jeff warren Posts

Eight Evidences for the Existence of God (part 2)

16 Sep , 2013 No Comments

Here we continue the “Eight Evidences for the Existence of God”. Our last post presented the first four.

5. The Moral Argument

C.S. Lewis was among those who have said that people everywhere have a sense of what’s right and wrong. Somehow (the Bible says because we are image-bearers of God), we know inside of us what we ought to do. God has put a moral law within all of us that governs the universe. If there is no God how do you explain that?

6. Love and Emotion

If there is no God, what is love? Again, the Bible offers answers for the theist: 1 John 4:8 says, “God is love.” Is the Author of love and all love ultimately springs forth from God. If there is no God what are our options? A chemical reaction? A biological drive? An animal instinct? If God doesn’t exist then love is reduced to an evolved emotion that comes only from matter and energy. Is this possible? The Bible teaches that Jesus revealed that reality is bigger than matter and energy. Reality includes a supernatural God who is love and created us with an innate ability to love and have emotion. The moral argument for the existence of God appeals to the existence of moral laws as evidence of God’s existence. According to this argument, there couldn’t be such a thing as morality without God. To use the words that Sartre attributed to Dostoyevsky, “If there is no God, then everything is permissible.” Because there are moral laws, then, (that not everything is permissible) proves that God exists. In Mere Christianity C.S. Lewis wrote, “The Moral Law tells us the tune we have to play; our instincts are merely the keys.” The Bible tells us that we have “suppressed the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18) and have rebelled against the greater tune that we are to play and desire only to play our own tune. Even still, God has given us a sense within us that there is right and there is wrong. He has placed this Moral Law within us, as a gift, so that we would respond to the Giver of it all.

7. Jesus Christ

The Ultimate proof of God and His existence is that He, Himself, came here and told us that He exists. He showed us who He is and what He is like. Hebrews 1:1-3 says,

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”

God has taken initiative throughout history to communicate with man. Christ is the final proof of, not only the existence of God, but of the exact character of God. Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1-4, 14) reconciling the world to Himself.

 8.  Changed Lives

Another proof that God exists is His clear presence in the lives of people today and throughout history. Millions have been changed by His transforming power through a relationship with Jesus Christ. We’ve noted that you are the best argument for the existence of God because you exist and you are also the best argument for the existence of the God of the Bible because of your changed life. If you were to give “changed lives” as evidence for God’s existence, what personal evidence would you be able to offer?

 Of the eight evidences presented above, choose three that would be most helpful with your friends and family. Discuss in your small group, your family, or with a friend.

 

 

How can I know God exists? (part one)

09 Sep , 2013 No Comments

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”  Hebrews 11:1

Immediately we’re challenged by the verse. Why did God “set it up” this way- that we must come to Him by way of faith? If we think about it, this actually the great gift that god has given us. If He is truly God- infinite in all His qualities and eternal in time- how else would we come to Him? We cannot think our way to God any more than we can work our way to God. So it is by faith that we come to God.

Popular thought in our day, is the idea that fi you faith in something then it doesn’t matter so much what you believe as long as you are sincere. Really? You believe you can fly? Sincerely jump out of a plane without a parachute. People who are “sincere” can be sincerely wrong. It is the Object of your faith that matters. Biblical faith is not simply a leap in the dark but faith in a historical Person and a historical event- namely Jesus Christ- His perfect life, death, and resurrection.

How can I know that God exists? Recent surveys continue to show that 90% of all Americans believe in God. 80% said, “I never doubt the existence of God”. But can the Christian show that the God of the Bible truly is the only God- the One everyone must believe in- the One who claims He is the one and only God above all other gods (Exodus 20:1-5)?  We must be clear from the start that it is impossible to put God in a test tube or prove Him by science. In order for something to be proven by science it must be repeatable. History by its very nature is non-repeatable. You can’t prove a lot of things scientifically: How the world began; whether or not George Washington ever lived; what you did yesterday… but there is clear evidence that points directly to the existence of God.

Let’s check out eight arguments for the existence of the God of the Bible. Be ready pick the three that you think are the best arguments for the existence of God.

Eight Evidences for the Existence of God (part one- 1-4)

1. The Search for Something More

We all possess a need for God. Blaise Pascal, the great 17th century mathematician described this as the “God shaped vacuum” in every person. We all intuitively know that there is something more, something outside of us. This comes at us in many ways. We know we our world is broken, something is wrong. The challenge in the affluent West is that we live relatively comfortable lives and we have the ability to run to so many diversions, in order to medicate our pain. But now and then the fog is lifted when something happens that we cannot deny- a baby dies, we get cancer, someone opens fire in an elementary school or a theater and we think, “Wow, our world is broken! This is a mess.” But then we run back to our diversions. But they never last for long. We run to a new and improved self, we run to others, we run to the good things of the world, and we run to religion but none of it ends our search for something more. And here’s why: the solution to our problem is not found in us. It is something that comes from completely outside of us. It is Someone who is completely outside of us and it’s not another person. It’s not another girl or another guy. Men and women: it’s not your spouse. Parents: your child may be “student of the year” but your child makes a lousy god. If you’re running to them for purpose and meaning you will ultimately crush them. Do you believe that every person has an empty place that they are seeking to fill? Romans 1:18-22 affirms all of this.

 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools..” Romans 1:18-22

We know that God exists and if we do not embrace this truth it means that, “that by our unrighteousness we suppress the truth”. God placed within us a kind of homing device that calls us to Him. There is grace in this longing for something more and it should drive us to the Answer! Ecclesiastes 3:11 says God, “set eternity in the hearts of men”.

 2. Cause and Effect

This train of thought is simple Aristotelian logic based on the work of the great philospher, Aristotle and his foundational laws of logic. The Law of Cause and Effect is simple (note- “law” not a theory): No effect can be produced without a cause. We, humans, and the universe itself are effects that must have a cause. You eventually come to the “Uncaused Cause”- God. The fact that you exist is a great argument for the existence of God.

The context out of which atheistic evolutionary thought arose was the theological vacuum of the mid to late 1800s. The prevailing theological view at that time (particularly in western Europe) was summarized by Nietzche when he wrote, “God is dead.” – Nietzsche, 1883

Nietzche meant we had killed the concept of God, that He was “dead” to us in regard to His influence in our lives. Many theologians agreed that the concept of transcendence had lost any meaningful place in modern thought. God was no longer in the equation. So, with that prevailing thought already dominant in Europe in particular, we see the emergence of scientists and thought leaders who had eliminated God from their thought and work. So, by the mid to late 1800s scientists, like Charles Darwin began asking the ultimate questions of life: “Where did we come from?” (the question of origin), “What are we doing here?” (the question purpose), and “Where are we going”- (the question destiny). They came to the first question. “Where did we come from?” Well, not God because God is dead. God does not exist. So, they eliminated the answer before asking the question. “There is no God” So then, where did we come from? Let me suggest that when you eliminate the answer before you ask the question it will always lead to absurdity. It would be like eliminated the number 4 and then asking what is 2 + 2? 3.8? 5-ish? Absurd. Where did we come from? The response: Not God, we came from nothing! But, alas, that’s scientifically impossible. You can’t something from nothing and you can’t get living matter from non-living matter. But the dominant “scientific” position became that there is no God, so we came from nothing. Absurd. Impossible. Of course, someone noted: “Nietzsche is dead.” – God, 1900

3. Order and Design

No one would find a watch in the woods and their first thought be, “Wow, all these sticks and rocks, dirt and leaves must have come together and formed this thing, ticking away, keeping perfect time. No, the first thing we would think would be, “Someone has been here and someone made that watch. It didn’t just appear.” In fact, we would say that would be impossible. And yet, I look around in creation and I see things much more complex than a watch: the human eye that sees in 3-D and color, the heart that pumps on it’s own! Could a computer suddenly come into being without an intelligent designer? Could a monkey in a print shop randomly set Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in type? Could an eye that sees in 3-D and color happen by accident? Could the universe or the human body come into being without a Supreme Creator? Looking at the universe we see that there is design. Look at plain water. Water has a high specific heat. This means that chemical reactions in the human body are kept rather stable. If water had a low specific heat, we would “boil over” with the least amount of activity. The ocean is the world’s thermostat. The ocean keeps the earth warm in the winter and cool in the summer! If the earth were much smaller an atmosphere would be impossible. If larger the atmosphere would contain free hydrogen (like Jupiter and Saturn) and life would be impossible on earth. The distance from the sun is perfect for life on earth. The smallest percentage of change would make it to hot or too cold for life. These examples (and a million more) have led prominent Princeton physicist Freeman Dyson: “In some sense, the Universe knew we were coming.” SomeONE knew we were coming and created it all and with that we see a purpose in all things. The Universe is not an accident. You are not an accident. God has placed you here on purpose.

4. Meaning and Purpose

Apart from order outside ourselves, we all long for order within. Men and women through the ages have asked: “Why am I here?”

“What is life for? To die?  To kill myself at once?  No, I am afraid. To wait for death till it comes?  I fear that even more.  Then I must live. But what for? To die? And I could not escape that circle.” – Leo Tolstoy

“Life is just a dirty trick, a short journey from nothingness to nothingness.” – Ernest Hemingway

“Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity!” Ecclesiastes 1:2- King Solomon (at the beginning of his search for meaning) It’s this pattern of thinking that led C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, to say: “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

“The conclusion, when all has been heard is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.”  Eccl. 12:13 – King Solomon (after his search for meaning) Our desire to live full and meaningful lives comes from God who made us for a purpose.

“Without God, what am I but a guide to my own destruction?” – St. Augustine

What will you do with the overwhelming evidence that points us to God? Winston Churchill said, “Men occasionally stumble over truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” Will you embrace the truth and worship God today or will you run off as if nothing happened? Tomorrow we’ll explore four more evidences for the existence of God and look further into exactly what has happened.

Doubting Out Loud

02 Sep , 2013 No Comments

Can I trust the Bible is true? Is it really God’s Word?

Rational evidence abounds for the existence of God. The Christian, however, believes in the one and only God revealed in the Bible. The Bible teaches us who God is, what He is like, what He has done, and what He is doing. Mostly the Bible points us to who He is in Christ. Crucial then, for the skeptic and believer alike, are questions like, “Is the Bible really God’s Word?”, “Is the Bible reliable?” and “Can I trust that the Bible is true?”

Who wrote the Bible and how was it written?

The Bible makes an audacious claim concerning itself: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

The Bible is inspired by God – literally “Breathed out by God”.  It refers not to the writers but to the words written.

“For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:21

Men wrote the Bible as they were inspired by God. Why do you think God used regular men as “instruments” for His communication?

Over 2,000 times in the Old Testament alone we read, “God said…” or “Thus saith the Lord” It’s interesting that the writers themselves knew they were being used as mouthpieces for God and that He was speaking through them:

“The Lord reached out His hand and touched my mouth and said, “Now I have put my words in your mouth.” Jeremiah 1:9

“The Lord spoke through me.” 2 Samuel 23:2

“What I am writing to you is the Lord’s command.” 1 Corinthians 14:37

What would you expect from a book inspired by God?

Is my Bible reliable?

Some people challenge the reliability of the Bible, not because they’ve read it but because they don’t want to confront its truth.

 Interesting Facts about the Bible

  • We don’t have the original hand writings of Paul, Peter, John or any other writer of the Bible. We don’t have any original hand writings, or what are called “autographs”, of any literary work from ancient history of any real significance.
  • The real test of the reliability of any ancient work then, depends on the manuscripts (the handwritten copies).

The key is how many manuscripts we have and when they were written.

  • The New Testament we read today is based on about 5,500 early manuscripts or pieces of manuscripts all written in the original Greek.
  • The Gallic Wars, written about the same time as the New Testament, is based on 9 or 10 manuscripts.  It’s interesting that no one questions the reliability of the Gallic Wars. The New Testament was written from 50 AD to 90 AD.  The earliest fragment dates about 120 fragments dating within 150-200 years. Compare that again to the Gallic Wars, written about that time, where the earliest copy dates about 1,000 years after it was written!
  • Another famous work of antiquity is The Iliad by Homer. It was written in 900 BC and the earliest manuscripts are found in 400 BC. The first complete copy is dated about 500 years after it was written.
  • The 5,500 manuscripts were found throughout the known world of the New Testament. These manuscripts are surprisingly exact in comparison to one another. The minor discrepancies never alter the meaning of any text. The bulk of these manuscripts agree word for word with one another. Our Bible today is based on these first manuscripts. There has not been a lot of “passing down through the ages” because we have access to these early manuscripts. The famous Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in 1947, proved that the Old Testament had been passed down correctly through the years by scribes whose job was to copy exactly from one text to another.  Most scholars date the Scrolls at about 150 BC-50 BC.

More amazing facts about the Bible

  • The more you dig into the facts concerning the Bible the more reliable it becomes.
  • The early church leaders quoted the New Testament in their writings. Almost every New Testament book is quoted by Clement, bishop of Rome, who wrote about 96 AD.
  • More that 25,000 sites showing some connection with the Old Testament period have been located in Bible lands.  Archaeologists have found the Bible to be accurate.
  • The Bible is full of remarkable prophecies that have been fulfilled. Over 300 prophecies are fulfilled in Jesus alone including His birth, life, and death (i.e. Micah 5:2, Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Luke 24:25-27).
  • Jesus Himself quoted Scripture as final authority (Matthew 26:54, 56).

How did we get the Bible?

  • It’s important to understand (in this age of the internet, smart phones and iPads) that the simple fact we have the Bible is a miracle in itself. The period of “textual transmission” was a process that was carried out by hand. The moveable type printing press was a product of the 15th century AD.

Textual Transmission

  • Scholars believe the earliest books of the Old Testament were written about 1,400 –1,300 BC
  • The books of the New Testament were all completed by about 50 AD to 90 AD.

By 150 BC we know that all the books of the Old Testament had achieved some textual form.

  • The “canon” (from the Greek word “kanon” meaning “rod” or “rule”) is the word given to the “list” or “series” or “standard” of Scripture – the authoritative and inspired Word of God.
  • The earliest evidence of any Old Testament books is from about 200 BC. There are no complete copies of the Hebrew Old Testament earlier than around 900 AD. The Jewish people held Scripture in such high regard that worn manuscripts were destroyed rather than to risk that they be profaned. Any worn or older manuscripts would be placed in a storage area in the Synagogue (called a “genizah”) where they were kept until proper disposal.
  • It should come as no surprise that little archaeological evidence dates back before the time of Christ.

The Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls

  • As mentioned earlier, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 in what has been called the greatest archaeological discovery of the century.  These scrolls, found in ancient jars are dated to 150 BC – 50 BC. In one dramatic stroke, the age of the manuscripts we now possess were hurdled back almost 1,100 years!
  • Comparing the scrolls with the Masoretic text (10th century AD) we found that the accuracy of transmission over the period of nearly a millennium was miraculous!

Significant translations and the standardization of the canon.

  • As early as the narrative of Exodus 24 we know of a document called “the book of the covenant” as Moses “wrote all the words of Yahweh”. (Ex. 24:4-8
  • The idea of a closed canon was seen as early as the book of Deuteronomy which has attached the warning – “you shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it”. (Deut. 4:2; 12:32)
  • By the time of the destruction of the temple in 70 AD, the standardization of the Old Testament seemed almost complete.  (The need for a closed cannon became evident with the advent of synagogues.)
  • The Council of Jamnia (90 AD) was a group of rabbis who gathered to debate certain books and to determine which ones did and did not “defile the hands”.
  • Rabbi Akiba (55 – 137 AD) insisted that the smallest details in the text had great significance providing an impetus to the standardization process.
  • The work of the Masoretes (from about 200 BC). This group of Jewish scribes passed on the Scriptures with incredible accuracy and gave us the “Masoretic Text”. They accurately passed on the Scriptures until about 1200 AD.
  • The Septuagint or LXX (because it was reputedly done by 70 Jewish scholars) is the Greek translation of the Old Testament and is dated at about 300 BC.  The LXX became the “Bible” for the early church.
  • The Latin Vulgate (384-405AD) was the primary Latin version which became the official version of the Roman Catholic Church.
  • The Wycliffe Bible, dated 1382 was the first complete English translation.  William Tyndale (1484-1536 translated from the original languages (not the Vulgate).  The King James Version of 1611 was a translation (not a revision) of all available textual evidence.

Some helpful definitions

  • Those who accept the Bible as the Word of God are often accused of taking the Bible literally.  What does it mean to take the Bible literally? (Read Isaiah 55:12 or Psalms 114:4,6). Isaiah 55:12 says, “All the trees of the field will clap their hands.” The Bible is to be interpreted in the sense in which the authors intended it to be received by its original readers.
  • Another important term we must clearly define is “inerrancy” which means “lack of error” or infallible”. Some use the words inerrancy and infallibility as one in the same; others do not. Biblical inerrancy is the doctrine that the Bible, in its original manuscripts, is accurate and totally free from error of any kind; and does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact. Biblical infallibility is the belief that what the Bible says regarding matters of faith and Christian practice is wholly useful and true. It is the belief that the Bible is completely trustworthy as a guide to salvation and the life of faith and will not fail to accomplish that purpose.
  • We must remember that the Bible was written, not as a science textbook or history book (though accurate in both), but as a love letter (a story) of God’s redemptive work throughout history, and namely through the life and salvific work of Christ. We must avoid imposing on the biblical writers our own twentieth century standards of scientific and historical precision and accuracy. For instance, Scripture often describes things “phenomenologically”- which simply means, as they appear to be. We speak in these terms when we say, “The sun is rising!” We don’t mean that the sun is rising. Scientifically we mean that the rotation of the earth and the trajectory of the it’s orbit is bringing the Western Hemisphere into a direct angle to view the sun’s rays coming to earth. But a scientific description is not why we are making the statement.

 No other writings even attempt to make the claims the Bible does of itself or make bold predictions with 100% accuracy.

Which do you think is truer?

  • I must understand in order to believe.
  • I must believe in order to understand.

Faith always precedes reason when we approach our infinite and eternal God. Don’t forget that the Bible is a spiritual book and the Holy Spirit speaks through Scripture to your heart. We cannot rely on reason alone.

Consider and discuss these questions:

If you are a follower of Christ, did you believe the Bible was inspired before you became a Christian? Did you think it was reliable?  What can we expect from a letter from God that we could not expect from any other literature?

You can have full assurance that your Bible is the Word of God. Read it, study it, cherish it, but most of all, obey it as you walk with the Savior to Whom it points.

 

 

No News is bad news.

22 May , 2013 No Comments

News is not news if it’s something you already know.

Most of us think that the Gospel is something we already know. I was bad (but not that bad) and Jesus has come to make me better; and I get heaven too! This is not the Gospel. We have forgotten from where we’ve come. We were never anywhere close to being good and we’re not getting much better. Indeed, getting better is not the point. Jesus did not come to make good people better; He came to bring dead people to life.

It seems the only explanation to our lackluster approach to the Gospel is that we do not really believe that it is Good News. Or at least, we have misunderstood the News we have received. If it’s not news, it’s not a big deal and it’s certainly not worth sharing. When it comes to the Gospel, this is when no news is bad news.  We have no news to share because we don’t think the Good News is all that good. I don’t need anyone to tell me that I am not real good but I’m not that bad either. I don’t need anyone to tell me that I’m doing pretty well without Jesus but with Him I could do better. I don’t need anyone to tell me that I could choose a religion to follow that is superior to all others. That’s not Good News. And if Jesus is my model to follow, that’s crushing news! And if, when I die I get heaven, that’s not really news either. I was kind of thinking I was going there anyway.

The Gospel (“the Good News”) is first “News”. It’s something we did not know, and would never know had God not made it known. It is News. It is a declaration. It is a proclamation of an event that has come to us in the form of a Person. News needs a herald and this News has been heralded by God Himself. In fact, He told us it was coming. He prepared us for this News but we missed it. And who could blame us. This News has no comparison, no rivals, no precedent. This is truly breaking news.

This News is breaking because it did not come from any man. Only God could bring this News. Indeed, to study the theological thread leading up to Jesus there was no resurrection theology. The resurrection was a complete departure from Orthodox Jewish theology. No one saw this coming. But suddenly, after the Christ event (His birth, life and teaching, crucifixion, and resurrection) there emerged a clear resurrection theology (or better, Christology) that changed everything.

This was the breaking News of heaven- that Jesus had lived the perfect life so that we wouldn’t have to. No longer are we crushed under the weight of God’s holy demands; they have been met in the One who came to fulfill the Law. He suffered and died in our place so that there would now be no condemnation for those who are covered in His righteousness. He rose again so that we too could live in the power of the resurrection power and in the hope of our own coming resurrection. We were brought from death into life. To say this News is “Good” News is an understatement. “Great” doesn’t qualify this News. This News is the heaven-breaking, earth-shaking, life-rescuing grace of God that has come to us through the One and Only Son of God.

We need to rediscover the Gospel. We need to scrutinize it, get underneath it, on top of it, and all over it. We need to obsess over the Gospel. We cannot study it enough. We cannot think about it enough. We cannot talk about it enough. This is the News that keeps on coming and is constantly new News to our feeble minds and our wayward hearts. This is the News to which are now heralds!

Praise God for the Good News of the Gospel.

The God We Worship

20 Apr , 2013 No Comments

“As nothing is more easy than to think, so nothing is more difficult than to think well.” – Thomas Traherne (17th Century English poet and theologian)

If we ever think well, it should be when we think of God. Surely Tozer was right: “What comes into our minds when we think of God is the most important thing about us”. You and I are shaped by who (or what) we worship. At the end of Romans 11, Paul finishes major theological treatise to the Roman Christians. Then, his theology bursts forth into doxology:

33 “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”
36 For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things.
    To Him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:33-35

God is… In all of these traits we remember that, when it comes to God, we must first believe and then understand. Faith precedes reason when we approach God because He is beyond our understanding.

  • all-wise (vs. 33) – the wisdom of God is unfathomable. All God’s acts are done with perfect wisdom. His wisdom is His ability to devise perfect ends and to achieve perfect ends with the most perfect means. A.W. Tozer- in “The Knowledge of the Holy” wrote, “All of God’s acts are done with perfect wisdom, first for His glory, and then for the highest good for the greatest number for the longest time.” Not only could His acts not be better done: a better way to do them could not be imagined. His plans cannot be improved. He is wisdom unimagined.
  • all-just (vs. 33) Revelation 4 tells us that Jesus is seated on His throne- He is in the highest place- of all authority and all judgment. He is just, righteous, perfect in everything He does. Every decision He makes is perfect. He does not seek counsel from anyone. He does not conform to some other opinion. He is always right, simply acting like Himself in every situation. His goodness and compassion flows out of His justice, because goodness without justice is not goodness.
  • all-knowing (vs. 34) To say that God is omniscient is to say that He has perfect knowledge and therefore has no need to learn- who’s going to teach Him something? God knows instantly and effortlessly all things. Because God knows all things perfectly, He knows nothing more than He knows anything else, but all things equally well. He never discovers anything. His knowledge is infinite. He is never surprised, never amazed. He never wonders about anything, He doesn’t seek information or ask questions. He is self-existent and self-contained and knows what no creature knows- Himself, perfectly. Only the Infinite can know the infinite. He is eternal and infinite. He is eternal in time and He is infinite in all of His qualities. When Moses said He is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Ps. 90), he was saying that God has no beginning and no end. That God appears at time’s beginning is not too difficult to grasp but to say that He appears at the beginning and the end- at the same time is hard to grasp. But it is true. He is the God of the past AND the God of the future. He is the eternal NOW- He has no past and no future. When words that describe “time” are used in the Bible they refer to us not Him. It’s why Revelation 4 says, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty- Who was, and is, and is to come.” He has already lived all of our tomorrows just as He has lived all of our yesterdays. From Him everything that will happen has already happened. God is beyond our comprehension and what God thinks when He thinks of Himself, only He can know. All this to say- He is transcendent, that is, He is far above what human thought can imagine. T.S. Eliot asked, “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
  • all-sufficient (vs. 35)  No one can give Him anything. He is self-existent. No onemade Him. A more positive assertion of selfhood could not be imagined than the words of God to Moses: “I AM THAT I AM.” You cannot add to me. I don’t need anything. “Need” is a creature word. Nothing is complete in and of itself but requires something outside of itself in order to exist. All breathing things need air; every organism needs food & water. Every created thing needs some other created thing to keep it alive & all things need God. To God alone nothing is necessary. In fact, the word “necessary” is completely foreign to God. He is Supreme over all and cannot be elevated. You can’t add to Him. You can’t give Him anything that He needs. He doesn’t need our praise. God doesn’t need our approval. We are so prideful, and we think so lofty of ourselves, it is quite easy- even enjoyable- to think that we are necessary to God. He loves us, but He doesn’t need us. We cannot add to His infinite worth, we do not enhance Him, increase His value. And our worship of Him adds nothing to Him. If every man on earth were to become an atheist it would not effect Him in the least.

As Paul closes this doxology he says that all things are “from Him”. God is the Giver, is the Source; He is the Initiator. He says all things are “through Him”. God is the Deliverer the Provider, the Sustainer; He is the avenue by which the gift is delivered. All things come “through Him”. Not only that, but God is, at the same time, the Receiver. All things are “to Him”.  He is the beginning and the end. His glory is the goal. And Jesus teaches us that God IS the Gift. He is delivering Himself to us. Not only is it from Him, through Him and to Him but it is Him!

“For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.” Colossians 1:16

What is God receiving? Look at the gift that God is giving and receiving through us! He is receiving THE GLORY. The word here is doxa. It translates literally as “an opinion”. In the New Testament it is always a good opinion that results in praise. What is God giving Himself through you? He wants you to respond to who He is and what He has done with such a high opinion of Him that results in praise. Commentator Douglas Moo asks, “What should be our response to our contemplation of God’s supremacy in all the universe? Like Paul’s, doxology.”

Perhaps the greatest of all of God’s qualities is the fact that He is all-loving. All of God’s greatness- every one of His eternal and infinite qualities- have found their expression most perfectly in a single Person. His name is Jesus. In Him our worship takes a dramatic Christological shift. Scotty Ward Smith writes, “Jesus turns our theology into doxology.” In the end, the purpose of our lives is live every day, and throughout eternity, “to the praise of His glorious grace!” Colossians 1:6