I don’t know if the doctrine of the Trinity is normally contained within ‘Theology Proper’ but for our study, it will be.

 There is a TON of material to cover this week so I will do my best to keep it brief. However, there are some topics that I will discuss in this note that I will not discuss on Wednesday night. If you would like to discuss them in greater detail, you are more than welcome. I will tell you which topics I will not be addressing in detail.

 We will start off briefly by discussing the age-old question, “How do we know that God exists?” We’ve all heard it, and attempted to answer it in one-way or another. We have two ways of knowing that God exists: 1) We have an inner sense that God exists, we are His creatures, and He is our Creator. 2) Evidence for the existence of God is clearly seen in nature and in Scripture (Grudem).

 We need to look no further than Romans 1 to see that humanity has a sense of God within ourselves. Romans 1:18 says that man, in our unrighteousness, “suppress the truth.” Romans 1:19 says, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.”

 Evidence for the existence of God is clearly found in Scripture and in nature. Romans 1:20 says, “For his invisible qualities, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” That passage seems pretty clear to me. Then if we look at Psalm 19:1-2 we see that, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

 When most people think about apologetics (defending the faith) and trying to prove God’s existence, they turn to some of the classic “proofs” for the existence of God. I will not explain them all, but I will link you to explanations of them. I will not be going over these, but feel free to look at them. They are: the Cosmological Argument, Teleological Argument, Ontological Argument, and the Moral Argument.

 According to the Westminster Catechism, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth” (Westminster Catechism Question #4).

 I will be spending the majority of our time on Wednesday discussing God’s character (attributes). However, there are so many, that I will not be able to go in depth on all of them. I will provide definitions for all of them so that you can take some time with your students to explore them deeper if you wish. I will bold the ones that I will be spending the most time on: independence, immutability, eternality, omnipresence, unity, spirituality, invisibility, omniscience, wisdom, truthfulness/faithfulness, goodness, love, mercy, grace, patience, holiness, peace, righteousness, jealousy, wrath, will, freedom, omnipotence (sovereignty), perfection, blessedness, beauty, and glory.

 I will BRIEFLY discuss them all and I will expound on some of them but not at length. While massive amounts of time could be dedicated to each one of God’s attributes, I need to leave plenty of time to talk about the Trinity!

 Having a correct view of the Trinity is essential having a solid doctrine. There have been many different views regarding the makeup and function of the Trinity. I will be going over a few of them on Wednesday night.

 I will be discussing such views as Dynamic Monarchianism (Adoptionism), Modalism (Sabellianism), Arianism, and Tritheism. These are all false and heretical views of the Trinity. If you want more info on these, let me know.

 Grudem defines the Trinity this way, “God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.” This view is widely accepted today as the orthodox view of the Trinity.

 When we examine this doctrine, we need to break it down into three statements and look at them each individually: 1) God is three persons. 2) Each person is fully God. 3) There is one God.

 We see the distinctness of the persons of the Trinity in Isaiah 63:10 where God speaks of His Holy Spirit. God is saying that the Holy Spirit has it’s own unique qualities. Also in 2 Corinthians 13:14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This shows the idea of the three persons explicitly. John 1:1 is another passage, which states the explicit nature of the three persons.

 God the Father is clearly God. This is apparent all throughout Scripture. From Genesis 1:1 where He created all the way through the rest of the Bible, the Father is seen as sovereign. John 1:1-14 defends the full deity of Christ. It is very important to understand that Christ is fully God. Also, John 20:28 is another proof of Christ’s deity. Thomas proclaims, “My Lord and my God!” when he sees Jesus’ hands and feet post-resurrection. Verses like Matthew 28:19, where the Holy spirit is mentioned at the same time as the Father and the Son, show that the Holy Spirit is equal to them.

 The Bible clearly states that there is only one God. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 says, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” There is no dispute to this claim anywhere in Scripture.

 

 

Definitions

Independence – God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation can glorify him and bring him joy.

 Immutability – God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations.

 Eternality – God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time

 Omnipresence – God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places

 Unity – God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times

 Spirituality – God’s spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence.

 Invisibility – God’s invisibility means that God’s total essence, all of his spiritual being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself to us through visible, created things

 Omniscience – God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act

 Wisdom – God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals.

 Truthfulness/faithfulness – He is the true God, and that all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth

Goodness – God is the final standard of good, and all that God is and does is worthy of approval

Love – God eternally gives of himself to others

Mercy – God’s goodness toward those in misery and distress

Grace – God’s goodness toward those who deserve only punishment

Patience – God’s goodness in withholding of punishment toward those who sin over a period of time

Holiness – He is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor

Peace – In God’s being and in his actions he is separate from all confusion and disorder, yet he is continually active in innumerable well-ordered, fully controlled, simultaneous actions

Righteousness – God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right

Jealousy – God continually seeks to protect his own honor

Wrath – God intensely hates all sin

Will – The attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to being about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation

Freedom – The attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases

Omnipotence (sovereignty) – God is able to do all his holy will; he is all-powerful

Perfection – God completely possesses all excellent qualities and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for him

Blessedness – God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects his character

Beauty – That attribute of God whereby he is the sum of all desirable qualities

Glory – God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself