Systematic Theology 1 Quiz 3 (for Final) Flashcards
Introduction: Need to Know God - Why is it important to know who God is?
-when he went to college he sought after God to figure out is he real or not - book by AW Tozer - The Knowledge of the Holy - ch1 sentence 1 -
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”
“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” quite a statement - why is this? what does this mean?
there is a secret law of the soul that moves us to our mental image of God = God has so made us that we instinctively seek to become like whatever we esteem most highly // Ex. Micheal Jordan
God has so made us that we instinctively seek to become like whatever we esteem most highly // God made us so that we become like what we
adore, what we worship.. whatever we view as God
Two important deals here with knowing God
- Know God as He is - we as whole as a church need to do this more
- In knowing God for who He is to see these truths as beautiful and adore and admire him - we become more loving, more like Him as we admire him more and more
the more you know God the more __________________ // we become like the one we ____ // ex. the Greatest Commandment .. worthy of our love and God expects us to reflect his __________
you will be like Him
love
character in a finite way
to know God is our purpose in life (Isaiah 11:1 - a shoot will spring from the stump of Jesse, creation restored by Jesus’ work).. also discusses how…
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord this is where joy comes from
What is the goal of all of creation?
that the earth is full of the knowledge of the Lord - God made us to be full of the knowledge of God -
Jeremiah 9:23-24 - don’t boast in your wisdom, might, or riches.. but only boast in that he
understands and knows God - boast = glory / glory = the weighty of God… what really matters
understands and knows God - boast = glory / glory = the weighty of God… what really matters
find your identity in Christ
the knowledge of God is understanding = ________________________ factionally correct / living with him ……………….
an intimate relationship knowledge..
day by day and knowing him more and more
Jeremiah 31 - new covenant = end goal God has for us as His people what does he want for us in the end..
to know the Lord.. that we know him.. that we are a people who knows him
Philippians 3 - he sees something so much greater than any accomplishment.. to know Christ - seen in Jeremiah & Isaiah. Jesus is
all and all. knowing God for who he is - Jesus exhibits for us who God is.. this is what I value above all
*What is God’s number one goal for us?
TO KNOW HIM. Pursue the very things that God seeks for us to have that are most important in life - that we may know him.
Passages about making knowing God your highest priority
Isaiah 11:1
Jeremiah 9:23-24
Jeremiah 31
Philippians 3
(latin) arguments that are made prior to sense experience, you can reason that God exists
Apriori
even the fool who doesn’t believe God exists, has some thought that there might be a greater being, must be the case that this being exists
2 kinds of existences 1. contingent = one that fails to exist 2. necessary existence = something that cannot fail to exist.. on thinking of being that is the highest being he must exist necessarily.. the argument against this this does not prove God exists, just explains the necessary existence of God
ontological argument
ontological argument who came up with this argument?
St. Anselm’s argument 1033-1109 - proposed this - the ontological argument for God’s existence // some believe in this, most people say it doesn’t work
who else believes in the ontological argument ?
-Alvin Platical - Charles Harsource
ontological argument…. proves conclusively that….
God exists
-if this works it proves positive
an argumentation post/after sense experience, makes use of what we can see and experience in the world
Aposteriori
Aposteriori - who came up with this argument?
Thomas Aquinas 1224-1274 - argued that there really 3 way to show God is real - common to all of these is they all work in the same fashion, other people observe something and say how can we account for that.. moves to effect to cause // we look at the affect and say what caused that // look at some aspect of reality and ask what caused this
Aposteriori -what they present is _______ ________, because it is based on _________, you can always ask the question could more evidence been given, yes more evidence could be given and it might be forth coming
probable conclusion; evidence
Aposteriori - can never be more than _______ _______
- the evidence gives us a very probable ability for this to be truth - everything in our life is based on this - knowledge based upon experience
probable conclusion
Aposteriori - almost everything we believe is based on _______ __________ we know with some ______ that this is true // ex.
probable evidence; degree // George Washington 1st president of USA
Aposteriori -not about whether we can know this with certainty, but what ………..
degree of confidence can we have based on the evidence
Aposteriori - moves from potential to ______….
- \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ - the agent that brings it about - in his 5 ways, most significant historical - what were talking about here
actual; efficient causation
Cosmological Argument Advantage
appeals to something that is so evident in this world
Cosmological Argument - Aquinas argued that this is an explanation but not complete.. why there is a world. this particular moment of the universe exists.. must appeal to something ———……………………
outside of the universe.. people would call God to be the reason that we have the world.. there is no reason for the universe if there is no God
Cosmological Argument -Frederick Coplosten vs. Burtren Russell - debate = Copolsten followed
Thomas Aquinas // Russell = atheist view // appeal to God, only way to explain why there is a universe
Cosmological Argument - further philosophical development =
William Graig -> kalam
argument for God’s existence = it is impossible for the universe to have existed eternally because it is impossible to transfers or to travel across an infinite series of points
William Graig -> kalam
William Graig -> kalam ex.
can’t count to the highest number, there is no highest possible number, you can never travel through all the numbers that are // same thing for the universe existing right now - means that we have passed through an infinite points to get to where we are right now, a logical form of this argument // there must be an absolute beginning to the universe, a finite amount of times for the universe to exist in this moment
that there is a world
cosmological argument
kalam.. same is true for ..
-God being temporal or eternal = God is timeless because if God himself was temporal we would have the same problem
appeals to a feature of reality, the most basic feature that there is… what this is about… that there is a world, that there is something rather than nothing
Cosmological Argument
cosmological argument… -things that have happened with science = they have wanted to come to the conclusion that the ……… but
universe is a self explained reality = the universe has existed eternally and will continue to exist eternally
but 1920s universe is expanding, moving outward - as if a bomb had exploded and gone out in different directions … put this notion of there is to death // there was another universe that gave rise to it.. so now they have the big bang, a big crunch, big bang… no one holds this any longer because of the realization of the mass of the universe is far far to pull everything back together… they now see it to continue to expand and it’ll expand and expand until it fizzles out… there must be a beginning time now..
cosmological argument -don’t put too much on what scientists say because its one aspect of
ever changing.
cosmological argument….. understanding the universe has became very clear that there was a
beginning to the universe.. there needed to be a God who made this beginning of the universe occur
orderliness - the orderliness that we see in the world.. what is the order we see in the world…
Teleological Argument
eleo = in greek the end - look at the things of this world and accomplish certain goals, even though these things // orderliness - the orderliness that we see in the world.. what is the order we see in the world…
Teleological Argument
Teleological Argument - person
William Paley
William Paley - provided us with an argument that the world is like a watch (old swiss watch) // take the back off it and what you see is extraordinary, tiny little wheals, in order for the clock to keep time correctly - how does it do this… what all keeps the clock going.. gogs and springs… what keeps it going… there must be a ______ _______… just as there must be a ………………… so what keeps the universe going… the tides, boundaries for the seas, earth to the sun
clock maker; Maker of the universe…
things move in a particular sequence, like dominos following - ex. seasons.. fall, summer - God
-Darwin On Trial - finding it lacking and its reasoning in this book
ordained and created it to be like this, he designed it to be like this
_________ _________ believes in this Darwin culture, used evidence falsely - gave rise to the movement the________ _______ ___________, someone intellectual designed it to be that way // these things must happen because someone designed them to be that way
- ex. footprints on the beach to the ripples from the waves.. pretty pattern on the sandtake a very artistic picture of this // look at the beauty of this pattern - no intellectual design for this.. just happened.. well because God is in charge of it
- some things that we recognize that could be the outcome of natural forces.. big areas of the see Jane I love you and a heart drawn… random forces made this happen.. no one would believe this - not done randomly, someone …….
- Philip Johnson; intelligent design movement
- intellectually designed this and wrote it out… evidence in the created order of clear indicators
______ ______ wrote Darwin’s Black Box - comes from -the final black box of darwin has now been broken with these enormously powerful microscopes
- MB tells us that what we find there a collection of features that have an \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ to them… cannot take these away or would not exist.. must be put together in just the right way or life would not come about - Ex. Mouse Trap - take a part of it away and it wont work
Micheal BeHea -
irreduceable complextivity
Intellectual Design Movement is a revelation / makes new the
- God is the designer of this universe and we should follow his wise purposes for life
- what is the feature / affect… a Divine Designer
Teleological Argument
-looks as some feature of life (in this case, moral sensibility - we think in moral categories and we make judgement on moral behavior)
Moral Argument
thievery, abuse… everyone knows that it is wrong.. 9/11
moral relativism
Mere Christianity - the case for Christianity.. begins it with the
-all people in all cultures agree that these things are wrong
moral argument
2 deals here with the moral argument
- what if we were to say that these were behaviorally taught to us // we were taught to think this way.. happens in education, teach them what we think they should know // 2+2=4
- evolutionary processes - survival of the race // we might think that it is best for us to die in order to save someone.. doesn’t this go against the evolutionary process… to save someone and not yourself
- ex. promise keeping is right because God is a promise keeper
- there must be a moral law giver
- we think morally, we judge morally.. God is the moral law giver
- each one on there on is a compelling argument, when you take all three of them together the evidence is
overwhelming for the existance of God.
*Limitations to these 3 arguments:
-doesn’t prove the triune God of the Bible, not attempting to prove everything… Thomas Aquinas tell us it doesn’t prove everything.. need Bible for that.. just some
Knowledge of God: Whether God Can Be Known - A. God’s Incomprehensibility
The great creeds and confessions of the Christian Church have consistently affirmed what is often called
“the incomprehensibility of God.”
“the incomprehensibility of God.” - By this, the Church has not meant to say that God is not knowable, per se; rather, it means to say that God cannot be
fully known or comprehended. We are limited by our finitude, and in addition by our sinfulness, and by the extent to which God has chosen to reveal himself to others (Deut. 29:29). Thus we can never attain perfect and exhaustive knowledge of God.
question looking at here:
But what of the limited knowledge that we can have–is it really knowledge? That is, is it reliable and accurate information about God? This question is answered as we investigate the knowledge of God as knowledge of God’s self-revelation.
Throughout the history of philosophy and theology, there have been numerous attempts to understand what God must be like simply through human rational investigation. These various attempts to know “God in general” via
speculative reflection have been severely criticized by such diverse theologians as Karl Barth and Carl F. H. Henry
If, as is claimed in Christianity, there is only one true and living God, and if this God is only known as he reveals himself, then any attempt to conjecture or speculate on the being of God apart from___________________ is inherently dangerous, inevitably misleading, and it constitutes the height of human presumptuousness and folly. If God is to be known, He is known from start to finish only by his __________.
revelation (i.e., apart from God’s self-revelation); self-disclosure.
Revelational Knowledge of God
As we observed in our overview of the doctrine of revelation, the orthodox Church has affirmed the following avenues of God’s revelation. Since this was covered earlier, we offer here only a brief summary.
General Revelation
through Creation
through Conscience
The created order itself, as the handiwork of God, witnesses to the power, wisdom, and grandeur of its creator. Ps. 19 states that the heavens declare the glory of God. Rom. 1:20 says that creation reveals God’s power and divinity. So, while a full natural theology which claims to arrive at detailed metaphysical assertions about God may be mistaken, we have in the creation the basis for a clear knowledge of the fact that God exists and has made the world. This revelation is forceful enough to hold all of us accountable for our acceptance of God from it, and to deny this revelation and turn to veneration of the creature rather than the Creator brings God’s wrath (Rom. 1).
General Revelation
a. Natural Knowledge of God—through Creation.
Humanity possesses an inborn sense that God exists and has made the world. Calvin, following Augustine, made a strong case for this view. He appealed to the fact that every cultural group of people found on the earth had among its beliefs a belief in God. Surely this is in no measure a complete or necessarily accurate conception, but it is a starting point from which we turn to further revelation (Institutes, I.III.). C. S. Lewis also argued strongly for this understanding in Mere Christianity and in his lesser-known but profound work, The Abolition of Man. Augustine, Calvin, Lewis, and others have simply amplified the teaching of Paul in Romans 2:14-15 that God has “written the Law” upon the hearts of all human beings. We know by nature something about the character and moral demands of God.
General Revelation
Innate Knowledge of God—through Conscience.
God’s revelation in personal encounter.
God’s revelation in mighty acts.
Propositional revelation.
The Incarnation of Jesus Christ as the Supreme Revelation of God.
Special Revelation
Scripture is full of examples of God making himself known to others in personal ways, sometimes through theophanies, or dreams, or visions, or through speaking directly to them. All one need do is consider the experiences with God that men like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, Elijah, Paul, John – and so many more—have had.
God’s revelation in personal encounter.
At particular points in the history of Israel and the early Church, God has intervened and acted in powerful, often miraculous ways, thus revealing something of Himself to his people. Without doubt, the greatest event in Israel’s history was her exodus from Egypt. In the numerous miracles that God performed–the plagues, parting the waters of the Red Sea, providing water in the wilderness, feeding of manna each day, etc.—God showed Himself to be the all-wise, all-powerful covenant God, who had selected Israel by His grace to be His special people. This is only one—though an important–example of God’s revelation in act. Revelation in event often requires interpretation. E.g., Christ died for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3).
God’s revelation in mighty acts.
All of God’s revelation to others in the form of human language constitutes the prepositional revelation given by God. But, one very important expression of this prepositional revelation are the inspired Scriptures. For it is the case that both the revealed acts and the revealed words of God would be unknown to us had they not been written down for later generations to read and learn from. The evangelical Church affirms the Old and New Testaments, in their totality, to be the verbal revelation of God to his people in the 66 books of inspired Scripture. The Bible has a dual authorship. As Peter expresses it, “men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet. 1:21).
Propositional revelation.
John tells us in the prologue to his gospel, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld in his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). And Jesus, in response to Philip’s request, “Show us the Father,” said to him: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). The character of God is supremely manifest in the incarnate Son of God. Jesus reveals God’s holiness and righteous indignation against sin while he extends rich and free grace and compassion to sinners. To come to know Jesus Christ is to know the heart and character of God.
The Incarnation of Jesus Christ as the Supreme Revelation of God.
Human capacity to know the revelation of God
Knowledge of God requires basically two things:
God’s own self-disclosure (i.e., His revelation of which we have just spoken), and human reception or apprehension of divine revelation.
But can man know God? Is he capable of receiving God’s self-revelation?
The answer is Yes. Because God has created us in his image, with the rational, volitional, moral and emotional tools or capacities necessary for such knowledge, we are equipped by virtue of our creation by God to know him. Sin, of course, has affected every area of our lives, but by the illuminating work of the Spirit of God, we have the capability to come to know God. And in fact, the knowledge of God, relationship with God stands as the reason for our very being. In Phil. 3, Paul expresses his desire to know God above all else. The prophet Jeremiah proclaims that the knowledge of God is superior to all else in life and. thus one should only boast of one’s knowing God (Jer. 9:23-24). And in a very important text on the new covenant, Yahweh reveals through Jeremiah that the essence of what life will be in the coming era is captured in the fact that everyone shall know God, from the least to the greatest. We were made to know God, we were created with the capacity to know God, and our future life in God’s kingdom will be characterized above all by the fact that we will know Him—in the full sense of what that means. (Note: for a treatment of the philosophical issues regarding knowing God, e.g., Hume’s and Kant’s skepticism see Ronald Nash’s Word of God and Mind of Man (Zondervan, 1982).
Knowledge about God vs. knowing God
In any relationship, there are certain things we need to know about the other person. In fact, the more we know about them, the more we are able to enter into meaningful relationship with them. But knowledge about someone is not sufficient in itself for relationship or relational knowledge. Similarly with God, learning truths about Him—though important, vital, even necessary—is not enough by itself for what God intends for us. He seeks, and we should seek,
relational knowledge—the daily and moment-by-moment interaction with God where we learn to trust him, confess to him, request of him, risk for him. Knowledge about God needs to be applied in relationship, and then we too will, with Paul, seek this above all else.
helps distinguish what we believe about God from Jews and others who do not believe in the trinity // significance of this // put on trinitarian classes, everywhere present - in OT & NT
Trinity in Unity
Trinity in Unity passage
Ephesians 1
Trinity in Unity - Eph 1 explained
apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God (Father), faithful in Christ Jesus, grace and peace from God our Father & the Lord Jesus Christ - v3 blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ - who (the Father) has blessed us in the heavenly places …. mediates these blessings by the Spirit.. we have to see God’s work in trinitarian terms.. to who does the pronoun refer? The Father chose us, in the Son before the foundation of the world. The Father predestined us. Destined us in advance to be his chosen people.. he would do this through his Son. Does this through his Beloved (Jesus). The Father made known to us the desire of his will. The Father takes the lead on designing and saving. The Father accomplishes this work on the Son’s behalf. Our place in His Son. We have obtained an inheritance. The Father who predestined us into his family, he also predestined us to have an inheritance. This is ours. In Christ , you were sealed in Christ (all of these blessings.. spiritual blessings in the heavenly places…. by the Spirit), sealed with the Holy Spirit as promised. to the praise of the glory of the Father, Father, Son, Spirit plays a huge part into who God is. One God manifested through Father, Son & Holy Spirit - a taxis - order of the triune God - all glory given to the Father (Philippians 2) - -
Trinity in Unity - 2 parts
Scriptural Monotheism
Scriptural Trinitarianism
there is ONE GOD. Follow the pattern we find in scripture.. that there is one God. most ancient religions were polytheistic… with the coming of Christ we have to see this oneness of God as complex; Genesis 1 main purpose is theological, God created the heavens and the earth // one God created it all, what’s the point? they’re were separate regions … the only God there is created the earth, as Creator that is over all that is Rule over all nations // Yahweh is their God because he is all people’s God.
Scriptural Monotheism
Scriptural Monotheism Scripture
- Deut 4:35 - to you Israel - that you may know the he is God, don’t believe the Egpytians
- Deut 6:4, 1 Kings 8:60 - Only God, no one else
- Isaiah 40-48 // 46:9, remember the former things, there is no one like me
- NT: just as strongly monotheistic; early church were surrounded by polytheistic
- would of been easier to say we have three Gods than to come up with the trinity
- to the oneness of God, John 17:3, to know God - the only true God
- 1 Corinthians 8- 1 Timothy 2:5 ONE GOD. Romans 3:30,
- jews and gentiles (rom 3) all sinners - we have the same God
- james 2:19 former adhearisce - you believe that there is one God..doesn’t deny the truth
Scriptural Monotheism Scripture -maintained and affirmed there is one god in a ________ _______(Father, Son, Holy Spirit) would be easy to give us one aspect of this // one God and more complexity of this oneness
polytheistic world
-it was evident to early christians that even the verses about God’s oneness are very complex / leading to something about the trinity
Scriptural Affirmations of the Triune God
Scriptural Affirmations of the Triune God Scripture Examples (1)
- Ex. John 17:3 this is eternal life that they may know the one true God and Jesus Christ
- Ex.(2) 1 Corinthians 6:8 - 1 God the Father and 1 Lord Jesus Christ by who things are created // can only be one Creator, but God & Jesus are apart of this.. so looks like they’re separate but on the other hand only one God can create… so they must be One as well
- John 1:1 - In the beginning (Genesis 1:1) the Word was with God, Word was God // some how we have to understand them as different and identical // attributing diety to Christ
Scriptural Affirmations of the Triune God Scripture Examples (2)
- Hebrews 1 - Jesus is the Creator (Colossians 1), exact representation of the Father (Christ must be God to represent God), he upholds on things by t he word of His power, let all the angels worship the Son (only God is suppose to be worshiped) Psalm 102 - Christ is God.. God calls him these (God) here in Hebrews
- Acts 5:3-4 - Ananius why have you lied to the Holy Spirit about this.. why have you lied to God, the Spirit
- 1 Corinthians 2:11 - only the Spirit knows the thoughts of God
- Hebrews 9:14- eternal Spirit
- the church saw there was serious complexity to the oneness of God
-Triatic Passages: (no scripture that says trinity, but teaches the three together as the One God
- Matthew 28:19-20 - the One name of God is Father, Son, & Holy Spirit
- 2 Corinthians 13:14 benediction to the people - may God bless you. may God go with you. May the grace of Jesus. May the love of the Father. May the fellowship of the Spirit go with you.
- Ephesians 1, 2:17-18, 4
- 1 Peter 1:1-2, introduction, Spirit and Son involved in the blessing you get from God
- Matthew 3:13-17 - Jesus’ baptism
- Complex, not simple - One God.. yes.. how do we understand this one God? this is not a simple conception
- John 8:58 - Jesus greater than Abraham
- must affirm there is one God and also that Father, Son, & Holy Spirit are God
the doctrine of the trinity arose in the early theologians grapaling of Jesus / who is Jesus; my Lord & my God and then affirm monotheism.. how do you understand the nature of Christ? the theological debates had to do about Jesus’ humanity & diety // worked hard at trying to figure this out
Christological Background
try to hold the supreme monoarchiness of God the Father, the supremacy of the Fathe
eastern = greek church, very strong commitment to the monarchy of God the Father
Monarchian Heresies
Monarchian Heresies
- Dynamistic Monarchianism / Subordinationism – Arius
2. Modalistic Monarchianism / Modalism – Sabellius
died in 336, bishop, influential in the early church, Jesus is a highly exalted being/ strengthened by God, but not God; Jesus was the first born (Col 1:15).. this doesn’t work because Jesus created all things so how would he create himself& Jesus is eternal
Dynamistic Monarchianism / Subordinationism – Arius
