Personality of God
Personality of God.
God is a Person, One possessing Self-consciousness, Self-determination, and Power. People have many vague ideas of God as a force, a power, an influence. But it is impossible to have fellowship with a force or an influence. The Words of our Lord as He was in the Garden suggest fellowship with God: "Now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves" (John 17:13). See also Exodus 3:14; I Corinthians 2:11.
Never confuse personality with visibility. Substance has nothing to do with personality. The personality of God can be seen:
1. In Names. "God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Ex. 3:14). The words "I AM THAT I AM" suggest personality.
2. In Contrasts. By this we mean that the Scriptures contrast the only wise God with the gods of the pagans: "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" (I Thess. 1:9). See also Jeremiah 10:16; Acts 14:15.
3. In Attributes. That which is characteristic of God is called an attribute. That which He does, denotes personality, such as:
a. God Grieves. Only a person can grieve: "It repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart" (Gen. 6:6).
b. God Repents. In the above Scripture (Gen. 6:6) we note that God repents. I Samuel 15:29 says: "The Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent." Here one portion of the Scriptures states that God repents, another declares that He does not repent. What is the answer? When man repents, he repents of some moral deed; when God repents, He repents of some judicial act. God's attitude toward sin never changes. Take the case of Jonah and Nineveh. Nineveh repented; it changed its mind; it changed its character. God, however, did not change His mind; He did not change His attitude toward sin. But inasmuch as Nineveh had repented, there was no need of judgment against sin. Its sin had been confessed and forgiven.
c. God Loves. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent" (Rev. 3:19). Only a personality can love.
d. God Hates. "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him" (Prov. 6:16).
e. God Hears. "He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know" (Ps. 94:9, 10)?
4. In Acts.
a. God Creates. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). See also Isaiah 45:18.
b. God Provides. "These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth" (Ps. 104:27-30). The material needs of this entire world are met and supplied by God.
c. God Promotes. Some people seemingly are pushed ahead of others. The world has a name for this — luck. But the correct answer is the LORD! Kings receive their power from Him; pastors receive their charges from Him; husbands receive their wives from Him. All promotions are from the Lord. "Promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Ps. 75:6, 7).
d. God Cares. God has a heart; only a person has a heart. God has concern: "Humble yourselves . . . casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (I Peter 5:6, 7).
D. The Trinity of God.
1. Trinity in Personality. By this, of course, we mean that God is Three in One. There are some errors concerning the Trinity; some have been proposed ignorantly, and others deliberately.
We know that the Bible is the Word of God, if for no other reason than that we have the Trinity in it. If man had written the Bible, he would have left the Trinity out of it; for the Trinity is too hard to understand — the mind of man cannot comprehend it. The only thing that the Child of God can do is to accept it by faith and stand upon what God says about it. Just because we cannot seem to understand all about it is no sign that it is not true.
There is one error which proposes that there are three Individuals in the Godhead. But remember, God is not a Triad.
Another error is that the Trinity is just one Person, manifesting Himself in three. That is. there are three essences in one Person, Jesus Christ. The Father and the Holy Spirit are only manifestations.
Still another, and damnable, denies the Trinity altogether, and consequently makes the Son and Holy Spirit creatures of God, those who came into existence after God. In other words, they who hold to this erroneous theory declare that there was a time when the Son was not; that there was a time when the Son of God never existed. They use this sort of reasoning: "A son cannot be as old as his father — a father always has to exist before his son in order to beget him; God is the Father of the Son of God; therefore, the Father had to exist before the Son in order to beget Him." To this we reply: "If a person should declare that he is a father, and has been one for ten years, then we know that he has had a child for ten years. A man cannot he a father without having a child. Yes, a man who has been a father for ten years has had a child for ten years. Even so in the Godhead — if God is the Eternal Father, then He must have had an Eternal Son!"
The doctrine of the Trinity is a doctrine of pure revelation from God. And remember, we worship not three Gods, but One — God: the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. It is practically impossible to give examples of the Trinity. Some have offered the threeleaved clover as an example; others have suggested water: in its natural state, liquid; when heated, vapor; when frozen, solid. Still, this is not clear. For God is Three in One!
Therefore, we propose that the best illustration is man himself: body, soul and spirit. He is not three persons, but a three-in-one person. And there are three things which pertain to each separately: food to the body, music to the soul, and worship to the spirit — yet all three of these things appeal to the one man.Rays from the sun may be used as a further type. When the sunshine breaks upon the earth it is composed of three elements: heat rays, which can be felt but not seen; light rays, which can be seen, but not felt; chemical rays, which cannot be seen, nor felt, but do have effects. All together make sunshine. We cannot understand light — three rays and yet one light. Without one of these elements there would be no light; without one part of man, man would cease to be; and without one Person of the Godhead, God would not be God!
Old Testament Names
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