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This is the “biggie”. All Christianity hinges on a proper understanding of God, the nature and character of His Being. Incorporated in this is the nature and character of the Trinity. The concept of the Trinity is intertwined throughout the New Testament. Judaism was a strict monotheistic religion. Since Christianity grew out of Judaism, the idea of the Trinity had to co-exist with the truth of “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One”. The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD left us with a bedrock declaration of the truth of the Trinity. At this meeting, the leaders of the church articulated the belief originally set forth in the writing of Paul and the practice of the early church, “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, … begotten not made, of one substance with the Father … And in the Holy Spirit”. Contrary to the opinion of some, the belief in the Trinity does not make Christianity a polytheistic religion. There is only one God. He interacts with humanity in three personages: God, the Father; Jesus, the Son; and the Holy Spirit.
The Doctrine of God – God is unique in His nature. He is both transcendent and immanent at the same time. He is both the one true God and God in Trinity at the same time. God is intimate. He is a living God. He is a personal God. But he is also a jealous God. He is the Creator of all. He is our Father. But he will also be our Judge. God has distinctive characteristics. He is Love. He is Grace. He is Mercy. But He is also Holy. He is Faithful to His Word. He has all Wisdom. He has all Power. He is Present everywhere, all the time. He reacts to sin through impartial Justice. But His Goodness is unequalled. He, Himself, is our Redeemer.
God is all of this, and more. But he is also all of this equally. Many elevate one aspect of God and His character over another. But to emphasize one part, such as God is a God of Love, over another, for instance God is a God of Justice, is to do an injustice to Him.
Genesis 1:1 sets the stage, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Notice there is no introduction. No “back story”. Just, God. He has no beginning. He is eternal. The rest of the Bible will expound on the theme of who God is, what He is like, and what He is doing. But it will not explain how He is eternal. And our minds cannot fully conceive of that idea. It is one of those points that must be taken by faith. We either believe He is, always was, and forever will be, or we don’t. He’s not going to take time to “prove it” to us.
And God said, I will be with you … I Am who I Am. This is Exodus 3: 12a, 14a. This is God getting personal. This is God relating to us at gut level. This is God being real. He is not some mysterious force. He is not some impersonal, inanimate object. In Psalm 86:1 David cries out, Hear, O Lord, and answer me for I am poor and needy. This cry is to a God who cares. A personal God whose personal attention we can count on.
This personal God is also our Father. He Himself says in Revelation 21:7, He who overcomes will inherit all this (heaven), and I will be his God and he will be My son. Many people incorrectly quote God from Exodus 20 when he says he will punish the sins of one to a 2nd and 3rd generation. What is usually skipped in that passage is the remainder of that sentence where He promises to bless those who love Him for 1,000 generations. Revelation 21:4 lets us know that he desires to “wipe away every tear from our eyes”. His plan from the beginning is for all of us to be with Him. His greatest hurt will be in the final judgment when some will be separated form Him forever because they have chosen to be so.
God is love. Notice I didn’t say He has love. Or He expresses love. Or He desires love, although all of those are true. God is love. John 3:16, For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. The word for love here indicates a love that seeks the best interest of the other with no thought of itself. It is a love that wants to give itself away for the benefit of another.
Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord … But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah … And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Job 1:21, Jonah 1:17, Romans 8:28) God does not cause everything to happen. All things that happen to us are not good. These verses do not say that, although some erroneously believe they do. God is sovereign. He can, and does, work through circumstances to do good for His people. We may suffer. But God can use all things to bless us, if He so chooses. But He is sovereign, so it is His choice.
Doctrine of Jesus Christ – Begin at the beginning. Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. All Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah were fulfilled in the life of Jesus. He is God in human form. He is not a god. He is not one of three Christian gods. He is of the same nature as God, the Father. He is God. He is God in human form. He experienced human life and death. Jesus is the sole source of salvation. He fulfilled the role the Father had for Him.
It is what we believe about Jesus that separates Christianity from other religions. But it is a true belief about Jesus that will separate the true Christian from those who simply practice religion. History is replete with incorrect assumptions concerning Jesus. Docetism, gnosticism, Ebionism, Monarchianism, adoptionism, dynamism, Modalism, Arianism, Apollinarianism, Nestorianism, Cyrillism, Eutychianism, Monophysitism, Monothelitism are all doctrines of Jesus that held only part of the truth. Some of these affirm His human nature over His divine nature. Some do just the reverse. Some insist that Jesus only appeared to be human. Others say He was a created being, therefore not God. One of these –isms held that there was actually two Jesus’, one that was human and one that was divine.
Matthew 26:63-64 says, …the high priest said to Him (Jesus), I charge you under oath by the living God: tell us if you are the Christ , the Son of God. Yes, it is as you say, Jesus replied. But I say to you all: in the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. When asked a direct question, he answered it by repeating a title He had used on many occasions to refer to Himself: Son of Man. This quote incorporates that title, which was referred to in the Old Testament Books of Ezekiel and Daniel, and a Messianic idea found in intertestamental writings.
Not only was Jesus the Messiah, He is also God. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning (John 1:1-2). The Idea of the “Word” of God was very prevalent in Jewish thought. In the beginning God said let there be light. The “word” was also thought of as the wisdom of God. John used this to identify Jesus to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, who saw the idea of “word” as the highest form of logical, rational thought.
But, Jesus was also human. Jesus got angry (John 2:15—clearing the Temple). He was tired (John 4:6—Woman at the well). He was hungry (John 4:31—Woman at the well). He had sympathy on others (John 6:5, 20—Feeding 5,000, Walking on Water). He experienced grief (John 11:33, 35, 38—Raising of Lazarus). He suffered agony (John 19:28—“I thirst”).
God did not just come to earth as Jesus on holiday. He had a purpose. 2 Timothy 1:8-10 tells us, So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me (Paul) His prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the Gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. God’s salvation of humanity through Jesus was planned before the creation of the world. Providing that salvation from sins to us was the mission Jesus completed when He came to earth.
But Jesus’ coming to earth, and His death here, was not the end. John 14:12, I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things that these, because I am going to the Father. Part of Jesus’ continuing mission is being accomplished from heaven. It is only His ascension that gives us the ability to do the things He did while here.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad (II Corinthians 5:10). And although Jesus is God, and God is good, God is also just. One aspect of Jesus’ mission is to be our judge. He has told us what we need to do to be justified before Him. It is our job to do it. It is His job to judge whether or not we did.
Doctrine of the Holy Spirit – Early in the life of the church most debate centered on the person and work of Jesus. After the Council of Nicaea, attention turned to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Questions arose about whether or not the Holy Spirit was a person or a force, whether or not the Holy Spirit was equal to God and Jesus in nature, and what relationship the Holy Spirit has to God and Jesus.
Acts 2:4 describes the revealing of the Holy Spirit, All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them. In order to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commandment to preach the Gospel to al the world, God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell each believer. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to carry out that command.
It is also the Holy Spirit who draws us to repentance. Luke 3:16-17 tells us, …He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit… His winnowing fork is in his hand…to gather the wheat into His barn…
The Spirit also energizes us to serve God and proclaim the Gospel. Acts 4:8 begins to describe Peter’s defense of his and John’s healing of the cripple with, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit …
In Exodus 31:1-11 we see evidence of the gifts of the Spirit being given to people in order to fulfill the purpose God has for them. Of course, we need to use those gifts for the purpose God gave them, and not for our own desire or to enhance our personal image. Verse 3 says, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, and with skill, ability, and knowledge …
Paramount to all of this is the fact that the Holy Spirit is one part of the triune Godhead, the Trinity. As I said above, not three gods. One God, operating through three unique personalities. I Peter 1:2 expresses it this way, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ…
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