02 Master Unit 2 the Person of God_updated 2013

Christian Beliefs Knowing and Worshiping God Dr. Allan P. Brown Unit 2

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KNOWING AND WORSHIPING GOD (Unit 2)

Jeremiah 9:23-24: Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. What we think about God shapes the way we experience him. How we experience God transforms what and how we think about him. Wrong thinking about God leads to serious error. Contrary to the Occult and Eastern spirituality, God is not just a cosmic force. Occult and Eastern spirituality, based on a monistic or pantheistic view of reality, make the cosmic error of equating primal energy (“cosmic consciousness”) with God. It is not God. It is part of God’s creation, but to call it God is idolatry (Swanson, 28). The God revealed in the Bible is holy, existing outside his Creation. The universe is not an emanation of God’s being, but was created by God ex nihilo, out of nothing—out of no pre-existing material (see the context of Gen 1:1; Exod. 20:11). The God revealed in the Bible is not impersonal energy or consciousness without qualities; The Biblical God is a Triune God, one God existing in three Persons who live in an eternal, holy, and loving relationship: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Swanson, 28-29). The goal of Christian worship is to enter into union with the triune God through Jesus Christ. But, what is offered the Christian is not a unity of being with God; it is a unity of relationship. We are not God; we are and will always be His creatures. We do not become God. Yet through worship (and prayer) we enter into intimacy with God, we enter into the life of God. He shares with us His love, His joy, His peace. Jesus sets us free from our sinfulness and selfishness, our obsessions and compulsions, and transforms us into the unique persons God created us to be. He enables us to become people who are free to love others (Swanson, 29). Right thinking about God is crucial. Our attributes of emotion, intellect, and will did not just happen. God made us in His image, after His likeness. He has revealed Himself in the Bible to be a Person. He is called Father. He is pictured as a shepherd. He is called a brother, a friend, a counselor. We know God is a Person because He thinks, hears, wills, acts, loves, feels, and communicates. He is the living God (Josh. 3:10). Yet, He is not EXACTLY like anything or


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anybody. But He is exactly what He says He is, although a full understanding of what He says may be beyond our fullest comprehension. Yet we learn about Him by using what He reveals and what we already know as a bridge over which we pass to the unknown.

The Fact of God's Existence.

A. Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarded of them that diligently seek him." Among other things, this verse tells us two important facts about God: 1) God exists 2) it is possible to know something of His nature.

B. Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God ...." The Bible offers no proof of God's existence. It simply opens with the positive statement that God does exist.

C. Psalm 14:1: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." This is God's opinion of a person who denies His existence. One may deny His existence in two ways: 1) an open avowal of disbelief in His existence (atheism), or 2) by ignoring His claims upon your life and living as though He did not exist.

D. The belief in God ultimately rests upon the foundation of FAITH, which is based upon the historical fact of the resurrection. The belief in God, as well as a refusal to believe in God, rests upon faith. Science cannot speak about “beginnings” because such beginnings are not reproducible and therefore outside the realm of “scientific” fact. History cannot speak about beginnings because there were no human eye-witnesses to the beginning of earth’s history. When we choose to believe the Biblical account of creation, however, we are not choosing to believe only on faith. We believe because the resurrected Lord Jesus tells us to believe the writings of Moses (Luke 24:25, 27). When we speak of "God," we are referring to the Supreme Being, the maker and sustainer of all things, who existed before all things, and will continue to exist to all eternity. He is not static essence. He is a transcendent Person who is eternally "Be-ing." Paul, with his acquaintance with Greek forms of though, speaks of the created world


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as providing a witness for the existence of God. At Lystra Paul told the idolatrous people that God has revealed Himself by His gifts of vegetation and its production on the earth: "He left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons" (Acts 14:17). It is notable that Paul calls the evidence for God's existence that may be derived from observing the material world a "witness." Logical arguments for the existence of God cannot prove God's existence. But they do witness to His existence. They show why it is more reasonable to believe in the existence of God than to not believe in His existence.

The following are five logical arguments that give witness to the existence of God.

1. Cosmological evidence. This is based on the argument of cause and effect. For every effect there must be a traceable cause. The cause of infinity must be infinite. The cause of endless time must be eternal. The cause of power must be omnipotent. The cause of knowledge must be omniscient. The cause of personality must be personal.

2. Teleological evidence. (teleos = "end" or "perfect result"). Something completed or perfected shows evidence of a maker. Design implies a designer. God is the supreme designer.

3. Moral evidence. The very fact that we know there is right and wrong suggests the necessity of an absolute standard. If anything is right and anything is wrong, somewhere there is Someone who determines which is which.

4. Volitional evidence. Because man faces a myriad of choices and has the ability to

make willful decisions, there must be somewhere an infinite will, and the world must be the expression of that will.

5. Ontological evidence. This argument offers evidence for the existence of God based

upon man's ability to conceive of a God. If men possess the idea of a being greater than any other, it must of necessity exist. God is that which nothing greater can be conceived.

Focus Questions: 1. What passage teaches that man is to glory in the fact that he understand and knows

God, rather than glorying in his wisdom, might, or riches? 2. To refer to God as the “cosmic force” in creation or the “primal energy” or “cosmic

consciousness” without personal qualities is to make the error of what erroneous belief system?

3. When we talk about entering into union with God through Christ, are we talking about a unity of being or a unity of relationship?


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4. What reference teaches that belief in the existence of God is foundational to saving faith and without faith one cannot please God?

5. What reference teaches that anyone who denies the existence of God is a fool? 6. What is the ultimate basis for believing in a God? 7. Can logical, theological, or philosophical arguments prove God's existence? If not,

what use are they? 8. In what passage does Paul speak of the rain and vegetation as a witness for the

existence of God? 9. List and define five logical arguments that give witness to the existence of God.

How We Learn About God.

There are two methods of revelation by which we can learn about God: 1) natural revelation and 2) supernatural revelation. A. Natural Revelation (through creation and conscience)

1. Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork."

2. Acts 14:17: "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

3. Romans 1:20: "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."

4. Romans 2:14-15: "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another, In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."

5. Acts 10:34-35: "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

From these verses we conclude: 1). Atheism and agnosticism are not natural responses; they are learned, 2). All people can know at least five things about God: a) there is a God (Rom. 1:20) b) He is powerful (Rom. 1:20)


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c) He is glorious (Psa. 19:1) d) He provides material blessings (Acts 14:17) e) He is eternal (Rom. 1:20) This information is "light" (Eph. 5:13). When men fail to walk in the light, they are "without excuse" before God (Romans 1:20). Some suggest that the phrase, "or else excusing one another" in Romans 2:15, teaches that if the witness of conscience is followed it may lead to acquittal at the final judgment. Is natural revelation sufficient to save a person? Those who say "No" usually cite Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." John 14:6 is also cited: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." They argue that if a person walks in all the light he has, God will see to it that he receives the truth necessary to be saved. An example of this is the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:26-39. Those who say "Yes," argue that it is the Name, the personal reality of God known in personal relationship, that saves, not knowledge about the historical Jesus. They cite Abraham as an example of one who rejoiced to see the day of Christ and was glad (John 8:56). How did Abraham see the day of Jesus Christ? Jesus tells us that "before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). They argue, "Could not the pre-existent one who made Himself known to Abraham, also make Himself known to people before Abraham and to those today who never heard of Abraham, much less Jesus? And cannot the post-existent Jesus make himself known also to those who do not know about the historical Jesus?" They further point out that, according to John, those who perish are those who are confronted by the Light of the world shining through Jesus and who reject this light, not those who have only the starlight of general revelation. John 3:19 says, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Again, John 9:41 says, "Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth." They argue that guilt before God is gauged by the light people have, and those who follow the light they have will surely be accepted by God (Moody, The Word of Truth, pp. 60-62). John Fletcher (a friend of John Wesley and his designated successor), arguing from Peter's statement in Acts 10:35, "in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him," teaches that those who have not heard of Christ, but fears God and works righteousness, according to the light he has, is accepted by God. (The Works of John Fletcher, I, 39). To the objections that "a heathen may be saved without a Savior" and "fearing God and working righteousness will not substitute for the blood and righteousness of Christ," Fletcher responds, in defense of Wesley's position, that when a heathen is accepted, "it


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is merely through the merits of Christ; although it is in consequence of his fearing God and working righteousness." Fletcher rejects the doctrine that "consigns all the heathen by millions to hell torments because they cannot explicitly believe in a Savior whose name they never heard." He argues, "Is it not possible that heathens should, by grace, reap some blessings through the second Adam, though they know nothing of his name and obedience unto death; when they, by nature, reap so many curses through Adam the first; to whose name and disobedience they are equally strangers?" (p. 40). It is not through their sincerity that they are accepted; it is through their obedience to whatever light God has given them that they are accepted. And that light is from Jesus who is "the Light of the world." For example, Fletcher argues that Cornelius was already accepted by God due to the light of his dispensation. He explains the phrase that Peter was to "tell him words whereby he should be saved," as meaning, "saved from the weakness, darkness, bondage, and tormenting fears attending his present state, into that blessed state of light, comfort, liberty, power, and glorious joy" (p. 41). Then Fletcher quotes Matthew Henry, a five-point Calvinist, "God never did, nor ever will reject an honest Gentile who fears God, and worships him, and works righteousness; that is, He is just and charitable toward all men, who lives up to the light he has, in a sincere devotion and regular conversation. Wherever God finds an upright man, he will be found an upright God (Psalm 18:25). And those that have not the knowledge of Christ, and therefore cannot have an explicit regard to him, may yet receive grace for his sake, 'to fear God and work righteousness;' and wherever God gives grace to do so, as he did to Cornelius, he will, through Christ, accept the work of his own hands" (p. 42). To answer the charge that this is "salvation by works," Fletcher and Wesley maintain that it is salvation, not by the merits of works, but works as a condition." (p. 43). Taking all the Scriptural data into consideration, what do you think? B. Supernatural Revelation (Holy Scripture)

Scripture is God's self-disclosure. He wants man to know what He is like. We learn about Him through His mighty acts in history, His relationships with mankind, and through His promises and commands. God's self-disclosure is climaxed in the words and works of His Son, Jesus Christ.

1. Hebrews 1:2-3: God "hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son .... who is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of his person."

The implications of this passage is that we now have God’s full and final revelation in and through His Son. This is no further or fuller revelation than this. After this comes


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God's judgment.

2. Matthew 11:27: "neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

3. Colossians 1:15: Christ "is the image of the invisible God."

4. John 1:18: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared (exegeted) him."

5. John 14:9: "He that hath seen me [Jesus] hath seen the Father."

Jesus is the full and final revelation of God in His matchless person and speaks the full and final revelation of God in His mighty proclamations. Jesus is the apex of the revelation of God. Everything before Jesus is preparatory; everything after Jesus is explanatory. Jesus is the only person who perfectly mirrored in His life what He spoke. Our knowledge of all things preparatory to Jesus, our knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus, and our knowledge of the explanatory teachings given by the Holy Spirit after the ascension of Jesus is confined to the revelation given by Holy Scripture. And as we analyze the teaching of Holy Scripture, we can say that Holy Scripture is designed to do at least four things: 1) lead us to a knowledge of God, 2) give us a guide to live by, 3) protect us and 4) provide for us. Focus Questions: 1. What are the two basic means of revelation through which we can learn about God? 2. What reference teaches that the heavens reveal the glory of god and demonstrate

His handiwork? 3. What reference teaches that the material creation, including the rain from heaven

and fruitful seasons, is a witness of the existence of God? 4. What reference teaches that nature clearly reveals God’s eternal power and

Godhead? 5. What reference teaches that all people have some knowledge of God’s law through

their conscience? 6. What reference teaches that people in any nation who fear God and work

righteousness is accepted with Him? 7. What two references are frequently used to teach that without the knowledge of

Jesus Christ a person cannot be saved? 8. Through what means of revelation have we received the climax of God’s self-

disclosure? 9. Give the reference wherein Jesus says that no one can really know the Father in the

fullest sense of the term unless the Son reveals him. 10. What passage teaches that Jesus is the “express image” of God’s Person? 11. What passage teaches that Jesus is the “image of the invisible God”? 12. What passage teaches that Jesus is the exegesis (explanation) of the Father?


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13. In what passage did Jesus say that if you have seen the Son, you have also seen the Father?

14. List the four things that God’s commands in Scripture are designed to do.

The Person of God A. God is a Spirit Being

1. John 4:24: "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

God is the ultimate reality. Therefore, the ultimate reality is in the realm of the spirit, not the material.

God does not want us to think about him in material concepts. This is why He forbids man from making material representations of Him (cf. Exodus 20:4 - “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth”).

2. Luke 24:39: (Jesus said), "a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have”).

B. God (the Father) is Invisible 3. I John 4:12: "No man hath seen God at any time" (The visible appearances of

God in the Old Testament are pre-incarnate appearances of Christ—see Exodus 24:9-11, 33:20).

4. I Timothy 6:16: “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.”

To say that God is Spirit is to consider the form of existence (or essence) which God has. We may say that in His essence, God is spiritual. He is not material and possesses no parts such as material things have. He lacks such material qualities as shape, size, weight, divisibility, or ability of increase. These are all qualities that apply to things. God is not a thing. Yet on the other hand, do not equate spirit with the vagueness of a great gaseous substance. Perhaps the best way to describe spirit is to think of a human being. A human being has a body within which lives His spirit. It is the spirit of man that is the true self. The spirit uses the body as a tool. Death is the separation of the body and spirit. If you think of yourself as primarily spirit rather than body, and then increase your spirit being to infinite proportions with spiritual faculties and powers far surpassing


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any human spirit, you begin to get some idea of what "spirituality" means as far as God is concerned (Wilcox, III, 53-54). We live in a day when materialism seems to be the measure of all things. We tend to live for the present. We are impressed by "things" even though we don't want to be. As a result, if we are not careful, we end up sacrificing the permanent (the eternal, spiritual) on the altar of the immediate (material, now). Perhaps one reason dying is so hard for Christians is not because they are uncertain that Jesus is on the other side, but because they have made so much of life's investments here and have so little on the other side. C. God is to be Worshipped.

1. Matthew 4:10: Jesus said, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only."

This verse teaches that worship is not optional. Everyone is required to worship God.

2. John 4:23: "But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him"

God is actively seeking for worshippers.

3. Luke 11:2: "And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth." (Matthew 6:9-10 is parallel)

Prayer is to begin with worship. Jesus provides a model for prayer. He teaches us that the first thing that should occupy our attention when we pray is our relationship with God ("Our Father which art in heaven").

a. The person to whom we are to pray is God the Father.

b. The privileges we have when God is our Father are those of position, power, intimacy, community, and family.

God is not everyone's Father. The unsaved have the devil as their father. Jesus said in John 8:44: "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do."

c. The perfection of God as well as (to a limited degree) the place of God's abode are signified in the phrase, "which art in heaven."


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Heaven is said to contain the throne of God. Yet we are not to circumscribe or limit God's presence to heaven. He is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-12) and yet He is said to be "more" present some places than at others. The fact that God is "in heaven" signifies that He is not limited to earthly resources. He has heavenly resources. Further, "heaven" speaks of perfection and reminds us that God is the perfection of Fatherhood and is always available to His children. Concern for God’s reputation is the second thing that should occupy our attention when we pray ("hallowed be Thy name"). God's "name" refers to His character and his reputation. To pray, "hallowed be thy name" is to express concern that in all our thinking, asking, and doing we have as our main concern that which will bring honor and glory to God. We hallow God's name by living holy lives. As God shines out through us, God's reputation is enhanced before the world. The reverse is also true. Romans 2:24 teaches that the name of God was blasphemed by the Gentiles because Jewish professors of faith did not live lives that properly showed God's holiness. Remember, by our words, our lives, by being reflectors or detractors from the greatness and the glory of God and of His glorious attributes, we either "hallow" or profane God's name. The rule and reign of God is the third thing that should occupy our attention in prayer ("thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"). Before we plead for our needs, we must learn to share in God's concerns for His kingdom: its expansion on earth through the saving of souls, the return of His Son, and the enabling and enforcing of His will on earth as it is in heaven. We have no right to ask for anything that will either dishonor His name, delay His kingdom, or disturb His will on earth. Focus Questions: 1. What is the classic reference that teaches us that God is a Spirit? 2. What reference teaches us that a spirit does not have flesh and bones? 3. Has anyone ever seen the Father? Give Scriptural proof. 4. What passage teaches that worship is not optional and that we must worship only

God? 5. What passage teaches that the Father seeks worshipers? 6. Is the "Lord's Prayer" given for us to repeat or given as a model for us to follow as

we pray? 7. Jesus taught that prayer should be addressed to which Person of the Godhead? 8. According to Jesus, what should be the first thing to occupy our attention when we

pray? 9. Is God everyone's Father? Prove your answer with scripture. 10. According to Jesus, what should be the second thing to occupy our attention when

we pray? 11. What is the most effective way to "hallow" God's name?


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12. According to Jesus, what should be the third thing to occupy our attention when we pray?

God's Natural Attributes When one discusses God's "natural" attributes he speaks of those qualities which are distinctly God's and are not communicated to man (incommunicable attributes). We must always remember that an attribute describes how God is. He does not possess them as qualities; they are how God is as He reveals Himself to His creatures (Tozer, 24). A. God is One (a compound unity).

1. Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" The is the famous "shema" that is recited by Jewish people everywhere. It is the classic Scripture used to defend the unity of God. Please note that the word "one" (echad) is not a numerical singular. It is the same word used to indicate the unity of a husband and wife when they become "one" flesh (Gen. 2:24). It is a composite unity. There is one God eternally existing and manifesting Himself to us in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

2. Deuteronomy 4:35: "Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him."

3. Isaiah 44:6: "Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God."

4. 1 Timothy 2:5: " For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

God’s substance is indivisible. He has no parts but is single in His unitary being. No contradiction between His attributes can exist. He does not suspend one attribute to exercise another, for in Him all His attributes are one. All of God does all that God does. He does not divide Himself to perform a work, but works in the total unity of His being (Tozer, 23). He is holy in all He does. B. God is Infinite.

1. Psalm 145:3: "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable."


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2. Psalm 147:5: "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite."

3. 1 Kings 8:27: "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?"

God is limitlessness and therefore impossible for a limited mind to grasp fully. Whatever God is and all that God is, He is without limit, unbounded. He is without growth or addition or development. Nothing in God is less or more, or large or small. Because God's nature is infinite, everything that flows out of it is infinite also (Tozer, 50-53). His resources never run out. His resources are not diminished by His generous giving nor is He enriched by withholding. He has unlimited resources of grace, love, mercy and more for His children. If we take the concept of infinity and apply it to creation, we may derive others aspects of God's being. He is infinite as regards time (eternal), infinite as regards power (omnipotent), infinite as regards knowledge (omniscient), infinite as regards space or presence (omnipresent). C. God is Eternal (self-existent).

1. Deuteronomy 33:27: "The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them."

2. Exodus 3:14: "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM."

3. Psalm 90:2: "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God."

4. Psalm 93:2: "Thy throne is established from of old; Thou art from everlasting."

5. 1 Timothy 1:17: "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

God exists in Himself and of Himself. God had no beginning and will have no ending. He always was, always is and always will be. He is unaffected by time or motion. He is everywhere while He is nowhere, for "where" has to do with matter and space, and God is independent of both (Tozer, 34). In eternity there is no succession of events. Therefore God exists in the eternal present. He is beyond time. The God who leads me through today knows my tomorrows. And because He has gone through my tomorrows already, He also knows what I need today. Because of His eternity, He can


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give all of Himself all of the time to everybody. Do not think of God's eternity as simply a state of existence. God is not static. God is eternally "Be-ing". He is the living God and as such has life in Himself (John 5:26). Various names, such as LORD (Yahweh) communicate that He is "the self-existent one" and He is the One who "causes to be." He is the eternal "I Am." His life did not come from another source nor is He the generator of His own life. He is not "in process" in the sense of growing or increasing in any manner. Tozer suggests that due to the fact that God has life in himself, nothing is necessary to God; therefore no one is necessary. God seeks us but does not NEED us. We seek God because we need Him, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. (Tozer, 39). God contains all, gives all that is given, but who Himself can receive nothing that He has not first given. He has a VOLUNTARY relation to everything He has made, but has no NECESSARY relation to anything outside of Himself. His interest in His creatures arises from His sovereign good pleasure, not from any need those creatures can supply nor from any completeness they can bring to Him who is complete in Himself. And since His is the Being supreme over all, it follows that God cannot be elevated (Tozer, 39-40). Focus Questions: 1. Give the reference to the classic Scripture that defends the unity of God? 2. What is the meaning of the Hebrew word "one" in the above reference? 3. What reference teaches that God is the first and the last and there is no other God

other than Him? 4. What passage teaches that God's greatness is unsearchable? 5. What passage teaches that God's understanding is infinite? 6. What passage teaches that neither heaven nor even heaven of heavens can contain

God? 7. What passage teaches that the eternal God is our refuge and supports us with His

everlasting arms? 8. What reference teaches that God is the eternal "I Am"? 9. What passage teaches that God's existence is "from everlasting to everlasting? 10. What passage calls God "the King eternal"? 11. What reference teaches that God has life in himself? D. God is All-Powerful (Omnipotent, Sovereign).

1. Genesis 17:1: "The LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect."

2. Revelation 19:6: "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."


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3. Jeremiah 32:27: "Behold I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?"

4. Psalm 115:3: "But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased."

5. Ephesians 1:11: "Who works all things after the counsel of His will."

6. Matthew 19:26: "But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible."

7. Acts 4:28: "For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done."

God can do anything that is consistent with His character. For example, because He is Truth, He cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Because He is God and not man, he cannot repent (1 Samuel 15:29). God's ability to do what is consistent with His character can be called either "omnipotence" or "sovereignty." Sovereignty and omnipotence go together. One cannot exist without the other. God can do anything as easily as any thing else. All His acts are done without effort. He expends no energy that must be replenished. His self-sufficiency makes it unnecessary for Him to look outside of Himself for a renewal of strength. All the power required to do all that He wills to do lies in undiminished fullness in His own infinite being. He has delegated power to His creatures, but being self- sufficient, He cannot relinquish anything of His perfections and, power being one of them, He has never surrendered the least iota of His power. He gives but does not give away. All that He gives remains His own and returns to Him again. Forever He must remain what He has forever been, the Lord God omnipotent. (Tozer, 71-73) The exercise of God's sovereignty and omnipotence is guided by His own wise and holy and loving will. God can do anything that is consistent with His character and reveals to us that He chooses to do only what infinite wisdom, holiness and love dictate. He therefore sovereignly chooses to operate on three levels: 1) His decretive will; 2) His desired will; and 3) His permissive will. God sovereignly chooses to give mankind the ability to resist His "desired" will. He "permits" mankind to reject His offer of salvation. No one or nothing, however, thwarts His decretive will. Psalm 75:6-7 reminds us: "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another." Isaiah 46:9-10 says, "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." (see also Isaiah 45:5-7).


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The Scriptures not only reveal God to be sovereign, they also tell us how He exercises His sovereignty. Psalms 89:14 says, "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Thy throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before Thee" (NASV). In His absolute sovereignty, God has chosen to have rule according to righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, and truth. As a result, He has sovereignly decided to have mercy upon all the lost (Romans 11:32). In addition, God has sovereignly enabled mankind to accept or reject His offer of salvation and thereby determine the eternal destiny of his own life. To define God's sovereignty to mean that God personally decides every minute detail or circumstance that ever has or ever will take place is to contradict Scripture and to arbitrarily place restrictions upon His sovereignty. God is no less sovereign in choosing to establish laws or operations which shall bring certain results and then enabling mankind the ability to choose which results he desires for himself. For example, God has established the means whereby a person can be saved. He says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). Through the exercise of His sovereign grace He also has enabled mankind to accept or reject those means. Those who choose to accept the means of salvation God has provided are saved. The choice to accept God's offer of salvation is not a meritorious work (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is simply the result of meeting the conditions already chosen by the sovereign God. This is no less the exercise of sovereignty than the idea that God must control every choice a person makes. Focus Questions: 1. True/False: God can do anything. Explain your answer. 2. What passage refers to God as "the Almighty God"? 3. What passage uses the word "omnipotent" in reference to God's reign? 4. What reference teaches that there is nothing too hard for God? 5. What reference teaches that God, who is in the heavens, does whatsoever He

pleases? 6. What passage teaches that God "works all things after the counsel of His will"? 7. What reference teaches that with God "all things are possible"? 8. What passage says that God does whatsoever His hand and His counsel determined

before to be done? 9. According to class lectures, when we talk about the "will" of God, God sovereignly

chooses to operate on three levels. List and explain the three aspects of God's will. 10. What passage teaches that God is the judge and He puts down one and setteth up

another? 11. What passage teaches that God's counsel stands and He will do all His pleasure? 12. What passage reveals that God's sovereign reign is guided by His righteousness,

justice, lovingkindness, and truth?


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E. God is Omnipresent (everywhere).

1. Psalm 139:7-9: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea."

2. Jeremiah 23:24: "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD."

3. Hebrews 4:13: "Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do."

God is everywhere here, close to everything, next to everyone. Therefore God sees you at all times. But do not picture God as a great vapor or fog that extends across all creation. He is able to manifest His presence at the same moment anywhere and everywhere. He is the creator and sustainer of all things but is not to be identified with any of His material creation. He is in His creation (immanent) and above and beyond His creation (transcendent). At all times and in every circumstance God remains a Person. God is even in places we associate with evil. He is in the heart of a sinner by inspection and conviction. He is in hell by His acts of judgment, for it is He who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That does not mean He is defiled by the impurity around Him. His essence is everywhere, but it never mingles with any impurity (MacArthur, 62). Also, God is in some places in a way that He is not in other places. There is a fullness and manifestation of His presence in some place that there is not in others. Further, the perception of God's presence differs according to varying circumstances. Leslie Wilcox suggests the following list of what he calls "different official relationships of God in His divine presence."

1. Divine Omnipresence. Present everywhere, upholding all things by His power, making life possible. "Upholding all things by the word of His Power" (Hebrews 1:3).

2. Divine Royal (Kingly) Presence. A distinctive presence in Heaven as the center of all things and the object of angelic praise and human worship. "Am sat down with my Father in His throne" (Revelation 3:21).


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3. The presence of God in a meeting. A special manifestation of His presence in response to united faith and concentration of spiritual powers of His people. "The power of the Lord was present to heal" (Luke 5:17).

4. The presence of God as He comes to a soul in convicting or enlightening power. The presence of the Lord to flash light across a darkened human understanding and make one conscious of a need of salvation.

5. The presence of God in a soul. This is the relation of God to a Christian and consists in two stages, which we refer to as works of grace. The first stage is that of salvation, in which God makes life exist in the soul that was dead. The presence of the Holy Spirit sustains and preserves this new life. The second stage is entire sanctification and the life that follows. The believer is filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18), even "filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).

None of these types of expression of God's presence are meant to contradict or deny the omnipresence of God, nor do they indicate that God has to leave one place to be in another place. They merely stress the differing modes of God's operation which are part of and included in His omnipresence. (Wilcox, III, 60-61). F. God is Omniscient (knows everything). To say God is “omniscient” implies at least two concepts: 1) God’s knowledge is total; and 2) God knows the difference between the actual future and the potential future. God’s knowledge is Total.

1. Psalm 147:5: "Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite."

2. Isaiah 40:13-14 asks, "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?"

3. Isaiah 46:9-10: "I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done."

4. Psalm 139:4 tells us that "Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all."


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5. Job 37:16: "Dost thou know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?"

God has perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn. In fact, He has never learned and cannot learn (Isaiah 40:13-14). God knows instantly and effortlessly all that can be known. He knows with a fullness of perfection that includes every possible item of knowledge. He knows and never discovers anything; He is never surprised, never amazed. He knows no thing better than any other thing, but all things equally well (Tozer, 61-63). Our prayer requests are not meant to give God information He needs. He knows our needs before we pray. We pray to unburden our hearts and to show we care, and because He chooses to work through our prayers. God knows the difference between the actual future and the potential future.

In relation to any given point in time, God has complete knowledge of all that will happen after that point in time (the actual future), as well as complete knowledge of all that could happen after that point in time (the potential future). God also knows the difference between the potential future and the actual future.

There is a perfect example of God’s knowledge of the possible future in the life of David. When Saul was seeking David to kill him, David asked God, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the LORD said, He will come down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up” (1 Sam. 23:11, 12). God knew that if David stayed at Keilah, the inhabitants would deliver him up to Saul (the potential future). This is foreknowledge. But, since God told David what He foreknew, David left Keilah and they were not able to deliver him up to Saul. Thus, God’s foreknowledge did not “predestinate” David’s capture. Another example of God’s knowledge of all possibilities without determining the future is given in Luke 10:13. Jesus said, “Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” Jesus said they could have repented and would have repented if they had seen the mighty works He performed. Therefore, foreknowledge and predestination are two different things and must not be combined.

God differentiates between knowledge of the actual future and knowledge of experiential time-space events. God’s foreknowledge of all future events differs from His experiential time-space knowledge. For example, 1 Peter 1:20 speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God who was “foreknown” before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times


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for our sake. There is a difference between what God “foreknows” about the future and the actual experiential occurrence of the foreknown event in time-space history. For example, God foreknew that Abraham would offer Isaac in obedience to His command. However, when Abraham actually offered Isaac in time-space history, God could say without denying His foreknowledge, “Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me” (Gen. 22:12). God was not declaring that He just “learned” something He had not previously known would happen. Rather, He was saying that Abraham’s obedience demonstrated experientially in a time-space context what He already knew would happen from His eternal foreknowledge. In like manner, Jesus was the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). God foreknew that Jesus would be slain. When Jesus was actually slain on Mt. Calvary, God’s foreknowledge became experiential time-space knowledge. A Word of Caution: One must not, however, confuse omniscience, which includes the concept of "foreknowledge," with "predestination" or "election." I. Does foreknowledge predetermine the future? Although we have already touched on this subject, we need to examine the key passages that address the use of “foreknowledge” in the New Testament. It occurs seven times, two times as a noun (prognosis), and five times as a verb (proginosko). A. The two “noun uses” of foreknowledge. The two noun uses are Acts 2:23 and 1 Peter 1:2. In Acts 2:23 we read, “Him [Jesus], being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” This verse indicates that God made His plans (boule) in light of what He knew (prognosis) would happen. God’s knowledge that wicked men would crucify His Son does not, however, imply or necessitate causation. In other words, just because God knew what would happen, there is nothing in the verse that says He “caused” wicked men to crucify His Son. Nor is there any evidence that the specific people who chose to crucify Jesus had to do so. The set of verses that teach human responsibility for choices must not be set aside because of “logical” paradoxes. Those who participated in God’s plan for crucifixation did so willingly and of their own grace-enabled free choice. There is no textual evidence that they were victims of a “predestinated” future which was set in motion by God’s foreknowledge. Through the grace of God, each person who participated in the crucifixation could have chosen not to participate. There were others who would have chosen to take their place. In 1 Peter 1:2 we read, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” This verse says God foreknew all who would accept Jesus’ saving provision and thereby become elect. His foreknowledge, however, did not “cause” them to respond to His saving work in Christ any more than foreknowledge in other areas results in people as puppets on strings.


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B. The five “verbal uses” of foreknowledge. The five occurrences of “foreknowledge” as a verb are listed below: 1) “Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee” (Acts 26:5); 2) “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom 8:29);1 3) “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew (Rom. 11:2);2 4) “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you” (1 Pet. 1:20);3 and 5) “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness” (2 Pet. 3:17). Conclusion about God’s foreknowledge: God knows all future events perfectly, including the grace-enable free, moral choices of human beings. What He foreknows will happen is certain to happen. While some of these certainties are necessary, others are truly contingent (capable of taking place in more than one way). It is not contrary to Scripture to say that, whereas the free acts of morally responsible persons are contingent, the freedom to choose does not contradict certainty. The same event can be both certain and contingent at the same time. God’s foreknowledge of an event does not demand causation of that event. It is also true that some events (such as prophecy) are necessary and as such are produced by providentially guided causes that allow no other possibility. “That God knows which choice I will make (so long as we consider knowing as ‘mere’ knowledge) in no way necessitates the choice. Then the future is both certain and open; it will not be closed until it occurs. The action is, therefore, truly contingent and really can go either way, even though the way it will go (to write tautology again) is the way it will go.”4 One may ask: “How does God know both the potential and the actual future?” Calvinists and Arminians answer the question differently. Calvinists understand the

1 Forster & Marston, God’s Strategy in Human History, 205: “The foreknowledge [Paul] has in view implies a complete understanding of them, of their characters, their weaknesses, and their reactions. He is saying that God completely understood those to whom he gave the destiny of being conformed to the image of Christ.”

2 Forster & Marston offer two possible interpretations of this verse: (1) God knew that Israel would reject Christ yet

he made promises to them and will not go back on them now (i.e., he foreknew “their thinking and actions”); or (2) that “God entered into a personal relationship with Israel before their later unbelief to which Paul refers.” The concept of choice would be present in (2) but only as a necessary component of entering a personal relationship. (p. 194).

3 Forster & Marston, 193: “God foreknew the redemptive function of the Messiah before history began, but its actual

manifestation did not come until the New Covenant.” Focuses on the “foreknow…but manifested in these times”

contrast.

4 Robert E. Picirilli, “Foreknowledge, Freedom, And The Future,” JETS, Vol. 43, p. 263.


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Bible to teach that God “hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained whatsoever comes to pass in time” (Westminster Catechsim). God’s foreknowledge is therefore the logical consequence of his foreordination of all things. In other words, the reason God know what will happen as opposed to what might happen is because God has planned everything, and he knows his own plan. Bottom line, the ultimate reason a person did what he did was because God foreordained the person to do it. Many Arminians, myself included, understand the Bible to teach that God’s foreknowledge is his innate, comprehensive, cognitive awareness of all future events, both potential and actual. “Innate” means that God’s knowledge of everything, including the future, is a natural part of who he is. In other words, God’s omniscience necessarily includes the future and is not the result of his foreordination. “Cognitive” distinguishes mental awareness from experiential awareness. There are things that God knows about, but he has not and never will experience. For example, God has no experiential knowledge of what it is like to sin or to have guilt, for none of the Triune Persons has ever sinned or incurred guilt for his own wrongdoing. On this view, the ultimate reason a person does what he does is because he chooses to do it. God’s foreknowledge of his choice did not cause it. (See William Lane Craig’s essay in Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views, for a Molinist-Arminian understanding of God’s foreknowledge.) The question often posed to Arminians is how can God know certainly what he has not determined? Consider this illustration: If I were to go back in time to April 14, 1865 and stand outside Ford Theater around 9 p.m., I would know for certain that President Abraham Lincoln would be fatally shot by John Wilkes Booth in a few moments. My knowledge of the assassination would in no way cause the event to happen. In the same way, God’s knowledge of a person’s choices did not cause the choices nor rob the person of his freedom to choose otherwise. In philosophical terms, we supply the grounds for the accurateness and certainty of divine foreknowledge by our choices, but our choices do not cause God to know them. The cause of His knowledge of them is His nature. He, by virtue of being divine, is omniscient. Focus Questions: 1. What passage teaches that you cannot escape from God's presence even if you

ascended up into heaven, descended into hell, or tried to hide in the uttermost parts of the sea?

2. What passage teaches that there are no "secret places" one can hide from God since He fills both "heaven and earth"?

3. What passage teaches that all things are naked and open unto the eyes of God? 4. What passage teaches that no one can teach God anything or in any way give Him

counsel because He already knows everything? 5. What passage teaches that God knows the end from the beginning and is able to

declare "the things that are not yet done"? 6. What passage says that God knows our thoughts before we even speak them.


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12. What passage teaches that God is perfect in knowledge? G. God is Immutability (Unchangeable).

1. Malachi 3:6: "For I am the Lord, I change not."

2. James 1:17: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

God never differs from Himself. He cannot improve or deteriorate. All that God is He has always been, and all that He has been and is He will ever be. Nothing that God has ever said about Himself will be modified; nothing the inspired prophets and apostles have said about Him will be rescinded. His immutability guarantees this. God will not compromise and cannot be persuaded to alter His Word. The fact that God does not change in His character or will does not mean He cannot choose to react differently to man's varying responses. (cf. Jeremiah 18:1-10) As men respond to God in repentance, the unchangeable God (as to His character) changes in His dealings with men. He blesses what He can bless. He pours out His wrath on all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. The term "repent" as applied to God refers to either the grief and pain man's sin brings God (Genesis 6:6) or it refers to the change of God in His dealings with mankind due to their changed response to His grace (Jonah 3:10) Focus Questions: 1. What passage teaches that the Lord does not change? 2. What passage teaches that God has no variableness, neither shadow of turning as to

His character? 3. What passage teaches that just as the potter deals differently with different types of

clay, so God responds to men according to their response to Him? 4. What two meanings can we properly give to the word "repent" as it applies to God?

God's Moral Attributes In a discussion of God's "moral" attributes, one is speaking of those qualities which qualify Him as a moral Being and are reflected in man because he is in God's image. Sometimes these qualities are called communicable attributes. No attempt is made here to be exhaustive. The list below is only selective.


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A. God is Holy

1. Exodus 15:11: "Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"

God is glorious or majestic in holiness. As a Spirit Being, Holiness is God's essential nature. It is not just one attribute among many other attributes. In all that He is within Himself and in His relations, He is pervasively and perfectly holy (Taylor, 14). Holiness is "the sum of the attributes," the essence of Deity, the "goodness of God." (Purkiser, 27). This passage is the first explicit statement of the holiness of God in the Bible.

2. Isaiah 57:15: "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones."

This verse outlines three basic aspects of God's holiness. 1). It describes God's intrinsic holiness ("whose name is Holy"). God's "name" refers to His "nature" or basic personal essence. God is the origin of holiness and the pattern for holiness. 2). It describes God's transcendent holiness ("the high and lofty One"). No one, not even an angel in heaven, can comprehend the full measure of God's holiness. It describes God's immanent holiness ("with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit"). He draws near to the penitent and humble.

3. Isaiah 6:1-3: "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory."

4. Revelation 4:8: "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come."

The holiness of God is the perfection of moral excellence. Holiness is the standard of goodness and the expression of Divine abhorrence of evil. Holiness is the eternal opposite and the eternal condemnation of sin. God's holiness is revealed towards men only through an economy of grace which renders it possible that repentant sinners, trembling before the Holy God, may become partakers of His Holiness (Pope, I, 332-34)


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B. God's Wrath and Anger.

1. Romans 1:18: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [suppress] the truth in unrighteousness."

2. John 3:36: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

3. Hosea 9:15: "All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters."

4. Psalm 5:3-6: "For Thou art not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with Thee. The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all who do iniquity. Thou dost destroy those who speak falsehood; The LORD abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit."

5. Psalm 11:5: "The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who

loves violence His soul hates." (NASV)

6. Deuteronomy 4:24: "For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." (cf. also Hebrews 12:29).

Because God is holy, sin brings forth His wrath. And in the same context that speaks of the great love of God for disobedient mankind (John 3:16), we have the revelation that the wrath of God rests upon the disobedient. God hates all those who commit iniquity. The idea that God hates the sin but loves the sinner is only part of the truth. God not only hates the sin, but He also hates the sinner (Psa. 5:3-6; 11:5). This is His abiding attitude toward the sinner. But, at the same time, the God who hates the sinner also loves the sinner (John 3:16). This confuses some people because it is contrary to anything they have experienced as human being. We must also remember that although we are made in God’s image, we are not really “like” Him in many respects. See Psalm 50:21 where God plainly tells us plainly that He is not “just like us”! We must remember that God's being is unitary; it is not composed of a number of parts working harmoniously, but simply one. There is nothing in His wrath that forbids his love or mercy. No attribute of God is in conflict with another. Wrath flows out of His Holiness and justice. (Tozer, 95)


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C. God is Righteous and Just.

1. Isaiah 5:16: "But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified [shows Himself holy] in righteousness."

2. Psalm 116:5: "Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful."

3. Jeremiah 12:1: "Righteous art Thou, O LORD, that I would plead my case with Thee; Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with Thee: Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?"

4. Deuteronomy 32:4: "He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment [just]: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."

5. Isaiah 45:21: "There is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me."

God's righteousness is sometimes described as social activity by which injustice is rectified. Amos 5:24 says, "But let judgment [justice] run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." In this context, justice is the right decision rendered according to the righteous standard which God restores in times of injustice. Righteousness, as applied to mankind, is that which measures up to God's revealed standard of conduct. At other times righteousness is used as a synonym for salvation. Isaiah 51:5, "My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust." It is this saving activity of God, repeated by Habakkuk 2:4, "the righteous will live by his faith" (NASV), that becomes the theme of Romans. In the context of Romans 1:17, righteousness is the judicial declaration of God whereby He confers the status of righteous upon all who repent of their sin and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. God's righteousness springs out of His holiness. As applied to God, the terms "righteousness" and "justice" are close synonyms in Scripture. A distinction is sometimes made between the absolute and the relative righteousness or justice of God. Absolute righteousness or justice is "that rectitude of the divine nature, in virtue of which God is infinitely righteous in Himself." Relative righteousness or justice is "that perfection of God by which He maintains Himself over against every violation of His holiness, and shows in every respect that He is the Holy One." (Berkhof, 74-75). Focus Questions: 1. Which passage in Scripture is the first explicit statement of the holiness of God in the

Bible?


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2. Which passage teaches that God is "glorious in holiness"? 3. True or False: Holiness is one of God's most important attributes. 4. Which passage outlines three basic aspects of God's holiness, namely, His intrinsic

holiness, His transcendent holiness, and His immanent holiness? 5. What is the classic passage that describes Isaiah's vision of God's holiness? 6. What passage teaches that the wrath of God rests upon all ungodliness and

unrighteousness of mankind? 7. What passage teaches that the wrath of God rests upon each person who does not

savingly believe on the Son of God? 8. What passage reveals God's wrath on sin in terms of "I hated them" and "I will love

them no more"? 9. What passage teaches that God hates "all who do iniquity"? 10. True or False: God cannot hate the sinner and love the sinner at the same time. 11. What passage teaches that God's holiness shows itself in righteousness? D. God is Merciful.

1. Psalm 103:8: "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy."

2. Romans 9:18: "Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth."

3. Romans 11:32: "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."

4. Micah 7:18: "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

E. God is Love

1. I John 4:8-10: "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

2. I John 3:16: "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

Love is an essential attribute of God. It is always self-giving and others-oriented. It always seeks the other person’s highest good. Love is something true of God but it is not God. God's love had no beginning and has no ending. Because He is infinite, it has


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no limit; because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity. God does not suspend His love in order to be righteous and just. Love is not contrary to anger and wrath. God is able to be angry with the sinner, hate the sinner and love the sinner at the same time. This means that God's "love" for people can be understood only in relative terms. He loves the lost, but has a special relationship of love toward the saved that He does not have toward the lost. Call it a "family" love or a "relational" love or whatever you will. When God says in Hosea 9:14 that He will love them no more, He is speaking about covenantal love that brought special protect and blessing to the nation. Israel had repeatedly broken all covenant promises and the covenant was at an end. His love for them in terms of covenantal protection and blessing was over. His love for them as lost persons would never end. F. God is Faithful.

1. 1 Corinthians 1:9: "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."

2. 2 Timothy 2:13: "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself."

G. God is Good.

1. Psalm 25:8: "Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way."

2. Psalm 119:68: "Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.

H. God is Gracious.

1. Exodus 34:6: "And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth."

2. Psalm 116:5: "Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful."

I. God is Jealous.

1. Exodus 20:5: "I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."

2. Nahum 1:2: "A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; The LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath


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for His enemies."

J. God is Great.

1. Psalm 86:10: "For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone."

2. Psalm 48:1: "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness."

K. God is Light.

1. I John 1:5: "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

L. God is Perfect.

1. Matthew 5:48: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

M. God is Wise

2. 1 Timothy 1:17: "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Focus Questions: 1. What passage teaches that God is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in

mercy? 2. What passage teaches that God does not have to have mercy on anyone but in His

sovereignty has mercy on whom He chooses to have mercy? 3. What passage teaches that God has sovereignly chosen to have mercy upon all? 4. What passage teaches that God "delights" in mercy? 5. What passage teaches us that "God is love"? 6. True or False: Love is contrary to anger and wrath. 7. What is the meaning of Hosea 9:14 which says "I will love them no more"? 8. What passage teaches that God is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers

upon the children unto the third and fourth generations? 9. What passage teaches that God takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves

wrath for His enemies? 10. What passage teaches that God is light and in him is no darkness at all?


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The Fear Of God There is much confusion about the "fear" of God. When the Bible uses the term in reference to God it is not speaking of a terror-stricken or cowardly spirit. This would be a “servile” fear (“servile” – Latin – servus = “slave”). Servile fear is the kind of fear which a slave would feel towards a harsh and unyielding master (Mat. 25:24-25). 2 Timothy 1:7 says that "God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Again in Romans 8:15 we read "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." The Christian is not to live in servile fear of God, people, things, or circumstances. The Christian is to have a “filial” fear (“filial” –Latin – filius meaning “son.”). It is the loving fear of a child toward his father. A proper filial fear of the Lord is to be afraid to disobey God Almighty who is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29), plus the attitude of veneration, honor, and awe. Memorize this definition for quizzes and tests: “The fear of the Lord is derived from three important concepts:

1. a correct view of who God is (focusing primarily on His Holiness, majesty and justice),

2. a continual sense that He is watching everything you do and listening to everything you think and say, and

3. a constraining awareness of our on-going daily obligation to love him supremely, to obey him implicitly, and to trust him completely.”

Filial fear, as contrasted with servile fear, is not a self-centered fear. A self-centered fear of God focuses us on ourselves and is afraid of exposure. It includes a feeling of shame, a sense of rejection by God, and personal humiliation. This is not what the Bible means by the “fear of God.” This kind of fear draws us away from God and focuses on ourselves. At times, when people are caught in the grip of a self-centered fear, they will turn to God. But it will not be as a free response to him; rather they turn to God in an attempt to deal with guilt, to gain security and somehow deflect that which they fear will happen. At the heart of self-centered fear is the threat of the destruction of something: my values, my commitments, my property, or something else that I don’t want to loose. The Scriptural filial fear of God is developed by learning from the Bible who God is, understanding that He is omniscient and omnipresent (knows all you think and say, and sees all you do), and then choosing to love him supremely, choosing to obey Him in everything, and choosing to trust him completely.


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Hebrews 12:28-29 says, "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire." The fear of the Lord is produced from a knowledge of Who God is and how much God hates sin. He is a consuming fire! Knowing that the wrath of God abides upon the sinner, the Believer who properly fears God is actually afraid to disobey. Fearing God does not mean that the believer stands paralyzed in terror before a quick-tempered judge who, at any moment, might bring wrath upon him for some offense. Rather, he HONORS and RESPECTS God because of who He is and what He can do, and is therefore AFRAID to disobey Him. The problem with many people today is that they have over emphasized the love and mercy of God and redefined the fear of God until very few are actually afraid to disobey God. We have lost a Biblical balance of truth. A lack of the "fear of the Lord" is what enables us to excuse sin in our life, or label what God calls sin as weakness or human infirmities. Ask God to help you learn how to develop a biblical fear of God. One way to begin is to ask God to help you hate what he hates. The Bible reveals that He hates sin. Learn how to hate sin, especially the forms of sin that are the most appealing to you. There are tremendous blessings and benefits to those who fear God. A major indication that a person has learned to fear the Lord biblically is his/her hatred of all forms of evil, including pride, arrogance, the evil way, and perverse speech (Prov. 8:13). By the fear of the Lord a person is motivated and enabled to depart from all evil (Pro. 16:6). We are to live our entire lives in the fear of the Lord: “be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long (Pro. 23:17). A. The Fear of God is Commanded.

1. Deuteronomy 13:4: "Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him, and cleave unto Him."

2. Deuteronomy 6:24: "And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

3. Proverbs 23:17: "Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long."


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4. I Peter 2:17: "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king."

B. Descriptions of the Fear of the Lord. 1. It is hatred of evil. Proverbs 8:13, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil."

2. It is wisdom. Psalm 111:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

3. It is of great value. Isaiah 33:6, "The fear of the Lord is his (a believer's)

treasure." Proverbs 15:16, "Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.

4. It is a fountain of life. Proverbs 14:27, "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death."

5. It is purifies. Psalm 19:9, "The fear of the Lord is clean" (this means its purifies or sanctifies the life).

6. It endures forever. Psalm 19:9, "The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever."

7. It is godly. Hebrews 12:28, "Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." This verse explains there is a difference between reverence and the fear of God.

8. It brings deliverance and protection. Psalm 34:7, "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

9. God confides in those who fear Him. Psalm 25:14, "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant."

C. Motivation for Fearing God.

1. The holiness of God should cause us to fear Him. Rev. 15:4, "Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy Name? for Thou only art holy."

2. The possibility of going to hell should cause us to fear Him. Matthew 10:28, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

3. The mighty power of God should cause us to fear Him. Deut. 10:12-17, "And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God .... for the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of Lords, a great God, a


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mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward."

4. The forgiveness of God should cause us to fear Him. Psalm 130:4, "But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared."

5. The reality of coming judgments should cause us to fear God. Rev. 14:7, "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come."

6. The fear of the Lord should be taught. Psalm 86:11, "Teach me thy way, O Lord; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name."

D. Why the Fear of the Lord is Necessary.

1. It is necessary to worship. Psalm 5:7, "In Thy fear will I worship."

2. It is necessary in service. Psalm 2:11, "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling."

3. It is a deterrent from sin. Exodus 20:20, "Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not."

4. It is necessary to good government. II Samuel 23:3, "He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God."

5. It is necessary for the perfecting of holiness in our lives. 2 Corinthians 7:1, "Having therefore these promises dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

E. Results of Fearing the Lord.

1. It brings the protection of God. Psalm 33:18-19, "Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine."

2. It brings guidance from God. Psalm 25:12, 14, "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant."

3. It brings provision from God. Psalm 111:5, "He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant." Psalm 34: 9: “There is no want [lack] to them that fear him"


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4. It brings pleasure to the Lord. Psalm 147:11, "The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy."

5. It causes God's pity to increase upon the believer. Psalm 103:13, "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him."

6. It brings the mercy of God. Psalm 103:17, "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him."

7. It brings blessings. Psalm 112:1, "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord." Psalm 128:1, " Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways."

8. It brings confidence. Proverbs 14:26, "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence."

9. It brings separation from evil. Proverbs 16:6, "By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil."

10. It brings Christian fellowship. Malachi 3:16, "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it."

11. It should supersede the fear of man. Isaiah 8:12-13, "...neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of Hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear."

12. It brings answered prayer. Psalm 145:19, "He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry and will save them."

13. It brings long life. Proverbs 10:27, "The fear of the Lord prolongeth days."

F. The Fear of the Lord is something you CHOOSE to do.

1. Proverbs 1:29 speaks of those who "did not choose the fear of the LORD."

2. Psalms 86:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.

The fear of the Lord is something that must be taught (Ps. 34:11) and something we must desire to do (Ps 86:11). God commands us to fear Him and obey Him, not for His sake, but for our good (Deut. 6:24). Pray that God will enable you to properly love and fear Him. Focus Questions: 1. What is the difference between a “servile” fear and a “filial” fear of God?


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2. The fear of the Lord is based upon three crucial concepts. Write the definition I gave you of the fear of the Lord that expresses these three concepts.

3. What passage teaches that God's command to fear Him is for our good? 4. What reference teaches that we are not to envy sinners but to fear the Lord all day

long? 5. What reference teaches that if one fears the Lord he will hate evil? 6. What reference teaches that you cannot develop biblical wisdom without proper

fear of God? 7. What reference teaches that the fear of the Lord is the believer's treasure? 8. What passage teaches that there is a difference between reverence and fear? 9. What passage teaches God provides angelic protection for those who fear Him? 10. What passage teaches that God's holiness is a motivation for the fear of God? 11. What reference teaches us to pray that God will unite our heart to fear His name? 12. What passage teaches that we cannot properly worship if we do not fear God? 13. What passage teaches that the fear of the Lord is a deterrent from sin? 14. What reference teaches that we cannot mature in holiness as we should without

the fear of the Lord? 15. What passage teaches that God takes pleasure in them that fear Him? 16. What passage teaches that there will be no lack to those who fear Him? 17. What reference teaches that if one is not able to "depart from evil," it is an

indication that he does not properly fear the Lord? 18. What passage teaches that the fear of the Lord prolongeth days?

02 Master Unit 2 the Person of God_updated 2013

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