Master 243: Christian Doctrine Series, Part 2

Doctrine of God, part 1.

Our understanding and grasp of who God is and what He is like comes from His self-revelation. General/natural revelation refers to the aspects of God's character that are revealed through the created universe. But God has also seen fit to make Himself known to humanity through very direct and personal communications and interactions. Finally, He has revealed Himself most fully in connection with the work of salvation, especially through Jesus Christ. (Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:1-3) Though philosophical reflection is useful for helping us to systematize our understanding of God and for interpreting God's general revelation, we must always test our ideas about God against the standard of what He has revealed.

[The part of this entry that most excites me is the part on the Trinity. If you don't have time to peruse the whole thing, read that section.]

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Arguments for the Existence of God

[This topic will not be treated in this entry.]
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God's Attributes

I. Through their experiences and interactions with God, the people whose experiences and histories are recorded in the Bible learned over time that God is the one unique, free, independent, autonomous, transcendent, self-existent, eternal, unchangeable, sovereign, omnipotent, and unified (ordered, simple) Spirit. (Joshua 5:13-15; 1 Samuel 2:1-6:21; 1 Samuel 28; Job 38-42; Proverbs 1:7; Isaiah 43:10; 44:6-8; 46:9; Jeremiah 1 (esp. v. 17); Daniel 1:1-2 (see also, Isaiah 42:14-25); Hebrews 10:26-39 (esp. v. 31).)

'Then Moses said to God, Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name? What shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "This you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"' (Exodus 2:15-4:23)

'Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!' (Deuteronomy 6:4)

' "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ... Therefore do not fear; you are of more value than many sparrows."' (Matthew 10:28-31)

In the Bible, we learn that God, alone, existed prior to and independently of the created order. (He is unique.) He is the creator of everything outside of Himself, so is dependent on and bound to nothing outside Himself. (He is independent and unchangeable.) Space and even time are His creations. He existed 'before' either of these and so is not bound by the constraints of either matter (He is Spirit) or time (He is eternal). (He is transcendent and self-existent.) Since everything besides Him that exists was created by Him, it is all under His control. (He is sovereign and omnipotent.) He is not bound by the laws of nature or by the will and demands of any sentient creature (humans, angels, demons, gods). (He is free and autonomous.) Ultimately these are not separate characteristics but different manifestations or reflections of God's fundamental nature. (God is unified.)

Two responses to the revelation of these attributes of God are appropriate: fear and trust. That God is radically transcendent and independent means, among other things, that we cannot force Him to bow to our projects and purposes. If we set our wills against His, then we should expect that we will encounter obstacles to reaching our own ends and goals. And to proceed at such cross purposes is to pursue a course that will end ultimately in God's righteous and just wrath and punishment. On the other hand, that God is radically transcendent and independent, means that we can and should trust in Him completely. That God is so radically free does not mean that He is capricious. Rather, it means precisely that He is not subject to whimsy or fancy, much less to the will of other human beings or even of powerful spiritual forces. 'I AM THAT I AM', God says, or, 'I AM WHO I AM.' That is the foundation on which God's whole redemptive work is built. That is why it is secure: because it is founded on God Himself.

II. God is omnipresent, omniscient, wise, truthful, faithful, good, loving, merciful (gracious and patient), holy and righteous (just). (Genesis 16; 28; 39:2; Exodus 2:23-25; 25-31; 1 Kings 8; 17; 2 Kings 5; 18-19; Daniel 1-6; Jonah; John 14-17. Most of these passages have to do with God's omnipresence. Consult a systematic theology text or theological dictionary for references to the other attributes.)

'Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!" 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." ... And the LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. 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 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." And Moses made haste to bow low toward the earth and worship.' (Exodus 33:18-34:9)

"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1)

"For in Him [Christ] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form..." (Colossians 2:9)

As with the first group of attributes discussed, these attributes ought not to be thought of as discrete or independent qualities or characteristics of God. Rather, they all flow together from God's singular and unified fundamental nature. Additionally, we should remember that people came to recognize that these attributes belonged to God through their interactions with Him. So we should take seriously that God's having these attributes has very practical implications since it was in such practical contexts that people learned that God had these attributes. That God is omnipresent came to be understood as people encountered God in all kinds of circumstances and settings--particularly in places where they were expecting not to find Him. They also learned that God's knowledge and competence are all-encompassing, extending to the deepest concerns of the human heart and to the most distant past and future. (God is omniscient and wise.) They learned through experience that God is absolutely reliable--that the person who desires to know and follow God can stake his or her very life on His words with complete confidence. (God is truthful and faithful.) God's goodness, love, mercy, graciousness, and patience are attested to repeatedly by the biblical authors. It is interesting, in this connection, to notice that the same people who praised God as good and merciful are the same people who were often on the receiving end of God's judgment and punishment. They learned, through experience, that God is holy, righteous, and just--that He abhors and directs his wrath toward sin, disobedience, and injustice. They learned all this as they attended to the work of God in their lives and in the life of the nation of Israel. They recognized that God held the fate of mighty nations in His hand, and that He was also attentive to the plight and needs of the most insignificant person.

III. Other attributes often ascribed to God include perfection, blessedness, beauty, and glory.

IV. The Names of God

'In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.' (Genesis 1:1. 430)

'And she [Hagar] called the name of the YHWH who spoke to her, "El Roi (Thou art a God who sees)"; for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?"' (Genesis 16:13. 410 & 7210)

'Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the YHWH appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am El Shaddai (God Almighty); walk before Me, and be blameless."' (Genesis 17:1)

'And Abraham called the name of that place YHWH Jireh (The Lord Will Provide) as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the YHWH it will be provided."' (Genesis 22:14. 3608 & 7200)

'And he [Melchizedek] blessed him [Abram] and said, "Blessed be Abram of El Elyon (God Most High), possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be El Elyon, who has delivered your enemies into your hand."' (Exodus 14:19-20. 410 & 5945)

'The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted. YHWH Sabaoth (The God of hosts) is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.' (Psalm 46:6-7. See also 1 Samuel 1.)

'Do you not know? Have you not heard? El Olam (The Everlasting God), YHWH, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable.' (Isaiah 41:28. 410 & 5769)

[Of course, this is a very incomplete list.]

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The Holy Trinity

There is but one living and true God, the maker and preserver of all things. In the unity of this Godhead there are three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one in eternity, deity, and purpose; everlasting, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness.

Book of Discipline: Free Methodist Church – 2007

Articles of Religion: God – The Holy Trinity ¶101

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God's most complete self-revelation comes in the context of the work of redemption. This makes sense since the goal of God's redemptive work just is our incorporation into the life of God--into the fellowship that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally enjoy. God discloses most fully His desire for us to live as sons of God in the sending of His only-begotten Son to earth. He [Jesus] is the one who both shows us what it means to live as a son of God and opens the way for us to become sons of God. (He is uniquely able to accomplish this because He is the only-begotten Son of God.) So the invitation to become sons of God and the revelation that sonship (along with fatherhood) is part of God's essential nature come together.

The same connection applies where the Holy Spirit is concerned. Our incorporation into the life and fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit involves our being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But this empowering and enlivening activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives is not just something that God gives to us. Rather, it is an extension of the same kind of activity that the Holy Spirit has been engaging in for all eternity within the fellowship of the Godhead. That is why this movement and activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives actually incorporates us into the very life of God--because it is the same kind of movement and activity that the Holy Spirit has engaged in for all eternity. The two are of a piece. And that is why this particular part of God's redemptive work coincides with the revelation of the Holy Spirit.


An analogy may help here. Imagine a landlord who employs several workers. The landlord lives in a house at the top of a hill. The workers never go up to the house and only know the landlord through the messages that they send back and forth through a courier. Their only experience of the landlord's goodness is through the gifts and money that he sends to them.

Suppose, then, that the landlord decides to adopt one of the workers as his son. In the course of doing so, that worker will learn a great deal about the landlord but all in the context of his being incorporated into that landlord's family. He will learn that the landlord has a number of rooms in his house--at the same time that those rooms become his own rooms. He will learn about the landlord's other children--at the same time that they become his brothers and sisters. He will learn about the landlord's wife--at the same time that she becomes his mother. In all these cases, it's no coincidence that the worker learns these things about the landlord at the time that he does. He learns about them at the same time that they become his.

Unfortunately, many people seem to think that the timing of God's revelation of the Son and the Spirit has no such underlying rationale. A lot of people approach the Doctrine of the Trinity as if God just decided one day to open up the windows of heaven and shout down, "By the way, there's a Son and Spirit up here too, and if you don't believe that they're also divine then you'll burn!" They don't see the connection between the revelation of the Son and Spirit, and the salvation or work that God is accomplishing in the world. Such people seem to see God as a landlord who, along with the gifts and money that he's been sending to his workers, also sends down messages about the rooms of his house and the children he has, but without adopting any of the workers into his family. In fact, to extend this analogy, many people treat forgiveness and salvation as just another pair of gifts that the landlord sends down to his workers.

But salvation is not like just one of the other gifts that the landlord sends down. Salvation is much more like the experience of the worker who is adopted into the landlord's family. His understanding and experience of the good things that the landlord has to offer is the understanding and experience of a family member. (This is why I tend to focus so much on adoption-language in Scripture.)

The revelation that God has a Son came at the same time that people were being adopted as sons of God. The revelation that the Holy Spirit is a distinct, divine person came at the same time that people were receiving that Spirit from God. The revelation of the shape and dynamics of God's own inner life came at the same time that the invitation was extended to all people to enter into that life.


God's most complete self-revelation comes in the context of the work of redemption. Since the Bible basically is the history of God's redemptive work, we should pay attention to what the entire Bible teaches about the nature and character of God. But we should also take seriously that the Incarnation and Pentecost are the climax points in this unfolding history. (Colossians 2:9) The people of Israel, prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, had some understanding of what it meant to be a son of God. (See John 8:41 for a simple proof-text.) They also had some experience of what it meant to be anointed by the Spirit--in the case of prophets and kings. There were even indications that sonship and anointing would involve even more in the future. (E.g. Joel 2:28; Acts 2:17.) But did (or could) they really understand what more sonship and anointing could involve? God solved that problem with the Incarnation. Jesus is the one who could show people what a perfect and complete son-like relationship to God looks like, because for all eternity He has existed as the perfect and only-begotten Son of God. Through the Holy Spirit's resting on Jesus, God showed what is the fullest extent of the Holy Spirit's power to cover and empower, because that is what the Holy Spirit has been doing within the Godhead for all eternity.

The revelation of God's triune nature, moreover, prompts us to reevaluate our understanding of the traditionally-conceived attributes of God. Whereas we might have been tempted to conceive of God's autonomy as consisting in the independence of an isolated individual, we now see that God exists eternally within and as community. God is completely independent of everything outside Himself--not just as a brute fact--but because, within the Godhead, there is and always has been a perfect, loving, and sufficient community. To say that God is independent is not to say something, primarily, about God's power or imperviousness. Rather, it is to say something primarily about His love and goodness, which are His most defining characteristics, and only something secondarily about His power or imperviousness.

Notice, also, that a tendency to conceive of God as a radically independent individual can lead us to idealize and pursue a condition of similarly radical independence. The irony is that we cannot be truly independent, but in trying to attain that condition approximately, we may find ourselves being cut off from genuine community, stepping back from full openness and self-disclosure. We may feel shame when having to admit weaknesses or ask for help. We may feel it is important to convey a sense of strength or power. None of these characterize the internal life of God (as revealed by the Son and Spirit) in and of which we have been invited to partake. Since the church is the community of people who are being caught up into that life, these qualities should be no part of our fellowship with one another. In this way we can begin to see the far-reaching and vitally important implications of God's fundamentally triune nature for our understanding of what God is like, His relationship to the world, human nature, His plan for salvation, and the nature of the church.

Remember that God's invitation to us is a radical one and that the doctrines of the Christian faith only make sense if we take seriously that radical call.

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God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.