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Attributes of God: Omnipresence

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The second attribute of God we are discussing is his omnipresence.  When we speak of God’s omnipresence (present everywhere at the same time) we are referring to the infinitude of his being, especially when viewed in relation to his creation.  Wayne Grudem, in his Systematic Theology textbook, defines the omnipresence of God as:

God does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every point of space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places.

In essence this means the limitations of space have no reference to God.  All of creation, whether material or spiritual, can be found somewhere.  Only God, in his entire being, is everywhere. In other words his essence, knowledge, and power are everywhere and equally present at all times.  Since this is a part of God’s nature which He does not share with his creation, it would be classified as an incommunicable attribute.

On account of the fact we are bounded by space, it becomes an almost impossible task to try and understand the omnipresence of God.  How can something exist without size or dimensions?  Just think of it, when there was no matter, material or space, He was.  When there was no “here”, “there” or “anywhere” God still existed.  Only at the point when God said, “Let there be” was there any place one could actually be.  If you think on it long enough you will likely end up in the fetal position rocking on the floor with your thumb in your mouth.

Even though God’s omnipresence may be difficult to comprehend, it is also one of the most comforting attributes of our God.  It is exceedingly encouraging and comforting when one understands that God is ever-present and interested in both the great and little things.  He is equally present with all his creatures, at all times, and in all places.  He is not far from any of us.  This truth alone should excite worship in all of us. Here are some scriptures that speak to the omnipresence of God:

Psalm 139:7-12  “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8  If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9  If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,10  even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12  even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”

Prov 15:3   “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”

Jer 23:23-24  “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.”

Acts 17:24  “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,”

Eph 1:23  “which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”

There are a few potential challenges we will face as we establish our understanding of God’s omnipresence.  Next time we will continue our discussion on the omnipresence of God.

 To Be Continued

More In The Series

1) Intro to the Attributes of God

2) Goodness of God

4) Omnipresence of God Part 2

5) Omniscience of God

6) Omnipotence of God

7) Freedom of God

8) Eternality of God

9) Infinite God

Attributes of God: Goodness

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The first attribute of God we will be discussing is His goodness. Why are we starting with the goodness of God? Well, it just so happened to be the first attribute brought up in our young adult’s Bible study. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anyone. Typically when asked to describe God the first characteristic that comes to mind is either His love or His goodness. Why would the goodness of God be one of the first attributes that come to our mind? Well, it is the one attribute that both leads to repentance (Rom 2:4) and excites praise in those who have experienced it. It is also the one attribute which unbelievers, given the reality of evil and suffering in the world, have the most difficult time accepting. There is nothing more polarizing than walking into a room and yelling out, “God is Good!” I dare you to try it.

The attribute of goodness is one which He shares (a communicable attribute) with us. The thing we need to keep in mind is that in God it exists without measure and without end. In Him, goodness is infinite, eternal, immutable, and functions in perfect harmony with all of His other attributes. To begin our conversation it is probably a good idea to define what we mean when we call God good. Wayne Grudem, in his Systematic Theology textbook, defines the goodness of God as:

The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval.

I particularly like this definition because it takes the ball out of our court when it comes to determining what is good. In a postmodern world where everything is relative, and there are no absolutes, it is a wonderful thing to have an absolute standard for something. God IS the gold standard of good (Luke 18:19). In other words we are not free to decide what is worthy of approval and what is not. All that He does is worthy of His acceptance, and by extension ours. Not only is God the standard of what is good, but He is the source of all good (James 1:17, Psalm 145:9).

There are plenty of scriptures which speak directly to the goodness of God, so much so that one would be hard pressed to come to any other conclusion.  Goodness, in the scriptural sense of the term, is intimately linked to God’s benevolence, love, mercy, and grace.  Although these can be classified as separate attributes, they are very much fruits of His goodness.  If you take both the direct verses and those speaking of the fruits you will end up with a mountain of evidence pointing toward a God who is absolute in His capacity for goodness.  I only belabor this fact because in times of trouble we might be tempted to believe otherwise.  The weight of scripture informs our understanding that even in the midst of trouble God is good, and in the end those who love Him and are called by Him will see how He works all things together for their good (Rom 8:28).  Here are some scriptures that speak of God’s goodness.

2 Chron 5:12b “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,”

 

Psalm 25:8  “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.”

 

Psalm 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”

 

Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

 

Psalm 107:1 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

 

Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”

 

Heb 12:10 “For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”

 

James 1:17 “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

 To Be Continued

More In The Series

1) Intro to the Attributes of God

3) Omnipresence of God Part 1

4) Omnipresence of God Part 2

5) Omniscience of God

6) Omnipotence of God

7) Freedom of God

8) Eternality of God

9) Infinite God

Attributes of God

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On a monthly basis I participate in a young adults Bible study hosted by our church. The passion and hunger of the individuals involved make it one of the more exciting events I am privileged to take part in. Typically, in the weeks leading up to each Bible study we issue a request for any suggestions for potential study topics. This time around the suggestion was made that we discuss the character and nature of God (i.e. Theology Proper).

Theology Proper is a pretty hefty topic, one which could never be adequately covered in a single session.  Sure you could fly through the topic touching on all the basics, but you would never appropriately transmit the depth and significance of the subject matter being discussed.  I can’t stress enough the importance of knowing the character of God.  If you don’t have the character and nature of God right, can it really be said you are worshiping the right God? Failure to try and understand what God has revealed about Himself in the Bible can cause us to set up, chase after, and worship false gods.

Therefore, in an attempt to further our discussion, and to increase our understanding, I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts on God’s character and nature.  However, as a prolegomena to our conversation on the attributes of God we must understand:

  1. God has revealed Himself through His creation (Rom 1:18-20) and through His Word (Matt 11:27). Although we can discern aspects of His nature and character from the things He has created, our observations can only be rightly understood if they are interpreted through the filter of His Word (1 Cor 1:21). Even though we can know God we can not fully or completely comprehend Him (Psalm 145:3).
  2. All of God’s attributes work together in perfect harmony. This is vital to our understanding, given the fact our human nature would lead us to ignore the severity of God and only focus on His kinder attributes (Rom 11:22). Sometimes scripture will emphasize different attributes at different times. Even though emphasis might have been given to a particular attribute they all exist and continue to work together in perfect harmony. Therefore, for example, His mercy isn’t trampled upon or ignored when God stands in judgement of sin.
  3. There are some attributes God shares with us and some that He does not.  Traditionally, and respectively, these are referred to as Communicable and Incommunicable attributes.  The incommunicable attributes of God tend to be the ones we have the most difficulty understanding given the fact we have no frame of reference or experience with them (i.e. Eternality or Omnipresence).  The communicable attributes of God are easier for us to grasp given He chooses to share them with us.  Although God shares these attributes with us we need to understand that we do not possess them to the degree God does.  For example we have knowledge, but God is all knowing.

With all of these essentials out of the way we can begin our discussion on the nature and character of God. Let the fun begin.

More In The Series

2) Goodness of God

3) Omnipresence of God Part 1

4) Omnipresence of God Part 2

5) Omniscience of God

6) Omnipotence of God

7) Freedom of God

8) Eternality of God

9) Infinite God

Is Everyone Righteous?

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Discussing Universalism (Warning: Long Post)

I just got back from our monthly young adults Bible study, and boy is my head swimming. As always we participated in a long, passionate and heated discussion. It is important for Christians to critically examine their beliefs to ensure they are consistent with scripture and sound biblical doctrine. However, this time around some questions were asked and concepts debated that might have left some people with more questions than answers. Therefore, in order to further our understanding I will take this opportunity to address what was discussed, and to unpack what scripture has to say on the topic.

For the benefit of those who were not in attendance, I will try and summarize the discussion. The evening began with me posing the question, “What is the one thing you struggle with the most?” The group produced a variety of answers, but it was when I gave my response that the bearing of our conversation was set. I shared that I had always struggled with the doctrine of eternal punishment. I struggled with it not because I refused to believe eternal judgement exists, but rather I wrestled with the implications of the fact that it does. I would love to believe that everyone makes it and that no one falls short of the glory of God. I would love to believe it, but I just can’t afford to live that way. In the process of the conversation it became apparent that I was not the only one to struggle with with this.

For those of us who might struggle with the doctrine of Hell and eternal punishment, we have three potential options; ignore it, deny it, or accept it. I am finding more and more Christians are opting out of the traditional concept of judgement and Hell. Given an unbeliever does not hold the Bible as their standard for truth, I can easily understand why they would choose to ignore or deny the notion of Hell. Believers, on the other hand, should require scriptural support when establishing their understanding of the concept. During the process of our discussion two arguments were made in defense of universalism, which is ultimately door number two in our three options.

The scriptural argument put forth at our Bible study basically centered around the idea that if Christ died for the world, and paid the price for all sin, would that not make all men righteous (John 1:29, Rom 5:12-18 – emphases on vs 18, 1 Tim 2:6, 1 John 2:2)? This would be a logical conclusion if words like “all”, “every” and “world” were without qualification or exception. If one was to take these verses in isolation, and did not interpret them in light of the full counsel of scripture, you might have reason to believe “all” and “every” meant without stipulation. However, God left plenty of scriptures (Dan 12:2, Matt 25:31-46, 2 Thes 1:9, Rev 14:10-11, Rev 20:10) speaking of eternal death and judgement such that one would have a difficult time holding to the idea that all men were made righteous without exception.

The second argument used to defend universalism was one I can honestly say I had never heard before. It was argued that the Greek word translated “eternal” was actually age specific and it did not mean everlasting or without end. Essentially if this was true eternal punishment would not go on forever, but rather it would only last for a set span of time (or age). After this set period of time those who denied Christ in this life would receive him as saviour postmortem, which is supposedly the point in time when Rom 14:11 is fulfilled. In order for this to happen a lot is riding on the meaning of one Greek word. Isn’t that the way it always is with theology?

This argument hinges on the meaning of the Greek word aionios. Aionios shows up 70 times in the new testament and is translated into words such as eternal, everlasting and forever. If we are to dispute the original meaning of a Greek word we will have to approach the problem the same way the scholars and translators do. When it comes to understanding the usage and meanings of words translators customarily go to other period texts to confirm the conventional usage of the word. Since aionios is used 70 times across multiple books of the Bible it is a pretty safe to say that one should be able to determine how the original Greek audience would have understood the text. Strong evidence that scholars have properly translated aionios can be found in 2 Corinthians 4:18, where it is used in contrasting transient and eternal things. The weight of this verse would be lost if you simply understood it to mean some things are more transient than others. Aionios is also used to describe eternal life (Matt 25:46), God’s eternal nature (Rom 16:26), Jesus’ eternal dominion (1 Tim 6:14-16), Christ’s eternal salvation (Heb 5:9), secured eternal redemption (Heb 9:12), our eternal inheritance (Heb 9:15), Christ’s eternal glory (1 Peter 5:10), Jesus’ eternal kingdom (2 Peter 1:11) and his eternal gospel (Rev 14:6). If we were to believe “eternal” is better understood as a set span of time we would also be forced to believe God’s kingdom, dominion, glory and nature were no longer eternal. In order to treat aionios in an intellectually honest fashion we would need a consistent understanding of its meaning, one which does not deviate unless the text demands it. Since aionios is so intimately associated with God’s nature and authority we would risk downgrading him if we were to understand it to mean anything less than eternal.

In order to both address the original question of man’s righteousness, and to bring this post to a conclusion, I would like to highlight what both Jesus and John said in scripture.

John 3:16- 18 (Jesus speaking) 16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

John 3:35-36 (John speaking) 35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

In both of these sections of scripture you see statements that use seemingly comprehensive words like “all” and “world”. However, we discover they are not without qualification. If we do not believe in the Son we are yet condemned and his wrath remains on us. Although it would be nice to believe that Christ’s completed work upon the cross made every man, woman and child righteous, scripture will not allow me. The good news of the gospel is God has imputed Christ’s righteousness as our own. It is a free gift of the highest quality, sufficient for the remission of the sin of every man. However, it is only effective for those who believe. That is where scripture leads us, and where I must be satisfied.

 

What’s It Worth? – 2

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Have you ever considered what ultimately determines an items value, and what makes one thing worth more than another? Seriously, why is the painting hanging in the Louvre worth so much more than the painting my child just produced, especially considering you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two? The answer is both simple and revealing. An item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Those $400 shoes are only worth $400 because someone is willing to pay that for them. That million dollar painting, although it looks like a child made it, is worth millions because someone was willing to part with millions in order to own it.

So in essence, it does not matter how valuable you think it is, nor how much you believe it is worth, the price tag will only reflect what someone is willing to pay. I know I might be oversimplifying things, and I am sure my economically astute readers (such as my father) are likely yelling something about equilibrium points on supply-demand curves. However, for all practical purposes one could safely define an item’s worth simply by knowing what price someone is willing to pay for it. I hope everyone caught that, especially those of you that collect sports cards or comic books. It may come in handy mitigating the symptoms of shock you will likely experience when you try and sell your collections.

All joking aside, this simple understanding can help us answer some pretty profound questions. For example what is the value of a human life? Have you ever thought about this before? Believe it or not there are many possible answers to this question. If you ever inquire the answer you receive will likely depend on who you are asking. Each explanation will probably differ in amount and in currency. It doesn’t matter if the estimate is high or low, or if the currency is in convenience or dollars, the figure you receive is ultimately going to fall incredibly short of its true value.

Let me try answering this question with one devastating truth. The value of a human life can not be measured in dollars and cents, but it is measured in the price that was actually payed. Whether you realize it or not an amount has been paid, and we have been bought with a price (1 Cor 6:19-20). The payment was staggeringly high, and eclipses any figure the most liberal of economist could possibly conceive. What is that price? It is the blood and life of the Son of God. By no other means did God find fit to secure our eternal redemption than with the lifeblood of his very own Son (Heb 9:12). God willingly redeemed us not because we merited it, nor were we inherently worth it. He did it simply because He was willing to pay that price. If this isn’t awe inspiring I don’t know what is.

 

To Be Continued