April 2025
The Bible narrative is an overarching story about creation, the fall, redemption, and restoration. The Bible is God’s word to the to guide how to live while anticipating the return of Jesus and the coming Kingdom.
Creation
At one time or another, humans have pondered, why are we here and who is our maker? the only place to get the truth to these questions is the bible (for more on the bible,https://jesusforum.net/2020/02/19/jesus-church/). In Genesis 1, we are introduced to the Trinity “Let us make mankind in our image…” (Genesis 1:26). Some might interpret this as there must be three gods, that is not correct. God is Triune, consisting of three persons that make up the Godhead, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Genesis 1 records “God said” ten times as He speaks creation into existence. God’s method of communication has always been His words, in the Old Testament, God spoke to His prophets to carry out His will, “He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction” (Psalm 107:20); “…my word that goes out from my mouth…will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). In the New Testament, God’s method of communication is still His Word, this time through His Son of whom is the ‘logos’, reason and divine order. In Jesus’ humanity, He identifies with His creation, in His godliness he is sinless and able to conquer death. Apostle John put focus on this in his gospel and personified Jesus as the Word, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God” drawing back to His divinity in Genesis 1. Jesus’ mission was to pave the way for man to be restored to God; therefore, He took on flesh to live among His creation, was born a Jew (formerly the Hebrews) His chosen people, and was given the name Immanuel which means “God with us’ in Hebrew. Before His death, we read in John 17 Jesus pray to the Father, “…Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you…I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now , Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began”. Jesus is the personification of the spoken ‘word’ (the Word) and ‘wisdom’ found at the cross where time and eternity meet and is the consciousness of that communication. Isaiah’s prophesy on this states, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Commentary on this subject agrees “Jesus is the personification of wisdom as is described in Proverbs 5-8” (Stewart, 2018).
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit’s role in the act of creation is first seen in verse 2 in Genesis 1 “…the Spirit of God was hovering over the water”. The Holy Spirit is active throughout the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, the Holy Spirit inseminates the virgin Mary, anoints Jesus at His baptism, and descends on the apostles in what is called Pentecost. Twice in the bible, we see all three persons of the Trinity present at the same time, creation and the baptism of Jesus. The Holy Spirits anoints Jesus, “Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove” (Mark 1:10) and the Father speaks, “and a voice came from heaven, you are my Son of whom I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Jesus was already divine at birth and did not need the Spirit of God to enter Him. The purpose of His baptism was to fulfill the prophesy in Isaiah, one verse being Isaiah 42:1 which speaks to the Servant being given the Spirit in a public display before beginning His ministry. Baptism represents a rebirth, dying to self and be born again. Jesus describes this to pharisee Nicodemus “…unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” During Jesus’ ministry on earth, He clearly states the importance of the Holy Spirit, “And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” (Matthew 12:31). Only when Jesus leaves, will the Holy Spirit come, Jesus also tells His disciples that when He goes back to the Father, the Spirit will come to be with them, “…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him for He will be in you and with you…” (John 14:16-17).
Sin
Divine intellect in the the mind, body and soul would have remained in the human soul if not for the fall corrupting the nature of man (Stillwaggon, 2014). The serpent used his wiles to trick Adam and Eve into disobedience to God resulting in evil and death entering the world (Genesis 3). The world will never be free of until the return of Jesus. According to John Calvin, all of creation is subject to God and thus according to God’s justice has been cursed (Lamoureux, 2009). Apostle Paul says in Romans “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:20-22). It is because of God’s grace, mercy, love, patience, and forgiveness that humanity has been given a path to redemption. The Law given to Moses so that humanity can know what sin is, this is referred to as works, which is impossible to maintain. it won’t be until coming Messiah that humanity can put their faith in Jesus Christ as opposed to works so that no one can boast (Romans).
Israelites
Thomas Aquinas “…argues that the existence and some attributes of God can be known by reason, whereas other things about God – for example, that God is triune – can be known only through special revelation” (Highfield, 2008, p. 105-106). The existence of God has been made known to humanity through general revelation and special revelation; the first refers to the physical beauty of earth and the universe that is all around us, everything we take in through the senses – sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. God is Creator, recorded in Genesis “…God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep…” (Gen 1:1-2). Special revelation is God revealing Himself through various means including miracles, scripture, and the supernatural; for example, the Nation of Israel meets God in Exodus and becomes the only nation ever to be set-up as a theocracy. First century historian Josephus Flavius, as well as theologians (Aquinas, Barth) affirm the stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph as real events that took place in humanity’s history. For instance, the Joseph story shows how the Jewish people go from Canaan to Egypt where they will live for 400 years as slaves until God frees them from Pharaoh. It is through Moses that God frees the Jewish people and teaches them to love and worship their God, Yahweh, the only one true God, as opposed to pagan gods they have come to know in Egypt. Israel, time and time again, allowed themselves to be influenced by the surrounding pagan nations that resulted in their idolatry (worshipping false gods) and sacrifices. This would later result in judgement that takes them into bondage under the Assyrians (722 BC) and later the Babylonians (586 BC). Jesus will accomplish where Israel fails.
The Church
After Jesus commissions His disciples to spread His church throughout the world to all the nations (Matt 28:16-20), the church will confront, challenge, and establish its set doctrine. As one can imagine, there were many heresies against the Christian community and attacks on the identity of Jesus. Arianism was one well known heresy that argued against the divinity of Jesus, it proclaimed Jesus as a created being making the Son not equal to God the Father. If this were the case, then Jesus’ death and resurrection would not be able to save humanity from eternal death. As with the Nation of Israel, the Church will become idolatrous and it will take centuries for it to find its way back. Beginning with Arianism, the church had to push back against this heresy during the Patristic Age (100-500AD) through to the early Middle Ages (Dark Ages). This required church leaders to come to the defense of Jesus as being the God-Man. These events have been recorded at the councils of the Nicene Creed in 325, Nicene/Constantinople Creed in 381, and Toledo in 589, and confirm Jesus as fully human and fully God; the same essence, coequal, and coeternal to the Father (homoousious). Systematic methodology came about during the centuries the church found itself explaining and defending God. It is a process by which to learn and know God and involves study and interpretation of scripture by gathering and organizing similar themes of information from various sources, such as scripture, nature, tradition, and experience (Highfield, 2008). Through this systematic methodology application, theologians confirm the Nicene Creed’s reaffirmation that God is Triune; and the homoousious of the three persons that make up the Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – One God, three persons.
References
Henry, M. (2018). Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. M. Henry (1662 – 1714). Retrieved from: https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/matthew/12.html
Highfield, R. (2008). Great
is the Lord: Theology for the praise of God. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing. Retrieved by: https://lc-ugrad3.gcu.edu/learningPlatform/externalLinks/externalLinks.html?operation=redirectToExternalLink&externalLink=http%3A%2F%2Fgcumedia.com%2Fdigital-resources%2Fwm-b-eerdmans-publishing-co%2F2008%2Fgreat-is-the-lord_theology-for-the-praise-of-god_ebook_1e.php
Lamoureux, D. O. (2016). Beyond the Cosmic Fall and Natural Evil. Perspectives On Science &
Christian Faith, 68(1), 44-59. Retrieved by: https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=113835293&site=eds-live&scope=site
Stewart, D. (2018). Why was Jesus Called the Word of God? (Logos). Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved from: https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_219.cfm
Stillwaggon, J. (2014). The Problem of Propagation: Original Sin as Inherited Discourse. Studies In
Philosophy & Education, 33(1), 61-73. doi:10.1007/s11217-013-9362-7. Retrieved by: https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=93447361&site=eds-live&scope=site
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