In prior posts, God's Incommunicable Attributes were explained, including God's:
Christ is Self-Existent
God takes His reputation seriously because He wants people to take Him seriously, and to be able to trust Him. After all, He's asking you to trust Him with your soul.
- Self-Existence
- Eternality
- Omnipotence
- Immutability
- Omniscience
- Omnipresence
These attributes are what "make" Him God and us "not God". He has not conferred these attributes to us. We are not "like" God in this way. But, are there attributes of God's nature that He has shared with us?
Are we like God in any way?
Would you believe there are ways we are "like" God?
Genesis 1:26-27: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.”
So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. HCSB
Being in God's "image" is a difficult concept to understand. It also can be very controversial among believers since it goes to the heart of the dispute over Free Will (Calvinism, Provisionalism, Arminianism). These videos on Jeff A. Benner's YouTube channel (also https://www.ancient-hebrew.org) may be helpful in understanding the mysterious Genesis passage and what it means to be made in God's "image".
The Image of God Part 1 of 2
The Image of God part 2 of 2
God has given us attributes "like" His. He has a mind, emotions and a will - and so do we! We are/have:
- Conscious of our existence
- Creative
- Appreciate beauty
- Love
- A mind and a will* of our own
We share consciousness of our existence, creativity, appreciation of beauty, love, and at times even holiness, righteousness, self-sacrifice, joy, and wisdom. He has made us vessels to hold these characteristics and to eventually be "Christ-like". God gave us the model of the perfect person to shape our lives and decisions - because we have the ability to choose right from wrong.
God is a Triune Person
A person has a personality, and can be esteemed or dishonored. You cannot insult an impersonal object or love a "force". God demands to be honored as a person.1 Samuel 2:30 “...but now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” HCSB
Psalms 33:8 “Let all the earth fear (respect) the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.” HCSB
Habakkuk 2:2 “But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him (in reverence).” HCSB
This video is
instructive of explaining God in One Essence but Three in Person from
Focus on the Family's: Truth Project. The speaker is R.C. Sproul
God is Tri-Personal
God is "personal" but not one person. God is three persons of the same essence and substance and existence. Here are three excellent definitions with that distinction clarified:
Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum (www.ariel.org):
"Perhaps the best and simplest definition of the Trinity is that there is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three eternal and co-equal Persons; the same in substance or essence but distinct in subsistence or existence"
Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter II part 3: Of God, and of the Holy Trinity:"III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son"
Dr. William Lane Craig (www.reasonablefaith.org):
All three Persons of the Trinity are God. They individually and collectively are:"Technically it is not correct to say that God is a person. Rather, in Christian theology, God is three persons. This is the Christian doctrine of the Trinity –God is tri-personal. So the correct answer to the question would be to say, “God is personal, but he is not a person.”
- Self-Existent
- Eternal
- Omnipotent
- Immutable
- Omniscient
- Omnipresent
And only the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity have these Incommunicable attributes of God.
Christ is Self-Existent
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
Christ is also eternal
Micah 5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Christ is Omnipotent
Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power...
The Holy Spirit is Omniscient
Corinthians 2:10-11 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
Christ is Omnipresent
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
Humans are a Trinity Too
God has made us in three parts:
- Body -- Five senses to apprehend physical reality.
- Soul -- Mind, will and emotions
- Spirit -- Five spiritual senses to apprehend spiritual reality
We reflect the image of God in that we have a Mind/Will, Body, and Spirit...
- Mind / Soul - Seat of decision making, emotional responses to events, desires and creativity - analogous to the Father's role in the Trinity
- Spirit Our Spirit mingles with the Trinity (Father Son and Spirit) when we are born again - analogous to the Holy Spirit's role in the Trinity
- Body - Five sense, apprehend the physical world. Christ is the representation of God in the form of man.
We have Five Spiritual Senses
Like our physical senses of Taste, Touch, Smell, Hearing and Sight, God has given us Spiritual Senses that give us information about the Spiritual realm:
Spiritual Taste: Communion
Bread and wine symbolize our sharing in the communion of the Lord with the sense of Taste. In our worship and prayer time, we savor the goodness of the Lord.
Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!
Spiritual Touch: Worship
This is likened to the feeling of awe and wonder some experience in their praise and worship of God, or the feeling of seeing beauty or love and knowing God's presence.
Deuteronomy 10:21 He is your praise and He is your God, who has done these great and awesome things for you which your eyes have seen.
Spiritual Smell: Discernment
We are given intellect and plenty of scriptural advice, but God also gives us a sense of discernment to discriminate between what is God's Will and our will -- to recognize that our minds often rationalize what we want; or to recognize the deception of the enemy of our souls and their lies.
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
Spiritual Sight: Faith
The irony of faith is that it is "sight of the unseen" that gives us certainty of our path and hope in the future.
Hebrews 11:1,18 Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.
Spiritual Hearing: Conscience
Like Discernment, with God's Spirit, we are given the ability to hear God's leading and wisdom in moments of quiet contemplation and prayer.
Romans 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this...
Christ is our Example and Image of the Father
Christ is our Perfect Model of God the Father, and we are told we need to be like Christ.
- Here's the problem: he's a man, but he's perfect
- Here's the wonder: we too can be like Christ
Christ is the perfect man, and represents the Father:
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Hebrews 1:2-4 In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word.
Now here is a concept to wrap your head around: If Christ is the perfect man, when He took on the form of man and actually became a man, then the things that are true about Christ can also be true about us. Can you grasp that? We are to be the "image" of the Father". We are to be a representation of God's character and nature, and we will be co-heirs with Christ over all things as this special creation called "man".
We are in God's Spiritual Image; we share the Spirit of God and it helps us perceive spiritual things:
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 But as it is written: What eye did not see and ear did not hear, and what never entered the human mind—God prepared this for those who love Him. Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God
God is Jealous of His reputation
Did you know God does care what people think of Him? His name is Holy and He is jealous of His reputation.Psalms 138:2 “...You have exalted Your name and Your promise above everything else.”
God demands our respect
Look at the 1st and 3rd Commandments
Look at the 1st and 3rd Commandments
- Do not have other gods besides Me
- Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God
Do you have a reputation?
Do you deserve it?
Do you deserve it?
Is your word as good as gold?
If you "said it" then "it's so"?
How hard is it to change a bad reputation?
If you "said it" then "it's so"?
How hard is it to change a bad reputation?
God takes His reputation seriously because He wants people to take Him seriously, and to be able to trust Him. After all, He's asking you to trust Him with your soul.
Dr. William Lane Craig “...the Judeo-Christian tradition is quite unlike the rest of the world’s religions. For example, the pantheistic religions of the Orient, such as Hinduism, conceive of God as infinite, but not personal – he is just the Absolute, some sort of undifferentiated principle, but not a person.
By contrast, in the religions of Greece and Rome that were fashionable during the time the New Testament was written, the gods and goddesses were personal beings... But they were finite, humanoid supermen and women cavorting about. They weren’t infinite beings, but they were personal. In contrast to both of these, the Scripture teaches that God is both infinite and personal.” ~ Defenders Podcast transcript
When God interacts with us and makes promises, gives His word and answers prayers He is interacting as only a personal Being could.
God Keeps His Word
God's Word is a Promise and the source of our hope
Hebrews 6: 17-18 Because God wanted to show His unchangeable purpose...to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure.
An aside about jealousy....
There are two kinds of jealousy, one kind is a sin, one kind can actually be holy:- The desire to "have" something that isn't yours breaks the 10th commandment - this is the bad form of jealousy
- The desire to "keep" something, to guard what is already yours; something that has been committed or sanctified like a marriage can be a holy jealousy
If you want something and are Jealous for it, that could be a sin if it belongs to someone else - especially another person in a sacred relationship such as marriage.
Being a jealous husband or a jealous wife, however, may be based on holiness. A desire to keep something that is holy from being profaned, or ruined, such as a marriage, is not sin. God is jealous for Israel and His people, including us when we turn away to idols. God demands loyalty from us just as a spouse can expect faithfulness. Christians are to be "zealous" for the Lord. What is important to Him should be important to us. We should be quick to defend His honor, and have a passion to know him better.
_____________________
* Acknowledgments
Dr. William Lane Craig and his "Defender" series for portions of this material. (www.reasonablefaith.org)
Dr. Del Tackett, Focus on the Family: The Truth Project, 2006 - DVD Recording
Jeff A. Benner's YouTube channel (also https://www.ancient-hebrew.org)
Scripture citations are from: Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) © 2009 Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville TN or New King James Version®. (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson
No comments:
Post a Comment