Bible Doctrines Lesson 3

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

Were going to look at a LOT of things in this course (but) WANT TO START OUT: With the ABSOLUTE NONNEGOTIABLES. SEE: There are a lot of areas (in Scripture) we can differ on When it comes to END TIMES: There are all kinds of views. Youve got people who believe in Pre-Trib Mid-Trib Post-Trib Some who believe were in the millennium now And, you know what? Thats okay. (Because thats a secondary issue.) When it comes to SECONDARY ISSUES: We can disagree we can debate and thats fine!

BUT THERE ARE SOME THINGS: The Bible says are nonnegotiables. Theyre FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES and if we walk away from them (as a church)

Then, we can no longer call to ourselves as CHRISTIAN.

Hebrews 6:1-2 Therefore leaving the (fundamental) principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation UNDERLINE TWO PHRASES: Fundamental Principles and The Foundation. What hes about to list in the rest of the verse are the FUNDAMENTALS the BUILDING BLOCKS the BEDROCK FOUNDATION of CHRISTIANITY. You cant COMPROMISE these 6 POINTS and STILL CALL YOUR CHURCH CHRISTIAN. _________________________________________ These are the Things: that DEFINE CHRISTIANITY and make Christianity Christian. _________________________________________

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES: Hebrews 6:1-2 Therefore leaving the (fundamental) principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of (now here it is)

 Repentance from dead works, and of Faith toward God Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of Laying on of hands and of Resurrection of the dead, and of Eternal Judgment.

SIX THINGS ARE MENTIONED: But, really, they form three couplets. The First Two Go Together: Repentance From Dead Works AND of Faith toward God.

COUPLET #1 The Doctrine of Salvation Two things are brought out

(Non-negotiable!)

a.) Repentance From Dead Works DEAD WORKS: are works that an UNBELIEVER does, (in his state of spiritual death), TRYING TO EARN SALVATION. So REPENTANCE from dead works WOULD MEAN (as an unbeliever) you QUIT TRYING TO become ACCEPTABLE TO GOD by your OWN EFFORTS

 That BRINGS US TO THE NEXT POINT: Faith toward God. This is the doctrine of SALVATION (Non-Negotiable.) . COUPLET #2 The Doctrine of Baptisms (Plural) and Laying on of Hands. THESE ARE CHURCH ORDINANCES: We`ll deal with them a little later.

COUPLET #3 Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgment. You can`t do away with heaven & hell, and remain Christian. The moment you do away with the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment you CEASE to be CHRISTIAN and you enter the Kingdom of the Cults. Three NON-NEGOTIABLES: The Doctrine of Salvation the Doctrine of the Church the Doctrine of Resurrection & Judgment. All right lets back up to the beginning begin looking at some basics:

This Isnt Boring: This is EQUIPPING.

II. THEOLOGY PROPER THE STUDY OF GOD, HIMSELF (First, lets define the word THEOLOGY.) definitions youll want to get down.) (Some

The word Theology comes from the Greek word Theos, which means God. Theology then, means, the Study of the things of God. (Class definition write!) Now, when we talk about theology, really, its a very broad term. Theology would include anything that HAS TO DO with the doctrines of the Bible. (You could talk about healing, and it be called theology. Creation angels & demons eternity heaven and hell.) So, SINCE theology is such a broad term theologians have coined the term THEOLOGY PROPER, to describe the study of God, Himself.

THEOLOGY PROPER is a subject that can never be exhausted. God is infinite.

In fact, the Book of Revelation says that there are angels that fly continually around the throne, crying, Holy, Holy, Holy. And, the REASON they cry out like that is: because every time they do another circle of the throne, they see another FACET of God theyve never seen before. (Doing that from eternity past still seeing new things about God!) God is infinite, and well be learning about Him throughout eternity, all well really be able to accomplish in this course, is to scratch the surface, and look at some of the major truths concerning the Godhead. A. GODS EXISTENCE 1. Scriptural Arguments For the Existence of God Strangely enough, there are none. Theres not one verse in the Bible, where God ATTEMPTS TO PROVE that He exists! Genesis simply begins with the phrase, In the beginning, God, and goes on from there. So, if youre looking for proof of Gods existence, youre going to have to look elsewhere

2. Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of God

The Universal Belief Argument - Simply states that: All of mankind has some idea of a Supreme Being. Doesnt matter where you go, (you can go to the remotest jungle in Africa, and they believe in some sort of god.) Built in!

The concepts of God differ from culture to culture, but the concept of a Supreme Being who created us, is universal. (So, the argument GOES, in order for every nation, culture and race to have an inward knowing that there is a God, there must be a God who placed that knowledge in man.) The Cosmo-logical Argument It says: Every effect must have an adequate cause. The existence of the universe, argues for the existence of a Creator/Designer. (All this is here! There must be a God!)

Of course, those who believe in evolution would like us to believe that all of this just happened. But, even a brief examination of the universe, makes evolution impossible to believe. (Even the sheer size of the universe is mind-boggling.)

The Paper Stack Model Lets say that the thickness of a sheet of paper represents the distance from the earth to the sun (93 million miles). To represent the distance to the nearest star, we would need a 71 foot high stack of paper. (A 7-story building.) To cover the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy would require a 310 mile high stack. To reach the edge of the known universe, would demand a pile of paper sheets 31 million miles high.

Of course, the universe is as infinitely small, as it is large: The tip of a ball point pen has so many atoms, that if they were carried by an army, marching four abreast, (one atom per man), it would take over 20,000 years for a march-past.

B. THE NATURE (ESSENCE) OF GOD (What is God like?) 1. God Is A Spirit John 4:24 God is not merely energy or thought. Yet, just because Hes a Spirit, doesnt mean He has no form or shape in the spirit realm John 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

2. God is a Person That is, Hes not just an impersonal force somewhere in the universe. He exhibits all of the elements involved in personality. He creates (Gen. 1:1); He destroys (Gen. 18:26); He provides (Ps. 104:27-30); He promotes (Ps. 75:6-7); He cares (1 Peter 5:67); He hears (Ps. 94:9-10); He hates (Prov. 6:16); He loves (John 3:16); He grieves (Gen. 6:6). (All those are functions of PERSONALITY)

3. God is a Trinity Now, in some ways, this is a difficult concept to understand on the other hand, its very simple. (Small wars have been fought over our ideas of what the Trinity is like.) I dont want to take a lot of time on this. I just want to give you three statements that summarize the Biblical teaching of the trinity.

A. God is Three Persons - The Bible teaches a distinction between the three Persons of the Godhead. The Father is not the Son or the Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. The Spirit is not the Father or the Son.

They are three separate and distinct Persons.

B. Each Person in the Godhead is Fully God - The Father is God , the Son is God (Heb. 1:8; John 1:1-4), and the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). The Son and Holy Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father. C. There is one God There is one God, not three Gods. Together, the three Persons make up one GODHEAD. Or, one God. (Deut. 6:4-5; Ja. 2:19)

Really, this is the point that causes all the confusion. If all we said was: God is 3 persons (fine!) and each Person is fully God. (Fine!) What causes the confusion is now saying, Theres ONE God.

PEOPLE GET HUNG UP ON THIS: So hard to understand! Just have to accept it by faith VERY SIMPLE: If you take the analogies that God gave us. Marriage: The two shall be one. (My wife and I got married and became one.)

(Say I do and then magically form into one body?)

One in unity and purpose. (See more in a moment ) We have lots of SINGULAR words made up of MANY

TEAM: Many individuals, but one team. ARMY: Many individuals one army. BOARD (like a church board): Many individuals one board. GOD: Three individuals one God.

WRONG VIEWS WITHIN CHRISTENDOM (All deny one of the 3 key statements) 1.) MODALISM Claims that there is one Person (not 3). Jesus only But, He appears to us in three different forms (or modes). Some Pentecostal groups believe in Jesus only.

 The way they explain it: Im a father, a husband and teacher and a pastor. But, Im one person, not four. Thats the way they say God is. Theres one Person, His Name is Jesus. Jesus is a Father, a Son and a Spirit, but just one person.

HANDOUT

PRIMARY FUNCTIONS WITHIN THE GODHEAD Whenever the Godhead does something The Father makes the plan. The Son executes the plan. The Holy Spirit reveals the plan. Redemption: The Father planned Redemption (Eph. 1). The Son carried it out (Eph. 2). The Holy Spirit is revealing the plan of Salvation to man (Eph. 3). Creation - The Father Planned it. The Son Executed it (without Him was not anything made that was made. He was the Word that was spoken).

The Spirit brought it to pass.

C. ATTRIBUTES OF GOD The attributes of God can be broken down into two major categories. (i) Gods Communicable Attributes, (ones He shares with us); (A communicable disease is one that youre willing to share with me). (ii) Gods Incommunicable Attributes, (The ones that belong to Him alone).

1. GODS INCOMMUNICABLE ATTRIBUTES a. God is Eternally Self-Existent God never had a beginning. He has just always been. (Exodus 3:13-14). b. God is Self-Sufficient - God doesnt need anybody! He has never had, in eternity past, nor will He ever have in the ages to come, a need for which His own Divine Nature has not already provided. (Ps. 50:10-12)

c. God is Infinite d. God is Omnipresent Everywhere at once. e. God is Omnipotent All powerful Gen. 18:14; Rev. 19:6. f. God is Omniscient All knowing God possesses complete and universal knowledge of all things past, present & future.

This includes not only the actual, but also the possible outcomes of every possible situation. (When you come to a fork in the road, God knows every detail of the outcome of each path.) g. God is Immutable (Unchangeable) God never differs from Himself. His character remains constant and unchangeable (Mal. 3:6; Ja. 1:16-17; Heb. 13:8). h. God is Sovereign Now, this has to be explained. Many times, when you mention the Sovereignty of God, people get the idea that He just arbitrarily does what He wants. But, thats not true. God is sovereign, but Hes sovereign according to His Word. In other words, God has limited Himself by what Hes said, and there are certain things He CANT do, because of what Hes said.

That is, He has no limitations, other than those He has placed upon Himself. (There are certain things that God cant do. But, only because He said He cant!) 8 Things God Cant Do God Cannot Lie Heb. 6:18 God Cannot Abandon You Heb. 13:5 God Cant Be Unfaithful 2 Tim. 2:13 God Cant Be Tempted, Or Tempt You James 1:13 God Cant Be Mocked Gal. 6:7 God Cant Save Apart From Jesus Acts 4:12 God Cant Save Beyond the Grave 2 Cor. 6:2; Matt. 9:6 He Cant Change (Mal. 3:6)

i. God is Incomprehensible No one but God Himself can fully understand and comprehend God. (Job. 11:7-9; Ro. 11:33).

2. GODS COMMUNICABLE ATTRIBUTES a. God is Holy Lev. 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15 Hes holy; but Hes willing to share that holiness with us. b. God is Righteous 2 Cor. 5:21 c. God is Faithful Gal. 5:22 d. God is Love 1 Cor. 13

e. Mental Attributes Knowledge, Understanding & Wisdom f. Moral Attributes Goodness Love Mercy (Grace, Patience) Holiness Peace Righteousness Jealousy Wrath

g. Attributes of Purpose Free Will