Lesson Two
God
YHWH
(Hebrew name of God, usually spelled out LORD, but sometimes pronounced Jehovah or Yahweh)
ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ‘Ο ΤΗΕΟΣ
(Greek name of God, usually translated the LORD God)
“I am the LORD your God … You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:1-3
1. Who is God and what does the Bible tell us about Him?
Isaiah 42:8: I am the LORD, that is My name.
Jeremiah 10:10: But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and an everlasting King.
Psalm 90:1-2: Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
The true God is the LORD God — or Jehovah God — of the Bible. He is the living and eternal God who always was, who is, and who always will be.
2. How many true Gods are there? How many Persons are true God?
Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God. The Lord is one!
1 Corinthians 8:4: There is no other God but one.
Matthew 28:19: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …
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.
Isaiah 48:16-17: Come near to Me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there I am. And now the LORD GOD has sent me and His Spirit. Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.
Numbers 6:22-27: The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is how you will bless the children of Israel, saying to them, The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the LORD lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace. They will put My name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them.
1 John 5:7: There are three who testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and the three are one.
There is only one true God, but the one true God is three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods, but one God, for God is one. This teaching of the Three/One or Triune God is taught throughout the Bible, beginning in the very first chapter of Genesis and continuing through the last chapter of Revelation.
3. What else does God tell us of Himself in the Bible?
John 4:24: God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.
Malachi 3:6: For I am the LORD, I do not change.
Psalm 102:27: You are the same, and Your years shall have no end.
Genesis 17:1: I am Almighty God.
Luke 1:37: For with God nothing will be impossible.
Matthew 19:26: With God all things are possible.
Psalm 139:1-4: O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thought from far off. You search my path and my lying down and are aware of all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it fully.
John 21:17: Lord, You know everything.
Jeremiah 23:24: Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I do not see him? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.
Proverbs 15:3: The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.
Leviticus 19:2: I the LORD your God am holy.
Isaiah 6:3: Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.
Deuteronomy 32:4: He is the Rock; His work is perfect; for all His ways are just. He is a God of faithfulness and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.
2 Timothy 2:13: He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
Psalm 145:8-9: The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and His compassion is over all His works.
Exodus 34:6-7: The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.
1 John 4:8: God is love.
The Bible teaches us much about the true God. We call some of these qualities and characteristics of God the attributes of God. God, Himself, tells us in His Word that He is eternal, unchangeable, all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere, holy, just, impartial and fair, faithful, good, merciful, kind, gracious and loving.
4. Can one worship or serve the true God if he denies the trinity or unity of God or if he does not trust in Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God and the Savior of mankind from sin and its consequences?
John 3:18,36: He who believes in Him is not condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. … He who believes in the Son has eternal life. He who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 5:23: All men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
John 8:23-24: [Jesus said:] You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.
John 8:42: Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came from God and proceeded into the world. I did not come of My own authority, but He sent Me.”
John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
John 17:3: This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.
1 John 2:23: No one who denies the Son has the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father.
1 John 5:11-12: And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life, and whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
One cannot reject the three persons of the Godhead — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — nor can one reject the unity of the Godhead — that God is one — and worship or serve the true God who has revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures. And apart from knowing and trusting in Jesus Christ as God the Son in the flesh and mankind’s only Savior, one cannot know or serve the true God. Therefore, we condemn as idolatry the religions of those who reject the Triune God of the Bible or seek to worship and serve Him apart from faith in Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God who came into this world a true man to redeem fallen mankind. And, it is for this reason that Christians do not take part in syncretistic prayers or worship or join together with lodges and other organizations which include prayers or duties toward a god other than the Triune God of the Bible or apart from faith in Jesus as the Son of God and the only way to worship and serve the true God.
SUMMARY
We believe that there is only one true God (Isaiah 44:6; I Corinthians 8:4). This God (called the LORD or JEHOVAH) is one divine Being or Essence, but three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (thus the name, Triune or Three/One God), each being eternal and equal in power and majesty because each Person is the LORD God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; 1 John 5:7; Isaiah 48:16-17; John 1:1; Colossians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 4:14). We believe that no one can worship or serve the Triune God except he believes that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God and the Savior of mankind from sin and its consequences (John 3:18,36; 5:23; 14:6; 1 John 2:23; 5:11-12). Hence, all who deny the Trinity of God (that God is three Persons) or the Unity of God (that God is one divine Being), or who do not trust in Jesus Christ, the Son, for salvation, do not worship and serve the true God.
[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.]