Who is God?
Isaiah 6:3 Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.
In the last post, we discussed that nothing is more essential than to know Who God is. Our conceptions of God (or theologies) absolutely determine our responses to Him and the consequent patterns of our lives. It is said that orthodoxy (right thinking) determines orthopraxy (right doing).
We are speaking of God, what marvel is thou do not comprehend? For if thou comprehend, He is not God. Augustine of Hippo
Plumbing the depths of the knowledge of God is an exhausting and eternal task, but one full of joy and glory. After spending our days and nights studying His character through His word and works, we are forced to sit back and breathlessly and humbly proclaim:
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things to Him be the glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:33-36
His judgments are unsearchable and His ways unfathomable. Can we therefore know Him? Indeed we can. After all, John tells us that eternal life is found in knowing Him.[2] Surely we can never fully understand Who He is or what He has done and is doing, but that does not mean that we cannot know that which He has revealed of Himself.[3] While we cannot know Him exhaustively, we can surely know Him deeply and truly.
Who is this God? What a lofty question to try to flesh this out in just a few (web)pages of text. In light of the fact that our God is infinite, we will only have opportunity to explore a sliver of His nature, character and characteristics. For the purpose of expositing some teaching distinctives, we will focus merely on the trinity and His incommunicable attributes.[4]
The Trinity
”There is one God: infinite, eternal, almighty and perfect in holiness, truth and love. In the unity of the godhead there are three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co-existent, co-equal and co-eternal. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet each is truly Deity. One God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is the foundation of Christian faith and life.”[5]
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
God is one. This is fundamental for a proper perspective of Who God is. The Old Testament repeatedly drilled this into the minds (if not necessarily the hearts) of the sons of Israel. Christianity is not polytheism. We believe in one God and only one God. However, we also believe that His oneness is a complex unity.
Theologians have grappled with this complexity for centuries and have deemed this truth “the trinity” or “the Triune God”. First coined by Tertullian in the late 2nd or early 3rd centuries, the historical understanding of God’s nature is that He exists as three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It is indeed a confusing topic; so much so that it caused one to write of the doctrine, “try to explain it, and you’ll lose your mind; but try to deny it, and you’ll lose your soul.” Like the author, we too uphold both the complexity and necessity of a Trinitarian understanding. So, how are we to conceive of this which is ultimately incomprehensible?
In matters such as this, it helps to think of Scripture as defining boundaries of belief. Its goal is not always to give exhaustive knowledge, but insight which is sufficient to lead one to salvation and godliness. In this case, we simply do not have meticulous Scriptural evidence.
We know that the Father is divine.[6] We know that Jesus is divine.[7] We know that the Hoy Spirit is divine.[8] Although Scripture typically reserves the name “God” for the Father, it is certainly appropriate to say that the Son and Spirit are God. They are fully God.
However, in saying that the Son and the Spirit are God, we are not saying that the Son is the Father. They are distinct persons. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit and the Spirit is not the Father.[9]
There is only one God. In eternity, this single and unique God has communed in perfect harmony, love and joy as Father, Son and Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity is perhaps best summed up by three crucial statements:
- God is three persons
- Each person is fully God
- There is one God
While the exact way in which these truths interact is mystery, the important thing is that we do not deny any. Historically, a denial of or focus on one at the expense of the others has always led to controversy and, ultimately, heresy. We must uphold all three and then embrace the mystery. Below is a brief overview of attempts to focus on one statement at the expense of the others.
Modalism – Belief in One Person (denial of 3 persons) Who Appears in 3 “Modes”
Modalism[10] is an emphasis on the third statement certainly at the expense of the first. It claims that God is not three distinct persons but rather only one person who appears in three forms or modes at various times. Modalism has repeatedly been struck down due to its heretical denial of the distinctions within the godhead.
Arianism – Denial of the Full Deity of the Son
Arianism[11] teaches that Christ especially was not fully divine, but was rather the first of God’s creation. Though Christ has preeminence as head of all creations, He is not fully and truly divine in nature. It was during the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) that Arianism was officially declared an unorthodox and heretical understanding.[12]
Paradox
Ultimately, Christians must learn to live with tension. We have finite and feeble minds which think in terms of simplicity. Our God however is infinite and above our greatest conceptions. We therefore must embrace paradox instead of attempting to humanize our God. Christ has testified to His unity with and yet distinction from the Father. His resurrection has validated His message. We must therefore live with and in this tension.
[1] What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. — A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy
[2] John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
[3] Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.
[4] His incommunicable attributes are those which are not shared in by His creatures. For example, being omnipotent (all-powerful) is restricted to deity (incommunicable), while wisdom might be shared by some creatures (communicable).
[5] Village Church Statement of Faith
[6] Genesis 1:1, John 1:1, Luke 22:42
[7] John 1:1-4, Colossians 1:15-17
[8] Matthew 28:19, Acts 5:3-4
[9] This is a rejection of the heresy known as modalism which states that God is only one person and merely reveals Himself as Father, Son and Spirit at various times.
[10] Also called Sabellianism after one of its leading proponents or patripassionism (that the Father suffered upon the cross).
[11] A similar theology is espoused by Jehovah’s Witnesses today.
[12] The debate centered around the use of two Latin words, homoousios (“of the same nature or substance”) and homoiousios (“of a similar nature or substance”). The Nicene Creed explicitly confessed the former, that the Father and Son were of the same nature and not merely similar.
