| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
September 25, 2016 |
| A Creating God | ||
Most Christians accept that our God is a tri-unity, three beings so unified that there is no difference between them and therefore they are unity. The short name for this is Trinity.
We can barely conceive of such a thing - three beings so unified that they never disagree on anything, never compete among themselves. For humans it is an impossibility. Yet we are called to be like God, both in unity with him as individuals and as a church.
In this lesson we'll start from three verses and a basic concept and learn more about our God.
What is it to be a god? What are the qualifications you need to have to be a god? Many people have put a lot of thought into this question.
The most fundamental quality you must possess in order to be a god is self-sufficiency - you have everything you need. You must not depend on something. This includes both existence and sense of self, for example a psychological need. A god must have everything he (it) needs and be completely satisfied.
If there is anything you need that you do not have you are incomplete and in a way you are a slave to that thing which you need but do not have. As humans our existence depends on many things, food, water, and air among them. We spent the bulk of our existence obtaining those things that we need.
So it is with our God, there is nothing he needs. He never came into existence and will never cease to exist. He doesn't need anything, and that includes people.
That's where we really start, at the beginning.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
In the beginning the Word had been existing and that Word had been existing with God and that Word was himself God. 2 This one himself was at the beginning with God. (John 1:1)
Everything was in his hand, and without him not even one thing existed of the things that existed. (John 1:3)
Did you notice something different about what John says? Where Genesis 1:1 talks about the moment creation began, John talks about the moment just before creation began. Before creation, he says, there was nothing but God.
By "nothing", he means absolutely nothing. There was not even time. There was not even dimensionality, no up / down, left / right, back / forth, nothing. There was only God and he was perfectly content that way. He lacked nothing. He didn't need time or dimensionality. He simply WAS.
We know there could not be time or dimension because God would be dependent on them and thus not a god. Nothing can exist except that which God creates. All that he created he created within himself because he was all there was. Both the Heavens and the physical universe exist in him - though it isn't entirely clear what that means.
By him was everything created which is in Heaven and in the Earth: everything that is seen and everything that is unseen, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or rulers; everything has been created by his hand and in him. 17 And he is the one who is before all, and all things exist by him. (Colossians 1:16-17)
So that brings on the question, why would God create anything at all if he was content and lacking nothing. We desire things because we lack things. How could he have a desire to create but still be lacking nothing. The answer will tell us something about the nature of God.
The answer is related to whether God is a single being, two beings, are three beings. So we'll have a look at that.
The answer is also related to God's ability to love what he created. We begin with the assumption that we are created in the image of God and are able to know the same kinds of love that God has.
If God was a single being, what kind of love could he know? He could only know self-love. If he knew any other kind of love he could not be God because he would have a desire that could not be filled. He would be lacking in something and he would not be content.
This highlights a difference between all of the pagan gods, for example the Greek and Roman gods. They had all the same desires that humans have, for food, for love, etc. Those things they desired were not always available to them and they were not content. They were not self-sufficient and they were therefore not gods - ignoring the fact they never existed.
If God was a single being he would not be a creator god. If he did create, he could have no love for his creation. But he would have no reason to create in the first place. His creation would mean nothing to him.
So what if God was two beings, the Binity mentioned earlier. This is different from two un-united gods. If there were two un-united gods, it wouldn't be long until they had a disagreement and then there would be eternal discontent. This would be like the Greco-Roman Gods who were always fighting about something. Therefore we see that there can never be more than one god without them being in complete unity.
What kind of love could a Binity god know? He could know love for another being. This would be similar to marital love for us. The two beings would be locked in a love for each other.
They could know self-love but it would have to be a self-love that is fulfilled by the satisfaction that loving the other results in love returned. It may seem odd at first but it would be a love that is quenched by loving another. Each would love himself by loving another. Just as in a marriage, where self-love could poison the couple-love and destroy the marriage, self-love by a being of a Binity god could destroy the god.
But just like marital love, there isn't room for a third wheel. That love for one other person does not allow love for another person. If he had the kind of love for more than one person it would be an unsatisfied love and by definition he would be lacking something and would not be content. Therefore a Binity god cannot be a creator god. He would not know a kind of love that would be satisfied by creating something or someone.
So far we've discussed a single God that can't be capable of loving any others and a Binity god that can't be capable of loving more than a single other. We found that neither can be a creator god. If they had a desire to create it would be an unsatisfied desire and they would be lacking and therefore not a god at all.
Now we'll consider a Trinity god. A Trinity god must have a kind of love that desires more than one other person. You might think that he could only have a love for two other beings, but there isn't such a kind of love. The choices are only 0 others, 1 other, or many others. We'll discuss the reason for this later. Where the Binity god could only love a singular other, the Trinity god must love a plurality of others.
A Trinity god can be a creator god. He is satisfied with the plurality of beings he has to love but he can love more. Therefore he has no need to create but he can receive enjoyment from and can love what he creates.
A Trinity god would have the same need as a Binity God to be a unity of beings. Such a god would also have a special, marriage like love for each of the other beings. In effect each being of the Trinity would have two "marriage" type relationships.
This sounds like it supports polyamory, more than 1 wife or husband and the church believes this to be wrong. Unfortunately the church forgets that God supported polyamory in the Old Testament and that God does not change.
The church's belief that polyamory is wrong comes from the standard Paul sets for the leaders of the church. But this standard is not applied to the laity in the church. The fact that Paul needs to mention this as a standard for leaders shows that there are those in the laity who are in polyamorous relationships. Otherwise there would be no point in mentioning it. Therefore we have to think that there are other reasons for setting this as part of the standard. Perhaps it's a matter of a husband with more than 1 wife not having time to be a leader. Paul doesn't say.
We know that we were created by a Trinity god who created us in his image because we have all these same loves, a self-love, a special love with another person like us, and a general love for many others.
God is Love. We sometimes say that without really understanding what it means. It doesn't mean God is made of love or that he is nothing but love. It means that he is the definition of love, that he is the source of love. Love does not exist separately from God. The reason that we know love is because he created us in his image and, with that, imprinted his love on us.
This takes us to the answer for the earlier question, why God can love only 0, 1 (singular), and many (plural), why the next step after 1 isn't 2. The answer is, as said before, there are no other loves. God has imprinted his loves onto us that we might be like him. We know there are no other loves because no other loves are in us. There is a love for self. There is a love for 1 other. And there is a love for many. Included in that love for many is a love for any sized group of others, whether family or church group.
We've also seen that there are no other possible loves with a triune God. There is no other way to link the persons of the trinity than what we have seen above. This confirms our assumption that we have been imprinted with these same loves. We know all the possible loves.
So now we know something more about our God. He created because he could create and because he could love what he created. He is not in some symbiotic relationship with us where he needs us just as much as we need him.
Understanding that, we find ourselves at John 1:1 just before Genesis 1:1. Remember that nothing exists except our Trinity God at this time. There is a decision to create. We want to think of this decision and design in terms we understand, as a time based discussion about what this new creation should be, but there is no such thing as time. That's a very difficult concept for us.
There was creation. Time and dimension came into existence. God, who knew neither time nor dimension created both that his creation would have a time and place. There were heavens, yes plural heavens. The Bible describes three heavens. The first is our atmosphere where we live and birds fly. This heaven is not created until a little later. The second is everything outside of the atmosphere. It is what we call the universe. The third heaven is the Heaven of God.
In that third heaven was created the angels and everything else that is there. In the second heaven was created the earth, but it was null and void, awaiting further creation.
So now we understand:
We know that God is the model for our lives. So now we understand:
Self-love makes us think that we are god, though we don't think of it that way. When we choose to do what we want instead of what God wants, we have put ourselves above him who is God.