Suche
Lesesoftware
Specials
Info / Kontakt
The Essentials of Biblical Theology
von: Dr. Michael Wedman
BookBaby, 2020
ISBN: 9781098336257 , 296 Seiten
Format: ePUB
Kopierschutz: DRM
Preis: 11,89 EUR
eBook anfordern 
Chapter 1
THE ESSENTIALS OF GOD THE FATHER
If someone came up to you and asked, “Who is God?” or “What is the biblical definition of God?” – how would you answer that? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever tried to formulate a biblical definition of God? Let me suggest to you an answer. Here is a biblical definition of God:
God is a personal, living spirit who is self-existent, distinguished from all other spirits by his attributes.
You may be wondering, “What does that really mean?” Let’s look at this definition, starting with God as a self-existent spirit.
THE PERSON OF GOD
| God is spirit | John 4:24 |
| God is self-existent | Acts 17:24-28a |
| Exodus 3:13-14 |
| Revelation 1:8; 4:8b |
God is Spirit
John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” We learn from this verse that God is spirit. That means that God does not have a body like we have. God the Father does not take any particular physical form; He is spirit. He is not packaged or bound or defined by any type of physical limitations. God is simply, spirit.
God is Self-Existent
Not only is God spirit, He is also self-existent. In Acts 17:24-28a|
we read,
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28a‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’
God does not need anything or require anything to live because He is self-existent. In fact, He is the one who created all that exists. Existence has its being because God first existed and then created. Further, God does not need anybody to complete Him. He is not dependent on anybody else for His existence. There is absolutely nothing that God needs in order for Him to exist. He will never cease to exist because He has a need that cannot be fulfilled by someone or something else. Indeed, the very name that God gave to Moses to define who He is indicates that God is the “existent one”. In Exodus 3:13-14 we read,
Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
14God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God gives His name to Moses as, “I am.” Notice that God uses the present tense to describe Himself. This is because God is always present; He is always in existence. God is currently existing, always has been existing, and will continue to always exist. Think about that! God has always existed! Nobody created God, nobody birthed God, and nobody named God. God has always been. He is self-existent. God depends upon no one else. There is no other being anywhere in this universe that God needs in order to exist, nor is there any other being in this universe that created God into existence. God is the first cause of every other existence. He is the great ‘I am’. He always is, always has been, always will be because He is self-existent. There is not a beginning to God, nor is there an end to God. Revelation 1:8 says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
In other words, He has always been, He has always existed. I cannot stress it enough – God is self-existent, dependent on nobody else! He is the first cause of all creation and everything we know. God is the cause of all things and there was no one nor any other force that caused God into being, He always has been.
Think about that a little bit and let it blow your mind. We always think of things with a beginning and an end. Is there anything on the earth or in the universe that you can think of that does not have a beginning and an end? No! Not a thing! The earth, people, plants, animals, the sun, the moon, the stars, even the universe itself has a beginning and an end. There are limits to all things created, but God is without the limits of creation.
In Revelation 4:8b we read, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” He is self-existent. So, God is a living spirit who is self-existent. Let’s look now at God as a person.
God as a Person
God is a person, or another way to put it is, God has personality or personhood. There are three elements of personality – will, intellect, and emotion. For anyone to be considered as having personhood, all three components of personhood need to exist. These three components define personality – will, intellect, and emotion.
THREE ELEMENTS OF PERSONALITY
| Will | Ephesians 1:1a |
| Intellect | 1 John 3:20b |
| Emotion | Genesis 6:6 |
The Will of God
First, we see that God has a will. Ephesians 1:1a states, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Paul was called to be an apostle by the will of God. That is to say, God chose Paul by an act of His will. Paul repeats this phrase in many other of his epistles (See 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Colossians, etc.) – that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. God meets the first component of personality in that God has a will.
The Intellect of God
Second, God has an intellect. 1 John 3:20b says, “For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” God knows everything. He has knowledge. This means that God knows things, that He has intellect. God meets the second component of personality in that He has an intellect.
The Emotion of God
Finally, God has emotions. Genesis 6:6 says, “The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.” His heart was deeply troubled; it was pained. God felt something; God felt grief. Grieving is an emotion. God was grieved that he made humankind. God clearly has emotion; thus, He meets the third component of personhood. So, God has a will, God has an intellect, and God has emotion. We can conclude, therefore, that God is a person.
The Importance of the Personality of God
God has personality and that is important to us. It is important to know that God is a person and not just an inanimate object or some impersonal spirit floating out there. God is not the force of ‘Star Wars’. The ‘Star Wars’ mantra is, “may the force be with you,” as if the force is an inanimate, impersonal thing or thought that you can just tap into. The God of the Bible is far different than the force of ‘Star Wars’ because God is personal. God connects with us on a personal level through His intellect, His will and His emotions. We can talk to God person to person, and God does personal things for us. We can connect with him personally. God is so personal that He knows your name and even knows how many hairs are on your head (Matthew 10:30)! God interacts with us personally. He is not just some force out there that is to be tapped into.
God is not a ‘Star Wars’ god. The God of the Bible is a personal God – personal for each one of us. This means that God is always trying to connect with us, is always attempting to gain our attention, and is always wanting to be in our world. He is not just out there somewhere. He is here, with us, personally.
There is some erroneous theological teaching that says God created the world and then left the world to go on by itself, without Him, and that one day He will come back to it. This is not true! It is true that God created the world, but it is not true that God left the world on its own; God has stayed here with us. He even came down to earth to walk among us! One of the names of Jesus is Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23), which means “God with us.” We can know that God is personally with us, with you, today. He is with you when you wake up, and He is with you every step that you take this day and every other day. He is even with you when you are asleep. I know that sometimes it does not feel that way, but you can take it as truth that He is with you because He said he will be. Psalm 121 tells us that God watches over us at all times and that He never sleeps nor does He slumber. He...