BIBLE DOCTRINE
EXAM # 3
STUDY GUIDE
[You do not need to memorize verses or their references for this exam[
Lecture 17
Karl Marx - "Religion…. is the opium of the people." “The first requisite of the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.”
TheBiblebeginswiththepresupposition thatGodexists. [Right from the ‘beginning’ God expects the reader of His Bible to take by ‘faith’ that He (God) exists; if you stumble here, then you will stumble all the way through the Bible. Most people (non-Christians) find these first few words of the Bible the hurdle that they just aren’t willing to jump over (and accept)].
TheologyProperbeginswithtwoassumptions—thatGodexists,andthathehas revealedHimselftoman.
ThefactoftheexistenceofGodisa“firsttruth.”
A“firsttruth”isknowledgethatis intuitive. TheknowledgeofGodistheuniquefeatureofman,whoisa
spiritualbeing, possessingGodconsciousness.Suchaknowledgeis universalbecauseallmenmanifestabeliefin
some“God.” Man hasareligiousnature.
ThisintuitiveconceptofGodcanbedevelopedandestablishedbyobservation, reflection,reason,andofcourse -revelation.However,itisindependentofall these.WewouldknowthereisasupremebeingeveniftherewasnoBible.
Atheism, in a broad sense, is the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. The term atheism means "without god".
Today, about 2% of the world's population describes itself as atheist, while a further ~12% is described as nonreligious
Atheismisunnaturalandabnormalbecausedenieswhatisintuitive.
It, nonetheless, is a belief system…a belief that there is not God…it takes lots and lots of faith to ‘believe this’!
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God….”
If God doesn’t exist, nothing matters.
Agnosticism (‘not knowing’)affirmsthe impossibilityofeverknowingthecertaintyofGod.
They are willingly ignorant and without knowledge!
Ignosticism - The view that an understandable definition of a deity must be put forward before the question of the existence of a deity can be meaningfully discussed.
Deism believesthatGodexists,butnotasapersonalGod. ItholdsthatGodis presentinHiscreation but onlyviaHispower;notinHisbeingandnature.
Deismdeniestheneedforspecialrevelation,holding thatman’sreasoning issufficienttoknowif thereisa‘HigherBeing.’
Dualismholdsthattherearetwodistinctprinciples - Good(God),andEvil(Satan).
ItteachesthatbothGodandSatan areco-eternal,butalsothatGodisfinite. ItisaYing-Yangphilosophy.
Pantheismisthebeliefthatallfinitethingsaredivine.All “nature”isGod. New Ageenviron mentalismisapresentday
exampleofpantheism.
Its “motherearth”conceptisnothingmorethantheworshipofthingscreated.
Polytheismisthebeliefinmanygods.Manyoftheworld’sreligionsare polytheistic.
Theismisthebeliefinapersonal,infiniteGod.Theismopposesatheism andagnosticism,butdoesnotnecessarily
excludepolytheism.
Monotheismisanextensionoftheismintothebeliefoftheexistenceofonlyone personal,infiniteGod.
TriuneMonotheism…..one Godexistingco-equally,co-eternally,andco-essentiallyasthreePersons.
Lecture 18
Systematic Theology is broken down into 10 main categories –
Bibliology: The study of the Bible
Theology Proper: The study of the essence, being, and trinity of God.
Angelology: The study of angels.
Anthropology: The study of man.
Hamartiology: The study of sin
Soteriology: The study of God’s plan and work of salvation for mankind.
Ecclesiology: The study of the church.
Eschatology: The study of prophecy and last things.
Christology: The study of the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pneumatology: The study of the Person of the Holy Spirit.
Thefactis,Godcannotbedefined.
AnyattempteddefinitionofGodisanthropomorphic(i.e.itcanonlybeputin simple humanterms).
We know from the Bible these 4 key truths about God’s essence:
1. Godis a Spirit
2. GodisLight
3. GodisLove
4. Godis aConsumingFire
If someone asks you to prove that God exists, you might respond with ‘prove that God doesn’t exist’.
The evidence for the existence of God falls into two categories:
(1) General or naturalistic evidence—reasonable evidence from the world around us
(2) special or revealed evidence—the evidence from the Bible.
TherearethreeareasinwhichtheintuitiveknowledgeofGodcanbedeveloped: By Reason, By Revelation, By Reality
Reason = Rationalism; the supernatural is considered irrational by many.
Reality = Empiricism; This is the system of pursuing knowledge through observation and experiment. In the empirical
system, everything must be checked out through the senses.
Revelation = Faith; This takes into consideration ‘reason’ and ‘reality’ but also adds in the ‘revelation’ from God’s
Word so that we can have the ‘faith’ needed to ‘believe in God’.
Most people don’t believe in God because ‘they don’t want to believe in God’.
Here are some reasons for belief in God:
▫The argument from universal belief (across the planet, people believe in ‘God’)
▫The argument from cause and effect. Thingsdon’t justhappen by themselves.
▫The argument from design. In the creation,weseedesignandpurposeeverywhere.
▫The argument from life. There must be a source of life beyond mankind
▫The argument from being. Howcoulda finiteandimperfectmandevisesuchaconcept (i.e. of God)?
▫The argument from morality. There are absolutes in the world’s moral code…and these are universal, and timeless.
ScripturedoesnotattempttoprovetheexistenceofGod—itassumesit! “In the beginning GOD….”
Rom 1 “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”
Psa. 19 “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork.”
(don’t need to memorize these)
Creation declares that there is a God!
Lecture 19
By “essence” wemeanthe “substance” or “being” ofGod.
Jn 4 “GodisaSpirit:andtheythatworshiphimmustworshiphiminspiritandintruth.”
Inthiskeypassage,wenotethreethingsaboutGod’snatureoressence: Life; Spirituality; and Personality.
God is life. The life described here is everlasting life; it is found in Jesus Christ; He is the giver of it; one must believe on Him in order to have it.
We know for sure that God is indeed a spirit; He has spiritual characteristics. But, is that the extent of His essence? Well, we fully know that Jesus Christ has a body that can be seen and touched.
God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient.
I believe that God is spirit but can be seen…He has form…He has a face…
God is a spirit; but, we will be able to see the invisible God; He has form; He is unlimited in size yet He will limit Himself for us to see Him.
God is a Person…not some ethereal impersonal force.
God is a Father, and a Son. These are Persons.
Potentially, the best single definition of God is that found in Exodus 3:14 -“AndGodsaidunto Moses,IAMTHATIAM:
This explains that God is self-existent;
Lecture 20
The unity of God: bythiswemeana“unityofessence”—notpersonality.
Deut 6 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
John 10 I and my Father are one.
The belief that God is a single Being is held by both Muslims and Jews, who insist that Allah and Jehovah are single entities. It is also held by pseudo-Christian cults such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons—and by various aberrant Christian groups who also deny the deity of Christ. Some Pentecostals claim that God is a single Being and that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God's three "titles" or "offices." Here we have unity without diversity.
The belief that God is a single entity is Unitarianism, and not three Persons existing eternally in one God (Trinitarianism).
Unity: a unity of essence; ONE God! Trinity: a tri-unity of personality; THREE Persons!
Seen In The “Uni-plural” Name For “God -
The Hebrew word translated “God” is “Elohim” which is a plural noun.
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image…
The Hebrew word elohim (gods) occurs about 2,500 times in the Old Testament, while the singular form occurs only 250 times and most of those designate false gods. (D. Hunt)]
The NT declares the Tri-unity of God -
Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: (The Great Commission)
Matt 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Jesus’ Baptism)
1 Cor 12:4-6 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. (Spiritual Gifts)
The word ‘Godhead’ is a significant Biblical term: it indicates a plurality of being.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
The Doctrine Does Not Mean Three Gods ---The Trinity (Tritheism) means “one God…three Persons…the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost.]
Several illustrations have been given to help explain the ‘trinity’:
The egg; human relationships; water; the sun.
1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these
three are one.
This is one of the clearest declarations in the Bible of the trinity, yet we are told it shouldn’t be in the Bible to begin with! e.g. The Scofield Reference Bible has a marginal note: “It is generally agreed that v.7 has no real authority, and has been inserted.” All modern translations either omit the verse or, like the RSV and the NASB deceitfully divide verse 6 to create a verse 7. This passage is referred to as the “Johannine Comma”, [and might be the most debated passage in the Bible by ‘Higher Critics’.
Lecture 21
The attributes of God are “those perfections of His divine being which are declared in scripture or are visibly exercised by Him in His works of creation and redemption.”
God’s attributes generally fall into two classifications: “natural and moral”.
The natural attributes of God are those which pertain uniquely and exclusively to His very existence. They cannot be communicated to any other created being.
These attributes are His: Unity; Trinity; Self-Existence; Omniscience; Omnipotence; Omnipresence; Eternality; Immutability.
The Name Jehovah means “I AM that I AM,” or literally, “The self-existent One.”
John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Omniscience means that God is “all-knowing”.
Mt 10 “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.”
Prov 15:3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
Ps 139:4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
Omnipotence means that God is “all-powerful.”
Though, God cannot go against His nature…i.e. God cannot sin….thus, He doesn’t have the power to sin.
“Is any thing too hard for the LORD?” (Gen 18:14)
Can God destroy the entire universe in a spoken word!
The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) site estimates there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe. A recent German super-computer simulation estimates that the number may be as high as 500 billion! The Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 Light Years in diameter. The next closest galaxy to ours is 2.2 Million Light Years away! God so so powerful!
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
It may very well be that as Biologists examine the energy components of an ‘atom’, that they will (if given enough time) finally come to God as the ultimate source;
How does God destroy the whole universe?.... He may just simply ‘let go’!
Omnipresence means God is “everywhere present.”
God is not controlled by the 3 dimensions that we understand as space; He is outside of space…and time…
Jer 23:24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.
Can God be in Heaven and here on Earth? Is God in a rock or a tree?
Answer: He is manifestly present in some places in a way in which He is not present in other places.
The immutability of God means that God is “unchangeable.”
“For I am the LORD, I change not” —Malachi 3:6.
If God cannot change, why does the Bible say God repents?
The reason is that God’s repentance is anthropomorphic. He may change His mind in relation to our (man’s) viewpoint, but not His own. For, He already knew all of this prior. He is doing it for our benefit.
The moral attributes of God are those which are relative to man, i.e. those which are revealed in God’s relationship with man. There are 12 moral attributes:
Holiness; Love; Truth; Justice; Mercy; Wisdom; Righteousness; Grace; Wrath; Patience; Goodness; Faithfulness.
The ‘holiness of God’ is without doubt the greatest or most exalted attribute of God.
The Holiness of God is the “attribute of attributes!”
God is infinitely set apart from sin [and sinners]. It is not God’s will to be holy it is His nature! [He cannot have sin around Him... it is impossible... it cannot happen.]
Psalms 145:17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.
The ‘Justice of God’ is that perfection whereby He cannot look upon sin. His holiness demands right judgments. Justice is the execution of righteousness, and has been termed “judicial holiness”.
Justice involves ‘the wrath of God’; their must be punishment for sin.
Some might say ‘how can a God of love send people to Hell?’ . . . or ‘how can a loving God allow innocent children to get hurt?’ The answer, simply, is ‘sin’.. .that’s how. The consequences of sin.
God is love; He is the definition of it (agape).
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
‘Mercy’ is a choice; it is undeserved; it can’t be expected.
Psalms 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us….
‘Grace’ means “unmerited, or undeserved favor.” “God’s riches at Christ’s expense”.
1. Grace receiving something very good that we do not deserve; i.e. Heaven.
2. Mercy not receiving something very bad that]we do deserve; i.e. Hell.
‘Longsuffering’:
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
‘Goodness’:
Matt 19:17a And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God:…
The word “God” is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words, “The Good”.
‘Truthfulness’:
Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;...
Psalms 33:4 For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.
Lecture 23
Any discussion of God’s sovereignty encompasses the following:
The foreknowledge of God; The counsel of God; The will of God; The providence of God.
The word “sovereign” means “supreme” to be ‘above all others,’ and to be ‘independent of all others.’
Just by the very nature of who God is, He must be sovereign.
Nothing ever occurs to God… nothing surprises Him! God is omniscient therefore He knows “the end from the beginning”. This is the ‘foreknowledge’ of God.
Just because God has foreknowledge of everything, doesn’t mean that He causes (forces) it all to happen; He can see the future and know just how rebellious man will be... surely God’s desire is not for man to be rebellious.. .but, His foreknowledge informs Him of this.
By His foreknowledge, God knew in eternity past what man would do with his free will, and so determined the great Plan of Salvation. His eternal purpose is centered in His Son.
Calvinistic logic is dangerous: They say “Since God knew back in eternity past that sin would enter into the world, it had to be because He sovereignly ordained it to be so.” (God would be the Author of sin!)
Furthermore, Calvinism promotes the philosophy that man has no say in anything... man has no control over his own destiny.., it is all by God’s design... God has ‘forced’ man to either a wonderful destiny in Heaven, or an horrible destiny in Hell.., and man cannot change this; from birth (even conception) you may be doomed to eternal punishment in Hell !
The foreknowledge of God goes right along with the ‘Predestination’ of those who become children of God (in Christ).
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
God knew who would be saved, and thus predestinated that all those that would get saved (of their own free will) would ‘be conformed to the image of his Son’… God didn’t predestinate them ‘to get saved’.
The Counsel of God is an aspect of His attribute of wisdom we may define it as the expression of His infinite wisdom. The counsel of God as viewed by Calvinists states that God’s wise counsel has ordained all that would happen... all the wars... all the rebellion.., all the sin.., all the unbelief..all the blasphemy.. all the people who refuse to accept Messiah...
The counsel of God may be looked at as the same as the ‘decrees of God’.
The expressed Will of God is the same thing as the counsel of God.