The Godhead: Part 1
By: L. T. SMITH
Romans 1:20
* This explains the purpose for having a Godhead study.
* The Godhead is without excuse and we must understand this in order to receive the full revelation of who God is.
THREE BASIC THEORIES OF THE GODHEAD
John 17:17
* Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth. We must let the Bible be the basis for all establishment of truth.
WHO, WHAT, WHERE IS GOD?
SPIRIT
John 4:23-24
* God is a Spirit. When you see the term God, it is referring to a Spirit.
Acts 7:48-49
* God is not a little figure or a person off in heaven somewhere. God is a Spirit that fills heaven and earth, because heaven is His throne and earth is His footstool.
OMNIPRESENT (EVERYWHERE)
Psalms 189:7-10
* God is a Spirit that is everywhere. You can not hide from God.
* Where ever two or three are gathered together in His name there He is. Why? “He is everywhere.”
I Kings 8:27
* The Heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee. Why? He is everywhere.
* A place or body can contain the fulness (or quality) of God, but can not contain all of the quantity of God.
Deuteronomy 4:35 & 39
* Lord is God-there is none else beside Him.
* The term Lord used in all capitals always refers to God or deity (the omnipresent Spirit).
* Verse 39: Only one God that is in heaven above and the earth beneath.
* One God or Spirit that is everywhere.
Proverbs 15:3
* Eyes of the Lord are everywhere (omnipresent). You can not make God out to be a human or He would be all eyes according to this scripture; but it is simply saying that He is an omnipresent Spirit.
Jeremiah 23:24
* Can not hide from the Lord. Fills heaven and earth.
* If there is only one, where are the other three (refer to chart)? We are establishing the fact not the theory that there is only one God (not two or three) and He is a Spirit.
INVISIBLE
St. John 1:18
* No man has seen God at any time. Some say Moses saw the hinder part of God. He saw the manifestation of God, but not the Spirit itself. God can manifest himself as anything, and you can see the manifestation (burning bush, dove, etc.) but you can not see the Spirit itself, because it is invisible and no man has ever seen it.
John 5:37
* They had not seen his shape nor heard his voice. What they did see was the manifestation of God.
Colossians 1:15
* Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is all of God we will see and we will cover how this is later in the study.
IMMORTAL (EVERLASTING, CAN NOT DIE)
1 Timothy 1:17
* Immortal, eternal, invisible, only wise God. Immortal means God (the Spirit) can never die. This is important to know so you can later understand about the crucifixion of Christ.
I Timothy 6:14-16
* Jesus will show who is the only King of Kings and Lord of lords and He who only hath immortality.
* He is also invisible. Since He is an invisible, omnipresent Spirit that fills the atoms of the universe just like a thick fog, so if the Spirit would become visible (even after we get to heaven) we would all be blind. He will never cease to be an omnipresent Spirit, so the only way we will ever see God is in the face of Jesus Christ (who is the visible image of the invisible God).
Psalms 90:1-4
* We dwell in the presence of God, and he is from everlasting to everlasting.
* Flesh is not eternal, but God is eternal.
Luke 24:39
* Spirit does not have flesh and bones. God is not an old man up in heaven. He is an immortal, everlasting Spirit. Flesh gets old, a spirit does not.
Ephesians 4:4-6
* One God and one Spirit (refer to chart). There is one God who is through all and in you all. That is why the Spirit in you is called the Holy Ghost or Christ in you. There are three offices of God, but not three Gods:
(1) Father-Spirit as creator and ruler.
(2) Son-flesh which spirit dwelt in, making him God.
(3) Holy Ghost-Spirit of God as it deals with man.
I am a father, son and husband, but I am not three persons and I only have one name.
Mark 12:29-37
* First commandment: the Lord our God is One Lord. Spirit prophesying through David. God and man dwelling in Christ. If the scripture says there is one, who has the right to say there are three.
* Jesus went on to quote Psalms 110:1 to the Jews and asked them how was the messiah going to be David’s son and David’s Lord. The (flesh) that was born of Mary was of the lineage of David according to the promises God had made to Abraham, as recorded in the first chapter of Luke and Matthew- (Lineage is recorded all the way to Mary and Joseph with David and his sons included.)
The God that David prayed to was the same God that dwelt inside that human body, making Jesus both David’s Lord and his son. Look at the words Lord – the first is all capitals and the second is not. It lets us know that this is the Spirit speaking about the flesh.
* Right hand of God will be covered later but it refers to the power of God. Spirit set up flesh and gave him all power.
* The Son did not exist from the beginning, except in the plan of God, but Jesus was from the beginning. How? The term son refers to the flesh of God but the Name Jesus includes both flesh and Spirit, and the Spirit of God that was in Jesus did exist in the beginning. We must realize this to understand how the terms are applied in scripture.
I Timothy 3:16
* God (deity) was manifest in the flesh.
* God was seen of angels. When did the angels see God? When the flesh was born in Bethlehem. When will we see God? When we get to heaven and see the glorified body of Jesus.
* Flesh could not do anything without the Spirit that dwelt in it because Jesus said the Words he spoke was not him, but the father dwelling in him was doing the work.
II Corinthians 5:19
* God in Christ. Reconciling the world back to himself. Why? There was no other God to reconcile him to. That is why He said He would swear by Himself, because there was no other God up there to swear by. There is only one God (Spirit).
John 3:34-35
* Spirit in Christ given without measure. If He was co-equal God He would not have to be given anything, but He was a man who had to have the Spirit of God in Him to be able to do the works of God.
Matthew 1:18-25
* Verses 18-20: Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost making Jesus the son of the Holy Ghost. So unless the Holy Ghost and the Father are the same Spirit instead of Co-equal persons then Jesus would be the son of the Holy Ghost instead of the son of the Father or else He would have two fathers. We realize from this, that they are only offices of the one Spirit of God, and the Spirit is called the Holy Ghost here because it is dealing with man.
* Verse 21: His name shall be called Jesus which means Jehovah has become our salvation. An angel named him, not Joseph, because it was prophesied in the Old Testament that the Lord would give him a new name. Keep this in mind because we will cover it later in the study.
* Verse 23: Jesus was God (Spirit) with us. He was God manifest in the flesh.
COMPARING SCRIPTURES OF OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS
Scriptural comparisons concerning the prophecies about Jehovah of the Old Testament being fulfilled by Jesus in the New Testament (proving they are the same).
Isaiah 43:3, 10-15, 25
* Verse 3: Lord thy God is the Holy one (not 2 or 3), and the Saviour.
* Verse 10-15: There was no God formed before Him, nor after him. Yet the doctrine of the Trinity indicates that the son proceeded out from the father in eternity before the world was. According to this scripture that would not be possible.
* There is no Saviour other than this one God that is speaking in these scriptures, so when the Saviour comes to the world it will be this one God of the Old Testament.
* Called our redeemer, Holy One, Saviour, Creator, King which are terms that are applied to Jesus in the New Testament.
* Verse 25: It is the one God that will blot out or remove our sins.
Isaiah 44:6, 8, 24
* Verse 6: He is the Lord, King, Redeemer, the First and the Last and beside Him there is no God.
* Verse 8: If there is another God, He does not know about it.
* Verse 24: He is the God that made all things, created the heavens and earth alone, by Himself, and there was no other God with Him.
Isaiah 45:5, 6, 15, 18
* All these scriptures simply reemphasize the fact that there is only one God that is the Saviour and Creator and there is no other God besides Him.
Isaiah 45:21-24
* He is the only God and Saviour there is and unto Him every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.
Philippians 2:9-1 1
* The name of Jesus is above every name and at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. This is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. It proves that Jesus is the one God of the Old Testament.
JESUS AS THE FATHER
Isaiah 9:6-7
* The son to be born is referred to as the mighty God and the everlasting Father, which proves again that Jesus is the one God of the Old Testament that came in human flesh to redeem man from his sin by the death of the flesh on calvary. This also makes Him our Saviour and Redeemer which fulfills the other prophecies concerning the one true God of the Old Testament.
John 3:13
* Jesus was on earth talking to Nicodemus, yet He said He was in heaven also. This proves He is man and yet God that is everywhere according to the deity that lives in His flesh. Not a separate person, but the same one Spirit of an omnipresent God.
I Corinthians 8:4-6
* There is but one God, the Father (term father as pertaining to God always refer to the omnipresent Spirit) and one Lord Jesus Christ. (Use this in referring to the next scripture.)
II Corinthians 3:17
* The Lord (Jesus) is that Spirit, when compared with the previous scripture, this proves that Jesus is the same one God as the Father (Spirit).
John 10:30
* Jesus said, “I and my Father are one”. How are they one? When Spirit was put in flesh they became one person. He was fully God and fully man in one person. This statement caused the Jews to try to stone Him because they could not accept Him as the one God of the Old Testament, which eventually resulted in their being cut off and God turning to the Gentiles to take out a people for His name’s sake.
John 14:5-10
* Jesus told the disciples from henceforth you know the Father and have seen Him. Since the Father is an invisible Spirit that no man can see, the only way they could see Him was in the face of Jesus Christ. He proves this on His next point.
* Philip asked to see the Father and it would satisfy him. Jesus seemed surprised that He had been so long with Philip and he still had not recognized that He was the Father. He let Philip know that when you see Jesus you have seen the Father. (The body of Jesus Christ is the only visible part of the Father you can see.)
* He revealed that it was the Father (Spirit) that was in Him who was doing the works of the Spirit.
John 8:24, 27
* Jesus was speaking of the Father in all of these verses and He let them know they would die in their sins if they did not believe that He was the Father. Why? Because they would never be baptized inHis name for the remission of sins as commanded by the apostles.
Colossians 1:14-20
* Verse 14: We have redemption through His blood (this lets us know these scriptures are referring to Jesus Christ).
* Verse 15: Image of the invisible God. Jesus is the only physical part of God we will ever see and He is also the perfect image of God Spiritually because He is God in flesh.
* Verses 16-20: Jesus is the creator of all things, which means He has to be the one creator that Isaiah prophesied about which also said there was no other God beside Him.
* He reconciled all things to himself, because there is no other God to reconcile it to. (Flesh reconciled all things to the Spirit.)
Colossians 2:8-12
* Paul warned against philosophy, vain deceit, tradition of
men and rudiments of the world.
* Verses 9-10: The fulness of the Godhead bodily is in Jesus Christ. The body of Jesus does not contain all of the quantity of God, but all of the fulness of the quality of God. The body of Jesus is God’s headquarters.
* Ye are complete in Him, because He is the head of all principality and power.
* Verses 11-12: Old Testament circumcision was a cutting away of flesh made with hands, which was a type of New Testament circumcision made without hands which is the putting away of the sins of the flesh by baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ (for the remission of sins).
Matthew 28:17-20
* All power in heaven and earth was given to Jesus. If He was a co-equal God, then why would He have to be given anything; but, humanity had to receive power from deity. This is the father setting the son up on the throne as prophesied.
* Baptize in the Name (singular) of the Father (not in the Father, but the name of the Father). Jesus said I come in my Father’s name. The name of the Father is Jesus.
* Name of the Son-She shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Jesus is the name of the Son.
* Name of the Holy Ghost-He promised to send the Holy Ghost in
his name. The name of the Holy Ghost is Jesus.
* Since Spirit (Father, Holy Ghost) and flesh (son) are in the same person of Jesus, the name of the Father, son and Holy Ghost is Jesus. if the apostles use the name Jesus in baptism, then we will know that this is the correct meaning and fulfillment of thisscripture.
Acts 2:38
* The Apostles (who had received direct revelation from Jesus) baptized in the Name of Jesus for the remission of sin.
Acts 10:48
* The first gentile saved was commanded to be baptized in the name of the Lord. He had just preached to them that they could receive remission of sins through his name.
Acts 4:10-12
* Jesus is the only name under heaven given among men that will save you. Where was the name given in the plan of salvation? Baptism for the remission of sins. That is why Jesus said, “Unless you believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins”.
I John 5:5-8
* There are three that bear record in heaven. He bears record of three offices or manifestations, but it does not say that there are three separate persons in existence, because that would contradict the other scriptures on the Godhead. These three witnesses are one. The three earth bearing witnesses (blood, water and Spirit) are said to agree in one, not are one.
I John 5:13
* You can have eternal life through believing in the name of the Son of God.
I John 5:20
* Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life.
Jeremiah 10:10
* The Lord (Jehovah) of the Old Testament is stated as being the true God. Since there is only one God, the Jesus of the New Testament must be the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
Zechariah 12:1
* The one Lord that created heaven and earth is doing the speaking in these chapters.
Zechariah 12:9-10
* They will look upon me whom they pierced? Who was it that was pierced on Calvary? Jesus. This proves again that Jesus was the One Lord of Israel.
Zechariah 13:6-9
* This speaks of a time when the God of the Old Testament will return to the Jews and they will ask Him about the wounds in His hands. Who had the nail prints in his hands? Jesus.
* He will destroy two thirds of Israel, but He will spare the third part when they recognize Him and call upon His name. (The name of the one with the nail prints.) He will then answer and say it is my people and they shall say “the Lord is my God”. (Jesus is our God.)
* If He refuses to spare the Jews who have not recognized who He is, what makes us believe He will spare the gentiles who refuse to recognize Him as the one God of heaven and earth.
Zechariah 14:1-5, 9
* The Lord’s feet will touch the Mount of Olives. The feet of Jesus are the only feet God has, because a Spirit does not have flesh and bone.
* Lord God will come and all of His saints with Him.
* Verse 9: He will be King over the whole earth, there will be one Lord and His name one. The whole world will recognize that Jesus is the one true and living God.
Acts 1:9-12
* Jesus left from the top of the Mount of Olives and an angel told the apostles He would return in like manner. So this also confirms that Jesus will be the God whose feet touch the mount of Olives.
I Thessalonians 3:11-13
* This states that Jesus is the one coming with His saints (fulfilling the prophesy of Zach. 14:5) proving again that Jesus is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.
NAME OF THE ONE COMING BACK
Revelation 19:11-16
* He had a name written no man knew, but He Himself. He was called The Word of God. We will find out the name of the word in our next scripture reading.
* He is also THE KING OF KINGS and THE LORD OF LORDS.
John 1:14
* Word was made flesh. Everyone realizes this scripture is saying Jesus is called the Word.
Matthew 1:21
* Thou shalt call His name Jesus. (The name Jesus means Jehovah has become our salvation.)
Isaiah 62:2
* The gentiles would see His righteousness and kings would see His glory and He shall be called by a new name which the Lord shall name. That is why Joseph did not name Him but God sent an angel to name Him. The new name is Jesus (Jehovah Saviour). This is confirmed in the next scriptures.
Matthew 12:18-21
* He is showing here that Jesus is fulfilling the prophesy of
Isaiah when he wrote “In His name shall the gentiles trust”.
Acts 9:5 & 15
* The Lord said His name was Jesus.
* Verse 15: Paul was sent to bear His name before gentiles
and kings. (The fulfillment of Isaiah 62:2.)
Revelation 2:17
* He will give a new name who no man except He that has received
it.
Galatians 3:27
* We receive the name of Jesus when we are baptized in His name. That is why the ones who have received it know His name, because you will not be baptized in His name if you do not believe He is the one true God.
Revelation 14:1
* They have his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Revelation 3:12
* He will write upon him the name of God. The name of the city is revealed, but the name of God is not revealed except to say it will be His new name. Now, we realize from scripture that the new name is Jesus and remember the name in the foreheads was also the name of the Father, proving that the Father’s new name is Jesus. He robed Himself in flesh and became a son which made Him Jehovah Saviour or Jesus.
* He is the Father in creation, the Son in redemption and the Holy Ghost in His dealings with man; but, His name is Jesus.
