THE GODHEAD OF THE BIBLE
David L. Odom
First though, Do you believe there is a God?
Many today say they can't believe in God, because they can't see Him, or experience Him with their five senses!
You actually have two choices; either God (intelligence, mind) has always existed,
OR
dead senseless matter has always existed!
Darwinian evolution teaches the latter; that dead senseless matter has always existed, with no beginning!
But, the more reasonable position is the first one, that Intelligence (God) has always existed, with no beginning, and no ending!
It is intelligence that takes the tree and makes fine furniture from it! It is intelligence that takes various metals, glass, etc., and makes a precision watch!
We must remember that our thoughts are not God's thoughts, and our ways are not His ways!
Isaiah 55:8, 9
"8 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says Jehovah. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
The inspired Scriptures attest to man's inability to comprehend God's deep truths!
Job 11:7-9
"Can you discover the depths of God? Can you discover the limits of the Almighty? 8 They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know? 9 Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea."
Job 26:5-14
"5 The departed spirits tremble, under the waters and their inhabitants. 6 Naked is Sheol before Him, and Abaddon has no covering. 7 He stretches out the north over empty space
and hangs the earth on nothing. 8 He wraps up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud does not burst under them. 9 He obscures the face of the full moon and spreads His cloud over it. 10 He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters at the boundary of light and darkness. 11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are amazed at His rebuke. 12 He quieted the sea with His power, and by His understanding He shattered the proud. 13 By His breath the heavens are cleared; His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent. 14 Behold, these are the fringes of His ways; and how faint a word we hear of Him! But His mighty thunder, who can understand?"
Job 36:26
"Behold, God is great, and we know Him not; The number of His years is unsearchable."
Therefore, we read in Deuteronomy 29:29:
"The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law."
and I Corinthians 2:10, 11:
"10 But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knows, save the Spirit of God."
So don't expect to wrap your mind around the concept of our Creator! You have to walk by faith, which means you must believe these truths we are looking at in God's inspired Word!
The Bible terms used to define the one true God, the Creator of heaven and earth are: 'Godhead', 'Deity', and 'Divinity'. The term 'Trinity (Tri-unity)' is not found in the Hebrew or Greek texts, although the concept of three Beings composing the Godhead is found in God's inspired Word!
Please consider:
In the nature of the one God, there are three eternal distinctions which are represented to us as three beings, NOT three gods!
So, for example, the Father did not take upon Himself flesh, and die on the cross, the Son did; the Holy Spirit did not rise from the dead, the Son did!
But, they are of the same essence:
Hebrews 1:1-3, 8
"1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" "8 But to the Son He said, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom."
Matthew 28:19
"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit"
Godhead, Deity, Divinity
Acts 17:29
"Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead(Divine Nature, Divine Being) is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man."
Romans 1:18-23
"18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness; 19 because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of Him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even His everlasting power and Divinity(Divine Nature, Godhead); that they may be without excuse: 21 because that, knowing God, they glorified Him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things."
Colossians 2:9
"For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead(Deity) bodily."
ALL THREE OF THESE BEINGS ARE GOD, YET, THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD!
Mark 12:28-30
"28 And one of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together, and knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, What commandment is the first of all? 29 Jesus answered, The first is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God, is one Lord: 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength."
God the Father
2 Peter 1:17
"For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
God the Son
John 1:1, 2, 14-18
"1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.""14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, saying, 'This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 16 For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. 17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.'"
Hebrews 1:8
"But to the Son He said, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom."
Philippians 2:6, 7
"6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men."
Matthew 2:6, 7
"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call His name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us."
John 14:7-11
"7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him. 8 Philip said to Him, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.' 9 Jesus said to him, 'Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves."
Hebrews 1:1-3, 8
"1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high," "8 But to the Son he said, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom."
God the Holy Spirit
Acts 5:3, 4
"3 But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.'"
All three are seen functioning at the same time in:
Luke 3:21, 22
"21 Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."
John 14:16, 17
"16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."
But these three Beings are distinct from one another!
The Son is distinct from the Father
None have seen God the Father:
John 1:18
"No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him."
But men have seen Jesus:
John 1:14
"And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."
The Father knows something the Son doesn't know:
Mark 13:32
"But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
The Holy Spirit is distinct from the Father
John 14:26
"But the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
The Holy Spirit is distinct from the Son
Man cannot see the Holy Spirit, but could see Jesus:
John 14:17, 19
"17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." "19 After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit not forgiven, but can be forgiven against Jesus:
John 12:31, 32
"31 Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come."
I encourage you to allow the inspired Word of God to guide your beliefs about Him.
WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
Hear, learn, and come to Jesus Christ!
John 6:44, 45
"44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me."
HOW?
By believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that He is Immanuel, the Messiah, the Word!
Matthew 1:23
"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call His name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us."
John 4:25, 26
"25 The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.' 26 Jesus said to her, ' I who speak to you am He.' "
John 1:1, 14
"1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth"
John 8:24
"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."
BUT YOU DO NOT RECEIVE REMISSION OF SINS IN A MENTAL BELIEF ONLY (called Faith Only)
By repenting of our sins!
Luke 13:3
"I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
Acts 2:38
"Peter said to them, ' Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.' "
Acts 17:30, 31
"30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
BUT YOU DO NOT RECEIVE REMISSION OF SINS AT THIS POINT IN OBEDIENCE!
By confessing Christ before men!
Matthew 10:32, 33
"32 Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven."
Romans 10:9, 10
"9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, unto righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, unto salvation."
1 Timothy 6:12-16
"12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen."
BUT YOU DO NOT RECEIVE REMISSION OF SINS AT THIS POINT IN OBEDIENCE!
By being baptized into Christ!
NOTE: This is immersion in water 'INTO CHRIST'
for (UNTO, IN ORDER TO) the forgiveness, the remission of your sins!
This is NOT sprinkling or pouring!
John 3:5
"Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.' "
Romans 6:1-7
"1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin."
Acts 2:37-42
"37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what shall we do?' 38 Peter said to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.' 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, 'Be saved from this perverse generation!' 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. 42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
Notice in the above Scripture that only those who 'received his word' obeyed the gospel!
John 1:12
"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."
Have you yet been involved in the 'new birth' from above?
Have you yet been baptized for the correct reason?
Some are baptized today because they have been taught they have already been saved by 'faith only', and that water immersion is only an 'outward sign of an inward change'!
BUT NOTICE THAT 'PREACHING JESUS' INCLUDES WATER BAPTISM!
Acts 8:35-39
"35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. 36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, 'Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?' 37 [And Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.'] 38 And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing."
Acts 10:47, 48
" 'Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?' 48 And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days."
This is where we meet His soul saving blood (figuratively of course) which washes away our sins!
Revelation 1:5, 6
"and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood" 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."
Acts 22:16
"Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name."
I Peter 3:20-22
"20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him."
There is not any power in the
water
Also notice that is how Jesus purchased His church, with His own blood!
But why are people telling us today that the church isn't important!
Acts 20:28
"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."
Therefore we read:
1 Corinthians 12:13
"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit."
Christ Jesus is the Savior of this body, the church, which is His kingdom!
Ephesians 5:23
"For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body."
Matthew 16:15-19
"15 He said to them, 'But who do you say that I am?' 16 Simon Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' 17 And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.' "
The rock upon which Christ's church was built was the Truth which Peter had just stated that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God! The Lord's church was NOT built upon Peter!
Ephesians 1:22, 23
"22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
Ephesians 4:4-6
"4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all."
Notice only one body, which is His church, His kingdom, just as there is only one baptism, which is water immersion into Christ!
This is how we put Christ on!
Galatians 3:26-29
"26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise."
YES, YOU DO RECEIVE REMISSION (FORGIVENESS) OF SINS AT THIS POINT IN OBEDIENCE!
Notice the examples of conversion in the book of Acts:
Are you in this church you read about in the New Testament?
Have you correctly put Christ on yet?
The churches of Christ (non-institutional)
Please go to: AUTHORITY IN RELIGION
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