CCS SysTheo How do we talk about God?

“What” is God? God is NOT a – Just God – Sovereign God – Loving God – Holy God

He Is... JusticeSovereigntyLoveHoliness

Justin Martyr But to the Father of all, who is unbegotten there is no name given. For by whatever name He be called, He has as His elder the person who gives Him the name. But these words Father, and God, and Creator, and Lord, and Master, are not names, but appellations derived from His good deeds and functions. And His Son, who alone is properly called Son, the Word who also was with Him and was begotten before the works, when at first He created and arranged all things by Him, is called Christ, in reference to His being anointed and God’s ordering all things through Him; this name itself also containing an unknown significance; as also the appellation “God” is not a name, but an opinion implanted in the nature of men of a thing that can hardly be explained. But “Jesus,” His name as man and Saviour, has also significance. For He was made man also, as we before said, having been conceived according to the will of God the Father, for the sake of believing men, and for the destruction of the demons. (Chapter 6)

How do we talk of Him? He is the Creator, Sovereign and Judge He can also be described as having distinctive perfections: – Relational Communicable Incommunicable – Overarching Categories Holiness Self-Sufficiency Infinitude

The List Incommunicable Holiness Sovereignty Infinitude Eternal Omni – – Potent – Scient – Present Immutable Impassible Immense Perfect Self-existent Triune Communicable Love Personhood Unity Good Mercy Roles Spirit Singularity Just

Some definitions Holiness – God as the “Wholly Other”, the basis and starting point of all reality. Holiness is first ontological and second moral (Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15-16) Sovereignty – God completely rules, alone (Ps. 83:18; Rev. 15:4) Infinitude – God is unmeasurable in all senses (Time, size, knowledge, etc.) (Romans 11:33-36) Eternal – God is outside time. He is unmeasurable in or by time (Ps. 41:13, 136; John 3:16)

'Holy places are dark places', asserts the Priest when the two conflict. 'It is life and strength, not knowledge and words, that we get in them. Holy wisdom is not clear and thin like water, but thick and dark like blood.‘ CS Lewis Till We Have Faces

Some definitions Holiness – God as the “Wholly Other”, the basis and starting point of all reality. Holiness is first ontological and second moral (Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15-16) Sovereignty – God completely rules, alone (Ps. 83:18; Rev. 15:4) Infinitude – God is unmeasurable in all senses (Time, size, knowledge, etc.) (Romans 11:33-36) Eternal – God is outside time. He is unmeasurable in or by time (Ps. 41:13, 136; John 3:16)

Some definitions cont. Omnipotence – doing anything you want, whenever you want – without effort (Rev. 1:8) Omniscience – Knowing everything (Ps. 147:5; Ps 139) Omnipresence – being present/conscious everywhere in reality (Ps. 139) Immutable – does not change in essence, neither in any communicable, nor incommunicable way (1 Samuel 15:29; James 1:17; Heb. 13:8)

Some definitions cont. Impassible – cannot be affected(Ps. 18:2, 91:2) Immense – immeasurable, spatially – both materially and immaterially (Job 11:7) Perfect – as is reality – in ought, in being and without any defect – the source (Matt. 5:48) Self-Existent – Relying only on self for being, remaining and rights (Romans 11:33-36) Love – Affection as one with Life, Light and Happiness (1 John 4:8)

Some Definitions Cont. Personhood – God is a person, not an immaterial force – He is why we are persons (2 Cor. 1:3; Galatians 1:4) Unity - That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance. (Deut. 6:4) Good – God is the moral center, dependable, beneficial to all. (John 10) Mercy – God does not destroy, but holds account with Justice, but a justice including self-sacrifice – very akin to grace (Ps. 86:15, 145:9)

Some Definitions Cont. Roles – There are distinctions of authority and action in the Threefold Godhead. (Jn. 8:42, 15:26) Spirit – God is first beyond material, a spirit immeasurable (John 4:24) Singularity – God is One and not unknowable, simplistic and pure (Deut. 6:4) Just – God bears and exacts righteousness on all creation (Rom. 3:26)

Some Implications One of the first steps in understanding the sovereignty of God is... You have to to get over yourself So...

a helpful exercise... Did I put on this tie? So, did I put it on?..

a helpful term... compatibilism compatibilism. The theory that human free will is consistent (compatible) with God’s sovereign prerogative to determine or will all things that are to happen. In order for this to be true, compatibilists usually argue that human freedom is only analogous to God’s freedom and not identical with it. More specifically, human freedom is limited, whereas God’s freedom is absolute.

Go back to the arguments for His existence...

Some Arguments for God’s Existence... If you can see Him in... Aquinas’ Five Ways Aquinas’ Five Ways – Motion – First Cause – Contingency – Degree – Teleology Beauty Beauty Morality Morality Love Love Ontology Ontology Atheism Atheism Religion Religion Singularity Singularity Judaism Judaism Christianity Christianity The Holy Scriptures The Holy Scriptures The Incarnation The Incarnation Jesus Jesus The Resurrection The Resurrection

We glorify what we enjoy most... God’s law demanded, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). But we have all loved other things more. This is what sin is—dishonoring God by preferring other things over him, and acting on those preferences. Therefore, the Bible says, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We glorify what we enjoy most. And it isn’t God.

Failure to love is not trivial-it is treason Therefore sin is not small, because it is not against a small Sovereign. The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted. The Creator of the universe is infinitely worthy of respect and admiration and loyalty. Therefore, failure to love him is not trivial—it is treason. It defames God and destroys human happiness.

Some Implications God is infinite in everything: – Time - eternal – Space - immense – Knowledge – omniscience – Power – omnipotence – Definitive perfection - holiness Sovereign is not only what God is, but it is what He does. (Rev. 19:6) An overlapping attribute with God’s immutability is His impassibility For all intents and purposes, God as Omniscient and God as Omnipresent are actually one and the same God’s attributes are not like pieces of a puzzle or ingredients in a cake, they are actually like Colors of the Spectrum

To miss this... Is idolatry Think about the Decalogue: The 10 Commandments – 3 of the 10 deal with this

The First Three... 1Then God spoke all these words, saying, 1Then God spoke all these words, saying, 2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3“You shall have no other gods before Me. 3“You shall have no other gods before Me. 4“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 4“You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 5“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 5“You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 6but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. 7“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. 7“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

To miss this... Is idolatry Think about the Decalogue: The 10 Commandments – 3 of the 10 deal with this – Idolatry is constant – Idolatry is sin is blasphemy – Idolatry is a ridiculous illusion!

So... Idolatry Isaiah 40 & 44

As Daniel records... He is the Most High God

think about it and be sure to get over yourself

“Ask any man his view of God and by his answer you can predict with certainty the spiritual future of that man. – A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

CCS SysTheo How do we talk about God?

CCS SysTheo How do we talk about God?