By: Phil Hopkins
As was mentioned in last Sunday’s Bible class, we accumulate knowledge from many sources as we go through life. Most of the sources are usually reliable but some of them are not. In the spiritual realm, we hear many things about God, salvation and sin from a number of sources. What we must realize is that there is only one reliable source for information about what God wants for us and what we are to do to obey Him. Jesus Christ recognized this in his prayer in John. 17:17, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy Word is truth.” In fact, the only source that we should have for knowledge about God is the Bible. Anything that we get from any other place cannot be considered reliable unless it is in complete agreement with Bible teachings. We discussed that during Christ’s lifetime, the Jewish belief was that God’s anointed would come and restore a great earthly kingdom to Israel. Even the Apostles were so inculcated with that belief that they did not understand Jesus as He tried to teach them about his upcoming death and resurrection. They did not understand it until Christ had risen. We also can fall into such a trap in our understandings about God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. In fact, in regards to the latter there is great misunderstanding that passes for knowledge in the world. We frequently mix up the differences between the spiritual and physical worlds. In this life the physical world can blind us to the spiritual world. We must, first remind ourselves, that as John 4:24 says: “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” God’s abode is the spiritual world, an abode much different from this physical world. Because of these differences, we must work at understanding who God is. There are many different teachings among those who claim to be Christians regarding God. To be certain of Bible teachings let us take a look at what the Bible teaches. The Bible in both the Old Testament and New Testament is clear, there is only one God. Deuteronomy. 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:” again in the Old Testament: Malachi 2:10 “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?” Both Moses and Malachi were clear that there is only one God and the New Testament is in full agreement: Mark 12:32 “And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:”, James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” Both writers, Mark and James were very clear that there is but one God. And as have already been stated in John 4:24, He is due our worship, our total allegiance. However, as we look more closely at God, we find that the religious world gets confused very quickly. The Bible also teaches that God is made up of three personalities: 1 John. 5:7 For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.” Christ also taught it: Matthew. 28:19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit:” Paul writing to the church in Corinth affirms this nature of God: 2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” Lest we misunderstand each one is referred to as God: The Father is God: Ephesians. 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” The Son is God: John. 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God., 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, The glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Hebrews 1:8 But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” The Spirit is God: Acts 5:3 “But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” Frequently folks pass the Old Testament by in learning about God, but it clearly teaches that the Son (Shepherd) exists and is God: Zechariah13:7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.” The Shepherd (Christ) is God’s fellow or equal. The Old Testament has similar teaching about the Holy Spirit: 2 Chronicles 24:20 “And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you.” Throughout time the Holy Spirit has been charged with the responsibility of bringing God’s word to Man: Ephesians 6:17 “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:” The concept that God consists of these three personalities is brought out further in the use of the word Godhead: Colossians 2:9 “for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,” The Greek word used here is: θεῖος, theios thi’-os; meaning godlike (divinity): – divine, godhead. The term divinity describes God in all His fullness. We must remember that there is but one God, however the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each referred to as being God. The word trinity is never used in the Bible, but men use it to carry this concept of there being but one God with three personalities. In the religious world there is much error that can be found in the various religious groups. One major error that keeps popping up throughout history is that Jesus Christ was a created being. One modern day group even created their own translation because they were confronted with the clear teaching of John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” However, they missed Zechariah 13:7, which shows that the Shepherd (Christ) is an equal to God. Further there is much error taught today regarding the Holy Spirit. Even to the point of teaching that God continues to reveal His will to man today. If that were to be true then 2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works” must be false since it teaches that the Bible can make man “perfect”, it will thoroughly furnish us in ALL good works. The Greek word translated perfect carries the thought of being complete. How could the Bible supply us with all that we need if we continue to need God’s making revelations to us today. One or the other is false. I will stand with the Bible. We must be very careful in our Bible study to be sure that modern false wisdom does not creep into our thinking. That we use only the Bible for our source of knowledge in our studies.