Bible Study 2: The Most Important Being: the one true God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Bible Study #2, "Who is God?" deals with the question of the most important Being--the one true God, who eternally exists in three eternal Persons, the God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

It is crucial to know who the true God because "life eternal [is to] ... know ... the only true God, and Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). The purpose of life is to please God: "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11), and the greatest command is to love God with all one's heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37).

The Bible clearly teaches that there is only one God (1 Corinthians 8:4; Deuteronomy 6:4). God is a Spirit (John 4:24) who therefore does not have a body (Luke 24:39) but is invisible (Colossians 1:15). He is not an impersonal force but a personal Being who seeks to fellowship with people (1 John 1:3).

God possesses incommunicable attributes (those mankind cannot share) including being omnipotent or Almighty (Genesis 17:1), omniscient or all knowing (1 John 3:20), and omnipresent or everywhere present (Jeremiah 23:24). God is eternal (Psalm 90:2), self-existent (Exodus 3:14) and unchangeable (Malachi 3:6).

God possesses the communicable attributes (characteristics people can share in a limited way) of holiness (Psalm 99:9), justice (Isaiah 45:21), love (1 John 4:8), faithfulness (Deuteronomy 7:9-10), sovereignty or kingship (1 Timothy 1:17).

Three basic words for God in the Old Testament are Eloheim, the basic term translated "God" (Genesis 1:1); Jehovah, the name rendered "LORD" or "GOD" in all capitals and emphasizing God's self-existence and His relationship with His people (Exodus 3:13-15), and Adonai, translated as "Lord" and emphasizing God as Master (Exodus 15:17). When the name Jehovah appears in an Old Testament passage quoted in the New Testament by Christ and the Apostles, the Savior and His Apostles say "Lord" instead of saying "Jehovah" (Matthew 24:44 & Psalm 110:1).

The one God exists in three eternal Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, a Biblical truth called the Trinity. The three Persons in God or in the Godhead (Romans 1:20) are seen in texts such as: "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); "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (1 John 5:7). In the Old Testament Jehovah is speaking in Isaiah 48, yet He says: "I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me" (Isaiah 48:16), specifying a plurality within the one undivided God, Jehovah.

The Father is identified as God in many verses in the Bible, such as: "Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 1:2) & "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Ephesians 4:6). The Son is also identified as God in many verses in Scripture, such as: "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." (Hebrews 1:8) & "Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God." (John 20:28). The Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost (the terms are identical) is identified as God in many verses as well; to "lie to the Holy Ghost" is to lie "unto God" (Acts 5:3-4), and the "Spirit of the LORD" is the "God of Israel" (2 Samuel 23:2-3); the Holy Spirit is Jehovah (Hebrews 3:7-11 & Psalm 95:6-11).

The Son became true Man while continuing to be true God: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (John 1:1-18).

There are not three different Gods, for "God is one" (Galatians 3:20). However, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are eternally distinct; the Son is "with" the Father (John 1:1-3), and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father (John 15:26) and of the Son (Galatians 4:6). God the Father is neither begotten nor proceeding, while the Son is eternally begotten by the Father (John 3:16; Micah 5:2) and the Spirit eternally proceeds form the Father and the Son (John 15:26; 16:7, 15).

In light of how great God is, everyone needs to know and serve this glorious God! Following Bible study #1, the most important Book, the Bible, and this Bible study, #2, the most important Being, the one true God, the next Bible study, #3, deals with the most important revelation, God's Law, which answers the question "What Does God Want from Me?"

See the material at the FaithSaves website or in person with a trained Bible teacher by contacting one of the Bible-believing churches of Jesus Christ found there in the church directory.