Category: Christology

Defining God

8/1/2020

TBC Glassboro Sermons and More · Defining God

Many attempt to define God according to their expectations of who or what God should or could be. As such, God has been defined as the eternal mind, the first ground of all being, and the absolute substance. Any attempt to define God according to manmade ideas or expectations is fallacious at best.

The Westminster Larger Catechism states that, “God is a Spirit, in and of himself infinite in being, glory, blessedness, and perfection; all-sufficient, eternal, unchangeable, incomprehensible, every where present, almighty, knowing all things, most wise, most holy, most just, most merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth.”1

Louis Berkhof states that God is, “…absolute, unchangeable and infinite in His knowledge and wisdom, His goodness and love, His grace and mercy, His righteousness and holiness.”2

Scripture says that eternal life is knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He sent.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. - John 17:3

Furthermore, God is a spirit and no one has seen the Father at any time.

God is spirit… - John 4:24
No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. - 1 John 4:12

However, Jesus has seen the Father.

Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. - John 6:46

In fact, He is the exact image of God.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. - Colossians 1:15

Jesus told the disciples that, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Therefore, search what the Scripture says about Jesus, and God will be defined.

ENDNOTES:

The Westminster Larger Catechism: With Scripture Proofs. (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1996).
L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 56.

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The Visible Return of Christ

6/24/2020

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Trinity Bible Church · The Visible Return of Christ

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. - Matthew 24:29-31

The term rapture comes from the Latin term rapturo, meaning to be caught up. At the Rapture, Christ will literally descend from Heaven and meet His Bride, the Church, in the air. The Rapture of the Church will precede the Tribulation Period. Revelation 6:16 speaks of the Tribulation as the great day of wrath. 1 Thessalonians 1:10 states that believers will be saved from the wrath to come. At the Second Coming, Jesus will again return, physically descending from Heaven after the seven-year Tribulation period. He will then establish His Millennial Kingdom and judge the nations.

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The Bodily Resurrection of Christ

6/22/2020

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Trinity Bible Church · The Bodily Resurrection Of Christ

While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, Peace be to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, […] See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. […] He said to them, Have you anything here to eat? They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them. […] - Luke 24:36-47
…For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, […] and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. - 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 14-15

Whereas death was the basis for salvation, the resurrection becomes the basis for one’s faith. Like death, the resurrection was also literal. It was seen by many and was stated to be a fact by the angels at the empty tomb. The resurrection assures the deity of Christ and His victory over death.

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The Substitutionary Atonement of Christ

6/20/2020

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Trinity Bible Church · The Substitutionary Atonement of Christ

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace […] But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. - Ephesians 1:7; 2:13
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. - Acts 20:28
whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; […] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. - Romans 3:25; 5:9
…through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. […] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? - Hebrews 9:12-14

The death of Jesus Christ was literal. It was seen by those who crucified Him and by those who believed in Him. Christ’s death was voluntary in that He willingly went to the cross. Christ’s death was vicarious in that He took humanity’s place as the payment for sin. Christ’s death was victorious in that He defeated death and Satan.

When Christ died, He poured out His blood. Without death and the shed blood, there is no basis for humanity’s salvation. It is the shed blood of Christ that enables God to forgive sin. Christ’s shed blood can atone for all sins committed by all people throughout all time. However, the blood is only efficacious upon those who repent of their sins, place their faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection and submit to Him as Lord. As well, the blood of Christ cleanses the sinner, making them pure and fit to serve the Lord.

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The Virgin Birth of Christ

6/19/2020

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Trinity Bible Church · The Virgin Birth Of Jesus

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. - Isaiah 7:14
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, God with us. - Matthew 1:23
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. - Luke 1:27

Like the Father, Jesus is eternal with no beginning and no end. Jesus was with God at creation and was God at creation. In order for Christ to be the payment for the sins of humanity, He not only had to be wholly God, but He also had to be completely human. Within Mary’s womb, Jesus took on His human nature. Like any other person, He had flesh, bones, and blood. As well, Jesus experienced feelings such as hunger, sleep, and thirst.

Since the sin nature passed down through the male progenitor, Jesus had to be born of a virgin in order to be the sinless sacrifice for sins. Being a virgin, Mary had no relations with a man when she conceived the human body of Jesus. The Holy Spirit was the agent of conception. Thus, Jesus was born without a sin nature.

Jesus did not give up His deity, nor did He change His deity. He was and is one hundred percent deity while becoming one hundred percent flesh. The two natures of Christ have never mixed; they are distinct and will remain as such forever. Without Christ taking on flesh, He would never have tasted death for humanity and become the Savior.

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The Deity of Christ

6/16/2020

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Trinity Bible Church · The Deity Of Christ

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. - John 1:1
Thomas answered and said to Him, My Lord and my God! - John 20:28
But of the Son He says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions. - Hebrews 1:8-9

Christ is the exact image or representation of God. As God, He possesses all the attributes of deity — eternality, omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence. In Christ dwells all the fullness or totality of the essence of God. Being God, it was and is impossible for Jesus to sin. If Christ were only a man and not the God-man, then He could not have died to save the lost.

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Defining God

The Visible Return of Christ

The Bodily Resurrection of Christ

The Substitutionary Atonement of Christ

The Virgin Birth of Christ

The Deity of Christ

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