Bible Doctrines Class Notes

1st hour

Why are we here?

To be able to defend our beliefs and expound them to others

It is profitable

It is practical

(Phil. 2:5-11) the greatest doctrinal passage in the scriptures -We are to have the mind of Christ in everything that we do -Even though Christ was God, he humbled himself beyond what would be expected of one who was the King of kings -He was constantly lowering himself lower and lower and that is the way that we should live our lives as seeking to put ourselves under other people and seeking to do what would help others and please God -This type of service will be rewarded by God -Thus there was a point I the way that Paul

Doctrine is important for the spiritual growth of us and the church (II Tim 4:1-2)
Doctrine is important to combat false teaching in the church (verses 3-4)
Facts are the basis for our faith

Biblical faith is not just belief
True Biblical faith is based on facts as they are recorded in God’s Word

i. Therefore we need to know what we believe

ii. The real key is not how strong a person’s faith is but the object of his faith.

If we truly believe the facts of God’s word, this will keep us from teaching the “doctrines” of men.

i. The Pharisees when the disciples did not wash their hands before they ate

ii. They, the Pharisees, held to the human traditions as apposed to God’s law

What you believe determines what you do (Titus 1:16) 1. Some people profess one thing but they do other things and therefore they do not truly believe in God

2. (II Tim 3:12)

ii. What you believe will effect what you pray

1. Does God tolerate sin? What you believe will effect your behavior

THREE BASIC THINGS THAT WE WANT TO ACCOMPLISH IN BIBLE DOCTRINES

discover the facts according to the Bible

why does the Bible not appear in a topically arranged form (you will remember things and will appreciate them more when you discover them for yourself) (we are, in a sense, forced to pick out the things out of a wealth of truth rather than just seeing one truth) (things are arranged in context rather than in encyclopedia format) (a lot of the Bible is written in a narrative type of story which aside from being more interesting but one may apply a truth in an actual situation where the reader may identify and remember easier. They serve as examples) #. God is a person and he wants us to have a personal relationship with him and he interacts with us through his word. (by spending time with God, by reading the Bible, we have these facts which are truths conveyed to us. The Bible shows us how God interacts with people so we can interact with him in the same way.)

arrange these facts in a systematic order
Present these facts (state them clearly and distinctly for our benefit and the benefit of others)

2nd hour

DEFINITION

Bible Doctrines is the investigation arrangement and statement of those facts which God has revealed about himself, about us, and about spiritual realities

TRUE SOURCES

| #. The Bible – the ultimate and only inerrant source of Bible Doctrine

|

FALSE SOURCES

| #. Science and nature – false source of Bible Doctrines – these are not wrong in themselves but the real test is what you source your Bible doctrines from

Rationalism – rationalism (reason is the ultimate authority) that which is not logical is not accepted
Mysticism – the idea that you can gain knowledge of God and spiritual things directly from your subjective inner experiences. The problem with mysticism is that your experiences are more valid than the Bible. This makes the “new revelation” more authoritative than the Bible. (Mysticism has had a big influence in the Roman Catholic religion. Many of these people have been searching for Doctrine through the direct revelation and through warm experiences and impressions)
Experience – judges the Bible based on personal experiences

There is not a problem of using experiences to teach a vital lesson (hot stove)

Doctrinal History – what great men of the past or of the present have taught about the Bible (this is not bad in itself but when one bases faith based on what a man says but what the Bible says) what you believe is not as important when you are out soul winning because they still believe their own things. What we ought to do is to tell them that because the Bible says it they need to believe it too)
Pragmatism – “the end justifies the means” (there is no absolute truth in pragmatism because whatever works must be right) They say that you cannot say it is absolute truth that God exists but rather that it is useful to believe that God exists because it works and what works must be good.
Existentialism – says that truth cannot be reduced by what is rational therefore life is absurd and as a result, meaning is created by choice. What matters is not what you choose but that you choose. They expect to choose to act opposite of what is expected
Tradition – belief mainly because it was passed down from the forefathers

|

Ten basic types of Theology

| We will study these mainly in the first semester |

Bibliology – the doctrine of the Bible

Theology proper – the doctrine of God
angelology – the doctrine of angels
anthropology – the doctrine of man
Hamartiology – the doctrine of sin

| We will study these mainly in the second semester |

Christology – the doctrine of Christ

Soteriology – the doctrine of salvation
Pneumatology - the doctrine of the Holy Spirit
Ecclesiology - the doctrine of the church
Eschatology – the doctrine of the last things (the end times)

Limitations

Finite minds (Deut. 29:29; Rom 11:33)
Bible doesn’t include everything (John 20:30)
Ignorance of fallen man (II Peter 3:16)
limitations of spiritual discernment (I Corinthians 2:14, 3:1)

a believer who is not walking with the lord is not going to be able to learn and grow at all while another believer would grow from the same spiritual food

IN ORDER TO STUDY BIBLE DOCTRINES, WE DO NEED TO RELY ON THE HOLY SPIRIT AND DISCIPLINE AND STUDY TO GAIN THIS KNOWLEDGE.

3rd hour

As conservatives the Bible is the basis of our authority but how can we show that the Bible is true to those who do not believe in it.

A. Extra-Biblical Arguments for the truth of the Bible (none of them in themselves can prove that the Bible is true/ they are all attempts of trying to prove that the Bible is true without using the Bible itself)

Unity and character of scriptures
Fulfilled prophecies
Archeological and historical conformation
the influence of the Bible

The Bible transforms people’s lives

The indestructibility of the Bible
Logic

The nature of God commands that God doesn’t lie

B. biblical arguments

1. Teaching of the scriptures (John 17:17; Ps 119:137, 142; John 10:35)

2. Teaching of the Spirit (John 16:13; Rom 8:14-16; I Corinthians 2:2)

Subjectivism

The first part of this thinking was rationalism (they wanted hard and fast historical and physical facts)
Shleiermacher in reaction of rationalism developed his theology of feeling.
Immanuel Kant was more of a philosopher than a theologian. He was the leader of the form of liberalism that emphasizes conscience as the basis of authority.
Neo-Orthodoxy uses conservative terminology while giving different meanings and thus changing the theology. This was headed up by Karl Barth. It practices subjectivism in the experiences of faith’s encounters. The liberalists were post-millennial in their thinking and their idea was to clean up the world to prepare for the coming of Christ. However, WWI happened and many people saw that the world was not getting better, many turned to Neo-Orthodoxy. They put their base authority on the “Word of God”. However their translation of the “Word of God” was just the experience that happens when God communicates with someone whether in experience or scripture reading.
Catholicism practiced the authority as being the church. They put church teaching above the Bible.

4th hour

Arguments for the Existence of God

Standard (philosophical) arguments

Cosmological [Every effect has a cause] (not general revelation)

i. This in itself will not convince someone of the existence of God

Teleological [the purpose, order and design we observe in the world around us] everything must have had a creator

i. This in itself will not convince someone of the existence of God

Anthropolical [every man has a sense of right and wrong] i. Moral

1. Men have a basic sense of right and wrong. How do they know this? Our creator must be a moral person who set these moral ideas in creation.

2. The very fact that people recognize injustice is a proof of this fact

ii. Ethnological

1. There is some concept of “a” god in every civilization

2. Every people group has a religion

3. Whatever thoughts that the people had in times past up to the present they did at that time, without the influence of any other religions they have their religion and their gods. All the various cultures had the same concept of a religion that they had to obey.

Ontological [the fact that you can conceive of a perfect being proves that that being exists because if it doesn’t exist it is not perfect] every philosopher has his own idea 6th hour

The problem is that every one of these arguments starts out disregarding the existence of God and then trying to prove that he does. i. These arguments are valuable in …

1. stimulating thought

2. refuting false theories

3. showing that faith in God is not illogical

ii. … But an unbeliever will not be convinced by these logical truths. Even if that person comes to believe that God exists, he still has a problem

iii. he will not be convinced by these philosophical proofs

iv. Christians do not need these proofs to believe in the existence of God

The true arguments (proofs) for the existence of God

The Bible (special revelation) #. Creation (general revelation)
Conscience (Romans 2:14-15)

GENERAL REVELATION

Psalm 19:1-6

Everything that was created shows forth the power and skill and wisdom and goodness and … of God.
God provides everything for us in order to live.
The detail of his creation
General revelation is non-verbal communication
The heavens declare the glory of God by their existence daily

8th hour

Romans 1:18-32 (God is revealing his wrath through the scriptures and he is telling them why he has righteous wrath in the scriptures)

God is eternal and powerful

God is angry because they do know things about God not from the Bible but from the nature which is revealed around them.
God can control nature where we cannot

His Godhead (Deity)

God does reward those who do well and punish those who do wrongly #. Everybody knows these things
They suppressed the knowledge and truth of God (vs. 18)
The truth was manifested in them (vs. 19)
The problem is not ignorance but the flagrant disregarding of the truth (vs. 29-30) this is a description of the society today

THE VALUE OF GENERAL REVELATION

without hearing the gospel there is nobody that can have faith
everybody is accountable (even guilty) even if they did not hear the gospel

They have enough knowledge from the world around them to know that God exists and that he is all powerful and in some way they need to believe and depend on Him.
It is our responsibility to go and declare this “unknown” God to them

i. Unless there is a preacher how can they know that they need to be saved[MK1]

ii. There are people who God is telling us to go to that he is preparing to accept the gospel.

iii. God has people that we do not know of who are being sent to others

It is not sufficient to bring salvation.

THE ATTRIBUTES OF GOD

- Attributes are qualities that are inherent to a subject

- Attributes of God are essential characteristics that if missing would not characterize Him as God.

J Very few people can read this and I think that it could be like some kind of code.

PG 40 –

Categories of the perfections of God

Non-moral attributes

Natural (physical attributes of God)
Moral (God’s will or internal character)

Absolute/relative
Incommunicable and communicable

Incommunicable - things that God cannot share with his creation (they are not bound in any means in human beings)
Communicable – things that God can share (holiness, love, patience …) even though we are able to receive some of these attributes, we as humans, cannot achieve the perfection that God has.

I. absolute attributes (not without reference to creation)

a. Spirituality[MK2]

i. Life he has life and is the source of life (I John 1:1)

ii. Personality (we are able to know him)

b. Infinity [MK3]

i. Freedom/ independence

1. God doesn’t need things from us, but he is just looking for our submissiveness

ii. Immutability

1. Anthropomorphism- applying human characteristics to God. (the eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good,)

a. Does God repent? à Genesis 6:6-7; Exodus 32:12-14; Deut 32:4-6; I Samuel 15:11,35;

i. God repents of decisions that he had made when the circumstances that are required for His holiness are changed. God does not change but if the circumstances change and make it impossible for God to stay unchanged, he needs to “repent”.

b. Does God not repent? I Sam 15:?; Numbers 23:19; Psalm 110:4

i. For God to repent in some situations would be to go back on his purposes

c. Definitions of Repent

i. nacham

ii. Nahum = comfort, consolation

iii. Nehemiah = the LORD comforts

1. Gen 25:67, 50:21, 6:6

iv. To be grieved or to be sorry for something

v. God responds emotionally to human actions

1. he is not changing his mind

vi. Exodus 32:12,14

1. God changed his action

vii. Jonah 3:1-9

1. God responds to prayer

2. God responds to human changes of heart

a. When men change their ways toward God, He changes his ways toward men.

3. God regrets certain things and though he doesn’t change his emotions, he will change his actions toward these things.

4. the thing that never, NEVER changes is God’s CHARACTER

5. when the issue is that people have changed then in response to his unchanging character, he is able to change his reactions towards these people

6. when there is an implied condition and not a stated condition, it is up to men to change and to anticipate the condition based on God’s character

7. we are not unchanging in the sense that God is

8. God changes his action based on men’s actions towards him

9. instead of saying that God repented of what he had done or was going to do but that God “relented”

viii. [MK4] he is immutable

d. The argument that since God is perfect, he cannot change therefore he is immutable.

iii. Unity (Deut 6:4)

1. there is only one God

2. God is perfectly whole

3. God is not made up of parts for he is indivisible

c. Moral Perfection

i. God is a God of truth

ii. God is a God of love

1. the highest object of God’s love is the good and glory of his own perfections

2. to set the highest affection of his love on man, he is taking away from the true standard of holiness

iii. God is a God of holiness

1. he is separated from the whole of creation

II. Relative (transitive) Attributes[MK5]

a. Related to time and space

i. Eternity

October 19, 2004

b. Related to the created world

i. Omnipresence (Ps 139:7-8)

1. God is everywhere present at every time (in the totality of his being)

2. God is in everything but he is separate from his creation. God is everywhere but he is not contained by any object. It is not so much that God is in everything but the real issue is that everything is in God. Because he is a spirit he doesn’t occupy any space.

3. God’s presence is everywhere but in different degrees. God is not manifesting himself equally in every place to all people. There is an aspect that God is present in hell but he does not manifest himself to those there and therefore they are separated from him.

ii. Omniscience (Ps 139:1-6) God knows what all the possibilities are and has a way for his glory to be made known through each of them. I Samuel 23 – God told David that Saul would come down to the town and that the men of that town would give them up. But David left the town and thus escapes the whole scenario.

1. Open theism

a. stresses the free will of man (Arminianism- which is the opposite of Calvinism which denies man’s free will)

i. If this is true then God is not omniscient

ii. Matthew 11:21

iii. Omnipotence (Matthew 19:26) you can’t limit God but he is not going to force himself on us. He is setting the requirements. It is not that he couldn’t do these things, but God limits himself because of circumstances.

1. the nine of the ten lepers that were healed

c. related to moral beings

i. Veracity & faithfulness

ii. Mercy and goodness (transitive love)

1. mercy – responding to people in their needs

2. goodness – a more general thing like something that happens all the time

iii. Justice and righteousness (transitive holiness)

1. God judges sin because God is holy

2. righteousness is always conforming to the standard

The Trinity

(God is Three Persons in One Nature/ Essence / Being)

These three persons have the same essence, nature, and attributes. The Bible clearly teaches the doctrine of the trinity. Although it does not spell it out in the scriptures the concept is clearly taught throughout Old and New Testaments.

I. The Bible teaches that there is only one God. (Deut. 6:4; Isaiah 44:6, 45:21-22; Mark 12:29; John 17:3; Eph 4:6; James 2:19) this shows a unity in the Godhead.

II. There are three persons that are called God in the Bible. This shows that there is a plurality in the Godhead.

A. In the OT

i. The use of plural verbs and pronouns (Gen 1:26-27, 3:22, 11:7; Isaiah 6:8)

1. Elohim = God (this is a plural word)

ii. (Isaiah 9:6, 7:14; 48:16; Micah 5:2; Zech 12:10)

iii. the Angel of the LORD

B. In the NT

i. The Father (Gal 1:1; Eph 1:2, 6:23; Phil 2:11; I Peter 1:2)

ii. The Son (Heb 1:8; John 20:28; John 1:1; I Tim 3:18; I John 5:20; Romans 9:5; Titus 2:13;[the Granville Shark Rule in Greek – when the pronoun and the noun are both equal])

1. Receives Worship (God prohibits everyone from worshiping anyone else than God) [John 5:23] (men ought to worship Him); Hebrews 1:6; Phil 2:9-11 Revelation 5:12-14, (the angels ought to worship him)

2. Does what only God can do

a. Forgiving sin (Mark 2:7-11)

b. Giving life (John 11:25)

c. Creation (John 1:3; Col 1:16-17)

3. Has the attributes of God (Luke 5:22. Matt 9:4; John 2:24-25)

a. He is holy (Luke 1:35; Hebrews 7:26)

b. Omnipotence (Matthew 28:18)

c. Eternal (John 1:1; John 8:58)

d. Ever interceding (Hebrews 7:25-26)

e. Source of Life (John 14:6; John 1:4)

f. Self existence (John 5:26)

g. Immutable (Hebrews 13:8)

h. Truth (John 14:6)

i. Omnipresence (Matthew 28:20)

4. His Names

a. Kurios – Lord (the Greek equivalent of Yahweh) [Matthew 3:3/ Isaiah 40:3; è preparing the way for Jesus Christ/ Jehovah.] a good verse to use when talking to

iii. The Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3-4)

1. Called God (Luke 1:35; I Corinthians 3:16) (Acts 28:25-26/Isaiah 6)

2. Has attributes of God (Hebrews 9:14)

C. From Logic

i. The highest object of God’s love is Himself – (Each of the three persons in the trinity love each-other. This is not selfish love. He is not inwardly focused but outwardly focused.) God can love himself without being selfish.

III. These Three are Distinct

a. The Father is not the Son (Christ prayed to the Father, the Father’s voice at the Son’s baptism, Psalm 2:7; Matthew 27:46; John 5:32-37; Gal 4:4)

b. The Father and the Son are not the Spirit (John 14:16-17, 26, 15:26)

c. The Holy Spirit is a person not a force (Gen 1:2; Romans 8:26-27; I Timothy 4:1; Ephesians 4:30)

d. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are equal (Matthew 28:19; John 14:16-17; II Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:3)

Textual Criticism

Analyzing copies of originals (the autographs)

No two manuscripts agree with each other indefinitely.

- Three main approaches

o TR

§ The Textus Receptus was Used into the nineteenth century

o MT

§ Majority Text

o ET/CT

§ Eclectic text – using all these texts to make the truth

§ Critical text – a text that is produced by Textual Criticism

Inspiration

Self authentication- the …

I. Source of the Bible

a. God (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21; I Thessalonians 2:13)

II. Process

a. God Inspired (God Breathed) “theopneustos” 2,`B<,LFJ@H

III. Results

a. Verbal (Matthew 5:18, Gal 3:18) the importance is the exact word of the scripture

b. Plenary (Matthew 4:4, II Timothy 3:16) All means all in the Timothy reference.

c. Inerrancy (Matthew 12:40 > actual valid historical events were referred to in order to prove inerrancy. The validity of the sign depends on the actuality of the historical event. The authority of what is being alluded to is based on historical reality). (John 10:35 > the scripture cannot be rendered ineffective according to the scriptures). The secular facts are correct as well as the spiritual truths are correct. [MK6] [MK7]

i. Pg. 98: Temptations of Christ

1. Matthew 4

2. Psalm 91:11-12

ii. Old Testament Scripture passages in which Christ is God (Isaiah 7:14, 9:6; Psalm 2:7, 110:1; Matt 22:23-33, 41:46)

d. Infallible – the fact that the Bible is authoritative and not just influential [MK8] [MK9] (II Timothy 3:16, John 10:35)

IV. Preservation (Matthew 5:17-18; Matthew 24:35)

a. God makes his word available to each generation

i. This does not diminish our responsibility to spread it

ii. The Bible doesn’t specify the means of how we are to spread his word around. The Bible doesn’t say what the means of preservation. God uses providential means to preserve his word, even human instruments, saved or unsaved.

V. Sufficiency (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:3; Romans 10:17; Revelation 22:18-19)

VI. Canonicity –how do we know what the Bible is[MK10]

a. A canon is that which has met the rule or standard.

b. What is the standard for the books of the Bible? (tests)

i. Apostolicity (authority of someone clearly inspired by God. Holy men of God.)

ii. Acceptance (do other believers accept this book)

iii. Uniqueness and value (is it teaching us of spiritual truth)

iv. Inspiration (does it give evidence of this) how can you tell if it is inspired?

1. they don’t contradict other books in the canon

2. Self authentication

ANGELS

- Existence

o Critics’ beliefs

§ Jesus was deceived

§ He accommodated his teachings to the ignorant beliefs of people

§ His followers wrote about them

- Origin

o They are created[MK11] - they observed creation[MK12] [MK13] [MK14]

- Nature

o Personal beings

§ Intelligence

§ Emotion

§ Will

o Spiritual beings

o Immortal beings[MK15]

o Creatures

o Higher then men[MK16]

§ They have greater knowledge then we do

§ They have greater powers

§ They do not have physical limitations

o They were all holy (when they were created[MK17] )

o Physical characteristics[MK18]

§ Some angels look like men

§ Some have wings

§ Some angels have many eyes

- Organization

- Work

o They carry out acts of God’s judgment

o They praise and worship God

o They are messengers[MK19]

o Guardian angels?

FALLEN ANGELS

- Satan

o When was he created?[MK20]

§ We do not know.

o When did he fall?[MK21]

§ We do not know.

§ Ezekiel 28:11[MK22]

· This has problems because[MK23]

· We do not know, but we will say that the verse that we read here is talking about Satan.

§ Isaiah 14:11-15[MK24]

· This is the only time that the name Lucifer is used in the Bible therefore there is no credibility in believing

· The best way to take this passage is to say that it is not referring to Satan

o His names

§ Accuser of the brethren – accuses us of past sins that are already covered so that we are not useful to the lord.

§ The adversary- hindrances to those who are trying to preach the gospel

- Satan’s world (the cosmos)

o Always set up to oppose God

- Demons

o Origin

§ Disembodied spirits

· Dead wicked people (ghosts[MK25] )

· Pre- Adamite race

§ The offspring of angels and women[MK26]

§ Fallen angels[MK27]

· How do we know that they are fallen angels

o Their leader is a fallen angel (Matthew 12:24)

§ They are demons

§ Satan is not a demon he is the Devil[MK28]

o [MK29] Other proofs that tell us that the demons are fallen angels[MK30]

o Organization

§ Free[MK31]

§ confined[MK32] (the English clause “cast them down to hell” is from one Greek word “Tartarous”)

o Operation of demons

§ Influence on men

· They can inflict people with diseases but just the fact that someone has a disease, does not make him a likely candidate for accusations of demon possession and sin.

o In some cultures, if you have an illness you go to the witch doctor which has influence in the spirit world.

· New Testament authors drew a distinction between demon possession and illnesses caused by natural causes.

§ they oppose the plan of God[MK33]

§ they possess people[MK34]

- Man’s attempts to interact with them

o Fortune telling[MK35] – gain information[MK36]

o Necromancy (Spiritism[MK37] ) – contacting the dead (1 Samuel 28)

§ Medium/ channeler;

o Sorcery – gain power

§ Potions

§ Wizards

§ Black Magic

o Demon worship – attributing all power to the demons.

CREATION

EVOLUTION

- Can you believe the Bible and believe evolution.

o Theistic evolution – Who believes in it?

§ Roman Catholics

§ Lutherans

§ Most “Christians” except strong Fundamentalists

- Can you believe the Bible and evolution

o Gen 2:7 – this verse tells us that Adam was not living until God breathed into him.

§ The word for soul can also be translated “being”. The point is not the fact that Adam became a spiritual soul, but that he became a living being.

o Gen 2:21-22 – this verse tells us that Eve was make from Adam’s rib.

o Genesis 3:19 – this verse tells us that since we go back to the dust. When men die they return back to what you were before God created you. Therefore since we can’t go back to an animal form, evolution is wrong.

o Rom 5:12 – there was no sin in the world until Adam sinned and since death came by sin, there would have been no death before Adam. If nothing died off, then we would see many “links” in the “mutations”.

- Can you believe science and evolution?

o No physical evidence for evolution – science requires physical evidence.

§ Evolution is not occurring right now. (Present)

§ There are no fossils of the transitional forms or links. (Past)

§ Sometimes there are more ancient fossils that are found above the more recent fossils in the “older” rock layers.[MK38]

§ Acquired characteristics can not be passed down to offspring

o Evolution violates the Second law of thermodynamics S > O

§ Entropy is always either increasing or remaining the same.

o Time

§ There is too much time for Uniformatarianism to explain existing conditions.

§ There is not enough time for evolutionary processes to occur.

§ Other

· The distance of the moon from the earth

· Population of the earth

· Earth’s magnetic field is decreasing

BIBLICAL CREATION

- Basic concepts[MK39]

o ex nihilo – Hebrews 11:3

o “The verb bara used in Gen 1:1, 21, and 27 does not in itself preclude the use of preexisting material, though none is stated or implied in the account.”

- Time of creation

o At the beginning[MK40]

§ 4004 BC – Bishop Ussher’s date

§ 8,000-10,000 years ago.

o GAP Theory

§ They wanted to translate “the earth became” instead of “the earth was.” (hayah + le = become) but, (hayah w/o preposition = be/ is/ am/ are)

§ The words “without form and void” = judgment (also in Isaiah 34:11 – confusion and emptiness)

· Jeremiah 4:23

· Isaiah 45:18 “he created it not in vain” in other words he did not create the earth “without form”

· Darkness is not good therefore it must be due to judgment.

§ Previously had inhabitants and had to replenish = refill or repopulate.

· These words, however, are the English translation. In the Spanish translation the word comes from the root “llenar”.

§ Was an attempt to reconcile the teachings of the Bible and their understanding of science[MK41]

- How long did it take to create the world?

o 6 literal 24-hour days[MK42]

o the Day-Age theory

§ Each day is actually a period of time which could have been millions of years. The verse 2 Peter 3:8 has been a crutch for theistic evolutionists. They were trying to reconcile the Bible with evolution.

o Solar days + gaps separated by periods of time to accommodate evolution.

o Revelatory Day

§ Took millions of years for God to create the earth, but when God described it to Moses he talked as if it was six “days”.

CREATION OF MAN

- Image and likeness of God.

o Definition- we represent and reflect what God is like. We are the finite physical visible temporal representations of the infinite spiritual invisible eternal God.

§ the image of God includes the totality of his being.

§ Don’t confuse the fact that because the image is made of different material it is not a valid image of what it is representing.

o Components

§ Intellectuality – knowledge, wisdom, reason, self-consciousness.

§ Morality- conscience, goodness, truthfulness, holiness. Righteousness, love

§ Sovereignty- freewill, self-determination, dominion

§ Spirituality- ability to have communion with God, immortality (that man has a soul that will live eternality).

o Condition

§ The image has been marred but not lost

· Genesis 9:6 there is still consequences for attacks on man because they are still created in the image of God.

· Just like a picture and how it represents a person.

· (I Corinthians 11:7)

· James 3:9 men were made out of the similitude of God.

· Mankind retains all of the components of the image and likeness of God. Even lost people have some of these aspects but they are all marred.

o Restoration

§ Salvation

§ Sanctification – the process of restoring us to a right relationship with God and changing us into the image of Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 4:22-24; Colossians 3:10)

o Implications

§ Unique from the rest of creation

§ High regard for human life

§ Our responsibility to mirror the character of God

§ God’s ownership of us (the coin belonged to Caesar because his image was on it, we are God’s image and we ought to give to God what is God’s) Matthew 22:20

§ Gives us our end destination; we have an eternal destiny with Him in heaven

- Transmission of the Soul[MK43]

o Pre-existence

§ God created every soul back at the beginning of time and then the soul was connected to the body at conception. (The soul exists before the body)[MK44]

§ If this is true the soul that God created at the beginning was sinless until it contacted the sinful body because when God created everything he made it all perfect.

§ This is a pagan concept that the flesh is inherently sinful and the soul is not.

o Creationism (not the opposite of evolution: can be spelled creatianism to avoid questions)

§ God creates the soul at the moment of conception or birth and immediately unites it with the body.

o Traducianism

§ Soul is transmitted along with the body through the process of natural generation.

§ This is saying that God is not creating anything anymore

§ This also fits the requirement that God wouldn’t have anything to do with sin. God doesn’t create anything with sin and the human soul is sinful.

§ God does not continue to create man in the same way which he formed Adam and Eve but he uses natural processes.

- Components

o Dichotomy (body and soul)

§ We are composed of a material part and an immaterial part. The body is material. The soul is immaterial. The soul is the personality, will, conscience, emotions.

o Trichotomy (body, soul, and spirit)

§ What is the spirit? The part of us that relates to God.

· This makes the spirit superior to the soul and both of them are superior to the body. Therefore Trichotomy is wrong. – Ryrie

· Yet, the spirit of a lost person is dead. When we are rejuvenated, God brings back from the dead our spirit which was dead in trespasses and sin. All people have a spirit but at salvation, the dead spirit is revived and the Holy Spirit is then bearing witness with our spirit.

· There are several references in the Bible that use the words of spirit and soul interchangeably.

o These words can be used as synonyms. Luke 1

§ The key verses for Trichotomy Heb 4:12 (the problem of this verse for those who oppose Trichotomy is the words Piercing into and dividing asunder.) I Thessalonians 5:23. These are proof texts for Trichotomy.

- The fall of man

o When Adam was created he was created without sin.

o We are restored to the image of Jesus Christ through the sanctification of the spirit. There is an idea that there was an original condition of righteousness.

o The big question is “How could a holy creature sin?”

§ Adam possessed unconfirmed creature holiness. He had not done anything right or wrong in regards to temptation, he had different holiness than God did, and he was more than innocent. Genesis 3:1-6

§ What did Eve do that was wrong?

*Genesis 1:6*	*I John 2:16*	*Definition*	*Luke 4*
Good for food	Lust of the flesh	Desire to satisfy biological needs	Turn stones to bread
Pleasant to the eyes	Lust of the eyes	Have possessions	All the kingdoms
Desirable to make one wise	Pride of life	Desire for experiences	Jump

§ Eve’s first fallacy was adding to the word of God.

- TRANSMISSION OF SIN

(How come we are sinners?

If Adam sinned, how come we are guilty?)

o Inherited—Eph 2:3 (Born)

§ Problem:

· Part of the curse[MK45]

· Total depravity: there is nothing good in us that would commend us to God and bring us to salvation. [MK46]

o The issue is not one of good or bad, the issue is not if it pleases God, but the issue is if the things that people do bring merit in the sight of God.[MK47]

· Attacks against the inherited sin nature

o Palagianism- we are not born with a sin nature. Man is born neutral. However, Adam set a bad example and all of his descendents follow his example. This is why all people are sinners.

§ Deut 24:16

§ Remedy: (New Birth)

o Imputed—Romans 5:12 (credited)

§ Problem:

· Federal or Representative- Adam was the head that is the representative of us.

· Seminal, realistic, or Augustinian view. - Adam was not only our representative but we were actually organically joined to Adam.

§ Remedy: (Justification)

o Personal Sins—Romans 3:23; 1 John 1:9

§ Transmission: each person sins himself

§ Result: Loss of fellowship

§ Remedy: Ask forgiveness

Roman Catholic categorization of Sins

o Venial sins: results in punishment in purgatory

o Mortal sins: results in punishment in hell

- VICTORY OVER SIN

o Perfectionism = Eradication: (no longer capable of sinning)

o Antinomianism: the idea that we are not under the law and therefore there are no restrictions placed on the Christian.

o Biblical standard: walk in the light. (1 John 1:7-10)

§ Our standard is God’s Holiness. Our requirement is to walk in the light that we have.

[MK1]There is a sense that I have the accountability before God to do what I can at every opportunity to give the gospel, but nobody can say that it is explicitly my own fault but by their own sin they have been sent to hell. However, this does not negate our responsibility to go into the world and preach the gospel. These people do not, on the most part, know that they need to gospel. It is up to us to pray and talk to people even at home about the lord. – Mr. Mc Gowan

[MK2]God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24)

[MK3]God is not limited in the respect of space and time. He is not bound by anything outside of himself. God does not need you. He was not missing something when he created the universe.

[MK4]This does not imply anything contrary to God’s immutability but the aspect of his mind is changed toward an object that has itself changed. (more under Reconcile in Vines…)

[MK5]Attributes that are seen

[MK6]Not everything that is true is found in the Bible but everything that is found in the Bible is true.

[MK7]If there is one error, then there is the probability that there are more errors and in a sense it throws everything.

[MK8]Some people will admit that they believe in the verbal, plenary, and inerrant value of the scripture. They believe that it is just an influential guide to their life.

[MK9]However the Bible is a guide to your life because of its authoritative nature

[MK10]God inspires his word not individuals. It would be wrong to say that God inspires us in order to know which books in the canon are inspired. L

[MK11]Gen 1:1, 2:1 (generally everything in heaven and earth would presumably include the angels)

[MK12]Job 36:6-7

[MK13]Different theories of when the angels were created

-They had to have been created within the week of creation.

What is the latest possible time that the angels could have been created? Day six -- because on the last day of creation, God saw that everything was very good. But they could have been created on day four because the stars were created on that day (the physical host of heaven). Or it could have been on day one because

[MK14]We do not know when this took place. What is important in creation week is man who is the pinnacle of creation.

[MK15]They are not eternal because they had a period of creation.

[MK16]Psalm 8 – man was made a little lower than the angels

[MK17]Most of them are still holy today even when some of them are fallen.

[MK18]Are these forms ones that they really take or are these forms so as not to scare us?

[MK19]Guardian angels (Matthew 18:10)

[MK20]He was a liar from the beginning

[MK21]When God said that it was very good on the sixth day, he meant that everything that he had made whether spiritual and physical. Everything that God had created was perfect at the time.

[MK22]The traditional view is that this verse is talking of Satan and therefore we can learn a few things. One, he was a cherub and not only “a” cherub, but the anointed cherub. This tells us that he was created without sin and perfect. Next, sin was found in him.

[MK23]The passage before (chapter 27) is talking about the judgment that was to happen to the city of Tyrus. Chapter 28 starts out speaking of the king of Tyre.

[MK24]These verses, if they are talking about Satan, are not telling when he fell, but how he fell.

[MK25]This is a pagan idea.

( [MK26]Genesis 6:1-4) Christ tells us that angels do not marry.

[MK27]This is right

[MK28]The hierarchy of the evil spirit world. Are fallen angels different from fallen angels or are they demons or the two names synonymous.

[MK29]Rev 12:8-9; Matt 17:18; Luke 10; Ephesians 3:10;

[MK30]Nowhere in the Bible does it say that demons are fallen angels but it gives the view that they are.

[MK31]When the demons were cast out of heaven, God did not throw him directly into hell. Satan is active (1 Peter 5:8-9; Eph 6:12; Job 1:6)

[MK32]There are some demons that are kept bound until the last days (Rev. 9:14) (II Peter 2:4)

[MK33]What specific doctrines do the demons attack?

The incarnation

They teach works salvation

They teach a libertine ethic

They do not always do

[MK34]As a believer you cannot be controlled by a demon but you still have a will and you can choose to listen to them if you are fallen away from

[MK35]The basic problem is that you are trying to gain information outside of God’s will.

§ [MK36]Many people think that there is no harm when it is done just for fun, but the connotation of it is not for amusement but is claiming that they have power to discern the future. Any attempt to try to gain information outside of God’s revelation is acting contrary to His will.

§ If someone knows something about you that no one else knows, they either are a good guesser or they are receiving some information from some other source.

§ This can start out as an innocent

[MK37]The difference between Necromancy and Spiritism is that N is seeking to bring up the dead, while S is talking to spirits.

[MK38]All of these dates are just assumptions.

[MK39]Gen 1:1, John 1:1, 3; Col 1:16-17; Job 22:2-3; Acts 17:24-25

[MK40]Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-2;

[MK41]Jeremiah 4:23; Isa 45:18

[MK42]Gen 1:5 “evening and morning and the first day”.

- Exodus 20:11 “in six days”

[MK43]we do not know which one of these is right because the Bible does not explicitly say. However, traducianism is the one that we will accept.

[MK44]The seventh day God was finished with creation and that includes the creation of souls.

[MK45]Genesis 3 as a result of the fall.

[MK46]Outside of God dong a miracle to save me I am totally depraved of any means of obtaining good favor in the sight of God.

[MK47]We ought to appreciate the fact that some lost people are trying to do good. Peter and Cornelius. God is pleased when people are doing good things for it shows that they are seeking God. The fact that lost people can do good is due to the fact that men are made in the image of God. The hitch is that none of these things will get one to heaven. God would rather have lost people be kind to one-another rather than beating one another all the time. But on the other hand we shouldn’t.