God

Does God have Emotions?

March 17, 2023 by wagraham 7 Comments

Christians claim God is impassible—without passions. For example, the Westminster Confession of Faith affirms, God is “without body, parts, or passions” (2.1). For most people, this seems to affirm God has no emotions under the reasonable assumption that passions are emotions.

But such a teaching, although everywhere present in the history of Christianity, seems at variance with biblical teaching. The Bible often says God is angry, for example. Does this mean God is a passionate and emotional God?

To answer that question, I want to reargue key reasons why Christians hold God to be impassible. Afterwards, I will answer the question, Does God have emotions? [Read more…] about Does God have Emotions?

Is Wrath an Attribute of God?

March 10, 2023 by wagraham 1 Comment

A reason why there is asymmetry in the statements “God is love” and “God is wrath” is because God is eternally love—the Spirit often described poetically as the bond of love in the life of the triune God. By contrast, it’s hard to think what it might mean for God to eternally be wrath. Father, Son, and Spirit love Godself; does God wrath himself?

We should have more confidence in the sheer obviousness of God’s existence

October 30, 2019 by wagraham Leave a Comment

We should have more confidence not just in the Gospel and Spirit, but also in the sheer obviousness of God’s existence—and not just God as such, but the God that Scripture presents in his power to create and sustain as well as his eternal existence and nature (and so simplicity, immutability, and so on). [Read more…] about We should have more confidence in the sheer obviousness of God’s existence

Existence probably is the best evidence that God exists

October 29, 2019 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Existence probably is the best evidence that God exists. Why do we exist at all? Why at this moment do we exist? What logical causes hold together our existence even now (gravity, matter, etc.)? Every caused thing must have some logical cause here-and-now to exist. And if we trace the logical (not temporal) casual train, at one point we have to admit that some uncaused cause holds together existence even now.

To understand causation, Scripture gives us guidelines for how we should understand God and his relationship to the universe. And one particularly useful place to look is Acts 17. [Read more…] about Existence probably is the best evidence that God exists

Is God Simple?

August 23, 2019 by wagraham 1 Comment

The first article of the Belgic Confession (1561) affirms, “We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God.” This confession of God’s simplicity represents the common opinion of reformed theology as well as earlier Christian theology.

But divine simplicity as well as its attendant teachings (immutability, impassibility, timelessness) no longer enjoy such a consensus. Instead, a number of theologians now deny, ignorte, or redefine simplicity. Certainly, the principle of Sola Scriptura allows even the most central teaching of Christianity to undergo scrutiny. Yet I am persuaded that divine simplicity enjoyed such universal consensus because it is biblical, true, and coherent. God is simple.

To deny, ignore, or redefine this doctrine entails not only theological incoherency but also various other inconsisties when it comes to certain attendant doctrines—immutability, impassibility, infinity, triune relations, and monotheism. [Read more…] about Is God Simple?

Can We Still Trust Evangelical Theology?

August 15, 2019 by wagraham 5 Comments

A number of recent evangelical theologians have reshaped and redefined one of the most central doctrines of Christianity: the doctrine of God. In particular, the dogmas of divine simplicity, eternality, infinity, immutability, impassibility, and triune relations of origin have been widely redefined and even rejected.

Yet these doctrines have been a mainstay of biblical Christianity for centuries, for millennia. These teachings appeared in Christian confessions and in the great writings of Christian theology. Until the twentieth-century, almost every Christian thought they were biblical. But that is no longer the case.

This change confronts us with the question: can we trust our theology? Is it correct? Why are we biblical now but not then? What makes us right and them wrong? What confidence can we have in unshakeable revealed truth if we cannot agree on the central topic of Christianity anymore, namely, God?

Before answering that question, consider the following proofs for the above statements. The following paragraphs list the doctrines mentioned above and then cites evangelical theologians who either redefine or reject these doctrines. Afterward, I will reflect briefly on what this means and whether or not we can still trust evangelical theology. (Preview: we can) [Read more…] about Can We Still Trust Evangelical Theology?