God Is... REAL (2)

Curtis Gordon

God is! • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Theology

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Preliminary

Genesis 1:1.

Thanks to the Palmdale Camp board for inviting me to come out here and be Bible teacher. It is an honor and a privilege to teach the Word of God.

We are going to start with Genesis 1:1 this morning

Genesis 1:1 KJV 1900

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

The Bible does not go out of its way to prove the existence of God.

before you ever get passed the first verse in the Bible you are met with the presupposition that God is.

we are then given the revelation of who God is...

I want to take the next fives sessions of camp to expound on that thought

GOD IS...

Before we get into that...

Dr. Bird my Apologetic’s and Theology professor at GBS asked the class an interesting question -

“Can anyone know there is not a God?” The answer is “not without infinite knowledge” you can use the illustration of a circle and fill in all the knowledge you have that is in the universe - is it possible that the knowledge of God is outside the boundary of the knowledge that you have.

Pascal’s Wager

Blaise Pascal was a famous 17th-century French scientist, philosopher and mathematician - known for originating the mathematical theory of probability. His most famous work, however, was the Pensées. It was published posthumously in 1670 and contained what has been called Pascal’s Wager.

Pascal’s wager

Pascal believed that it was impossible to know for sure by reason alone whether God exists.

So Pascal offers a wager:

Either God exists or He doesn’t exist. ...Let’s say we put a wager on the idea that God exists. If we win this wager, and He does exist, we win everything; if we lose, and God doesn’t exist, we lose nothing. Since this is the case, we should wager that God does exist.

Pascal’s wager” shows that faith in God is life’s best bet, and atheism is life’s most stupid one.

Peter Kreeft (Kraaft)

Pascal theorized and rightly so that man could not arrive at salvation by merely reasoning alone - but at the same time I would submit to you that reason plays a huge part in it.

So I have shown two things so far

No one can ever say they have all the knowledge and by using all of that knowledge and empirical data say that there is not a God - so in reality there is no such thing as an atheist - in fact they are hard agnostics - they doubt or aren’t really sure there is a God.

That according to Pascal’s wager - it is much better to believe in a God and be wrong than to not believe in a God and be wrong.

Blaise Pascal has also often been quoted to have said,

So They Say Where Do You Want to Go?

Blaise Pascal, who wrote, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

But what does the Bible have to say about it?

The Bible is full of information and revelation -

but in reality there are five things that everybody - whether they read the Bible or not should be able to know about God. We call this natural revelation

All people can know at least five things about God:

a) there is a God (Rom. 1:20)

Rom 1:20 “20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”

b) He is powerful (Rom. 1:20)

c) He is glorious (Psa. 19:1)

Psa 19:1 “1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork.”

d) He provides material blessings (Acts 14:17)

Acts 14:17 “17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

e) He is eternal (Rom. 1:20)

Atheism and agnosticism are not natural responses; they are learned,

Robertson McQuilkin wrote:

God is the ultimate reality, the fundamental fact, the integrating factor of the universe. Therefore, to be rightly aligned with him is the most important relationship in human existence. To be in alignment with reality and truth is life; to be out of alignment is destruction and death. To leave God out of the equation of life or to diminish his role is like seeking to build a skyscraper without mathematics or to bake a cake without flour. p 153

Adrian Rogers Sermon Archive 1. Conscience Declares God

Mr. Brown, who has an interstate trucking organization, has for a long time been giving lie detector tests to prospective employees. And, one of the things he does—he asks, “Do you believe in God?” And, from time to time, there will be someone who says, “No, I don’t believe in God.” And, the lie detector test says he’s lying every time—every time, when a man says, “I don’t believe in God.”

Back in the late 1990’s I corresponded with many scholars from CSICOP concerning the lie-detector’s ability to detect one’s repressed belief in God. I have a good friend who is a street preacher who preaches on the Santa Monica Promenade in California and during the Q/A sessions he does have lots of atheists that enjoy their time at the mic. When this happens he always quotes Romans 1:18-19 (Amplified Bible) ” For God’s wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness REPRESS and HINDER the truth and make it inoperative. For that which is KNOWN about God is EVIDENT to them and MADE PLAIN IN THEIR INNER CONSCIOUSNESS, because God has SHOWN IT TO THEM,”(emphasis mine). Then he tells the atheist that the atheist already knows that God exists but he has been suppressing that knowledge in unrighteousness. This usually infuriates the atheist.

My friend draws some large crowds at times and was thinking about setting up a lie detector test and see if atheists actually secretly believe in God. He discussed this project with me since he knew that I had done a lot of research on the idea about 20 years ago.

Nelson Price in THE EMMANUEL FACTOR (1987) tells the story about Brown Trucking Company in Georgia who used to give polygraph tests to their job applicants. However, in part of the test the operator asked, “Do you believe in God?” In every instance when a professing atheist answered “No,” the test showed the person to be lying. My pastor Adrian Rogers used to tell this same story to illustrate Romans 1:19 and it was his conclusion that “there is no such thing anywhere on earth as a true atheist. If a man says he doesn’t believe in God, then he is lying. God has put his moral consciousness into every man’s heart, and a man has to try to kick his conscience to death to say he doesn’t believe in God.”

It is true that polygraph tests for use in hiring were banned by Congress in 1988. Mr and Mrs Claude Brown on Aug 25, 1994 wrote me a letter confirming that over 15,000 applicants previous to 1988 had taken the polygraph test and EVERY TIME SOMEONE SAID THEY DID NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, THE MACHINE SAID THEY WERE LYING. It had been difficult to catch up to the Browns. I had heard about them from Dr. Rogers’ sermon but I did not have enough information to locate them. Dr. Rogers referred me to Dr. Nelson Price and Dr. Price’s office told me that Claude Brown lived in Atlanta. After writing letters to all 9 of the entries for Claude Brown in the Atlanta telephone book, I finally got in touch with the Browns. Adrian Rogers also pointed out that the Bible does not recognize the theoretical atheist. Psalms 14:1: The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Dr Rogers notes, “The fool is treating God like he would treat food he did not desire in a cafeteria line. ‘No broccoli for me!’ ” In other words, the fool just doesn’t want God in his life and is a practical atheist, but not a theoretical atheist. Charles Ryrie in the The Ryrie Study Bible came to the same conclusion on this verse. Here are the conclusions of the experts I wrote in the secular world concerning the lie detector test and it’s ability to get at the truth: Professor Frank Horvath of the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University has testified before Congress concerning the validity of the polygraph machine. He has stated on numerous occasions that “the evidence from those who have actually been affected by polygraph testing in the workplace is quite contrary to what has been expressed by critics. I give this evidence greater weight than I give to the most of the comments of critics” (letter to me dated October 6, 1994). There was no better organization suited to investigate this claim concerning the lie detector test than the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). This organization changed their name to the Committe for Skeptical Inquiry in 2006. This organization includes anyone who wants to help debunk the whole ever-expanding gamut of misleading, outlandish, and fraudulent claims made in the name of science.

I read The Skeptical Review(publication of CSICOP) for several years during the 90’s and I would write letters to these scientists about taking this project on and putting it to the test. Below are some of their responses (15 to 20 years old now):

1st Observation: Religious culture of USA could have influenced polygraph test results. ANTONY FLEW (formerly of Reading University in England, now deceased, in a letter to me dated 8-11-96) noted, “For all the evidence so far available seems to be of people from a culture in which people are either directly brought up to believe in the existence of God or at least are strongly even if only unconsciously influenced by those who do. Even if everyone from such a culture revealed unconscious belief, it would not really begin to show that — as Descartes maintained— the idea of God is so to speak the Creator’s trademark, stamped on human souls by their Creator at their creation.”

2nd Observation: Polygraph Machines do not work. JOHN R. COLE, anthropologist, editor, National Center for Science Education, Dr. WOLF RODER, professor of Geography, University of Cincinnati, Dr. SUSAN BLACKMORE,Dept of Psychology, University of the West of England, Dr. CHRISTOPHER C. FRENCH, Psychology Dept, Goldsmith’s College, University of London, Dr.WALTER F. ROWE, The George Washington University, Dept of Forensic Sciences, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

3rd Observation: The sample size probably was not large enough to apply statistical inference. (These gentlemen made the following assertion before I received the letter back from Claude Brown that revealed that the sample size was over 15,000.) JOHN GEOHEGAN, Chairman of New Mexicans for Science and Reason, Dr. WOLF RODER, and Dr WALTER F. ROWE (in a letter dated July 12, 1994) stated, “The polygraph operator for Brown Trucking Company has probably examined only a few hundred or a few thousand job applicants. I would surmise that only a very small number of these were actually atheists. It seems a statistically insignificant (and distinctly nonrandom) sampling of the 5 billion human beings currently inhabiting the earth. Dr. Nelson Price also seems to be impugning the integrity of anyone who claims to be an atheist in a rather underhanded fashion.”

4th Observation: The question (Do you believe in God?) was out of place and it surprised the applicants. THOMAS GILOVICH, psychologist, Cornell Univ., Dr. ZEN FAULKES, professor of Biology, University of Victoria (Canada), ROBERT CRAIG, Head of Indiana Skeptics Organization, Dr. WALTER ROWE,

5th Observation: Proof that everyone believes in God’s existence does not prove that God does in fact exist. PAUL QUINCEY, Nathional Physical Laboratory,(England), Dr. CLAUDIO BENSKI, Schneider Electric, CFEPP, (France),

6th Observation: Both the courts and Congress recognize that lie-detectors don’t work and that is why they were banned in 1988. (Governments and the military still use them.)

Dr WALTER ROWE, KATHLEEN M. DILLION, professor of Psychology, Western New England College.

7th Observation:This information concerning Claude Brown’s claim has been passed on to us via a tv preacher and eveybody knows that they are untrustworthy– look at their history. WOLF RODER.

______________

Solomon wisely noted in Ecclesiastes 3:11 “God has planted eternity in the heart of men…” (Living Bible). No wonder Bertrand Russell wrote in his autobiography, “It is odd, isn’t it? I feel passionately for this world and many things and people in it, and yet…what is it all? There must be something more important, one feels, though I don’t believe there is. I am haunted. Some ghosts, for some extra mundane regions, seem always trying to tell me something that I am to repeat to the world, but I cannot understand that message.”

Gene Emery, science writer for Providence Journal-Bulletin is a past winner of the CSICOP “Responsibility in Journalism Award” and he had the best suggestion of all when he suggested, “Actually, if you want to make a good case about whether Romans 1:19 is true, arrange to have a polygraph operator (preferably an atheist or agnostic) brought to the next CSICOP meeting. (I’m not a member of CSICOP, by the way, so I can’t give you an official invitation or anything.) If none of the folks at that meeting can convince the machine that they truly believe in God, maybe there is, in fact, an innate willingness to believe in God.”

https://thedailyhatch.org/2014/06/04/csicop-experts-commented-15-years-ago-on-a-lie-detectors-ability-to-detect-ones-repressed-belief-in-god/

Everette Hatcher III. I am a businessman in Little Rock

So They Say Where Do You Want to Go?

Blaise Pascal, who wrote, “There is a God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus.”

So lets start at a basic principle -

God is… REAL

How can we know God is real?

So They Say How Do You Prove What Doesn’t Exist?

How do you prove what doesn’t exist?

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE IS OFTEN quoted as saying, “There are no facts, only interpretations.” The German philosopher is of such intellectual stature that we have no option but to pay attention to what he has to say. He is asking us to accept as a “fact” that there are no facts. But wait a minute. Isn’t he expecting us to accept that very assertion as a fact? Or is he saying that it is simply a true statement? But isn’t a true statement a fact? For the life of me I can’t see how you can do away with facts and then make a factual statement about what doesn’t exist.

There are undoubtedly the philosophically minded who can point out the fallacy of my inability to see his point—and your comments are welcomed. But for the time being my problem with the non-existence of reality remains. There are very few, if any, who can argue persuasively for a form of metaphysical nihilism that denies its own existence.

The Judeo-Christian world-view begins with a God who created the universe as we know it. We accept its existence because we can touch it, taste it, smell it, weigh it, etc. We consider its existence a fact, and so also the One who created it. Granted, we can interpret that fact in various ways, but our interpretation doesn’t alter the reality of the fact.

“So what,” you may say. And I can see your point. Most of us just don’t live in the lofty world of philosophical musing. However, with the “loss of reality” goes the loss of responsibility (there is no one to be responsible to) and civil life as we know it disintegrates. The end of that road is raw savagery. To deny reality is to remove the basis for all moral codes.

Don’t let them tell you that morality is just a cultural construct - else why would mass shootings be evil?

1000 Fresh Illustrations Existence of God

EXISTENCE OF GOD

Evidences of the existence of a Creator still confound many scientists. “Neurotheology” is a new field of study that explores the biological basis for a person’s spirituality. A recent article in Newsweek posed the question, “Does our brain wiring create the idea of God, or did God create our brain wiring?”

—Newsweek, May 7, 2001, p. 57, submitted by Keeney Dickenson, http://www.freshministry.org/prayer

Romans 1:20 NIV “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Newsweek article in file link

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1901 Epigram on God (Existence Of)

1901 Epigram On God (Existence of)

• If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.

—Voltaire

• The world embarrasses me, and I cannot think that this watch exists and has no watchmaker.

—Voltaire

• A heathen philosopher once asked a Christian, “Where is God?” The Christian answered, “Let me first ask you. Where is he not?”

—Arrowsmith

• Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan: “I am convinced of God by the order out in space.”

• The stars in our sky are more numerous than all the souls which have departed this earth since the time of Adam, and their orbits and velocities through the heavens faithfully obey a great code of law. Earth’s scientists can quote and explain this code in great detail—until you ask, “Whence came these laws?”

—Saturday Evening Post

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1886 “No Good” Cry Old Stuff

A pastor entered a tavern where a man, wishing to embarrass him, rose and suddenly called out quite loudly, “Es gibt keinen Gott” (“There is no God”). The pastor went to him, calmly laid his hand on his shoulder, and said, “Friend, what you have said is not at all new. The Bible said that more than 2,000 years ago.” The man replied, “I never knew that the Bible made such a statement.” The pastor informed him, “Psalm 14, verse 1, tells us, “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.” But there is a great difference between that fool and you. He was quite modest and said it only in his heart; he didn’t go about yelling it out in taverns.”

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1889 It Takes No Brains

Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “It takes no brains to be an atheist. Any stupid person can deny the existence of a supernatural power because man’s physical senses cannot detect it. But there cannot be ignored the mystery of first life … or the marvelous order in which the universe moves about us. All of these evidence the handiwork of a beneficent Deity. For my part, that Deity is the God of the Bible and Christ, His Son.”

The following are five main logical arguments that give witness to the existence of God.

1. Cosmological evidence. This is based on the argument of cause and effect. For every effect there must be a traceable cause. The cause of infinity must be infinite. The cause of endless time must be eternal. The cause of power must be omnipotent. The cause of knowledge must be omniscient. The cause of personality must be personal.

Check out apologetics class notes (add to file link)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-LEHcdcU7W2ZDHzVAml0trp2FxaWGHb5/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=117345253653966038128&rtpof=true&sd=true

ppt from philosophy https://docs.google.com/document/d/1035Dyn8UkO-6r11NNh5oAe7CqiX_2WsL/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=117345253653966038128&rtpof=true&sd=true

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18sVR_yip6hHTuFmIzqL5Vwu-FdFSpqum/edit?usp=drivesdk&ouid=117345253653966038128&rtpof=true&sd=true

2. Teleological evidence. (teleos = "end" or "perfect result"). Something completed or perfected shows evidence of a maker. Design implies a designer. God is the supreme designer.

. (teleos = "end" or "perfect result"). Something completed or perfected shows evidence of a maker. Design implies a designer. God is the supreme designer.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 1890 Statistical Monstrosity

Said George Gallup, world-famed statistician, “I could prove God statistically! Take the human body alone. The chance that all the functions of the individual would just happen is a statistical monstrosity!”

3. The Anthropic Principle The earth has just the right conditions for human life.

For example,

• Distance from the sun

• Gravity and electromagnetism

4. Moral evidence. The very fact that we know there is right and wrong suggests the necessity of an absolute standard. If anything is right and anything is wrong, somewhere there is Someone who determines which is which.

Illustrations for Biblical Preaching God, Evidence of

God, Evidence of

The argument for Creationism from design and order is clear in the following lines, written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Aurora Leigh:

Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Keywords: Apologetics; Browning, Elizabeth Barrett; Creationism; God’s attributes, evidence for existence of

Just knowing God is real that God is… is a powerful moment

but as you proceed through Genesis and the rest of the Bible you find that the God who is… speaks

God is... Speaking

When you get through with all of the academic wrangling, intellectual philosophizing and apologetic defending it comes down to the element of faith.

The first issue to recognize is that God is - One who Speaks

For God to speak is for God to

engage in self-revelation we only know God because God has condescended to speak to us

“so one of the first things we say about God is that he is a speaking God we would not know him except that he speaks to us” Alex MacFarland

you know the question that always exists in people's mind is simply this what is

God like and are there many gods or is there one God9:57

of course left on our own all of these are Mysteries what you have at Sinai is very10:02

remarkable you find for example that the people were to stand back God said stand back10:08

no animal was even to touch the mountain if an animal touched the mountain it was10:14

to be put to death but not directly with the human hand it was to be shot with an arrow because God says I'm coming stand10:19

back get out of the way what God was revealing there was his10:28

holiness so when we think of the Ten Commandments they were not simply given for a certain10:34

point in time they really are let me use the word Omni temporal by that I mean10:41

they exist as the basic law of God throughout all eras and God is really10:46

saying in the Ten Commandments this is what I'm like and so there's no other words like him10:53

in all of scripture Jesus speaks in the New Testament God but in nowhere else does God Thunder10:58

words to the entire Congregation of the people of God these obviously are of11:07

fundamental importance to God's covenant with these people God speaks in an audible voice to the11:14

people but then he writes it down in the Ten Commandments in written form It Was11:20

Written the first time by the very Finger of God God himself did the11:26

writing that's hammering home the fact that this original writing was the very11:31

word of God and had the authority of the same God who spoke in a thunder and fire11:38

in Mount Sinai but that written form of the Ten Commandments was the first piece11:44

of what we call Canon that is it's the body of things that God set aside of his11:51

own word for impermanent form there are some things that God said that he said11:58

to particular people and they weren't recorded uh in written form for posterity that's12:04

okay there are many things for instance in Jesus Earthly life that he taught not all of those have been written down it12:11

would be overwhelming if we had all of those but God purposed that there would12:17

be a selection of those things that would be there in permanent form12:22

if God wrote a book would it be a history book the Transcendent being interacting with12:28

creatures who are separated by sin distanced by unbelief12:34

what do you write about these people Woody Paint Grand pictures12:40

would he hide the embarrassing details his Human Experience Beyond him12:48

it's been said that the Bible is not a book that man would write if he could12:57

write or could write if he would write every now and then I'll be in a debate13:02 Erwin Lutzer

he New Testament needed to be written

because the Old Testament hadn't completed the story that the timeline and the Ark of God's30:18

Redemptive purposes reached a point where everybody if you like was standing30:25

on their tiptoes to see how the thing would finish and so in the way that the writer to the Hebrew says that God you30:31

know has spoken in the past in various ways and by different prophets and so on it anticipates the fact that that that30:38

story will then come to completion and it's the New Testament that does that for us in the Old Testament Jesus is30:45

anticipated and in the gospels Jesus is30:53

revealed in the acts he's preached in the Epistles he's explained so in other30:58

words everything is just pointing forward to that great fulfillment which comes in Jesus31:04 Alistair Begg

God tells man he may boast in one thing. What is it?

Jeremiah 9:23-24 - tells us that there is only one thing mankind should boast in. We should not boast in our wealth, wisdom, or might. God says, “Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.”

+God reveals Himself

Revelation implies that it is not discovered – but self-uncovered.

Types of Revelation:

Progressive Revelation

General

Special

Christ Himself as the Revelation

“I am the Truth.”

Revelation – God’s part (The Holy Spirit manages the revlation)

Faith – our part

The Name of God

“He will be what He will be.”

God is.

God is Holy.

Holiness is not simply a category of morality because if God is alone existing pre-creation there is no standard of morality. Morality comes along when we observe how God is and how He demands we be. God does not act in a moral way morals are dependent on the way God acts.

Holiness does not just mean separate from sin as there was no sin before creation or the fall - It is not that He was not Holy then you say he became holy, but He has always been holy. But being separate from sin does not define who God is.

Two types of God being Holy

Foundational - God is self-giving (The beginning stage of what the nature of Who God Is) Why there is a Trinity it is His nature to give Himself away. Self-giving is not the only part of God’s holiness but the foundation of it.

His nature

-Love (Agape) as central to the understanding of God.

ST604 Christ Revelation God Humanity WBS

The self-revelation of God is seen through the words and works of The Only begotten Son - Jesus Christ

The Word of Life: Systematic Theology, Volume Two The Study Occurs in Relation to a Worshiping Community

The New Testament itself frequently disavows that it contains an entirely new idea or understanding of God, for the one known in Jesus was already revealed in history before Jesus and in the Law and Prophets (Heb. 1:1–5). Yet in Jesus the reality of God is brought home and relationally received in an unparalleled way. The same God of Israel is experienced in an incomparably personal way through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Hebrews 1:2-3 “2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”

The idea of “express image” has

1. Hebrews 1:2-3: God "hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son .... who is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of his person."

The implications of this passage is that we now have God’s full and final revelation in and through His Son. This is no further or fuller revelation than this. After this comes God's judgment.

How does God’s revelation of Himself through His Son differ from the revelation given previously through the prophets? He reveals Himself through His Son Jesus (in one way and at one time)

What is meant by Christ being “the radiance” of God’s glory? (Heb 1:3) The brightness that shines out from a source of light - When we behold the Son, we see a manifestation of the glory of God

How is Christ the “exact representation” of God’s nature? (Heb 1:3) He bears the very stamp of His nature

What is the significance of Christ sitting down at the right hand of the Father? (Heb 1:4) Signifies the completion of the work of purification, conveying the idea of rest after the fulfillment of a mission.

BROWN BIST432 Hebrews GBS

Nature - hypostasis - substance - essence - n - “That which something really and truly is; whatever that (logically prior) quality, aspect, or reality is that makes things what they are” Bible Sense Lexicon

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains 58.1 ὑπόστασις, εως

58.1 ὑπόστασιςa, εως f: the essential or basic nature of an entity—‘substance, nature, essence, real being.’ ὃς ὢν … χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ ‘who is … the exact representation of his real being’ or ‘… nature’ He 1:3. In some languages there is no ready lexical equivalent of ‘real being’ or ‘nature.’ Therefore, one may express this concept in He 1:3 as ‘who is … just like what he really is.’

We see a couple of things about Jesus and the revelation aspect of what God is doing.

The nature of God or at least part of it his nature or desire is to reveal Himself to us. Why does God reveal Himself? Because it is His nature. If God did not reveal Himself that would have spoken volumes about His nature as well. God is content maybe more than that GOd’s desire is to reveal Himself to us - this is a very intimate act from a mostly understood as a not intimate being.

There was no necessity of God’s revelation - but in keeping with His nature, he shared himself with humanity.

God not only revealed Himself in Creation but He also revealed himself in Christ.

God’s form of self revelation his varied method of revealing himself has changed.

Spoken to us by HIs Son does not mean he can’t speak in any other way, but this is God’s final word so to speak.

Some details 3

Heir of all things

Made the universe through HIm

The mediator of GOd’s action becomes the inheritor of GOd’s treasure

He is the radiance of GOd’s glory the exact expression of His NATURE (hypostasis)”

Refered to as the Son - Makeing a point Hebrews was written to Christians who may have been going through persecution and going back on their beliefs. The author is making a distinction that Jesus is God’s Son

The expression

χαρακτήρ Character - He is the exact character

I.the instrument used for engraving or carving

II.the mark stamped upon that instrument or wrought out on it

A. a mark or figure burned in (Lev. 13:28) or stamped on, an impression

B the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect, i.e facsimile

When the Son comes you will see the unseeable God.

Character means the internal who you are, but can also mean like a symbol or mark is referred to as a character. The character is the physical manifestation of that letter, It is used to represent the sound.

Theological question by Dr. Lohrstorfer - “Does an apple tree bear apples because its an apple tree, or because it bares apples?” Its a question about nature - it bears apples because its an apple tree.

Self-givingness of God is at the the core of who God is. And comes before we can see any of God’s attributes. His attributes are steming form his self giving.

Dr. Lohrstorffer ST604 Christ Revelation God Humanity WBS

2. Matthew 11:27: "neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

3. Colossians 1:15: Christ "is the image of the invisible God."

He is the image of the invisible God, the

firstborn over all creation.

“image” similar to “expression”

εἰκών eikṓn, i-kone';

a likeness, i.e. (literally) statue, profile, or (figuratively) representation,

resemblance:—image.

God is unseeable, unpercievable, He is immeasurable, he does not have form, except the Son is the physical manifestation of God.

You can’t have an image of something that is invisible -

Firsborn over all creation - notice it doesn’t use the term “of” its “over” it is a legal term meaning he is the inheritor of all creation. Its a concept of priority.

What do these two texts say about Jesus as the revelation of God?

dr. lohrstorfer ST604 Christ Revelation God Humanity WBS

I believe that Jesus is the physical and perfect expression of the self-giving nature of who God is. (This was my attempt at answering the question)

4. John 1:18: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared (exegeted)Explain him."

5. John 14:9: "He that hath seen me [Jesus] hath seen the Father."

Jesus is the full and final revelation of God in His matchless person and speaks the full and final revelation of God in His mighty proclamations. Jesus is the apex of the revelation of God. Everything before Jesus is preparatory; everything after Jesus is explanatory. Jesus is the only person who perfectly mirrored in His life what He spoke.

Jesus’s Special Relation to God

Jesus bore a relationship to God that can be described only as equality. This is the way in which the early church later expressed it (Phil. 2:5–11), and believers felt no embarrassment in calling Jesus both Lord (Rom. 10:9; 1 Cor. 12:3; Phil. 2:11) and God (John 1:1; Rom. 9:5; Titus 2:13). Anything that could be said about God, they also said about Jesus.

Both God and Christ are glorious (Rom. 5:2; 1 Pet. 4:13); the Spirit is from God and Christ (Rom. 8:9; Phil. 1:19); divine power is from God and Christ, and Christ is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:24; 2 Cor. 6:7; 12:9); grace comes from God and Christ (Gal. 1:6; Col. 1:2); peace comes from God and Christ (Eph. 2:14; Phil. 1:2); God and Christ forgive our sins (Col. 1:13; 2:13); God and Christ love us (Rom. 5:8; Gal. 2:20); God and Christ sanctify us (Acts 20:32; 1 Cor. 1:2). We are to live by the will of God and Christ (Eph. 1:11; 5:17); we are to obey God and Christ (Acts 5:29; 2 Cor. 10:5); we are to glory in God and Christ (Rom. 15:17; Phil. 2:11); we are to live in the presence of God and Christ (Acts 10:33; 2 Tim. 4:1); and we will ultimately appear before the judgment seat of God and Christ (Rom. 14:10–12; 2 Cor. 5:10).

Many other things are expressed in exactly the same fashion because Jesus presented himself while he was on earth as uniquely one with God. The early believers were not simply making all this up out of their own heads or imaginative experience. They had the remembrance of Jesus to base it on and were reflecting only what they remembered of him.

Walter A. Elwell; Robert W. Yarbrough. Encountering the New Testament (Encountering Biblical Studies): A Historical and Theological Survey (Kindle Locations 12207-12218). Baker Books. Kindle Edition.

The belief in God ultimately rests however, upon the foundation of FAITH, which is based upon the historical fact of the resurrection.

A. Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

Among other things, this verse tells us two important facts about God:

1) God exists

2) it is possible to know something of His nature.

Knowing God without knowing our wretchedness leads to pride.

Knowing our wretchedness without knowing God leads to despair.

Knowing Christ gives the balance.

—Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal

B. Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God ...."

The Bible offers no proof of God's existence. It simply opens with the positive statement that God does exist.

C. Psalm 14:1: "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

This is God's opinion of a person who denies His existence. One may deny His existence in two ways:

1) an open avowal of disbelief in His existence (atheism), or

2) by ignoring His claims upon your life and living as though He did not exist.

D. The belief in God ultimately rests upon the foundation of FAITH, which is based upon the historical fact of the resurrection.

God is… REAL

Self-Existing - Aseity - Check link for notes

Notes from Geisler’s Theology are really Good

Self-Disclosing - Revelation

Self-Giving - Love

Our Calvinist friends put the starting place of God’s attributes and character at Sovereignty.

Explain sovereignty

Many Wesleyan/ Arminians (Dr. Alan Coppedge) Great book great idea - begin at God’s Holiness

I would submit to you that over all of God’s attributes and Characteristics is that of self-giving love.

The Love of God is seen

The relationship of the God-head

The relationship of God & Children of Israel

The Relationship of God and Sinners

The Relationship of God and Saints

What can separate us from the Love of God

The Fatherhood of God.

GOd is…Love

For the first 300 years of the Church God as loving Father was the predominant understanding of Christian deity. (Dennis Kinlaw)

“God is a simple word. Nothing necessarily flashy or sophisticated, or complicated. Just good. Simply good. It comes from a transcendent Source, is never comfortable keeping it’s goodness to itself, and loves others to feel it’s effect.”

So They Say The Art of Kissing

After a lifetime of serious theological thought, Karl Barth told us that the essence of biblical revelation was, “Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so.” KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) is still the motto of those not ashamed to summarize their better thoughts in language that conveys

Worthy of Worship - look at other notes on this as well. (And will be worshipped)

Knowable - but not imaginable (Look at J. I Packer Knowing God - Tozer on idolatry, etc)

Real but not fully realized

Personable but not

And we must be accepted of Him (This is the core essence of holy living) 2 Cor 5:9 “9 Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.”

Foundational Facts for Theological Study.

We believe in God. This is in distinction from atheists who do not believe in God, and agnostics who do not know whether there is a God.

2. We believe in a personal God. This contrasts with pantheists who believe that the universe is God, and with any type of belief, which is really pantheistic also, which believes in some great imper-

3. We believe in a perfect God. This is shown by His attributes, such as power, wisdom, knowledge, holiness etc.

4. We believe in a God who has revealed Himself. That revelation has taken place in certain specific ways. His revelation may be seen in the universe which He created, and in His dealings through history, particularly through the Hebrew people, through whom He sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and by whom he gave to us a written revelation we call the Bible

5. We believe in a God who loves men and has made full provision for their redemption from all sin, through the death of Jesus Christ. 6. We believe in a God who exists in a trinity of persons.

7. We believe that God's provision for salvation includes pardon of sins and the cleansing of the heart from sin, by an experience of entire sanctification, subsequent to the initial pardon of sins.

8. We believe that any true system of theology must be built upon the Bible which is the inspired and inerrant Word of God.

PROFILES IN WESLEYAN THEOLOGY Volume III Practical Studies in Systematic Theology Leslie D. Wilcox

2 Timothy 1:12 KJV 1900

12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers and Writers 365: Knowing God

In The Cure for a Troubled Heart author and pastor Ron Mehl writes:

I heard once about a dear, saintly old woman who was gradually losing her memory. Details began to blur.… Throughout her life, however, this woman had cherished and depended on the Word of God, committing to memory many verses from her worn King James Bible.

Her favorite verse had always been 2-Timothy 1:12: “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”

She was finally confined to bed in a nursing home, and her family knew she would never leave alive. As they visited with her, she would still quote verses of Scripture on occasion—especially 2-Timothy 1:12. But with the passing of time, even parts of this well-loved verse began to slip away.

“I know whom I have believed,” she would say. “He is able to keep … what I have committed … to him.”

Her voice grew weaker. And the verse became even shorter. “What I have committed … to him.”

As she was dying, her voice became so faint family members had to bend over to listen to the few whispered words on her lips. And at the end, there was only one word of her life verse left.

“Him.”

She whispered it again and again as she stood on the threshold of heaven. “Him … Him … Him.”

It was all that was left. It was all that was needed.

Free Will Baptist Doctrines Background

Perhaps one of the most sublime portions of Scripture regarding the revelation of God is the nineteenth psalm. In this psalm it is shown that God is revealed in nature, in the Scriptures, and in the righteous life. These three witnesses are proof enough to the open mind that there is a God.

Although the atheist may try to give a rational explanation of nature and deny the Bible, he is faced with a difficult problem when he is called upon to explain the change in an individual whose life is transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ. As someone has said, “The Christian is the only Bible some people read.”

Because God is “past finding out,” there have been many attempts to explain Him. The attributes which have been used to describe God are men’s feeble efforts to explain that which is unexplainable. To know God, however, is to become acquainted with His Son, Jesus Christ. “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father,” said Jesus (John 14:9). And the writer of Hebrews concurs, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past … Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son …” (Hebrews 1:1, 2a).

The EXISTENCE OF God

1 J. D. O’Donnell, Free Will Baptist Doctrines (Nashville, TN: Randall House Publications, 2004), 15–16.

THE GOD I LIKE

I do not like a God who struts about,

A tyrant who must storm and fuss,

A glowering king whose arms are always full

Of thunderbolts to throw at us!

The kind of God I favor most is like

A Carpenter of ancient days,

Who spoke the language of the common folk

He met along Judean ways.

He talked of lilies in their bright array,

He spoke of ravens being fed.

"Have falth," He said to anxious men, "you, too,

Shall all be dressed and given bread."

He cared, this God, if on the lonely road

A traveler lay wounded sore.

And when He met a woman steeped in shame

He said to her, "Go, sin no more."

He couldn't pass the toilers by-the ones |

Who worked until the sun was in the west.

He reached His holy hand to them and said:

"Come, weary souls, to me, and rest!"

I like a God like that! He is so real!

Unlike the gods high-born and grim!

And as we walk the common road of life

The heart of me bows down to Him. (Forgot Author but have book at home I think something like Ron Ludow

Romans 1:20 KJV 1900

20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

How We Learn About God.

There are two methods of revelation by which we can learn about God:

1) natural revelation and 2) supernatural revelation.

A. Natural Revelation (through creation and conscience)

1. Psalm 19:1: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork."

2. Acts 14:17: "Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

3. Romans 1:20: "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."

4. Romans 2:14-15: "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another, In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."

5. Acts 10:34-35: "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

From these verses we conclude:

1). Atheism and agnosticism are not natural responses; they are learned,

2). All people can know at least five things about God:

a) there is a God (Rom. 1:20)

b) He is powerful (Rom. 1:20)

c) He is glorious (Psa. 19:1)

d) He provides material blessings (Acts 14:17)

e) He is eternal (Rom. 1:20)

This information is "light" (Eph. 5:13). When men fail to walk in the light, they are "without excuse" before God (Romans 1:20). Some suggest that the phrase, "or else excusing one another" in Romans 2:15, teaches that if the witness of conscience is followed it may lead to acquittal at the final judgment.

Is natural revelation sufficient to save a person? Those who say "No" usually cite Acts 4:12, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." John 14:6 is also cited: "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." They argue that if a person walks in all the light he has, God will see to it that he receives the truth necessary to be saved. An example of this is the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:26-39.

Those who say "Yes," argue that it is the Name, the personal reality of God known in personal relationship, that saves, not knowledge about the historical Jesus. They cite Abraham as an example of one who rejoiced to see the day of Christ and was glad (John 8:56). How did Abraham see the day of Jesus Christ? Jesus tells us that "before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). They argue, "Could not the pre-existent one who made Himself known to Abraham, also make Himself known to people before Abraham and to those today who never heard of Abraham, much less Jesus? And cannot the post-existent Jesus make himself known also to those who do not know about the historical Jesus?" They further point out that, according to John, those who perish are those who are confronted by the Light of the world shining through Jesus and who reject this light, not those who have only the starlight of general revelation. John 3:19 says, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Again, John 9:41 says, "Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth." They argue that guilt before God is gauged by the light people have, and those who follow the light they have will surely be accepted by God (Moody, The Word of Truth, pp. 60-62).

John Fletcher (a friend of John Wesley and his designated successor), arguing from Peter's statement in Acts 10:35, "in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him," teaches that those who have not heard of Christ, but fears God and works righteousness, according to the light he has, is accepted by God. (The Works of John Fletcher, I, 39).

To the objections that "a heathen may be saved without a Savior" and "fearing God and working righteousness will not substitute for the blood and righteousness of Christ," Fletcher responds, in defense of Wesley's position, that when a heathen is accepted, "it is merely through the merits of Christ; although it is in consequence of his fearing God and working righteousness."

Fletcher rejects the doctrine that "consigns all the heathen by millions to hell torments because they cannot explicitly believe in a Savior whose name they never heard." He argues, "Is it not possible that heathens should, by grace, reap some blessings through the second Adam, though they know nothing of his name and obedience unto death; when they, by nature, reap so many curses through Adam the first; to whose name and disobedience they are equally strangers?" (p. 40). It is not through their sincerity that they are accepted; it is through their obedience to whatever light God has given them that they are accepted. And that light is from Jesus who is "the Light of the world."

For example, Fletcher argues that Cornelius was already accepted by God due to the light of his dispensation. He explains the phrase that Peter was to "tell him words whereby he should be saved," as meaning, "saved from the weakness, darkness, bondage, and tormenting fears attending his present state, into that blessed state of light, comfort, liberty, power, and glorious joy" (p. 41). Then Fletcher quotes Matthew Henry, a five-point Calvinist, "God never did, nor ever will reject an honest Gentile who fears God, and worships him, and works righteousness; that is, He is just and charitable toward all men, who lives up to the light he has, in a sincere devotion and regular conversation. Wherever God finds an upright man, he will be found an upright God (Psalm 18:25). And those that have not the knowledge of Christ, and therefore cannot have an explicit regard to him, may yet receive grace for his sake, 'to fear God and work righteousness;' and wherever God gives grace to do so, as he did to Cornelius, he will, through Christ, accept the work of his own hands" (p. 42).

To answer the charge that this is "salvation by works," Fletcher and Wesley maintain that it is salvation, not by the merits of works, but works as a condition." (p. 43).

Taking all the Scriptural data into consideration, what do you think?

B. Supernatural Revelation (Holy Scripture)

Scripture is God's self-disclosure. He wants man to know what He is like. We learn about Him through His mighty acts in history, His relationships with mankind, and through His promises and commands.

God's self-disclosure is climaxed in the words and works of His Son, Jesus Christ.

1. Hebrews 1:2-3: God "hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son .... who is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of his person."

The implications of this passage is that we now have God’s full and final revelation in and through His Son. This is no further or fuller revelation than this. After this comes God's judgment.

2. Matthew 11:27: "neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

3. Colossians 1:15: Christ "is the image of the invisible God."

4. John 1:18: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared (exegeted)Explain him."

5. John 14:9: "He that hath seen me [Jesus] hath seen the Father."

Our knowledge of all things preparatory to Jesus, our knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus, and our knowledge of the explanatory teachings given by the Holy Spirit after the ascension of Jesus is confined to the revelation given by Holy Scripture. And as we analyze the teaching of Holy Scripture, we can say that Holy Scripture is designed to do at least four things: 1) lead us to a knowledge of God, 2) give us a guide to live by, 3) protect us and 4) provide for us.

Focus Questions:

1. What are the two basic means of revelation through which we can learn about God? Natural and supernatural

2. What reference teaches that the heavens reveal the glory of god and demonstrate His handiwork? Psalm 19:1

3. What reference teaches that the material creation, including the rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, is a witness of the existence of God? Acts 14:17

4. What reference teaches that nature clearly reveals God’s eternal power and Godhead? Romans 1:20

5. What reference teaches that all people have some knowledge of God’s law through their conscience? Romans 2:14-15

6. What reference teaches that people in any nation who fear God and work righteousness is accepted with Him? Acts 10:34-35

7. What two references are frequently used to teach that without the knowledge of Jesus Christ a person cannot be saved? Acts 4:12 John 14:6

8. Through what means of revelation have we received the climax of God’s self-disclosure? Hebrews 1:2-3

9. Give the reference wherein Jesus says that no one can really know the Father in the fullest sense of the term unless the Son reveals him. Matthew 11:27

10. What passage teaches that Jesus is the “express image” of God’s Person? Hebrews 1:2-3

11. What passage teaches that Jesus is the “image of the invisible God”? Col 1:15

12. What passage teaches that Jesus is the exegesis (explanation) of the Father? John 1:18

13. In what passage did Jesus say that if you have seen the Son, you have also seen the Father? John 14:9

14. List the four things that God’s commands in Scripture are designed to do. 1) lead us to a knowledge of God, 2) give us a guide to live by, 3) protect us and 4) provide for us

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Old Testament Usage

Isaiah 65:16 contains a unique usage of the term “amen” as an appellation of God. In this verse, the “God of Amen” declares a blessing before declaring that He will create a new heavens and a new earth. Alternative translations for the phrase “God of Amen” include “the true God” (NJPS), “the God of truth” (KJV, NASB, NIV, ESV), and “faithful God” (NET). Because God is completely trustworthy, His name assures the accomplishment of His word (Smith, Isaiah, 714; Paul, Isaiah, 602)

THE ATONEMENT

In the previous chapter we anticipated the topic under discussion here. We saw that man the sinner is the object of God's grace in Christ. Because God made man for himself and loves him, He cannot leave man in his sin and despair. How God works to bring man out of his predicament is known theologically as the doctrine of the Atonement.

There have been a number of theories of the Atonement advanced during the history of Christian thought, some of which stand nearer to the heart of the New Testament message than others. The New Testament itself offers several suggestive images of the work of Christ, none of which was developed into a full-orbed theory by the biblical writers. Theologians have picked up on some of these images and used them to work out particular understandings of the Atonement. Theologians today generally recognize that, while most of these theories reflect a basic truth, no one by itself provides us with the final answer to the question of how the death of Christ effected a reconciliation between man and God.

Each of these theories is a theological construction that expresses a particular understanding of the nature of God, the nature of sin, and the nature of the divine-human relation and is also informed by a particular cultural experience.

Using these reference points, we will do a cursory survey of the classical Atonement theories and point out the Wesleyan position on the points mentioned above so as to be able to suggest a view consistent with Wesleyan theology.

Classical Views

The Ransom Theory. This interpretation builds upon the words of Jesus in Matt. 20:28: "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." It elaborates this metaphor into a fully articulated picture of the human predicament and the divine solution. Man, in Adam, has sold himself into slavery to the devil. Being unable to redeem (buy back) himself, there must be someone able and willing to pay a ransom price demanded by the captor. God entered into an agreement with the devil and gives His Son as the ransom in His death to set man free. The catch is that while man was liberated from his bondage, Satan also lost his prize, since God raised Jesus from the dead and reclaimed Him from the enemy's clutches. It is easy enough to see that here sin is viewed as slavery and God as the Deliverer who in love pays the price to set men free. Such a construction spoke meaningfully to persons in an ethos that fostered a sense of human helplessness.

Gustav Aulen, a Swedish bishop, has attempted to reinstate a modern version of this theory, free of the curious twists given to it by some of the early fathers, referring to it as the "classical view" of the Atonement, since it was the prevalent understanding of Christ's work for the first 1,000 years of Christian history. He has referred to it by the term Christus Victor (Christ the Victor) to highlight the triumph of Jesus over the enemy to set men free. Thus the Atonement provides the way of ransoming man from the bondage of sin in which he is enmeshed.

The Satisfaction Theory. This view, advocated by Anselm (1033-1109), replaced the ransom theory as the dominant one in the Western church. It arose in the context of feudal society, and its basic categories are shaped by that cultural milieu. God is conceived as a feudal lord, and man is the serf whose responsibility is to render the Lord his appropriate respect. Sin is an outrage to the honor of God that must be satisfied before the serf can be restored to divine favor. Since humankind is finite in nature and incapable of rendering the proper satisfaction, God sent His Son to become the God-man (Anselm's central work was titled Cur Deus Homo [Why the God-man]) in order to render satisfaction to God. The cultural conditioning of this view is more obvious than in most others.

The Penal Satisfaction Theory. Building upon the new interest in law arising out of the Renaissance, John Calvin developed a different form of the satisfaction theory. God was conceived as the Sovereign Lawgiver and sin as the violation of the lab: Since any violation of law must be punished, and satisfaction rendered to the divine justice before forgiveness and restoration, the death of Jesus (as a man) was His bearing the punishment justly due to man the sinner. This rational balancing of justice and mercy made the divine-human relation a legal transaction and subject to the demands of impersonal justice. The logical consequence of it was that if a substitute was punished for the violation of the law, the actual lawbreaker could go free and did not need to face the consequence of his sin. The law was satisfied, but the sinner remained a sinner. Furthermore, if the law was satisfied by Christ's death, those for whom He died (was punished) were thereby saved, since the law was satisfied and there was no need for further punishment. Either Jesus died for all men, resulting in universalism, or for only some, resulting in particular election. Calvin chose the latter option, since it was obvious that all men were not saved.

The Moral Influence Theory. The name of Abelard is traditionally associated with this view, which is a reaction against the impersonal character and legalism of the satisfaction theories. Its emphasis is upon the love of God, and it views the divine-human relation in personal terms. The death of Christ serves as an example of God's love, which offers free and full forgiveness. Its greatest weakness consists in its failure to take with full seriousness the binding power of sin.

Wesleyan Presuppositions

In brief, the Wesleyan view of God emphasizes His nature as holy love. As Wesley says in his note on 1 John 4:8 "God is often styled holy, righteous, wise; but not holiness, righteousness, or wisdom in the abstract, as He is said to be love: intimating that this is His darling, His reigning attribute, the attribute that sheds an amiable glory on all His other perfections." This understanding precludes the possibility of a limited Atonement such as the penal satisfaction theory entails. Since love is an expression of God's nature, it is universal in its scope, resulting in a view of universal Atonement. It is not that all men will be saved, but that all men may be saved since Jesus died for all.

Sin, in the Wesleyan context, is seen as personal in nature rather than legal. While it may entail the disobedience of laws, the root of such disobedience is a rebellious spirit that erects a barrier to fellowship with God. Although God's universal love reaches out to all men, His holiness cannot establish fellowship in the situation of sin. Hence the death of Christ is directed toward the removal of the sin that stands as a barrier to reconciliation. In fact, the fundamental meaning of the term translated as atonement is reconciliation.

In the light of this, Wesleyan theology is committed to the belief that the Atonement provides for a full remedy of the sin problem:

My sin -- oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!--

My sin -- not in part, but the whole--

Is nailed to His cross and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

-- Horatio G. Spafford

It includes both the forgiveness of transgressions and the cleansing of the principle of sin (the self-centeredness that lies behind all overt disobedience and remains as a "broken power" even in those who are regenerate). This means that for Wesleyan theology, the Atonement includes both reconciliation (or justification) and sanctification.

How does the work of Christ effect these results? Wesley's best answer is in terms of the threefold office of Christ, as Prophet, Priest, and King. In this way the narrow focus of the classical theories upon the death of Christ so as not to take into account the whole Christ-event is avoided. In his note on Phil. 3:8, Wesley describes Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King "as teaching me wisdom, atoning for my sins, and reigning in my heart. To refer this to justification only is miserably to

pervert the whole scope of the words. They manifestly relate to sanctification also; yea, to that chiefly."

As Prophet, Christ is the Revealer of the nature of God. His ministry, which freely offered forgiveness and healing to those who were needy and acknowledged it, witnessed to the love of God, which reached out to the lost, the last, and the least (see Luke 15). At the same time He was the Revelation of human nature as God intended it should be in His creative purpose. In this sense Jesus is the ideal man, the perfect reflection of the image of God in human existence. Since the purpose of the law is also to call man to full humanness, Jesus is the Fulfillment (end) of the law and embodies it perfectly.

As Priest, Jesus is the Mediator between God and man. Only the Book of Hebrews develops the priestly office explicitly, but many of its essential functions are found elsewhere. As a go-between or bridge builder, the priest must have a relation to both parties whom he is bringing together. Hence Hebrews in particular lays especially stress upon both His full deity (1:3-14) and His full humanity (5:1-8).

In order to carry out His priestly function, Jesus completely identified himself with humanity. The Incarnation was the crucial moment in this identification, but at every stage in His life He implements a specific facet of His union with man's predicament: His baptism, His temptation, His suffering, but particularly in His death. Since death is the indisputable evidence of human fallenness (Romans 5) and the most poignant symbol of separation from God, Jesus' dying on the Cross was His existential experience of sin's most empirical devastation wrought upon the human spirit. Thus the cry of dereliction from the Cross was the expression of His total involvement in man's sinfulness. It is contrary to the central claims of the New Testament to say that God had actually abandoned His Son at this point; but like the Psalmist, quoted by Jesus, the depths of His condition resulted in a sense of desolation. But if "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself" (2 Cor. 5:19), we have to say that at no point was the Father closer to the Son than at this moment.

In His priestly function of offering himself as a sacrifice for sins (a distinctly priestly activity) Jesus was dying for us. The for here means "on behalf of" not "instead of."1 It is thus an expression of love, not a satisfaction of abstract justice.

Not understanding the meaning of sacrifice in biblical theology, we have often inferred that the death of Christ was necessary to change God's attitude toward sinners, to placate His anger with us. This presupposes that the motive of the Atonement was wrath, not love.

Sometimes our preaching leaves the wrong impression. A little girl returned from church, declaring, "I love Jesus, but I hate God!" Pressed by her mother, she explained, "God was mad at us; but Jesus loved us and died for us. Now God isn't mad at us anymore. I love Jesus, but I hate God!" Our so-called orthodox teaching does sometimes seemingly give this impression -- that it took the death of Jesus to change God from a wrathful to a loving Being.

What does the Bible teach about this? Both the Old and New Testaments make one point absolutely clear: Atonement is the act of God the Father The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament were not offered to placate a vengeful Deity. No, God himself instituted the sacrificial system. Listen to the law: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls" (Lev. 17:11, RSV, italics added). It is God, the injured party, who makes atonement for man, the sinner. He provides the sacrifice -- to show the seriousness and deadliness of sin and to cleanse the sinner's conscience of the stain of guilt as he receives God's promise of pardon.

God's initiative and action in atonement is the presupposition of every New Testament text on the subject. Paul writes of "Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood" (Rom. 3:24-25). Again he says, "All things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 5:18; emphases added). He puts the matter beyond all doubt when he says in verse 19: "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." And John further declares, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10).

"God is love -- why atone?" the critic asks. "God has atoned-what love!" the Bible responds. The suffering God himself assumed our place because of our sin; this is the New Testament note.

The satisfaction theories of the Atonement fall short of the basic New Testament truth at this very point. The way they explain the work of Christ, it ends up by being the work of man: Christ as man offers satisfaction to God. If we remain true to the central thrust of biblical faith, we must avoid the suggestion that Jesus' death thus placates the Father God.

As King, Christ desires to reign in our hearts, in the present age and not simply in the age to come, as Sovereign. In this function, He furthermore represented us at the Cross by entering into mortal combat with demonic powers and overcame them, leading them in a parade of disgrace for all to behold their humiliation (Col. 2:15). With their defeat, their hold on humanity was broken, and men were potentially set free. It is to this aspect of the work of the Atonement that Gustav Aulen's Christus Victor motif speaks with telling force.

What Is Atonement?

The Atonement is the act of God in Christ that breaks down all the barriers our rebellion and sin have erected between the Father and ourselves. Sin has stabbed the heart of God with holy grief, because it has separated us from His

loving fellowship. Not only has sin separated us from God, but also it has defiled our human nature and existence.

The Atonement means that as the offended party, the Father has taken our sin and guilt into His own heart by becoming our Reconciler in Christ, just as a spouse who has been sinned against and deeply hurt by a faithless companion assumes the shame and hurt of the other's sin by saying, "I love you and forgive you; and I am willing to help you find yourself again. Let us be reconciled."

This analogy probably comes as close as an illustration from human experience can to touching the heart of what the Atonement is. Although God has been sinned against, He bears that sin in His own heart. Forgiveness is not a flippant matter. The poet who said when dying, "Of course God will forgive me; that's His business!" never knew the deep pain that accompanies forgiving a loved one whose sin has wounded one's heart. God, who loves perfectly, suffers most deeply by forgiving His rebel creature. A cross has been in the heart of God from all eternity. The crucifixion of Christ was the historical moment of God's eternal sin-bearing.

A dramatic painting hangs in the Louvre. As one comes upon it, it seems to be a mere blending of shadows and darkness. Nothing seems to break the unrelieved darkness. As the observer draws closer, he sees vaguely the outline of a Cross hidden behind the veil of shadows. Then, as one looks longer, he becomes strangely aware that behind the Cross are the dim outlines of a Figure with hands outstretched, holding the Cross; and the agony on the Face behind the Cross is more terrible than the agony on the face of Him pinioned on the tree. The Cross reveals the heart of God. It does not change God, it discloses what He has been from "before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:3-7). The Cross that was erected on Calvary has been from eternity in the heart of God.

God the Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, has assumed our sin and guilt. The Father is in the Son, as the Son is in the Father. Therefore, when we read that God made Christ an atoning Sacrifice for the sins of the world, we understand that if possible, He suffered an even greater agony and loss than Jesus dying upon the Cross. Think of what agony Abraham would have suffered had God not stayed His hand on Mount Moriah, as he was about to sacrifice his only son Isaac! What God would not permit Abraham to do, He himself has done -- for us! He offered up His own Son to die in our behalf -- and it broke His heart!

How Do We Receive Atonement?

We "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ," Paul writes, "by whom we have now received the atonement" (Rom. 5:11). The Atonement is God's act in Christ on our behalf. How do we receive the benefits it makes available?

The gospel answer is so simple many are offended: Believe! To be saved, believe with Paul: "The Son of God. . . loved me, and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20).

"Who is this 'me'?" Luther asks. "I, wretched and damnable sinner, dearly beloved of the Son of God." If I could be saved by any other means, the Son of God would not have died. "Read the words 'me' and 'for me' with great emphasis/' Luther counsels. "Print this 'me' with capital letters in your heart, and do not ever doubt that you belong to the number of those who are meant by this 'me.' . . . If we cannot doubt that we are sinners, we cannot deny that Christ died for our sins."

It is believing that Jesus loves me that melts my heart to repentance. And trusting His sacrifice for my sins, my conscience is cleansed. The guilt of sin is canceled, and the power of sin is broken! "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). This is "at-one-ment" with God!

My "at-one-ment" with God, however, is not total until my personal identification with the Cross is complete. "So long as Christ and I are two/' Luther confessed, "I am undone." As Christ's identification with sinful man was total, in His incarnation and His death, so my identification must be without reservation, "becoming like him in his death" (Phil. 3:10, RSV). The full meaning of the Atonement, therefore, is not realized until I can say with Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal. 2:20, RSV). In this total identification, the Atonement means full sanctification, the annulment of self-sovereignty and its replacement by Jesus Christ as personal Lord.

* * *

H. Ray Dunning, "Sacrifice" Beacon Dictionary of Theology, 466-67.

J. Glenn Gould, The Precious Blood of Christ.

J. Kenneth Grider, "Atonement/' Beacon Dictionary of Theology, 54-55.

J. S. Whale, Christian Doctrine, chap. 4.

* * * * * * *

Greathouse, William M. and Dunning H. Ray, An Introduction to Wesleyan Theology, 1989, Kansas City, MO, Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City HDM Edition.

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