Biblical Theology
G01 God: Concept and Faith

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All the Bible verses quoted in this article are from the King James Version.

The Concept of God

A concept is the result of perceiving and thinking about something. Humans have different concepts of God. The correct concept of God is the one that holds: God is an absolute transcendent being, possessing personal attributes, self-existent, and eternal; the Creator who creates, preserves, and rules over all things, with humans being the highest creation, capable of understanding and relating to God. This concept was developed by God Himself through His Word and is recorded in the Holy Bible. From there, doctrines about God are formed.

Through the concept of God mentioned above, we reflect that:

• Absolute transcendence means being above all things and infinitely perfect; therefore, no other God can exist.

• Possessing personal attributes means there is only one divine being, but this divine being manifests through different, equal persons.

• The Creator is the one who made all things; therefore, He must be self-existent and eternal. The title of the Creator is used collectively for the persons of God.

• Because all things were created by God, He rules over all, preserves all, and has a purpose for each created being.

• Creation means bringing something into existence from nothing. Only God has the power to create.

• In reality, humans have the ability to perceive and reason about things that cannot be seen with the physical eye, and thus, humans can know God and relate to Him.

• The relationship between God and humans must be initiated by God Himself. All human efforts to establish this relationship on their own are forms of philosophy and religion and cannot succeed. Philosophy seeks a relationship with God through contemplation. Religion seeks a relationship with God through rituals, offerings, and good deeds. Meanwhile, God establishes a relationship with humans by revealing Himself to them through His Word and through the incarnation of the Second Person of God. To relate to God, humans simply need to accept His grace, which means honoring, trusting, and obeying Him. All these revelations, throughout the ages, in God’s providence, have been compiled into a book called the Holy Bible.

Philosophical thoughts and religions in the world also have concepts of an absolute transcendent being, but none of these concepts align with the Holy Bible. Any concept of God that does not align with what the Holy Bible reveals about Him does not come from God’s revelation. Humans cannot have a correct concept of God on their own; they must receive the concept of God from Him. Therefore, to understand God, His plan, and His intentions for humanity and for each individual, we only need to read the Holy Bible and pray for enlightenment from God. We do not need to spend time studying or discussing any concepts of God outside of the Holy Bible.

In saying this, some might ask how we can be certain that only the concept of God in the Holy Bible is correct, while concepts of God from other sources are incorrect. Here are a few fundamental points for readers to consider:

• If the Self-Existing and Eternal Creator has given humans the concept of His existence, He must have revelations, that is, disclosures of hidden things, about Himself to humanity.

• These revelations must come in the form and medium most commonly used and easily understood by humans, which is the language He has given to humanity.

• Only one book is needed to record the revelations of the Creator. Today, we call that book the Holy Bible. Every word recorded in the Holy Bible is endorsed by God and carries His power. This means that the words in the Holy Bible declare themselves to be from God and have the power to transform people, making them spiritually like God. Being spiritually like God means: hating all evil; hating lies; hating the worship of lifeless idols; loving all people; delighting in good deeds; having the power to avoid doing evil and to do good; always speaking the truth; and not compromising with or succumbing to evil or evil people!

Because all other books outside the Holy Bible do not come from God, are not His revelations, and do not have the power to transform those who believe and follow them, how can these books truthfully explain God to humanity?

Even books that are classified as “commentaries,” which explain the meaning of the Holy Bible and are written by those who profess to be disciples of the Lord, are not entirely trustworthy. Only those commentaries written by true disciples of the Lord, who are graced, guided, and commissioned by the Holy Spirit, one of the three persons of God, can truthfully explain the content of the Holy Bible.

A person must truly repent of their sins, accept God’s salvation, and resolve to live a holy life according to His teachings, that is, by keeping His commandments, in order to deeply understand the Word of God and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit to discern which commentaries are correct and which are not in accordance with the Holy Bible.

Such a person, reading and meditating on what God reveals in the Holy Bible with a heart yearning to gain knowledge of God, will have their heart and mind opened by the Holy Spirit to understand the truth. They will be led back to the truth by the Holy Spirit, a truth that God inscribed in the human conscience when He created humanity. The Holy Bible affirms this:

“Because that which may be known of *God is manifest in them; for *God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).

Not only does the Holy Spirit lead those who seek God into all the truths of the Holy Bible, but He also gives them faith to believe in the truths of the Holy Bible:

“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13).

“To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:9).

Faith in God

Faith differs from belief. Belief comes from knowledge acquired through the physical body. Knowledge is acquired through the processes of learning, observation, and reasoning. Faith comes from spiritual knowledge acquired through the spiritual body. Spiritual knowledge is knowing through the perception of the spirit without the need for reasoning. Faith is the acknowledgment of knowledge received from God and acting upon that knowledge.

Through the truths of the Holy Bible expressed by the Holy Spirit, a person believes in the existence of God and worships Him. Believing in the existence of God and the truths about God does not change a person until they turn belief into action, meaning they act according to what they believe, so that their belief becomes faith in God.

Suppose a beggar encounters a wealthy and compassionate person. The wealthy person gives the beggar a $100 bill and says, “Use this money to buy warm clothes and food. Then come to meet me at this address. Live with me in my house and work for me, and I will pay you a high wage.” If the beggar happily accepts the money, thanks the wealthy person, and fully believes what he says, but does not use the money to buy warm clothes and food but instead keeps it aside, tucked away in their pocket, will the beggar be free from hunger and cold? If the beggar always boasts to others about the wealthy person and declares that he wholeheartedly believes in his words but does not act according to his words, will the beggar find good employment and escape the state of being a hungry, ragged beggar?

The Bible says that if someone believes in God without turning their belief into action, their faith is like demons who believe in God and tremble, nothing more. Such faith does not benefit the believer:

“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble… For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:19, 26).

Many people believe in the existence of God but do not worship Him. Therefore, God has spoken about them as follows:

Romans 1: 21-32

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

There are also those who believe in the existence of God and worship Him, but do not believe in all the truths about Him as expressed in the Holy Bible. They believe that He is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,” but they do not believe that He “will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation” (Exodus 34:6-7), so they continue to live joyfully in sin. Therefore, God has spoken about them as follows:

“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men” (Isaiah 29:13).

“This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).

“Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23).

There are also those who believe in the existence of God and believe the Bible is the Word of God; but because of their pride, they refuse to learn to become meek and humble like the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:29); therefore, they do not receive the guidance of the Holy Spirit to understand the profound truths about God. Instead, they use their worldly knowledge to interpret the Bible, so they are misled and embrace falsehood. The Bible speaks about them as follows:

“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).

This is the fate of those who deny the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, do not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as God. This is the fate of those who deny the personhood of the Holy Spirit, that is, do not recognize the Holy Spirit as a person of God but see Him only as a power emanating from God. They confuse the Holy Spirit as a person of God with the spirit as a power emanating from Him and given to humanity. This confusion is like mistaking the generator for the electricity produced by the generator.

When faith about God turns into action, then that faith becomes faith in God, which is a wholehearted faith to obey what God teaches and patiently await His response. Faith in God helps a person receive the grace of salvation from God, namely:

• to be delivered from the punishment of sin because of *God’s forgiveness;

• to be freed from the power of sin because of the Lord Jesus Christ’s blood that cleanses from sin;

• to be sanctified, becoming like God in righteousness, love, and holiness, because of the Holy Spirit’s regeneration into a new person and the empowerment to live according to *God’s will, as expressed in the Bible.

Faith in God is also called faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is God in the person of the Son, who incarnated as a human to fulfill *God’s plan and purpose for humanity. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God (John 1:1; Revelation 19:13), so faith in God through the truths of the Bible is indeed faith in Christ.

The Bible calls those who have faith in God:

• who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:17);

• or who keep the commandments of God and their faith in the Lord Jesus (Revelation 14:12).

Faith in God is a process that grows in proportion to a person’s humility and obedience to the truths of the Bible. The more obedient one is, following what is learned from the Bible, the more one gains knowledge about God and the other teachings of the Bible.

The Depth of Revelation about God in the Bible

There are two important things that every reader of this book needs to know:

First, if someone only has faith about God without having faith in God, they cannot grasp the depth of the revelation about God in the Bible. With the normal mindset of someone who is dying in sin, that is, someone who is doing things contrary to God’s will and suffering the consequences of sin, no one can understand the depth of the Bible. A normal person can only understand the concept of the existence of God and their own sinful state. They are given faith by the Holy Spirit to be able to accept those truths. After accepting those truths, one must turn faith into action, that is, repent of sin, accept the salvation of *God in Jesus Christ, be baptized into His Church, be given the Holy Spirit to have the ability to keep the commandments of *God, and gain a better understanding of the Bible:

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

Only then can they increasingly understand the deeper things of the Bible about God, about His program, and about His intention for humanity.

The initial faith to believe in God and His salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ is given to a person in their physical mind. But immediately after they accept and demonstrate it by repenting of sin and confessing Jesus Christ, their spirit is immediately reborn, and from then on, they no longer recognize God in the mind of the flesh but recognize Him in the mind of the spirit. Therefore, the Apostle Paul affirmed:

“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).

Second, a person who has been reborn, that is, has been made new in Christ by turning faith about God into action, but if they do not give up the knowledge of the flesh and try to use it to understand God, they cannot grasp the depth of the revelation about God in the Bible.

We need to use the Bible to verify science and philosophy, not science and philosophy to verify the Bible. We must acknowledge everything that has been declared in the Bible, and from there, we use those truths of the Bible to prove science and philosophy, enriching them.

The Bible states:

“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Even in the work of preaching the Word of God, one cannot use the wisdom and knowledge of the flesh:

“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:4-7).

Today, many theologians and biblical scholars from various denominations have compromised with worldly views, chasing after philosophical ideas and scientific hypotheses that reject the truths of the Bible. Recently, they have attempted to reconcile scientific theories with the Bible by establishing the “Theistic Evolution Theory.”

There are also those, out of pride and misled by evil spirits, who believe they are enlightened by God but reject the truth about a divine entity manifested in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as clearly presented in the Scriptures!

The main reason why some people profess belief in God yet remain mistaken in their understanding of the Bible is that they have not truly lived according to God’s Word. For example, they do not observe the Ten Commandments of God, among which the fourth commandment regarding keeping the Sabbath day holy is severely violated by them. Furthermore, they crave worldly titles and positions, especially those within religious institutions, leading to arrogance. They also fail to renounce the erroneous doctrines of religious denominations and the unscriptural customs taught by these denominations, such as Easter and Christmas celebrations. They are God’s people but are in danger of destruction due to a lack of knowledge:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hosea 4:6).

May the Holy Spirit help individuals like these to understand the truths of the Bible presented in the following chapters of this book. Through this, they may attain genuine faith in God. Amen!

Timothy Christian Huynh
Priscilla Christian Huynh
07/18/2013