God - nature, trinity, genesis Flashcards
Nature of God
Omniscient - God knows everything
Immanent - acting in human history throughout all ages which shows his BENEVOLENCE for mankind
Omnibenevolent - sacrificed his son for humankind, demonstrates his AGAPE
Omnipresent - present everywhere
Personal - God wants a personal relationship with his people
Eternal - outside of time
Saviour - Saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and saved humans from hell through the death of Jesus
Perfect nature - ensures he is a fair and righteous judge of humans
Divergent views about the nature of God
The 15th century church strongly favoured the characteristic of God being a judge whereas the forgiving and loving aspects of god are emphasised in recent protestant denominations
Plymouth Brethren ( Christian denomination ) views about the nature of God
- focuses on the purity of God
- Believe that those part of the brethren are only truly able to know Gods oneness
- live as far as possible from the rest of the world to remove themselves from evil
Plymouth brethren bible quote which supports their beliefs about separating themselves from society ?
‘Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them…’
Amish - Nature of God
- Live in own communities, separate from society
- Although god has provided salvation through Jesus, they believe that we must practice the salvation by living in accordance with the laws of the bible . This relates to Gods judgement of humans
God as a JUDGE - parable of the sheep and the goats
Matthew chapter 25
- Jesus returns and gathers all nations unto himself
- Christ separates nations into sheep and goats
- The separation between the righteous and the unrighteousness
- the sheep are saved because THEY BESTOWED THE BREAD OF LIFE UNTO THOSE THAT WERE HUNGRY.
By following the laws of the bible and echoing the gospel, we can achieve salvation
‘Depart from me, ye cursed’- the goats have not applied the gospel, they have not believed. Christ condemns the goats for this.
Hillsong church - nature of God
focuses on grace of god for forgiveness
don’t believe in salvation as a consequence for a good action
God’s forgiveness is a revelation of his benevolence
John 3:16
‘For god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’
Baptist church - nature of God
God is directly accessible to all believers
- don’t believe priests need to intercede unlike the catholic church
- jesus taught the disciples to pray using the phrase ‘abba’ which means ‘daddy’ - demonstrates how god wants us to have an accessible relationship to him. Also demonstrates how God is immanent !
Nature of god - bible quotes
‘You shall have no other gods before me…you shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything…’ EXODUS 20:3
‘therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.’ MATTHEW 5:48
‘God is light and in him there is no darkness at all’ JOHN 1:5
The trinity
triad or three united as one
- the father
- the son
- the holy spirit
all persons of the trinity is God, all are equal and they all form the perfect complete relationship .
Each fulfils a different role
God the Father
Creator of the universe - expressed through the apostles creed.
‘I believe in God, the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth’
Abba - daddy, demonstrates a paternal figure - conveys a sense of safety and protection
authority over creation - ‘God called the dry land ‘‘earth’’ (genesis 1:10)’
God made humanity in the image of himself
Plans the salvation of humanity through Jesus
God the son
Jesus is god incarnate
‘I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only son, our lord, who was conceived by the holy spirit, born of the virgin Mary.
Jesus was conceived by the holy spirit - not naturally
Jesus was free of sin because he wasn’t made by TWO HUMANS.
Completely human but also completely god.
‘eternally begotten of the father’
3 purposes for God coming in the form of jesus
- To reveal himself to his people - show them love and power and teach them about the bread of life
- To sacrifice himself on the cross - salvation of humanity
- To resurrect to show God has power over death and that he is ETERNAL. To demonstrate the prospect of an everlasting life with God.
God the spirit
‘who proceeds from the father and the son, and who with the father and the son is adored and glorified’
In new testament - spirit is referred to as PARACLETE (Greek) which means ONE WHO COMES ALONGSIDE SOMEONE ELSE.
The spirit is a constant guide - a comforter who dwells in humanity .
God the spirit
‘who proceeds from the father and the son, and who with the father and the son is adored and glorified’
In new testament - spirit is referred to as PARACLETE (Greek) which means ONE WHO COMES ALONGSIDE SOMEONE ELSE.
The spirit is a constant guide - a comforter who dwells in humanity .
Gives gifts through sacraments
Pentecost - the spirit
‘All of them were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in tongues as the spirit enabled them’
Spirit helps them understand God’s teaching and live the way he requires even though Jesus has returned to heaven.
The problem with the trinity ?
Some Christians believe that the trinity leads to the idea that there is more than one God and so puts the monotheism of Christianity in danger - goes against the second of the ten commandments - ‘You shall have no other Gods before me’
Trinitarians
Jesus instructed his disciples to ‘go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ ( Matt 28:19 )
Jesus is God is in his virgin birth, miracles and resurrection.
In order to save us from our sins, Jesus must be god
Explain the trinity
The eternal god who was Father, Son and holy spirit made himself known in the central act of the father sending the son and the father sending the spirit. What is God like ? He like the father sending the son and father sending the spirit, they had not been sent before. He sent them to show that these entities had always eternally been part of him. He made himself known to us by reveal this.
Why is the trinity important ?
Plays a central part in Christians worshiping an unobjectifiable and incomprehensible God and reveals a nature about him, and that is that he is mystical and incomprehensible. ‘THE IDEA OF THE TRINITY DOES NOT SUPERCEDE MONOTHEISM, IT INTERPRETS IT IN THE LIGHT OF …REVELATORY EVENTS AND EXPERIANCES’
- It also brings humanity face to face with the mystery of god
- helps humanity recognise the God they see in the bible
- the trinity also reflects how we can fulfil our image of god - god is a community of persons so the essence of humanity is found in human relationships with other, God and his creation- we must live mutually, generously and justly in order to fulfil an image of god. These relationships must value differences but sameness. These relationships must accept as well as give.
Unitarians
A minority of christian denominations - trinity could lead to the idea that there is more than one god and go against Christian belief of monotheism. ‘Trinity’ is not mentioned in the bible
Some liberal Christians believe that the idea of god intervene through a virgin birth or miracles does not fit with their view of the universe - God designed the universe with a purpose, he then set it off in motion.
they would say that trinitarianism is a heretic view - that some part of god was converted into the son or that the son was procreated by the father from non-existing substances, that is from a being outside himself, so there was a time when the son did not exist
The nicene creed
Used by catholics, anglicans and protestant.
Nicene creed ensure that Jesus was god and man.
What is genesis
genesis is the beginning of creation, which is God. Whilst there are different interpretations of the creation stories, all Christians believe that God created the world EX HILO ( from nothing )
