The Unity Of God part 1.

For the sake of time this is the first part of a two part series.

What I am going to talk about today is the unity of God.   
 
First, I am convinced that there is an urgent need in the church today for a much greater understanding of Christian doctrine, or  theology. Not only pastors and teachers need to understand theology in greater depth, the whole church does as well. One day by God’s grace we may have churches, full of Christians, who can discuss, apply, and live the doctrinal teachings of the Bible as readily as they can discuss the details of their own jobs, hobbies, home decorations, or television programs. It is not that Christians lack the ability to understand doctrine; it is just that they must have access to it in an understandable form. To that end, the lost art of transcripts is available for this message, so that we might study to show ourselves approved. The other forms of the Word of God, other than the written word, are not suitably  as the primary basis for the study of theology. Once access to doctrine is made available, in an understandable form by way of transcripts,  I think that many Christians will find that understanding, and living the doctrines of Scripture, is one of their greatest joys.   
   
Again, this message is the unity of God. The unity of God may be defined as follows: God is not divided into parts. Yet, we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times. This attribute of God has also been called God’s simplicity. Using simple, in the sense of “not complex”, or “not composed of parts.” Yet, since the word simple today, has commonly been used in the sense of, “easy to understand”, “unintelligent, or even foolish,” it is more helpful now to speak of God’s “unity”, rather than his “simplicity.”   
   
When Scripture speaks about God’s attributes, it never singles out one attribute of God, as more important than all the rest. There is an assumption, that every attribute, is completely true of God, and is true of all of God’s character. For example, 1st John 1 5, says that “God is light”, and then a little later in 1st John 4 8, it says also that “God is love”. There is no suggestion, that part of God is light, and part of God is love. Nor, is there any suggestion, that God is more light than love, or more love than light. Rather, it is God himself who is light, and it is God himself who is also love.   
   
The same is true of other descriptions of God’s character, such as that in Exodus 34 6 to 7. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and the 4th generation."   
   
We would not want to say, that these attributes, are only characteristic of some part of God, but rather that they are characteristic of God himself, and therefore characteristic of all of God. Thus, we should not think of God as some kind of collection of various attributes added together. 
   
Rather, we must remember that God’s whole being, includes all of his attributes. He is entirely loving, entirely merciful, entirely just, and so forth. Every attribute of God, that we find in Scripture, is true of all of God’s being. We therefore can say, that every attribute of God, also qualifies every other attribute. It should be clear that, each attribute, is simply a way, of describing one aspect of God’s total character or being. God himself is a unity, He is, a unified, and completely integrated whole person, who is infinitely perfect in all of these attributes.   
   
Why then does Scripture speak of these different attributes of God? It is probably because we are unable to grasp all of God’s character at one time, and we need to learn of it from different perspectives over a period of time. Yet, these perspectives should never be set in opposition to one another, for they are just different ways of looking at the totality of God’s character.   
   
This means that we should never think, for example, that God is a loving God at one point in history, and a just or wrathful God at another point in history. He is the same God always, and everything he says or does is fully consistent with all his attributes. It is not accurate to say, as some have said, that God is a God of justice in the Old Testament, and a God of love in the New Testament. God is and always has been, infinitely just and infinitely loving as well. Everything he does in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, is completely consistent with both of those attributes.   
   
Now, it is true that some actions of God show certain of his attributes more prominently. Yet, it would be difficult indeed, to find some attribute of God, that is not reflected at least to some degree, in any one of his acts of redemption. This is due to the fact that God is a unity, and everything he does is an act of the whole person of God.   
   
Moreover, the doctrine of the unity of God, should caution us against, attempting to single out any one attribute of God, as more important than all the others. At various times, people have attempted to see God’s holiness, or his love, or his self-existence, or his righteousness, or some other attribute, as the most important attribute of his being.  
 
But, all such attempts, misconceive of God, as a combination of various parts, with some parts being somehow larger, or more influential than others. Furthermore, it is hard to understand exactly what “most important” might mean. Does it mean that, there are some actions of God, that are not fully consistent, with some of his other attributes? Does it mean that, there are some attributes, that God somehow sets aside at times, in order to act in ways slightly contrary to those attributes? Certainly, we cannot maintain either of these views. For, that would mean that God is inconsistent with his own character, or that he changes and becomes something different from what he was previously. Rather, when we see all the attributes, as merely various aspects, of the total character of God, then such a question becomes quite unnecessary. We discover that, there is no attribute that can be singled out, as more important. It is God himself, in his whole being, who is supremely important. It is God himself, in his whole being, whom we are to seek to know and to love.   
   
Why was the church so concerned about the unity of the Trinity? Is it really essential to hold to the full deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit? Yes it is. For this teaching has implications for the very heart of the Christian faith.  
 
First, the atonement is at stake. If Jesus is merely a created being, and not fully God, then it is hard to see how he, a creature, could bear the full wrath of God against all of our sins. Could any creature, no matter how great, really save us?    
   
Second, justification by faith alone is threatened if we deny the full deity of the Son. This is seen today in the teaching of those who do not believe in justification by faith alone. If Jesus is not fully God, we would rightly doubt whether we can really trust him to save us completely. Could we really depend on any creature fully for our salvation?    
   
Third, if Jesus is not an infinite God, should we pray to him or worship him? Who but an infinite, omniscient God could hear and respond to all the prayers of all God’s people? And who but God himself is worthy of worship? Indeed, if Jesus is merely a creature, no matter how great, it would be idolatry to worship him. Yet, the New Testament commands us to do so, in Philippians 2 9 to11 and in Revelation 5 12 to 14.    
  
Revelation 5 12 to 14 tells us.   
-Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.    
-And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.    
-And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.    
   
Every knee of man, angels, and demons, will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord. Those who have denied his existence, will bow in worship. Those who have spent their lives rebelling at His authority, will finally bow in submission. Every being from all ages, will ultimately bow and worship Jesus.   
   
If we bow our knees to His Lordship now, we will enjoy wonderful lives here, and an eternity in His blessings hereafter. Those who deny his rightful claim, to the Lordship of their lives, will suffer for it in this life, as well as the next, and will still have to bow their knees to His authority anyway. There is nothing to gain, and everything to lose, if people refuse to make Jesus their Lord.   
   
Furthermore, in John 20 28 to 29, Thomas without controversy, worshiped Jesus as his God and his Lord.    
John 20 28 to 29 says.    
-And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.    
-Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.    
   
Jesus did not rebuke Thomas for worshiping him as his God. Quite the contray, Jesus blessed Thomas, for believing that Jesus was his God. The first and most important commandment is, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. There was no God created before me, along side me, neither will there be any created after me. So God is emphatically claiming to us now. There is but one God, and he is that one God.   
   
Furthermore, Jesus said a greater blessing would be given to us for behaving the same way that Thomas behaved, because we did not see what Thomas saw. Our belief would be by faith.   
   
Fourth, if someone teaches that Christ was a created being, but nonetheless, the one who saved us. Then this teaching, wrongly begins to attribute credit for salvation, to a creature and not to God himself. This wrongfully exalts the creature rather than the Creator, something Scripture never allows us to do.    
   
Fifth, the independence and personal nature of God are at stake. If there is no Trinity, then there were no interpersonal relationships, within the being of God before creation. Thus, without personal relationships, it is difficult to see how God could be genuinely personal.  
   
Sixth, the unity of the universe is at stake. If there is not perfect plurality, and perfect unity in God himself, then we have no basis for thinking, there can be any ultimate unity among the elements of the universe either. Clearly, in the doctrine of the Trinity, the heart of the Christian faith is at stake.   
  
Herman Bavinck says that, “Athanasius understood better than any of his contemporaries, that Christianity stands or falls, with the confession of the deity of Christ and of the Trinity. He adds, “In the confession of the Trinity, throbs, the heart of the Christian religion. Every error results from, or upon deeper reflection may be traced to, a wrong view of this doctrine.   
 
At a deeper level, perhaps, many evangelicals today, unintentionally fail to recognize, the distinct personhood of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Perhaps, they are seldom aware of the unity of God, as one undivided being. Thus, destroying any sense of ultimate unity in the universe. Even in the very being of God, there would be plurality, but no unity.   
 
What Are the Distinctions Between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?   
After completing this survey of errors, concerning the Trinity, we may now go on to ask, if anything more can be said, about the distinctions between, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If we say that each member of the Trinity is fully God, and that each person fully shares in all the attributes of God, then is there any difference at all among the persons? We cannot say, for example, that the Father is more powerful, or wiser than the Son. Nor, that the Father and Son are wiser than the Holy Spirit, or that the Father existed before the Son and Holy Spirit existed. For, to say anything like that, would be to deny the full deity, of all three members of the Trinity.    
   
What then are the distinctions between the persons? The Persons of the Trinity, have Different Primary Functions, or primary activities, in Relating to the world. Both in creation and in redemption.  This refers to different ways the three persons act as they relate to the world, and to each other.   
  
We see these different functions in the work of creation. God the Father spoke the creative words to bring the universe into being. Yet, it was God the Son, the eternal Word of God, who carried out these creative decrees. In John 1 3, “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made”. Moreover, Colossians 1 16 says, “in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities, all things were created through him and for him”. In Genesis 1 2, The Holy Spirit was active as well in a different way. It was “moving”, or “hovering” over the face of the waters, apparently sustaining, and manifesting, God’s immediate presence in his creation.   
   
In the work of redemption, there are also distinct functions representing unity. In John 3 16, God the Father planned redemption, and sent his Son into the world. The Son obeyed the Father, and accomplished redemption for us. God the Father did not come and die for our sins, nor did God the Holy Spirit. That was the particular work of the Son. Then, after Jesus ascended back into heaven, the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and the Son to apply redemption to us. Jesus speaks of “the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name”. He also says, that he himself will send the Holy Spirit. For he says, “If I go, I will send him to you”. Jesus speaks of a time, “when the Counselor comes, whom he sends from the Father, who is the Spirit of truth”. John 3 5 to 8 says, It is especially the role of the Holy Spirit to give us re-generation or new spiritual life, to sanctify us, and to empower us for service. In general, the work of the Holy Spirit seems to be to bring to completion the work that has been planned by God the Father, and begun by God the Son.