJbiT0NogSn6CJB2gtu8Q0/s1948/AdventCandleColors-457830453-625ad370cce2450c9b127e4fe5653a55.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1096" data-original-width="1948" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1pZ0XC376ZrMa_LdOl7m_R39-6OXlm4VIDkHcaBNhFsVoarCxgrtQAfhdgkjG5AFr4wq4GzJo6dNj8F8TgWpuacqYi2ejhmYxTljyljOXBaBjrC9TuNkmBmcs4bNjJFpTjI-abxhbbJmLEvlVU8LU3JDNPwsUM8RTlbjbbJbiT0NogSn6CJB2gtu8Q0/w640-h360/AdventCandleColors-457830453-625ad370cce2450c9b127e4fe5653a55.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Introduction:</span></b></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Next to God's act of creation and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, no miracle is more central to the Christian faith than the incarnation of the Son of God. In today's post, we want to define, reflect, and gain appreciation for the doctrine of the incarnation of the Son of God.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>A study on the word "incarnation".</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>The term itself is composed of two Latin words: "<i>in</i>" and "<i>carnos</i>". To take the latter term first, "carnos" refers to "flesh". When I was in grade school, they would sometimes serve what was called "chilli <i>con carne</i>" (chili with meat). If we talk about the animal kingdom, we will refer to some animals as "carnivors" (literally "flesh eaters"). As for the prefix <i>"in"</i>, much like our English preposition "in", refers to coming to be "in" something. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Therefore, whenever we talk about the miracle of the incarnation, it refers to the Son of God coming into the world to become "in-the-flesh" (older theologians would sometimes call the incarnation by another term, "the enmanning"of the Son of God). </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Unpacking the theological meaning of the incarnation.</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> The Baptist Confession 1689, chapter 8, paragraph 2, gives the following explanation of the doctrine of the incarnation,</span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with Him who made the world, who upholds and governs all things He has made, did, when the fullness of time was complete, take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities of it, yet without sin."</i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Benjamin Keach produced a catechism in 1693 that, through a series of questions and answers, taught foundational truths of the Christian faith. Keach rooted his catechism in the Baptist Confession of 1689 quoted above. In question #25 of his catechism, Keach noted about Christ's incarnation as follows,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>Question: "How did Christ, being the Son of God become man?"</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>Answer: "Christ the Son of God became man by taking to himself a true body, and a reasonable soul; being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In light of these two historic documents,we can offer the following summary: </span>The Son, being truly God, joined to himself true humanity, with all its qualities, minus sin. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Major Biblical passages that speak of the incarnation</span></b></p><p><b><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Key Old Testament texts on the incarnation</span></i></b></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> As I think on the various Biblical passages that lead to the doctrine of the incarnation, the place to begin is G</span>enesis 3:15, </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><span>"</span>And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her <u>seed</u>; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Theologians refer to this text as the "<i>protoevangelium</i>" (the first mention of the Gospel). The ages-long battle between the two "seeds" is taken to refer strictly to Satan and Christ, and then more broadly to the battle of the ages between unbelievers swayed by this world and followers of Jesus who look forward to the world to come. The epic battle predicted in Genesis 3:15 would reach the point of Christ's defeat of Satan at the cross and empty tomb. In what will be the final battle of Armegeddon predicted in Revelation 13-19, Christ will slay Satan's man (thus the ultimate expression of "the seed of the serpent", "Anti-Christ", by the breath of His mouth at His second coming (see also 2 Thessalonians 2:8). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Whenever reference is made to "seed"', a close synonym is the term "descendant". So, even in the first mention of the Gospel, we already find a hint of God utilizing a human bloodline (hence in the phrase "her seed") to bring about salvation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Another Old Testament text that predicted Christ's incarnation is Isaiah 7:14, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Isaiah wrote these words over 700 years before Christ came onto the scene. In Matthew and Luke's infancy narratives concerning Jesus, they both cite Isaiah 7:14 to express how the Holy Spirit would miraculously bring about the humanity of Christ in the virgin's womb (see Matthew 1:20-23 and Luke 1:35). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Then a final Old Testament text worthy of mention is Micah 5:2-3 </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">“<i>But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. 3 Therefore He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child. Then the remainder of His brethren will return to the sons of Israel."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>What makes Micah's prophecy so important is that we not only see the Messiah's place of birth (Bethlehem); but also He being truly God and truly man. </span></p><p><b><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Key New Testament texts on the incarnation</span></i></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> Again, to remind ourselves of our summary definition of the incarnation, "t</span>he Son, being truly God, joined to himself true humanity, with all its qualities, minus sin", we turn our attention to some New Testament examples. The above Old Testament texts affirm the promise of incarnation. What follows are New Testament texts which explain the fact of Christ's incarnation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> We begin by first considering the Gospel accounts. </span>Matthew 1:20b-21, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Luke 1:35,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"The angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.'"</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">John 1:14,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>From these three passages, we are told "that" the incarnation took place in time and in space. hat we're not told is "how exactly" the Holy Spirit miraculously joined the humanity of Christ to His Person (what theologians call "the hypostatic union", that is, the uniting of the Person of the Son to a human nature, who already was and still remained truly God by nature). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> The remainder of the New Testament passages on the incarnation are found in the New Testament letters or "epistles". </span> Paul writes in Colossians 2:9,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The same author pens the following words in Philippians 2:8, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The same Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 3:16a </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>“By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh.”</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Either Paul himself or one of his associates noted in Hebrews 10:5b, </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>“Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, 'Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, but a body You have prepared for Me.”'</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">The Apostle Peter stated in 1 Peter 2:22,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>“who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth.” </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>One more text is worthy of mention, since it connects back to Genesis 3:15, namely the words of the Apostle John in Revelation 12:5 </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne."</i> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In striking brevity, John the Apostle records how Christ in His incarnation and virgin birth came the first time, ascended into Heaven, and is returning to set up His Kingdom here on earth. Note in the wider context of Revelation 12 how Satan battles to prevent the arrival of the Son of God into history - and fails. Note also how Satan will once again try to thwart the Son's return to set up His kingdom - and fail. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Applying the importance of the incarnation as we prepare to celebrate December 25</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b> </b>The incarnation of the Son of God is the focal point of this Christmas season. The truth of the incarnation, established by Scripture, has been confessed by Bible-believing churches throughout the ages, as seen in the following excerpt from the historic Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 A.D.,</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven,<br />and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man."</i></span><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Christ's coming into our world was necessary to provide salvation and the foundation for the Christian life. Followers of Jesus look forward to His soon return. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> For unbelievers, the incarnation of Jesus Christ makes history and humanity accountable to repent and believe the Gospel message about Him. Truth by its very nature demands a response. Author Kevin Zuber in his book, "The Essential Scriptures: A Handbook of Biblical Texts For Key Doctrines", notes this on page 132:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"The only reason to include such a doctrine so contrary to nature and experience is that this was the truth about His birth." </i><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> The reality of Christ's incarnation is what made possible two other historic events to which everyone is accountable to respond by faith - His crucifxion for our sins and His rising from the dead. To paraphrase one notable thinker: <i>"if it is even possible that God exists, and if this God created all that we know out of nothing, then events such as the raising of a dead man to life"</i> (and we could easily include the incarnation) <i>"is mere child's play." </i>Taking time to focus on the incarnation enables us to focus on the true meaning of the season. I close with a familiar Christmas carol,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ - The LORD."</i></span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-66715406876354732822023-12-19T19:09:00.003-05:002023-12-19T19:18:09.651-05:00Post #28 The Doctrine of God - God's Constant Unchanging Emotional Life: An Introduction To The Doctrine of Divine Impassibility (DDI)<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5aZASfpxr4eqXNB_nGOnDujqHLfqGn4r2o2AOneIehDewWd6KQEixdIGTb7R4tZ-D1sJCNAVk_pgk653lVUNyTaUtPXGX55jQVAAc9YiWJrmMZnpL5wyL8adbmPgrkU8alqtL7Ot5n2g2PjX0f6KIfNfHtXALZEGwD27lXrWG7GAVITQ25F3YKThyWU/s1920/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN5aZASfpxr4eqXNB_nGOnDujqHLfqGn4r2o2AOneIehDewWd6KQEixdIGTb7R4tZ-D1sJCNAVk_pgk653lVUNyTaUtPXGX55jQVAAc9YiWJrmMZnpL5wyL8adbmPgrkU8alqtL7Ot5n2g2PjX0f6KIfNfHtXALZEGwD27lXrWG7GAVITQ25F3YKThyWU/w640-h360/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /><i><br /></i></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><i>Introduction:</i></b></span></p><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> In our series on "The Doctrine of God", we've considered attributes of God that pertain to His emotional life. We looked, for instance, at God's wrath <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-20-doctrine-of-god-attribute-of.html" target="_blank">here http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-20-doctrine-of-god-attribute-of.html</a>. We also look at other attributes that express God's emotional life, such as love here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-21-doctrine-of-god-p1-attribute-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-21-doctrine-of-god-p1-attribute-of.html</a> and here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-22-doctrine-of-god-p2-attribute-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-22-doctrine-of-god-p2-attribute-of.html</a>. Then most recently, we began exploring God's attribute of mercy, starting here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-26-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html.">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-26-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html.</a> and here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-27-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-27-doctrine-of-god-p2-gods.html</a></span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> When we look at God's wrath, love, mercy, as well as other emotional attributes, are we to understand God's emotional life as a bigger version of our own? What is His emotional life like? Does God have an emotional life? Is God devoid of emotions altogether, with things like "mercy", "love", and "wrath" mere words that have no connection to Him? These questions represent inquiries that abound when getting into conversations about a doctrine that addresses God's emotional life - The Doctrine of Divine Impassibility (DDI for short). </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> I'll let the reader know that the doctrine of Divine impassibility (DDI from here forward), has been unliked for the last century or so. Part of this is due to the term "impassible" itself. Also, the opposition stems from major shifts in rejecting the classical historic Christian doctrine of God that asserts God's unchangeability in His nature, attributes, and emotional life. Some perceive "impassibility" as meaning God is emotionless, situated in Heaven as an aloof, "rock-like" God. </span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>For the reader's sake, let me say that "impassibility" does not mean "no emotions". Rather, the term "impassible" is denying a certain way of expression emotions. The first step to better understanding "DDI" is in seeing how God's emotional life differs from our own. I'll briefly expound those differences, and then conclude with some Scriptural examples.</span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>How God's impassible or constant emotional life differs from our passible or changing emotional life</b></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>We as human beings are "passible" or have "passions", that is, the sort of emotional life that is affected by things other than ourselves. Author Samuel Renihan in the May 2022 edition of "Tabletalk Magazine" gives a helpful illustration of human passions or "passible" emotions. He writes,</span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><i>"A long-standing and beloved tradition of church life is a potluck or fellowship meal. Food abounds, and everyone enjoys the bountiful feast. When you walk by the food and desserts with your plate, you choose certain items and pass others by. Why is that? Why do you choose some but not others? The truth is that each of the foods or desserts that you see before you is operating on you, exerting an influence on you, and affecting you. How so? You perceive each item as good or bad, and then you are drawn to the good and repulsed by the bad. When you move to take the good and move away from taking the bad, you have been changed, moved, and affected by those foods and your perception of them. This is the life of a passible creature."</i> </div><div><br /></div><div>Renihan then observes,</div><div><br /></div><div><i>"To be passible means that you are capable of being acted on by an outside influence. You are capable of being the patient of an agent."</i></div></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> Human beings, in their emotional life, are prone to "ups and downs" due to being affected from the outside. But what about God? Unlike ourselves, God's emotional life derives from who He is as God, rather than being manipulated, coerced, or changed by something that is outside of Himself. </span></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>The term "impassible" has that Latin "<i>im</i>" prefix that negates the word with which its associated. Thus, God is not "passive" or "subject to have His emotions sway with whatever is going on" to use colloquial terminology. We can note further that the Latin verb "<u><i>patior</i></u>"(the root behind "passion") also is the same root for our English word "patient" (note the "<i>pat</i>" root that is related to the Latin verb "<i>patior</i>"). When we use the word "patient" in a medical context, it is someone who has things being done to them by a doctor. If I use the term "patient" to reference my emotions, I am meaning that I am waiting and controlling myself so as not to be affect by someone else. These sorts of uses describe us a beings with "passions". </span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> These observations are vital when explaining the teaching of DDI, since the doctrine teaches that God cannot be coerced or manipulated like human beings in their emotions. God's emotions are always active, never passive. God's emotions are always constant, reflecting His unchanging, immutable nature. </span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>We note of course that God's emotional attributes are "communicable", meaning He shares them with us. However, to say God's emotions are communicable does not mean they are identical. Think of God's mercy for example. God is always merciful. Renihan writes again in this respect,</span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"But God’s mercy is not a passion. God helps the helpless from the infinite fullness of His own goodness, not from sincere movement or emotional manipulation. Therefore, the helpless can always call on God, knowing that He is not merciful but mercy itself. God is not moved to mercy; He is mercy. Let us worship and adore our God and say, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22–23)."</i></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Scriptural examples of the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility (DDI)</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b> </b>DDI is a consequence of considering the other attributes of God (most notably His Divine changelessness or immutability) and is directly provable from Biblical texts that assert God's emotional life as an expression of His being. In the next post I'll deal with the matter of how DDI relates to God's Divine immutability or changelessness. What I want to do now is close out with Scriptures that highlight DDI in action.<br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>1. God is always, impassibly, compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness.</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Exodus 34:6 <i>“The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth".</i> This most common description of God in the Old Testament ties God's emotional life to His personal covenant name - Yahweh or LORD. This covenant name speaks of He being "the unchanging, self-existent one". Hence, the emotional attributes of "compassion", "long-suffering" or "slow to anger", and "love" or "loving-kindness" are constant, unvarying, unchanging.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>2. God is impassible or unchanging in His love.</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Psalm 136, on twenty-six occassions, asserts, "For His lovingkindness is everlasting." What is amazing about Psalm 136 is that God remains constantly this way regardless of the circumstances. In 1 John 4:8 plainly states, "God is love". In God, His attribute of love has no beginning. If we say God is changeable in His emotions, then it would follow there are moments in God where He is not loving by nature and essence. This point is most clear in the internal relationship between the Persons of the Trinity. In John 3:35 and John 5:20, we are told that "the Father loves the Son". Is there ever a time that the Father did not love the Son? In God, the love between the Father and the Son has had no end, no beginning, no diminishment, and no alteration. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>3.</b> <b>Acts 14:15</b> <i>"And saying, O men, why do ye these things? We are even</i></span></div><div><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">men </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">subject to the <u>like passions</u> that ye be, and preach unto </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">you, that ye should turn from these vain idols unto the living God, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">in them are."</span></span></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">(Geneva Bible, 1560 edition). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I bring up this final passage due to how classical, historic Christianity in documents such as the Westminster Confession of Faith and Baptist Confession of 1689 have used this text as a major proof text for DDI. How? The underlined word above in the Geneva Bible 1560 edition (as well as the KJV and older English translations) describe Paul and his hearers as those sharing in the same "passible" or changing nature. The Liddell, Scott, Jones Greek Lexicon, 9th edition, rightly notes about the underlying Greek word translated "like-passions", <i>"</i></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-style: italic;">like, of the same quality or kind of desires </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>being affected in the same way, as another." </i></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Most modern translations render this word as "like nature", indicating that Paul and his listeners are of a contrary nature to the God whom He is pointing them, namely, <i>"</i></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein."</i></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> Thus are some examples of Bible passages that affirm the truth of the Doctrine of Divine Impassibility (DDI). </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-62155310462957634792023-12-16T06:13:00.002-05:002023-12-16T06:20:16.874-05:00Post # 27 The Doctrine of God - P2 God's Attribute Of Mercy: Distinctions And Applications<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9NOGyhipkuKKs7EKId7LemacNxvUpvMYde9h0i_2KGObL55EoUyEmM50aizTSOSHkv6dyYdgOMF4-tBCeFNlFlsVu8PZwz0B2Ak0a1ILUZQLN1zqByCtTZKhXPQxSxouFpW6oxKD7C6ndewo1RrCfsHyZzw7SOrRbRkDhQuqITfLgJVYb6aY7RQ9gDA/s500/sound-doctrine.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9NOGyhipkuKKs7EKId7LemacNxvUpvMYde9h0i_2KGObL55EoUyEmM50aizTSOSHkv6dyYdgOMF4-tBCeFNlFlsVu8PZwz0B2Ak0a1ILUZQLN1zqByCtTZKhXPQxSxouFpW6oxKD7C6ndewo1RrCfsHyZzw7SOrRbRkDhQuqITfLgJVYb6aY7RQ9gDA/w640-h384/sound-doctrine.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>In our last post, we began consideration of God's mercy here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-26-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/12/post-26-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html</a>. We offered definitions and reflections on the richness of this attribute. </span> Theologian Wayne Grudem comments on God's mercy, <i>"</i><i>God’s mercy means God’s goodness toward those in misery and distress." </i>Certainly the mercy of God expresses the goodness of God toward those who don't deserve and who did nothing to merit such a bestowal of goodness. In today's post we continue our exploration of God's mercy, noting distinctions of it in the Bible, as well as applications.</span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">God's mercy is what He chooses to bestow, not what He has to show.</span></b></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b> </b>In the Bible, mercy is a choice God makes to withhold judgment and take pity on the distressed, on someone, or something. If mercy were obligatory for God, then it would not be mercy, but rather "justice", or "righteousness". God as God must uphold His glory, since His glory expresses all that He is in His attributes and being. Mercy, on the otherhand, is what God chooses to grant to the undeserving. Paul brings this out in Titus 3:5, </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">"</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit."</span></i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> I often think of the illustration R.C. Sproul used in his teaching on mercy. He once drew a circle on the chalkboard, called "mercy". Then, He drew another circle on the board, called "justice". He then noted that God deals with us in one of two ways - "mercy" or "justice". God, as he rightly points out, is never "unjust" (compare Genesis 18:21). We know from Scriptures that God's throne is established on justice (Psalm 89:14). Mercy is a form of "non-justice", since it is dispensed not out of obligation, but by God's choice to do so. Sproul then notes that anything outside those two circles spells "injustice", which as we've already noted, is impossible for God. </span> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Distinctions of God's mercy</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b> </b>God's mercy is so rich, so wonderful, so comforting. We could draw out several distinctions and shades that Scripture presents to us about this attribute of God. As I study God's Word, I find at least four subheadings that summarize for us God's mercy.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">1. God's elective mercy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">2. God's saving mercy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">3. God's providential mercy.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">4. God's tender mercies. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> I'll define each of these, and then give representative Scriptures. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>1. God's elective mercy.</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> We find that "God's purpose of grace" in Sovereign election is rooted in His mercy. Some 100 times we find reference to Divine election in the Bible, whether corporate election (the nation of Israel, Deuteronomy 7:7-9), Messianic election (concerning Jesus Christ, Isaiah 49:5-6), or individual election unto salvation (Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:4-5). All three sorts have God's mercy as their motivation. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span></span>The Baptist Faith and Message 2000 alludes to this point in its fifth article,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>All sinners deserve justice (Romans 3:23). Due to Adam's sin, all of us inherited his sin, his guilt, and condemnation due to he being their representative before God in the Garden of Eden (Romans 5:18a). Its not judgment that ought to shock us, but God's mercy! </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God's elective mercy teaches that He chose, before time began, specific persons out of all humanity because of His mercy (John 1:13; Romans 9:14-15; Ephesians 1:4-5; 2 Tim 1:9). He chose Israel out of all the nations, for the sake of His mercy (Deuteronomy 7:7-9; Romans 11). God chose the human bloodline leading from Adam to Noah to Shem to Abraham to David to the virgin Mary. He singled out that bloodline, as opposed to all others, to bring forth the eternal Son in true humanity, and thus to reveal His mercy. This first mercy of God ought to cause humility, thankfulness, and dependance on God. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>2. God's saving mercy.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> God's saving mercy flows as a mighty stream from His eternal mercy described by His elective mercy. We must emphasize that the Gospel of Jesus' finished work on the cross is to be communicated indiscriminately to all individuals, without exception. God's elective mercy reminds us of why anyone would believe on Jesus Christ. God's saving mercy is extended to all people, urging each of them to repent and to believe the Gospel. In the Biblical record, there is no conflict between the two expressions of mercy. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God's mercy, flowing from the cross, touches all human beings historically as an established fact of God's well-meant offer of mercy and forgiveness to them (Romans 15:9; 1 Peter 2:10). God's mercy is also shone into the hearts of sinners that, upon their awakening, respond freely to the saving mercy personally brought to them (John 16:8-12; 1 Peter 1:3). The only reason anyone responds to the Gospel is due to God's mercy (Titus 3:5). This is where sinners are urged to cry out to God "be merciful to me, a sinner". <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>3. God's Providential mercies.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> This third sub-division of God's mercy pertains to those mercies He bestows indiscrimately on all people - whether believer or unbeliever. Psalm 145:3 reminds us of how God displays His mercy "over all His works" - whether works of redemption in the lives of saints or in providence for all people. No one can claim they never had contact or some sort of hint that God was a merciful God. The entirety of Psalm 107 gives detailed example of how God bestows general, providential mercy on those is distress, in rebellion, in prison, and other type of difficulties. Jesus Himself teaches about God's common grace, or what we are refering to here as God's "providential mercy" (Matthew 5:45, compare Paul's words recorded in Acts 14:17). <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>4. God's tender mercies.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> This fourth category of mercy is reserved for believers. Psalm 103:4 and its New Testament counterpart in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 enshrine this particular expression of God's mercy to the redeemed. Such mercy supports, sustain, encourages, uplifts, energizes, and refocuses the people of God in times where they are overwhelmed, weak in faith, and discouraged. The phrase "sure mercies of David" or "mercies of David" is a catch-phrase to point us toward such tender mercies (2 Chronicles 6:42; Isaiah 55:3; Acts 13:34). Jeremiah captures the definitive description of tender mercies in Lamentations 3:22-</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">24,</span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">24 The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him."</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> God's mercy is certainly an attribute worthy of our focus, praise, and thanksgiving. </span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-14331599030487999422023-12-10T07:40:00.004-05:002023-12-10T07:40:42.057-05:00Post # 26 The Doctrine of God - P1 God's Attribute Of Mercy - Its Definition And Richness<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhm2fKQX2X-vpqc1qS5YoxQO9mhf8stjeV1-s_EOYuxCIe3J7Bv22231eNMYNUDJkRFaj3iYbAkzL6SvQbtQWI9VxNwclP5_wxBFJuMFGrms68syIHPla-gM9cwn59ksxIbvldtjR99cy2QZqSBxnDNPv2JZu1Qe0XGavDu8-tuQcX95-g_oQk19gHxM/s5796/sunrise.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3864" data-original-width="5796" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOhm2fKQX2X-vpqc1qS5YoxQO9mhf8stjeV1-s_EOYuxCIe3J7Bv22231eNMYNUDJkRFaj3iYbAkzL6SvQbtQWI9VxNwclP5_wxBFJuMFGrms68syIHPla-gM9cwn59ksxIbvldtjR99cy2QZqSBxnDNPv2JZu1Qe0XGavDu8-tuQcX95-g_oQk19gHxM/w640-h426/sunrise.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In our study through the attributes of God, we've looked at what are called "incommunicable" and "communicable" attributes. The latter of these are those perfections which God shares or "communicates" to His creatures. Among the communicable attributes are a subdivision of what we could term "moral attributes". </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Perfections such as love, faithfulness, and goodness are examples of communicable, moral attributes. Such moral perfections highlight for us the moral character of God. In today's post, we are interested in considering one of my favorite attributes of God - mercy. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><b>What is meant by God's mercy?</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b> </b>Theologian Wayne Grudem comments on God's mercy, <i>"</i><i>God’s mercy means God’s goodness toward those in misery and distress." </i>Certainly, the mercy of God expresses the goodness of God toward those who don't deserve it and who did nothing to merit such a bestowal of goodness. This writer and you the reader fit under that categories of "undeserving" and "unable to merit" God's mercy. We read for instance in Exodus 33:19 of God's promise to Moses' request to show him His glory,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be <u>gracious</u> to whom I will be <u>gracious</u>, and will show <u>compassion</u> on whom I will show <u>compassion</u>.” </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>The reader can note that the underlying Hebrew words translated "gracious" is the same word elsewhere translated "mercy". At this point, it may prove useful to distinguish between God's compassion and mercy. We've noted in past posts how each of God's attributes gives us "all of God", meaning each is a true and entire expression of His Divine being. To have one attribute entails having access to all the others. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Mercy and compassion do have much overlap, so we won't press their distinction too far. Mercy is God witholding from us what we do deserve. Grace is God giving to us what we don't deserve. In noting those distinctions, we find that God's compassionate love, expressed in grace and mercy, is what underlies their commonality to one another. Baptist theologian J.P. Boice in his "Abstract of Systematic Theology" notes the distinction. He first writes of God's compassion, </span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"The third form of love is the love of compassion. This corresponds to our idea of pity. It is benevolent disposition to those who are suffering or in distress.<br />This also may be exercised towards the guilty or the innocent, if it be possible to suppose that guilt and suffering are separable."</i></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Boice then focuses on mercy,</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><div><i>"A fourth form of the love of God corresponds to what we call mercy.</i></div><div><i>This can be exercised only toward sinners. Its very nature contemplates guilt in its objects. It consists, not only in the desire not to inflict the punishment due to sin, and the neglect and refusal to do so, but in the actual pardon of the offender."</i></div></span><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In the Bible, we find a close connection between God's compassion and mercy, making them at times virtually indistinguishable. If we consider mercy as God withholding what we do deserve, then compassion is God showing Divine pity as a consequence of His mercy. The Hebrew Old Testament uses the same word to render our English "compassion" and "mercy". </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>We saw above the NASB translation of the underlying Hebrew text of Exodus 33:19. As the Holy Spirit led Paul to write what he wrote under Divine inspiration, He would use the Greek translation or Septuagint translation of Exodus 33:19 to capture the nuance of God's mercy in</span> Romans 9:14,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"or He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'”</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>The infinite richness of God's mercy</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>As mentioned already, the common way mercy is defined, which I still find helpful and soothing, is this, "mercy is God not giving us what we deserve". Thomas Watson, that great 17th century Puritan author, notes the following about the superabundance (i.e. "richness") of God's mercy,<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"The Lord has treasures of mercy in store, and therefore is said to be ‘plenteous in mercy’ (Psa 86: 5), and ‘rich in mercy’ (Eph 2: 4). The vial of God’s wrath drops only, but the fountain of his mercy runs. The sun is not so full of light as God is of love."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Watson goes on,</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"God has mercy of all dimensions. He has depth of mercy, it reaches as low as sinners; and height of mercy, it reaches above the clouds. </span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">God has mercies for all seasons; mercies for the night, he gives sleep; nay, sometimes he gives a song in the night (Psalm 42:8). He has also mercies for the morning. His compassions ‘are new every morning.’ (Lamentations 3:23)."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>Twentieth century author A.W. Tozer writes of God's mercy in his classic book, "Knowledge of the Holy", page 64, reminds us that God's mercy, like all of His attributes, is an eternal perfection, <br /></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><i>"If we could remember that the divine mercy is not a temporary mood but an<br />attribute of God’s eternal being, we would no longer fear that it will someday cease to be."</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tozer then completes his thought,<br /><br /><i>"Mercy never began to be, but from eternity was; so it will never cease to be. It will never be more since it is itself infinite; and it will never be less because the infinite cannot suffer diminution. Nothing that has occurred or will occur in heaven or earth or hell can change the tender mercies of our God. Forever His mercy stands, a</i></span><i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">boundless, </span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>overwhelming immensity of divine pity and compassion."</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">More next time....</span></div><div><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span><br /></span></p></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-62687030594063729212023-12-04T10:47:00.000-05:002023-12-04T10:47:21.552-05:00Post # 25 The Doctrine of God - God's Attribute of Omnipotence: Reflections And Applications<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfChXHixabmA4aqi29hugYQEghBBn6aQDnKyb_7vbyEdfGR4RIlE8FL3lCJMNlRaftbBbv8Aycml_m8s6yu6VZpKzKG8KeANC8H80v4DrfxKWLlYVCGzTaIy3p_NSgwODzIY1eY590mXmm3zy2VMF8r7u6aWNFHBXwKZ5kZg4ZP034jeIrl0oDegOKmcA/s1920/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfChXHixabmA4aqi29hugYQEghBBn6aQDnKyb_7vbyEdfGR4RIlE8FL3lCJMNlRaftbBbv8Aycml_m8s6yu6VZpKzKG8KeANC8H80v4DrfxKWLlYVCGzTaIy3p_NSgwODzIY1eY590mXmm3zy2VMF8r7u6aWNFHBXwKZ5kZg4ZP034jeIrl0oDegOKmcA/w640-h360/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction: </b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In this series of posts we have attempted to introduce the reader to the being and attributes of God. Such a study, called "The Doctrine of God", or as known by its theological term "Theology Proper", makes its goal to raise the mind and heart of the reader to God. </span>T<span style="background-color: white;">oday's post aims to introduce the reader to the attribute of God's omnipotence.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white;"> The term "omnipotence" derives from two Latin terms, "omni" meaning "all" and "potence" referring to "power". Strictly speaking, to say God is all powerful is to say He is able to do anything that corresponds to His character. Theologian Wayne Grudem gives the following definition, <i>"God's omnipotence means that God is able to do all His holy will"</i> (Systematic Theology, 2nd edition, page 258). Author Charles T. Grant, in the Winter 2002 edition of "The Emmaus Journal", writing an article entitled "Our Heavenly Father", notes of Divine omnipotence,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white;"><i>"Omnipotence means that God can do whatever He desires to do. “My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please” (Isa. 46:10). “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him” (Ps. 115:3). It does not mean that God’s actions are without rational or moral restraint. Rather it implies that God is able to do everything which is consistent with His nature." </i></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>When talk of omnipotence, we must qualify the term with reference to what God can and cannot do. Scripture tells us that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Why? God is a God of truth - i.e. the "True and Living God" (Jeremiah 10:10; 1 Thessalonians 1:9). We've studied in past posts how God cannot change His essential nature (Malachi 3:6). We know that God cannot be unfaithful to His promises, since He is always faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>These qualifiers do not cancel out Divine omnipotence, but rather serve to sharpen what the Bible says on the subject. God can do all according to His nature, which means such attributes as His eternality, immensity, omniscience, omnipresence, and Divine independence help us to see how the power of God is indeed unlimited. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> It doesn't take much to find God's omnipotence in the Scripture. Near the end of the New Testament we find the following glorious statement of God's omnipotence,</span></span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white;">"</span>Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns." </span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">That term "Almighty" tips the reader off to identifying this woondrous attribute. In Genesis 17:1, Abraham identifies God as "El-Shaddai" or "God Almighty". Job 11:7 reminds us of the infinite depths of God in light of His omnipotence, <i>“Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty?" </i>The Christian is reminded of God's omnipotence in upholding them through all of life in 2 Corinthians 6:18 <i>“And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” Says the Lord Almighty." </i>A quick scan through any Bible concordance will yield nearly sixty places where this main term "Almighty" is used with respect to God's omnipotence. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Exploring further Biblical statements on Divine omnipotence</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> As we mentioned, God's omnipotence is found throughout the Bible. I've mentioned to the reader some places that utilize the term "Almighty". Several more are worth mention to aid us in appreciating this perfection of God. </span>Throughout the books of Genesis, Exodus and Ezekiel, we find reference to God being the "Almighty". I already referenced Genesis 17:1. The significance of this verse reference is that it is the first time we come across this title is in <b>Genesis 17:1,</b> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"</i></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless."</i> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In four other places in Genesis (28:3; 35:11; 43:14 and 48:3) we find God speaking to the patriarchs and revealing Himself as God Almighty. By Exodus 6:3, God reveals Himself to Moses and, with this designation of Himself as "God Almighty", gives the specific name by which He reveals Himself to His people as "I AM Who I AM". This covenant name speaks of God's self-existence and thus sustaining Himself by His own omnipotent, never ending power. <b><u>Ezekiel 10:5</u></b> rounds out the places in the Old Testament we will consider with respect to this name God Almighty, wherein we read, </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>"</i></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Moreover, the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty when He speaks."</i> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The point of these texts is to demonstrate that from God's very names, we see already implied that He is indeed the Omnipotent God. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Reflecting and meditating on God's omnipotence in Psalm 139:13-16.</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> Truly when we focus on any of God's attributes, they ought to stir our hearts to worship. </span>A.W Tozer notes in his classic work "Knowledge of the Holy" the following about God's omnipotence, </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"God possesses what no creature can: an incomprehensible plenitude of power, a potency that is absolute." </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>He then later makes this helpful observation with respect to God's omnipotence, </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"God has delegated power to His creatures, but being self-sufficient, He cannot relinquish anything of His perfections and, power being one of them, He has never surrendered the least iota of His power. He gives but does not give away. All that He gives remains His own and returns to Him again. Forever He must remain what He has forever been, the Lord God omnipotent." </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Psalm 139:13-16 outlines for us some basic features of this incredible attribute. We could assign "realms" over which God is said to wield His omnipotent power in this Psalm.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>1. God's omnipotence over the realms of the extremely small. Psalm 139:13-16</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>To speak of "sub-atomic" refers to that level of physical reality that corresponds to the extremely small distances we find when considering atoms, their constitute particles (such as the nucleus and its orbiting electrons) and the complex physical laws used to describe their behavior. Now I won't stray too far into the weeds on this point, knowing full-well how unimaginably complex these considerations can get. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>The idea of "quantum physics" deals broadly with the various laws and equations that describe what extremely small systems do under certain conditions. Thus, all of the atoms making up the DNA molecules, chromosomes and such were providentially held together in the proper discrete energy levels (called by physicists "quanta") to be at the right moment and places. God governs their motions to then construct the biological material ordained by Him to produce what would be the physical nature of King David. We don't have time to get into the discrete and mysterious way God endues each person's physical nature with consciousness and personality. I know this point is bewilderingly complex - but isn't that the point? to show in small measure God's incredible power at work in the realm of the extremely small. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>2. God's omnipotence over the realm of time and the very large. Psalm 139:16</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>God's omnipotence includes His power to affect future events and outcomes, as well as His interactions with the free-decisions made by human beings. How is it that God's omnipotence on the one hand and human responsibility on the other do not conflict? This millennia-old discussion will not be solved in this post, nor can it claimed to be entirely comprehended. We can say at least we do not know how both work, only that they do co-exist, with human self-determination being a reality while never cancelling out God's all-pervasive omnipotence in the realm of His will. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>At bare minimum, what we do know is that God has so chosen to create a world wherein He exercises His Sovereign, omnipotent power through secondary means and causes. The outcomes of time and history are credited to His ultimate purposes, whilst the details and means to getting to those ends, especially when it relates to evil choices, fall completely in the realm of the creature. Two quotes may aid us in grasping this point. The first comes from the Westminster Confession of Faith's declaration of God's Providence, </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first Cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly; yet, by the same providence, He orders them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently." </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The second quote showing God's omnipotent will and man's responsibility to be complementary is found in the Baptist Faith and Message's summary: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"</span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures."</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span> </span>God's power, though being potentially unlimited in regards to what He can do in the realms of the very small and very large, is nonetheless governed by His own internal character. When we say "governed", we are referring to the fact that there are things God "cannot do". The old familiar question, "could God create a rock to heavy for Himself to lift", is ultimately a meaningless question, since it entails a logical contradiction - something which would conflict with God's orderly and perfect nature. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><span> </span>God cannot do what which is logically impossible, since He Himself is the source and standard of what we mean by logic. We know that God "cannot lie" nor sin (Habakkuk 1:13; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18), since God is by nature Holy and just. Henceforth God governs the boundaries (if we can use such a term) of His omnipotence. As the later author Herbert Lockyer once quipped,</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif">"<i>God is a being, that, if compared to a circle, has a center that is everywhere and a circumference that is nowhere". </i> </span><span face="verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></div>Closing thoughts</b></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white;"><span><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white;"><span> </span>In bringing the true practical meaning of this attribute home to the Christian, Tozer writes, </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white;">"<i>Omnipotence is not a name given to the sum of all power, but an attribute of a personal God whom we Christians believe to be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and of all who believe on Him to eternal life. The worshiping man finds this knowledge as source of wonderful strength for his inner life. His faith rises to take the great leap upward into the fellowship of Him who can do whatever He wills to do, for whom nothing is hard or difficult because He possesses power absolute." </i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: white;"><span> </span>Nothing in the created realm limits God. He and He alone is God. Let us then worship Him today that is the One, omnipotent Creator, Redeemer and Ruler of the universe. </span></span></span></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-16829537081579781912023-11-30T09:47:00.002-05:002023-11-30T09:47:47.968-05:00Post #24 The Doctrine of God - P2 The Attribute of Divine Perfection, Reflections And Applications <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5nUs_K6auClGQOvq-D44NTsVWpnhSNhU-EOOVfFylVj67mxVJkvovyflhFIAsPeJ5Oipqrr7ngniFRdMOvP0RuoeA-KrIHtxpG-cnhSsXCBRPN00xyCNUY0TDu6dwhU9maITmRZkYWemLZ2iSNH25YV2PyGZcFRqo92pu6X0JMJogYZen8ZIToZwp0xY/s1600/Mount-Everest.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1112" data-original-width="1600" height="444" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5nUs_K6auClGQOvq-D44NTsVWpnhSNhU-EOOVfFylVj67mxVJkvovyflhFIAsPeJ5Oipqrr7ngniFRdMOvP0RuoeA-KrIHtxpG-cnhSsXCBRPN00xyCNUY0TDu6dwhU9maITmRZkYWemLZ2iSNH25YV2PyGZcFRqo92pu6X0JMJogYZen8ZIToZwp0xY/w640-h444/Mount-Everest.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span> In our last post we began to look at the Divine attribute of God's perfection here </span></span><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-23-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/11/post-23-doctrine-of-god-p1-gods.html</a></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span>. We had offered a provisional definition of God's Divine perfection, "</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">God as the most perfect being is, in-and- of-Himself, incapable of improvement." Put another way, God is "completely complete". We noted in the last post how God's perfection can operate as a communicable attribute - something He shares with His creatures. In this post, we will explore the incommunicable side of this attribute. To remind the reader, an "incommunicable" attribute speaks of what is unique to God, unshared with His creatures. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The 11th century theology Thomas Aquinas devotes the fourth question of His massive work "Summa Theologiae" upon the subject of God's perfection. On three occassions Aquinas notes how God, in His perfection, "<i>lacks nothing that is required to be God</i>". What this means is there is no potential in God of becoming better or worse, stronger ror weaker, wiser or more ignorant. He is entirely Perfect. God does not need anything or anyone to supplement His wisdom, strength, or goodness (see Isaiah 43:10-11; Psalm 46:10-11; Romans 11:34-36; 1 Timothy 6:16). </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Nothing in all of creation is like God</span></b></p><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisupWJljqxcCwlxWFtKfa5dSX03VxmUjRuYUSwdnRnARoAk-WFP0RvEVsLEdsDOrbsPTzGl017Ihi9urDY37ooRUkWCZquZBZVWwvps86cGnDAAkJSFZxZ8UwoCu9yeNNKU2-Qb3Bs7Io5DwJvR6YmdB4k4Zl6shywodOVmnrNaemFPQNZk85lY3wUU88/s2048/mom%20and%20child%20hands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisupWJljqxcCwlxWFtKfa5dSX03VxmUjRuYUSwdnRnARoAk-WFP0RvEVsLEdsDOrbsPTzGl017Ihi9urDY37ooRUkWCZquZBZVWwvps86cGnDAAkJSFZxZ8UwoCu9yeNNKU2-Qb3Bs7Io5DwJvR6YmdB4k4Zl6shywodOVmnrNaemFPQNZk85lY3wUU88/s320/mom%20and%20child%20hands.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> When we talk of God's perfection as an incommunicable attribute, one thing meant is this, nothing in all creation is like God. A.W. Tozer compares the life and intrinsic value of a little child lost amidst mountains as qualitatively different from all the vastness of such mountains. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>Tozer tells the story of a group of hikers in the foothills to view a particular mountain. Along the way they are in awe of what they are seeing. For them, that whole mountain range is most supreme. Then suddenly, one of their company screams in panic, for their little three-year old daughter has wandered off. Suddenly the company of hikers become a search party, calling out her name. The little life of a 30lb child is of near-infinite value in comparison to what comparitively is now a large mound of rocks and dirt. When they find the little girl, everything is put into perspective. That mountain scene does not compare to the girl. Multiplied to an infinite degree, not all of creation itself is even close to the perfection of Almighty God. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> Clearly nothing compares to God. Isaiah raises a rhetorical question in <b><u>Isaiah 40:18</u></b> that points us in the direction of considering God in terms of His Divine Perfection:</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">"To whom then will you liken God? </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Or what likeness will you compare with Him?"</span></i><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">I heard one speaker describe God in a lecture, </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>"God is the only being who is explained by Himself within Himself. All other entities are characterized by requiring something outside of themselves to account for their existence. God, however, is alone in being His own reason for why He exists".</i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span><b>Why all other concepts of deity are mere idols compared to the One, Perfect God</b><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> We've defined God's perfection, and have attempted to illustrate it. How then can we appreciate it? Why does the Bible labor to show that man-made ideas of deity are products of idolatry? </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>The questions raised earlier in Isaiah 40:18 (as well as the opening text Exodus 15:11) of "who is like God?" forces us to cross a boundary that reason alone cannot. For sure, faith alloyed with reason is needed. Yet, God's revelation from the Bible must be our guide to wing the precarious flight from our created realm to God in His infinite perfection. God's Word and so-called considerations of God's perfection of attributes (i.e. perfect being theology) will act as navigational controls in attempting to express God's perfection.</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> Theologian Paul Helm describes what "perfect being theology" as starting with the assumption that God "is a being than which no greater can be conceived". By getting this fundamental thought of "what makes God, God" fixed in my mind, I can then proceed to work through what are often called "great-making properties" (that is, qualities that differentiates God from everything else). For instance, as I think upon God's omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, goodness, and wisdom, I draw from that central assumption that God alone doesn't merely contain such characteristics, but is completely complete (i.e perfect) in them. God has always had every attribute we've been discussing in this series, never acquiring them at some point. Some Scriptures that provide the basis for such "Perfect-being theology" are Genesis 22:16; Hebrews 6;13-14; 2 Samuel 7:22; Nehemiah 9:32; Jeremiah 32:18; Titus 2:13; Psalm 95:3; 96:4; 77:13; Exodus 18:11; Psalm 145:13.</span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><span> </span> </span>Whenever we speak of God's perfection, are we talking merely of a level above the highest archangel? As to perfection itself being a scale upon which we place people, galaxies and angels - is God somehow at the highest level of that scale? Or ought we consider God's perfection in a completely different sense? God is on a different scale of being - namely His own. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>Theologian Keith Ward describes this quality of God as "Perfect Being" as: <i>"having the consciousness to enjoy all things beautifully good." </i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><u>Isaiah 40:25</u></b> has God raising the question we observed in verse 18 of the same chapter:</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">“To whom then will you liken Me t</span></i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>hat I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.</i>"</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>God's perfection (i.e. His quality of being "completely-complete" or "incapable of improvement") makes all other wanna-be deities not worthy of worship. The idols of antiquity were material deities made of precious metals and stone and the ideas of the human imagination. In the Greek and Roman Pantheons, the various deities were always subject to improvement. They each had deficits that required supplementing from their fellow deities. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>The Apostle Paul critiques such a Graeco-Roman religious system in Acts 17:29 - </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>"Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man."</i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>Is it no wonder that all other so-called deities are concluded as non-existent or human figments, somehow connected to the deceptions of the kingdom of darkness (see 1 Corinthians 10:18-22).</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">The God of the Bible alone is Perfect. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>God's perfection in relationship to His other attributes</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgkne3751a-7oporJcHuSJ3-PmuqEHUADtRMMVdZgtmFYIG2rwRFmUCHnAICn7Zx9rJ3n7S4IR2yDU4XWJDX9WCQ3AcHjz9Ea9tOHNkH-fA-F6jIMa-2mq2LyNPElJLRpVnVug2MfSkDmjCR6AaYG5YdnGl2v0EPnTECF4WA-MoOicAti3pH5SPMOogs/s5796/sunrise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3864" data-original-width="5796" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJgkne3751a-7oporJcHuSJ3-PmuqEHUADtRMMVdZgtmFYIG2rwRFmUCHnAICn7Zx9rJ3n7S4IR2yDU4XWJDX9WCQ3AcHjz9Ea9tOHNkH-fA-F6jIMa-2mq2LyNPElJLRpVnVug2MfSkDmjCR6AaYG5YdnGl2v0EPnTECF4WA-MoOicAti3pH5SPMOogs/s320/sunrise.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>In terms of moral attributes, we call God's perfection "holiness". Holiness refers to the sum of all His moral attributes (goodness, wisdom, grace, justice, mercy, etc.,) in "perfect union" within His nature as God. Nothing can be added to nor taken away from God as holy. The prophet Micah comments on God's perfect being expressing such Divine moral qualities in <b><u>Micah 7:18</u></b> - </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">"Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">He does not retain His anger forever, </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">because He delights in unchanging love."</span></i><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>Other attributes that describe God in His infinite existence are suffused with this quality of Divine perfection. God's Divine Aseity, which refers to His self-sufficiency and independence (from the Latin <i>a se </i>meaning 'from oneself'), expresses His perfection of self-sufficiency, as stated in <b><u>Isaiah 44:6</u></b> - </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">‘I am the first and I am the last, </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">And there is no God besides Me."</span></i><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>We could speak of other attributes. The point is that God alone is "completely complete" or "incapable of improvement" in regards to His perfection. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>To summarize, Thomas Aquinas, in the section of his massive work "<i>Summa Theologica</i>" on the topic of Divine perfection, He comments on how God's perfection expresses how He possesses all excellencies of life and wisdom in-and-of Himself, never lacking nor in want. The sun may shine on various objects and possess the qualities of the objects upon which it sheds its light. Still, the sun exhausts its fuel and requires objects for us to appreciate its light. God on the other hand requires neither ourselves nor His creation, since His light is both inexhaustible and undiminished with or without us. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><b>Applying Divine Perfection To Our Everyday Lives</b></span></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>So how can God's Divine perfection help me out in everyday life? Three areas come to mind.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>1. Worship.</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>For one thing, God's Divine perfection means He is worthy of my worship. When I preach on Sunday morning, sing songs of praise or live daily for Him - I find He alone is worthy. <b><u>Revelation 4:11</u></b> demonstrates how God's perfection is cause for worship around His throne in Heaven:</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”</i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>2. My thought-life.</b> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>The 11th century theologian Anselm of Canterbury described God in His perfection of being as:</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>"the greatest conceivable being, apart from which nothing can be greater conceived". </i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>In other words, if I could think of a greater being, then that being would be God. How I think of God is related to my worship of Him. Remember, the God of the Bible is incapable of improvement. Hence, He alone is worthy of my thoughts, my time, my worship. The fact that God by definition is a being of which no other greater being can be imagined (since He possesses attributes like omniscience, omnipotence and all-goodness), then He alone is Perfect, since He is completely-complete or perfect. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><span>3. Knowing Jesus better.</span></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> A final</span> application of Divine perfection relates to how one thinks of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Divine Person of the Son came to incarnate Himself in true humanity (see John 1:14; Philippians 2:4-11; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 2:11-14). Touching His divinity, Christ never changes (Hebrews 1:8) and is the same yesterday, today and forever (Revelation 1:8). By way of His incarnation, we discover that Christ took unto His Person a truly human nature so that I as a human being could somehow participate, have access to and enjoy the otherwise inaccessible Divine Perfection of which He shares with the Father and Spirit as One God (see Romans 9:5; 1 Timothy 2:5; 2 Peter 1:3-4). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Christ alone, as truly God and truly man, bridges by His Person the otherwise inaccessible, infinite divide between God in His infinite perfection and everything else. Christ alone makes knowing God in salvation not merely a possibility, but a reality for those who by grace through faith trust in Him as Savior, Lord and Treasure (see John 14:6; Acts 4:12). </span></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-42150750896882450692023-11-27T11:41:00.003-05:002023-11-27T11:49:03.715-05:00Post #23 The Doctrine of God - P1 God's Attribute of Perfection And How It Sheds Light On Running, The Christian Walk, And Creation.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9l2W0BCh-82jcdzy_1OtJ1BP96XTJm1pP8DUBEgaEfZI3eZqGh2_xR-zalo8pyLPOc47xD6vjfAPX4-IPAIpHlb7hlKS3Wj8nKBEojHUaBxlWkrGjlfSrPAu6T5g74O9xRbdVrYKXttdB5vDFqjxHFpzDGHpiaCXwDXLQd-5yrfnQbicmKKYpOe4ZcJQ/s400/worlds-best-stained-glass-windows-01-sized.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="400" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9l2W0BCh-82jcdzy_1OtJ1BP96XTJm1pP8DUBEgaEfZI3eZqGh2_xR-zalo8pyLPOc47xD6vjfAPX4-IPAIpHlb7hlKS3Wj8nKBEojHUaBxlWkrGjlfSrPAu6T5g74O9xRbdVrYKXttdB5vDFqjxHFpzDGHpiaCXwDXLQd-5yrfnQbicmKKYpOe4ZcJQ/w640-h428/worlds-best-stained-glass-windows-01-sized.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In today's post, and the next, we will continue exploring the doctrine of God by noting His attribute of "Divine perfection". </span>So what is Divine perfection? God as the most perfect being is, in-and- of-Himself, incapable of improvement. Put another way, God is completely complete. For now I'll leave that definition as it stands, since we will return to it and expand upon it in the next post. </span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> We've noted in a previous post here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-8-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-8-doctrine-of-god-introduction-to.html</a> that there are some attributes of God that we call "communicable" and "incommunicable". In some cases, there are attributes of God which can occupy both categories, meaning that in one respect something like God's "holiness" is shared or communicated to His people. Simultaneously, God's holiness is "incommunicable" or uniquely His own in its intensity and essence. </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>As I will show below, God's attribute of perfection appears to operate similarly. For instance, in one respect, the Bible urges believers to "be perfect as the Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48), suggesting a relative form of perfection in the believer that is ever improving, becoming more and more what Christ had intended the Christian to be. Hebrews 12:15 reinforces this notion by urging Christians to pursue the Lord in sanctification, suggesting that perfection (not sinless perfection, but rather progress of improvement) in sanctification. We find then that "perfection" in this sense is a "communicable attribute". </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Yet of course we find God's perfection to be an absolute, "incommunicable attribute". "Perfection" as an incommunicable attribute of God is alluded to by Jesus in Mark 10:18, wherein He states, "God alone is Good." </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In this post, we will approach God's Perfection by first noting its "communicability", beginning in the realm of athletics, through the Christian life, and then noting what we see in the realm of creation. If there were not a communicable side to God's attribute of perfection, we would not know why it is so important in so many areas of knowledge and life. Indeed, as those bearing His image, something about the relative perfection we long for in this life gives us glimpses of the evidence we have the absolute, incommunicable perfection of God Himself. The incommuincable side of God's perfection is what we will focus upon in the next post, noting why it is worthy of our contemplation and pursuit in the Christian life. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>As Moses wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, </span><span>Exodus 15:11 <i>"Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?"</i></span></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><b>Striving for perfection in one's pursuit of the Perfect One, Jesus Christ</b></span></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span style="color: red;"><br /></span></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> Perfection. Although unattainable in this life, yet is what one is to strive for in their Christian walk. Such a reality is of course what God is - Perfect. But let's develop what we mean by this truth by illustrating it. </span>As a runner, I find myself ever striving for improvement. Racing reminds all participants that there are people faster and better than themselves. I've found this true whether running 5k's, 10k's, half-marathons, marathons, or ultra-marathons. Aging certainly reinforces this notion that there are indeed people faster and stronger than myself! The paradox of running is that in discovering how much better I could do, I find the drive to improve. </span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>On a spiritual level, I find myself as a Christian ever needing improvement. The biblical term for Christian growth is "sanctification" (see 1 Thessalonians 4:3). A</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">s it pertains in the world of athletics, so it does in the Christian life. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I always find other Christians that are further along in their faith or deeper in prayer-lives than myself. On a moral, spiritual, and physical level, I as a creature am being what is called "perfected". The use of "perfected" here refers to attainment of an intended design or ultimate goal. When designers test aircraft, they use windtunnels to "perfect" their designs before setting them aloft. Certainly, "perfection" in the moral sense can refer to absence of sin - a reality that is only attainable for the Christian upon death or in the rapture when Christ comes to retrieve His saints, dead and alive (see Hebrews 12:22-24; 1 John 3:1-3). </span></span><div><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The sense of "perfection" we're emphasizing here has more to do with moral and spiritual conformity to "The Pattern" - the Lord Jesus Christ. This (hopefully) will aid us in our eventual contemplation upon God's "Divine Perfection" in the next post. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> To understand g</span>rowth in sanctification in this life, one must see the process as a progression, intermingled with fits and starts. I liken Christian growth in sanctification to an onward and upward slope with little jaggedy edges of ups-and-downs. Interspersed in our seasons of growth are those crisis moments where we decide to trust in God or in ourselves. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>All Christians ought not to compare themselves to others, but to Christ Himself as their standard, their pattern (see Hebrews 12:1-2). As in the sport of running, recognizing that I strive for perfection, while knowing I won't attain it until I leave this world, paradoxically motivates me to strive all the more. As the late author A.W. Tozer once remarked:</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><i>"The paradox of faith is that all at once, when we think we have apprehended God, we are ever in pursuit of Him". </i></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /><b>Beginning to contemplate God's perfection by realizing that nothing compares to Him</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b><br /></b></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>Anything else - whether animals, human beings, galaxies or angels - have room for improvement. We've already worked out this principle in the realm of athletics, as well as how it operates in Christian sanctification. The realm of creation itself stretches our minds to further prepare for contemplating and appreciating God as The Perfect Being. There are other comparable objects and beings that are better, bigger and brighter. Our Milky Way Galaxy, for instance, is physically immense. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><img alt="Image result for milky way galaxy" height="427" src="https://space-facts.com/wp-content/uploads/milky-way.png" width="640" /><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">Astronomers tell us that on average, the Milky Way Galaxy is composed of over 100 billion stars and is 100 thousand light years across. Yet, the Andromeda Galaxy, lying some two-million light years distant, is twice as large and may contain over twice as many stars. The James Webb Telescope has discovered galaxies that are not only the most distant observed, but which are also in the same state of maturation and size as our own. While such discoveries are calling into question current theories of galactic evolution, origins, and even the proported age of the universe itself, the Biblical record of God having created all the stars, all at the same time, is yet again scientifically confirmed. Indeed, our universe is vast, yet there is a portion of the created realm greater than it.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Angels are revealed in over 400 places in the Bible. Whether good or bad, they all exist in varying ranks. While stars and galaxies populate our physical universe in the millions, billions, and trillions, the numbers assigned to the angels advance into the hundreds of trillions (Revelation 5:11). Space does not permit referencing these ranks and powers of angels. Just as in the physical universe, all the angels, archangels, and other such beings are comparable to one another. Although we find good angels and their evil opposites more powerful and more swifter in their rankings, yet there are upper limits. The infinite gulf of being that persists between the lowliest amoeba and God is the same as between the mightiest archangel and God. In other words, His absolute perfection and all other creaturely relative perfection is incomparable. </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>All objects and beings are incomplete by themselves - capable of improvement. Strangely enough, whenever there is room for improvement, and when there is an ultimate standard against which all other standards fall short, we call such a condition "imperfect". <b><u>Job 15:15</u></b> reminds us:</span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><i><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">"Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones, And the heavens are not pure in His sight."</span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> </span></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Our realtively short exercise of approaching God's perfection in its communicable form in creation should cause us to long for dwelling upon His incommunicable, absolute perfection.<br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>Closing of today's post.</b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><div><br /></div><div><span> The goal of today's post was to explore how God in someways has communicated or shared His attribute of perfection with His creation, since without it we would not know what such a standard is. The communicability of God's Divine perfection functions in sports, the Christian life, the physical universe, and the angelic realm. Truly, we come to appreciate the beauty of creation, the need for moral and spiritual improvement, and the natural drive to compete as a result of the Perfect Creator's Divine handiwork. God's attribute of perfection refracted through all His creatures points us back to Himself. </span></div><div><span><span> </span>We also began to see too how God's attribute of perfection is "incommunicable", meaning that there is something about it that is unique to Himself. </span>Clearly nothing compares to God. Isaiah raises a rhetorical question in Isaiah 40:18 that will sets us up for the next post </div><div><br /></div><div><i>"To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?"</i></div></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br /></span></div></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-90488162249915621942023-11-16T09:27:00.002-05:002023-11-16T09:27:29.990-05:00Post #22 - The Doctrine of God - P2 The Attribute of the Love of God - The Varied Ways God Reveals His Love Outside The Trinity<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSaLINN-WueS72pFO_5kzh7I9LoQ3BZDfCFOsXjfnBqp_WhvtHZ0eqUXhkdSgXN4iSBGrkFa-xdpgPs4Ki_Fq3bLhoOS-CD6UUFpe7jtSkw4tSPcz2fsBYiCBEHHeIQ-nx0r6Gk6hjNe85NFPA3SehV0A5-hpRMa0ZtlB588nToUcXZjaAQ-MV_oxafPI/s1920/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSaLINN-WueS72pFO_5kzh7I9LoQ3BZDfCFOsXjfnBqp_WhvtHZ0eqUXhkdSgXN4iSBGrkFa-xdpgPs4Ki_Fq3bLhoOS-CD6UUFpe7jtSkw4tSPcz2fsBYiCBEHHeIQ-nx0r6Gk6hjNe85NFPA3SehV0A5-hpRMa0ZtlB588nToUcXZjaAQ-MV_oxafPI/w640-h360/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span><p></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> We noted in our last post in this series here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-21-doctrine-of-god-p1-attribute-of.html">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/10/post-21-doctrine-of-god-p1-attribute-of.html</a> that God's love is that perfection which involves the Self-giving of Himself in and through the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God's love, like all the other attributes, is His nature, His being, in action. His love has no beginning and no end. We took time last post to develop the thought that God's love properly begins within the life of the Trinity. </span></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Further, we noted how this attribute provides access to introducing us to the Doctrine of the Trinity. Even though I do not intend to say much more on the Trinity until future posts in this series, we nonetheless mustn't ever divorce our theology about God's nature and attributes (what God is) from who He is as the Trinity.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> In today's post I want us to cover the remaining expressions of God's love which He reveals in His creation. In addition to the love shared between the Trinity, there are at least four additional expressions of His love. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Theologian D.A. Carson wrote a book entitled "The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God". As I said in the last post, God's love is an attribute we think we know much about. Yet, whenever we study the Bible, we find God's love is far richer than we realize. Carson lists five ways the Bible talks about God's love in his book. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">1. The peculiar love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father (page 16). We noted this in the last post. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">2. God's providential care over all which He has made (page 16). <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">3. God's salvific stance toward's His fallen world (page 17). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">4. God's particular, effective, saving love toward His elect (page 18). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">5. God's love is directed toward His people in a provisional or conditional way (page 19). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> For the sake of this post, I'll retool the four remaining headings of Carson as follows,</span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">1. God's beneficient love, or His loving activity toward creation in general.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">2. God's benevolent love, or His loving general will toward human beings.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>3. God's electing love, that is, the love He expresses more particularly towards sinners He redeems in saving faith. </span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">4. God's conditioned love, or that love God shows towards His people in their obedience to Him. </span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> As we work our way through these expressions, I'll provide Scripture and short exposition for each.</span> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>1. God's beneficient love</b>, or His loving intention toward creation in general.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> This first expression of God's love deals with what theologians call "God's beneficent love", that is, His loving activity towards all He has made. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>The term "beneficient" derives from the Latin terms "<i>bene</i>" meaning "good" and "<i>facare</i>" meaning "to make, manufacture, to create from nothing". This first term appropriately describes the relationship God intended all along to have with His creation. God's beneficent love is seen in the goodness He expressed toward the creation. Some seven times we see God declaring "it is good" in each completed phase of the creation in Genesis 1. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>J.P. Boice in his "Abstract of Theology" comments on how this general love of God toward His creation is a spill-over from the love He expresses as Trinity,</span><br /></span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"Were God but one person, in this way only could such love be exercised. But in the Trinity of the Godhead, there is found, in the love of the separate persons towards each other, another mode in which this love of complacency may in this highest sense be exercised. Such love is also felt by God for his purposes. As he perceives them to be just, wise and gracious, he approves and regards them with complacent love. But this love extends itself also to the creations, which result from this purpose."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>2. God's benevolent love</b>, or His loving will toward rational creatures, particularly human beings in general.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> This second term speaks of God's good ("<i>bene</i>") will ("<i>volens</i>") toward rational creatures, mainly all human beings. Scriptures such as Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 9:1-5 speak of man being made in "God's image". God's personal investment and declaration over Adam and Eve in His creation of them tells us that God had general, good, loving intentions toward them. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>In Job 38 and Psalm 104, we find God sharing with the angels He made the joy of creating our world, an experience that prompted the angels to sing forth in joy from the moment they were made. Such benevolent love, also called by an older term, "love of complacency", refers to God's "bent" in the direction of wanting the very best for all He made. J.P. Boice explains,</span><br /></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"This love of complacency, however, as it is exercised in its highest degree towards himself, so also is it exhibited, in the nearest approach to that, towards those beings who are most like himself, having been made in his nature and likeness. An innocent angel, or an innocent man is therefore by nature a joy to God, as is the child to the father who sees in it a peculiar likeness to himself."</i></span></span></p><p><span><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Even after the fall of our first parents, resulting in the intrusion of sin into our world an all humanity (Romans 5:12-21), God's benevolent will never changed. Paul writes in Romans 8:20-21, </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>God's benevolent love includes His love toward all people of all nations. We read in Ezekiel 18:33 that God does not rejoice over the death of the wicked. Jesus had "a love" for the young man who inquired about what he must do to be saved (Mark 10:21). This general sort of love did not lead to the man expressing saving faith. Nevertheless, one cannot say Jesus did not have a general sort of love toward people. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>3. God's electing love</b>, that is, the love He expresses more particular towards sinners He redeems in saving faith.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> This third expression of God's love deals with the type of love God has towards those sinners whom He chose to love from before the beginning of time for the sake of the Son (John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2). Such love arose from within God Himself, without beginning. Such love was without prompting from whatever He knew these particular sinners would choose or not choose ahead of time (see Ephesians 1:4-5). God, being God, chose upon whom He desired to show mercy (Romans 9:14-15). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Such truth as God's electing love in salvation has occupied every Baptist confession of faith since the Reformation and every major church father in centuries leading up to the Reformation. The Baptist Faith and Message 2000, in its fifth article, is but the latest example, </span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God’s sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility." </span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>God's electing love is found in roughly one-hundred places in the Bible. If we didn't have Sovereign election, we wouldn't have redemptive history. For instance, God's electing purpose of grace was responsible for choosing Israel from all other nations to be His people (Deuteronomy 7:7-9; Amos 3:1-7). His electing purpose included the Son going to be incarnated as the man Jesus Christ, who alone is the way, the truth, and the life (Isaiah 42:7 and John 14:6). His electing purpose of grace explains the "why" of human salvation. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>We know the "what part", that is, "what must I do to be saved?" Answer, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved" (Acts 16:31). Then there is what I call "the who part". In whom must I believe in order to be saved? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved" (Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>We all understand the "what" and the "whom" of saving faith. But now, why does anyone believe? This "why" part is explained by the mystery of God's elective purpose of grace. The old hymn "I know in whom I have believed", based off 2 Timothy 1:12 and found in both Baptist and United Methodist Hymnals, expresses it this way in its second stanza,</span></p><p><i><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">"I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart, nor how believing in his word, wrought peace within my heart."</span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> The old hymn has it right. </span>I cannot comprehend how God's elective purpose of grace in election and the necessity for belief and repentance fit together. I know not "how" they fit, only "that they fit". This mystery is paralleled in not comprehending how the Divine will and human will of the incarnate Son of God operate within His person. They do not mix. They do not contradict. They do not morph into each other. They each, in the language of the old Chalcedonian Creed of 451 A.D., "retain their own particular properties". </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Just as we cannot deny the two wills resident in the two natures of our Savior, each with its will in no conflict in the same person - the Savior, so it is in the Bible's portrayal of God's electing love in choosing sinners and their necessity to respond to His call in the choosing of Him. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The mystery of God's Sovereign will and the human will in the Person of our Savior explains why Biblical plan of salvation has this similar mystery. God's electing love ought to be cause for praise and humility, causing us to go to all people with God's command to all men to believe, repent, and be saved. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>4. God's conditioned love,</b> or that love God shows towards His people in their obedience to Him. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> So we've looked at God's eternal love within the Trinity, His benevolent love, beneficent love, and electing love. This final expression of God's love has to do with how God shows His love to the Christian in their obedience. When I give in stewardship, I am told God will supply my needs (Philippians 4:19). When I yield to God's will in obedience, I am told He will guide me in every step (Proverbs 3:5-6; 16:9). The believer's obedience is not the cause of God's love. Rather, God's love is what prompts the believer to obey Him (1 John 4:18). </span><br /></span></p><p><span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Closing thoughts</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> As we noted in the last post, theologian Wayne Grudem defined God's love as, </span></span></span><i>"God's love means He eternally gives of Himself to others".</i> As we have spent time meditating on this attribute, the above definition applies, whether speaking eternally of God's love within the persons of the Trinity and His intention to show electing love, or to His generalized love expressed in time in creation and to all people. God's love is rooted in the kind of God He is - the God who loves. May these reflections cause us to praise this wonderful God!</span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-50638249224401298412023-11-03T09:35:00.001-04:002023-11-03T09:42:09.533-04:00New Book Announcement! My Wife Has Published Her First Book: "Next Of Kin" <p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtPRKbrjV4EWuGTTeU-FL7HhRMQ7SeG53RtRxGjemqKgwuU40tNyOewBZ1SgNytBDTksqfyY9TfTQMpeyhhtoudmsBMHK5LLTv8ZgQCrDyL4-OUcQLCEOG6zZbWIhlb01ZO5cprW1EDLLczKjGlS-eQ2oGmFiRCIb676YuDLIpMfOnSzvcaBmF218WTk/s1136/Special_announcement_vector_2.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="1136" height="528" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqtPRKbrjV4EWuGTTeU-FL7HhRMQ7SeG53RtRxGjemqKgwuU40tNyOewBZ1SgNytBDTksqfyY9TfTQMpeyhhtoudmsBMHK5LLTv8ZgQCrDyL4-OUcQLCEOG6zZbWIhlb01ZO5cprW1EDLLczKjGlS-eQ2oGmFiRCIb676YuDLIpMfOnSzvcaBmF218WTk/w640-h528/Special_announcement_vector_2.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b><br /></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Today's post is a special announcement regarding my wife D. Emily Smith. She has published her first book, "Next of Kin", and today it has released for sale to the public. The volume is a Christian fiction novel, with a page-turning plot and clear Gospel message. Readers may go to Amazon to view the book and purchase it here <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Next-Kin-D-Emily-Smith-ebook/dp/B0CLVH6HVK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14T1SHZS9EYNA&keywords=next+of+kin+d+emily+smith&qid=1699017879&sprefix=D.+Emily+%2Caps%2C341&sr=8-1">https://www.amazon.com/Next-Kin-D-Emily-Smith-ebook/dp/B0CLVH6HVK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=14T1SHZS9EYNA&keywords=next+of+kin+d+emily+smith&qid=1699017879&sprefix=D.+Emily+%2Caps%2C341&sr=8-1</a>. </span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-21000412530623734932023-10-31T11:19:00.002-04:002023-10-31T11:19:38.639-04:00Happy Reformation Day 2023 - The Importance Of The Protestant Reformation And Two Contemporary Challenges<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEHkAkhyphenhyphen53t377gFeepCANu8jlFdasiW-DrUruThg17M7nQwNSOTtrowP6cnuWLIqyS0Glawqm2J6P-qkaAOON_x9CX4Q8JeoR2OXuNIY0S_V4W1aibZzRv-GfiGd1okWiz79fnbSxKPzGJTuxuxdl8lYafiRqJj8keUpnZOgE_GfCHUPEHCs0qH0Jd0/s590/reformation-image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="590" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEHkAkhyphenhyphen53t377gFeepCANu8jlFdasiW-DrUruThg17M7nQwNSOTtrowP6cnuWLIqyS0Glawqm2J6P-qkaAOON_x9CX4Q8JeoR2OXuNIY0S_V4W1aibZzRv-GfiGd1okWiz79fnbSxKPzGJTuxuxdl8lYafiRqJj8keUpnZOgE_GfCHUPEHCs0qH0Jd0/w640-h326/reformation-image.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Introduction:</i></b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> I begin today's post by quoting from Paul's letter to the Church at Rome in Romans 4:1-3,</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i><span>"What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? </span><b>2</b><span> For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. </span><b>3 </b><span>For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”</span></i></span></p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: red;"><b><i><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: red; font-size: x-large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></i></b></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> Today, October 31, will mark a significant date on the calendar. Many people may think of "Halloween" when I mention October 31st. However, there is a far greater set of reasons to celebrate. An event of historic proportions occurred over 500 years ago that would shape the course of Christianity even to this day - the Protestant Reformation. </span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>The big deal that led to the Protestant Reformation</i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> What was the Reformation? In 16th century Europe, cries for reform in the Medieval Catholic Church ensued. Within the church, 14th century Christian thinkers such as John Huss and John Wycliffe preached sermons that urged people to "return to the Gospel" by "returning to the Book" - the Bible. Moral, spiritual and theological corruption invaded the church in Europe through centuries of accumulated human tradition and Biblical illiteracy. Roman Catholic scholars such as Desiderius Erasmus (who would become a major theological opponent of Martin Luther, the historically recognized initiator of the Protestant Reformation) was even urging the need for reform. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> Early 16th century Germany was ripe for the actions of Martin Luther when he nailed a public document to the door of the church in Wittenburg Germany. Luther challenged Roman Catholic leaders to a public debate over the abuse of Pope Leo X selling documents which promised less time in purgatory in order to pay for the construction of the then new St. Peter's Basilica (Church) in Rome. This peddling of lessening people's time in purgatory was known in those days as "selling of indulgences". The Roman Catholic Church taught that an over abundance of merit before God was "indulged" or available at the appropriate price. Many people sought to purchase these documents with the thought of their dead loved ones having an easier time in the after-life. Astute thinkers like Martin Luther knew that this idea was not taught in scripture (that is, indulgences and Purgatory itself). </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i>How the Reformation got to the root of major spiritual problems and the point of this post</i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> The Reformation would soon get to the root of the problems abounding in 16th century European spiritual life. Those problems include ultimate authority (the Bible or the church?) Another issue what this "how is a person justified" or "made right before God"? Is faith alone in Christ sufficient to receive such justification or is participation in the church's sacramental system required to attain righteousness? </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> The two issues of ultimate authority for Christianity and how a person is made right with God ever remain top areas of contention in our world. As we think about October 31, all Bible believing groups, including Southern Baptists, are deeply indebted to what God did through the Protestant Reformation that began on October 31st, 1517. </span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">Today's post is aimed at issuing forth two direct challenges to Southern Baptists and all other Bible believing groups about Reformation Day, October 31st: </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;">1. A rejoicing challenge.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif">2. A take back challenge. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: red;"><b>1. The Challenge to Rejoice </b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><span style="color: red;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> So why rejoice over Reformation day, October 31st? Three reasons....</span></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><b>a. The recovery of "<i>sola scriptura</i>" </b></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span><b> or "scripture alone"</b></span></span><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>First of all, as mentioned already, the root or "formal cause" of Luther's "call for reform" had to do with ultimate authority in the Christian life and church. Martin Luther had become a professor of theology in 1512, tasked with the responsibility of expounding books of the Bible to theology students. As he wrestled with lack of peace in his own soul, the matter of ultimate authority would throb in the backdrop of his mind. Yes, Luther would come to terms with the "material cause" of the Reformation - the doctrine of justification or "how a person is made right with God". He did so by his preparation of lectures on Paul's letter to the Romans. Yet, in the years following his "Tower experience" conversion in 1515, Luther would champion the view of Jesus and the Apostles - "Scripture alone". In short, "sola scriptura" affirms that the Bible, not human tradition, constitutes the grounds of authority that shapes life, explains the after-life and addresses the conscience.<br /><br /><span> </span>To sharpen what Luther was needing to address in the Reformation, the big question was this: is it the Pope and his statements concerning who went to heaven and who did not constitute the ultimate authority for the church, or is it sacred scripture that God alone revealed to communicate matters pertaining to this life and the one to come?<br /><br /><span> </span>As Martin Luther wrestled over such questions, his conclusion was - Scripture alone! Doubtless, other forms of authority such as church leadership, conclusions from reason and other forms of knowledge had their place in Luther's thinking. Yet, all of those said authorities were subsumed under scripture. Luther and other Reformers, such as Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, John Knox and others affirmed the "magisterial" role of scripture in its relationship to reason, tradition and church leadership.</span><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>b. The recovery of justification by </b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><b> faith alone or "<i>sola fide</i>" (faith </b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b> alone). </b></span><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> So the recovery of Scripture and its unique authority (<i>sola scriptura</i>) is the first cause of celebration. The second reason to rejoice over October 31st and Reformation Day is due to the recovery of the Gospel of Justification by Faith Alone (<i>sola fide)</i>. In contrast to the man-made traditions of the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages, Luther and those after him re-asserted the Biblical truth that faith by itself is both the necessary and sufficient means of receiving the gift of salvation. Old Testament passages such as Genesis 15:6 and New Testament passages such as Ephesians 2:8-9 affirm "<i>sola fide" </i> or salvation by means of "faith alone". Thus, justification by faith alone became the central doctrine, "the stuff" or "material cause" driving the vehicle of the Protestant Reformation. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The doctrine of scripture alone (</span><i style="font-family: verdana;">sola scriptura</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">) was Luther's fuel in the engine that drove His call for reform - Justification by faith alone </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">(sola fide)</i><span style="font-family: verdana;">. Luther himself noted that Justification by Faith is the one article upon which the church rises or falls.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><b>c. Recovering the truth about the Biblical concept of the church</b></span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /> We've observed "<i>sola scriptura</i>" (Scripture's unique authority) and "<i>sola fide</i>" (the only means of receiving the Gospel is by faith alone apart from works). The third reason to celebrate Reformation Day, October 31st, is because the Biblical concept of the church was recovered. </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>A phrase that historians and theologians use to summarize the need to continue reformation of the church is <i>"semper reformanda"</i> (always needing to reform"). What this little Latin phrase is driving at is that no church can ever claim they have become perfectly Biblical in their practices, doctrine, and life. In as much as the Protestant Reformation was a historical movement, the work of keeping the church Biblical, and ensuring such, is an ongoing task. </span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><span> </span>As Martin Luther denounced the Roman Catholic Church's system of indulgences, a second question emerged: how is a man or woman made right with God? A church that does not derive its authority from the scriptures nor teaches the Biblical concept of the Gospel - justification by faith alone, cannot be deemed a true church. </span><br /><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> Roman Catholicism of 16th century Europe, as well as today, communicates faith to be necessary for salvation - however it teaches that faith by itself is not sufficient. According to Rome, one must participate in the Roman Catholic church system of baptism, confession, penance and Mass to be deemed right by God and to stay right. The Gospel in the Reformation's recovery of the church shined forth not as a candle but as a brilliant sun. If God had not raised up men like Martin Luther to spark the Reformation movement, then the recovery of Biblical authority, justification by faith in the Gospel and the necessary truth of the local church may had turned out quite different.</span><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> So we need to answer the challenge to celebrate Reformation day due to what God did in calling us back to the Bible, the Gospel and the Church. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><span face="Verdana, sans-serif" style="color: red;"><b>2. The Take-Back Challenge: Let's take back October 31st and celebrate God's Word, the Gospel and Jesus' mission for His church</b></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> We've look at the challenge to rejoice over what God did in the reformation of the 16th century. So what about today? This brings us to our second challenge - "the take-back challenge". It is time to take back October 31, and use this day to proclaim the truth of scripture and the reformation, sparked on October 31, 1517. Truly the message of the Reformation is a message about "after darkness, light" (<i>post tenebras lux). </i> Gospel Light, not darkness, should characterize our lives as Christians. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif"> October 31st has been for years a time for paganism to observe one of the so-called "spirit nights" on their yearly calendar. Rather than promoting a day of darkness and wickedness, witches, ghosts and goblins, Christians need to take a God-centered event like the Reformation and remind themselves of how God led His church back to the Bible, the Gospel of justification by faith alone and recovery of the Biblical concept of the church. </span><br /></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> The Reformation was about calling forth people from spiritual darkness into the light of Jesus Christ. Someone once said, "it is more effective to light a candle than merely curse the darkness". Let's light the Gospel light and shine the glory of the Gospel. As Jesus said in</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><b style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Matthew 5:16</u></b><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">- </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span face=""verdana" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"><i>“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."</i></span><span face=""arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif" style="font-size: x-large;"> </span></span></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-69030081868832942372023-10-24T13:57:00.001-04:002023-10-24T13:58:50.622-04:00Post #21 - The Doctrine of God - P1 The Attribute of the Love of God - Seeing His Love Within The Trinity<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKNlBGgeIdb38V41uGos9pf6r2OmLICdx39_IErWrFePGM94KcXQflVYcpd1BpfIFN6aWyh5T5YGC4QDTQjMX6OTzIaIe8qrKNCuNgmWdDk-tZeXGR9QMCcYoC5Gz7vJAgf2aqjkDNyPB1hNbnwzCaUlgm7_wGHYYDKXr7DEN4HuQI-GrY4f2IBYZB7UI/s768/Holy%20Bible%20picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="432" data-original-width="768" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKNlBGgeIdb38V41uGos9pf6r2OmLICdx39_IErWrFePGM94KcXQflVYcpd1BpfIFN6aWyh5T5YGC4QDTQjMX6OTzIaIe8qrKNCuNgmWdDk-tZeXGR9QMCcYoC5Gz7vJAgf2aqjkDNyPB1hNbnwzCaUlgm7_wGHYYDKXr7DEN4HuQI-GrY4f2IBYZB7UI/w640-h360/Holy%20Bible%20picture.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <span> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">As we continue in our expanding study of the doctrine of God, we come today to what many may think is the most familiar of God's attributes - God's love. I say "may think is most familiar" due to assumptions surrounding the concept of love and applying those assumptions to God's being and expression as "The God who is love" (1 John 4:8). </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Whenever we begin to study the various words for love in the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament, the overwhelming conclusion to draw is that love is firstly a self-sacrificial action, followed by emotional motivation driving such actions. We today have reduced love only to a sentimental emotion, often neglecting the idea of self-sacrifice of the lover for the object of love. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> Theologian Wayne Grudem defines God's love in the following way,</span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"God's love means He eternally gives of Himself to others".</i> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> As we reflect on this attribute, it is appropriate to begin with God's love as it is to His nature internal to Himself as the Trinity. In today's post we will trace the outlines of God's love within the Trinity, followed by how He expresses His love in other ways in creation and redemption in the next post. </span><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><b>God's love within the Trinity</b></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> In this post we will begin our exploration of God's love by understanding how His love operates within and between the members of the Trinity. Such intra-Trinitarian fellowship showcases this Divine attribute. What follows below is an attempted exposition of God's love as shared between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><b>The Father eternally begetting the Son is His relationship of love to the Son.</b></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> </span>The Father eternally initiates such love toward the Son in what theologians refer to as "eternal begottenness". Such an act by the Father means that for all eternity, without beginning, the Father has ever shared with the Son the undivided, eternal Divine nature. This "self-giving" by the Father to the Son is alluded by Jesus (John 17:1-3). </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> </span>The Son, as the New Testament reveals, is the only-begotten Son of the Father (John 3:16). The Son in turn reciprocates this eternal love back to the Father. Indeed, the Father could not be the Father without the Son, nor could the Son be the Son without the Father. The love reciprocated between them functions as one beginningless and endless loop of the Divine nature. </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><b>The love of the Father to the Holy Spirit through the Son, and the Holy Spirit's love for the Son and the Father.</b></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> </span>We then see the Holy Spirit in His role as the observer and participator in the love of the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit ever proceeds from the Father through the Son (John 14:26). </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> </span>Theologians often refer to this active relationship (as if viewing it from the Father's vantage point) as that of the Father with the Holy Spirit through the Son as eternal "spiration". "Spiration" uses the metaphorical language of the Father "outbreathing" the Holy Spirit through the Son. This "spiration" by the Father, of the Spirit, through the Son, gives us a sound exposition on what the Bible talks about when it describes God as "The Living God". </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> </span>In viewing this relationship from the vantage point of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit's relationship to the Father through the Son is described as that of being a "procession". </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> As I said already, the relational activity of the Father and Spirit is called </span>"spiration" due to how what is portrayed is the very life of God Himself expressed by the Holy Spirit as the Eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14). </span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>As the Spirit relates to the Father through the Son, and the Father to Him, The Holy Spirit ever makes plain the Son, whom the Father has begotten. The Holy Spirit then reflects back to the Father and Son His joyous, eternal love (John 14:16-17, 23, 26; 15:26). The beginningless and endless loop of the Divine nature I mentioned a moment ago is shared equally by the Spirit. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>God as the Trinue God is the loving God by nature.</b></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>When John writes "God is love" in 1 John 4:8 and 4:16, He is affirming what God is by nature and in His being as the God who acts out of what He is by nature - namely the loving God. A.W. Tozer remarks in his chapter on the love of God in his classic work, "Knowledge of the Holy"</span></span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">,</span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"From God’s other known attributes we may learn much about His love. We can know, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">for instance, that because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning; because He is </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">eternal, His love can have no end; because He is infinite, it has no limit; because He is </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity; because He is immense."</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Tozer continues,</span></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"His love is an </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea before which we kneel in joyful </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">silence and from which the loftiest eloquence retreats confused and abashed. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yet if we would know God and for other’s sake tell what we know, we must try to </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">speak of His love."</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>How the attribute of God's love flows from who God is as the Trinity.</b></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">God's love, we could say, flows from "what He is" by nature and "who He is" as the Three persons of the Trinity. We can never separate God's nature and Trinitarian fellowship, since each of the Persons truly are God, expressing and fully sharing in the Divine nature.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span> When we talk of "God's love", we are taken to the very heart of God's Trinitarian life. The great 17th and into the 18th century Baptist theologian John Gill explains, </span><br /></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><i>"The three divine Persons in the Godhead mutually love each other; the Father loves the Son and the Spirit, the Son loves the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit loves the Father and the Son." </i></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><i> </i>We find that as the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Father, there is the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The Spirit eternally participates in the giving and receiving of such love from the other two. </span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><span> </span><b>John Gill writes again, commenting on the Holy Spirit's sharing in this intra-Trinitarian love.</b> Gill notes first of the Father's loving of the Spirit,<br /></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><i>"The Father loves the Spirit; being the very breath of him, from whence he has his name, and proceeding from him, and possessing the same nature and essence with him (Job 33:4; Psalm 33:6; John 15:26; 1 John 5:7)."</i></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><i> </i>Gill then draws attention to the eternal reciprocation of love between the Son and the Spirit,<br /></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><i>"The Son also loves the Spirit, since he proceeds from him, as from the Father, and is called the Spirit of the Son, (Galatians 4:6) and Christ often speaks of him with pleasure and delight, (Isaiah 48:16, 61:1; John 14:16, 17, 26, 15:26, 16:7, 13)." </i></span></span></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b style="font-family: verdana;">God's love is the gateway into observing the activity of the Three Persons of the Trinity.</b><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>We had noted in one of our earlier posts how Divine aseity (God's self-existence, self-sufficiency) is the gateway into exploring the other attributes here </span><a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-9-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html" style="font-family: verdana;">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/08/post-9-doctrine-of-god-gods-attribute.html</a><span style="font-family: verdana;">. It might be said that God's love gives us a similar gateway into seeing the Persons of the Trinity in self-giving activity toward one another in their common sharing of the Divine nature. In the next post we will look at the others ways the Bible expresses God's love. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span><span><br /></span></span></span></span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-65168135805969326392023-10-18T08:23:00.000-04:002023-10-18T08:23:10.699-04:00Post # 20 The Doctrine of God - The Attribute of Divine Wrath And Its Applications<p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: xx-large;"><b></b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1akJ249R0O5wawjZ2wK67rAG_ae87bdzp-yIJ6Eps6qpFq1n61XUXzlXToVUNTAFrKRIE_Gn87lORCFuY44mbEebPNz2KdjjyJuSG4KCeFL3TBYHbkftbP5NCs-Du2J7ju79S6Zw2c3Dvo5B_iTnJH-SxDoFPGO4AlQDgIwe6b8mskXD0yBRBmzXrkvU/s1920/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1akJ249R0O5wawjZ2wK67rAG_ae87bdzp-yIJ6Eps6qpFq1n61XUXzlXToVUNTAFrKRIE_Gn87lORCFuY44mbEebPNz2KdjjyJuSG4KCeFL3TBYHbkftbP5NCs-Du2J7ju79S6Zw2c3Dvo5B_iTnJH-SxDoFPGO4AlQDgIwe6b8mskXD0yBRBmzXrkvU/w640-h360/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" width="640" /></a></b></div><b><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></b><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Introduction </span></b></span></p><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> In our study of God's nature and attributes, we are attempting to canvas what the Bible reveals. Some attributes might be more "likeable" than others. Nevertheless, God is not a God that we can pick and choose what we like. Each perfection expresses the fulness of His Divine nature and character - with His wrath being no different.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span> <span style="background-color: white;">Perhaps one of the most misunderstood and least mentioned doctrines in both the Christian world and world at large is the subject of God's wrath. It is little taught and preached on it in today's pulpits. Just about everyone speaks about the love of God, however to broach the subject of God's wrath spawns wrath of a different sort - the wrath of those offended by such a notion. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In Paul's most thorough treatment of the Gospel, the Book of Romans, the subject of God's wrath is among the first mentioned subjects. He writes in Romans 1:18-19,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them."</i></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>After introducing his letter and stating the chief intent of the epistle in Romans 1:16-17 (the power of the Gospel), the reader expects Paul to then launch into an immediate unfolding of why the Gospel is so powerful. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>Yet before arriving at the cardinal doctrines that undergird the Gospel (justification in ch 4, reconciliation in ch 5, sanctification in chs 6-7, election and assurance of salvation in chs 8-9, and the destiny of the Jewish nation and the remaining nations in God's plan in chs 10-11), we arrive at this first mile-marker of God's wrath. Why does Paul do this? The answer is found in how the Holy Spirit through Paul echoes the Biblical pattern of presenting the Gospel by first considering the wrath of God.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Defining God's wrath</b></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span>So what is God's wrath? A.W Tozer perhaps offers one of the best definitions of wrath by first of all stating what it is for,</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"wrath is God's relentless affirmation of His dominion".</i> </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Tozer then describes wrath by what it is against, </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"God's wrath is His utter intolerance of whatever degrades and destroys". </i></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Definitions such as these are useful in correcting what is often a very negative or hostile view of wrath - namely that God is throwing some type of cosmic temper-tantrum. Many authors today conceive that God is on some type of out of control rampage against an innocent, unsuspecting people. Such a perception of God's wrath is misdirected. The words that God used in the Bible to describe His wrath against sin confirm what Godly men like Tozer have communicated about this vital subject. There are no innocent people, and God's wrath is not an out of control temper tantrum.</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I recall years ago the observation made by R.C. Sproul about the contemporary American evangelical church's scorn of God's wrath, namely <i>"that the God of popular religion is not a holy God"</i>. Anytime we mute any of God's perfections, we deny the God of Scripture. Twentieth century theologian A.W. Pink reminds us of the benefit of meditating upon God's wrath in our daily battle with sin,<br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"(T)hat our hearts may be duly impressed by God's detestation of sin. We are ever prone to regard sin lightly, to gloss over its hideousness, to make excuses for it. But the more we study and ponder God's abhorrence of sin, and His frightful vengeance upon it—the more likely are we to realize its heinousness."</i><span style="color: red;"><b>1</b></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Key words that are associated with "wrath" in the Bible</b></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>Whenever one looks through a concordance of virtually any English translation, the word "wrath" shows up in almost 200 passages of scripture. When considered with other related subjects such as God's Jealousy, Holiness, Justice, Retribution and yes - even God's Love, the Bible makes it crystal clear that God is a God of wrath. Theologian A.W. Pink notes in his study of God's wrath,</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"A study of the concordance will show that there are more references in Scripture to the anger, fury, and wrath of God—than there are to His love and tenderness. Because God is holy—He hates all sin; and because He hates all sin—His anger burns against the sinner (Psalm 7:11)."</i><span style="color: red;"><b>2</b></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> It is important to realize that as God revealed His Word in the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, He conveyed His perfection of Divine wrath. Contrary to what some may think, our English translations today accurately communicate to us God's wrath, not as a result of a spin-on-words from wild-eyed Fundamentalism of the last century, but instead of what God originally revealed to His prophets and apostles.</span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>The most important Old Testament words translated "wrath".</b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span>Nearly six different Hebrew roots and three major Greek roots are used to translate the word "wrath" in the Bible's original languages. For brevity's sake we will only cover two of the main words for wrath in each of the Testaments, with some observations at the end. In both the Hebrew and Aramaic of the Old Testament we find two of the most common words for wrath that each aid the reader in understanding the concept of wrath. </span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span>The first main word (qa-tef) refers to the provoking of a person to anger. In human beings such wrath occurs when a person is compelled to respond in an angry manner against a perceived wrong or possible damage to one's reputation (Esther 1:18).</span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span>For God, this word is used to describe how the sins of His people are the object of His displeasure. In Numbers 16:46, this word is used to describe the provoking of God to wrath by Israel following their rebellion against Moses and Aaron at the entryway to the Tent of Meeting. Whenever we see this word (qat-ef), it always is in reference to a provoked wrath or an anger that arises only after an outright act of disobedience or blatant disregard for God's Holy character.</span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span>The second Hebrew word (cha-ma) is used the most times (122) to describe wrath in the Hebrew Bible.<span style="color: red;"><b>3</b></span> Whenever the word (cha-ma) appears, the type of wrath being expressed refers to an anger that arises at the end of a process of long standing sin. This word is used to describe the type of wrath God displayed when a nation or people reaches the final stages of sin and rebellion and is used most often in prophetic texts to describe God's wrath against sinful man at the end of history in final judgment (compare Deuteronomy 29:28; Micah 5:15).</span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Top New Testament words translated "wrath"</b></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>In regards to the New Testament words translated for wrath, two of the most common used Greek words describe the similar type of meanings that we find in the Old Testament. The most frequently used Greek word (or-gei) refers to an anger that is a fixed, controlled and passionate feeling against sin. Found some 36 times in the New Testament, (orgei) decribes for example the wrath God is revealing against all of sinful man right now in the general revelation of creation (Romans 1:18-20). </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span>On eleven other occasions the Apostle Paul uses this word (or-gei) and the Apostle John in Revelation uses this same word five times to describe God's persistent, fixed and regulated anger against sin. Somewhat like the Hebrew word (qa-tef), the Greek word (or-gei) is God's wrath provoked by mankind's repeated suppression of His truth and persistent disregard for His Holiness in favor of their sin. </span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span>The second Greek word translated wrath in the New Testament is the word (thu-mos) which is very similar to the Hebrew word (cha-ma) in regards to referring to an anger that is heated and passionate for what is right, Holy, pure and hateful of what is sinful. When God displays (thumos), it refers to an anger that has risen gradually overtime and settles into a fixed pattern against sin. Both of these words are expressed most frequently in the books of Romans and Revelation. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span> </span>In Romans we find the word (thumos) mentioned in the Book of Romans 2:8 in conjuction with the other word (orgei) to describe the destiny of unbelievers. In Book of Revelation we find this word (thumos) used 10 times in Revelation 14-19, indicating wrath at the end of the matured form of mankind's and Satan's rebellion.</span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><b>What we learn from the above word studies on the word "wrath" in the Bible</b></span></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><b><br /></b></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><b>1. </b>The wrath of God in the Bible is revealed when sin is done by people who refuse to repent within a given time frame. God's wrath never arises out of a vacuum but derives from concern over His absolute Holy character and the wrong done against it.</span></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><b>2. </b>The people to whom God directs His wrath are not innocent, but knowingly, willingly and with a high-hand persist in ignoring His repeated warnings to forsake their sin. </span></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><b>3. </b>Wrath is a necessary component in communicating the Gospel and warning sinners of His wrath that will be executed in the judgment He will bring upon this world at Christ's second coming.</span></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><b>4. </b>God's wrath is not an out-of-control anger or a sinful anger like it often can be in human beings. Wrath in God describes what He hates - namely sin and unrighteousness. </span></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><b>5. </b>If God were not the God of wrath, He could not be the God of love. Why? Because if God loved everything, He could not be the God of love, since the love of God cannot love righteousness and unrighteousness, what is holy and profane or love what is opposite of His character and yet be zealous for His name at the same time. Theologian Wayne Grudem affirms this point: </span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>"Yet it is helpful for us to ask what God would be like if He were a God that did not hate sin. He would be a God who either delighted in sin or at least was not troubled by it. Such a God would not be worthy of our worship, for sin is hateful and is worthy of being hated. </i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Later Grudem adds, </span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><i>"...and we rightly imitate this attribute of God when we feel hatred against great evil, injustice and sin."<span style="color: red;"><b>4</b></span></i></span></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span><br /></span></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Closing thoughts about the wrath of God</b></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> </span>The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia describes the wrath of God in the Bible: </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">"</span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i>The divine wrath is to be regarded as the natural expression of the divine nature, which is absolute holiness, manifesting itself against the willful, high-handed, deliberate, inexcusable sin and iniquity of mankind. God's wrath is always regarded in the Scripture as the just, proper, and natural expression of His holiness and righteousness which must always, under all circumstances, and at all costs be maintained. It is therefore a righteous indignation and compatible with the holy and righteous nature of God."<span style="color: red;"><b>5</b></span></i></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><br /></i></span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: red;"><b>Endnotes:</b></span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: red;"><b>1. </b></span></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><a href="https://www.monergism.com/wrath-god">https://www.monergism.com/wrath-god</a></b></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>2. <a href="https://www.monergism.com/wrath-god">https://www.monergism.com/wrath-god</a></b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red; font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: red;"><b>3. </b></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/hebrew/2534.htm"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://biblehub.com/hebrew/2534.htm</span></a><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b style="color: red;"><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b style="color: red;">4. </b>Wayne Grudem. Systematic Theology. Zondervan. 1994. page 206 </span><br /><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: red;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="color: red;"><b>5. </b></span><a href="http://biblehub.com/topical/w/wrath.htm"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://biblehub.com/topical/w/wrath.htm</span></a></span></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-65625236959546974172023-10-13T14:59:00.001-04:002023-10-13T14:59:41.208-04:00Post #19 The Doctrine of God - God's Attribute of Peace (also known as "Faithfulness")<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha7sNC9I6Kuv4WUpaYK3tIMWpuP7DWtcK_JbLmOvPkL8Do1Dci6_8sFDnWaudbs4u54DlZrEMp-WG6g4Abowbl2ZzH2OCfjA84eTwGxRzrnES016oeWvZLRm7Z2CviQ_w88T-dpIFfeoL7ZdlPOLhbiLjcVV5J0PNOVp8ag5BROnnQjSBUmd9GbLQ76-c/s1920/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha7sNC9I6Kuv4WUpaYK3tIMWpuP7DWtcK_JbLmOvPkL8Do1Dci6_8sFDnWaudbs4u54DlZrEMp-WG6g4Abowbl2ZzH2OCfjA84eTwGxRzrnES016oeWvZLRm7Z2CviQ_w88T-dpIFfeoL7ZdlPOLhbiLjcVV5J0PNOVp8ag5BROnnQjSBUmd9GbLQ76-c/w640-h360/flipping%20through%20a%20Bible.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><b style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Introduction:</span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> In our study of the Doctrine of God, we have endeavored to cover as many attributes as possible. In today's post we are going to explore that Divine attribute of God's "peace" or order. Theologian Wayne Grudem gives the following defintion of "God's Peace", </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"God's peace means that in God's being and in His actions He is separate from all confusion and disorder, yet He is continually active in innumerable well-ordered, fully controlled, simultaeous actions."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Grasping the Bible's teaching on God's peace or faithfulness</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>The Bible certainly attests to the "orderliness" of God in His nature. What Grudem calls "God's peace" or "orderliness" sounds very similiar to what others refer to as God's "faithfulness". God is not a haphazard God. Some brief meditations on the inner-workings of the Trinity will bring out the beauty of this Divine attribute. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> For instance, t</span>he persons of the Trinity never contradict one another. When we get to a detailed study of the doctrine of the Trinity in future posts, we will study what is known as "the doctrine of Divine operations". "Divine operations" describes how the Persons of the Trinity each perform aspects of the works of creation and redemption without contradiction to each other. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In creation, the Father authorizes (1 Corinthians 8:6), the Son actualizes or brings everything into being (Psalm 33:6; John 1:1-3), and the Spirit animates or brings forth life and activity. All three Persons do so as the One Creator God (Psalm 104). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In redemption, the Father is the architect of salvation (Ephesians 1:1-6), the Son accomplishes redemption (Ephesians 1:7-9), and the Spirit applies such in saving faith (Ephesians 1:10-14). Such division of labor is all one act, by one God, who is three Persons (Ephesians 1:11; Romans 11:36). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The attribute of God's peace or faithfulness underwrites the Trinity's work in creation and redemption. God's faithfulness reveals why the Trinity is always in perfect union, and why the plans of God reach their intended goal.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Biblical Scriptures that highlight God's peace or faithfulness</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> <span> </span>The prophet Isaiah gives a most apt word-picture of this perfection of God in Isaiah 26:1-4,</span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">“We have a strong city; </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">He sets up walls and ramparts for security. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">2 “Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter, t</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he one that remains faithful. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, b</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">ecause he trusts in You. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">4 “Trust in the Lord forever, f</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">or in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock."</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span> In the New Testament, P</span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">aul writes in 1 Corinthians 14:33 <i>"for God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." </i></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>Also, in 2 Thessalonians 3:16 he notes,<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>This orderly, peaceful, faithful God, is extolled or praised by Moses in Deuteronomy 7:9,<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>The Psalmist says of God's peace or faithfulness in Psalm 36:5,<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Your lovingkindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness reaches to the skies."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>The peace or faithfulness of God is most applicable as noted in Jeremiah's words in Lamentation 3:22-24,<br /></span></p><p><i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">"The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">For His compassions never fail. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">23 They are new every morning; </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Great is Your faithfulness. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">“Therefore I have hope in Him.”</span></span></i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i> </i>As one does a study of God's peace, orderliness, or what we are terming here, "faithfulness", the Scriptures are quite substantial. We've witnessed His peace in the Old Testament. The New Testament abounds with examples, with a sampling to follow below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>In the New Testament, God's faithfulness explains why there is salvation (1 Corinthians 1:9). His peace or faithfulness protects believers when they avail themselves of Him in temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Thess 3:3). God's peace or faithfulness is a communicable attribute, conveyed by the Holy Spirit to the Christian (Galatians 5:22). We are told in 2 Timothy 2:13 that God's faithfulness outpaces us in those times we are unfaithful. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The Lord Jesus Christ as God incarnate is our faithful High Priest, representing the Christian (Hebrews 2:17; 3:2,6). We are told to "hold fast to Him who is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23). When the Christian suffers for Jesus' sake, they'll be preserved in their faith by Him who is faithful (1 Peter 4:19). The Christian has the promise that Jesus will forgive them when they sin (1 John 1:9). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>We are told that the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard one's heart and mind in times of prayer (Philippians 4:19). In Revelation 1:5 and 3:14, we find Jesus attributed with this Divine attribute, called by the title "the Faithful witness". <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Why God's peace or faithfulness is enjoyed through Jesus Christ alone</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> The word most often translated "peace" in the New Testament indicates the result of reconciliation accomplished by the incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus came the first-time to live, die, rise and ascend (see John 1:14-18; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Timothy 3:15-16; 1 Peter 1:18; 2:21-22; Revelation 1:8, 17-18). He, as God, became the babe in the cradle; to be the Savior on the cross; to rise victoriously from the grave; to ascend in majesty. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> The angels addressing the shepherds in Luke 2:14 state - </span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><span><i>“Glory to God in the highest,<br />And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”</i></span></span><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> There are eight songs or lyrical poems recorded in Luke's infancy narratives of Jesus' life in the first two chapters of his Gospel. Some of these songs have names derived from the 4th century Latin Vulgate translation which was used through the Middle Ages. The particular song in Luke 2:14 is called "<i>gloria in excelsis deo</i>" or "glory to God in the highest" or simply "<i>gloria</i>". <span> </span>Christians from the early centuries following the Apostles recognized that the only source of peace is when we are focused on God through Jesus Christ - thus, "glory to God in the highest". </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Whenever we think of "peace", we consider how Christ came into our world to bring about reconciliation between believing sinners and the Father (see John 16:33). Jesus came as the Mediator of peace with God (see 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 2:1-2). 2 Corinthians 4:5-6 reminds us - </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Such bringing together of God and man in One Person would be the pattern for the goal of salvation - reconciliation. To reconcile sinful man and Holy God results in peace. We read in Ephesians 2:13-18 </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father." </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Consider Romans 5:1-5, which speaks more poignantly about this peace applied to the sinner at saving faith: </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Closing thoughts</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> Years ago there used to be bumper-stickers that read: <i>"No Jesus, No Peace / Know Jesus, Know Peace".</i> Since Jesus came into our world over 2,000 years ago, hope, faith, joy and peace were made available to all who trust in Him by faith. God's attribute of peace is revealed to us and available only through Jesus Christ. He is our faith. He is our joy. He is our peace. He is faithful.</span></p>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4385083746048472996.post-59381429630934511002023-10-04T10:16:00.003-04:002023-10-04T10:16:45.615-04:00Post #18 The Doctrine of God - P2 God's Attribute Of Wisdom - Applications For Our Lives<p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxuBjwTtycfEue6Km84Xkvevgs9qdcSeci0JEFpTuIddZHTBA9CeL0-ALaVEaQ3jnzHe97t6HQINB_Fyf8oNfWgX5HiR_xFnvbzV4Ee96FKyA8KH0FIe1N9oaYNeGIIJX12LNcqeIXNXeIHxM9GkFw_fkhs1KnPDneowKeAp639WkPJpCHhyphenhyphen5vlEKgcOE/s405/Watch%20gears.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="405" height="348" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxuBjwTtycfEue6Km84Xkvevgs9qdcSeci0JEFpTuIddZHTBA9CeL0-ALaVEaQ3jnzHe97t6HQINB_Fyf8oNfWgX5HiR_xFnvbzV4Ee96FKyA8KH0FIe1N9oaYNeGIIJX12LNcqeIXNXeIHxM9GkFw_fkhs1KnPDneowKeAp639WkPJpCHhyphenhyphen5vlEKgcOE/w640-h348/Watch%20gears.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Introduction:</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b> </b><span>In our last post we reflected upon God's attribute of wisdom here <a href="http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-17-doctrine-of-god-p1-reflections.html.">http://www.growingchristianresources.com/2023/09/post-17-doctrine-of-god-p1-reflections.html.</a> I mainly drew these observations from a sermon I preached years ago in the conclusion of a preaching series through Paul's letter to the Romans. In today's post we continue on in our study of God's attribute of wisdom, focusing upon how it applies to our lives. </span><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><b>Why Paul refers to God as "God only wise".</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> </span>The infinite nobility and skill with which the Triune God executes His infinite life spills over into the guidance of creation. Therefore, it is more than appropriate for Paul to refer to God as "God only wise", since all other created beings derive their limited ability to exercise wisdom from God. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"> The question now before us is: "so what"? This is where we can draw applications for our lives. Below are three observations one can glean about "God only wise" in consideration of Romans 16:27 and other passages.</span></p><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><br /></span><span><b>Gracious strength of God’s Wisdom. Romans 1:1-7; 1:16; 16:25-27. </b></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>Romans begins and ends with grace and wisdom. Reflecting on God's wisdom leads to certain questions:</span><br /><span><br /></span><span>1. Does God know what He is doing?</span><br /><span><br /></span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>2. Can I trust God, even though I don't </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> understand?</span><br /><span><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>3. Is God still good, even though </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span> everything seems so bad?</span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>Paul begins Romans 16:27 with this phrase: "To the only wise God". Such questions are answered in scripture by considering God's wisdom as a source of strength. <b><u>Proverbs 3:5-6</u></b> - </span><br /><span><br /></span><i><span>"Trust in the Lord with all your heart</span><br /><span>And do not lean on your own understanding. </span><span><b>6</b> In all your ways acknowledge Him, a</span><span>nd He will make your paths straight."</span></i><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>The prophet Daniel writes in <b><u>Daniel 2:20-21</u></b> - </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><i>“Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.” </i></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>Thus we see in Daniel's prophecy how wisdom and God's strength are associated with one another (recall, whenever you have one of God's attributes, you have all of them). </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>The gracious strength of God's wisdom aids us in those seasons wherein we don't grasp what God is doing. I'm reminded of an illustration I once read about the front and back of a clock or watch. If we were to take the back off of either, we would observe its inner workings. We would see gear works turning in opposite directions. We would note coiled springs, whirring wheels and dizzying motion. Unless we were the watchmaker, we might conclude the whole thing as a mess. </span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>However, once one turns the watch or clock over to the front, we see the hour, minute and second hands turning in the same direction. The wisdom of the watch maker is demonstrated in both the appropriated means of the design (the back) and the intended end (keeping time). </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>God too is only wise. His gracious strength guides the believer's path and all things. Notice secondly, not only the gracious strength of God's wisdom, but also... </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><b>Great Mediator of God’s Wisdom. Rom. 5:1,6-8; 8:1</b></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>In addition to what Paul writes about "To the only wise God" in Romans 16:27, we see the next phrase: "through Jesus Christ". God's wisdom, as experienced and expressed by his creatures, is a mediated wisdom. Another comfort I find about God's wisdom is that whatever God sends my way, it has went through the Son. An old saying I heard years ago states, </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><i>"that nothing comes down to us that has not already first passed through the nail-scarred hands of the Son of God." </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Thus, since Divine wisdom is mediated by the Second person of the Trinity, who is truly God (touching His divine nature), then truly He has my best interest in mind. Furthermore, by remaining truly man, Jesus Christ is pleased to associate with His people as the decisive revelation of God in human flesh. To find out that God's wisdom is associated with and is the Divine nature of Christ Himself, as well as shared with His people via his true human nature, we can affirm that God does care. </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>Even though Old Testament saints did not yet possess the fullness of revelation like New Testament believers have today, they associated God's wisdom with the fact that He cares. <b><u>Job 2:10</u></b> </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><i>"But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips."</i></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>Job didn't grasp all that was happening in his life. He knew that all of it directly or indirectly came as a result of God's wise actions. Paul writes in <u><b>1 Corinthians 1:30</b> </u>-</span><br /><span><br /></span><span><i>"But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”</i></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>Here we see that Christ Himself came to reveal Divine wisdom, since as God, He is wise by nature. With respect to God's wisdom mediated to the Christian in time of need, we are reminded of <b><u>James 1:3-5</u></b> - </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><i>“knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. <b>4</b> And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. <b>5</b> But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” </i></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>This second point of Christ mediating Divine wisdom to us means so much whenever facing the unknown. In meditating on the fact that God is only wise, and that His Divine wisdom is mediated to me through the Son, I have found the strength to cope with whatever dissapointments or crushing blows in life. </span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span><span> </span>Again, the comforting thought strikes me, as I experience God in His wisdom, I experience all of Him, since in God there is no variation nor shifting of shadow (Jas 1:17). </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>So, we've observed the glorious strength of God's wisdom and the great mediator of such wisdom - the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's lastly consider...</span><br /><span><br /></span><span><b>Glorious Purpose of God’s wisdom.</b> </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>As with each of God's attributes, Divine wisdom brings the believer to the point of switching from study to outright praise. Paul's doxology in the middle of Romans both summarizes the first eleven chapters of his exposition on the Gospel and prepares us for the practical sections of Romans 12-16. This doxology (i.e. a statement of praise to God), is found in </span><span><b><u>Romans 11:33-36</u></b> </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><i>“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! <b>34</b> For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? <b>35</b> Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? <b>36</b> For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” </i></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>Whenever I see that last word, "Amen", the truth of whatever was written beforehand is affirmed. To put it another way, good or bad, God’s purpose to glorify Himself will prevail, thus, there are no pointless details of life. Whenever I read this doxology, it corresponds perfectly to the final phrase of Romans 16:27 - <i>"be the glory forever and ever. Amen."</i> These verses answer the question: does God still have a plan? with a resounding, yes! <b><u>Romans 8:28-31</u></b> states:</span><br /><span><br /></span><i><span>"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. <b>29</b> For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; <b>30</b> and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. </span><b>31</b><span> What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?"</span></i><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>This idea of God's wisdom corresponding to life's purposes is expressed in <b><u>James 1:3-4</u></b> - </span><br /><span><br /></span><span><i>“knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. <b>4</b> And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. <b>5</b> But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” </i></span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span> </span>If trials didn’t come, I wouldn't acquire the sense to see where I lack. Moreover, I would not depend upon the God, who alone is wise.</span><br /><span><br /></span><span><span style="color: red;"><b>Closing thoughts:</b></span></span><br /><span><span style="color: red;"><b><br /></b></span></span><span><span> </span>In today's post, we considered the significance of God's wisdom in the phrase: "To the only wise God". After defining God's wisdom, we noted three observations about how His wisdom applies to our lives:</span><br /><span><br /></span><span><b>1.</b> Gracious strength of God’s Wisdom. Romans 1:1-7; 1:16; 16:25-27 </span><br /><br /><span><b>2.</b> Great Mediator of God’s Wisdom. Romans 5:1,6-8; 8:1</span><br /><br /><br /><span><b>3. </b>Glorious Purpose of God’s wisdom. Romans 11:33-36 </span></span></div></div>mahlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398857921080520475noreply@blogger.com0