Page 7 - Bible Doctrine Survey I - Student Textbook (3)

In What Form Does God Exist?

God is a “personal” being. God is not human yet He is “person” like man in that He has intellect,
emotions and will (see “communicable attributes”). It is in this sense that we are in the “image of God”
(Gen.1:26,27; 9:6). He does not share our imperfections but he does share our personal nature. God is
not a “force.” He is a personal being. God is a “spiritual” being. God does not consist of any material
substance. He is spirit (John 4:24). He has no body.

God is a “triunity.” “Trinity” is a term that describes the “three-ness” of God. But that is only a partial
description. God is also “one” – He is a unified being. So a good term to describe both truths is
“Triunity.” “Trinity” may always be the most-used term, but we must understand that biblically “trinity”
is really “triunity”. So God is the Father, God is the Son, and God is the Holy Spirit. All persons of the
Godhead are all equally ONE God. There is only one God but in the unity of God there are three equally
eternal Persons, the same in substance but distinct from each other (Adapted from B.B. Warfield).

Some people believe that the trinity is three different Gods. Others believe that God the Father created
the Son and that the Holy Spirit is merely a “force” of God. Others believe that the Son and the Holy
Spirit are ranked beneath the Father. All these ideas cannot be supported in the Bible, for the Bible says
that there is only ONE God (Deut. 6:4; Is. 45:14; James 2:19, etc.). The one God is not divisible into
parts. Since God is spirit by nature and not material in composition, He cannot be divided into 3 parts
of 1/3 God each. God the Father, God the Son or God the Holy Spirit therefore cannot be conceived of
any anything less than wholly God in essence.

The Person of the Father

The Father is God as stated in the following verses: Rom.1:7 – “God (who is) our Father” John 6:27 –
“the Father (even) God.”

The Person of the Son

1. The Son is God as he possesses the follow characteristics:
a) Self-existence (Heb.7:3; John 5:26)
b) Immutability (Heb.1:10; 13:8)
c) Infinity
d) Eternality (Heb.7:3)
e) Omnipresence (Matt.28:20)

2. The Son also participates in the functions of deity:
a) He created the world (John 1:13)
b) He sustains the world (Col.1:15-17)
c) He forgives sins (Matt.9:1, 2)
d) He performs final judgment (John 5:22; Rev.19:16)

3. The Son receives worship.
a) Of angels (Heb.1:6; Rev.5:12,13)
b) Of men (John 9:38; 20:28; Matt.28:9)

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