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Systematic Theology: Theology Proper

The Doctrine of God

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?”

Romans 11:33–34

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The highest and holiest subject of human inquiry, the study of God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture. This series explores the existence of God, the divine attributes (His aseity, immutability, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, holiness, justice, goodness, and love), the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the eternal decrees, and the works of creation and providence. To know God truly is the aim of all theology and the purpose for which we were made. We approach this study not as detached observers but as worshippers, trembling before the majesty of the One who dwells in unapproachable light, yet who has drawn near to us in grace through His Son and by His Spirit.

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LESSON

1

Lesson 1: The Study of God — The Highest Pursuit

Why Theology Proper Is the Crown of All Knowledge

  • Theology Proper defined: the study of God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture

  • The distinction between Theology Proper and theology in the broad sense

  • Why the doctrine of God is the foundation of every other doctrine

  • A.W. Tozer’s dictum: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”

  • The pastoral urgency: a low view of God produces a low church, a low gospel, and a low life

  • The doxological aim: theology as worship, not merely information

  • The posture of the student: humility, reverence, and dependence on the Spirit

  • Key Text: Romans 11:33–36

LESSON

2

Lesson 2: Can We Know God? — The Knowability of God

The Tension Between Divine Incomprehensibility and True Knowledge

  • The incomprehensibility of God: “Can you discover the depths of God?” (Job 11:7)

  • The distinction between archetypal knowledge (God’s exhaustive self-knowledge) and ectypal knowledge (our creaturely, derivative knowledge)

  • We can know God truly without knowing Him exhaustively

  • The necessity of divine self-revelation: God must speak before we can know

  • General revelation: what creation and conscience reveal about God (Romans 1:19–20; Psalm 19:1–6)

  • Special revelation: what Scripture reveals about God — His character, His works, His will

  • The role of the Holy Spirit in illumination: knowing God is not merely intellectual but spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:10–16)

  • The difference between knowing about God and knowing God personally (Jeremiah 9:23–24)

  • Key Texts: Job 11:7; Jeremiah 9:23–24; 1 Corinthians 2:10–16

LESSON

3

Lesson 3: How Should We Speak of God? — Theological Language

Analogy, Anthropomorphism, and the Limits of Human Language

  • The problem of religious language: how can finite words describe an infinite God?

  • The via negativa (way of negation): saying what God is not (immortal, invisible, immutable)

  • The via eminentiae (way of eminence): ascribing perfections to God in the highest degree

  • Analogical language: our words about God are neither univocal (identical meaning) nor equivocal (unrelated meaning) but analogical (true yet accommodated)

  • Anthropomorphism in Scripture: when God is said to have hands, eyes, or to repent — and what these expressions mean

  • Calvin’s doctrine of accommodation: God “lipses” to speak to us in ways we can understand

  • The theological implications: humility in our speech about God, confidence in the truthfulness of His self-revelation

  • Key Texts: Isaiah 55:8–9; Numbers 23:19; Hosea 11:9

LESSON

4

Lesson 4: That God Exists — The Self-Evident and the Argued

The Innate Knowledge of God and the Classical Arguments

  • The sensus divinitatis: Calvin’s teaching that knowledge of God is implanted in every human heart

  • Romans 1:18–21 — the universal, suppressed knowledge of God

  • The distinction between proving God’s existence and demonstrating what is already known

  • The cosmological argument: everything that begins to exist has a cause — the universe began to exist — therefore the universe has a cause

  • The teleological argument: the design and order of the universe point to an intelligent Designer

  • The moral argument: the existence of objective moral values requires a transcendent moral Lawgiver

  • The ontological argument: the very concept of a maximally great Being entails His existence (Anselm)

  • The limits of natural theology: arguments can confirm but cannot save — only the gospel saves

  • Key Texts: Romans 1:18–21; Psalm 19:1–4; Acts 14:15–17; Acts 17:22–31

LESSON

5

Lesson 5: The God Who Is There — Against Atheism, Agnosticism, and Idolatry

The Biblical Response to the Denial and Distortion of God

  • Biblical theism: the affirmation that one true, personal, transcendent, and immanent God exists

  • Atheism: the denial of God’s existence — “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1)

  • Agnosticism: the claim that God’s existence cannot be known — and why Romans 1 renders this inexcusable

  • Deism: the belief in a distant, uninvolved Creator — refuted by the doctrine of providence

  • Pantheism: the identification of God with the universe — refuted by the Creator-creature distinction

  • Polytheism and idolatry: the exchange of the glory of God for created things (Romans 1:22–25)

  • The presuppositional response: the impossibility of the contrary — without the God of Scripture, intelligibility itself collapses

  • The pastoral implication: every false view of God is ultimately an act of worship misdirected

  • Key Texts: Psalm 14:1; Romans 1:22–25; Isaiah 44:6–8; Deuteronomy 6:4

LESSON

6

Lesson 6: Monotheism and the Shema — The Oneness of God

The God of Israel and the Unity of the Divine Being

  • The Shema: “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” (Deuteronomy 6:4)

  • The meaning of “one” (echad) — absolute unity or compound unity?

  • Old Testament monotheism: its uniqueness in the ancient Near Eastern context

  • The unity of God: there is only one divine Being, one divine essence, one God

  • The simplicity of God: God is not composed of parts — He is His attributes

  • The relationship between monotheism and the Trinity — one God in three Persons (introduced here, developed in Unit 6)

  • The practical implications of monotheism: undivided allegiance, undivided worship, undivided trust

  • Key Texts: Deuteronomy 6:4–5; Isaiah 45:5–7; Mark 12:29–30; 1 Corinthians 8:4–6

LESSON

7

Lesson 7: The Revealed Names of God in the Old Testament

What God’s Names Tell Us About His Character

  • The significance of names in the ancient world — a name reveals nature and character

  • Elohim (אלהים): God as the mighty Creator and sovereign Ruler

  • YHWH (יהוה) — the covenant name: “I AM WHO I AM” (Exodus 3:14) — self-existence, faithfulness, and covenant commitment

  • Adonai (אֲדֹנָי): Lord and Master — God’s sovereign authority over all creation

  • El Shaddai (אל שַׁדַּי): God Almighty — the all-sufficient God of the patriarchs

  • El Elyon: God Most High — His supreme exaltation above all things

  • The compound names: Jehovah-Jireh (the Lord will provide), Jehovah-Rapha (the Lord who heals), Jehovah-Nissi (the Lord our banner), Jehovah-Shalom (the Lord our peace), Jehovah-Tsidkenu (the Lord our righteousness), Jehovah-Shammah (the Lord is there)

  • Each name a window into the character of God and a ground of confidence for His people

  • Key Texts: Exodus 3:13–15; Genesis 17:1; Psalm 91:1; Jeremiah 23:6

LESSON

8

Lesson 8: The Name Above Every Name — God Revealed in Christ

New Testament Revelation of the Divine Name

  • Jesus’ use of “I AM” (egō eimi) in the Gospel of John — a deliberate claim to deity and continuity with YHWH

  • The seven “I AM” statements of John: Bread of Life, Light of the World, Door, Good Shepherd, Resurrection and the Life, Way/Truth/Life, True Vine

  • The absolute “I AM” of John 8:58 — “Before Abraham was born, I am”

  • The Father revealed through the Son: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9)

  • The Name above every name: Philippians 2:9–11 — the exaltation of Christ and the universal confession of His lordship

  • The Trinitarian name: “baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19) — one name, three Persons

  • The pastoral significance: the God of the Old Testament is the same God revealed in Jesus Christ — unchanging, faithful, glorious

  • Key Texts: John 8:58; John 14:9; Philippians 2:9–11; Matthew 28:19

LESSON

9

Lesson 9: The Aseity and Self-Sufficiency of God

The God Who Depends on Nothing and No One

  • Defining aseity (a se — “from Himself”): God exists in and of Himself, from all eternity, without origin or cause

  • God’s self-sufficiency: He does not need creation, the church, or human worship to be complete (Acts 17:24–25)

  • The fullness of the intra-Trinitarian life: Father, Son, and Spirit in eternal, self-sufficient communion of love and glory

  • The freedom of creation: God created not out of need but out of the overflow of His goodness and for the display of His glory

  • The implications for worship: we bring nothing to God that He lacks; our worship is pure gift, not transaction

  • The implications for assurance: a self-sufficient God is an unshakeable foundation — His faithfulness depends on His nature, not on our performance

  • Key Texts: Acts 17:24–25; Exodus 3:14; John 5:26; Psalm 50:10–12

LESSON

10

Lesson 10: The Immutability of God

The God Who Does Not Change

  • Defining immutability: God does not change in His being, perfections, purposes, or promises

  • The biblical testimony: “I, the Lord, do not change” (Malachi 3:6); “There is no variation or shifting shadow” (James 1:17)

  • The distinction between ontological immutability and relational responsiveness — God genuinely relates to His creation without being altered by it

  • The problem texts: when God is said to “repent” or “change His mind” (Genesis 6:6; 1 Samuel 15:11) — anthropopathic language and its proper interpretation

  • The relationship between immutability and impassibility: does God have emotions? The historic Reformed position

  • The pastoral significance: because God does not change, His promises are unbreakable, His love is unchanging, and His purposes cannot be thwarted

  • Key Texts: Malachi 3:6; James 1:17; Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 13:8

LESSON

11

Lesson 11: The Eternity and Infinity of God

Who Has the Final Word?

  • The eternity of God: God exists without beginning, without end, and without succession of moments

  • The relationship of God to time: does God exist in an eternal present, or does He experience duration? (The classical and relational views)

  • Psalm 90:2 — “From everlasting to everlasting, You are God”

  • The infinity of God: God is without limit in His being, His knowledge, His power, and His presence

  • The distinction between infinity and spatial extension — God is not “spread out” through space; He transcends space entirely

  • The incomprehensibility that flows from infinity: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable” (Psalm 145:3)

  • The pastoral comfort: an eternal God makes eternal promises; an infinite God has infinite resources for His children

  • Key Texts: Psalm 90:1–2; Psalm 145:3; Isaiah 57:15; 2 Peter 3:8

LESSON

12

Lesson 12: The Omnipresence of God

The God from Whom There Is No Hiding

  • Defining omnipresence: God is fully present everywhere at all times, without being contained by any place

  • The distinction between God’s immensity (He transcends all spatial limitations) and His omnipresence (He is present to every point of creation)

  • Psalm 139:7–12 — “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?”

  • Jeremiah 23:23–24 — “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?”

  • The distinction between God’s general presence, His gracious presence (with His people), and His glorious presence (in heaven)

  • The theological implications: pantheism confuses God’s presence with God’s being; omnipresence means God is present everywhere without being identical to anything

  • The pastoral significance: for the believer, omnipresence is comfort — God is never far; for the unbeliever, omnipresence is a warning — God is never absent

  • Key Texts: Psalm 139:7–12; Jeremiah 23:23–24; 1 Kings 8:27; Acts 17:27–28

LESSON

13

Lesson 13: The Omniscience and Wisdom of God

The God Who Knows All Things and Orders All Things Wisely

  • Defining omniscience: God knows all things — past, present, future, actual and possible — exhaustively and eternally

  • God’s knowledge is not acquired or learned; it is inherent, immediate, and simultaneous

  • The extent of divine knowledge: “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite” (Psalm 147:5)

  • God’s knowledge of the future: foreknowledge, middle knowledge (the Molinist proposal), and the Reformed response

  • The relationship between omniscience and human freedom — divine foreknowledge and human responsibility

  • The wisdom of God: not merely knowing all things but ordering all things according to the most perfect ends by the most perfect means

  • Romans 11:33 — “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!”

  • The pastoral significance: nothing surprises God, nothing escapes His notice, and nothing in your life is outside His wise and loving governance

  • Key Texts: Psalm 147:5; Isaiah 46:9–10; Romans 11:33–34; Hebrews 4:13

LESSON

14

Lesson 14: The Holiness of God

The Attribute That Crowns All Others

  • Defining holiness: God’s absolute moral purity and His transcendent otherness — His separation from all that is common, profane, or sinful

  • The twofold sense of holiness: ontological (God is wholly other) and ethical (God is wholly pure)

  • The seraphic anthem: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3) — the only attribute of God repeated three times for emphasis

  • Isaiah’s response: “Woe is me, for I am ruined!” (Isaiah 6:5) — the effect of beholding God’s holiness

  • R.C. Sproul’s observation: holiness is not one attribute among many; it is the attribute that qualifies all others — God’s love is holy love, His justice is holy justice, His wrath is holy wrath

  • The implications for the gospel: only a perfectly holy God requires a perfectly holy sacrifice — and only Christ can provide it

  • The call to holiness: “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16)

  • Key Texts: Isaiah 6:1–8; 1 Peter 1:15–16; Revelation 4:8; Habakkuk 1:13

LESSON

15

Lesson 15: The Righteousness and Justice of God

Recognizing What God Had Already Given

  • Defining righteousness (tsedaqah / dikaiosynē): God’s perfect conformity to His own nature as the standard of all that is right

  • Defining justice (mishpat): God’s righteous governance in rewarding the good and punishing evil

  • The distinction between God’s remunerative justice (rewarding obedience) and retributive justice (punishing sin)

  • God as the Judge of all the earth: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Genesis 18:25)

  • The problem: how can a just God justify sinners? (Romans 3:26) — the cross as the resolution

  • The propitiation of Christ: God’s justice and God’s mercy meet at the cross without compromise

  • The eschatological dimension: the final judgment as the ultimate vindication of divine justice

  • Key Texts: Genesis 18:25; Psalm 89:14; Romans 3:21–26; 2 Thessalonians 1:6–8

LESSON

16

Lesson 16: The Goodness, Love, and Grace of God

The God Who Gives What We Do Not Deserve

  • The goodness of God: God is the ultimate standard and source of all that is good — “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18)

  • The love of God: not sentimental affection but self-giving, covenant-keeping commitment to the good of His people

  • The distinction between God’s general benevolence (common grace extended to all) and His electing love (saving grace given to His chosen people)

  • The grace of God: unmerited favor toward those who deserve only wrath — the very heart of the gospel

  • The mercy of God: compassion toward the miserable — God withholding the punishment we deserve

  • The patience/longsuffering of God: God’s willingness to delay judgment to allow space for repentance (2 Peter 3:9)

  • The danger of distortion: sentimentalizing God’s love at the expense of His holiness, justice, and wrath

  • 1 John 4:8 — “God is love” — and what this does and does not mean

  • Key Texts: Psalm 136; Ephesians 2:4–7; 1 John 4:8–10; Romans 5:8; Lamentations 3:22–23

LESSON

17

Lesson 17: The Omnipotence and Sovereignty of God

The God Who Can Do All Things and Rules Over All Things

  • Defining omnipotence: God possesses all power and is able to do all that is consistent with His nature and will

  • What omnipotence does NOT mean: God cannot lie, cannot deny Himself, cannot sin, cannot make a logical contradiction true — these are not limitations but perfections

  • The sovereignty of God: God governs all things — all nations, all events, all hearts — according to the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11)

  • The relationship between sovereignty and human responsibility: concurrence without coercion (compatibilism in the Reformed tradition)

  • Sovereignty over evil: God is never the author of sin, yet sin never escapes His sovereign governance (Genesis 50:20; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27–28)

  • The comfort of sovereignty: “Our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases” (Psalm 115:3)

  • The pastoral application: in a world of chaos, sovereign omnipotence is the believer’s unshakeable anchor

  • Key Texts: Ephesians 1:11; Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:34–35; Isaiah 46:9–11; Job 42:2

LESSON

18

Lesson 18: The Wrath of God

The Holy Hatred of Sin and the Certainty of Judgment

  • Defining divine wrath: God’s settled, righteous, and personal opposition to all that is evil

  • Wrath as an attribute, not merely an action: God’s anger is not arbitrary or emotional volatility — it is the necessary response of perfect holiness to sin

  • The biblical testimony: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Romans 1:18)

  • The unpopularity of wrath in modern theology — and why the church must not flinch from it

  • The relationship between love and wrath: God’s wrath is not the opposite of His love; it is the expression of His love for justice, holiness, and the good

  • The cross as the place where wrath and love converge: propitiation — Christ bearing the wrath we deserved (Romans 3:25; 1 John 2:2)

  • The eschatological wrath: the reality of hell and the final judgment as the ultimate display of divine justice

  • The pastoral urgency: the gospel is good news precisely because the wrath of God is real

  • Key Texts: Romans 1:18; Romans 3:25; John 3:36; Nahum 1:2–3; Revelation 6:16–17

LESSON

19

Lesson 19: One God in Three Persons — The Mystery of the Trinity

The Central Doctrine of the Christian Faith

  • The doctrine stated: there is one God who eternally exists as three co-equal, co-eternal, consubstantial Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

  • The Trinity is not a contradiction: one Being in three Persons — one “what,” three “whos”

  • The Trinity is not tritheism (three gods), modalism (one God in three modes), or Arianism (one God with two lesser beings)

  • The biblical evidence: the plural language of creation (“Let Us make man” — Genesis 1:26), the threefold benedictions, the baptismal formula (Matthew 28:19)

  • The baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16–17): Father speaking, Son being baptized, Spirit descending — three Persons in one scene

  • The Apostolic benediction: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (2 Corinthians 13:14)

  • Why the Trinity matters: without the Trinity, the atonement collapses, the gospel evaporates, and the Christian life is unintelligible

  • Key Texts: Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 3:16–17; John 1:1–3; Genesis 1:26

LESSON

20

Lesson 20: The Eternal Relations of Origin

The Father Begets, the Son Is Begotten, the Spirit Proceeds

  • The eternal generation of the Son: the Father eternally begets the Son — not creation, not temporal origin, but eternal communication of the divine essence

  • The biblical basis: “The only begotten Son” (John 1:18; John 3:16 — monogenēs); “You are My Son, today I have begotten You” (Psalm 2:7; Hebrews 1:5)

  • The eternal procession of the Spirit: the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (the filioque) — the Western church’s addition and the Eastern church’s objection

  • The biblical basis: “the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father” (John 15:26); “the Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9)

  • The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381 AD) and the formulation of Trinitarian orthodoxy

  • The concept of perichoresis (mutual indwelling): the Father is in the Son, the Son is in the Father, the Spirit is in both — one divine life shared by three Persons

  • The inseparable operations (opera ad extra): all external works of God are works of the whole Trinity, though appropriated to individual Persons

  • Key Texts: John 1:18; John 15:26; Psalm 2:7; Hebrews 1:3; Galatians 4:6

LESSON

21

Lesson 21: The Deity and Personhood of the Son and the Spirit

The Full Divinity of Each Person of the Godhead

  • The deity of the Son: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1)

  • The Son possesses every divine attribute: eternity (John 17:5), omniscience (John 21:17), omnipotence (Colossians 1:16–17), immutability (Hebrews 13:8)

  • The Son receives divine worship (Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 5:12–14) and bears divine names (Isaiah 9:6; Titus 2:13)

  • The deity of the Holy Spirit: the Spirit is called God (Acts 5:3–4); possesses divine attributes (omniscience — 1 Corinthians 2:10–11; omnipresence — Psalm 139:7)

  • The personhood of the Spirit: the Spirit speaks (Acts 13:2), teaches (John 14:26), intercedes (Romans 8:26–27), can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), and can be lied to (Acts 5:3)

  • Against the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Unitarianism: the biblical and historical case for Nicene orthodoxy

  • The Athanasian Creed: “The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; and yet there are not three Gods but one God”

  • Key Texts: John 1:1; Acts 5:3–4; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3, 8; Isaiah 9:6

LESSON

22

Lesson 22: The Trinity in the History of Doctrine

From Nicaea to the Present — How the Church Defended the Faith

  • The pre-Nicene development: early Trinitarian language in the apostolic fathers and apologists

  • The Arian controversy: Arius’s denial of the eternal deity of the Son — “There was a time when He was not”

  • The Council of Nicaea (325 AD): the homoousios clause — the Son is “of one substance” with the Father

  • Athanasius contra mundum: the lonely defense of Nicene orthodoxy against the Arian world

  • The Cappadocian Fathers (Basil, Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa): the development of the distinction between ousia (essence) and hypostasis (person)

  • The Council of Constantinople (381 AD): the affirmation of the full deity of the Holy Spirit

  • The Chalcedonian synthesis and the mature Trinitarian orthodoxy of the church

  • Modern challenges: social trinitarianism, eternal functional subordination (EFS), and the call to return to classical Trinitarianism

  • Key Texts: The Nicene Creed; John 10:30; John 14:9–11, 16–17, 26

LESSON

23

Lesson 23: The Decrees of God — What God Has Purposed from Eternity

From the Enlightenment to the Present

  • Defining the decrees: “The decrees of God are His eternal purpose, according to the counsel of His will, whereby, for His own glory, He has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q. 7)

  • The characteristics of the divine decrees: eternal, wise, free, unconditional, immutable, comprehensive, and efficacious

  • The distinction between God’s decretive will (what He sovereignly ordains) and His preceptive will (what He morally commands)

  • Ephesians 1:11 — God “works all things after the counsel of His will”

  • The decree of election: God’s choice of certain individuals to salvation before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4–5)

  • The infralapsarian and supralapsarian ordering of the decrees — the logical order of God’s eternal purposes

  • The relationship between the decrees and human freedom: God’s sovereignty does not nullify human responsibility

  • The pastoral comfort: nothing that happens is accidental — every detail of history and of your life has been purposed by an all-wise, all-good God

  • Key Texts: Ephesians 1:4–5, 11; Acts 2:23; Acts 4:27–28; Romans 9:11; Isaiah 46:10

LESSON

24

Lesson 24: Predestination, Election, and Reprobation

Why We Can Trust Our Bibles

  • Defining predestination: God’s eternal determination of the destiny of every moral creature

  • Defining election: God’s unconditional choice of certain individuals to salvation — not based on foreseen faith or merit

  • The biblical basis: Romans 9:6–24; Ephesians 1:3–11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; John 6:37, 44, 65

  • The Arminian alternative: conditional election based on foreseen faith — and the Reformed critique

  • Defining reprobation: God’s sovereign decision to pass over certain individuals, leaving them in their sin and justly punishing them for it

  • The distinction between active reprobation and preterition (the “passing over”)

  • The mystery and the humility: “Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?” (Romans 9:20)

  • The doxological response: election is a doctrine that humbles the proud, comforts the anxious, and produces worship in the heart of the redeemed

  • Key Texts: Romans 9:6–24; Ephesians 1:3–11; John 6:37–44; 2 Timothy 1:9; Romans 8:29–30

LESSON

25

Lesson 25: In the Beginning God Created — Creation Ex Nihilo

The Origin of All Things in the Sovereign Will of God

  • The doctrine of creation ex nihilo: God created the universe out of nothing by the word of His power

  • Genesis 1:1 — “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” — the most foundational statement in all of Scripture

  • Hebrews 11:3 — “The worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible”

  • The Trinitarian nature of creation: the Father as source, the Son as agent (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16), the Spirit as sustainer (Genesis 1:2; Psalm 104:30)

  • Creation as an act of divine freedom: God was under no compulsion to create — He created freely, for His own glory, out of the overflow of His goodness

  • The Creator-creature distinction: the fundamental divide in all of reality — God is not the world, and the world is not God

  • The implications for worship: creation is not divine; only the Creator is to be worshipped

  • Key Texts: Genesis 1:1; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16–17; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 4:11

LESSON

26

Lesson 26: The Six Days of Creation

Affirming the Biblical Account of God’s Creative Work

  • The six-day creation: affirming that God created the heavens and the earth in six literal, sequential, 24-hour days

  • The exegetical case for literal days: the Hebrew word yom with an ordinal number, the evening-morning formula, the pattern established in Exodus 20:8–11

  • Surveying the alternative views: the Day-Age theory, the Framework Hypothesis, the Gap Theory, theistic evolution — and why they are found wanting

  • The age of the earth: a young-earth creationist perspective grounded in the genealogies and chronology of Scripture

  • The creation of Adam and Eve: the special, immediate creation of the first human beings as the crown of God’s creative work (Genesis 2:7, 21–22)

  • The historicity of Adam: why the historical Adam is essential to the coherence of the gospel (Romans 5:12–21; 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45–49)

  • The goodness of creation: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31)

  • Key Texts: Genesis 1–2; Exodus 20:8–11; Romans 5:12–21; 1 Corinthians 15:45–49

LESSON

27

Lesson 27: Creation and the Glory of God

Affirming the Biblical Account of God’s Creative Work

  • The purpose of creation: the display of the glory of God — “The heavens are telling of the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1)

  • Creation as a theater of divine attributes: power, wisdom, beauty, goodness, order, and generosity are all displayed in what God has made

  • Jonathan Edwards: God created the world as an emanation and communication of His own fullness — a spilling-over of divine glory

  • The cultural mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28) — humanity’s calling as stewards and vice-regents

  • The relationship between creation and redemption: creation is not an end in itself but the stage upon which the drama of redemption unfolds

  • The groaning of creation and the hope of restoration: Romans 8:19–22 — creation awaits the redemption of the sons of God

  • The new creation: the ultimate goal is not the destruction of the material world but its renovation and glorification — “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5)

  • Key Texts: Psalm 19:1; Genesis 1:28, 31; Romans 8:19–22; Revelation 21:1–5; Isaiah 65:17

LESSON

28

Lesson 28: God’s Sustaining and Governing Hand

Providence Defined: Preservation, Concurrence, and Government

  • Defining providence: God’s continuous activity by which He upholds, cooperates with, and directs all things toward His appointed ends

  • Preservation: God sustains all created things in existence moment by moment (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17; Acts 17:28)

  • Concurrence: God cooperates with the actions of His creatures in such a way that their actions are genuinely their own, yet governed by His purpose

  • Government: God directs all things — nations, nature, human hearts, and even the actions of the wicked — toward the fulfillment of His sovereign plan

  • The 1689 Confession, Chapter 5: “God, the good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom, upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures and things”

  • The scope of providence: nothing falls outside — not a sparrow, not a hair, not a roll of the dice (Matthew 10:29–30; Proverbs 16:33)

  • The mystery of providence: God governs evil without authoring it, ordains suffering without being cruel, and turns the worst of human sin into the means of His greatest glory

  • Key Texts: Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17; Matthew 10:29–30; Proverbs 16:33; Genesis 50:20

LESSON

29

Lesson 29: Providence, Evil, and the Problem of Suffering

How Can a Good God Allow Suffering in the World He Governs?

  • The problem of evil stated: if God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good, why does evil exist?

  • The logical problem of evil — and why it has been largely abandoned in academic philosophy (Alvin Plantinga’s Free Will Defense)

  • The evidential problem of evil: the sheer weight and distribution of suffering — and the Christian response

  • The biblical framework: God’s sovereign permission of evil, the reality of secondary causes, and the ultimate defeat of evil in Christ

  • The book of Job: the paradigmatic case study — Job’s suffering, his friends’ theology, and God’s answer from the whirlwind

  • The cross as the definitive answer: God did not remain distant from suffering — He entered it, bore it, and conquered it through the death and resurrection of His Son

  • Romans 8:28 — the audacious claim that God works ALL things together for good — not some things, not most things, but all things

  • The eschatological resolution: evil will be judged, suffering will end, and every tear will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4)

  • The pastoral posture: theodicy is ultimately a pastoral task — the suffering need a Savior more than they need a syllogism

  • Key Texts: Job 1–2; 42:1–6; Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 4:16–18; Revelation 21:3–4

LESSON

30

Lesson 30: The Beatific Vision — Knowing God Now and Forever

The Ultimate Aim of Theology: To See God and Be Satisfied

  • The concept of the beatific vision: the ultimate destiny of the redeemed is to see God as He is (1 John 3:2) and to behold His glory forever (John 17:24)

  • Theology as pilgrimage: every doctrine studied in this series has been a step further into the knowledge of the most glorious Being in existence

  • The “already/not yet” of knowing God: we know Him truly now by faith through His Word and Spirit; we will know Him fully then by sight in His presence

  • Moses’ request: “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exodus 33:18) — the cry of every true theologian

  • Paul’s prayer: “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10)

  • The doxological conclusion: all theology that does not terminate in worship has failed in its highest purpose

  • The eternal occupation of the redeemed: beholding, enjoying, and glorifying the triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — world without end

  • A closing meditation: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36)

  • Key Texts: 1 John 3:2; John 17:3, 24; Exodus 33:18–23; Philippians 3:8–10; Romans 11:36

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