Lesson for September 1, 2019
The Integrity of God – Lesson 12
Divine Essence
“God’s essential being can never be completely defined or grasped by finite humanity. In the limitless, perfect splendor and majesty of His absolute existence, He is truly incomparable. (Isaiah 55:8-9) Only as He reveals Himself to us in the Bible can we, in a limited way, comprehend His Person and nature.” – Pastor R.B. Thieme, Jr.
Essence is derived from the Greek word “ousia” meaning being or substance. Therefore, essence is the inner nature, true substance, a person’s invisible qualities or attributes. Though invisible, these essential qualities of a person are manifested by their thoughts and actions. Divine essence means that God exists and that He possesses certain qualities and attributes which belong only to Him and which are demonstrated by what He has created, by His dealings with His creations (angels and mankind) and in the Word of God. (Romans 1:20; Colossians 1:16; John 1:1)
In grace, God has chosen to reveal Himself and to reveal some information about His essence. Information that God reveals to mankind is meant to be understood. Understanding of any spiritual information comes by means of the filling of God the Holy Spirit as He reveals truth to believers. This means that no one has an excuse for not knowing about the essence of God and His divine attributes and character.
God is a spirit according to John 4:24 which means that He is real but invisible. God is an immaterial being. In contrast, those who He creates are both immaterial and material made up of a body and soul according to II Corinthians 4:6-7, 16. Since God is invisible, His attributes are also invisible, but the quality of His attributes is clearly seen in Creation and the physical world around us. Because of this revelation in nature, no human being has an excuse for denying the existence of God or rejecting Him at God-consciousness. (Romans 1:20-21)
For those who are believers in Christ, God has provided the Word of God (the Bible) and the ministry of the filling of the Holy Spirit to more fully understand the invisible, infinite, limitless essence of God. Apart from what He has revealed in His Word, there is nothing that can help a person understand the perfect, immutable character of God. His character is revealed in His Word. Therefore, the importance of making Bible doctrine the number one priority in your life.
Mankind is said to be created in the image of God and there is a parallel between the soul of man and the essence of God. Like God, man’s soul is unseen. The real you is not your outward appearance. The real you is what you are inside, the immaterial, invisible you. Just as God has many attributes, man’s soul also has many attributes. However, those attributes are not the same as God’s attributes which include sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, immutability and veracity. Man’s attributes include self-consciousness, mentality, volition and emotion.
God’s perfect nature was the pattern for creating mankind. God created a body for Adam with an immaterial soul, and with all the attributes of personality. Adam was created perfect with a soul, a human spirit and a body, but without a sin nature. Once Adam sinned, he was incapable of having a relationship with God because he was no longer perfect. His sin resulted in a sin nature which was incompatible with the righteousness and justice of God. Adam’s only hope was found in believing in Christ (Jehovah) as his Savior, which he did. However, now mankind is born with a sin nature and we are “born again” by faith in Christ. (Romans 8:29; I Corinthians 11:7, 15:49; II Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:9-11)
The essence of God recognizes the existence of God in three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, God is one in essence, three in Persons, which we call the Trinity. All three members of the Godhead are coequal and coeternal with identical essence, attributes and character. (I Corinthians 8:6; Ephesians 1:3; John 10:30, 14:8, 16-17; Colossians 2:9; Exodus 31:3)
The fact that God is a Person is documented throughout the Scriptures. When God speaks of Himself, He uses the word “I,” indicating that He is a Person. (Exodus 20:2) God expresses His thoughts, His desires and His decisions, therefore He is a Person. ((Isaiah 55:8-9) God has personal relationship with mankind as a Person. (Genesis 5:22-24; Exodus 33:11)
The anthropomorphisms and anthropopathisms applied to God in the Scriptures presuppose He is a Person with a personality. Anthropomorphism is language of accommodation that comes from a combination of two Greek words, “anthropos” meaning man and “morphe” meaning form. Anthropomorphisms ascribe to God human physical characteristics which He does not actually possess to explain His essence, acts, policies and decisions in terms of human anatomy. An example of this is found in I Peter 3:12, ““For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous,And His ears attend to their prayer,But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Anthropopathism is language of accommodation that comes from a combination of two Greek words, “anthropos” meaning man and “pathos” meaning feeling. Anthropopathisms ascribe to God emotions, passions, thoughts and attitudes which He does not actually possess to explain His divine policies, acts and decisions to the finite mind of human beings. An example of this is found in Romans 9:13, “Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
God exists eternally, He is the Self-Existent One, the meaning of the Hebrew word for God, “Yahweh.” God has no beginning and no ending. God does not require help from anyone. God’s existence is unchangeable, He does not adjust to us who are changeable, we must adjust to Him. He is the cause for everything outside of Himself, including providing for his children (those who place their faith in Jesus Christ). Our relationship with God as his children and members of the Royal Family of God is the highest in the universe. We are related to the Self-Existent One, the Designer, Creator and Revealer of everything in the universe. Furthermore, He has every attribute to be the perfect impartial, fair and honorable Supreme Court of Heaven Judge.
The Attributes of God
Sovereignty
The sovereignty of God is His eternal, infinite, unchangeable will expressed in His divine decrees. God has absolute self-determination and free will to do as He chooses. Only by the divine decrees do the sovereignty of God and the free will of man coexist. There are certain things that God, by divine decree, has “set in stone” and cannot be reversed. Salvation by grace through faith in Christ is an example of a decree by God. Eternal security which teaches that a believer cannot lose his salvation is a divine decree. God’s sovereignty always operates for His own glory and is totally compatible with His other attributes.
God’s sovereignty provides the Church Age believer with something unique to this age which is “Christ in you the hope of glory.” The indwelling of Christ, God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are unique to our dispensation and provide spiritual assets that no other dispensation has had or will have. The hope of glorymeans that we can have total confidence in God and our relationship with Jesus Christ. It means we will spend all eternity with our Savior and that we can glorify Him while here on earth. (Colossians 1:27)
All divine decisions from God’s sovereignty are made from His eternal and infinite power. His sovereign decisions are based on His omnipotence and omniscience and can never be wrong. God knows every thought, motive, attitude, action and decision a person will ever make, good or bad. Therefore, since God has perfect knowledge and wisdom and knows all the knowable, He never makes a bad decision. This means that, as a child of God, we can completely trust the sovereign decisions of God for our lives. God has the power (omnipotence) to execute what His sovereign will decrees under any and all circumstances.
God has decreed that mankind have a free will in order to duplicate the free will of Satan and the fallen angels. The reason for this is the resolution of the Angelic Conflict which began with the rebellion of Lucifer (Satan) against God in an attempt to overthrow God and become the ruler of the universe. The human race was created to prove to Satan and the fallen angels that God was fair and just in sentencing them to the Lake of Fire for all eternity. (Matthew 25:41)
It is the will of the sovereignty of God that human beings come to know Jesus Christ as Savior. However, God’s sovereignty by divine decree cannot violate or override the free will of man with regard to salvation. Everyone has to make their own decision regarding Christ. God does all that He can to bring a person to faith in Christ through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but He never coerces a person to believe in Jesus Christ. (II Peter 3:9; John 3:16, 18, 36)
No one has the right to question the decisions of God’s sovereignty since God alone has all the facts and has the ultimate authority over all creation including mankind. Questioning the authority of God is the ultimate in arrogance. Only as God allows and decrees, does mankind have authority in any realm of life. God the Creator has the right to judge, to reward or to discipline. However, God’s sovereign decisions are always based on His perfect essence and therefore we can always trust that God’s decisions in our lives will always be fair.
For believers in Christ, the principle of God’s fairness and justice began the moment they reached God-consciousness and became positive toward God. This positive attitude resulted in God providing the Gospel message regarding Jesus Christ so that a person could make a positive decision to believe in Christ for salvation. Those who never reach the point of God-consciousness, (because of mental incapability or death at a young age) under the sovereignty of God and His matchless grace are automatically saved and receive eternal life.
Salvation could be provided only by the spiritual death of Christ on the Cross and be compatible with the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God must be compatible with all His attributes including His righteousness and justice. Because of man’s sin in the Garden of Eden, God’s justice and righteousness had to be satisfied. By divine decree, God decided in eternity-past that salvation would come only through the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. Once decreed, not even God could override the salvation plan, though Satan attempted to on many occasions.
By divine decree, salvation is a simple act of faith in Jesus Christ alone, apart from any human effort. No amount of good deeds, pleading with God, good behavior, faithfully attending church, giving money, being baptized or any other effort on the part of a person will satisfy the righteousness of God necessary for eternal life. God, in His grace, gives a person eternal life when they believe in Jesus Christ as Savior. (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; II Corinthians 5:21)
Righteousness
The word righteousness is translated from the Greek word “dikaiosune.” Righteousness is an attribute of God that denotes His perfect character. Originally it was spelled “rightwiseness,” which clearly expresses its meaning. It also means “right action,” which in the case of God means that He always does the right thing.
Righteousness is one half of God’s holiness and justice is the other half. Many times in the Scriptures, God’s righteousness and justice are interchangeable because they are so closely associated. Righteousness is the standard or principle of God’s integrity and justice is the function or action of God’s integrity. Because God is righteous, He must condemn sin wherever it is found. God’s justice carries out that condemnation. And God always does the right thing, whether condemning sin or providing salvation in the Person of Jesus Christ. Justification is the theological term for declaring the believer to be righteous before God. Christ was condemned in our place. God’s righteousness was satisfied (propitiated) on the Cross, as His justice carried out the sentence of spiritual death. (Romans 3:26-27)
Jesus Christ is the personification of God’s perfect righteousness and the Gospel reveals His perfect righteousness. Prior to Christ coming to earth, God’s perfect standard of righteousness was the Mosaic Law. Christ, of course, fulfilled the Law by keeping it perfectly (the only human being that ever has). By fulfilling the Law, Christ in sinless perfection revealed God’s standard of holiness. Christ is the standard to which the Church Age believer compares himself/herself. When a person believes in Jesus Christ as Savior, God the Holy Spirit imputes God’s righteousness to that person. The Greek word for impute is “logizomai” and means to credit to one’s account. God’s righteousness is never achieved as a result of human effort and is completely undeserved. God does not credit His righteousness to the believer because he has earned it or because he deserves it. Like eternal life, God’s righteousness is a gift. (Titus 3:5; Hebrews 12:1-3)
It was the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ Who completely satisfied the righteousness of God by means of His substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross. In His humanity, under the control of the Holy Spirit, He was able not to sin and He fulfilled the righteous standard of the Mosaic Law. Christ, a sinless Person, willingly became sin for us, taking our place, being judged in our stead. He is now sitting in the place of honor at the right hand of the Father, which signifies that God is satisfied with Christ’s death on our behalf. (II Corinthians 5:21)
Mankind’s righteous works fall well short of God’s righteousness. Mankind’s concept of righteousness is relative. For example, one person may think that his sin is not as bad as the next person’s sin. Therefore, he is more righteous (in his opinion). Mankind is minus the righteousness necessary to enter Heaven and no amount of human effort can produce this righteousness. God’s view of mankind’s righteousness is that it does not measure up to the absolute righteousness of God. The Bible declares that “there is none righteous” and that “man’s righteousness is as filthy rags.” (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 3:23) Because of the lack of absolute righteousness, mankind cannot enter Heaven (a holy place) based on their own righteousness. God cannot have fellowship with that which is sinful or falls short of His righteous character. Mankind, therefore, needs God’s righteousness in order to have a relationship with Him and to live forever in the holy place known as Heaven.