God and Creation

What Does a Trinitarian Reading Look Like? As Robert Jenson puts it, “The Old Testament displays throughout its narrative personae with the same structure, in which the narrative alternates between identifying some personal entity as the Lord and differentiating that same entity from the Lord.” The stories of the Old Testament hint at a plurality of persons. Examples include the “glory of the Lord” or the “name of the Lord” or even the “Angel of the Lord” (as in Exodus 23:20-22). We are enabled now to read the Old Testament in light of the New Testament and revelation of Jesus Christ because Jesus has come to show us the Father. Consider the implications of theophanies and Christophanies in the Old Testament.

Explore that the Son is divine and the Spirit is divine. God is revealed in a three-fold yet united way as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This can be seen in Romans 8:14-17, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ..." We read in 1 Peter 1: 1-2, "To the exiles . . . who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood." And in 1 Corinthians 12: 4-6, "Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone." Matthew 28:19 tells us, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." Consider that there is one Name and yet a three-fold distinction. The benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:13 is Trinitarian: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you." Notice in the texts of 1 Corinthians, Matthew, and 2 Corinthians, that the order may be shifted such that 1 Corinthians mentions the Spirit first, Matthew mentions the Father first, and 2 Corinthians invokes the Son first. The accounts of Jesus’ baptism are particularly instructive. In Matthew 3: 16-17 we read, "And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Explore that there are Three and One. Early Christians were affected by Biblical pressures in Christian worship: the way God teaches us how to relate in prayer to Him is going to be the way we come to know who He is. They also were affected by the Biblical pressure of Christian salvation, and extra-biblical language to clarify what is in the Bible. Creedal language developed to help people understand the basic meaning of Scripture. As Robert W. Jenson puts it, "It is important to see that there is indeed a hermeneutical circle between Scripture and the doctrines of Nicaea, Constantinople, and Chalcedon. The doctrines are hermeneutical principles for the reading of Scripture, and Scripture displays the doctrines." Kavin Rowe agrees, "Scripture exerts a pressure upon its interpreters to understand the God of the entire Bible as the Trinity and that this pressure is felt most acutely at the point of the intersection of the Old and New Testaments . . . To interpret the Bible in light of the doctrine of the Trinity does not, therefore, distort its basic content but penetrates to its core with respect for the reality of the divine identity, the living God outside of the text known truly by Israel and fully in Jesus Christ."

Join the story of Exodus 24 as Moses makes new tablets. God is identified as "The Lord, the Lord". Anselm of Canterbury states in On the Fall of the Devil, "He alone has of himself all that he has, while other things have nothing of themselves. And other things, having nothing of themselves, have their only reality from him." Consider Divine Aseity in that God is self-sufficient - He has life within Himself. He is the Everlasting King, “a God...". "God is living. God may not allowably be thought of as mere being in repose, or merely as ideal and thinking. As absolute life, he has a pleroma, a world of real forces in himself. He bears within him an inexhaustible spring, by virtue of which he is life eternally streaming forth, but also eternally streaming back into himself. Still he is not to be defined as transient life; he is before everything essentially absolute life; he neither empties nor loses himself in his vital activity. He is a sea of self-revolving life; an infinite fullness of forces moves, so to speak, and undulates therein." (Isaak Dorner, System of Christian Doctrine) God's character is revealed for the first time in Exodus 34. Psalm 111: 2-4 tells us, "Great are the works of the LORD; they are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness endures forever. He has made His wonders to be remembered; the LORD is gracious and compassionate. And in Psalm 145: 1-8 we read, "I will extol You, my God, O King, and I will bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless You, and I will praise Your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty and on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, and I will tell of Your greatness. They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness and will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. The LORD is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness." Touch upon that God’s presence unveils God’s perfection and that God’s perfection overflows into God’s presence. How are the Perfections revealed and relate? Explore the thesis of Webster's The Holiness of God. “God’s holiness is the holiness of Father, Son and Spirit, the one who bears his holy name, who is holy in all his works, and who is the Holy One in our midst, establishing, maintaining and perfecting righteous fellowship with the holy people of God.” Can we really know God in His essence? Webster says that we can apprehend God's essence. Compare and contrast the Eastern Orthodox view of Apophaticism that God’s essence can only be known through His divine energies. This view developed in the High Middle Ages. Consider that we apprehend God but we don’t comprehend God. Webster returns often to “The Holy One in Your Midst” which speaks of divine freedom and love or His nearness. He is in our midst. Webster gets to the fact that God is the living God and the Everlasting King. One of the significant matters of the Gospel is the realization that our identity is located in Christ. Even more amazing is that the Gospel tells us that God's Identity is in Christ. Explore the difference between Extrinsic and Intrinsic Necessity.

How do we think about human life in terms of its flourishing and its failing? What does it mean to image God well and how can we make sense of the fact that people don't? Explore the three activities that mark human life: faith, worship, and humility. We are to trust ourselves in faithful dependence to God for our sustenance and intent for our lives. Why does God require we come to Him by faith? Consider that faith is defined by its object. We are called to be receivers and God is the giver. That leads to the glorification of God. Dependence is not a weakness but simply the state of being human. The failure of the human comes from unbelief, idolatry, and pride. We are people who refuse to trust ourselves to God. We have a restless desire to live as creators. Explore that Numbers describes the disordering of Creation and in chapters 13 -14 the people of God rebel. In Numbers 14:1 we read, "The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?" There are two sins in this chapter- first they despair and then they are incapable of doing what God calls them to do. The sins in this chapter are indicative of the sin of unbelief. Consider that God calls us to be defined from outside of ourselves.

Another term used by theologians is "original sin". It could mean the first sin of Adam, but more commonly means that we are born into a sinful condition from the origin of our life. Another phrase is "total depravity" or that people are as bad as they can possibly be but the Bible typically uses the meaning to describe not the depth of our sin but the extent of our sin. Explore that the Bible speaks of the essence of sin as unbelief, pride, and idolatry. Consider that a child is dependent and like them, we are called to live by faith. Explore two debates that have shaped the Church's reflection on sin as we come into life with a bent toward evil. Consider the discussion between Pelagius and Augustine. Pelagius denied there is a causal relationship between Adam's sin and our sinfulness at birth. He believed we are born morally neutral and we can obey God's law to the full if we choose. Augustine as the opponent of Pelagius argued that we are born in sin and thus we sin. God's grace changes our very being or nature. Later, another debate occurred between Erasmus and Luther called the Semi-Pelagian Controversy. Erasmus revised the Pelagian thought and held that we are born in sin but there is a small part of us undistorted by sin. He believed that is why we can make that first movement toward God and God will then gift us with faith and conversion. Luther wrote the Bondage of the Will in dispute. He argued the Bible does not talk about the small part of our being that does not need God's grace. The Bible speaks of our total depravity. Explore contemporary thinking on sin as an empirical and natural study.

Explore that the Bible says all are sinful. In Psalm 14: 2-3 we read, "The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." Sinfulness comes from birth - from the beginning of our lives. Genesis 8:21 tells us, "... for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth." Psalm 58:3 says, "The wicked are estranged from the womb; these who speak lies go astray from birth." We read in Proverbs 22:15, "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of discipline will remove it far from him." As a result of original sin man always acts in evil ways. Genesis 6:5 tells us, "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Ephesians 2: 1-3 tells us, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Sinfulness affects every area of life. Our nature is results from the sin of Adam and Eve. Depraved humans cannot do good or turn to God on their own - we need to be graced or transformed by God's mercy from the outside. Matthew 7:18 tells us, " A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit." John 3:3,5 says, "Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God . . . Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. John 6:44 says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." Consider John 15: 4-5, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." Romans 8: 7-8 says, "... the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Consider that our evil inclination renders us incapable of trusting God and that we do not have the moral capacity to trust God. Sin ensures that we will use our free will wrongly.

How do we get from Adam's sin to all of us being born in sin? To answer this question we turn to the key text of Roman 5: 12-21. We read, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ." Consider that realism holds the view that we think of humanity as a whole. This view is not held by many today. A second view is federalism which is a political view with the idea of representation. Adam is the figurehead of the entire human race just as Christ is a figurehead. The federal view emphasizes the parallel between Adam and Christ. Typically there are two implications of being represented by Adam - we are distorted by what he does and held guilty because of what he does but only one of these is biblical. A modified view holds that we are distorted by Adam's sin but we are never told in the Bible that we are directly guilty because of his sin. Again Roman 5:12 says, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned..." This verse teaches us that this happens through one man. Secondly, Sin came into the world. Sin is not the natural state of the world and was not created by God. Thirdly, death comes through sin. Death is not primarily physical, it is spiritual alienation. Fourth, death spread to all humanity and fifth, we inherit Adam's death so we sin. Consider that our sins affect others but are not imputed to others. Deuteronomy 24:16 tells us, "Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin." Consider 2 Kings 14:6, "But the sons of the slayers he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the Law of Moses, as the LORD commanded, saying, “The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers; but each shall be put to death for his own sin.” Or Jeremiah 31: 29-30, "In those days they will not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge." Ezekiel 18:20 says, "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself." From Adam we inherit a dead nature and we die guilty of our own sins. Explore that the parallel with Christ is asymmetrical - the union with Jesus is stronger than the union with Adam. In conclusion, we find that we are lawless, lawbreakers, and predisposed to sin and cannot come to God unless the Father grants it.

The moral view of the image of God relates to righteousness or holiness. This is the view Luther held but is not popular today because of the degeneration seen in man after Genesis 6. The image of God cannot mean upright for they were not upright. The fourth view is the relational view. God is intrinsically relational and we are intrinsically relational. The man is incomplete apart from fellowship which relates to sexuality. We are people defined by our relationships. Barth notes that in Genesis 1:27, each time the image of God is used, it further hones what it is saying, "So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Concerns about this view include that engendered difference may be here in this context but does not seem to appear later in the New Testament when the phraseology appears. Also, this is not even a distinguishing mark of humans. Consider an that an assessment is that each of these views have weaknesses. What is an image? It is proposed that the image of God, as in a mirror, is not us. It means we are not defined by anything within us but defined by someone outside of us. We are called to consciously depend on God. To be the image of God is to depend on God for existence. There are two theological observations we can make. God is an imaging God. Ian McFarland in The Divine Image: Envisioning the Invisible God states, "That God has an image means that God incorporates otherness within God’s own life . . . that God’s life is intrinsically self-communicating." Another profound observation is that humans are derivative beings. Again, Anna Williams in The Divine Sense says, "One of the definitive features of Christian anthropology is that it declines to define humanity in solely human terms." Barth puts it this way in Church Dogmatics," [I]t not only belongs to the nature of the creatures, but constitutes its true honour, not merely occasionally but continuously to need and receive the assistance of God in its existence.” Being made in the image of God shows that God graciously freely gives life and love to those who are genuinely different from Him. It says remarkably that our need for God is good and is what it means to be human.

Consider that we image God by being different from him. If humans refuse to rejoice in their need and dependence and restlessly depend on their own abilities, they testify they have a distant and unloving God. Consider that they image wrongly but they have an image and that image falsifies the image of God. When we sin, we say to the world that God is lacking and we say He is a distorted image. That is why sin is so terrible. Do we embrace our finitude or does it cause us anxiety? Consider the Sabbath and tithe as examples of trusting God. Trusting God reveals something about his nature. Explore anthropology and ethics. God creates male and female as the image of God. Fyodor Dostoevsky, in The Brothers Karamazov, says, "I love mankind...but I marvel at myself: the more I love mankind in general, the less I love human beings in particular, separately, as individual persons. In my dreams...I would often arrive at fervent plans of devotion to mankind and might very possibly have gone to the Cross for human beings, had that been suddenly required of me, and yet I am unable to spend two days in the same room with someone else...No sooner is that someone else close to me than his personality...hampers my freedom. In the space of a day and a night I am capable of coming to hate even the best of human beings: one because he takes too long over dinner, another because he has a cold and is perpetually blowing his nose...To compensate for this, however, it has always happened that the more I have hated human beings in particular, the more ardent has become my love for mankind in general." Consider that the way in which we identity people as being in God's image relates to the way in which we treat them. Mary McClintock Fulkerson in “The Imago Dei and a Reformed Logic for Feminist/Womanist Critique” says, " The image is a symbolic condensation of what in the Christian tradition it means to be fully human. Its significance increases further upon recognition that the imago Dei has the double function of referring both to human beings and to God. It thereby directs us to ask not only about the way in which God is imaged and what that communicates, but about how such imaging contributes to the valuing and devaluing of human beings as well. In important respects the imago Dei can serve as an index of whom the tradition has seen as fully human." We are called to have love for God and love humanity (our neighbor). Consider that Jesus exemplifies faith.

Recall the fact that although people image God does not mean they give an accurate portrait of God. Consider that we are called to reflect God's goodness, grace, and generosity by having faith in Him but we often fail to do that. In defining sin, we notice that God uses many different words to describe sin in the Bible due partly because our sin is so extensive. Explore that there are three terms for sin used most consistently. Hamartia (ἁμαρτία ) is missing the mark or failure to meet moral perfection. Adikia (ἀδικία) or unrighteous is used for the rejecting of righteousness. Another term used is anomia (ἀνομία) or lawless. A liberal view is that people sin due to a misshapen society. The conservative view is that all people have personal responsibility for decisions. Consider that the Bible talks about both. Socialization and personal responsibility are not mutually exclusive.

The key text on the image of God, of course, sits at the very beginning of the canon. In Genesis 1: 26-27 we read, "Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." The phrase “image of God” (Latin: imago Dei) occurs twice again in Genesis (5:2; 9:6); much later in the inter-testamental literature (Wisd. 2:23; Sir. 17:3); and is applied to humans in the New Testament twice (1 Cor. 11:7; Jas. 3:9). Jesus is also identified as the image of God in the New Testament (2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15; cf. Heb. 1:3; Rom. 5:14; 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:45, 49; Phil. 3:21). Explore the four views in interpreting "the image of God". One is the ontological view in which the image of God is some part of our being as spirituality or rationality - it is the gift of reason and ability to grow in wisdom. Problems include that where the image of God is mentioned there is not any description of the intellectual life. When the Bible teaches about knowing God it does so in a way in which intellectual growth is part of a bigger equation. A more popular view is the functional view which emphasizes dominion or rule. In Genesis 1:28-30 we read, "And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." Therefore "the image of God" means to function in God's place. We are called to be God's ambassadors. We have God's image to fulfill a function. A problem is that the theme of our function is not identical to the image of God. Other texts in the New Testament about being fruitful and multiplying do not appear anywhere so it must not be the main concern. It may be related but is something distinct.

Consider the basic classic Arminian approach for double predestination. It can be described by five objections to the Augustinian Reformed view. First, in Prevenient Grace we suffer due to Adam’s sin but grace goes before us and restores us to a freed will. Second, Conditional Election is that in eternity past, God foresees those who will use their free will to trust God. Third, in Universal Atonement, the death of Christ is a death for all. Fourth, in Resistible Grace, the Spirit can be resisted by the free will and cannot force belief. Lastly, there is always the possibility we can lose our salvation. The standard view was the Augustinian-Reformed approach. What is going on in double predestination? Basically, people are saved in Christ by faith and all of that is by God’s sovereign grace. As John 6:44 tells us, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." And John 6:65 says, "And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." In and of ourselves we are incapable of trusting God. We have an inability -we do not seek our rest in God naturally. How does God grant people to come to Him? Acts 11:18 tells us, "When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life." And Philippians 1:29 says, "For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake..." God is the one who gives us the ability of faith.

Even the very existence of something other than God speaks of His kindness, generosity, and overflowing goodness. He is a God of grace. God’s life giving work in Creation is often tied directly to God’s life giving work in Salvation. Consider 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 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." Paul identifies God who saves with God who declared the light to shine out of darkness. Consider the beginning and nature of creation. The structure of the Bible contains two testaments and the story does not begin with Israel. The God of Israel is the God of the whole world, not just a local deity. The Doctrine of Creation funds or supports our belief in the promises of God. It is important in understanding the Gospel itself. Anna Williams states in The Divine Sense, “One of the definitive features of Christian anthropology is that it declines to define humanity in solely human terms.” Also, Karl Barth states in Church Dogmatics, “[I]t not only belongs to the nature of the creatures, but constitutes its true honour, not merely occasionally but continuously to need and receive the assistance of God in its existence.” Consider Psalm 29: A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the LORD, O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to His name; worship the LORD in holy array. The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD is over many waters. The voice of the LORD is powerful, the voice of the LORD is majestic. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; yes, the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the LORD hews out flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve and strips the forests bare; and in His temple everything says, “Glory!” The LORD sat as King at the flood; yes, the LORD sits as King forever. The LORD will give strength to His people; the LORD will bless His people with peace. Romans 11:36 expresses like this, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." The right response to creation according to the Bible is praise and worship.

Consider that there is a debate regarding Genesis 1:1 and creation ex nihilo. What are other texts that speak of creation? Consider some New Testament texts that speak of creation. In John 1: 1-4 we read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men." Revelation 4: 9-11 tells us, "And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, '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.'" Hebrews 11:3 states, "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible." Consider Colossians 1: 15-20, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven." If Jesus creates everything then at the very beginning there cannot be any other things that He uses to create. Creation from nothing is a denial of preexistent matter and opposition to God. It is a denial of Dualism. We are shown that this world is made for us to enjoy God's presence. Because God makes the world for Him to dwell with us, any other idol or god is simply a creature.

We are called to living as creatures before God. Janet Martin Soskice states in Athens and Jerusalem, Alexandria and Edessa: Is there a Metaphysics of Scripture?, "Those who insist that Christianity never had, properly, its own doctrine of God and simply ‘baptized’ the God of Aristotle have not given sufficient attention to the wholly un-Hellenic teaching of creatio ex nihilo. This idea, that all that is was created and is sustained wholly and intentionally by God, marks a break with ancient cosmology. Creatio ex nihilo was, furthermore, held to be a truth of revelation in the strong sense—that is, one that could not have been deduced by philosophy alone. Philosophy might disclose that there is a God, and even that God is One and Prime Mover, but philosophy alone could not arrive at the biblical Creator, or at creatio ex nihilo." Creation from nothing tells us something remarkable about God. Everything exists by grace for God is not moved by compulsion. John Webster puts it this way in The Dignity of Creatures, "To be a creature is to be wholly originated, owing one’s being to the loving and purposive divine summons. Unlike the life of the creator, the life of creatures is not a se or in se. Creatures have being and life by virtue of the freedom and goodness of God whose will it is that their life should be life other than his own perfect life. Because this is so, the manner in which creatures ‘have’ being and life can only be explained by extensive description of the will and work of God. Creatureliness means absolute dependence upon that will and work across the entire span of creaturely being. To be a creature, therefore, is not simply to be a self-standing product of an initial cause; it is to be and to live – without restriction – ab extra." Consider what Luther states in “Small Catechism". The first ontological rule is that we live as creatures before God. The second onotological rule is that we live as particular creatures before God. Luther says, " Further, to be a creature is to have a particular shape, to exist as a particular configuration. Formed by God, creaturely being has a given nature. Nature is not, of course, to be construed in crudely necessitarian terms as ineluctable fate; it is the bestowal of and summons to life in a particular direction, with a particular bearing. In this nature, the creature lives, that is, the creature is characterized by spontaneity and agency. This is above all because in its nature the creature is ordered to fellowship with God. It is of the nature of creatures both to be given and to act out what they are, to be determined for life not only from and under but also for and with the creator." John Webster in The Dignity of Creatures states, "This means that to be a creature is to be appointed by God the creator to a specific destiny or end. As the creature receives its being at the loving hands of God, and is formed to be a particular being, so also the creature is pointed to a particular perfection, namely full fellowship with God. Creatures are not merely caused; they are summoned to fulfil their nature over time, to realise themselves according to the form bestowed upon them." God is concerned not simply for human origin but for nature and ends - He makes for purpose and fellowship. It is also true for the new creation so there is a nature and a norm for the Christian life.

According to Augustinian teaching, we are born depraved and God grants us faith. Why do some come to faith and not others? Romans 9: 6-18 tells us, "But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.” That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.” And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” Just as it is written, “JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.” What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.” So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.” So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires." God predestines people for blessing or for curse. Also in Romans 9: 19-24 we read, "You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. Consider that another common objection is how can He hold us responsible and why does God still find fault? God responds by asking who are we to ask. This is a mystery of the faith and something to believe. We really do have free will and moral responsibility and at the same time our choice is directed by the sovereign will of God and firmly fixed in eternity.

Consider that divine sovereignty is compatible with human action. Consider divine sovereignty in the inspiration of the Bible. God is the Giver of all life and is the one from whom all life is a blessing. Explore the divine sovereignty in the life of Christ. Reading the biblical story requires a noncompetitive view of divine and human action. God is behind all things and elects all history and yet we are really involved. The point of election is not to be self-centered. Election is not the basis of our assurance – our assurance is found in Christ. Election is a mysterious and difficult topic but important. Consider that when God gives faith He gives a new heart and sustains and preserves us.

Dualistic Idealism can be identified with the Gnostic movement. Gnosticism is a philosophy that holds that they have an inside knowledge of how the world really is. They believe the material world is bad and the spiritual realm is good. Gnostics believed the Spirit and flesh contrast with each other so Gnostics desired to disengage from the physical. The Church responded by pointing out that it is the sinful nature being described when the Bible talks about the flesh. When the Bible talks about the spirit, it is not talking about the unphyisical it is talking about the new self or regenerated being that we have. Consider that if you look at the way God created the world, the goodness of creation can be seen. God called His creation good so material is not the problem. Consider that Naturalistic Materialism holds that the natural is all that matters. Material is all there is. If science can tell us everything to understand the world, why would we turn to anything else? This is science in the modern era and the march from nature to naturalism. Consider that Christians celebrate the goodness of nature as God’s creation but are against naturalism. Consider transcendence and creation by fiat or speech. Science cannot change your character or call goodness out of evil as God can.

Explore Jonathan Edwards' "The End for Which God Created the World". What compels God to create? What is God’s chief end in creating? Edwards assumes that God should be his own goal because God is the greater thing. He also sees that the Bible shows us that God wants to communicate himself to others. Edwards points out that God loves His glory and shows His character so others can enjoy themselves and rejoice in who He is. Creatures are made so that they are happiest when they are fulfilled in God. Consider some objections. Does this mean that God is needy? His delight is not new but that He shares it is new. Does this mean that God is selfish? God has appropriate self awareness that God is the one for whom we are made. It is not selfish but loving that He can meet the need of another. Does this minimize the importance of grace and salvation to God? Christ is the instance at which God gives himself most fully to us.

Explore God's glory expressed in the Bible. Consider Isaiah 42: 6-8, “I am the LORD, I have called You in righteousness, I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You, And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison. I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images." Also Isaiah 48: 9-11 states, “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, In order not to cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another." Consider Ezekiel 36: 22-23, 32, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight . . . I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord GOD, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!" Also, Ephesians 1: 6, 12, 14, "...to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ... to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. ... who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory." Ephesians 2:7 states, "...so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." And Ephesians 3: 8, 13, 16 states, "To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,.... Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. ... that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man..." God redeems for God’s glory and shows himself to be glorious and good in the Bible. This results in worship and praise to Him and we receive blessings in return. Consider that Biblical prayers appeal to God’s pursuit of God’s glory. Augustine said that the giver gets the glory. The Covenant of Redemption or Pactum Salutis expresses this idea from the Bible. Consider the biblical basis from several texts. In Isaiah 53:10 we read, "But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand." Also Revelation 13:8 states, "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." Acts 2:23 states, "...this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." Also consider Acts 4:27-28. As predestination is defined, there are three results. The shape of salvation is Trinitarian. The works of the Trinity are undivided. Also, the depths of salvation are eternal - it is not arbitrary-it is from the foundation of the world. There is no change in God due to external works of God. God’s grace will win out because God does not change and that is a great reason for assurance.

Critique the two hands of God analogy as it suggests a oneness of body, the one will of God, and diverse functions in a similar common task. Consider this analogy does not fit the Spirit and Son interacting. The image of a mind and two hands conveys a hierarchy of some sort but does not speak to equality. Critique the Social Analogy and find equality is a major concern but seems to make them identical in every respect which leads to pantheism. Critique of the psychological analogy shows honor of the oneness but does not honor the equality. A common modern analogy is that God is like H2O which is always in three forms but never all three. The strength of this analogy is that it emphasizes oneness and the scientific idea is familiar but its limitation is that it suggests modalism in that they cannot be all three at once. The value of an analogy is that although it is not a perfect statement, different analogies can balance themselves in conveying the truth. Consider that Jesus taught different parables as an analogy or illustration and pastoral wisdom is to illustrate liberally.

The way God interacts with us shows us how God interacts in himself. Explore the example of Divine Triunity through eternal generation that the Son is eternally generated of the Father. In John 5:19 we read, "Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner." John 5:30 Jesus states, "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Consider John 5:26, “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself." The Father has granted something to the Son which suggests order and implies authority. At the same time they share life in themselves in common. They are proper or distinctive because one grants and one receives. In John 7:16 we read, "So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me." And in John 8: 28-29, "So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him." Consider the processions and missions from eternity to the economy. The Son as a Person is one who proceeds from the Father. The Son and the Father as God are equal and the same and as persons are distinct. What does it means that Jesus shows us the Father? He shows us that the Father fundamentally relates to us because he relates to His Son. He is one with but distinct form the Father.

Explore Divine Triunity in divine freedom and gracious love in creation and new creation. The fact that God is triune helps us appreciate grace. Thomas Aquinas stated, “The knowledge of the divine persons was necessary to us on two grounds. The first is to enable us to think rightly on the subject of the creation of things. For by maintaining that God made everything through his Word we avoid the error of those who held that God’s nature necessarily compelled him to create things. By affirming that there is in him the procession of Love, we show that he made creatures, not because he needed them nor because of any reason outside him, but from Love of his own goodness . . . The second reason, and the principal one, is to give us a true notion of the salvation of mankind, a salvation accomplished by the Son who became flesh and by the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The doctrine of the Trinity illustrates that equality does not require sameness. Consider that we are to honor the equality and particularity of all three. Explore how this transfers to missiology.

Consider the nature of God’s works or all the many things God does in respect to others. All flow from divine freedom and divine love. St. Augustine stated in Homilies on the Gospel of John, “If you are without God, you will be less; if you are with God, God will not be greater. He is not made greater by you, but without him you are less.” Karl Barth stated in Church Dogmatics, “God would be no less God if he had created no world and no human being. The existence of the world and our own existence are in no sense vital to God, not even as the object of his love. The eternal generation of the Son by the Father tells us first and supremely that God is not at all lonely even without the world and us. His love has its object in himself.” Divine freedom means everything God does is by grace and an expression of love. Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” In Richard Sibbes Works we read, “God’s goodness is a communicative, spreading goodness. . . . If God had not a communicative, spreading goodness, he would never have created the world. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost were happy in themselves and enjoyed one another before the world was. But that God delights to communicate and spread his goodness, there had never been a creation nor a redemption. God useth his creatures not for defect of power, that he can do nothing without them, but for the spreading of his goodness. . . Oh that we had hearts to make way for such a goodness as God would cast into us, if we were as we should be. God’s goodness is a spreading, imparting goodness.” Consider Job 7: 17-21, “What is man that You magnify him, and that You are concerned about him, that You examine him every morning and try him every moment? Will You never turn Your gaze away from me, nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle? Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself? Why then do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; and You will seek me, but I will not be.” Also, consider Deuteronomy 7 which reminds the Israelites that God chose them to be His people from nothing. God's works flow from His freedom and thus by love. It is by grace and we never relate to God apart from grace.

There is a modern belief that discarding the historical beliefs of the church to find the "real" Jesus is exciting and it bespeaks of how we view the Church and the Jesus who created and sustains the Church. Because God has promised to speak truth through His Church, we do need to listen to the rule of faith and love and do theology in the community of the saints. The Arian controversy sparked a conversation about God and shaped the Creed. The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D. A. Carson is discussed about just how hard the language can be and that it is not simple. God's love is distinct from worldly love. Consider a word in and of itself does not connote the full definition of love. Words are shaped by contexts so we need to ask what does it mean in context.

This lesson reviews a Bibliography that is more lengthy and which reflects that Christians have always seen it necessary to see who God is and what it means that God is Triunal. Augustine stated, "There is no subject where error is more dangerous, research more laborious, and discovery more fruitful than the oneness of the Trinity (unitas Trinitatis) of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." There is a sense the Trinity is a deep mystery and terribly unapproachable topic. Aquinas said, " It is useful for the human mind to exercise itself with such reasons, however weak they are, provided there be not presumptuous attempt to comprehend or demonstrate. For the ability to perceive something of the highest realities, if only with feeble, limited understanding, gives the greatest joy . . . In accord with this thought, St. Hilary declares in his book On the Trinity, speaking of this sort of truth: In faith, set out, go forward, persevere. And though I may know that you will not attain the end, still I shall praise you for your progress. He who pursues the infinite with reverent devotion, even though he never attains it, always profits nonetheless from advancing forward. But in penetrating this secret, in plunging into the hidden depths of the birth unlimited [the generation of the Son of God by the unbegotten God the Father], beware of presumptuously thinking you have attained a full understanding. Know, rather, that this is incomprehensible." God is able to be apprehended but not comprehended. The attempt to hold on to the full teaching of the Bible has lead the Church to speak in Trinitarian ways. Explore YHWH is the One True God, the God of Israel. Consider the Shema in Deuteronomy 6: 4-5, "Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." In Isaiah 45: 5-6 we read, "I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. . ." And in Zechariah 14:9 we are told, "And the Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one."

It is precisely the belief in biblical authority that led the Church to develop tradition to explain what the Bible must mean and say. This tradition Is not meant as a way around the Bible but a way to affirm the Bible and be a guide. Explore analogies of the Divine Triunity and consider the “two hands of God“ as the Son and the Spirit which shows the three working together. Another analogy is the Social Analogy that emphasizes the notion that God is one and three. If God is love there must be something equal to Him that He can love and there must be a third they can both love. Consider also the Psychological Analogy that God is like a mind in which its activities are ongoing knowing and loving and that these three are intertwined. There can not be love without knowing and be directed at someone. Explore that the Trinity is the life of mutuality. In assessment of the use of analogy, we find that these analogies were not meant as proofs. They are illustrations to imagine how these kinds of things can be.

Continue to explore John’s Gospel Chapter 1 as God’s perfection overflows into God’s presence. Consider the rhythm of the Gospel. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." We need a Savior who is fundamentally different. The glory of the Gospel is that someone not worthy of the curse and not guilty of sin would come and take our sin. The Gospel shows us that there is someone who has life in Himself and reveals that God's perfection is an overflowing perfection. God’s glory and perfection goodness is a spreading goodness. God's justice is defined by sacrificial generosity and God's perfection is a love-showing perfection. Isaak Dorner, in System of Christian Doctrine stated, "God is not merely distinct from the world, but also distinguishes Himself from it and it from Himself . . . and by means of this absolute inalienable Self-mastery of God, this doctrine opens the prospect that God can communicate Himself to the world without detriment." Because God is perfect, God is able to be near and that is what makes the Gospel good news, not bad news. Karl Barth, in Church Dogmatics stated, "It is just the absoluteness of God properly understood which can signify not only his freedom to transcend all that is other than himself, but also his freedom to be immanent within it, and at such a depth of immanence as simply does not exist in the fellowship between other beings. No created being can be inwardly present to another, entering and remaining in communion with it in the depths of its inner life." Augustine writes in Confessions, "You were more inward than my most inward part and higher than the highest element within me."

In When I Was a Child I Read Books, Marilynne Robinson writes that being a voracious reader stirs imagination and helps you see the world in new ways. To know that we cannot fully fathom God is a profound theological achievement. Divine constancy in the Bible or immutability is seen in Exodus 3:14. "God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM”. James 1:17 tells us, "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." Consider also that in Malachi 3:6 we are told, “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed." And in Hebrews 13:8 we read, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” John in Revelation 1:4 says, "Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come...”. The implications are that the Triune God is eternal, infinite, and almighty as seen in the Athanasian Creed. Consider that God is unchangeable in the face of our sin.

In the New Testament, writers affirm the oneness of God but there are also texts that seem to say matters are more complicated than that. In Mark 12:29-30 we read, "Jesus answered, 'The most important is,‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'" Jesus is elaborating to make the point to give God everything. In Romans 3:29-30 Paul states, "Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one." Consider that God is not a tribal god but the Creator God. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 tells us, "Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." In 1 Timothy 2: 3-5 we read, "This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Consider James 2:19, "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!" The fundamental presupposition of the Old Testament and of the theology of Apostles and Disciples is that there is one true God and He has revealed himself to Israel but He is also the God and Creator of all. In the New Testament, there are verses that expand within the name: Jesus as LORD. Explore the argument from David Yeago in “The New Testament and the Nicene Dogma: Toward a Recovery of Theological Exegesis.” What we find in the Nicene Creed, is actually a statement that is pressured by what we find in the Bible using different phraseology. Philippians 2: 5-11 states, "Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." The text shows us another layer as God is one and God is Jesus and the Father. Consider 1 Corinthians 8: 4-6, "Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one. For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist." Notice that the text is linked to creation which is what the Old Testament teaches.

Explore the challenge to orthodoxy that Arius created. The Arians believed that God is solitary, unified. They believed the Son was created: there was a time when he was not .They held that God made the Son as an intermediary and that the Son is mutable, as a creature. They also held that the Father and Son have different ousiai or essences. Arians also distinguished between the Son and other creatures. They viewed the Son as the highest or firstborn of all creation. He was a “creature but not as other creatures” in several ways. They also distinguished the Son from other beings -he had a different mode of beginning and had a different function. God foreknew the obedience that he would exercise so the Arians believed he merited this gift. The Church responded in 325 at the Council of Nicea with what they termed homoousia which targeted the Arian error. The Nicene Creed (325 A.D.) confessed the “Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, begotten as only-begotten of the Father, that is of the substance (ousia) of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father." Explore what the Homoians and Marcellus believed concerning the Father and Son and the resulting Modalism. In the 350’s, the Church found they now had two theaters of theological war. There was the Arian challenge which denied that the Son is God and the Modalist challenge which denied that the Son is distinct from the Father. The response was Constantinople (381 AD). The Nicene Creed confessed a proper differentiation of persona but a common affirmation of divinity. Explore the meaning of “begotten”. According to Michel Rene Barnes in “The Fourth Century as Trinitarian Canon”, “fourth-century Trinitarian orthodoxy was the net product of rejecting modalism’s claim as the necessary cost for defeating subordinationism”

Why does the Apostle's Creed mark out God as "Almighty"? Explore what Paul says in Acts 17: 22-25. "So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 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; 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...'" God has life in Himself and is not dependent on others. Can God be trusted? Paul teases out election in Romans to show that God does not change and can be trusted. We can entrust ourselves fully to Him. How did modern thinking about God go wrong? William Placher describes this in, The Domestication of Transcendence: How Modern Thinking about God Went Wrong. The idea is called the Hellenization Thesis which was a view of the history of the church as it was shaped by dogma and propositions as a Greek world view usurped a Hebrew worldview. Most viewed this as a problem. Paul Gavrilyuk terms this historical thesis the “Theory of Theology’s Fall into Hellenistic Philosophy.” Explore Gavrilyuk's definition of five theses: 1) divine impassibility is an attribute of God in Greek and Hellenistic philosophy; 2)divine impassibility was adopted by the early Father uncritically from the philosophers; 3) divine impassibility does not leave room for any sound account of divine emotions and divine involvement in history, as attested in the Bible; 4) divine impassibility is incompatible with the revelation of the suffering God in Jesus Christ; and 5) the latter fact was recognized by a minority group of theologians who affirmed that God is passible, going against the majority opinion.

Explore that the new character of God is thought to be “the suffering God” and “open theism" holds the view that God knows some of the future but not all of it. A new history of doctrine as R. L. Wilken states is "The Christianization of Hellenism". The church critically adopts language from its culture to express and pass on what the Bible talks about. Cyril discussed the impassibility of the suffering God but God doesn't suffer in the way we suffer for He is not powerless. God's suffering is a sovereign suffering and Cyril describes Him as the God of the Gospel. In Thomas' explanation of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, the elements are changed in essence and though appear to look normal are actually the body and blood of Jesus. Consider that Jesus continues to sustain His Church with the Gospel truth. There is a remarkable difference between trusting in an institution and trusting in an institution (the Church) which God has ordained. Consider that Jesus has pledged to sustain the Church.

The nature of the Bible's unity is not literary uniformity but there is a Christological and theological unity. The Bible also has a stylistic diversity. Hebrews 1:1-2 shows us two characteristics, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son..." There is one truth and one Gospel presented but it is presented in a pluriformity of ways. Explore that the Bible has an asymmetry (progression to an end).The Old Testament tells the same story and culminates in the same truth that is clearly proclaimed in the New Testament but Paul and the Apostles claim their preaching is a revelation of a mystery that has been hidden in the past and now revealed. Consider that unity does not require uniformity. Join the discussion on Scott R. Swain's Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction to the Bible and Its Interpretation and his views on being "friends" with Christ. Consider that the goal of our lives is life with God which glorifies God. We are to identify with Israel not yet in the Promised Land and therefore we are called pilgrims. The term "Pilgrim" Theology comes from people in the Post-Reformation era.

Explore YHWH's perfection and presence. "God is not merely distinct from the world, but also distinguishes Himself from it and it from Himself . . . and by means of this absolute inalienable Self-mastery of God, this doctrine opens the prospect that God can communicate Himself to the world without detriment" as Isaak Dorner states in System of Christian Doctrine. For humans, giving to another involves detriment to oneself. How can God give to us and not cause himself loss? God is the transcendent God but also near. Peter Leithart states, "I teach my theology students to be “because of” theologians rather than “in spite of” theologians. God is immanent not in spite of His transcendence, but because of His transcendence. The Son became man not in spite of His sovereign Lordship, but because He is Lord, as the most dramatic expression of His absolute sovereignty. Creation does not contradict God’s nature, but expresses it." Consider that Jesus stating "I AM" in the New Testament is his claim to be God and is what causes Him to be killed. How will we know God when we are perfected? Knowledge of something is always limited. There is Archetypal knowledge which is God's knowledge of God - perfect and comprehensive. We have Ectypal knowledge which is dependent on another. We will never comprehend him and know Him to the fullest depths. Consider words we use to relate to God. Univocal language is using a word to mean exactly the same thing in every sense. Equivocal language applies to different speech where nothing is the same and there is no similarity between the two words. Consider Aquinas' thoughts on Univocal and Equivocal language in relation to the Bible. Analogical language is neither. Aquinas holds that all our language is analogical. Consider that words apply to God by analogy. God takes our ordinary language and uses and perfects it to speak of glorious heavenly things.

Explore some common ways God's attributes have been classified. Some attributes speak of the removal of limits, negation, or causation of God. Some of God's attributes are incommunicable and some are communicable. There are many things that God is and by the grace of His Gospel we shall become but there are many things as well we will never become because we are creatures and He is God. Some of God's attributes are negative and some positive. His negative attributes are unity, simplicity, immutability, infinity, omnipresence, and eternity. His positive attributes are life, knowledge, wisdom, will, holiness, justice, truthfulness, goodness, mercy, love, grace, longsuffering, and patience. Some attributes are relative and absolute. God is “the living God and the everlasting King” (Jeremiah 10:10) Consider divine love and divine freedom. Karl Barth states in Church Dogmatics, "God is who He is in the act of His revelation. God seeks and creates fellowship between Himself and us, and therefore He loves us. But He is this loving God without us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the freedom of the Lord, who has His life from Himself." God really does love us and secondly, God loves out of fullness. Barth tells us there are two kinds of attributes: the attributes of Loving - grace and holiness, mercy and righteousness, patience and wisdom, and attributes of Freedom - unity and omnipresence, constancy and omnipotence, eternity and glory.

Explore John 1 as Paul writes to the Corinthians that the glory of God is revealed in Christ. We learn who God is by looking at Christ. Projecting our ideals onto God are only going to be as good as those doing the idealizing and thoughts that are driven by our own comfort and concerns. In Jesus Christ we know who God is. Follow Luther in the Theology of the Cross, “It is folly to argue much about God outside and before time, because this is an effort to understand the Godhead without a covering, or the uncovered divine essence. Because this is impossible, God envelops Himself in His works in certain forms, as today He wraps Himself up in Baptism, in absolution, etc. If you should depart from these, you will get into an area where there is no measure, no space, no time, and into the merest nothing, concerning which, according to the philosopher, there can be no knowledge . . . Those who want to reach God apart from these coverings exert themselves to ascend to heaven without ladders (that is, without the Word). Overwhelmed by His majesty, which they seek to comprehend without a covering, they fall to their destruction.” (Lectures on Genesis) Consider that theology is by faith. Either we trust in God in what He does say or go the path of unbelief. Romans 12 tells us all our minds need to be renewed. Consider that theology is a part of the rhythm of sanctification.

Explore that Martin Luther speaks of two types of theologians, theologians of the Cross and theologians of glory. Luther, in the 1518 Heidelberg Disputation, states when speaking of the theologian of glory, "That person does not deserve to be called a theologian who claims to see into the invisible things of God by seeing through earthly things (events, works). The theologian of glory calls evil good and good evil." Contrast what he says about the Theologian of the Cross, "But [that person deserves to be called a theologian]who comprehends what is visible of God through suffering and the cross. The theologian of the cross says what a thing is." Bernard of Clairvaux put it this way, "Once God was incomprehensible and inaccessible, invisible and entirely unthinkable. But now he wanted to be seen, he wanted to be understood, he wanted to be known. How was this done, you ask? God lay in a manger and lay on the Virgin’s breast. He preached on a mountain, prayed through the night, and hung on a cross. He lay pale in death, was free among the dead, and was master of hell. He rose on the third day, showed the apostles the signs of victory where nails once were, and ascended before their eyes to the inner recesses of heaven . . . When I think on any of these things, I am thinking of God, and in all these things he is now my God." We really see how God is revealed as we look at what God has done in redemptive history. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Ethics said, "In Jesus Christ the reality of God has entered into the reality of this world. The place where the questions about the reality of God and about the reality of the world are answered at the same time is characterized solely by the name: Jesus Christ. God and the world are enclosed in this name . . . we cannot speak rightly of either God or the world without speaking of Jesus Christ. All concepts of reality that ignore Jesus Christ are abstractions." The Gospel is primarily about life with God and the Bible primarily is focused on telling us a lot about God. Explore comments made by Luther from his Commentary on Genesis 1-2. Consider the identity and character of God through a Christological approach. Consider that we must have a canonical perspective also. We must be canonically sensitive because we are Christologically committed.

"For now treat the Scripture of God as the face of God. Melt in its presence," urges Augustine. If you want to know who God is, go to the Bible. Consider the importance of knowing who God is. The Bible offers us the presence of God not found anywhere else. His presence is the greatest delight we can know. Two sources of attributes or perfections are characteristics revealed by the actions by God (inferences). What do the actions of God tell us about His character? Psalm 111:2-4 states, "Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered..." A second way we can look at God is as He announces and says who He is. Consider a litany of biblical one-liners from a list compiled by Paul Helm. Deuteronomy 32:40 says, ‘As I live forever...', Revelation 1:8, ‘I am the Alpha and Omega…who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty’, I Timothy 6:15, ‘The blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings, and Lord of lords’, Ephesians 3:10, ‘the manifold wisdom of God', Job 28:24, ‘He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens’, and Acts 15:17, ‘The Lord makes these things known of old’. Indeed, Helm points to the presence of so many one-liners in even the Pastoral Epistles.

Consider that the Doctrine of Inspiration will not make sense unless you believe in providence. The Bible is authored in two ways: by humans and by God as He providentially guides the writing as a Word from Him. These two ways are not mutually exclusive. God takes the authors' human abilities and perfects them so in these special instances they speak truth. It is verbal inspiration, not that the person is perfected. Consider that the humanity of the Bible does not negate the divinity of the Bible. Because the Bible is divine, it is also human. There are a number of attributes of Scripture including that the Scriptures are authoritative and therefore we have the rallying cry of Sola Scriptura. The Bible affirms that we should have multiple authorities and it is good to have pastors, teachers and evangelists. However, the Bible is ultimately the authority for faith and practice. The Bible is infallible and the Norm. Consider that the alternatives of tradition or experience can be considered a parallel authority. Consider the Bible as sufficient for Christian faith and practice which goes against Roman Catholicism, modern Protestant liberalism, and charismatic practice. Consider also the Bible as necessary for Christian faith and practice and is against spiritualism in the radical Reformation. The Bible is the final authority for Christian faith and practice.

This lecture causes us to theologically reflect on Psalm 145 as a practice of theology. Consider six observations that the text speaks about a story. It tells of “the works” and “mighty acts” of God as the focus of theological reasoning. The Jewish biblical scholar Jon Levenson is quoted, “The given that is affirmed in the covenant ceremony is not a principle; it is not an idea or an aphorism or an ideal. Instead, it is the consequence of what are presented as the acts of God . . . In other words, those who come to the Hebrew Bible in hopes of finding a philosophical system flowing smoothly from a theorem will be disappointed.” (Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Hebrew Bible) We can follow Robert Jenson in expanding the compass a bit, when he says that “God is whoever raised Jesus from the dead, having before raised Israel from Egypt.” (Systematic Theology) God is identified from a story and we also draw inferences from a story. Levenson is helpful when he says, “Israel began to infer and to affirm her identity by telling a story. To be sure, the story has implications that can be stated as propositions. For example, the intended implication of the historical prologue is that YHWH is faithful, that Israel can rely on God as a vassal must rely upon his suzerain. But Israel does not begin with the statement that YHWH is faithful; she infers it from a story . . . History, the arena of public events (as opposed to private, mystical revelation and to philosophical speculation), and time are not illusions or distractions from essential reality. They are means to the knowledge of God.” (Sinai and Zion) Notice that Psalm 145 moves from story to telling what God is like and who God is. Stories infer character traits. God is really revealed in history and has tied His history up with the life of His people. God acts savingly and redeemingly for the sake of His Name. Christ shows us what God is like. The knowledge of God gives us knowledge of who we are as humans. The life of God is bound up with his fellowship with humans in the kingdom of God. Story and theology are mediated by testimony, “one generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts” (Psalm 145:4). This really does happen, though, for “they shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness” (v. 6). “They [“all your saints” from the preceding v. 10b] shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man . . . “ The purpose of theology is speech about God in worship and witness. Consider that the Psalm begins and ends with adoring speech about God. Lutheran theologian Robert Jenson says it well: “The church has a mission: to see to the speaking of the gospel, whether to the world as message of salvation or to God as appeal and praise” (Systematic Theology).

Explore YHWH's perfection and presence beginning in Exodus 3 and the account of the burning bush. In 3: 14-15 God reveals his name in two names. The first divine name is that God is distinct from creation, "I AM Who I AM". There is no comparative analysis. He is distinct or transcendence from creation. Augustine remarked, "Perhaps it was hard even for Moses himself, as it is much also for us, and much more for us, to understand what was said, “I am who I am” and “He who is has sent me to you.” And if by chance Moses understood, when would they to whom he was being sent understand? Therefore the Lord put aside what man could not grasp and added what he could grasp. For he added and said, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” This you can grasp. But what mind can grasp, “I am who I am?” The second divine name reveals that God is intimately involved with creation. "The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever" Augustine remarked, "What does it mean then that later on he gave himself another name, where it says, “And the Lord said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this is my name forever?” How is it that there I am called this name that shows “I am,” and lo and behold here is another name: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?” It means that while God is indeed unchangeable, he has done everything out of mercy, and so the Son of God himself was prepared to take on changeable flesh and thereby to come to man’s rescue while remaining what he is as the Word of God. Thus he who is clothed himself with mortal flesh, so that it could truly be said, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Consider that God is transcendent above and beyond the world and yet God is immanent in the world. These are not mutually exclusive. His transcendence does not come at the cost of His immanence. God is qualitatively transcendent. His difference and distinction is his holiness and does not come at the expense of his nearness. This is fundamentally the great mystery of the faith. Exodus 3 shows us God is able to deliver because he is distinct from creation.

Consider the impetus for writing down prophetic testimony and explore whether or not different translations go against God's warning not to change the original biblical text and message. Andrew Walls, an historian of missions, makes the observation that Christian ministry is marked by two principles. The Pilgrim Principle is that all of us are in need of grace and salvation so the Word needs to come to us strange and creates conflict first. Secondly there is the Indigenous Principle. Christians are to present the Gospel in the common language and culture of the people. Good translation is of meaning, not affect. Explore that the risen Lord speaks and consider the Inspiration of Scripture. The significance of the Resurrection for us is that it proves the truth of what Jesus said and that Jesus is alive and active. The Risen Lord continues his ministry as Prophet, Priest, and King. Herman Bavinck, in Reformed Dogmatics, says that Scripture is “the eternally youthful Word of God.” Inspiration of Scripture does not mean to cause you to feel inspired. What inspiration does mean is the origin of the text itself, or God himself. "All Scripture is breathed out by God." (2 Timothy 3:1) God is the source of all. Inspiration is how grace perfects nature as God perfects the authors speech to be fully truthful and authoritative.

Consider that theology is having your mind sanctified. Explore Romans 12:1-2 as the biblical author makes this point and is the best synopsis of what theology is all about and what it is for. The main point is an appeal for us to be living sacrifices. "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." When our minds are renewed that is what transforms us. The goal of Romans and Paul's whole apostolic ministry is the obedience of faith. Consider that this sacrifice and obedience is not our achievement but of God's grace. We need to be reminded again and again that our presuppositions are set to the wrong frequencies but God's grace is ongoing and by the mercies of God we are transformed. Explore Karl Barth's three reminders of God’s grace for theology as taken from Church Dogmatics. What is Dogmatics? “As a theological discipline dogmatics, is the scientific self-examination of the Christian Church with respect to the content of its distinctive talk about God.” What do we hear? “Dogmatics invites the teaching Church to listen again to the Word of God in the revelation to which Scripture testifies. It can do this only if for its own part it adopts the attitude of the hearing Church and therefore itself listens to the Word of God as the norm to which the hearing Church knows itself to be subject.” What do we speak? “Dogmatics summons the listening Church to address itself anew to the task of teaching the Word of God in the revelation attested in Scripture. It can do this only as it accepts itself the position of the teaching Church and is therefore claimed by the Word of God as the object to which the teaching Church as such has devoted itself.”

How do we figure out what the Bible is? The nature and identity of the Bible is not an obvious thing and requires training from those who know it. We can study the phenomena of the text itself and also look at its self-attestation. What are its own claims about itself? Consider that all of our judging of the Bible is based on deeper beliefs and is idolatry. The Bible has to be our ultimate foundation. The Bible is a human word and speaks of itself as human speech. "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son ..." (Hebrews 1:1) The Bible speaks about the process that humans decided they needed to write biblical writings. "Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things." (2 Peter 1: 12-15) The Bible does not hiding or downplaying reflective processes or human intentions behind the biblical text. Nor does it downplay the human process of research and composition. Consider Luke 1:1-4. The Bible shows us Scripture is the Divine Word. Where does the Bible say it is the Word of the Lord? Consider that Exodus 4 or 7 is an example of prophetic testimony in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 1 shows us what it means to be a prophet. Jeremiah is human and these are his words but they are also the Word of the Lord which came to him. The New Testament assumes and affirms the truthfulness, authority and the God given origin of the Old Testament. The New Testament perception of apostolic witness is that the authors say the Gospel they preach comes from God as Paul says in Galatians 1: 11-12. Also, the texts tell us that the apostolic preaching about the Gospel is from God, as indicated in 1 Thessalonians 2:13. The texts also speak to us that the written apostolic message is a Word from God, as in 2 Peter 3: 15-16. Lesson 11 (24min) Holy Scripture: The Divine Word and The Inspiration of Scripture Consider the impetus for writing down prophetic testimony and explore whether or not different translations go against God's warning not to change the original biblical text and message. Andrew Walls, an historian of missions, makes the observation that Christian ministry is marked by two principles. The Pilgrim Principle is that all of us are in need of grace and salvation so the Word needs to come to us strange and creates conflict first. Secondly there is the Indigenous Principle. Christians are to present the Gospel in the common language and culture of the people. Good translation is of meaning, not affect. Explore that the risen Lord speaks and consider the Inspiration of Scripture. The significance of the Resurrection for us is that it proves the truth of what Jesus said and that Jesus is alive and active. The Risen Lord continues his ministry as Prophet, Priest, and King. Herman Bavinck, in Reformed Dogmatics, says that Scripture is “the eternally youthful Word of God.” Inspiration of Scripture does not mean to cause you to feel inspired. What inspiration does mean is the origin of the text itself, or God himself. "All Scripture is breathed out by God." (2 Timothy 3:1) God is the source of all. Inspiration is how grace perfects nature as God perfects the authors speech to be fully truthful and authoritative.