1. Why are you studying the person of God? God, as a person, has intellect, emotion, will, and self-awareness. These attributes give me a basis for better understanding and relating to Him.
2. Define God using the seven points suggested in the lesson. First, God is Spirit. He is an incorporeal, invisible, and immaterial Being. Second, God is Person. He possesses the attributes of personality. He has intellect, emotions, a will, and self-awareness. Third, God is life. He is alive and dynamic. He is not the deistic concept of a god who created the universe and then disappeared. Fourth, God is self-existent, meaning that He is the First Cause and that no one or thing created Him. Therefore, He must also be infinite. Fifth, God is immutable. He cannot change. Sixth, God is unlimited in time and space. Both are results of His creative act, and He exists alone in His universe without any kind of limitations. Seventh, God is one, meaning that there are no other gods.
3. What is spirit? God is Spirit. As such, He is immaterial, invisible, and incorporeal. He is not limited by a human body.
4. Define person and relate it to God. The attributes of personality, which show themselves in the person of God, are self-awareness, intellect, emotion, and will. Self-awareness means to know oneself. It involves self-determination and freedom, also the accepting of responsibility for one's life. God exists by Himself and perpetuates Himself by His nature. God has intellect, in that He has set in action His Plan for the world. He has emotion because He loves His creation. He feels sorrow and grieves over the actions of humanity. His Will, or Volition, is seen in that He can make rational decisions and then that He has the freedom to carry them out.
5. What is the relationship between the nature of God and the attributes of God? God's attributes manifest His nature. His attribute of holiness in evident because He is holy. His attribute of love is clearly apparent because He loves His creation. His attribute of goodness is seen in that He sent His Son to die for us. His attributes of omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence are clear because of the fact that He knows everything, can be everywhere at all times, and that He is all-powerful.
6. Know the definition of the false views of God.
7. List the three absolute attributes of God and define each.
8. How do the holiness and love of God relate? God is Holy, and His holiness demands justice. But God is also Love, and His love does not want to condemn sinful man. To resolve the conflict, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die on the cross as payment for humanity's sin-debt. Christ's dying on the cross satisfied the holiness of God. At the same time, His dying also demonstrated His love for humanity because He provided man with a way to escape God's eternal judgment.
9. List the three comparative attributes of God.
1. List the three names of God and tell what they reveal about God.
2. Define law. How does it relate to God? Law is an extension of the will of the lawmaker. Its five characteristics consider those who are subject to the law, an expression of the will which then becomes the standard, a form of punishment for those who disobey, a reward for those who obey, and the existence of a lawgiver. As such, the law of God is an expression of His will. It reflects His attributes. It is eternal and immutable. It deals with those who disobey, and the existence of God's law suggests the existence of God.
3. Explain the centrifugal and centripetal force upon man, especially in relationship to law. The laws of God are the centripetal forces that constantly draw a man into constant relationship with God. Centripetal means to seek the center. Centrifugal forces, which mean to fly from the center, are the autonomous and independent natures of man.
4. What is the difference between consequence and judgment in relationship to law? The justice of God requires that He judges those who violate His law, but He cannot carry out that judgment during life because the full impact of a person's sins cannot be known. A person is accountable for all of his or her sins, even for the influence of those sins once he or she has died.
5. What are the basic views that man has toward the decree of God? Some people immediately think of Calvinism. They think in fatalistic terms, that God is controlling his universe and making each little part go exactly according to His plan.
6. Define decree and relate it to God. The decree of God is His eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise and sovereign purpose. Within that framework, He is able to determine everything that will come to pass. However, that does not mean that He controls everything. The decree of God is one. It is the plan by which He creates, directs, sustains, and takes responsibility for His creation and His creatures.
7. Note that predestinate applies to program and not to individual people. The decree of God is that all people who believe and claim the righteousness of God shall be saved. The decree of God is the plan of God whereby He offers salvation to mankind. The word "predestinate" means that God has a plan of salvation and that He has extended it to all who believe. God's choice relates to His volition, to His will to choose such a program, not to decision about wo will respond to that program.
8. How does the decree of God relate to His running the world? The world in which we live was created and is sustained by God. Everything about our environment, seasonal changes, heat, rain, storms, and so forth, is an "act of God."
9. Define Trinity. How do the three persons relate to one another? The Trinity is the designation of God in unity yet existing in three eternal Persons. They are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father sent the Son to earth to live and die for humanity, ultimately to be the sin sacrifice for the world. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit to perform His earthly ministries when Christ returned to the right hand of His Father.
10. What are the arguments to prove the Trinity? First, the names of God, Elohim is plural, imply the Trinity Second, the worship of God by use of a trinitarian formula. For example, Isaiah used the designation, "Holy, Holy, Holy. Third, all three persons are distinguished as God. Fourth, Isaiah 48:16 points to the three personaities of God. Fifth, the Trinity was revealed at Jesus' baptism. Sixth, Jesus taught the Trinity. Seventh, the New Testament church recognized the Trinity. Eighth, each Person of the Trinity has specific tasks. Ninth, each person of the Trinity has the same attributes.
Tom of Spotswood "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews
Lessons 6, 7, & 8 - Christology
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