I am planning a three part series for Moore College Chapel on, well, God.
1. The Oneness of God
2. The Glory of God
3. The Wisdom of God
These are putative chapters of HIM: An Introduction.
What texts spring to mind?
What are the implications for us of the oneness, glory and wisdom of God?
Help me out here.
13 comments:
Am I right to connect the LORD's proclamation of his name in Ex. 34 with his glory passing by (33.22), such that the revelation of his name is the revelation of his glory? If so, the truth of John 1 that God's glory is manifest in his grace finds beautiful expression here (but without excluding the glory of his holiness and justice).
You forgot 'The Evidence for God'.
The God Delusion springs to mind. Also God is not Great.
Those are very modest books, Dave!
Does God's Love, God's Holiness and God's Righteousness fit into these topics, and if not will you treat them separately?
There series is part of a larger whole in which these topics are included...
How about Pseudo-Dionysius' De divinis nominibus, particularly Caput XIII thereof?
Modest books? Oh: that's sarcasm, isn't it? Like when God told Abraham to kill Isaac?
Seriously, I always find it amusing when people who claim to be in a personal relationship with the creator of the entire universe make allegations of hubris at those who examine such claims critically.
Sigh. You and the creationist 'scientists' should get together more often - seriously, arguing with you both is a very similar experience.
Even atheist philosophers like John Gray think Dawkins is intellectually simple and unscholarly. It isn't just me. Seriously: when you read Dawkins and Hitchens the feeling you get is 'is that ALL you got?' Dawkins' arguments have been dismembered in the English press by those favourable AND unfavourable to the idea of God.
The Shema comes to mind...
The oneness of God implies the "oneness" of our devotion to him?
Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Some thoughts about God's oneness:
- There is a unity and cohesion to the universe which means that integrated knowledge is possible. It is hard to imagine the concept of a university developing without Christian monotheism having been part of the framework of Western Europe (as Rodney Stark points out).
- Christian doctrine and behaviour are also integrated. On the former, it means that no two biblical truths are in conflict even if they might appear to be (e.g. God's sovereignty and human accountability). On the latter, there is no real tension between differing demands made of us by God. There is not a "tension" between social concern and evangelism, for example, although the two are sometimes spoken of as if they are a threat to each other.
- The persons of the Trinity cannot be played off against each other. Statements like, "Ours is a 'Jesus' church; yours is a 'Spirit' church" (as I've heard as being able to account for the difference between charismatic and evangelical churches) are inadequate.
When it comes to the scope of God's plan for us being saved and him being glorified, John 17 never ceases to take my breath away. The idea that we should be teammates with the Father and Son in bringing glory to God is staggering!
The Son
Jesus reveals the Father to us by his words (v6,8) -> We believe and so are given fullness of eternal life in knowing God forever (v2-3) -> By completing the Father's work, Jesus brings him glory (v4)
The Father
The Father gives his words to Jesus (v8) -> We accept those words, and so are set apart from the world (v14,16-17) -> The Father protects us from the devil (v15) -> So that we might one day be with Jesus and see the glory the Father has given him (v24)
Us
We believe in Jesus' message (v20) -> Jesus gives us his glory (v22a) so that we might mirror the oneness of Father and Son (v22b) -> So that others might believe (v21b,23b) -> So that we all may see his glory (v24)
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