OAIM Christian Essentials Course Essential 2

It is essential that we fully understand the nature of God for a very obvious reason: if we cannot understand His nature, then we cannot understand who God is, and we would be worshiping another god who is not the God of the Bible. This statement may sound extremely simplistic, almost to the point of being inconsequential, but the reason we made this statement is because when thought through, a false god has only a false salvation. With this in mind, suddenly this statement becomes quite profound.

Before we delve into the nature of God, we need to keep the previous study in mind. We have concluded that the Bible is the written word of God because of the evidence provided. We have sorted it through our minds and have come to the conclusion with understanding in our minds, just as the Bible instructs us to do. It has been settled in our minds so we can move on with confidence to this portion of the study.

Now that we have determined that the Bible is the authoritative written word of God, we can look to it as the only reliable source for God's information about Himself. In this study, you will examine the nature of God according to God's own words.

We all have heard the question, "Who is God?" If we think about it, though, what people are really asking with this question is, "What is the nature of God?"

Since we are going to go on the assumption that, if you are still with us after the last study, you have concluded that the Bible is indeed authoritative. As we discuss the nature of God in this study, we will focus exclusively on who God is from that perspective. There are many groups who claim the Bible as their authority in part or as their sole authority. Among them are four basic thoughts of how God is understood in those various groups.

1. God is an impersonal universal power or force but is not a personal, knowable God. (This belief best fits Christian Science, the Unity Church and others.)

2. There is only one God who is the Father, Jesus is not God the Creator and the Holy Spirit is a force or a power. (This belief best fits Jehovah Witness, Mormons, Unification Church, The Way International and others.)

3. There is only One God who is a single person who manifests Himself in different roles or modes at various times throughout history. This view is commonly called "Oneness Doctrine." This view affirms that the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are God but denies that they are co-existent and co-eternal and are three distinct individual persons. (This belief best fits the United Pentecostal Church and others.)

4. There is only One God that consists of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost/Spirit. The three are individual persons sharing the same attributes and are co-equal and co-eternal. Individually they are God and collectively are the "One True God". This view is commonly called the "Trinity" and is in reference to the triune nature of God. (This belief best fits historical fundamental Christianity.)

The purpose of this study is to present various scriptures for you to study over until you are fully convinced of the nature of God according to what He says of Himself in accordance to His written word. When reviewing the four various thoughts of the nature of God, it is obvious that, since the views are contradictory, at least three of the above views are incorrect and are not representative of the God of the Bible. Three of the views presented are presenting another god who can only offer a false salvation. This is why this study is crucial and requires great care in studying.

Your assignment:

For this assignment, we have divided the Essential into three aspects (lessons). Each lesson has an accompanying text (.txt) file that can be printed out as a worksheet. At the end of each lesson, you will be asked to summarize your findings. We suggest 300 words for each summary, but quality is much more important than quantity. The summaries should be done in sequence and turned in one at a time as they are completed. If you wait until the end to do them all, you may bypass some of the thinking process you will need for your final conclusion.

Again, we remind you that this course is not merely for you to say you have done it. Take your time through the questions and actually study them. If you don't understand what they are saying, be persistent. Read through them a second or third or fourth time, giving the Holy Spirit a chance to work through God's word. Ponder what these things might mean and the conclusions these verses cause you to draw about the nature of God. You do not need to be a theologian to understand who God is, but sometimes it requires you to spend days thinking about what the Bible says and how it can apply to your study.

Lesson One:

Let us begin with the study of the word "one" and how it is to be properly applied in the reading of the scriptures. The word "one" can be applied as a numerical one, such as 1 apple. Another application of the word "one" can be applied in the sense as one in purpose or in unity. For example, the usage of the word "one" as in "all in one accord" means of the same mind or being in agreement with a numerical one belief. The word "one" can also be applied in meaning a numerical single person or as a single group of "one" that may also be used in a plural form that includes two or more persons within that numerical one single group who are in agreement with one another.

This may seem extremely elementary, but it is vitally important to understand the proper usage of the word "one" and to distinguish the proper usage in the proper context when studying the Bible. You can look up the various usages of the word "one" in a concordance or simply pick up a dictionary and study the various applications of the word "one."

Keeping this information about the term "one" in mind, let's use a few verses from the Bible that use the word "one" and see what would be the proper usage of the word "one" within the context of the verse.

We are including a text file (.txt) (Essential 2a) for you to print out as a worksheet for this portion of the lesson. This will open in a separate browser window and will allow you to print out the worksheet without banners, etc. You may use this file or cut and paste the worksheet into your own word processor. The rest of this lesson can be found in the .txt file. Please take the link and go there now. When you have finished the work, continue on with the following assignment.

Before going on to the second part of this study, look back to the four basic beliefs of who God is and write a short summary explaining which of the four basic belief systems above best fits your understanding of the application of the word "one" and why.

Submit it to: Christian Essentials Course

Label your e-mail in the subject line as: Essential 2a.

Lesson Two:

Now that you have some to a conclusion about the term "one" as it applies to God, continue on with Essential 2b. This is a .txt file that you can print out to use for your studies.

When you have finished Lesson Two, submit the two summaries you wrote to: Christian Essentials Course .

Label your e-mail in the subject line as: Essential 2b.

Lesson Three:

After completing Lesson 2, continue on with Essential 2c, the final lesson under Essential 2: The Nature of God. After completing this section, you should have a good understanding of what God has revealed about Himself in the pages of the Bible.

Submit this final summary to: Christian Essentials Course .

Label your e-mail in the subject line as: Essential 2c.

Procedure:

We ask that you do not use external websites or other resources for this particular study, including study Bible notes or commentaries. Let God's word speak for itself. Remember to give yourself time to think over the questions. Don't be too quick to come to a conclusion. Consider all the evidence before you write up your ideas.

Read the context of the passages to make certain that your understanding of the verse is compatible with the rest of the passage.

Don't jump ahead on each section. Follow the above order and you will see a logical reason for the order the study is in.

Submit your conclusion summaries as you go, but remember to keep copies for yourself.

Research TIPS:

If you are stuck on the meaning of a certain passage, try reading it in another version of the Bible. If you need to find other versions, you can go to Crosswalk.com and use the various versions they have.

For some other versions, you can use the Bible Gateway site.

Again, try NOT to use commentaries. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you through God's words, not the words of a man in a commentary.

Research Helps:

Since this is a topic about which the Bible has much to say, we ask that you would read the verses given in the assignment pages, in light of writing the summaries required for the three lessons. ONLY AFTER you have formed a conclusion on your own do we suggest you refer to any other source, such as a website or talking with another person or even reading a commentary on the verses. Don't be in a rush for God to speak to you. Ponder it for days or even weeks if you need to before rushing to other sources. In our microwave society, we often get in too much of a hurry to get answers that we miss the thought processes God is wanting us to go through. Please don't hurry or you may bypass the way God works through His Holy Spirit.

Final Product:

When you are ready to turn in your conclusions, remember these basic things.

Please use a spell-checker and use good grammar. It is difficult to read communication that is grammatically lax. Chat spellings are fine for chat, but cul8r is just not as easy to read as "See you later." :o)
Instead of attaching your writing to an e-mail, it is much easier to read if it is inline text. This can easily be done by cutting and pasting your writing into the body of the e-mail.
Remember that we cannot read your minds. Don't assume we will know what you mean. Explain it to us as if we disagreed with you on the issue.
Be patient with turnaround time since we are just starting this and do not know what kind of volume we will have. If you believe it has taken too long and your work might have been lost in cyberspace, send a short follow-up e-mail asking us if we received it.
Keep a copy of your writing for yourself.

Send to:

Your final conclusions on the above lessons should be sent to:

Christian Essentials Course

Click here to continue on to Essentials 3, The Character of God.