Lesson Two — God

YHWH
(Hebrew name of God, usually spelled out LORD, but sometimes pronounced Jehovah or Yahweh)

ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ‘Ο ΤΗΕΟΣ
(Greek name of God, usually translated the LORD God)

“I am the LORD thy God … Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:2,3

1. Who is God and what does the Bible tell us about Him?

Isaiah 42:8: I am the LORD: that is my name.

Jeremiah 10:10: But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king.

Psalm 90:1-2: LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

The true God is the LORD God — or Jehovah God — of the Bible. He is the living and eternal God who always was, who is, and who always will be.

2. How many true Gods are there? How many Persons are true God?

Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.

1 Corinthians 8:4: There is none other God but one.

Matthew 28:19: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost …

2 Corinthians 13:14: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

Isaiah 48:16-17: Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me. Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.

Numbers 6:22-27: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.
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.

There is only one true God, but the one true God is three distinct Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. Yet there are not three Gods, but one God, for God is one. This teaching of the Three/One or Triune God is taught throughout the Bible, beginning in the very first chapter of Genesis and continuing through the last chapter of Revelation.

3. What else does God tell us of Himself in the Bible?

John 4:24: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Malachi 3:6: For I am the LORD, I change not.

Psalm 102:27: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.

Genesis 17:1: I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

Luke 1:37: For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Matthew 19:26: With God all things are possible.

Psalm 139:1-4: O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

John 21:17: Lord, thou knowest all things.

Jeremiah 23:24: Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.

Proverbs 15:3: The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Leviticus 19:2: Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.

Isaiah 6:3: Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Deuteronomy 32:4: He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

2 Timothy 2:13: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

Psalm 145:8-9: The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Exodus 34:6-7: And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

1 John 4:8: God is love.

The Bible teaches us much about the true God. We call some of these qualities and characteristics of God the attributes of God. God, Himself, tells us in His Word that He is eternal, unchangeable, all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere, holy, just, impartial and fair, faithful, good, merciful, kind, gracious and loving.

4. Can one worship or serve the true God if he denies the trinity or unity of God or if he does not trust in Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God and the Savior of mankind from sin and its consequences?

John 3:18,36: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. … He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

John 5:23: All men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

John 8:23-24: [Jesus said:] Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

John 8:42: Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

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.

John 17:3: And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

1 John 2:23: Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

1 John 5:11-12: And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

One cannot reject the three persons of the Godhead — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit — nor can one reject the unity of the Godhead — that God is one — and worship or serve the true God who has revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures. And apart from knowing and trusting in Jesus Christ as God the Son in the flesh and mankind’s only Savior, one cannot know or serve the true God. Therefore, we condemn as idolatry the religions of those who reject the Triune God of the Bible or seek to worship and serve Him apart from faith in Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God who came into this world a true man to redeem fallen mankind. And, it is for this reason that Christians do not take part in syncretistic prayers or worship or join together with lodges and other organizations which include prayers or duties toward a god other than the Triune God of the Bible or apart from faith in Jesus as the Son of God and the only way to worship and serve the true God.

SUMMARY
We believe that there is only one true God (Isaiah 44:6; 1 Corinthians 8:4). This God (called the LORD or JEHOVAH) is one divine Being or Essence, but three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (thus the name, Triune or Three/One God), each being eternal and equal in power and majesty because each Person is the LORD God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; 1 John 5:7; Isaiah 48:16-17; John 1:1; Colossians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 3:16; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 4:14). We believe that no one can worship or serve the Triune God except he believes that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God and the Savior of mankind from sin and its consequences (John 3:18,36; 5:23; 14:6; 1 John 2:23; 5:11-12). Hence, all who deny the Trinity of God (that God is three Persons) or the Unity of God (that God is one divine Being), or who do not trust in Jesus Christ, the Son, for salvation, do not worship and serve the true God.

[Scripture is quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.]