NT Framework - A Masked God?

God is one. God is Three. Uh what? How does this work? 

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New TestamentFramework.
Today a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
What is the deeply held belief that these folks
hold, which is actually aconclusion?
It's that God is an absoluteone, with no diversity in
himself.
We would want to challenge thatpresupposition and discuss the

(00:30):
concept of unity, meaning oneGod, but can you have diversity
in that unity?
Is that possible biblically?
So, rather than start with thisconclusion, we would want to
back up and challenge thepresupposition underlying it,
because our view does not comefrom the idea of a solitary

(00:51):
monotheism.
Our view is monotheisticthere's one God, but there is
diversity of persons in this God, and so the problem with
presuppositions is they're kindof like flypaper.
I used to work in the lab withplants and of course, you've got
to keep the little fruit fliesoff the plants.
It's this yellow paper and ifyou grab it it's sticky on both

(01:14):
sides.
If you try to get it off thathand with using the other hand,
it's now stuck on this hand, andthat's kind of how
presuppositions are.
They're very difficult to getrid of because they are a
person's core belief and theyare really unchallenged and
unchallengeable beliefs, and soit's difficult, like getting rid

(01:39):
of flypaper, to get people todrop their presuppositions and
start from another viewpoint.
I'm talking with someone thisweek about the church being Jew
and Gentile in one body, thebody of Christ.
We all know this.
This is not that complicatedthing to say, but this person
wants to say that if a Jew hasbelieved he's no longer Jewish.

(01:59):
And I can't get him to dropthat idea and accept that.
There are passages thatdescribe Jewish believers like 1
Peter is written to Jews of thedispersion who are believers.
The olive tree in Romans 11,which has natural branches and

(02:23):
it has wild branches.
The natural branches in Romans11, which has natural branches
and it has wild branches.
The natural branches are Jewishbelievers.
They're the natural recipientsof the benefits of this olive
tree.
And then you have wild branchesand these are Gentiles who have
been grafted into this tree andthey're the unnatural

(02:44):
recipients of blessings from theJewish covenant.
So but I can't get convincedthis person that you can have
Jewish believers and Gentilebelievers and we're all united
in the church.
They say no, if you're in thechurch you're neither Jew nor
Gentile.
You know Galatians 3.28.
But Galatians 3.28 isn't sayingthere's no Jews or Gentiles.
It's saying there's no Jew andGentile.

(03:05):
It's saying Jews and Gentileshave equal spiritual privilege.
It's not saying you become anon-Jew if you're a Jew and you
believe in Jesus, any more thanit's saying if you're a Gentile
and you believe in Jesus, you'reno longer a Gentile.
It's no more saying that if youbelieve in Christ, you're no

(03:26):
longer a Gentile.
It's no more saying that if youbelieve in Christ, you're no
longer a man.
Or if you're a woman and youbelieve in Jesus, you're no
longer a woman, becauseGalatians 3.28 says that too
right Neither male nor female.
It's not saying that if you'rea slave and you believe in Jesus
, you're no longer a slave.
Or if you're a free man and youbelieve in Jesus, you're no

(03:47):
longer free, but you're a slaveor something else.
It's not saying that.
It's just saying all thesepeople have equal spiritual
privileges, no matter theirstation in life.
That's all that it's saying.
But the point is I'm trying toget across is I cannot
communicate with this individualabout this very important topic
biblically, because they have apresupposition and it's really

(04:07):
unchallenged and unchallengeable, and so every time they go to a
passage, they have to interpretit to fit their presupposition,
because it's a deeply held,unchallenged and unchallengeable
truth to them.
So this is the challenge is tomake sure our presuppositions
are the correct ones and tochallenge them personally,

(04:28):
individually.
So we've gone through some ofthese.
If you start with thispresupposition an ancient modal
monarchianism, also known asSibelianism for its founder,
sibelius, and one of thederivatives of that was a
concept of patropatianism, theidea that the father was
crucified as well as modernoneness, pentecostalism you
start with this one idea of God,this absolute one.

(04:50):
Then you have to come tocertain conclusions, because as
you read the Bible, you say well, who's the son and who's the
spirit and who's the Father?
How does this all relate to theone God?
So the way that theyhistorically have done it is
they said well, in the OldTestament God revealed Himself
as the Father, in the GospelsGod revealed Himself as the Son,

(05:13):
and in the epistles and on downto our own day, he reveals
Himself as the Holy Spirit.
And these are three masks thatGod puts on, because there's one
God.
And he puts a mask of theFather on, then later he puts
the mask of the Son on, thenlater he puts the mask of the
Spirit on.
We said well, that doesn't workso well because there are texts
where, for example, jesus istalking to the Father, for

(05:36):
example in his high priestlyprayer of John 17.
It's a dialogue.
Is Jesus just changing masks?
So he puts on his Jesus maskand then says something, and
then he switches masks and putson the Father mask and he
receives what Jesus said to him.
See, this doesn't work.
See, it doesn't make much senseof these texts in the Bible.

(05:58):
It also doesn't explain how thefather is actually the father
of the son, if they're reallyjust the same person with two
different masks on, does it?
So you go through these and youwrestle with them, but in the
end you say nope, that's notright, that doesn't fit what the
text says.
Another one that starts the sameway with a presupposition of a

(06:20):
solitary monotheism, is easiestto understand in the term
adoptionism.
But it's also held by modernUnitarians right down here in
the street in Spokane.
It's held by Judaism, it's heldby Islam.
So people hold this pretty muchexact view today, or similar
views.
In this concept.
The conclusion is that, well,only the Father is God and Jesus

(06:42):
.
He was given the godhood, or hewas bestowed godhood at his
birth, at his baptism or hisresurrection.
So he is a god, they will say.
He's just not so.
He's less in essence.
He's just not so.
He's less.
In essence, he's not sovereign,righteous, just loving,

(07:03):
omniscient, omnipresent,omnipotent, immutable, eternal.
He doesn't have thoseattributes of God.
He has another set ofattributes that are unique to
him, that make him less than onetrue God, the Father, see.
So we have to ask ourselves,well, does that fit?
Does that fit what the Biblesays?
Well, it doesn't explain howChrist was with the Father
before the incarnation.

(07:23):
I mean, if he was created andborn, then how was he with the
Father before His birth?
That doesn't fit.
It doesn't explain the deity ofChrist passages.
It certainly doesn't explainwhy Jesus permits himself to be
worshipped or will acceptworship.

(07:44):
I mean, let's think about it.
Okay, if there's one true God,he's the only one who should be
worshipped, right?
I mean, would you worship acreature?
Isn't that against one of theTen Commandments?
You don't worship anything increation.
Well, if Jesus is less than theone true God and he's a
creation and he was justbestowed godhood and we worship

(08:09):
him, or he accepts worship,wouldn't that be idolatry?
Well, of course it would beidolatry.
You would only worship the onetrue God.
You wouldn't worship JesusChrist because he's less than
God.
That would be idolatry.
So again, this is a point.
You see, this doesn't work.
This will not fit with theBible.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with
Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
Under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today'slesson productive and useful in

(08:45):
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.
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