Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Not a mask
If you have seen me, you haven't seen my brother or my father. In this world, we could never say that; even identical twins can't say that! And yet Jesus said this about His Father.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:Second point under this concept that God is one, god's attributes not just the person's, but now I'm talking about his attributes are mutually exhaustive of one another as well. What do I mean by this? I mean that God is entirely love and his love penetrates entirely his justice and his justice penetrates entirely his omnipotence. And so what I'm saying here is that when we think of the attributes of God, we're not supposed to think of it again like a pie, where God is part love, part, just part, sovereign part, righteous part, omniscient part, omnipresent, part, omnipotent. And if we get all these parts together, the end conclusion will be God. That again is not what God is like, because the attributes are mutually exhaustive of one another. You know the liberal loves to set up the idea that in the old testament god was just righteous big meanie. In the new testament he's a god of love. And he would like to. The liberal would like to say that you know the god of the old testament, contradiction to the god of the new testament. That is a simple fallacy of parting god's attributes out, as we're describing here, and not seeing them as mutually exhaustive of one another. God's justice is loving. His love is sovereign, his love is omniscient love. His love is omnipotent love. His omnipotence is expressed in justice. These are mutually exhaustive of one another, aren't they? So that's why you can say something like this If someone said to you what is God like and you answered God is love, your answer would be 100% correct, just as if you answered God is love. Your answer would be 100% correct, just as if you answered God is righteous. That answer is 100% correct because God is entirely righteous and the Bible says these things right God is love, god is righteous, he is sovereign. So here's the thing now. If we think about what we experience down here, if we, as humans, experience love, why do we experience love? Why is that a human quality or characteristic that we experience? Because first he is love. That's why why do we experience justice or have a concept of justice down here amongst ourselves? Because, first of all, he is just right. How do we get a concept of power and control, that we have control or power over a certain segment or sphere, in our job, in our marriage, whatever? Where does that even come from? It comes from the fact that God is sovereign, and so down here, we have finite derivatives that we experience. Why? Well, because first he was these things, he is these things. So that's the first concept that God is one and his persons are mutually exhaustive of one another, as well as his attributes. He's not pieces put together like a puzzle. Second point is that God is three. And you say, now wait a minute. You just said God is one, yeah, but he is one and he's in three. He's also three and he's absolutely one and he's absolutely three and also three and he's absolutely one and he's absolutely three. And you say but I don't understand well that there's nothing in creation that we have that corresponds to this. So you don't have any finite experience of it. So it's not a category we have right. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So let's talk about this one. First of all, god is three. He's not two or four or eight.
Speaker 2:Some actually posited. Years ago I got part of a group called Christianity Not Christianity, but Christianity and it posited the idea that if God were four persons in one, what would the universe be like? Would it be the same as it is now or would it be different? After years and years of discussion in a discussion board in the late 90s, they basically concluded that the world would be a different place than it is now. It wouldn't be the same. But it was just an interesting thought experiment with the Bible.
Speaker 2:But the point here is that God is three, okay, and he has what we call an aggregative nature. What do we mean by aggregative? Clustered, okay, clustered. Now you can tell there are distinctions in this cluster of who God is, right, you can tell there's distinctions of person. Why? Well, it's very easy. You read the Bible and it's talking about the Father and then it talks about the Son. So you know there's distinctions inside his aggregate nature. Otherwise the Bible couldn't say Father and Son, it would just be God, right, there wouldn't be any distinctions of person. But the Bible very obviously speaks in terms of distinctions of person as well as attributes. So, for example, we look at John 14.1. Look at this and I'm going to show you some interesting verses today, very, very interesting descriptions of God and what he's like.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you've read, but maybe we don't always think about it John 14.1, the end of that verse Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. Okay, same action, believe, but two different objects. I mean you can see the difference between God and me. You know the Son. You can see that, okay, but there's an aggregate there because there's the same action toward each one Believe, believe in each one. Same chapter.
Speaker 2:Look at verse 26. Verse 26. Notice the distinctions in this cluster. But the helper, the Holy Spirit there's one whom the Father there's two will send in my name. There's three, okay, but do you see, they're all working together in something. The Father will send the Spirit and he'll do that in my name. So there's an aggregate, there's a cluster involved, but there's distinctions in the cluster. You see, okay, there's more verses here 15, 26, 16, 7 through 11. You can do the same thing with the attributes, just the fact that in some passages it emphasizes God's righteousness, in others it emphasizes his omniscience. The distinction of the attributes. Yet a lot of times, as you read passages that are very involved with the attributes, they're all clustered together in the passages. Like read Isaiah 40, anywhere in the 40s A lot of attributes of God, distinct attributes, but they're clustered together, all together, and that's showing the aggregative nature of God being three in one. Okay, so there's a threeness to God. Now that's the second point I've kind of talked about. Yet all three persons and attributes are viewed as a unit or cluster. Okay, we're in John 14, so let's look at 9 through 11 for a little bit more detail about this.
Speaker 2:Jesus said to Philip have I been so long with you and yet you have not come to know me? Philip, this is weird. He who has seen me has seen who the Father. Do you see how they're mutually exhaustive of one another, so that if you saw one, you saw the other? You say but I thought they were distinct? Well, they are in this verse, but they're also clustered and mutually exhaustive of one another. Strange, that's what I'm saying. These expressions are odd. We would never say if you've seen me, you've seen somebody else. You can't say that in creation because we are only one, there's no other.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.