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THE PARADOXICAL GOD OF

THE BIBLE
by Derrick Gillespie

Many people wonder how can God the Father be said to be present
Himself, do something Himself, and be something Himself, and
yet represents Himself by another, or operates through another.
That's the paradox of the God that we serve (a "paradox" only
seems to contradict itself, but is logical in the end), since God
presents Himself and is seen and approached through
relationships, the very essence of love. The Bible declares "God is
love", and this statement is at the heart of God's own self revelation
more than many will ever know.

*BIBLICALLY WHO REALLY IS:

1. Our Creator?

2. Our Redeemer or Savior?

3. Our Supreme King, Lawgiver and final Judge?

4. Our Heavenly Father?

5. Our Comforter?

6. Our Lord or Supreme Master?

7. Our God?

AND HOW MANY OF THESE DOES THE BIBLE PRESENT?


ONE, TWO, OR THREE?
Mal. 2:10 declares, “have we not all ONE Father, hath not ONE
God created us? In light of these questions and this Mal. 2:10
affirmation consider the following points very, very carefully.

1. Despite the Bible's Old Testament portion hinted at more than one
personal being existing in the Godhead from before the foundation
of the world (Gen. 1:26,27 with Gen. 3:22-24, Gen. 11:5-7 and Is.
6:8), yet never did visions of the heavenly throne room ever depict
separate beings in the Old Testament. NEVER!! Daniel 7:13,14
showing God as Judge ("the Ancient of Days"), and he depicted
separately from Christ as the “Son of man” was a
futuristic/prophetic reference, and not a literalistic reference about
Jesus before Jesus became a man. Remember too that Jesus will be
that final Judge depicted in symbol as the “Ancient of days” (John
5:22), so this symbolic scene must be considered carefully; and
not be pressed too literally. Also, never did we see a repeated pre-
incarnation emphasis on God communicating to man and depicting
it as coming from more than one person, except from God the
Father Himself (despite Is. 6:8 speaking of "us").

2. All Old Testament passages spoke of one Creator creating by


himself, of one Redeemer or Savior and none beside Him, of one
Father, of one King over the earth, of one Lawgiver, of one being
“Judge Himself”, and one God with no God formed after Him,
despite cryptic references to God the Father saying “let us” at
Creation, and references to a Son being present with him (Prov.
30:4), and despite references to him sending His personally
depicted Spirit (Ez. 8:1-5) to create the world (Ps. 104:30) or to
accomplish his purposes away from His throne room (see Gen. 1:2
with Ez. 3:24). Obviously it takes a separate person to send
another.
3. Notice carefully now that as soon as Jesus was manifested and
sent as a man to reveal the Father, and to be man’s substitute and
forerunner to the Kingdom to come, notice that immediately after
that we see repeated depictions of two separate beings SEEMING
(notice I said "seemingly") dominating heavenly things (i.e.
thrones scenes, greetings, Kingdom and New Jerusalem scenes).
Why?

4. Here's the main reason why. As man’s Forerunner to the


Kingdom, as a human Advocate or divine Lawyer (as it were) at
the Throne of God, as a human Mediator and High Priest, as our
Elder brother, et al, it seems only natural that Jesus be so pictured
with the Father as firstly an assurance to humanity of his
forerunner-ship paving the way for fallen man to be restored to full
ruler-ship, secondly as an assurance of his continued Mediatorial
work at the throne, and as a reminder that He is the ultimate
Agency of the Godhead’s tangible revelation to man. It does not
deny the presence of the Holy Spirit in distinction (see Matt.
28:19; Rom. 15:30; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6, etc).
Even in the book of Revelation the Holy Spirit is presented in
distinction, since he is shown there as the “seven-fold Spirit”
“before God’s throne” sending greetings to the Church (Rev.
1:4,5), and every final “revelation” from God through Jesus, and
relayed by the angel to John is depicted as “the Spirit says to the
Churches”. It would be simply redundant to refer to the Spirit in
this distinct way if he was not meant to be considered as personally
separate, despite united with Father and Son. The reality too of the
Father and Christ being often (not always) spoken of together
since Jesus' incarnation does not deny that we are baptized ALSO
in the Spirit’s “name” equally with that of Father and Son (i.e. to
the denote united OWNERSHIP and united AUTHORITY of all
three over our lives), since it cannot be denied that in our Christian
experience the Spirit is equally there on the Father and Son's
behalf. It should be considered that the Spirit’s office is not one
depicted to rule on a throne, but to personally and invisibly
represent the Father and Son’s all over the universe, and to
personally and invisibly rule in our hearts or minds on their
behalf. Jesus’ ruler-ship with the Father in heaven NEVER
depicts two thrones (another point to emphasize the unity of
the Godhead), since there is only one Throne ultimately that
Jesus is pictured as sharing (Rev. 3:21), and it is a symbol to
show his equal authority with the Father in divine sphere. The
saved of earth later sharing on earth Jesus' EARTHLY throne ("of
his father David") is a symbol of our equal ruler-ship with him but
only in the human sphere, or only in the restored earthly
kingdom; not as rulers of the entire universe. Nowhere does the
Bible declare otherwise. And of course one shouldn't expect
(unless one is naive) that one throne on eathn will literally have
thousands of Christians sitting on it literally at the same time with
Jesus. That's why Revelation is a book of symbols. And in this
case it symbolizes, in the human sphere, an equal status of glory
that the saved share with Jesus our "Elder brother", even though he
is also our "Eternal Father" in the divine sphere!!

5. It should be forever considered that while Jesus is in some sense


our Father (see proof in Heb. 2:11-14; Is. 9:6), obviously by he
being the agency of the Father’s creation and redemption (Heb.
1:2,3, 8-10; John 1:1-3), and while it is the Spirit who directly
created us, and directly begets us into the kingdom on Jesus'
behalf, yet ultimately we still don’t have two or even three divine
"fathers", but we still have ultimately one Father, the Father of all,
i.e. “God the Father” of even Jesus Christ (a similar scenario is
seen in Jesus being "begotten" on earth by the Spirit on the
Father’s behalf, yet ultimately it was the Father who was the
"Father" of Jesus, despite the Father and Holy Spirit are very often
depicted in distinction). That is straight Trinitarianism, plain and
simple. This leads me to point out that it is ridiculous to be
intimating that if the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are to be seen as
a Godhead family, then shouldn't the Holy Spirit too should be
described in human terms. Who says? We must never limit God to
all of our human experiences. To introduce an uncle, and brother
relationship in the Godhead, for instance, is an indication that we
limit God to purely human relationships only. Similar ridiculous
questions could be asked like why, if God the Father is considered
a "he", and a "father, then with which female divinity is he
contrasted with, or who is the divine mother of Jesus, or is the
Holy Spirit Jesus brother, his surrogate Father, or is He our
heavenly uncle? Notice carefully, that all that the Father is IN THE
DIVINE SPHERE, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are equally the
same to us (i.e. Creator, Father, Redeemer, King, etc). The only
reason why only Jesus is our "brother" (and not the Father and
Holy Spirit) is in the context of the salvation plan in which only
Jesus became incarnate and took on our nature.

6. While Jesus is a called the Comforter, and the Spirit acts on


Jesus’ behalf as “another Comforter” in his absence, yet
ultimately God the Father is called the “God of ALL comfort”
because he is depicted as the ultimate source of “all comfort”
mediated to us through the ministry of Jesus and the Spirit as His
agencies (but of course in different ways).

7. While Jesus is called our Savior or Redeemer many times since


his incarnation, and the Spirit also shares in the redemption process
(i.e. drawing us to God and Christ, empowering us, aiding our
praying as “intercessor” from our minds in which he resides, also
forever consoling us as “another Comforter” on the Father’s
behalf, and distributing gifts to us "as he wills" on their behalf,
etc) yet the Bible still declares that God the Father is the only
ultimate Savior, and is depicted as being the one who “was in
Christ” REDEEMING the world unto Himself.
8. Also, while Jesus will be final Judge, yet he is depicted as being
granted (in the context of being a man) this ministry on the
Father’s behalf (compare John 5:22 with Ps. 50:3-6). In addition
while Jesus is called the “one Lord” and also called “our God”, yet
the Father is called “the only Lord God”, and while Jesus is called
“King of kings and Lord of lords” yet the Father is called “the
blessed and ONLY Potentate, King of Kings and Lord of lords”
whom “no man hath seen”.

DO ALL THESE BIBLICAL CONSIDERATIONS


CONTRADICT? To some it seems so, yet what is very evident
about the truth of the Bible is that God is presented in triadic terms,
but yet still expects us to see one God ultimately realized in God
the Father. Why?

There is only one (1) God, THE FATHER (a singular "Him"),


not two or three of Him, but He has told us that he is known
through and approached through His separate Son (who bears
his name and nature, as sons naturally do), and He (united
with His Son) is manifested everywhere invisibly by His
distinct and personal Spirit. The One “true God” the Father
(YAHWEH) is, by His very nature, revealed in and
worshipped through His Eternal and “only begotten” Son, and
is present everywhere by His personal Holy Spirit. Think it
through carefully. That’s why God spoke as "us" from the
very beginning, since He could not deny whom he is united
with.

Consider this finally. The Bible shows that a unity akin to that of
the Godhead usually has ONLY the "head" of the unity in focus,
but the others in the group are never denied or forgotten. Classic
examples include Gen. 3:22-24 having both in the unit represented
by the pronouns "him" and "he", and yet the passage meant both
male and female.
In Psalm 8 the same term "man", and "him" is used inclusive of
both sexes and all of humanity in fact, but the male, the "head" is
used as the focus of the group.
In the Church Jesus is the "head", and all that applies to him as our
Elder Brother applies to us members of his body--ON THE
HUMAN SIDE OF COURSE; not on is divine side!!
The same is true of the Godhead, where the Father is given the
divine focus, but never at the exclusion of Son, and Spirit in terms
of what they are united in, and in terms of the honor they deserve.
For example, the Bible says God "by himself" created, but the
Bible plainly shows he did it in unity with his divine Son and Spirit
(just as men/males "begot" the generations in the Bible, and
families are traced through males, but it could never be a reality at
the exclusion of the female in the process).
The Bible says only the Father is to be worshiped, but never at the
exclusion of equal honor given to His Son (with the Father
PERSONALLY commanding worship for his Son in Heb. 1:6),
and obviously you cannot worship God as a spirit and not worship
Him as the Holy Spirit (the invisible and omni-present being he
uses to represent Himself as being everywhere).
The first commandment enjoins the obligation to NEVER have any
other God before Jehovah, and yet Jesus accepted Thomas calling
him "my Lord and My God", and the Father Himself called Jesus
"God" and commanded that all should worship him(see John
20:28,29 and Heb. 1:6, 8,10).
The Bible says only God the Father is good, wise, or the only
potentate or supreme ruler or King of kings,etc, and yet Jesus is
equally all these things as well by his unity with His Father, the
"head". And both Father and Son is represented invisibly
everywhere by means of the Holy Spirit who shares the same
"name" and authority they bear.
Conclusion? A spiritually united specie being represented by
the head of that group never excludes the others of the same
class. See that principle perfectly illustrated in 1 Cor. 12:4-6,
11-12.

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