God's Nature
Hebrews 6:13-20
"When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
I really love this set of verses as it tells us a lot about the nature of God, especially His 'aseity', that is to say His self-completeness. Aseity "is the property by which a being exists in and of itself, from itself, or exists as so-and-such of and from itself. The word is often used to refer to the Christian belief that God contains within [H]imself the cause of [H]imself, is the first cause, or rather is simply uncaused." Plato's 'Euthyphro' remains a false dilemma in the face of God's true nature, He is complete in Himself and 'goodness' proceeds from His character not any abstract object or standard above Him (v. 13) but He Himself is Perfect Goodness, and everything else is measured against His character like a high-fidelity (true copy) recording of a live concert. The same set of verses support this in affirming one of those things God cannot do (mind-blown, yes, there are some things God cannot do), that is "it is impossible for God to lie (v. 18)", for it is logically impossible for Goodness itself to act in an evil manner, He's got to be consistent with His character, similar to humans being flightless mammals, it isn't in our nature as a species to be able to fly by some mechanism within ourselves. Now, is this an affront to God's omnipotence? Absolutely not, it is simply one of those categories rendered logically meaningless to speak of such as the old question "is God powerful enough that He can create a stone so heavy He couldn't lift it?", or "what happens when an 'unstoppable force' meets an 'immovable object'?" These questions are ultimately self-contradictory and therefore meaningless and part of God's character is truth, that is logic itself, and hence, Christ, God Himself, the 'logos' in the beginning (John 1:1) claimed to be "the way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)." "God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’ (Exo 3:14)." Friends, God "is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else (Acts 17:25)." Indeed, "You are worthy, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being (Rev 4:11)."
"When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.” And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
I really love this set of verses as it tells us a lot about the nature of God, especially His 'aseity', that is to say His self-completeness. Aseity "is the property by which a being exists in and of itself, from itself, or exists as so-and-such of and from itself. The word is often used to refer to the Christian belief that God contains within [H]imself the cause of [H]imself, is the first cause, or rather is simply uncaused." Plato's 'Euthyphro' remains a false dilemma in the face of God's true nature, He is complete in Himself and 'goodness' proceeds from His character not any abstract object or standard above Him (v. 13) but He Himself is Perfect Goodness, and everything else is measured against His character like a high-fidelity (true copy) recording of a live concert. The same set of verses support this in affirming one of those things God cannot do (mind-blown, yes, there are some things God cannot do), that is "it is impossible for God to lie (v. 18)", for it is logically impossible for Goodness itself to act in an evil manner, He's got to be consistent with His character, similar to humans being flightless mammals, it isn't in our nature as a species to be able to fly by some mechanism within ourselves. Now, is this an affront to God's omnipotence? Absolutely not, it is simply one of those categories rendered logically meaningless to speak of such as the old question "is God powerful enough that He can create a stone so heavy He couldn't lift it?", or "what happens when an 'unstoppable force' meets an 'immovable object'?" These questions are ultimately self-contradictory and therefore meaningless and part of God's character is truth, that is logic itself, and hence, Christ, God Himself, the 'logos' in the beginning (John 1:1) claimed to be "the way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)." "God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’ (Exo 3:14)." Friends, God "is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything. Rather, He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else (Acts 17:25)." Indeed, "You are worthy, our LORD and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being (Rev 4:11)."
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