How can God be one and three? How can Jesus be God and yet not another God? And what about the Spirit, where does he fit in?

In the last episode of Thinking Theology, we saw that God promised in the Old Testament that a day would arrive when he would come in person to save his people and be with them. But astonishingly, that happened in the coming of the man Jesus. Jesus did all the things that only God himself does like creating the world, miracles and forgiving sins. Jesus showed himself to be God, distinct from the Father. But how does that work?

That’s what we’re thinking about in this episode of Thinking Theology. We’re thinking about the Trinity—one God in three persons.

Who is Jesus? The identity of Jesus lies at the very heart of Christianity. But what is it about Jesus that’s so important?

In the last episode we looked at the problem of sin. God made the world good. He made a world without death and decay. He made a world in which humanity could dwell with him in love and fellowship, ruling over and developing God’s world under him. But the world is not like that anymore. It’s broken. And the reason it’s broken is because human beings have sought to rule themselves and God’s world without God. We’ve tried to get rid of God.

The result is judgement, which is seen immediately in death and decay, and in a world groaning under the wrath of God. But ultimately, the result is eternal separation from God.

So what’s the solution? The solution, quite simply, is Jesus. And not just what Jesus has done, but who he is.

But who is Jesus?

That’s what we’re beginning to think about this episode of Thinking Theology.

What is sin? Where did it come from? How has it affected us as human beings? How has it effected the world in which we live?

In the last episodes of Thinking Theology we saw that God created human beings. He created human beings to reflect him, to rule over the world under him. He made us to relate to him. But things are no longer as they were created to be. Our world is broken and we are broken.

But what happened to get us from there to here?

That’s what we’re thinking about in this episode of Thinking Theology.

In the last episode of Thinking Theology we thought about what it means to be human. Who has God made us to be?

In this bonus episode  I sit down with Rob Smith, one of my colleagues at SMBC. Rob teaches theology, ethics as well as music ministry. Rob has just completed his PhD on what the Bible has to say about gender. He's written a short book on that topic too.

But in this episode I'm talking with Rob about what it means to be embodied. What does that Bible have to say about human bodies.

What does it mean to be human? Are we different or special? Or are we just another animal? And what do we do with ourselves? Do we have a purpose?

In the last episodes of Thinking Theology we saw that God created the world, that he upholds the world every moment, that he is in control of everything that happens, but in such a way that our actions are still meaningful.

Now we’re moving on to think in more detail about who God has created us to be as human beings. 

If God is in control of everything that happens in the universe, where does that leave us as human beings? Do we have a say? Do we have any meaningful choice? Are we just robots? And if we make meaningful choices, where does that leave God and his sovereignty over the world?

In the last episode of Thinking Theology we saw how God upholds the world at every moment. God is in control of everything. He’s in control of the natural world, human events, individual life, human decisions, including faith and salvation. He’s even sovereign in some way over sin.

But where does that leave us as human beings? How do we fit into God’s sovereignty?

That’s what we’re thinking about in this episode of Thinking Theology.

Episode Intro

What does God do? In the last few episodes of Thinking Theology we’ve been thinking about what God is like: what is his nature, what is his character and what he does. Last time we looked at God’s work in creation. But God not only created the world, he also sustains it, upholding it at every moment. In theology, that’s called providence.

But what does it mean that God is upholding the world? What does he control? Is there anything outside his control?

That’s what we’re thinking about in this episode of Thinking Theology.

Podcast Intro

Hi. My name is Karl Deenick. I write about theology and I teach it at Sydney Missionary and Bible College. Welcome to Thinking Theology, a podcast where we think about theology, the Bible and the Christian life, not just for the sake of it, but so we can love God more, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

God Controls Everything

So what do we learn from the Bible about God’s control over the world.

First of all, we see that he controls everything.

For example, Psalm 103:19 tells us,

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. (Psalm 103:19 NIV)

God rules over all things and there’s nothing outside his control. Nothing frustrates his plans. Nothing thwarts them.

He says in Isaiah 46:11,

What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do. (Isaiah 46:11 NIV)

Moreover, when God acts to control all things he does it according to his own purpose and will.

For example, Psalm 135:6 says,

The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. (Psalm 135:6 NIV)

Or again in Ephesians 1:11, we’re told that God,

works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will…. (Ephesians 1:11 NIV)

God is not constrained by things outside him. He rules over everything and he does as he pleases. That’s what it means to be God.

The Natural World

But we can say more, too, about the kind of control that God exercises. That is to say, we can drill down to specific areas to understand more clearly what it means that God controls everything.

John Frame in his Systematic Theology lists a number of categories in which we see God working out his control over all things.[1]

For example, we also see how God controls the natural world.

Psalm 65 says,

You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. (Psalm 65:9–11 NIV)

In fact, even the things that we think are pure chance are from God.

Proverbs 16:33 tells us,

The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. (Proverbs 16:33 NIV)

A lot is like a roll of the dice. To us it’s chance, to God it’s an expression of his purpose and will.

Human Affairs

So, too, God is in control of human affairs.

Job says,

He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them. (Job 12:23 NIV)

God raises up nations and he brings them down. He makes them prosper or fail. He uses them to achieve his purposes.

In Acts 17 says,

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. (Acts 17:26 NIV)

It’s not human governments or presidents or kings who determine the success of their empires. Behind all those things stands God.

Individual Human Life

But God not only controls the big movements of nations and state and countries. He is also sovereign over our individual lives.

So David can say in Psalm 139,

all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:16 NIV)

God has planned our days before they even happen.

So, too, he works all things that happen for good in the lives of his people. Paul tells us in Romans 8,

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28 NIV)

And Proverbs 16:9 tells us that while we might make our plans it is God who establishes them or not.

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. (Proverbs 16:9 NIV) 

In fact, God’s control over our lives means that we ought to hold onto our plans with a degree of reservation. As James says,

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13–16 NIV)

We can’t control what happens today or tomorrow. That belongs to God, James says. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan. Rather, we plan knowing that all things are in God’s hands.

Human Decisions

But God is not only in control of our individual lives, he is also, in some sense, sovereign over human decisions.

We may find that idea a little confronting and a little difficult to understand, but the Bible clearly shows it’s true.

For example, God hardens Pharaoh’s heart. He says to Moses in Exodus 7:3,

But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. (Exodus 7:3 NIV)

Conversely, God opens the heart of Cyrus, king of Persian, to let his people come back from exile. Ezra 1:1 tells us,

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing…. (Ezra 1:1 NIV)

About Jesus’ crucifixion, we’re told in Acts 4:27,

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. (Acts 4:27–28 NIV)

Somehow God stood behind their decisions to crucify Jesus.

But how can God control human decisions without human beings becoming robots? We’ll come back to that question next time when we think about the relationship between God’s sovereignty and control and our responsibility. For the moment, we just need to notice that the Bible clearly portrays God as sovereign over human decisions in some sense.

Sins

Even harder to understand, but just as clear, is the idea that God is sovereign even over sin.

We’ve seen that already in God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. And also in God being sovereign over the decisions and actions of those who crucified Jesus. But we see it in other places too.

So Psalm 105:24–25 says,

In that last episode of Thinking Theology we began to look at the actions of God, and we began with God’s act of creation. God created everything that is, on his own, without help from anyone else. He made the world for his own sake and purpose. He made it by speaking. He made it good. It’s separate from him but it depends completely on him for its continued existence. God’s creation of the world also establishes his authority over us and our obligation to him.

But what we didn’t get to consider is how the Bible’s account of creation fits with modern science. Genesis 1 says God created the world in six days but science says that the universe and earth were formed over billions of years. The Bible says God created Adam and Eve from scratch, but science says that human beings have come through an evolutionary process from bacteria.

What do we make of all that? How do the Bible and science fit together, especially with respect to creation?

Links

•  Two Ways to Live

Episode Intro

What does God do? In the last few episodes of Thinking Theology we’ve been thinking about what God is like: what is his nature and what is his character. But in this and the next few episodes we’re moving on to think about what God has done and what he continues to do.

In this episode we’re thinking about what God has done in creating the world. What does the Bible tell us about creation and, importantly, how does that shape our life?

That’s what we’re thinking about in this episode of Thinking Theology.

Podcast Intro

Hi. My name is Karl Deenick. I’m a pastor, theologian, writer, and Bible college lecturer. Welcome to Thinking Theology, a podcast where we think about theology, the Bible and the Christian life, not just for the sake of it, but so we can love God more, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Creation in Genesis

Creation is the first act of God in the Bible. We find it on the very first page of the Bible. We’re told,

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1–2 NIV)

It seems that what those first verses describe is an initial act of God in creating the initial matter from which creation would be organised. So God brings matter into existence but it is formless.

Before God created the world, then, there was nothing. God created the world “out of nothing”. Or as theologians sometimes say, ex nihilo, which is Latin for out of nothing. God didn’t use pre-existing material but he created everything that is.

We find that same idea in other parts of the Bible. So Hebrews 11:3 says,

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:3 NIV)

Of course, that might simply mean that the matter God used to create the world was merely invisible and he made it visible. However, other places are more explicit. So Revelation 4:11 says,

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11 NIV)

If God created all things, then nothing exists that he didn’t make.

In fact, as the theologian John Frame points out, not only did God create out of nothing, he created into nothing. Not only did God create the matter out of which the universe was made, but he also created the space into which it went.[1]

The rest of chapter 1 then describes God’s organisation of that matter. And it follows a very structured pattern to show the logic and order that God imposes on his world. So pattern is more or less:[2]

1.     Announcement: “And God said,”

2.     Command: “Let there be X.”

3.     Separation and Structure: God orders the items he has brought into existence.[3]

4.     Report: “And there was X.” (or equiv.)

5.     Evaluation: “God saw that X was good.”

6.     Chronological marker: “And there was evening and there was morning—the nth day.”

So there is a careful structure within each day, but there is also a careful structure between the days.

There is a pattern in the order in which things are created, such that day 1 pairs with day 4, day 2 with day 5, and day 3 with day 6.

So on day 1 light is created but on day 4 the light bearers—the sun, moon, and stars are created.

On day 2 the sky and the waters are separated. While on day 5 the sea and sky creatures are created.

And on day 3 the dry land and the plants are created, while on day 6 animals and humans are created.

Within that pattern, too, the seventh day stand on its own as special. The seventh day is a day of rest for God. Genesis 2:1–2 says,

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. (Genesis 2:1–2 NIV)

The seventh day is a kind of capstone on the days that have gone before.

The climax of the creation event, however, is the creation of human beings. God says in 1:26,

“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26 NIV)

A number of things in Genesis 1 highlight the special significance of human beings. First, when God comes to create human beings the pace of the chapter slows down. For the creation of everything else, even big things like the sun and the moon, they’re passed over pretty quickly, but when it comes to human beings Genesis 1 says a lot.

Second, human beings are created as the result of a divine counsel. God says among himself, “Let us make man” (Gen 1:26). Nowhere else in the chapter is there such an obvious and significant deliberation by God.

Third, human beings are the only thing in creation made in the image of God. Human beings are intended to reflect God and represent him. Strikingly, the same term used here to describe the image of God is the same one used later in the Bible to describe idols. Idols were intended to be images of gods. And, of course, God commanded not to make idols. But whereas idols are dead and lifeless objects that we make to represent what we think God should look like, God himself has created an image to represent and reflect him and that is human beings.

Fourth, human beings are given the task of ruling over the rest of creation (Gen 1:28).

And fifth, chapter 2 of Genesis contains a special parallel account that focusses in on the creation of Adam and Eve. If Genesis 1 is the wide-angle shot of the whole of creation. Genesis 2 is the zoom lens that narrows down to the creation of human beings.

Lessons from Creation

Creation is actually a really foundational doctrine in Christianity and underpins the whole of the Christian life.

But what does God’s creation of the world teach us about God and ourselves and the world in which we live?

There’s a few things that can be said.

God Created on His Own

First, in Genesis 1, God creates entirely on his own. God doesn’t get help from anyone else. He does it by himself. And he does it for his own reasons. It was entirely his decision to create the world and to create it as he did. The world is an expression of God’s purposeful creativity.

God Created by Speaking

Second, God creates simply by speaking. God says, “Let there be…” and it happens. And as it has been pointed out, when God says, “Let there be…” he is not speaking to things that have in them the power to respond but his word itself carries the power. That is, when God says, “Let the water be gathered to one place,” the water doesn’t hear those words and respond with its own power, but God’s word makes it happen.

As Psalm 33:6 s...

Episode Intro

Over the last couple of episodes we’ve thought about the nature of God or what we’ve called the non-moral attributes of God. That is, we’ve focussed on his being. God is present everywhere, he knows everything, and so on.

But in this episode we’re beginning to think about the character of God. What God is like to relate to? What is he like in personal terms?

That’s what we’re thinking about in this episode of Thinking Theology.

Podcast Intro

Hi. My name is Karl Deenick. I’m a pastor, theologian, writer, and Bible college lecturer. Welcome to Thinking Theology, a podcast where we think about theology, the Bible and the Christian life, not just for the sake of it, but so we can love God more, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

The Character of God

So what is God like?

In one sense, describing the character of God is a bottomless pit. We can always say more. In fact, the key task of theology and the main goal of studying the Bible is to know and understand and love the character of God more and more.

One place to look in trying to understand the character of God is the names that he is given in the Bible.

For example, Hagar calls God, “El Roi”—the God who sees me”

Abraham calls God, “Yahweh Jireh”—the God who provides.

The psalms often call God, “Yahweh Tsevaoth”, which means “Lord of Armies”.

Jesus means “Yahweh is salvation”.

All those names give us insight into who God is.

But while there are lots of things to be said about the character of God, there are some aspects of his character that are given great prominence in the Bible. And in this episode, I want to think about four of those.

God is Holy

First of all, he’s holy.

There are a few times in the Old Testament where people catch a glimpse of God. And one of those occasions in Isaiah 6.

There in a vision, Isaiah sees the throne room of God. He writes,

But what Isaiah hears is just as important as what he sees. The angels who are attending God cry out,

As has sometimes been noted, God is described in many ways in the Bible, but only here is he described using the same word three times. God is love. But he’s never described as “Love, love, love”. But he is described as “Holy, holy, holy.”

The result of being confronted with the holiness of God is that Isaiah trembles with fear because he recognises his own sin and impurity in the face of the perfectly holy God. He says,

As one Bible commentator has said, Isaiah is condemned by what we might consider one of the mildest of sins, unclean lips—having said inappropriate things. Yet, for Isaiah, it’s enough to condemn him in the presence of God. Until, that is, God has one of his angels take a coal from the altar and touch Isaiah’s lips to cleanse them.

The point is that God is completely and perfectly pure.

As Psalm 145 says,

But holiness also includes what you might call God’s “set-apartness”. In Isaiah 6, when Isaiah sees God, he sees him “high and lifted up”, exalted, but also far above us. Later in Isaiah 57, God says that he dwells in the “high and holy place”.

God’s holiness makes him distinct from us. Not least because he is set apart from sinners. But also because of the sheer majesty and glory of his holiness.

Exodus 15:11 says,

And yet, although God’s holiness makes him glorious and distinct and worthy of our praise and honour, remarkably, God also calls us to be holy as he is holy (Lev 19:2) and perfect as he is perfect (Matt 5).

In fact, part of the promise of the gospel is that God communicates and shares something of his holiness with us. The Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and make us holy in the image of Jesus.

That is even more extraordinary given that we are by nature sinners. But that’s the miracle of the gospel.

In fact, although God is high and lifted up, he is also near to the lowly and contrite. We read in Isaiah 57,

Part of the very definition of God’s holiness, what it means that his name is holy, is not only that he is high and lifted up but also, incredibly, that he dwells with the lowly and contrite who are sorry for their sin and who humble themselves and look to him for his mercy and grace.

Mercy, it seems, is part of the very fabric of God’s holiness.

God is Righteous

The next attribute of God’s character is his righteousness.

Righteousness refers to God’s absolute justice and fairness.

He rules the world in justice. He always does what is right.

God always judges rightly. Psalm 98 celebrate that, saying,

In a world where we aren’t always guaranteed that we’ll receive right and just decisions, it’s a great encouragement to know that God always judges rightly and equitably.

The positive side, then, of God righteousness is his provision for and defence of his people and those who suffer unjustly.

Deuteronomy 10 says,

And Psalm 37:28 begins,

But the second part of that verse goes on to spell out the other side of God’s righteousness, which is judgement. It says,

It’s tempting to call that side of God’s righteousness “negative”, but in a sense God’s judgement is also good. Judgement on the wicked is good for those who have suffered at their hands. Judgement on those who oppress the poor means deliverance for the poor.

In other words, judgement is one of the ways that God upholds and defends his people and the poor and the oppressed.

Nevertheless, the Bible also describes God’s judgement and punishment as his “strange work”. That is to say that in some sense it is not his natural mode ...