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Understanding The Godhead (Romans 1:20)
A student of the Bible should remember the difference
between a simile and an analogy, in "rightly dividing the
word of truth," because God uses both.
Simile: A figure of speech expressing comparison or
likeness by the use of such terms as like, as, so. This is
to be distinguished from analogy and comparison proper.
The simile carries its note of comparison on the
surface, in the words like, so, and as. "God is like a rock"
is a simile.
Metaphor: For all practical purposes, a metaphor is the
same as an analogy. "God is a rock" is a metaphor: it is
also an analogy.
Analogy: (1) Anything analogous to something else.
(2) A figure.
Understanding a thing is to arrive at a simile or an
analogy/metaphor for that thing by substituting something
more familiar to us. The feeling of familiarity is the
feeling of understanding.
I. God: The One-In-Three-In-One
DEUTERONOMY 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our
God is one LORD:
Analogy: Space is one space.
1 JOHN 5:7 For there are three that bear record in
heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost:
and these three are one.
Analogy: There are three things that are space;
height, width, and depth: and these three are one
space.
1. THERE IS ABSOLUTE THREENESS.
A. There are no more and no less than Three Persons
in the GODHEAD (1John 5:7).
Analogy: There are no more and no less than three
dimensions in space.
B. The tri-unity of God means Three things which He
Is: THREE WAYS OF BEING GOD.
1> God is the Father.
EPHESIANS 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all.
2> God is the Word, begotten (made flesh) by the Holy
Ghost in space-matter-time as the Son.
JOHN 1:1-3,14 1 In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All
things were made by him; and without him was
nothing made that was made. 14 And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
MATTHEW 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on
this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to
Joseph, before they came together, she was found
with child of the Holy Ghost.
3> God is the Holy Ghost/Spirit.
ACTS 5:3 But Peter said to Ananias, why hath Satan
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and
to keep back part of the price of the land? 4
While it remained, was it not thine own? and
after it was sold, was it not in thine own power?
why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart?
thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
Analogy: The tri-unity of space means three
things which it is: three ways of being space.
a> Space is three dimensions in one space.
b> Each one of the three dimensions is space.
c> Each one of the three dimensions is the
whole of space.
1> Each of the three dimensions is
represented AS space, not part of space.
a> Height fills all of space.
1> Picture an infinite number of
imaginary lines running up and down
through space.
2> These lines which represent height
touch every point in space.
3> Height is the whole.
b> Length fills all of space.
1> Picture imaginary lines running from
side to side through space.
2> These lines which represent length
touch every point in space.
3> Length is the whole of space.
c> Width fills all of space.
1> Picture imaginary lines running back
and forth through space.
2> These lines which represent width
touch every point in space.
3> Width is the whole of space.
d> No one of the three dimensions can possibly
be any of the others.
e> No one of the three can exist without the
others.
1> Take away height, then length and width
become a plane surface, which is imaginary.
2> Take away length or width, and the same
thing happens.
3> To give existence to any one of the
three dimensions, all three are necessary.
ABSOLUTE THREENESS.
2. THERE IS ABSOLUTE ONENESS.
A. God is Three in ONE.
B. Each One of the three IS God.
C. Each One is the WHOLE of God.
1> Each of the Three is represented AS God, not part
of God.
2> No One of the Three can possibly be any of the
Others.
3> No One of the Three can exist without the Others.
3. THE TRIUNE GOD IS ETERNAL.
Scripture presents God the Father first, God the Word/Son
second, and God the Holy Ghost/Spirit third in a logical,
causal, order.
A. The Eternal Father is the Source.
1> He is unseen.
JOHN 6:46 Not that any man hath seen the Father,
save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.
2> He reveals Himself in the Word.
JOHN 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt
among us...
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 him.
MATTHEW 8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord,
I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my
roof: but speak the word only, and my servant
shall be healed.
B. The Eternal Father wills.
C. The Eternal Word proceeds from the Father,
eternally decreeing His will.
PSALM 119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled
in heaven.
PSALM 119:152 Concerning thy testimonies, I have
known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.
MATTHEW 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
my words shall not pass away.
JOHN 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and
truth.
JOHN 16:28 I came forth from the Father, and am come
into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to
the Father.
COLOSSIANS 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature.
16 For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities,
or powers: all things were created by him and for him.
1> The Eternal Word decrees/declares the will of God.
a> He creates.
GENESIS 1:1 In the beginning God created the
heaven and the earth.
PSALM 33:9 For he spake, and it was done; he
commanded, and it stood fast.
b> He sustains and upholds.
COLOSSIANS 1:17 And he is before all
things, and by him all things consist.
HEBREWS 1:3 Who being the brightness of his
glory, and the express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of his
power...
c> He becomes man. JOHN 1:1-3,14
d> He raises the dead.
1> Jairus' daughter (MATTHEW 9:18-19,23-26;
MARK 5:35-43; LUKE 8:41-42, 49-56).
2> Son of the widow of Nain (LUKE 7:11-17).
3> Lazarus (JOHN 11:1-46).
e> He dies.
JOHN 19:30 When Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he
bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
f> He rises from death.
ACTS 2:24 Whom God hath raised up, having
loosed the pains of death: because it was not
possible that he should be holden of it.
JOHN 10:17-18 17 Therefore doth my Father love
me, because I lay down my life, that I may take
it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I
lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it again. This
commandment have I received of my Father.
D. The Eternal Holy Ghost/Spirit eternally proceeds
from the Father through the Word/Son.
JOHN 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I
will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit
of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall
testify of me.
ACTS 2:32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are
all witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand of
God exalted, and having received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which
ye now see and hear.
1> He, like the Father, is unseen.
JOHN 3:6,8 6 That which is born of the flesh is
flesh: and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit. 8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is
everyone that is born of the Spirit.
JOHN 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth him not,
neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
2> He reveals the Word/Son.
JOHN 16:13-14 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever
he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will
shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me:
for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it
unto you.
3> He reveals the Father in the Son.
JOHN 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long
with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? he
that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest
thou then, Shew us the Father? 10 Believest thou not
that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? the
words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but
the Father which dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
4> He works unseen in man.
1CORINTHIANS 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you?
1PETER 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the
heart, in that which is not corruptable, even the
ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in
the sight of God of great price.
II. God Reveals Himself As Triune in The Triune Creation
1. The statement.
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.
2. The analogy.
A. We reflect our image in a mirror.
B. The image is not us, but covers the same points.
C. The image is true, but the substance is different.
3. Prior to the creation of our space-matter-time reality,
existed God; boundless in size, knowledge, and wisdom; an
incomprehensible, self-contained, perfect being, without
beginning or end.
GENESIS 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and
the earth.
A. The "beginning" signifies the beginning of a space-
matter-time cosmos.
B. The "beginning" is the start of time as we know it.
C. Where there is space and matter, time is born.
D. Time is the successiveness of motion in space.
E. "The heaven" is space.
F. "The earth" is matter.
4. The Cosmos Is a Tri-Unity Consisting of Space, Matter and
Time.
A. Space.
1> We have learned in chapter one that it is three
dimensions in one space and one space in three
dimensions.
2> Space is not empty.
a> By its very definition, space cannot be empty.
Space noun [] 1.a) the boundless
expanse within which all things are contained
1.b) same as outer space 2.a) distance, area,
etc. between or within things 2b) room for
something.
b> Space is not filled with "ether" as some
believe, for ether, as substance, to fill the
criteria must be dense as lead, yet elastic and
penetrable.
c> Sir Oliver Lodge, a well known occultist, has
come close to the truth when he stated: "Ether is
not to be explained in terms of matter. Ether has
been spoken of as absolute space. An electric
charge must be composed of it. Ether is the seat
of prodigious energies - energies beyond anything
as yet accessible to man. All we know of energy
is but the faint trace or shadow of its mighty
being. Hidden away in its constitution is a
fundamental and absolute speed."
These are terms applicable only to the
omnipresent power of God.
d> Space is the bridge between the Creator and the
physical universe. By it we see His creative
power outspread into the dimensions which we know
as space, and passing through energy into motion,
and so into all the phenomena of a physical
universe.
2PETER 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come
as a thief in the night, in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the
earth also and the works that are therein shall
be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation
and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of the Lord, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
5. The Tri-Unity of God is Reflected in the Tri-Unity of
Matter: Energy, Motion, Phenomena.
A. Matter Is An Absolute Threeness.
1> Energy.
a> What Energy Is Not.
1> Energy is not motion.
a> Energy is the source, the potentiality of
motion, the cause of motion.
b> Energy can pass into motion and does so,
but it is not itself motion.
2> Energy is not phenomena.
a> Energy is firmly established as being
unseen, while phenomena by their very nature
are visible, audible, tangible.
b> Energy issues through motion into
phenomena, but is not itself phenomena.
b> What Energy Is: Energy is Primary.
1> There is motion coming out of energy; motion
of waves, of electrons: motion everywhere.
a> While energy is not dependent upon motion
as its cause, energy apparently cannot exist
without begetting motion and therefore,
through motion, phenomena.
b> It is the nature of energy to pass into
motion.
c> If it never begets motion, it is not
really energy.
2> There is motion coming out of energy and
there are pheneomena, through which motion in
its varying velocities, touches the senses as
light, sound, heat, hardness, and flavor - all
the many impacts of motion upon sight, hearing,
touch, taste, and smell. Phenomena are in
themselves varying speeds of motion, existing
wholly apart from human senses, touching us a
light, sound, heat, and texture.
2> Motion
a> What Motion Is Not.
1> Motion is not the same as energy.
2> Motion contains energy and embodies energy,
but it is not the same as energy.
3> Motion is not the same as phenomena.
4> Motion shows itself IN phenomena. Its
identification with them is close, but when we
say "motion" we do not mean the same thing as
phenomena.
5> The idea is different because the thing is
different.
b> What Motion Is.
1> Motion is a movement from one place to
another.
2> Motion is energy at work. It cannot exist
without energy behind it.
3> Neither can it take place without phenomena
issuing from it.
4> It can hardly be motion without definite
kinds of motion, and that means phenomena.
3> Phenomena
a> What Phenomena Are Not.
1> They are not motion - they issue from
motion.
2> They are not energy - the primary thing -
they are the result of energy in motion.
b> What Phenomena Are.
1> Phenomena make up the physical universe.
2> We have never seen, felt, heard, smelled, or
tasted anything that is not phenomena.
3> Everything around us - light, color, heat,
pressure, texture, odor, sound -is phenomena.
4> We find by our senses, or by instruments, an
entire universe of phenomena.
4> NO ONE OF THESE THREE - ENERGY, MOTION, AND
PHENOMENA - CAN BE PUT ASIDE, AS BEING SO MUCH THE
SAME AS THE OTHERS THAT WE DO NOT NEED TO GIVE IT A
SEPARATE NAME.
5> THE ENERGY-MOTION-PHENOMENA SUBSTANCE OF THE
UNIVERSE, WHICH WE CALL MATTER, CAN BE NEITHER MORE
NOR LESS THAN THREE.
6> A WORLD OF ENERGY WHICH NEVER BEGETS MOTION CANNOT
BE A WORLD AT ALL.
7> IN TURN, PHENOMENA CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT MOTION.
8> NO TWO CAN EXIST WITHOUT THE THIRD.
B. Matter Is An Absolute Oneness.
1> THE MATERIAL UNIVERSE CONSISTS ENTIRELY OF MOTION
APPEARING TO US AS PHENOMENA.
2> AN EQUALLY ABSOLUTE TRUTH IS THAT THE MOTION
CONSISTS ENTIRELY OF ENERGY AT WORK, AND THAT THE
MATERIAL UNIVERSE CONSISTS ENTIRELY OF ENERGY.
3> PHENOMENA-MOTION-ENERGY, EACH ONE IS IN TURN THE
WHOLE. THEY ARE THREE THINGS WHICH IT IS. IT IS A
UNITY IN WHICH EACH ONE IS THE WHOLE.
6. More About Matter
A. God is a Spirit, and His power is first of all
spiritual.
1> How does that Divine power become physical?
2> God's power is not only power to think, but power
to move.
3> As power to move, that outspread Divine power
becomes energy which is the power of physical motion.
4> Nothing is inactive in the universe as we know it-
not even space.
5> Energy may take the form of light, heat, sound,
electric currents, moving bodies, or radiation, yet
in all of these it is still energy.
6> We can perceive it as solid, yet it is still
energy in motion.
a> Solidity is an impact made upon our senses by
energy in motion.
b> Greater solidity is simply a greater proportion
of particles of energy, of number of electrons in
each atom making an impact upon our senses.
7> Matter consists essentially of atoms. There are
millions of atoms in the smallest visible particles
of matter.
a> They are moving at a tremendous rate of speed.
b> The substance clearly grows less with analysis
BUT THE MOTION AND ENERGY INCREASE.
c> Atoms consist largely of space, but within that
space are a whirling galaxy of electrons.
d> They are so small that it is estimated that one
of them isn't more that one-hundredth of a
trillionth the size of the atom.
e> Their speed is reckoned at 12,000 miles per
second.
f> They revolve around the nucleus of the atom 10
to the 14th power per second.
g> The principle is clear. The substance ceases
and the energy becomes inconceivably great.
h> Under close examination, the electron appears
out of a wave of motion becoming the phenomenon of
an electron, then disappears into a wave of motion
becoming unseen again, only to reappear.
i> The physicist says the electron is a particle
of energy, and that it has no mass except its
electric field.
j> The electron can be weighed by its impact upon
a screen, but this simply means that its impact
can be measured.
k> The impact is enough to lift one-hundred pounds
one foot in one second. It is an impact of an
incredibly minute particle of inconceivable
energy.
l> Electrons revolve around a proton or group of
protons at the heart of an atom.
m> The proton is only one-thousandth of the size
of the electron which it holds in orbit around it,
yet it is of more inconceivable energy - about
2,000 times the energy of an electron.
n> The particle grows immeasurably less! The
power grows incredibly more!
o> The proton is a particle of positive energy or
electricity and the electron is a particle of
negative electricity or energy.
p> They are both complimentary manifestations of
energy.
q> An atom is simply a balanced number of
particles or charges of electricity or energy. It
is all energy.
r> The electron in its inconceivable whirl about
the nucleus emits other units of energy when it
shifts from one orbit to another, or drops from
one energy level to another, or is stopped in
motion.
s> Because this proportion is constant and because
these are always units, they are called "quanta."
t> Quanta are the smallest units of energy that we
"KNOW" in the physical universe. They are units
of pure energy.
u> The analysis of matter by modern physics
carries us far beyond substance into atomic
regions where all is energy and power.
v> Science has come to regard matter as consisting
wholly of energy or power in motion, in a universe
of impulses and innumerable waves of "INTERWOVEN"
power.
w> The whole tendency of physics leads us where we
see on every hand Omnipresent power and energy
passing into a tangible universe of immeasurable
motion.
B. God's power is exactly as the principle of Tri-Unity
in the physical universe. It is omnipresent, primal,
outspread power passing from space, through energy
into physical motion which includes both the
activities and the substance of phenomena which we
call the tangible world.
7. The Tri-Unity of God is Reflected in the Tri-Unity of
Time: Past, Present, Future.
A. The essential nature of time in the physical universe
is consecutiveness or successiveness.
B. In eternity things may be, in a way which we really
cannot understand, largely simultaneous.
C. Here in this time-world, thoughts, motions, or
actions are one after another. THEY ARE SUCCESSIVE
or CONSECUTIVE - AND THAT IS TIME.
D. In the physical universe, time is the successiveness
of motion in space.
E. Motion in space occupies one location after another,
for each successive location of the motion is later
then those before it.
F. Time then proceeds from motion.
1> Motion involves space.
2> It proceeds from space. Successiveness, which
means time, is inevitable in motion.
G. Space produces motion, and space and motion produce
time.
H. IN THE THREE IN ONE, the Spirit proceeds from the
Father through the Word/Son.
1> In the universal reflections of triunity in
matter, phenomena come from energy through motion.
2> In the reflection in the triunity of time, the
past comes from the future through the present.
I. Space, the omnipresent outspreading of creative
power, emerges into energy.
1> Energy passes into motion.
2> Motion becomes phenomena, waves of sound, of
light, of color, of all the infinite variety of the
universe.
3> Phenomena consist of successive vibrations, fast
or slow.
4> That fastness or slowness is time.
5> Everything we see, hear, taste, touch, or smell is
known to us by the time length of its vibrations.
J. TIME is past, present and future in ONE TIME, yet
each one of the three is the whole.
1> No one of the three can be any of the others.
2> No two of the three can exist without the others.
a> If there was no past - time has never existed
until this instant, which will soon be over and
will never have existed.
b> If there was no present - there is never any
instant in which time exists.
c> If there was no future - time ceases now, and
indeed never began.
K. Time is a Tri-Unity - Absolute Oneness.
1> Each one is the whole. Each includes all of time.
a> All of time is or has been future.
b> All of time is or has been or will be present.
c> All of time is or will be past.
d> Past, present, future are three things which
time is. Three modes of being.
2> The source of time is the future.
a> The human race passes from past through present
into future.
b> We do not go with time. We continually meet it,
moment by moment.
c> The future is logically first, but not
chronologically.
d> The present has existed as long as time has
existed.
e> Time acts through and in the present.
f> The future acts and reveals itself through the
present.
g> It is through the present that the future
enters into union with human life.
h> Time and humanity meet and unite in the
present.
i> It is in the present that the future becomes a
part of human life, and so is born, and lives and
dies in human life.
3> The past, in turn, comes from the present.
a> It does not embody the present.
b> Time in issuing from the present into the past
becomes invisible again, proceeding silently,
endlessly, invisibly from it.
c> The present is not the source of the past which
proceeds from it.
d> The future is the source of both the present
and the past.
e> The past issues from the future and proceeds
through the present.
L. The future is the source.
1> It perpetually begets the present.
2> The present comes out of the invisible future.
3> The present perpetually and ever-newly embodies
the future in visible, audible, livable form.
4> The present then returns into invisible time in
the past.
M. The Past Like the Future Is Unseen.
1> The past acts invisibly.
2> It continually influences us with regard to the
present.
3> It casts light upon the present - that is its
great function.
4> It helps us to live in the present which we know,
and with reference to the future which we expect to
see.
N. Time has revealed God, not in substance, but in
principle.
1> Substitute God for the word time.
2> Substitute Father for future.
a> The Father is the source.
b> He is unseen except as He makes Himself known
in and through the Word/Son.
c> The Father is logically first, but not
chronologically, for the Word exists as long as
God exists, and was in the absolute eternity of
God. The Word has existed as long as God has
existed.
3> Substitute Word/Son for present
a> The Word is what we see and hear and know.
b> He is ceaselessly embodying the Father, day by
day, hour by hour, moment by moment.
c> He is perpetually revealing the Father,
otherwise invisible.
d> God acts in and through the Word/Son.
e> He makes Himself visible only in the Son.
f> It is through God the Son that God the Father
becomes a part of human life, and so is born, and
lives, and dies in human life. God and humanity
unite in the Son.
4> Substitute Spirit for past.
a> The Spirit in turn comes from the Son.
b> We cannot say that He embodies the Son - on the
contrary, God in issuing from the Son in the
Spirit becomes invisible again.
c> The Spirit does not embody the Son, rather He
proceeds silently, endlessly, invisibly from Him
and reveals Him.
d> But the Son is not the source of the Spirit Who
proceeds from Him.
e> The Father is the source of both the Son and
the Spirit.
f> The Spirit issues in endless, invisible
procession from the Son, but back of that, from
the Father out of whom the Son comes.
5> The Son therefore comes out from the invisible
Father.
6> The Son perpetually embodies the Father in
visible, audible, livable form.
7> He then returns into invisible God in the Spirit.
8> The Spirit acts invisibly.
9> He continually influences us in regard to the Son.
He casts light upon the Son - that is His great
function.
10> He helps us to live in the Son whom we know, and
with reference to the Father whom we expect to see
when God is All in All.
III. The Tri-Unity of God is Reflected in the Tri-unity of
Man.
Man is tri-partite in that he has a body, a soul, and a
spirit. Perhaps, in Adam I before the fall and, surely, in
Jesus Christ, these three were/are truly a tri-unity, but in
fallen man that is not the case.
In Romans chapter 7, Paul states that the flesh has a
mind of its own, called "sin," and acts independently of the
born-again spirit, as the soul helplessly looks on.
ROMANS 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I
am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would,
that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto
the law that it is good.
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth
no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to
perform that which is good I find not.
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which
I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do
it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is
present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the
law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from
the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then
with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the
flesh the law of sin.
This condition will not change until the Lord Jesus
Christ raptures born-again believers out of this world. So-
body, soul, and spirit cannot be said to be triune at this
time. However, the tri-unity of God is reflected in man at
this time as NATURE, PERSON, AND PERSONALITY.
1. God the Father is the NATURE of God.
A. God the Father is the source.
JN 15:27 For the Father himself loveth you, because
ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out
from God. 28 I came forth from the Father, and am
come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go
to the Father.
B. The Father is unseen.
JN 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 him.
C. He reveals Himself in the Word/Son.
JN 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my
Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and
have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show
us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith
unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show
us the Father? 10 Believest thou not that I am in
the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I
speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father
in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
Analogy: In man, the nature, regenerate or
unregenerate, is the source. The nature is unseen.
It reveals itself in the person.
2. God the Word/Son is the PERSON of God.
A. God the Word/Son is the visible embodiment of the
invisible Father.
B. God the Word eternally issues from the Father,
eternally revealing Him.
1> In time, He has appeared as the Angel of the Lord.
2> In time, He was begotten, as God the Son.
Analog: In triune man, the person is the visible
embodiment of the invisible nature. The person
issues continually from the nature, revealing it.
C. The Father reveals Himself in the Word/Son.
1> JN 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 him.
2> JN 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known
my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and
have seen him. 8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show
us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith
unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet
hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me
hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show
us the Father?
Analogy: The nature reveals itself in the person.
No one has seen the nature by itself. The person
issuing from the nature, reveals it. He who has
really seen and known the person, has seen the
nature.
D. The Word/Son is the visible embodiment of the whole
Godhead, including both Father and Spirit.
COL 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily.
Analogy: The person is the visible embodiment of the
whole being, including both nature and personality.
In the person dwells the whole being bodily.
E. The Word/Son is the executive.
1> It is the Word/Son who distinctively acts. He
brings to pass the will of the Father.
Analog: In man, in finite life, it is the person
who distinctively acts. The person is the
executive of the nature. It brings to pass the
will of the nature.
3. The Holy Spirit/Ghost is the PERSONALITY of God.
A. The Word/Son works by the Holy Spirit/Ghost.
1> But that is the Son Himself working, especially in
other lives.
2> The Holy Spirit/Ghost is His other Self.
LUKE 4:1 AND Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost,
returned from Jordan, and was led by the spirit
into the wilderness
JOHN 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me
to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon
whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and
remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth
with the Holy Ghost.
JOHN 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit which
they that believe on him should receive: for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus
was not yet glorified.)
ROMANS 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in
you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ,
he is none of his. 10 And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is
life because of righteousness. 11 But if the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the
dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his
Spirit that dwelleth in you.
JOHN 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life, that I might take it
again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it
down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I
have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my Father.
HEBREWS 9:14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God?
1CORINTHIANS 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the
temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you?
JOHN 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a
man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father
will love him, and we will come unto him, and make
our abode with him.
COLOSSIANS 1:27 To whom God would make known what
is the riches of the glory of this mystery among
the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of
glory:
2CORINTHIANS 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
PHILIPPIANS 1:19 For I know that this shall turn
to my salvation through your prayer, and the
supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
1PETER 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time
the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify. when it testified beforehand the
sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should
follow.
1PETER 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring
us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but
quickened by the Spirit:
1JOHN 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood,
even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth.
JOHN 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me.
Analog: The person works in certain ways, in
other lives, by his personality. But that is
also the person himself working in other lives.
His personality is his other, unseen self in
other lives.
B. The Holy Spirit/Ghost proceeds from the Word/Son.
1> The Holy Spirit/Ghost is not the embodiment of the
Word/Son: on the contrary, the Spirit is invisible.
2> He is never seen but He is felt.
3> He works unseen in other beings.
4> He reveals the Word/Son.
Analog: The personality proceeds from the person.
The personality is not the embodiment of the
person: on the contrary, the personality is
invisible. It is never seen but is felt. It
works unseen in other beings. It reveals the
person.
C. The Holy Spirit/Ghost proceeds not only from the
Word/Son, but from the Father, through the Word/Son.
JN 15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will
send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall
testify of me:
Analog: The personality proceeds not only from the
person, it proceeds from the nature. It proceeds
from the nature through the person.
D. The Word/Son sends the Holy Spirit/Ghost.
1> He sends Him from the Father.
Analog: The person sends out his personality. He
sends out his personality from his inner nature.
E. The Father sends out the Holy Spirit/Ghost in the
name of the Word/Son.
Analog: The nature sends out the personality with
the name of the person upon it.
F. The Holy Spirit/Ghost reveals the Word/Son, but He
just as truly reveals the Father in and through the
Word/Son.
Analog: The personality reveals the person, but it
just as truly reveals the nature in and through
the person.
4. In God There Is A Logical Causal Order
A. The Father is first. He is the source of all that
God is.
B. The Word/Son is second. He perpetually issues from
and embodies the Father.
C. The Holy Spirit/Ghost is third, proceeding from the
Father through the Word/Son.
D. It is not that one is first, one second, and one
third in Deity, for all are God. It is a logical
causal order.
Analogy: In man there is a logical causal order.
Nature is first; it is the source of all that you
are. Person is second, issuing from and embodying
the nature. Personality is third, proceeding from
the nature through the person. It is not that one is
first, one second, and one third in identity, for all
are you. Nor that one is first, one second, one last
in time, for as early and as long as you exist, all
three exist. It is a logical causal order.
5. This is surely an absolute likeness. It is identity, not
of substance but, of pattern and structure.