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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Wayne Grudem
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March 15 - December 27, 2021
15. Freedom
God’s freedom is that attribute of God whereby he does whatever he pleases.
nothing in all creation can hinder God from ...
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his will has perfect freedom (so long as the actions he takes are consistent with his own moral character).
16. Omnipotence (Power, Sovereignty)
God’s omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will. The word omnipotence is derived from two Latin words, omni, “all,” and potens, “powerful,”
God’s exercise of power over his creation is also called God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty is his exercise of rule (as “sovereign” or “king”) over his creation.
E. “SUMMARY” ATTRIBUTES 17. Perfection
God’s perfection means that God completely possesses all excellent qualities and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for him.
18. Blessedness
To be “blessed” is to be happy in a very full and rich sense.
God’s blessedness means that God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects his character.
19. Beauty
God’s beauty is that attribute of God whereby he is the sum of all desirable qualities.
20. Glory
In one sense of the word glory it simply means “honor” or “excellent reputation.”
In another sense, God’s “glory” means the bright light that surrounds God’s presence.
Since God is spirit, not energy or matter, this visible light is not part of God’s being but is something that was created.
God’s glory is the created brightness that surrounds God’s re...
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we are speaking not of God’s character but of the created light or brilliance that surrounds God as he manifests himself in his creation.
Paul tells us that even now in our Christian lives we all are being “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another”
Though we do not now find ourselves surrounded by a visible light, there is often a brightness, a splendor, or a beauty about the manner of life of a person who deeply loves God, and it is often evident to those around such a person.
Psalm 73:25–26: Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
God in Three Persons: The Trinity
THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY IS PROGRESSIVELY REVEALED IN SCRIPTURE 1. Partial Revelation in the Old Testament
When Jesus was baptized, “the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’ ” (Matt. 3:16–17). Here at one moment we have three members of the Trinity performing three distinct activities.
go “and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).
THREE STATEMENTS SUMMARIZE THE BIBLICAL TEACHING
1. God is three persons. 2. Each person is fully God. 3. There is one God.
1. God Is Three Persons
The fact that God is three persons means that the Father is not the Son; they are distinct persons.
2. Each Person Is Fully God
The translation “the Word was God” has been challenged by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who translate it “the Word was a god,” implying that the Word was simply a heavenly being but not fully divine.
David asks in Psalm 139:7–8, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there!” This passage attributes the divine characteristic of omnipresence to the Holy Spirit,
If the Bible taught only these two facts, there would be no logical problem at all in fitting them together, for the obvious solution would be that there are three Gods. The Father is fully God, the Son is fully God, and the Holy Spirit is fully God. We would have a system where there are three equally divine beings. Such a system of belief would be called “polytheism”—or more specifically “tritheism,” belief in three Gods. But that is far from what the Bible teaches.
3. There Is One God
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Paul affirms that “God is one” (Rom. 3:30) and that “there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist” (1 Cor. 8:6).
“You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” (James 2:19).
Another analogy taken from human life is the union of the intellect, the emotions, and the will in one human person. While these are parts of a personality, however, no one factor constitutes the entire person.
Scripture nowhere uses any analogies to teach the doctrine of the Trinity.
The closest we come to an analogy is found in the titles “Father” and “Son” themselves, titles that clearly speak of distinct persons and of the close relationship that exists between them in a human family.
5. God Eternally and Necessarily Exists as the Trinity
1. Modalism (or Sabellianism) Claims That There Is One Person Who Appears to Us in Three Different Forms (or “Modes”)
The fatal shortcoming of modalism is the fact that it must deny that the three persons of the Trinity are distinct individuals, and it must deny the interpersonal relationships within the Trinity that appear frequently in Scripture
One present denomination within Protestantism (broadly defined), the United Pentecostal Church, is modalistic in its doctrinal position.
Arianism and Other Ancient Heresies Deny the Full Deity of the Son and the Holy Spirit
The term Arianism is derived from Arius (d. 336), a presbyter (elder) of the church in Alexandria whose views were condemned at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. Arius taught that God the Son was at one point created by God the Father, and that before that time the Son did not exist, nor did the Holy Spirit, but the Father only.
The Nicene Creed. As I mentioned above, the texts that say that Christ was God’s “only begotten Son” were understood by early church leaders to refer to an eternal relationship between the Father and the Son. But the many texts affirming Christ’s deity were so strong that the early church concluded that whatever “only begotten” meant, it did not mean “created.” Therefore, the Nicene Creed in AD 325 affirmed that Christ was “begotten, not made”:
the Council of Nicaea in 325 and the Council of Constantinople in 381 realized that this did not go far enough, for if Christ is not of exactly the same nature as the Father, then he is not fully God. So both councils insisted that orthodox Christians confess Jesus to be homoousios, of the same nature as God the Father.
Subordinationism In affirming that the Son was of the same nature as the Father, the early church also excluded a related false doctrine, subordinationism. While Arianism held that the Son was created and was not divine, subordinationism held that the Son was eternal (not created) and divine but still not equal to the Father in being or attributes—the Son was inferior or “subordinate” in being and attributes to God the Father.
