THE NATURE OF GOD
Lesson Two

(Review of the four possible concepts of God)

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).

3.	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 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.)


There is only One God as stated in the following verses. 

"Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I 
am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God….Is there a God 
beside me?  yea, there is no God; I know not any."  (Isaiah 44:6 & 8)

"For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the 
earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed 
it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else." (Isaiah 45:18)

After reading the next several verses, write a summary that explains how they 
can be reconciled with the previous three verses stated above. As you read the 
following verses, pay special attention to the words that are in [ ]before 
forming your answers. After formulating your answer, go back to the four basic 
beliefs of who God is at the top of this lesson and explain which belief best 
fits your understanding of the Nature of God.  WRITE a short summary explaining 
why.

 "And God said, Let [us] make man in [our image], after [our likeness].…So God 
created man in [his own image], in the [image of God] created he him; male and 
female created he them." (Gen.1:26-27) 

"And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of [us]…" (Gen.3:22)

"And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; 
and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which 
they have imagined to do. Go to, let [us] go down, and there confound their 
language, that they may not understand one another's speech." (Gen.11:6-7)

"Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the 
beginning; from the time that it was, [there am I]: and now [the Lord GOD, and 
his Spirit, hath sent me]." (Isaiah 48:16)

"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they 
also may be one in [us]: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." 
(John 17:21)

"And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, 
even as [we] are one:" (John 17:22) 

"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to 
thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, 
that they may be one, as [we] are." (John 17:11)

STOP HERE and go back to the four basic thoughts of who God is.  Determine which 
belief best fits these verses and WRITE a short summary to explain as to why it 
fits the one you have chosen.  



After you have finished writing your summary about which belief best fits these 
verses, explain who it is that Adam and Eve heard physically walking 
in the garden and from whose presence they hid in the following passage. WRITE a 
short summary explaining your answer. 

"And they [heard] the voice of the LORD God [walking] in the garden in the [cool 
of the day]: and Adam and his wife [hid themselves] from the [presence of the 
LORD God] amongst the trees of the garden." (Gen.3:8)

SUBMIT the two short summaries to oamoam@hotmail.com.  Label your e-mail in the 
subject line as:  Essential 2b.

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