SET 9 // FIRE 2 // ORTHODOXY

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
& THE TRINITY

To worship a god of our own imagination is idolatry. We must know God exclusively as He has revealed Himself in Scripture.
Theology Proper is the highest science of the human mind.

THE PERFECTIONS OF YAHWEH.
COMMUNICABLE & INCOMMUNICABLE.

Theological precision requires us to categorize the attributes of God. Incommunicable attributes are those perfections that belong to God alone; they are not shared with humanity in any degree. They establish His absolute transcendence. Communicable attributes are those perfections that God shares (in a finite, limited sense) with human beings, who are made in His image.

MALACHI 3:6 (LSB)

“For I, Yahweh, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”

INCOMMUNICABLE (GOD ALONE)

ETERNITY: THE ALPHA AND OMEGA God has no beginning and no end. He is not bound by time, nor does He experience it sequentially as we do. He is the author of time, existing eternally in the everlasting “now.”

IMMUTABILITY: THE UNCHANGING ONE As Malachi 3:6 declares, God does not change. He cannot change for the better, because He is already perfect. He cannot change for the worse, because He would cease to be God. His being, purposes, and promises are eternally fixed.

SOVEREIGNTY: ABSOLUTE SUPREMACY God is the supreme ruler of the universe. He acts exactly as He pleases, when He pleases, how He pleases, and answers to no one. There is no rogue molecule in the universe operating outside of His sovereign decree.

COMMUNICABLE (SHARED IN THE IMAGE)

LOVE: THE HOLY AFFECTION God is love (1 John 4:8). But His love is not the permissive, sentimental emotion of modern culture. It is a holy, self-giving affection that always acts in perfect harmony with His righteousness.

JUSTICE: PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS APPLIED God must do what is right. He is the infinite lawgiver and judge. He cannot sweep sin under the rug; His justice demands that all sin be punished either by the substitutionary blood of Christ on the cross, or by the eternal wrath of the sinner in hell.

THE TRINITY: ONE IN ESSENCE, THREE IN PERSON

We serve a strictly monotheistic God (Deut 6:4). Yet, the Scriptures flawlessly present the Father as God, the Son as God, and the Holy Spirit as God. To resolve this without destroying monotheism, the early church utilized strict, precise language.

Ousia vs. Hypostasis

The “What” and the “Who.”

Orthodoxy states that God is one in Essence (Ousia – the “What”) and three in Person (Hypostasis – the “Who”). The Father, Son, and Spirit are not parts of God; each Person fully possesses the single, undivided divine essence. They are co-equal, co-eternal, and consubstantial.

The Council of Nicaea (AD 325)

When heretics attempted to reduce Jesus to a lesser, created being, the Council of Nicaea drew a line in the sand. They declared that Christ is Homoousios (of the exact same substance/essence) as the Father. The battle over this single word protected the Gospel. If Christ is of a “similar substance” (Homoiousios), He is not God, and He cannot save us.

WORLDVIEW WARFARE: HISTORICAL HERESIES

Heresy is not merely “getting something wrong”; it is theological poison that damns the soul. The heresies of the ancient world are not dead; they have simply put on modern clothing. You must be equipped to recognize and destroy them.

JOHN 1:1, 3 (LSB)

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”

MODALISM (SABELLIANISM) The Lie: God is one person who simply changes “masks” or “modes.” He was the Father in the Old Testament, switched modes to become the Son in the Gospels, and is now the Spirit today. (Preached today by “Oneness Pentecostals” or T.D. Jakes historically).

The Refutation: Modalism destroys the interpersonal relationships of the Godhead. At the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16-17), the Father speaks from heaven, the Son is in the water, and the Spirit descends as a dove all simultaneously. Jesus did not pray to Himself in the garden of Gethsemane.

ARIANISM The Lie: Coined by Arius, who claimed, “There was a time when the Son was not.” It teaches that Jesus is the highest, greatest *creation* of God, but not eternally God Himself. (Preached today by Jehovah’s Witnesses).

The Refutation: John 1:3 mathematically destroys Arianism. If Jesus created *all* things that came into being, He cannot be part of the created category. He is the uncreated Creator.

THE WEIGHT OF ORTHODOXY.

The boundary lines of the Christian faith were drawn in the blood of martyrs and the ink of the Church Fathers. You are not at liberty to reinvent God. You are commanded to submit to the glorious, terrifying, and beautiful revelation of the Triune God as He has spoken in His Word.

Guarding Trinitarian orthodoxy is not academic pedantry. It is the frontline of spiritual warfare. A false christ cannot save a real sinner.

Election, Sanctification & Resurrection