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The Godhead – audio

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Continued in “The Godhead – A Closer Look”

Text: Romans 1:18-20

Introduction

1. What does the term “Godhead” mean?

2. Is there one God or two or three?

3. If there are three Persons of the Godhead, what is our relationship to each One?

4. Do we pray to all three or just one or two?

5. Did the Father die for our sins or did Jesus?

6. We all need to have an adequate understanding of the Godhead.

7. It deals with the very nature of the God that we all serve.

8. While it is fundamental and essential, that doesn’t mean that it is necessarily easy to grasp.

9. As with any Biblical topic, when studying about the Godhead we must be sure to look at all of the relevant passages.

10. We must make sure not to have “made up our minds” ahead of time.

11. We must be aware that there are many false teachings in regard to the Godhead floating around out there.

12. My goal is not to look at each of these false theories but to see what the truth is as revealed by the word of God.

Body

I. A DEFINITION

A. Godhead – Theiotes – divinity or divine nature.

1. Divinity – the quality of being divine.

2. Divine – being a deity.

3. Deity – Supreme being.

B. The word “Godhead” is used three times in the Scriptures.

1. Romans 1:20. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.

a) Referring to the divine nature of the Creator.

b) His limitless power and infinite wisdom that are demonstrated in His creation.

2. Acts 17:29. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.

a) Obviously, the NKJV renders the word “Divine Nature” here. Which is the true meaning.

b) It could also be translated “the Deity.”

c) A perfect way to distinguish between the one True God and the conflicting gods of paganism.

3. Colossians 2:9. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

a) The Divine Nature is manifest in Jesus Christ.

b) Here, the term means “deity” or “divinity.”

II. WHEN THINKING ABOUT THE GODHEAD, WE MUST REALIZE THAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THREE DISTINCT BEINGS.

A. We see this first illustrated for us in Genesis 1.

1. In Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew word for “God” is “Elohim.”

a) “Elohim” comes from the Hebrew root meaning “strength” or “power.”

b) The “im” on the end makes it plural.

c) However, all of the verbs in the text are singular.

d) Thus, “Elohim” is a plural noun with a singular nature.

e) The Godhead is made up of three beings with a singular nature!

2. Genesis 1:26. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

a) Who was God talking to?

b) Here we have one member of the Godhead talking to the other two.

c) The Holy Spirit was present at the creation. Genesis 1:2. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

d) Jesus was present at the creation. John 1:1-3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

B. The following passages show that the Godhead is made up of three distinct beings.

1. Matthew 3:16-17. When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

2. John 14:16-17. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

3. 1 Corinthians 13:14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

4. Romans 15:30. Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me.

5. 1 Peter 1:2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

III. JESUS IS PART OF THE GODHEAD.

A. Matthew 1:22-23. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

B. John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

C. John 8:58. Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

1. One of the names for God in the Old Testament was “Yahweh.”

2. In the Hebrew it was “YHVH” also known as the tetragrammaton.

3. It is the word translated “LORD” in the Old Testament.

4. It is the word from which we get “Jehovah.”

5. It simply means “to be.”

6. It is used to portray the eternal nature of God.

7. Exodus 3:14-15. And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’

8. In John 8:58, Jesus identifies Himself as Jehovah!

9. Isaiah 40:3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ” Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert A highway for our God.

a) This passage is referring to John the Baptist’s preparation for Jesus.

b) Matthew 3:3.

10. Micah 5:2. “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

D. Philippians 2:5-6. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God.

IV. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD.

A. Acts 5:3-4. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

B. The Holy Spirit is not an “it” but an “He.”

1. John 15:26. “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

2. He is not some nebulous energy sent out from the Father.

3. He is not puppet controlled by misguided men on earth.

4. He is not some mysterious mystical force that is totally incomprehensible to the human mind.

V. WHAT ABOUT PASSAGES THAT TEACH THAT THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD?

A. There are many passages that point out that there is only one God.

1. Deuteronomy 6:4. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

2. Isaiah 45:5. I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me,

3. 1 Timothy 2:5. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.

B. As we have already seen, the Godhead is made up of three beings who are of one Divine Nature.

1. One can not throw out the doctrine of the Godhead and still have a Bible that makes any sense.

2. It is plain that the Bible teaches that there are three Persons in the Godhead.

3. Therefore, the passages that refer to there being only one God are referring to their Divine Nature or Deity.

C. Three everyday examples.

1. The Cleveland Browns are one team.

a) That team is made up of different people.

b) Yet they are all Browns.

c) They are all one team.

d) “Godhead” is much like a team name.

2. Marriage.

a) Made up of two individuals.

b) Yet they are described by God as one flesh. Genesis 2:24. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

c) Two individuals but one flesh.

3. An egg.

a) When we think of an egg, we think of a shell.

b) But the egg is actually composed of the shell, the yoke, and the whites.

c) But it is still one egg.

d) Without the yolk or the whites, it would not be a complete egg.

Conclusion

1. The Godhead consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

2. All three persons of the Godhead want YOU to be saved.

3. All three have worked toward that end.

4. Are you saved?