Doctrine of God by Raymond McGough

7/25/2019 Doctrine of God by Raymond McGough

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Doctrine of God

By

Raymond McGough

The knowledge of God

The knowledge and wisdom of God is available to mankind, but the route to it is

through his Son the Lord esus !hrist, and his cross" #ow wonderful that the

$erson who made us had a %lan b to come and rescue us from our rebellion

against him by %roviding a way of esca%e from our sins, when we acce%t that, it

is in my view the beginning of the knowledge of God"

$aul the a%ostle had a lot to say regarding the wisdom of God to the

believers of the &rst century which is e'ually valid for the !hristians of today,

and the future" (e turn to his &rst letter to the church at !orinth for some

valuable insight" )*cor"+-, ."/ 0But we s%eak the wisdom of God in a mystery,

the hidden mystery which God %redetermined before the ages for our glory, )./

which none of the rulers of this age knew1 for had they known, they would not

have cruci&ed the Lord of glory"2

3ote the contrast between the wisdom of God against the wisdom of the age

or of the world" This knowledge is not available to those who do not believe" 4f

you do not believe and acce%t that !hrist and his cross is according to #oly

Scri%ture the access %oint of entering into heaven" 5our worldly intellect will not

su6ce, regardless of the number of degrees, even only one, di%lomas, and

certi&cates you may have attained, neither the manner of life you may lead" The

wisdom of God will su%ersede one day the wisdom of the age making it defunct,

because it is o%%osed to the wisdom of the world"

Mystery as the a%ostle $aul inter%rets it under the guidance and in7uence ofGod the #oly S%irit is that there is no secret to it which is di6cult for human


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understanding" 4t was only a secret until God chose to reveal it to the s%irits,

hearts, and intellects or intelligence of humanity, who would have the choice of

either acce%ting it or not8 The mystery when it was revealed is the information

on God9s %lan for the redem%tion of mankind, a %lan that had been conceived

before the beginning of time, and human history" #ad God chosen not to reveal it

as has been manifested in the visible a%%earing of his Son esus !hrist in humanhistory it would be still be a mystery"

Believers live by faith in a secret knowledge %rovided by God through his

Son, the Lord esus !hrist, o%erated by the in7uence and guidance of the #oly

S%irit to those who have acce%ted his Lordshi% over them, it took a number of

decades for God to change my very conservative inter%retation of #oly Scri%ture,

in order to make me realise no matter how big 4 at that time in my huge

egotistical intellect thought 4 knew all the right answers or so 4 thought as many

others do, and did, only God the #oly S%irit can %rovide the true e:egetical

inter%retation to #oly Scri%ture, he brings God9s &nal word on the matter"

;ven for those of us who have known the Lord for a long time, we &nd it very

di6cult with our human nature to understand that God has no %lace for human

intellectualism, when self is the dominant factor" (hen this arises it causes

divisions among the members of the visible invisible church of the Lord esus

!hrist" (e &nd such divisions in the church of !orinth" )*"!or"***


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who ba%tiCed them was better than the rest" (hen 'uarrels like these arise it is

of the 7esh not of God" There are certain men belonging to diFerent local

churches like to boast of themselves robbing God of his glory"

)*"!or"**or it is written 04 will destroy the

wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the %rudent"2 (e

have to remember that this was written not to none believers, but to those who

had already acce%ted !hrist as Lord"

The human mind can be a devious route to evil and ungodly %ursuits within

those who have acce%ted salvation from the Lord with the battle of our s%irit

against our 7esh being constant until we are called home" 3ot only had this

occurred within their ranks the very same boastful %ride had entered into the%ossession of having S%iritual Gifts" )*"!or"!h*+


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you are in !hrist esus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness

and sancti&cation and redem%tion ather, and esus !hrist his Son,

our risen Lord use to make vocal in us the things that the two being one would

want us to make known to his %eo%le, and the world,

0#uman wisdom is too often founded on faulty values and limited

knowledge" The wisdom of God is that attribute of God by virtue of which he

always acts with full knowledge and correct values"2 )*/


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To enhance the wisdom of God has already %rovided to the believers who

have acce%ted God9s Son as Lord he adds another dimension of his wisdom to

them, which is found in the (isdom Literature of the ld Testament in the

following books ob, $roverbs, ;cclesiastes, and others" These %articular books

convey the truth of God in a beautiful form of art in literature %roviding divine

logic resulting in %ro%er actions that ultimately %leases God"

$ro%er and true knowledge according to #oly Scri%ture is only found in God, he

is the source of all that is true" #e is a %ractical and knowledgeable God nothing

is missed under his scrutiny"

The wisdom of God can also be seen in his creation the %salmist describes

this for us" )$s"*=+="/ 0 Lord, how manifold is your worksK 4n wisdom you have

made them all" The earth is full of your %ossessions"2 3ot only the %salmist, we

also &nd God giving a descri%tive account of his creation, a tremendous insightinto the wisdom of God to ob" See the latter cha%ters of the book of ob" )b"A=urther to the wisdom of God, it can be said, it is also found in the God of theld Testament relating it to the creation his wisdom is seen at the beginning with

God" 2The conce%ts of both the word of God and the wisdom of God were

%re%aratory for the 3ew Testament Doctrine for the $erson of !hrist"2 )*/

)$rov".++


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corroborates these ideas" )n"**="/ 0@nd the (ord )!hrist/ became 7esh and

dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the

>ather full of grace and truth"2

(e have in the word of God and the wisdom of God the %redetermined

%lans and %ur%oses of God for the 3ew Testament Doctrine of the $erson andwork of !hrist" There can be no other logical conclusion from the %assage

belonging to the Book of $roverbs )$rov". ++A*"2 in which we have to conclude

it concerns the @nointed ne the Messiah"

(hen the a%ostle $aul s%oke of the wisdom of God to the saints in

!orinth, he was talking not about the general wisdom of God that is common

%lace, if such an e:%ression can be used8 (hat he had in mind was the ins%ired

wisdom of God, s%oken by the S%irit of God through the tongue of the believer"

)*"!or"*+."/ 2"""for to one is given the word of wisdom through the S%irit, toanother the word of knowledge through the same S%irit"2 The word here is Logos,

a descri%tion given to esus !hrist, as a title from ohn in his gos%el" )n"**"/

Meaning divine reason, the ultimate reason for everything, which is the mind of

!hrist" >rom him comes his %ersonal wisdom sent by his S%irit to the believer the

wisdom of God to be uttered by the believer, an ins%ired word of God from God

his s%ecial revelation under the heading of logos so%hias" 4 believe it would be

&tting to conclude at this Huncture this section of Systematic Theology by

reiterating a %assage from $aul9s letter to the saints at !olosse" )!ol"A*J"/ 0Let

the word of !hrist dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing

one another in %salms and hymns and s%iritual songs, singing with grace in yourhearts to the Lord2

Bibliogra%hy

Truth @7ame by Larry D #art $ublisher" Nondervan )*/" Systematic Theology by

Louis Berkof" $ublisher" Banner of Truth" Bible used" The 3ew S%irit >illed Life

Bible"$ublisher"Thomas 3elson"

Doctrine of God by Raymond McGough

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