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The Apostle’s Doctrine Made Simple:
Introduction to Bible Doctrine
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Lesson 5: Honest to
God
The “gospel truth” about who
God is
]d'x,a h'wh.y .Wnyeh{l/a
h'wh.y lea'r.fIy ][;m.v
Shema Yisrael, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad …
Hear, O Israel, ADONAI is our G-d, ADONAI is one.” (Deut. 6:4)
We believe in one, and only one, true and living
G-d as declared in the Sh’ma (Devarim
[Deuteronomy] 6:4), Who is Echad (one, a compound unity), an
infinite and intelligent Spirit Who is the source of all being and
meaning, and Who eternally, simultaneously, and distinctly exists as
G-d the Father (Abba), G-d the Son (HaBen
Yeshua), and G-d the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh),
one in essence and attributes, yet three in distinct Person, work, and
purpose; each of Whom possess all the attributes of absolute Deity and is
infinite, eternal, unchangeable, indivisible, omnipresent, omnipotent,
omniscient, personal, and perfect in wisdom, power, holiness,
righteousness, justice, goodness, truth, mercy, and love (Yesha'yahu
[Isaiah 43:10-11;
Yesha`yahu [Isaiah] 48:16-17,
B'resheet [Genesis] 1:1-2,
Sh'mot [Exodus] 3:6,
Mishle [Proverbs] 30:4,
Ephesians 4:4-6).
We
believe that Abba is all the fullness of HaShem invisible (John 1:18); that HaBen
is all the fullness of HaShem manifested (made visible in any form] (John 1:14-18); and
that Ruach HaKodesh is all the fullness of HaShem acting immediately upon
the creature (1 Cor.
2:9-10). [1]
He is the Creator of heaven and earth, of all living
beings, and of everything both visible and invisible (B'reshet
[Genesis] 1:1-31,
Colossians 1:15-17). Although He is limitless in power, authority,
time, matter, and space, He has chosen, in His infinite wisdom, to reveal
His nature to humanity in perceivable and comprehendible manners.
Scripture records
G-d revealing Himself in the following manners: as fire (when
declaring the covenant with Avraham he passed between the two halves of
the cow;
B'resheet [Genesis] 15:17); as the form of a man not born of a woman
(when He approached Avraham with the two angels,
B'resheet [Genesis] 18); as a burning bush (when He spoke to Moshe,
Sh'mot [Exodus] 3:2); as the fourth Man in the furnace (Daniel
3:25); as the promised Messiah being a Man made of flesh and born of a
woman (Yesha`yahu
[Isaiah] 7:14,
Galatians 4:4;
John 1:1-3,14). Although there are numerous examples of G-d
revealing Himself to humanity in various ways and forms, of those ways and
forms, He has chosen to refer to Himself in the following primary
contexts: as the Father (HaAv), as the Son (HaBen) Y'shua,
and as the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit/Breath). What makes these
primary contexts important is not only the fact that G-d used
these forms to reveal Himself to humanity, but in doing so, He refers to
Himself in these primary contexts as the one and only true and living
G-d.
Adonai and His Word are eternal. That is: He, His Word, and His Will
has always been, and will always be, the same. (Malachi
3:6,
Hebrews 13:8;
Matthew 5:18;
24:35;
John 1:1-3,14)
[1] Paraphrased
from Boardman, cited in Great Doctrines of the Bible, by William
Evans. Chicago: Moody Press, 1912, 1949, p. 28.
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Revised at
06:22 AM on
Friday, 22 February 2013 |
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