CCS SysTheo

How do we talk about How do we talk about God?God?

“What” is God?

• God is NOT a

–Just God–Sovereign God–Loving God–Holy God

He Is . . . JusticeJustice

SovereigntySovereigntyLoveLove

HolinessHoliness

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 us 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 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 effected(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• 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’s 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

• Think about the Decalogue, The Ten Commandments . . .

The First Three . . . • 11 Then God spoke all these words, saying, Then God spoke all these words, saying, • 22 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of

the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. • 33 “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall have no other gods before Me. • 44 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any

likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. the water under the earth.

• 55 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers 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 on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, who hate Me,

• 66 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. who love Me and keep My commandments.

• 77 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. name in vain.

So . . .

Idolatry Isaiah 40 & 44Idolatry Isaiah 40 & 44

As Daniel records . . .

He is the Most High God

• “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