Understanding Who God Is - …€¦ ·  · 2014-09-14Understanding Who God Is (Workbook) ... HOW MANY GODS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT? 39. ... From Ken Raggio's Book "Greatest Doctrines

Understanding Who God Is (Workbook)

PRINT ONLY in pencil.

The completion of THIS WORKBOOK SERVES AS A FINAL EXAM to be turned in at the end of this course. You should begin working on this workbook now and throughout the course.

Leadership Development Institute Fall 2014 Instructors: Apostle Bishop Larry Smith

Bishop Dr. Alvin Rozier

UNDERSTANDING WHO GOD IS INSTRUCTIONS: Write down the answers to the following questions, in the space provided. You may use additional sheets of paper for your answers if needed.

Browse through this workbook prior to the each class to familiarize yourself with the questions. You will obtain answers to each question through lectures, reading, and discussion.

TOOLS NEEDED: (1) Concordance, (2) Bible Dictionary, (3) Greek-Hebrew Bible, (4) English Dictionary, (5) KJV Bible. WHAT THIS STUDY IS NOT: This study is not to encourage the student to be contentious, but to encourage the student to be prepared to instruct everyone who desires understanding of who God is.

1. REVIEW THE FOLLOWING THEOLOGICAL TERMS: Define “theist”:

Define “ditheist”:

Define “binatarian”

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Define “tritheist”:

Define “trinitarian”:

Define “monotheist”:

Define “triune God”:

Define “Godhead”:

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2. Which of the above theological terms are found in the Scriptures? Where?

3. What misconception is conveyed to others when worshippers call themselves “Jesus

Only” worshippers?

4. What does “Elohim” (El-o-heem) mean?

5. What is the meaning of the word “Lord”?

6. What does the name LORD in the Old Testament mean and how was this used?

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7. What does the following mean?: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was

God, and the Word was with God.

8. If the Word was in the beginning, where can we find the Word in the Old Testament?

9. Which of the following are not biblical terms?

God in flesh

Son of God

son of man

God the Son

Eternal Son

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10. Why did Jesus say that the Father was the only true God?

11. Are the following proper questions?: What is God? Who is God?

12. What does the term “Godhead” mean? What does the term “Godhood” mean?

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13. What is a spirit?

14. What kind of being is God?

15. What is the meaning of the phrase “I Am” as God used it when he instructed Moses?

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16.No Man Has Seen God At Anytime. We cannot physically see God. Jesus said, “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. John 5:37

In the book of Exodus:

Exd 33:17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.

Exd 33:18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

Exd 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.

Exd 33:20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

Exd 33:21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

Exd 33:22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

Exd 33:23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

EXERCISE:

16(b) So, what did Abraham see? (Genesis 18)

16(c)What did Jacob see? (Genesis 32:21-33)

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16(d) What did Moses see? (Exodus 3)

16(e) What did Moses and the Elders see? (Exodus 24:1-18)

16(f) What did Paul see on the road to Damascus? In the Arabian Dessert?

17. What did Stephen see, as he was stoned to death?

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18. What is God’s relationship to time?

19. What does the use of personal pronouns mean, when describing God?

20. Explain God’s attribute “omniscience” (om-ni-science).

21. Explain God’s attribute “omnipotence” (om-ni-po-tence).

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22. How many times did God manifest his presence to Abraham? List the Scriptures of

these manifestations.

23. How many times did God manifest his presence to Moses? List the Scriptures of these

manifestations.

24. How many times did God manifest his presence to Jacob? List the Scriptures of these

manifestations.

25. How many times did God manifest his presence to Moses and the Children of Israel in

the wilderness? List the Scriptures of these manifestations.

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26. How many times did God manifest his presence to Apostle Paul? Where did you find

these manifestations in the Scriptures?

27. In the book of Matthew, How did God manifest himself to the world? Who

experienced this manifestation first? Second? Third? Fourth?

28. By what name was God known to Abraham?

29. By what name was God known to Moses?

30. What names of God did Isaiah prophesy to Ahab? (Isaiah 9:6)

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31. By what names did God introduce himself to the Children of Israel?

32. Was the term “Father” commonly used in the Old Testament?

33. List Scriptures that states or demonstrates that the Father and the Holy Ghost are the

same essence.

34. How does God manifest himself as the Holy Ghost?

35. Did the fleshly body of Jesus preexist? If your answer is yes, explain how it preexisted.

Give Scripture.

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36. According to the Law of Moses, why is it unlikely that Jewish writers would concoct

such a story as the virgin birth?

37. Give evidences of Jesus’ (God in flesh) humanity.

38. Is the descriptive term “dual nature” (of Jesus Christ) biblical doctrine. Where is this

term found in Scripture?

39. Is the descriptive term “oneness” (of the Godhead) a biblical doctrine? Where is this

term found in Scripture?

40. Is the descriptive term “trinity” (of the Godhead) a biblical doctrine? Where is this

term found in Scripture?

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41. List two Scriptures that declare that Jesus is divine.

42. How did Jesus identify himself as the comforter?

43. Name seven works of the Holy Ghost.

44. (a) Explain why theologians and some religious groups use the following nonbiblical

terms today. (b) From where did each term originate? Frequent use of unbiblical terminology in instruction can lead to confusion and confusion can lead to doctrinal error and doctrinal error can lead to heresy.

Pentecostal

(a)

(b)

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“three persons” in the Godhead

(a)

(b)

Protestant

(a)

(b)

Apostolic Faith

(a)

(b)

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Yahweh

(a)

(b)

Jehovah

(a)

(b)

When and where did the Holy Ghost first appear in history?

When and where did the Son first appear in history?

When and where did the Father first appear in history?

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Circle True or False?

The work of the Holy Ghost was presented to the earthly church after Jesus Christ brought or initiated redemption.

Explain:

Circle True or False?

To be the second person of the Godhead is to be inferior to the first person of the Godhead, therefore, the second person is not God.

Explain:

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Understanding Who God Is (Answer Book)

ANSWERS TO THE WORKBOOK are found on the next 50 pages of literature.

A compilation of lectures and articles borrowed from theologians and Bible scholars.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY 21

THE REASON FOR THIS OBJECTIVE 21

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE GODHEAD? 21

THE ONENESS OF GOD 22

IN THE BEGINNING GOD… 34

GOD IN CHRIST JESUS 38

HOW MANY GODS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT? 39

ELOHIM AND THE PLURAL PASSAGES 41

ONE GOD 50

THE HOLY SPIRIT 54

HAS MAN SEEN GOD—YES OR NO? 61

JESUS ONLY? 63

GOD and gods 64

Tritheistic Doctrine Trinitarian Doctrine Ditheism Monotheism

SPIRIT AND WORD: The essence of God’s Being 66

THE WISDOM OF GOD: The Word was God 68

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LET’S START WITH THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:

Is the God of the New Testament a different God from the God of the Old Testament?

Is the Lord of the Apostle Paul (who was a Hebrew Christian) a different Lord from the Lord of Abraham (who was the first Hebrew)?

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY

Is to show that the God of the New Testament is the same as the God of the Old Testament―the

same God with the same attributes.

THE REASON FOR THIS OBJECTIVE However, we are expected to study the Scriptures in order to have a reliable foundation upon which

to place our faith.

Jews in Berea were considered “more noble” (Acts 17:11) when they searched the Scriptures daily

in trying to decide whether or not they should accept the Apostle Paul’s teachings: they were so

considered because they accepted Paul’s challenge, going to the Scriptures and proving to

themselves what was the truth, Jesus reminds us that the Word of God is truth (John 17:17).

We can be thankful that the God of the Bible has not left us without testimony… For the Bible

clearly reveals to us two great, related truths: (1) there is only one Almighty God of the Old

Testament and New Testament and (2) the complete deity of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Word

made flesh.

Why is it important to know about the Godhead? Jesus said in John 8:24, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if you believe

not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins”. We also read of Jesus saying, “All things are delivered to

me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but

the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him” (Luke 10:22). These verses tell us that if we

don’t want to die in our sins, we must know who Jesus is, and the only way to know who Jesus is, is

by revelation from Jesus Himself. If you have never received that revelation for yourself, it is our

hope that this lesson will give you the knowledge to receive for yourself the true Bible doctrine of

the Oneness of God.

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From Ken Raggio's Book "Greatest Doctrines of the Bible"

The Oneness of God A Biblical Explanation of God

By Ken Raggio

WHO is God?

But if there really is a God, NOTHING is more important than knowing exactly who He is!

Who is God? What is God like?

NOBODY has any right to define God outside of Biblical terms. What does the BIBLE say about the nature and identity of God? The Bible is the most ancient and most primordial source of information about God. If the Bible is not right, nothing else is.

Knowing God is more exciting than an expedition to the most exotic place on earth. Knowing God is more exciting than star-gazing or space exploration.

The Bible is the most ancient and historically substantiated declaration anywhere about God. There is no greater authority from antiquity on this subject.

The Bible is and should be the textbook of choice for anyone seeking to know God. Outside the Bible, men ascribe pathetic titles to God - MISNOMERS!

"Divine Providence," "the Universal Consciousness," "The Force," or "the Man Upstairs." The use of such epithets is dead give-aways that the speaker does not know Him at all.

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The true and living God of the Bible is magnificent and mighty, and we should make every effort necessary to discover Him according to the eternal, absolute Truth.

Ambiguous titles for God grossly misrepresent and even MASK His true identity.

For those reasons, let us totally ABANDON trite or inaccurate sayings about God - FOR THE SAKE OF HIS HOLINESS!

Let us STOP speaking ignorantly of God! Let us STUDY HIS OWN WORDS about Himself, and see if they are TRUE!

Certainly, if God is as great as many have claimed, He should be perfectly able to REVEAL HIMSELF to mankind! Let Him speak for Himself! If He can and does, we should utterly surrender ourselves to Him!

GOD IS THE ORIGINAL LIVING, THINKING, INVISIBLE SPIRIT. All the world's religions claim to know Him. But NO God of any religion anywhere on earth PROVES HIMSELF more perfectly than the God of the Bible. Unless and until someone can demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that the God of the Bible either does NOT exist, or is proven inferior to any other gods, we should carefully consider that:

1. He is defined in exact terms. 2. Those terms are His terms.

The most ancient and primordial of all the Sacred Texts is the Holy Bible. The Bible claims for itself to be the Word of God.

Read the Bible, and let God tell US what He is like. No extra-Biblical descriptions

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of God carry more weight than those He provides for Himself. Let the Holy Bible have its say right now. See if it reveals God to us. If it does, let us believe both it and Him.

God says He is the ONLY GOD.

"I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone,

that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself" (Isaiah 44:24). The God of the Bible claims to be the Creator and He claims to be the ONLY ONE of His kind!

As the SOLITARY Deity, He says He has no peers and no counselors. There are no others like Him. Moses declared, "the Lord our God is one Lord," (Deuteronomy 6:4).

"Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any," (Isaiah 44:8b). "I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God," (Isaiah 44:6b).

We know these things because He revealed them to us by His Word. God made Himself known to men for all times with His Word. It is because of His Word that we know what we know about Him. The ancient men who were moved upon by His Holy Spirit spoke His words. He inspired what they wrote. Their explanations of Him were actually His explanations of Himself.

So the more we read His Word, the more accurately we will comprehend His true nature. Let us look closer.

Can men SEE Him? Did Old Testament Men actually see God?

Is God a voice in the wind?

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Adam and Eve HEARD a "VOICE" walking in the "cool (Hebrew: wind) of the day," (Genesis 3:8).

The invisible God manifested Himself to Adam and Eve as a VOICE in the wind.

Nothing in these scriptures suggests that the voice came from any particular body, but obviously came from thin air, in the same manner that it was later heard by the young child Samuel (I Samuel 3), by John the Baptist (Luke 3:22), and by Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:4).

Is God a vision, a man, or an angel?

The invisible Spirit (Father, Lord, and King) manifested Himself to Abram in a "vision" in Genesis 15:1. He manifested Himself as a "man" in Genesis 18:2, 22, 23, 33; but the "man" was apparently an "angel," according to Genesis 19:1, 10.

Is God a dream?

Then God manifested Himself to Abimelech in a "dream" in Genesis 20:3.

Later, Jacob also "saw" the Lord in a "dream" (Genesis 28:12), standing at the top of a ladder that reached into heaven. God manifested Himself to Jacob as a "man" in the wrestling match of Genesis 32:24,30, but the prophet Hosea identified that "man" as an "angel" (Hosea 12:3,4).

God's Spirit again "appeared" as an "angel" to Moses in the burning bush of Exodus 3. The "angel" said, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Yet God is not a mere angel. He only occasionally appeared as one.

Is God fire, smoke, thunder, lightning, a thick cloud or an earthquake?

In Exodus 19:10-19, God "appeared" to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. They did not actually "see" Him however, because He "descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." There were "thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount."

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God is A SPIRIT! "Moses spake, and God answered Him by a voice," Exodus 10:19b. Moses and seventy elders of Israel "saw" an apparition of God, which must have been ghost- like: "and there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in His clearness," (Exodus 24:10).

God is not a man.

This was a translucent manifestation of an invisible Spirit, not a flesh and bone appearance, because "God is not a man," according to Numbers 24:19 and Job 9:32, and the Son of Man, Jesus, testified that "A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have," (Luke 24:39).

"A cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses," in Exodus 33:9b.

Then, "the Lord spake with Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to a friend," in Exodus 33:11. Even though God was "face to face" with Moses, Moses did not actually see a face.

"Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me."

The only physical manifestation was a cloud, for in Exodus 33:20, God said, "thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live."

The cloud obviously did not satisfy Moses, so he said, "Shew me thy glory," (Exodus 33:18) to which God replied, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee," (Exodus 33:22-23).

Was His glory or goodness a body? God agreed to put Moses in a "clift of the rock" and "cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen," (Exodus 33:22-23).

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Even Moses never saw God. God said His "hand" would "cover" Moses. Was God's hand six feet tall? And how could an invisible Spirit extend a "hand"?

Exodus 34:5-6 describes exactly what happened: "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him..."

The hand of the Lord must have been the cloud, because in fact, that is all Moses saw. Again, Moses did not actually VIEW God!

You can look as painstakingly as you like for a description of what Moses "saw," but there is absolutely no evidence that Moses saw any literal physical body of God at all. Only a cloud.

But God had not promised to show him a body; only the "back parts" (Exodus 33:23) of "my goodness" (verse 19) and "my glory" (verse 22).

What did the "back parts" of God's "goodness" and "glory" look like?

Read the Book of Genesis, and you will see the back parts of God's goodness and glory. Read the Creation story. Read the history of Adam and Eve, Enoch, Noah and Abraham. Those stories are back parts of God's goodness and glory that Moses saw that day! When or where else did Moses get those revelations?

In one last Old Testament story, we read of the prophet Daniel's great vision of Daniel 7.

Daniel "saw" the Father God, as the "Ancient of Days," "whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool," (Daniel 7:9). Then Daniel "saw" that "one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before Him," (Daniel 7:13).

Since this was a VISION that Daniel was having, we cannot say that he was actually "seeing" God in real time at all, but was viewing an allegorical

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representation while in a dream-like trance. Keep in mind that in the beginning of Daniel 7, Daniel "saw" a lion with eagle's wings, a bear with three ribs in its mouth, a leopard with four wings and four heads, and a fourth dreadful beast with iron teeth and ten horns.

No one would construe these to be literal beasts, but FIGURATIVE ILLUSTRATIONS - of a series of world empires in a prophetic allegory.

"No man hath seen, nor can see..."

When we take into account that "God is a SPIRIT," (John 4:24), we must conclude that Daniel's vision of the Ancient of Days was an ALLEGORY: a figure - an illustration - of the God who is the "blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen," (I Timothy 6:15b, 16).

In addition, the "son of man" that Daniel "saw" was also a prophetic allegory that represented, in the FUTURE TENSE, the coming Messiah, who would not be conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary for several hundred years to come.

At the time Daniel "saw" the "son," the son of man did not even exist. The "Only Begotten of the Father" would be MADE OF A WOMAN only "when the fulness of the time was come," (Galatians 4:4).

Of the forty-four so-called "appearances" of God in the Old Testament, no one in fact ever "saw" God at all!

The overwhelming evidence shows that the Lord God, Father and Holy Spirit of the Old Testament NEVER HAD A BODY AT ALL!

What was "seen" was a wide variety of manifestations of God. Voices, dreams, visions, fire, smoke, clouds, whirlwinds, earthquakes, angels, men, and even ghostlike figures.

None of these forms were actually the fullness of God in a bodily form. They were only temporary, nameless manifestations of the invisible, omnipresent, Holy Spirit who calls Himself our Father. Pa

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They saw many things, but they never saw His body. He never had one.

Jesus verified that God is invisible. He told the Pharisees, "Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape," (John 5:37).

"You have never seen His shape."

John declared, "No man hath seen God at any time," (John 1:18a).

It is impossible to believe anyone truly "saw" God, when we are told specifically and repeatedly that God simply cannot be seen. He is invisible!

That brings us to the magnificent miracle that was manifested at the Birth of Jesus Christ.

It was that tiny baby in a Bethlehem stable that Isaiah had referred to when he wrote, "The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man," (Isaiah 42:13).

Jesus Christ was the embodiment of all God had ever said about Himself. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us," (John 1:14).

God chose not to remain invisible, but to become visible!

The invisible God had manifested Himself in many forms in the Old Testament, But the highest revelation of God in the Old Testament had been by His Word. It was the Word of God, spoken and written by holy men and prophets, that manifested the most consistent and reliable revelation of the invisible God to the Old Testament world.

God CREATED a BODY for Himself: Jesus Christ!

"...The only begotten Son... he hath declared Him," (John 1:18b). Webster's Dictionary defines the word "declare" as meaning "to show or reveal."

Jesus Christ, the Son of man, shows and reveals the invisible God. "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father."

Philip asked Jesus to "show us the Father." Jesus replied, "Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father," (John 14:8-9).

The excitement of it all has been lost in the confusion of who Jesus Christ really is.

John 1:10 tells us that "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew him not." That could only refer to the Father God.

Most people do not realize that...

Jesus is NOT the second person of the trinity. He is the BODY in which the FATHER dwells!!

Two natures dwell in one body. Spirit and human. Jesus is divine. Jesus is human. The divine nature communicates with the human nature, and the human nature communicates with the divine nature, but a dual nature in a single body does not comprise a trinity. He is only ONE GOD [one Spirit] inside ONE (human) BODY! THAT is the TRUE nature of God.

Paul described the mystery to Timothy: "God was manifest in the flesh," (I Timothy 3:16), and to the Colossians, "In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead (Greek: Deity) bodily," (Colossians 2:9).

"He came unto His own, and His own received Him not," (John 1:11).

The same God, who was always everywhere, can now be manifested somewhere in particular - in the body of Jesus!

Isaiah prophesied that His name would be "Emmanuel," which means "God with us," (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23).

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Jesus is the Father "incarnate" - in flesh! Whereas God, in the Old Testament, had been revealed through His spoken and written Word, God, in the New Testament, is revealed in flesh.

Hebrews 1:1 says that He "spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets," but verse 2 says that "in these last days He hath spoken unto us by His Son," and verse 3 tells us that the Son is "the brightness of His glory, and the express image of his person."

The IMAGE of the invisible God

The Corinthian church was taught that Christ is "the image of God," (II Corinthian 4:4).

The Colossian church was taught that the Son is "the image of the invisible God," (Colossians 1:15).

"It pleased the Father that in him (the Son) should all (the Father's) fulness dwell," (Colossians 1:19). That is why John said "the Word was made flesh."

Jesus Christ is Jehovah Savior come in the flesh. In fact, the very meaning of the name "Jesus" is "Jehovah Savior."

Jesus explained, "I am come in my Father's name," (John 5:43).

Jesus is not a clone of God the Father.

He is not a duplicate deity.

He is not Jehovah, Jr.

He is not co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. Jesus IS the Father (the eternal Spirit) manifested in the Son (the man)!

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Jesus, speaking as a man, insisted that He was NOT equal with the Father when He said, "My Father is greater than I," in I John 14:28.

The Father is greater than the Son! Jesus said it. The Father said, in Isaiah 42:8b, "My Glory will I not give to another." So, the Father and the Son are NOT co-equal or co- eternal.

Jesus Christ is not the second member of the Godhead.

He is the man in whom the Father dwells.

So the oneness of God refers to the Spirit (Father) in the Human Body (Christ) - God in Christ.

God the Father never invented or created a "GOD the Son." That is a blasphemous, heretical misnomer. The phrase "God the Son" NEVER occurs in the Bible.

The Son of God was "made of a woman," (Galatians 4:4), and was "conceived...of the Holy Ghost," (Matthew 1:20).

"Conceived of the Holy Ghost" means "The Holy Ghost is the Father."

Matthew 1:20 shows us that the Holy Ghost is actually the Father, since John said the Son of Man is the "only begotten of the Father," (John 1:14).

The human body of Jesus was not only conceived by His Holy Spirit Father, but was also a visible shell which actually housed the Father.

If God is a Trinity of three persons, and if Jesus is the fullness of God bodily, then there are three persons in the body of Jesus!

But we know that is not the case. God is not three persons. He is ONE SPIRIT, and that Spirit is the Father, who is incarnate in the body of Jesus. The fullness of God is the Father. And HE is in the body of Jesus.

"God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself,"(2 Corinthians 5:19). He was Pa

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the fullness of God bodily. The Son is in perfect oneness with the Father by virtue of the incarnation. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. Otherwise, the Father is invisible. But in the flesh, you can see Him. The glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ

Remember that Moses had desired to see the glory of God's face, but it was impossible in Old Testament times. However, 2500 years later he was resurrected from the dead to see "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," (II Corinthians 4:6, see also Mark 9:4).

Moses finally saw the invisible God in the face of Jesus Christ. By the same definition, anyone who sees the face of Jesus Christ is also seeing the Father and the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, the Spirit cannot be seen.

Isaiah 9:6 said, "...His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince Of Peace."

Jesus is the Father and the Son.

As SPIRIT, Jesus is the Father and the King.

As HUMAN, Jesus is the Son and the Prince.

Jesus plainly answered the Pharisees' question, "Where is thy Father?" by saying, "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also." Then He stunned them with this conclusion:

"If ye believe not that I am He [the Father], ye shall die in your sins," (John 8:19, 24).

God the Father came to this earth nearly 2000 years ago in the body of a man who was named with His own name, and He was "despised and rejected of men," (Isaiah 53:3) but "hereby perceive we the love of God, because He [the Father] laid down His life for us," (I John 3:16). The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are CLEARLY SEEN,

being understood by the things that are made, even HIS ETERNAL POWER AND

GODHEAD," Romans 1:20.

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IN THE BEGINNING GOD… When Adam fell into disobedience (sin) God began to unveil to him the plan of his

redemption which was already prepared from the foundation (or beginning) of the

world.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed

and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

(Genesis 3:15)

These words were the first proclamation of the coming of the Messiah! This prophetic utterance was given to mankind, not developed by mankind. Before

they saw a need for salvation the need was already met. All that was required of

them wax to walk in faith, obedience, and victory until the appointed time of the

manifestation.

Col 1:26 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1Ti 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Genesis 3:15, God prophesy’s of Satan’s destruction and that the one born of a woman would be the deliverer. Pa

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God demonstrated what they should do until the enemy is defeated:

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)

The action was on God’s part, the receiving was of man. The first humans to live on

planet Earth stood watching while innocent animals gave their lives for a covering of

the nakedness of rebellion and transgression against the Most High God, their creator.

It was there where God made the first altar on this earth. The Most High God

provided the first offering. After many future generations, he would provide the last

offering.

Hbr 7:22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.

Hbr 7:23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

Hbr 7:24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

Hbr 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Hbr 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Hbr 7:27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.

Hbr 7:28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.

Our forefathers had their nakedness covereed by the innocent sacrifice of the

slain (animal).

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This was the birth of altars and sacrifices. It was Adam and Eve who taught their

children and grandchildren how to worship God at an altar and how to receive

forgiveness of sins. (Genesis 4:1-17)

Genesis 6:5-6 states that the generations (or children) of Adam and Eve increased in

rebellion. They were rebellious against the doctrine that their parents taught them.

The altars, sacrifices, prophesies and worship of God became perverted. Idols and

human sacrifices were birthed from these perverted worshippers. They were weary

of a God they could not see and his promises that had not yet come to pass. All

subsequent generations, from Cain, Nimrod, Noah, up until the time God came as the

Son, and until this present day, have been infiltrated with a perverted understanding

of who God is and how he should be worshipped.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that

every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,

And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved

him at his heart. (Genesis 6:5-6)

Because when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were

thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was

darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And

changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to

corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

…Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the

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creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans

1:21-23, 25)

The great deluge (the flood recorded in Genesis) purged out the land and Noah

and his family once again propagated righteousness in the earth.

Noah began teaching about the Almighty God and his promises to the world. Pure

and undefiled religion and worship (James 1:27) was taught by Noah, a righteous

man, to his family. His children were to teach their children and subsequent

generations. Eve was also pure and undefiled, but Satan found occasion in both

generations to introduce rebellion in the hearts of men.

FOOTNOTES & BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Sumrall, Lester, The Altars & Offerings Unto the Most High, 1985, Lesea Publishing Co. PP. 1&2.

2. Encyclopedia Britannica, 1985 Volume 24, p. 701:1b and 2b – Vol. 18, p. 924:1b. – Vol. 20, p. 345:1b.

– Vol. 24, p. 705:1b.

– Vol. 8, p. 848:1a.

– Vol. 8, p. 197.

– Vol. 16, p. 280:1b and 2a

– Vol. 20, p. 749:1b

– Vol. 16, p. 282:1b

– Vol. 8, p. 675:2b

– Vol. 18, p. 922:1b Pa

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God in Christ Jesus

When beginning (this) study of the doctrine of the Godhead, we need to recognize the

following facts:

1. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine” (II

Timothy 3:16).

2. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth from the

mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

3. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89). We dare not twist Scriptures, because they are hard to understand, lest the sentence of

destruction from the Spirit of God fall upon us―read II Peter3:16. Many, finding

seeming contradictions, have clung to the lesser and have ignored the greater passage;

but rest assured, perplexing passages only become so to us when we com in contact

with a great thrugh plainly reveiled in other passages.

Scripture is NOT so written as to compel people to believe it; in fact, Isaiah28:13

indicates that Scripture is purposely so arranged that unless men are carefl to be

rigidly honest with God they become snared by the letter of certain passages through

neglecting to ascertain their spiritual complement as found elsewhere in the Bible.

We must have it settled in our hearts that God cannot lie; then all so-called

contradictions will vanish.

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Let us remember that creeds and catechisms are not the Bible. Some creeds deny healing, but the Bible teaches it (Mark2:10); some detest

“speaking in tongues”, but the Bible is emnphatic regarding the signs (Mark 16:16-

18; Acts 10:45, 46); some mock at the Second Coming of Christ, but the Bible is full

of if (Acts 1:11; Ithessalonians 4:16-18; and it is the Athanasian Creed (written A.D.

484) and the Catecism which say, there are three persons in the Godhead, etc.―but

NOWHERE in Scripture do we read this.

HOW MANY GODS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT? “I and my father are one” (John 10:30).

“One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:5,6).

“I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

“And immediately I was in the spirit: and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne” (Revelation 4:2).

All of the above Scriptures refer to only one God. There can only be one first, and one last. John only saw one God sitting on the throne of heaven. So why is there so much confusion about the idea of a trinity of persons in the Godhead? Let’s look at a verse of Scripture for the answer.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).

This verse is the foundation of trinity teaching. It would appear to refer to God as consisting of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So let’s look at the command and how it was obeyed.

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“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:28).

It would seem, at first glance, that Peter misunderstood what Jesus told the disciples to do. But, look at Jesus’ command to baptize. He said to baptize in a name (singular). So what is the name of the Father, and the Holy Ghost? (We already know that the name of the Son is Jesus).

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

“I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not” (John 5:43).

“Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (John 14:8, 9).

Since Jehovah is one of the Father’s names, and Jesus came in that name (Jehovah is salvation), the Father’s name must be Jesus. Since Isaiah said that the Son, who would be given, would be called “The everlasting Father”, Jesus must be the Father, for surely He is the Son that was given. Jesus told Philip that He was the Father. We can easily determine that the name of the Father is Jesus. But, what is the name of the Holy Ghost?

“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:17, 18).

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

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“Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (II Corinthians 3:17).

“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

“Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (I Peter 1:11).

Can there be any doubt that the Spirit that dwells in us, which we call the Holy Ghost, is Jesus. He said He would come to us. It says it is Christ in us. Jesus is that Spirit. In II Peter 1:21, 22 it says that the Old Testament writers were moved by the Holy Ghost; yet, the Bible says that it was the Spirit of Christ. So, we know that the name of the Holy Ghost is Jesus. All the fullness of the Godhead is in Jesus. One God, manifested in three offices. He was the Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in habitation.

ELOHIM AND THE PLURAL PASSAGES

by Daniel Segraves

Symposium on Oneness Pentecostalism January 11-13, 1996

The first time the word "God" is mentioned in Scripture (Genesis 1:1); it is translated

from the Hebrew ELOHIM. This word, which appears 2250 times in the Old

Testament, is translated "God" when used in reference to the one true God1, but it is

also translated "god" when used in reference to a false god2 or "gods" when referring

to a multiplicity of false deities, "god" or "gods" in reference to human beings4,

"angels,"5 "judges."6 mighty," in reference to a human prince7 and to thunder8, and

"great,": in reference to Rachel's competition with her sister.9

To understand how ELOHIM is used of the true God, it is essential to understand

how it can be used in such a variety of ways. ELOHIM is a masculine plural noun.

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ELOHIM, the singular form of the word, appears 54 times and is also used in

reference to both the true God and to false gods. ELOAH is from the Hebrew EL,

which appears 226 times. EL signifies strength and power.

The "im" ending on a Hebrew word (as in ELOHIM) makes the word plural, like

putting an "s" on the end of many English words. But, unlike the English language,

the plural form of a Hebrew word may not signify more than one. Though the

Hebrew plural can certainly refer to more than one (and the Hebrew language also

has a dual ending, signifying two), the Hebrew also uses plural forms when only one

subject is in view, to indicate intensity (something like the "est" ending on some

English words), fullness, something that flows, or multiplicity of attributes.

C. L. Seow points out that when ELOHIM is used "as a proper name, or when

referring to Israel's God, it is treated as singular. Elsewhere it should be translated as

'gods.'"10 When ELOHIM is used is used of Israel's God, "the form of the noun is

plural, but the referent is singular. This is sometimes called 'plural of majesty.'"11

Though ELOHIM is plural, it must be accompanied by plural modifiers and plural

verb forms to function as a plural noun. If accompanied by singular modifiers and

singular verb forms, it functions as a singular noun.12

ELOHIM can be accurately translated two ways: the singular "God" (or "god") or the

plural "gods." If it is translated "gods," and in this case the plural form of the word

must not be taken to indicate a plurality of gods, but a plurality of the majestic

attributes of the one true God and that He is the supremely powerful one. The plural

ending either makes a word plural, meaning more than one, or it makes a singular

referent more intense. The latter is the case where Elohim refers to the one true God.

Grammatically, then, ELOHIM does not suggest that Israel's God is plural or more

than one. If the reason for the plural ending is to indicate more than one, the word

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must be translated "gods." This is not acceptable to the monotheism of the Old

Testament. (See, for example, Deuteronomy 6:4.)

Whenever ELOHIM refers to the one true God, it is always accompanied by singular

verbs, although ELOHIM is plural. Whenever ELOHIM refers to more than one false

god, it is accompanied by plural verbs. This is significant. Grammatically, when

ELOHIM refers to the one true God only, although the word is plural. If the reason

ELOHIM is used of the true God is to indicate He is more than one, plural verbs

would have to be used.

For example, in the first verse of the Bible, the third person masculine singular verb

"created: is used with ELOHIM. Since the verb is singular, it is required that He who

did the creating is singular. In this case, the only option left to explain the plural form

of ELOHIM is that ELOHIM refers to the fullness and intensity of the many majestic

attributes of the one true God.

In Exodus 32:4, where ELOHIM is used of a plurality of false gods, the verb

"brought...up out: is third person common plural. The plural verb demands that

ELOHIM be referring to more than one false god. Although in this case only one

golden calf was made, it apparently represented to the Israelites the worship of cows,

considered sacred by the Egyptians. Thus the one calf represented to them more than

just itself; it represented the gods of the Egyptians. In Deuteronomy 4:28 a series of

third person masculine plural verbs, "see," "hear," "eat," and "smell," are used to

describe the inabilities of false gods (ELOHIM) This demonstrates that if the

intention of Elohim is to indicate more than one, plural verbs will be used. If the

intention of ELOHIM is to indicate only one, singular verbs are used.

It is helpful to note that when the inspired Greek of the New Testament quotes from

an Old Testament reference where ELOHIM is used of the one true God, the Greek

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THEOS (God) is singular. (See Psalm 45:6-7; Hebrews 1:8-9.) When the New

Testament quotes an Old Testament reference where ELOHIM refers to people or

false gods, the plural form of THEOS is used. (See Psalm 82:6; John 10:34-35 and

Exodus 32:1; Acts 7:40.) The Greek language does not use plurals in the same way as

the Hebrew, that is, to indicate intensity, fullness, and plurality of attributes. Since

both the Hebrew and the Greek are inspired, if the point of ELOHIM, when used of

the true God, was to indicate God is more than one, the Greek would use the plural

form of the noun. The fact that the Greek uses the singular THEOS where the

Hebrew Scriptures use the plural ELOHIM of the true God settles any question as to

the singularity of the true God. Indeed, in the example of Psalm 45:6, ELOHIM is

used of the Messiah alone. There is only one Messiah, but the plural noun is used to

indicate His immeasurable majesty.

All of this helps us to understand the plural "us" in Genesis 1:26; 3:22; 11:7; and

Isaiah 6:8. Some might suppose that these plural pronouns indicate more than one

god or that God is somehow more than one. But the grammar of the passages

indicates otherwise.

In Genesis 1:26, ELOHIM (plural) said (third masculine singular), "Let us make13

(first person common plural) man (noun masculine singular) in our image ("image" is

a masculine singular noun with a first person common plural suffix), after our

likeness ("likeness" is a feminine singular noun with a first person common plural

suffix)."

Grammatically, the words, "make," "us" and "our" in this verse cannot refer to

Elohim alone, for the verb directly connected with ELOHIM ("said") is singular. The

doctrine of verbal plenary inspiration means the Bible is inspired, even to its very

words, and inspiration extends to every word in the Bible. This means even verb

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tense and number is inspired. If ELOHIM had intended here to include only Himself

in His address, He would have used a singular verb and pronouns. If ELOHIM were

more than one, it would be appropriate to use the plural form of "make" and the

plural pronouns "us" and "our,” but in that case, the verb "said" would be plural as

well.

Thus, the grammar makes clear that when the singular ELOHIM spoke, He included

someone else in His statement. The Jewish people, who are of course strictly

monotheistic, have long held that in Genesis 1:26 ELOHIM addressed the angels in a

courteous consideration for the attendants at His heavenly court when He said, "Let us

make man in our image, after our likeness." This is not unreasonable, for Job 38:7

indicates the angels were present at creation, rejoicing in the works of God. Others

suppose we should take the plural pronouns, like the plural ELOHIM, as "plural of

majesty." Ezra 4:18 is appealed to for support. Here, in response to a letter, King

Artaxerxes says, "The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me."

The letter was to Artaxerxes alone, and in the same breath he uses both a plural and a

singular pronoun of himself. Historically, kings of the earth have used plural pronouns

of themselves. Perhaps that is the use the Great King makes of a plural verb and

plural pronouns in the few verses of Scripture where they appear. But if so, one is left

to wonder why, in thousands of cases, ELOHIM uses singular verbs and pronouns

of Himself, and why He would use plural verbs and nouns in only four verses

in the entire Bible. Why would He not use both singular verbs and pronouns

exclusively or plural verbs or pronouns exclusively? The sparse use of plural verbs

and pronouns must indicate some specific, limited purpose. The simplest explanation,

and the one which agrees with the inspired grammar most closely, is that in these few

verses ELOHIM is graciously including others, angelic beings, in His address.

Angels did not actually make man, any more than believers today actually work Page

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miracles (see John 14:12; Matthew 10:8); God has graciously allowed us to be

laborers together with Him (I Corinthians 3:9).Perhaps there is some similarity here

to the way God included the angels in His work.

But regardless of the exact meaning of Genesis 1:26, it cannot mean ELOHIM is

more than one. In Exodus 20:2, the one God of Israel declared, "I am the LORD your

God." The word "LORD" is "YHWH," the third person singular form of the Hebrew

verb "to be" (HAYAH). "YHWH" means "He is." Again, a singular word is

connected to ELOHIM, which is plural. Grammatically, the meaning of "I am the

LORD your God" cannot be, "I am the 'He is gods.'" A singular word cannot have a

plural object, unless-in keeping with common Hebrew usage-the point of the plural is

to indicate intensity, fullness, or multiplicity of attributes, not plurality of persons or

things.

Since every verse leading up to Genesis 1:26 uses singular verbs and pronouns (see

the singular pronouns in verses 5 and 10) exclusively of the creative work of God,

and a singular verb ("said") in verse 26, the introduction of a plural verb ("make")

and plural pronouns ("us" and "our") in verse 26 must signify the fact that the

singular God is including others in His address. Since there were no other intelligent

beings created up until that time except the angels, His words must have been

addressed to them.

Genesis 3:22 has a grammatical construction similar to 1:26. The LORD (third person

singular form of YHWH) God (ELOHIM) said (third person masculine singular),

"Behold, the man is become as one of us (first person common plural), to know

good and evil." Grammatically, the "us" must include someone other than God, fo

r a plural pronoun cannot have a singular antecedent. Again, He must have included

the angels in His address; they certainly were aware of matters of good and

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evil, since Lucifer had rebelled against God prior to this. (See Ezekiel 28:11-16.) The

fact that, after His statement "man is become as one of us," God placed cherubim

(angels) at the east of the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword to prevent men from

returning to the garden supports the idea that God used the plural "us" to include

angels in His conversation.

The grammar of Genesis 11:6-7 is even more telling. Here, ELOHIM does not

appear. Yahweh (translated "LORD"), whose name is the third person singular form

of the verb "to be," is recorded as having said (third person masculine singular), "Go

to (second person masculine singular), let us go down (first person common plural)

and there confound (first person common plural) their language." It is fascinating to

note that the word translated "go to" (HAVAH) is an imperative, a command. It is a

second person masculine singular imperative, which is understood to mean "YOU

(second person singular) go to." It could also be translated "come," as in an

imperative command, "YOU come." The understood "you" is singular, not [plural.

Grammatically, at this point Yahweh is speaking to another person, giving that

person a command. There is nothing here, according to the grammar, to indicate one

divine Person is speaking to another. It would seem strange indeed if one divine

Person COMMANDED another divine Person to do something. Instead, Yahweh is

speaking to someone else. When Yahweh says, "Let us go down," the verb form is

first person common plural. Thus, when Yahweh (the one true God whose name is a

third person singular verbal form) goes down to confound the language of the people,

He is accompanied by someone else. In this case, He was apparently accompanied by

only one angel.

This should not be thought strange, for in Genesis 18 Abraham was visited by three

"men" (verse 2), one of whom turned out to be the LORD ("Yahweh" [a theophany;

God in angel form]) (verses 10, 13-15, 17) and the other two of whom were angels Page

47

(verse 16; 19:1). If God wishes to be accompanied by angels in any of His activities,

that is His prerogative. If He wishes to speak to them, to include them in His activity,

He will doubtless use plural words to do so.

The only other case in Scripture where a plural pronoun is used in a way some think

implies plurality in God is Isaiah 6:8. Here Isaiah says, "Also I heard the voice of the

Lord, saying, Whom shall I send (first person common singular), and who will go for

us (first person common plural)?" The plural pronoun "us" cannot have the singular

"I" as its antecedent. It seems apparent from the context of Isaiah 6:1-7 that there is a

great deal of angelic activity in this vision. Apparently, the one true God is again

including the heavenly angelic court in His address. It is significant that only He,

God, does the sending, but someone is needed to go on behalf of all heaven's

inhabitants. God does not say, 'Whom shall we send," but "Whom shall I send." The

angels' concern for God's holiness in the context underscores the fact that Isaiah's

mission to backslidden Israel was of interest to them as well as to God. Indeed, the

conversation Isaiah heard in verse 8 was apparently the Lord addressing the angels.

In Isaiah 6:7, an angel speaks directly to Isaiah. There is no indication in verse 8 that

the Lord was speaking directly to him. Instead, the Lord is addressing His heavenly

court, and Isaiah volunteers his service. This strengthens the view that in Genesis

1:26, 3:22, and 11:7, God is addressing angels.

That God does indeed address His heavenly court is indicated by I Kings 22:19-23.

Here, Yahweh is sitting on His throne with all heaven's host (angels) standing on His

right and left. Yahweh asks, "Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at

Ramoth- Gilead?" Various angels answered in different ways, until one came forth

and stood before Yahweh and said, "I will persuade him." Yahweh answered,

"Wherewith?" The angel responded, 'I will go forth, and I will be a laying spirit in the

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mouth of all his prophets." Yahweh answered, "Thou shall persuade him, and prevail

also: go forth, and do so."

The grammar of Scripture is inspired. When ELOHIM refers to the one true God,

singular verbs and pronouns are used. When the one true God reaches out to include

others in His activities, plural verbs and pronouns are used. These do not indicate any

plurality of gods or that the true God is more than one. "When [ELOHIM] refers to

the God of Israel it is always singular in concept, even though it has a masculine

plural ending."14

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. In the first five books of the Bible, ELOHIM is used 682 times. In hundreds of these references, it is to

the one true God of Israel. 2. Exodus 22:20; Deuteronomy 32:39 3. Genesis 31:30, 32; 35:2, 4; Exodus 12:12; 18:11; 20:3, 23; 22:28; 23:13, 24, 32-33; 32:1, 4, 8, 23, 31,

34:15-17; Leviticus 19:4; Numbers 25:2; 33:4; Deuteronomy 4:28; 5:7; 6:14; 7:4, 16, 25; 8:19; 10:17; 11:16, 28; 12:2-3, 30, 31; 13:2, 6-7, 13; 17:3; 18:20; 20:18; 28:14, 36, 64; 29:18, 26; 30:17; 31:16, 18, 20; 32:17, 37.

4. Exodus 7:1; Psalms 82:6. 5. Psalm 8:5. 6. Exodus 21:6; 22:8-9. 7. Genesis 23:6. 8. Exodus 9:28. 9. Genesis 30:8. 10. C. L. Seow, A GRAMMAR FOR BIBLICAL HEBREW (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1987), p. 19. 11. Ibid. 12. Page H. Kelly, BIBLICAL HEBREW: AN INTRODUCTORY GRAMMAR (Grand Rapids, MI:

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company 1992, p. 32. 13. The word "make" is translated from the Hebrew ASAH ("to make" or "do") as opposed to BARA ("to

create"). God allowed the angels to participate in the sense of ASAH, but not in the sense of BARA. 14. Ethelyn Simon, et. al., THE FIRST HEBREW PRIMER FOR ADULTS, 2nd ed. (Oakland, CA: EKS

Publishing Company, 1983), p. 48.

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ONE GOD IS THERE ONE GOD?

He is ONE God and His name is ONE!

And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9)

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29) “Thou shalt hae no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) “Is there a God beside me? Yea, there is no God: I know not any” (Isaiah 44:8). “Hath not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10) “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one” (Galatians 3:20). “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19)

To the question as to whether there is one God, the Bible affirmatively answers YES! Paul affirmed that a mediator was not a mediator of one, but God is one. That is while a mediator stands in the middle between two or more contending parties, yet God was one, not two or more. Paul again said, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5) All who believe the Bible must believe in one God―for God is one (Galatians 3:20).

The Godhead is NOT a mystery according to the Scriptures.

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

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The LORD our God is one LORD

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD is no other

Deuteronomy 4:35, 39 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

All the people of the earth should know that there is no other God but

One. 1 Kings 8:60 That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else. Isaiah 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: Isaiah 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

There is ONLY ONE God who created the heavens and formed the

earth and He did it alone. Isaiah 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.

God's name has been a secret since the foundation of the world.

He is the God of unsearchable riches. He is YHWH, The Self-Existing One. His glory cannot be comprehended by a frail human mind.

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That is why God told Moses:

And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. (Exodus 33:20)

Throughout the Old Testament when men would see God, it was not seeing Him in His Glory, but simply a manifestation of the Spirit in a physical shape.

In theological terms we refer to this as a "theophany" meaning God takes a physical shape. Understanding this concept, we can understand why Biblical characters could say they saw God, and were afraid to die because of it, but God reassured that they would not die, for

what they saw was a manifestation of God's Spirit.

Notice that these characters would ask for the name of God.

That is very important. God only revealed Himself as YHWH or IAM that IAM. And 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. (Exodus 3:14)

In Hebrew this term is YHWH. Self existing One. (He is that He is)

The English Translation is YAHWEH or JEHOVAH.

And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. (Genesis 32:30)

What Jacob saw and even wrestled with was an angel of the LORD, Meaning that God's Spirit was manifested in a physical form to deal with Jacob.

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And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. (Genesis 32:24)

And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? (Judges 13:17-18)

And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. (Judges 13:22)

From these examples we can conclude 1. God's Spirit has never been seen by a human being. (John 1:18) 2. God has manifest Himself to man through physical means.(1 Tim 3:16) 3. The name of God has been a secret to mankind from the beginning of the

world. Jacob asked for it (Genesis 32:29) as well as Manoah (Judges 13:18), and both were not allowed to have it.

And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. (Isaiah 62:2)

©2012 First Apostolic Church of Lafayette Pastor S.D. Schwing

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The Holy Spirit

God manifest in various different forms Although it would be unscriptural for any man to say that he has seen God as He

truly is, there are, however, many different examples from the Old Testament in

which men have seen various manifestations of God (akin to His "back parts"), here

upon the earth. Here are some examples of the various forms in which God has

manifest Himself.

God appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush

EXODUS 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the

midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was

not consumed.

EXODUS 3:3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the

bush is not burnt.

EXODUS 3:4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him

out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

EXODUS 3:5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for

the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

EXODUS 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the

God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look

upon God.

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This burning bush was a manifestation of God here on the earth. This is not God in

His true form (for no man may see Him, and live), but it is a manifestation of God.

Moses knew that he stood before God: Moses hid his face for [Moses] was afraid to

look upon God.

God led the children of Israel as a pillar of a cloud by day This happened when the children of Israel departed from Egypt in the days of Moses.

EXODUS 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to

lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day

and night:

EXODUS 13:22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire

by night, from before the people.

It was the LORD Himself that went before them—as a pillar of a cloud (by day).

This is not God in His true form; this is a manifestation of God here on the earth.

God led the children of Israel as a pillar of fire by night

This happened each night in the days of Moses, when the children of Israel had left Egypt.

them light; to go by day and night:

EXODUS 13:21 And the LORD went before

them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them

the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give

EXODUS 13:22 He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire

by night, from before the people. Page

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It was the LORD Himself that went before them as a

pillar of fire (by night). Neither the pillar of a cloud by

day, nor the pillar of fire by night is God in His true form.

These are two different manifestations of God here on

the earth. It should be noted that these two do not imply

"one God in two persons."

God was manifest as fire, and a cloud, with thunderings, lightnings, and a "thick darkness."

This took place at Mount Sinai, when the Ten Commandments were given:

EXODUS 19:16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were

thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the

trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

EXODUS 19:17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with

God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

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EXODUS 19:18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD

descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace,

and the whole mount quaked greatly.

EXODUS 19:19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder

and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.

EXODUS 20:18 ¶ And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and

the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they

removed, and stood afar off.

EXODUS 20:19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear:

but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

EXODUS 20:21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick

darkness where God was.

EXODUS 20:22 ¶ And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the

children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

And, at a later Scripture: EXODUS 24:15 And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

EXODUS 24:16 And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud

covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the

cloud.

EXODUS 24:17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on

the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. Although they did fear for their lives (Exodus 20:19), had the children of Israel actually seen God in His true form, they all would have died there on the spot (Exodus 33:20, in hindsight). In His true form, God is not smoke, nor is He thunderings, lightnings nor a devouring fire, yet God said (at Exodus 20:22), "Ye have seen that I have talked with you." This frightening sight, with all of the thunderings, the lightnings, the devouring fire and the smoke, was a manifestation of Pa

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God, upon the top of Mount Sinai. They were God's "back parts," so to speak (cf. Exodus 33:20,23). This was a manifestation of God (see Deuteronomy 4:10-19).

God appeared to seventy-four men on Mount Sinai, in a form that is not clearly described:

EXODUS 24:9 ¶ Then went up Moses, and Aaron,

Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

EXODUS 24:10 And they saw the God of Israel: and

there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a

sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

EXODUS 24:11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand:

also they saw God, and did eat and drink. (This resembles what John described at Revelation 4:2-6, though it's not necessarily the same.) Had they seen "the face of God", that is to say, had they seen God as He truly is, then they would have died, as God later said, "there shall no man see me, and live" (Exouds 33:20). However, just as Moses would see God's "back parts" (Exodus 33:23), so too have these men seen the glory, or, a manifestation of God. What these men saw was not God as He truly is, but was a manifestation of God. It must be understood in this way, for Moses (who was there, and "saw the God of Israel," at Exouds 24:9) later said:

DEUTERONOMY 4:11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the

mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick

darkness.

DEUTERONOMY 4:12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire:

ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

DEUTERONOMY 4:15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no

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manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the

midst of the fire:

Likewise, Jesus Christ would later make the general statement:

JOHN 5:37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

God, as a whirlwind

JOB 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

Again, this whirlwind is not God as he actually is, rather, God was manifest upon the earth in the form of a whirlwind.

God, as either a man, or as a walking voice in the garden of Eden

GENESIS 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

God, as a smoking furnace and as a burning lamp

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GENESIS 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a

vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

GENESIS 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven,

and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy

seed be.

GENESIS 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for

righteousness.

GENESIS 15:7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of

the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

GENESIS 15:8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

GENESIS 15:9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she

goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young

pigeon.

GENESIS 15:10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and

laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

GENESIS 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark,

behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

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Question:

Has Man Seen God—Yes or No? by Bert Thompson, Ph.D.

Critics have charged that passages such as John 1:18, Exodus 33:20, and Genesis

32:30 contradict one another. In John 1:18, the apostle wrote: “No one has seen God

at any time.” In Exodus 33:20 God said to Moses: “You cannot see My face; for no

man can see Me and live.” But Genesis 32:30 records Jacob as saying: “For I have

seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Have John and Moses—two of the

most influential writers in the Bible—contradicted each other as infidels and skeptics

have suggested?

Answer: No, they have not. The Bible is internally consistent, and does not contradict itself.

The “contradiction” is the result of the passages being taken out of the context in

which they were written originally. For example, consider the following two

statements. Joe is rich; Joe is poor. Do these statements contradict one another? Not

necessarily. Is it not possible that Joe could be rich spiritually but poor physically?

Renowned Bible scholar R.A. Torrey noted:

We must remember first of all that two statements which in terms flatly contradict

one another may be both of them absolutely true, for the reason that the two terms are

not used in the same sense in the two statements (1907, p. 80).

That is exactly what has happened in texts such as John 1:18 and Genesis 32:30. The

passages seem to contradict one another, but when considered in their appropriate

context they do not because they are not speaking of God being “seen” in the same

sense. Several illustrations of this principle can be found in Scripture.

First, consider Moses “seeing” God in a burning bush (Exodus 3:2ff.). He saw a fire

on the side of a mountain. When he went to investigate, he saw a bush that burned Page

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but was not consumed. As he observed this unusual sight, God called to him from the

midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” Then the

voice from the burning bush echoed: “I am the God of your father—the God of

Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6a). The text indicates

that “Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God” (3:6b).

As Moses spoke to the burning bush on the mountainside, was he addressing God?

Indeed he was, as the passage clearly teaches. But does the passage also teach that as

he looked at the bush, Moses was fearful because he considered it “seeing” God?

Yes, Exodus 3:6b so states.

When Moses looked upon the burning bush, did he actually “see” God? No. He saw

an image that we as humans can comprehend. The bush was a representation of

God—an occasion where something took God’s place.

Second, consider Job’s “seeing” God in a whirlwind (Job 38:1ff.). Job made a

wrongful boast that landed him in serious trouble with God. Suddenly (and

unexpectedly) a whirlwind appeared before Job—from which the voice of God

echoed: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now

prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me” (Job 38:2-

3). Job looked at the whirlwind and heard God. But was God really in the whirlwind?

Did Job actually see God when he looked into this magnificent force of nature? No.

Instead, Job saw a manifestation of God that a human could comprehend. The

whirlwind “took God’s place.”

Third, consider Jacob’s “seeing” God as he wrestled with an angel (Genesis 32:24-

30). He wrestled from night until daybreak with this heavenly being and eventually

said: “I have seen God face to face.” Was it really God that Jacob saw? No, he did

not see God but instead witnessed a representative of God. A similar example can be

found in the case of Manoah (the father of Samson), recorded in Judges 13. In this

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instance, the text says that Manoah and his wife were visited by the “Angel of the

Lord” (13:13) who informed them of their son’s impending birth. Afterwards,

Manoah said: “We shall surely die because we have seen God! (13:22). Again, it is

necessary to ask: Was it really God that Manoah and his wife saw? No, they did not

see God but instead witnessed (just as Jacob had) a manifestation of God via the

angel. [NOTE: A fascinating parallel can be seen in Gideon’s statement in Judges

6:22 when he cried: “I have seen the Angel of the Lord face to face.”]

What, then is the explanation of the alleged contradiction between passages such as

John 1:18, Exodus 33:20, and Genesis 32:30? How can the Scriptures state that “no

man hath seen God” (John 1:18) or that “no man shall see Me and live” (Exodus

33:20), while stating elsewhere that Jacob saw God “face to face” (Genesis 32:30)

and that Manoah and his wife had “seen God” (Judges 6:22)? E.G. Sewell provided a

partial answer to this kind of question when he wrote:

When Jacob is represented as saying he saw God, it was only an angel of God that

appeared to him in the form of a man. In Hosea it is called an angel so that in that

case Jacob did not see the face of God at all, but only an angel of God (1921, p. 274,

emp. in orig.).

JESUS ONLY?

WHAT TRUTH IS THERE IN THE CHARGE THAT THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN CALLED ONENESS PENTECOSTAL ARE JESUS ONLY?

This charge is partly based on the notion that the so-called one God church

excludes (the omnipresence of God, who fills the universe) when the statement is

made that Jesus is the one true God of the Bible. However, the fact that Jesus is

God does not mean that the total quantity of Deity is enclosed or encased within Page

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the small body of the Savior. It simply means that the total quality of the Godhead

(Godhood) resides in Jesus from a bodily standpoint―that His is the only body in

the Godhead―that there is not another God in flesh, Word that became flesh to

save the world.

“For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9) The statement of Jesus Only, in the sense of limiting the total quantity of God to the

body of Jesus is, therefore, an inaccurate description; and does not fit the one God

doctrine of the Scriptures. Is God One or Three?

GOD and gods

This is perhaps the most basic question in or out of the universe. Ditheists say there are two Gods and the Tritheists say there are three Gods. Trinitarians say there is one God in three separate and distinct persons. Muslim and Judaic Monotheists, say there is one God, and Jesus is not in the Godhead.

Monotheists who follow study Apostle Paul, James, and the other New Testament apostles say ther is one God who has revealed himself in three ways to the New Testament church, but is not divided into persons after the analogy of the human specie.

WHAT IS THE TRITHEISTIC DOCTRINE? Tritheism is s belief in three gods with separate and distinct existences.

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WHAT IS THE TRINITARIAN DOCTRINE? The doctrine of the Trinity is that God is one God subsisting in three separate and distinct persons. They confess that this is a mystery above reason but not contrary to reason. They do not all say that these three persons have a body, but they have all the attribugtes that define a person to be a person, which they say does nbot always mean that a body is involved. The Bible in its prophetic perfection should have warned of Trinitarian doctrine. The Scripture give abundant warning concerning a deviation from a true understanding of God.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:8,9) [Mystery of Godliness]

WHAT IS DITHEISM? Ditheism is s belief iin two Gods. Some of this belief partakes of the nature of God in an uncreated sense, creating the Son of God in the beginning, who in turn by delegated authority created all things that are made. This is believed to be the origin of the Son of God in the Sonship relationship. This means to the so-called Ditheist that this is the origin of the created Son, but not his origin as God, in the uncreated sense. The impression one gets is of a Senior and Junior God.

WHAT IS JEWISH MONOTHEISM? Monotheism is the doctrine that Adam, Abraham, Noah, Moses, Children of Israel, all the prophets, New Testament apostles taught that God is one, not two, three, or many. It is succinctly summarized by the verse:

“Hear O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD” (Deut. 6:4). This is the extreme opposite of a plurality of beings whether call Tritheism or even Trinitarianism. It is this fundamental b elief that is the root and brand of Jewish rejection of the Trinity. They do not believe that the Son of God is the Messiah.

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THE NEW TESTAMENTS MONOTHEISM ! It is the same as Jewish or Old Testament Monotheism, with the exception that the Son of God is the Messiah. And that this one God has sent his Spirit in and upon the people as the Holy Ghost. There is one God who lives in and out of the universe as the source of all things, yet Who also assumed the human nature of man through Mary, within which his divinity took on the body of flesh to physically walk and talk among humanity during the 1st century AD.

Spirit and Word HOW CAN MANKIND DESCRIBE THE ESSENCE OF GOD’S BEING

The answer is Spirit and Word. Jesus gave us the understanding of the essence of his being when he said, “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24). However, John the beloved in this same gospel said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2). There is One God, and God is One; but here the Word is identified as God, and is with God. How can these things be?

The key to this question is the term beginning. This is the origin of time and of God’s identification in relation to time.

This is the connection of God to the creation of heaven and earth as is found in Genesis 1:1,

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” All things were made by the Word; and without him [the Word] was not anything made that was made. (John 1:3)

Hence, the God who had not begbinning connected himself to time and creation by means of the Word. David said,

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Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even form everlasting to everlasting, thou are God. (Psalm 90:2)

So this second element enters into the question―

…and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Spirit is the ultimate essence that makes up God, yet the Word, which is God’s essence expressed, reveals God. It is th way that a timeless God related himself to time.

The Word means logic, wisdom, plan, purpose, speech, etc. It is from the Greek word “Logos.” Hence, God made all things by his Word, or wisdom, or plan; and by speaking these things into existence through his “Word- Image.”

The Word is God in time. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life. (1 John 1:1)

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. (Heb 2:16) Jesus became flesh. To deny this is to project the spirit of Anit-Christ! See II John l:7

Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: (Heb 10:5)

When God manifested Himself in a manifestation to this world, he did not take on

himself the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham as so stated. Hebrews 10:5

outlines clearly that 'a body hast thou prepared me.' The flesh and blood of Jesus was

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a body prepared to house a God (Eternal Spirit) that had always been. Now we have

God in the flesh, a permanent manifestation for all time!

THE WISDOM of GOD

The Godhead Study Larry T. Smith

Copyright©1982 www.rightlydividingtheword.com

Proverbs 8:22-30 (22) The LORD possessed me in the beginning of h is way, before his works of old. (23) was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. (24) When ther were not dfepths, I was brought forth; when there were not fountains abounding with water. (25) fore the mountains were settled, before the hills was brought forth. (26) While as yet, he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the earth. (27) When he prepared the heavens I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: (28) When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: (29) When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the fountains of the earth: (30) Then I was by him, as one brought with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

Some feel this is the Son speaking here. But to see who is really speaking, let’s look at the next two verses.

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Proverbs 8:1, 12, 9:1 (1) Doth not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her voice? (12) I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. (9:1) Wisdom hath built her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:

The Wisdom of God is speaking. Remember, God counseled with His own will, made a plan from the beginning, and spoke of things that be not as though they were. The Son only existed in the wisdom and plan of God, until He was born at Bethlehem.

I Corinthians 1:23-24 (23) ut we preach Christ crucified, unto the jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; (24) ut unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. He was made from the Wisdom and by the power of God. He is the wisdom and power of God, because it is God that lives in the flesh.

I Corinthians 2:7-8 (7) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. (8) Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

He was the wisdom of God in a mystery, ordained beforfe the world, and if princes of this world had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. God did not die, but the fleshly body died. The Spirit in Him was the Lord of Glory.

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