Psa. 103:1-13,22, The Living God (1)

The pagan world was always haunted by the unknowability of God.  At best, men could but grope after his mystery.  “It is hard,” said Plato, “to investigate and to find the framer and the father of the universe.  And, it one did find him, it would be impossible to express him in terms which all could understand.”  Aristotle spoke of God as the supreme cause, by all men dreamed of and by no man known.  The ancient world did not doubt that there was a God or gods, but it believed that such gods as there might be were quite unknowable and only occasionally interested in mankind.  In a world without Christ, God was a mystery and power, desirable but never known.

Ah, but believers in Christ do not live in a world without Christ.  He is the image (exact representation) of the invisible God (Heb. 1;1-3).  He alone has seen God and has declared Him (John 1:18).  Following is a simple outline study of “theology proper” (i.e. the study of God Himself), with scriptures included along with a few additional illustrations.

1)    What can we know about God?

a)    God’s nature – what is God?

i)      How many true Gods are there?  ONE!  Deut. 32:36-39: There is no God besides Me, a truth quoted several times in Isa. 40-66.  Apparently Israel had forgotten this truth.  Since there is only one God, then, as the Shammah says (Deut. 6:4-6), The LORD is one!

ii)   What is God?  He is a spirit (Jn. 4:24) and Jesus made it clear, that a spirit has no flesh and bones (Lk. 24:39).

iii)            How many persons make up the “godhead?”  And what are their names?  There are three persons.  The Bible refers to God the Father, God the Son, God and Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).  Three persons existing in such unity that they are distinct, and yet there is only one God!

b)    God’s attributes – what is God like?  Some refer to these as God’s “perfections.”  Whatever term you use, we are talking about qualities attributed to God in His word, the Bible.  This list is not exhaustive.  While God is knowable, there is no thought our knowledge can ever be complete.

i)      Exodus 34:6-7: One of the richest troves of God’s attributes is found here, in what God says is His “name.”  We will quote it, and then continue in our next post: And the LORD passed before him (Moses on Mt. Sinai) and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.