British-Israel's Bible Study Course

Lesson Eighteen

Who What is God?

For a full detailed study read our booklet Who What is God, Click Here

2. GOD'S COMPOSITION

1. What is God composed of? "God ________________: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. " John 4:24.

2. What is our resurrected Lord composed of? "Now the Lord _________________: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2 Corinthians 3:17).

3.What does the Bible acknowledge about Christ before he became a human being? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the ___________________. (John 1:1).

4. How does the bible describe Jesus after his resurrection? "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. ______________________________________, and eternal life. " (1 John 5:20).

5. During his life on earth, was Jesus God? "And the Word was _______________________, and dwelt among us......Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
" But made himself of no reputation, and  ___________________________________________________________________:
" And being ____________________________________________________-, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. " (John 1:14; Philippians 2:6-8).

Note: Jesus did not give up his divine nature, but the "form of God," he "emptied himself" and became the "form of a man," to die for the sins of the world. God became flesh, from Spirit form, still with his divine nature that can never change intact, and lived a human life in the flesh. God living a human life.

"Translate, “Who subsisting (or existing, namely, originally: the Greek is not the simple substantive verb, ‘to be’) in the form of God (the divine essence is not meant: but the external self-manifesting characteristics of God, the form shining forth from His glorious essence). The divine nature had infinite BEAUTY in itself, even without any creature contemplating that beauty: that beauty was ‘the form of God’; as ‘the form of a servant’ (Phi_2:7), which is in contrasted opposition to it, takes for granted the existence of His human nature, so ‘the form of God’ takes for granted His divine nature [Bengel], Compare Joh_5:37; Joh_17:5; Col_1:15, ‘Who is the IMAGE of the invisible God’ at a time before ‘every creature,’ 2Co_4:4, esteemed (the same Greek verb as in Phi_2:3) His being on an equality with God no (act of) robbery” or self-arrogation; claiming to one’s self what does not belong to him. Ellicott, Wahl, and others have translated, “A thing to be grasped at,” which would require the Greek to be harpagma, whereas harpagmos means the act of seizing. So harpagmos means in the only other passage where it occurs, Plutarch [On the Education of Children, 120]. The same insuperable objection lies against Alford’s translation, “He regarded not as self-enrichment (that is, an opportunity for self-exaltation) His equality with God.” His argument is that the antithesis (Phi_2:7) requires it, “He used His equality with God as an opportunity, not for self-exaltation, but for self-abasement, or emptying Himself.” But the antithesis is not between His being on an equality with God, and His emptying Himself; for He never emptied Himself of the fullness of His Godhead, or His “BEING on an equality with God”; but between His being “in the FORM (that is, the outward glorious self-manifestation) of God,” and His “taking on Him the form of a servant,” whereby He in a great measure emptied Himself of His precedent “form,” or outward self-manifesting glory as God. Not “looking on His own things” (Phi_2:4), He, though existing in the form of God, He esteemed it no robbery to be on an equality with God, yet made Himself of no reputation. “Being on an equality with God, is not identical with subsisting in the form of God”; the latter expresses the external characteristics, majesty, and beauty of the Deity, which “He emptied Himself of,” to assume “the form of a servant”; the former, “HIS BEING,” or NATURE, His already existing STATE OF EQUALITY with God, both the Father and the Son having the same ESSENCE. A glimpse of Him “in the form of God,” previous to His incarnation, was given to Moses (Exo_24:10, Exo_24:11), Aaron, etc." (JFB Commentary)

2. GOD AS A FAMILY

1. What is the relationship Jesus said he had with God?  He called God his "___________________" and he called himself "The ___________of God? What kind of relationship is this? __________ Trinity? ___________Family? _____________ Oness? (check one).

2.Is there anywhere in the Bible that calls God a family? "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is________________" (Zechariah 13:7). Note: The Hebrew word "fellow" is "âmîyth" and means "“My nearest kinsman” [Hengstenberg] "Kindred man" (Strong's # 5997) "Kin" or Kindred" which means "family," The Dictionary definition of "kindred" "Related,” Kindred-...Family Relationship,” “Kind-...Family Lineage...,” “Race-Family, Tribe, people, belonging to the same stock” (Webster’s New College Dictionary pp.466, 704).

In Micah 5, it shows the true lineage of the Son: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” “His goings forth” from the Strong’s shows that this means, “H4163 ‘motsa’ah motsaw-aw’ Feminine of H4161; a family descent; also a sewer (compare H6675): - draught house; going forth.” His actually family descent come from “Everlasting.” Who is the “everlasting”? YAHWEH, GOD

3. What of the New Testament? "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

"Of whom the _____________________________________ in heaven and earth is named, " (Ephesians 3:14-15).

Jesus is called "________________________________of the Father" (John 1:14).

Note: The phrase "only begotten" in the Greek is "monogenes." This means, "“John wants to emphasize that he came to dwell upon the face of this earth in the person of Jesus Christ [and] was the same nature of God Himself…The word monogeneses [Translated “only begotten” in John 1:18] actually is a compound of the word ‘monos,’ ‘alone,’ and the word ‘genos,’ ‘race, stock, family.’ Here we are told that He who came to reveal God-Jesus Christ- is of the same family, of the same stock, of the same race as God…There is ample evidence in the scriptures that the Godhead is a family…(Was Jesus God?, p.21, emphasis added).

Vines also says that this word in the Greek “genos” means: “a generation, KIND, stock…to signify by Race” (p.57, genos 1085, emphasis added). So clearly Jesus is the same race, stock, KIND, FAMILY of the Father.

“For the term ‘Son’ is herein used, not in a complimentary way but in a biological sense, and with simple application. It must, therefore, signify identity of nature with the Divine Being known as the Father (Christus f’eritas, p. 12 I ) though herein not referred name. ‘Son' to a father implies in ordinary usage, consanguinity, and the same order of being, as the father” (The Deity of Jesus Christ, Spence Little, p.37, emphasis added).

3.DUAL GODHEAD

1.How is the Godhead defined?  I and my Father are ______________________" (John 10:30). Two beings are define by Jesus that compose the Godhead, the Father and the Son. This is duality not Trinity.

2. Read all the salutations of Paul in his letters, he mentions who? The _________________ and the _______________________.

3. Paul said, "But to us there is but one God, ____________________________, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord ___________________, by whom are all things, and we by him. (1 Corinthians 8:6). Is it dual? ________or Trinity?_____________ (Check one)

4. WHAT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT?

1. How is the Holy Spirit defined? "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the __________________________________________ shall overshadow thee" (Luke 1:35).

2. Jesus told his disciples "And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with ___________________________________________." (Luke 24:49)

3.What did they receive at Pentecost? "But ye shall receive  _________________________________________________  is come upon you:...And when the day of Pentecost .............................And they were all filled with _________________________________" (Acts 1:8;2:1, 6). What is the clear definition of the Holy Spirit in the Bible? _________ a person? ______________or the power of God? (check one).

Note: We understand that there are objections to this, we cannot put them all in the lesson, we urge you to read our booklet Who, What is God for a detailed study into what is the Holy Spirit to answer any objections you may have.

5. HOW IS GOD ONE?

If the God Head is dual, how is it one?

How is "one" defined in scripture?

1.God says that, “The LORD our God is _____________ LORD:” (Deuteronomy 6:4). Jesus said in the New Testament, “I and My Father are _________” (John 10:30). How can this be? Are they two or one God?

Comment: We must first understand what the word “One” means in the Bible, in both Testaments. The Strong’s view of this passage is based on the root word from which echad is derived, achad. This word means “to unify” or “go one way or other” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, ref# 259). In other words, echad can also mean in unity or a group united as one. A composite one, not an absolute!
 

In several verses echad clearly has the meaning of more than one person united as a group. In Genesis 11:6 God says of those building the tower of Babel, “Indeed the people are one [echad] . . .” In Genesis 2:24 He says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one [echad] flesh.” This does not mean an absolute one, but a Compound one. The Majority of the text in the bible that use the phrase “is one” usually means unity as oppose to an absolute one. If God had intended to emphasise His absolute oneness rather than His unity there are words that specifically connote singularity, such as “yachid”, “rak,” or “bilti..”

Joseph when he interpreted the dreams for Pharaoh said, “And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath showed Pharaoh what he is about to do... The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one [echad].” (Gen 41:25-26). Though Pharaoh had two dreams they were one in a sense of a unit, and that they were ONE & THE SAME in meaning!

Two dreams that were to be put together as one so you can get the whole interpretation. The Hebrew word translated “one” include the number one, but also such associated meanings as “one and the same,” “as one man, together [unified],” “each, every,” “one after another” and “first [in sequence or importance]” (Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1951, p. 25).

New Testament Meaning for “One.”

Jesus said, “I and My Father are ONE” (John 10:30). This is the New Testament Shema that Jesus proclaimed, but does this “oness” mean an absolute one?
Barnes Notes says, “the word translated ‘one’ is not in the masculine, but in the neuter gender. It expresses union,...Most of the Christian fathers understood them, however, as referring to the oneness [ONE & THE SAME] or unity of nature between the Father and the Son;”

Adam Clarke’s Commentary comments on that unity, “One [SAME] in nature, One [SAME] in all the attributes of Godhead, and One [SAME] in all the operations of those attributes: and so it is evident the Jews understood him. See Joh_17:11, Joh_17:22.” And says, “If Jesus Christ were not God, could he have said these words without being guilty of blasphemy?” No one can claim the same attributes as God unless he was God himself which Jesus was. They were one in all things, a perfect unity between Father and Son.

Other examples in the New Testament shows this oness as well. Paul wrote the same thing about the church: “For as we have many members in one body, and all
members have not the same office:...So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Romans 12:4-5).

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
“ For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
“ For the body is not one member, but many.
“ If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
“ And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
“ If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
“But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
“ And if they were all one member, where were the body?
“ But now are they many members, yet but one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12-20). One body, many members, showing that their is unity in the church that makes it ONE Church, not many.

This source truly shows the exact meaning to be, “echad,” “united” The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says, the following information on the word echad: “...Adam and Eve are described as 'one flesh' (Gen 2:24), which includes more than sexual unity. In Gen 34:16 the men of Shechem suggest intermarriage with Jacob’s children in order to become 'one [same race of] people.'...In Gen 11:1 the plural modifies 'words': 'the whole earth used the same language and the
same words.' Apparently it refers to the same vocabulary, the same set of words spoken by everyone at the tower of Babel. The first 'same' in Gen 11:1 is singular , analogous to 'the same laws' of the Passover applying to native-born and foreigner (Ex 12:49; cf. Num 15:16), or to the 'one law' of sure death for approaching the Persian king without invitation (Est 4:11)..” (by R. Laird Harris, Gleason L Archer Jr., Bruce K Waltke).

A second reference on echad states:"...5. one only of its kind, Job 23:13; Ezekiel 7:5, Canticles 6:9....7. As one man, i.e. together. Ezra 2:64, 'the whole congregation together;' Ezra 3:9; 6:20; Ecclesiastes 11:6, “both alike.” Also i.q. 'together, unitedly,' Isaiah 65:25; in the same sense is said Judges 20:8; 1 Samuel 11:7"( .Gesenius, pp.28-29, emphasis added). To be “echad” is to be the “same,” as in race or kind as the men of shechem wanted to be with the Israelites in Gen 34:16.

6. GOD IS ONE WHAT?

Now that we understand how God is one. One what? The Bible says that there is one God. Once you understand the concept of the meaning of the
word “God” in the Bible, you can understand what it means exactly How God is one!

God Created “Kinds”

If you have not noticed in the Bible, God at creation created “Kinds.” He said, “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good....And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
“ And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
“ And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
“ And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so...And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” (Gen 1;11-12, 21-25). He we see different kinds of creatures, the cattlekind, the insectkind, the dogkind, the birdkind, the fishkind etc...

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word Adam, usually translated “man,” means “mankind.” It is used both of individuals (irrespective of gender) and of mankind collectively. Both Adam (the first male) and Eve (the first female) were Adam. God said he, “called their name Adam, [“Mankind,” see Strong’s (ref# 120)]” (Gen 5:2). Notice how God called “their” name plural, two people, Adam and Eve “Mankind.” (Adam). Thus, we are correct in saying, “In the Garden was Eve, and Eve was with Adam, and Eve was Adam.” Eve was not the individual being known as “Adam” (her husband), but she was Adam in that she was of the Adam-kind.   The book of Genesis speaks of Adam and Eve, or Adam and “the woman.” Yet, the woman, Eve, was also Adam.

Adam, was the head (or father) of the human family (or Adam-kind), And just as the composite unity called Adam was composed of Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve were of the same substance. Speaking of the woman, Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.... Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and they shall be one [echad] flesh” (Genesis 2:23,24). Through marriage, two persons come together as “one flesh.” This is composite unity of all of mankind.

Though there are 6 billion of us, we are all ONE & THE SAME KIND, Human-KIND! The true meaning of echad as described (above).

In a sense, there is only one Adam. That is, man is one kind; there is only one family of beings known as man. When God made Adam (both male and female), it may be said that He made all of us, for we were all “in Adam,” as it were since we are all “one flesh,” and Paul said were are all “one blood” (Acts 17:26), one kind, Human-Kind! This is the echad, were are all the same, we are all alike, all Mankind.

Adam, The First Man Father of all——>Eve (Adam, meaning the same Kind, Human or Mankind. This is the unity or “sameness” all “alike” that we share we are all one flesh, or Kind)—>The whole Human race we are all ONE! One Kind, one Family! So the name, or term “Adam,” was the head of all Mankind. Yet the same term (Adam) can be used in reference to the entire humankind, or to an individual member of the Human race.

In the same way, can we see the same pattern for the term GOD (Elohim), to the Father as God, “who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:6), and Jesus Christ as God in reference to Jesus being the same “Kind" as the Father, the God-Kind? Does the word “God” mean, the KIND OF BEING? Is this what it means when God says he is a compound “one,” of One Kind, one Family? The Bible shows proof that this is true! God is a family consisting of the Father and the Son, as we have proved above, both the same [echad] Kind, the GOD-KIND!

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God [The Father, head of all] , and the Word was God [same kind as the Father]. As noted in the sources above, Jesus is "monogenes" meaning he was of the same race, kind, family of the Father. John 1:1 explains which Kind he is, the Theos, Elohim, or Godkind. This is what the word "God" means, the Kind of Being. This is how God is one! And as we are all out of the same substance, “one flesh,” and “one blood” Jesus and the Father are of the same substance, “Spirit,” The Holy Spirit. The Bible speaks of the Spirit of the Father, and the Spirit of Christ, which is both the Holy Spirit. “God is a spirit” (John 4:24), The Lord [Jesus] is THAT SPIRIT” (2 Corinthians 3:17). Jesus and the Father are one KIND, FAMILY, THE GODKIND!
 

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