In View of the Increasing
Infiltration of New Age Concepts into the Modern Church, Mainly
Through 'Word-Faith' and Schullerism, What Should Christians
Definitely Maintain About the Nature of God?
Increase Your Knowledge of the Biblical Doctrine of God!
New Age concepts of God are increasingly creeping into areas of
the evangelical moment, so perhaps the time is right to outline
something of a 'potted' theology of biblical teaching about God.
In this article I intend to do just that. I would like to assure
the reader that I intend to keep this very simple and
straightforward. So what may we say about God from the
perspective of the Holy Bible?
Both the Old and New
Testaments declare that there is only one God. 'Hear, O Israel!
The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!' (Deut 6:4). 'You believe
that God is one. You do well' (James 2:19). We may also consider
Malachi 2:10; 1 Kings 8:60 and 1 Tim 2:5.
Many traditional religions of Africa and elsewhere do indeed
teach that there is one God who is Creator. Yet, according to
them, we cannot possibly draw near to this Creator God - He is
too aloof from us. This is one of the reasons some of these
religions have not concerned themselves with this Creator God;
rather, they recommend that one should become familiar with
lesser deities. This, of course, is entirely unbiblical, for the
Bible is quite clear that only the Lord God, the Creator, should
be sought after and served (Exodus 20:3).
Okay, we have to admit that
that the word 'trinity' does not occur in the Bible, yet we have
to understand that the word is simply used to express quite a
clear biblical revelation. Biblically, God is 'Father, Son and
Holy Spirit'. Of course, some have claimed that the Trinity
teaching means that Christians worship three Gods; but this shows
a very poor understanding of Christian theology. We also need to
understand that 'God in three persons' is not a reference to
'persons' as people are persons, and nobody ever meant to suggest
that it is the same thing.
'Thou, O Lord, art our Father'
(Isa 63:16). Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, 'I ascend to My Father
and your Father, and My God and your God' (John 20:17). Of
course, as in all of these cases, there are many more 'proof
text' Scriptures; I am making a real attempt to keep this simple
and clear.
'For a child will be born to
us, a son will be given to us' (Isa 9:6). At His baptism Jesus
heard these words from heaven: 'This is My beloved Son...' (Matt
3:17).
'The Spirit of God has made
me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life' (Job 33:4). The
apostle Paul urged the Ephesians, 'Do not grieve the Holy Spirit
of God' (Eph 4:30). It is quite clear that there are three
personages within the Godhead, since these three are often
mentioned together, for instance, 'Go therefore and make
disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit' (Matt 28:19). 'The grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, be with you all' (2 Cor 13:14). Of course, as
already pointed out, God is not a 'person' as we are. The Bible
clearly shows that the highest heavens cannot contain Him! (1
Kings 8:27). It should be obvious that the words of human beings
are going to struggle when attempting to describe their Maker! It
is, perhaps, rather like expecting a tree to describe it's
planter, or a pet dog describe it's owner; God is immeasurable
higher than us, His Creation, in all aspects. This does not mean
that we can never know anything about God, but it does mean that
we can only know what God reveals to us. But God is infinitely
harder to understand than the people he has made. Just as a man
could not exist without a heart or head, in the same way, God
could not exist without the Son and Holy Spirit; they are part of
God.
Even Christians who do not yet completely understand this
doctrine, know that the Father has created them and loves them
(John 3:16). The Christian knows that Jesus Christ the Son has
died for him (or, her) (Roms 3:25). He knows too that the Holy
Spirit has given him a new lease of life. But there are a few
more points about God which we must consider.
God has neither beginning nor
end (Psalm 90:2-4; Hebs 1:12). God is also always the same,
unchanging in character. Speaking to Moses, He said, 'I am who I
am;...thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "I Am has sent me
to you"' (Exodus 3:14). God's love and sense of justice remain
forever, God is not whimsical, His character is 'set' (Malachi
3:6; James 1:17). As people, our choices, opinions and decisions
can change rather a lot; WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT GOD IS JUST
NOT THIS WAY: He has complete stability of character!
Understanding that God is 'set' to do good and is unchangeable
can help us challenge those who seem to think that we can
manipulate God, if we say or do certain things, as in the
Word-Faith movement and the prosperity teaching which is part of
that. Some modern theologians also claim that God has not
necessarily made up His mind about a lot of things and is 'open'
to our opinions; this is a very deficient -and unbiblical -
understanding of God.
God is often referred to as
the all-powerful One. The word theologians use for this is 'God
is omnipotent'; God has ALL POWER, it is all there at His
disposal! 'But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He
pleases' (Psalm 115:3). Jesus said to His disciples, 'With God
all things are possible' (Matt 19:26). He is Sovereign, King and
Lord over all things. Satan, the enemy of God, can appear to be
very powerful. He is even called the prince of this world.
However, his power is subject to strict limitations (Job 1:12;
Job 2:6). Actually, many people feel that they are free to do
'whatever they want', but here people kid themselves as much as
Satan. No matter what we do, God's great plan for Mankind is
being accomplished at all times and the truth is that nobody ever
operates outside of that! Of course, the death of Jesus is the
greatest example of this: Satan really conspired to get rid of
Jesus, he wanted Him executed as a common criminal; yet, the
irony is while those responsible for Jesus' death were guilty of
the greatest evil of all time, in His infinite grace, God brought
out of this greatest evil the greatest possible good which He
could ever do for men and women! God was giving us salvation and
eternal life. In His omnipotence (total power), God is always
ready to bring good out of evil. The story of Joseph illustrates
this truth (Gen 37-47). It should be a tremendous encouragement
that we can rely on a God WHO CAN DO ALL THINGS.
An old proverb says, 'God can
see the black ant, on a black stone, on the blackest night!' King
David expresses this truth in this way:
Because God is everywhere, He
sees everything. Because He sees everything He can be perfectly
just in His judgements (Prov 15:3). The knowledge of this
startling truth about God should really drive all to repentance
and make us all scrupulously honest in every
undertaking!
Not only is God everywhere,
but He knows and sees everything which happens, even down to the
death of a small bird.
God knows the past, present and future (Isa
46:10), and it is all before His eyes; since God knows what lies
ahead, He will guide us if we look to Him in faith for that
guidance.
Missionaries have informed us
that even in the most primitive parts of the world, all the
people know that God is Creator and that He will finally judge
all. But these religions rarely have a concept of a God of love!
God's love however is unlike human love; He has a form of love
which only considers the eternal best interests of those He
loves. It is more important to God that we inherit eternal life,
than He should spare us that terrible looming trial! Being
finite, physical beings it is almost impossible for us to
properly understand this point; we have no experience of
eternity, whereas God inhabits eternity! At all times He can see
the 'big picture' while we struggle even to understand a small
detail on the picture. God's love does not count the cost; He
gives freely His most precious possession: 'For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish, but have eternal life' (John 3:16).
Because of His love God takes the initiative in our salvation; He
offers us His grace, even before we ask Him for it: 'We love
because He first loved us' (1 John 4:19, also note Roms 5:8).
Next, our Lord rejoices each time a sinner repents. This is not a
love which acts out of duty, because it is obliged to do so, on
the contrary, God finds joy in saving us (Luke 15:11-32).
Finally, the love of God lasts forever (Roms 8:37-39). He will
NEVER leave nor forsake His people (Psalm 136). 'If we are
faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself' (2
Tim 2:13). The Bible often refers to God's 'mercy'. This word
speaks volumes about the love of God. God has compassion on our
utter hopelessness! It is also because of His love that He is so
patient with us; He prefers not to immediately punish in most
cases because He would prefer to see us learn from our mistakes
and willingly turn from evil (2 Peter 3:9).
Here is another area where God
is unchanging! He is concerned for justice; this is not just
talking about God's quality of being a just Judge (2 Tim 4:8),
but is a guarantee that all that God does is utterly just and
perfect. He has nothing at all with which to reproach Himself!
People just do not understand this justice of God, again, it is a
bit like expecting a tree to understand the planter's motivation
for planting it! Faced with the mystery of death, or of the
suffering of innocent people, we sometimes find ourselves asking,
'Why does God permit it?' We do not always understand God's
justice (although sometimes we do), yet we are absolutely
overwhelmed when God makes us a gift of His righteousness in
Christ Jesus. 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus' (Roms
3:23-24).
'I am the Lord your God. ..Be
holy; for I am holy' (Lev 11:44). That word 'holy' means
something like 'separate from evil'. God's holiness is the result
of His love and His justice; He is WHOLLY ABOVE AND BEYOND US IN
CHARACTER! We need to see that evil is implacably opposed to love
and justice. Habakkuk said, 'Thine eyes are too pure to approve
evil, and Thou canst not look on wickedness with favour' (Hab
1:13). That is why God just cannot accept sinful men and women
just as they are - Yes, He makes the first move toward us while
we are yet His enemies, but He soon grants us what we need in
order to commence overcoming evil and drawing closer and closer
to Him. It is because of God's holiness that our sins must be
covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Meditating on the glorious
Doctrine of God cannot possibly leave us unmoved; the knowledge
of God's character should inspire us to draw closer to Him. The
Bible says, 'God is love'; it adds, 'You shall love' (Deut 6:5).
God is just; the Bible commands, 'Do justice' (Micah 6:8). God is
holy, the Bible commands, 'Be holy' (1 Peter 1:15).
So let us all bow down before the greatness of our God. Let us
all have a renewed passion to preserve these biblical teachings
about the nature of God, rather than find ourselves being
increasingly influenced by newer concepts of God which are
actually God-denying. Let us hold to the biblical doctrine of
God!
Robin A. Brace
1999