The Stretching Process
After Nancy and I got married I decided to take Tae Kwan Do. The biggest problem for me was the stretching. My instructor "Master Sir" as he was called was determined to get me loosened up. So one day while on the mat he had me sit down and spread my legs to the side as far as they would go. Then he told me to touch my head on the floor. Well, I couldn't do it until "Master Sir" got behind me and pushed so hard that my head did hit the floor. The next day I looked and the inside of my thighs were black and blue. I learned that stretching often causes pain physically and I have noticed that when teaching doctrine it does that spiritually. If you have never studied the "Doctrine of God" over a period of time my warning to you is prepare to be stretched. As one pastor put it "better your mind be stretched to the breaking point as opposed to breaking God’s word.”

This week I will pick up right where we left off last Sunday.

Point #1 - Methodology in the Doctrine of God
I am going to talk about my two favorite ways to study the doctrine of God as it relates to the method.
First we will briefly look at the transcendence of God which will include a working definition along with Scriptural support. And then we will do the same with the immanence of God. If you want to see both of these categories displayed in Scripture then I suggest that you study:

• Isaiah 57:15
• Isaiah 66:1-2

Also I want to discuss a few more Scriptures as it relates to the transcendence of God:

• Job Chapter 38
• Psalm 77:13-20
• Habakkuk 3:3-13
• Psalm 104
• Exodus 20:18-21

It is important that you keep these categories in mind as you read through the Bible this coming year.
Part of your ongoing growth in grace assignments will be to write out in the margin of your Bibles when you observe transcendence and immanence.

Then we are going to look at my favorite way to categorize in our study of the doctrine of God.
Incommunicable and Communicable

Incommunicable means that these particular attributes of God are not communicated to us which doesn't mean they are revealed or said to us, but instead we do not share in any part of this attribute. This is distinctively divine.
For example: Self existence and we do not share in any measure this attribute. Because our existence is dependent and contingent and derivative.

Communicable means attributes of God which He communicates or shares in substance or in kind in some portion with His creatures. There is in us a finite representation of these particular attributes.

And over the next few weeks I will be teaching on the following 6 incommunicable attributes of God.
1. Self Existence

This has been sometimes referred to as asceity and it means that God has existence within Himself or it is God's nature to exist. God is not caused to exist as is everything else in the universe. Everything else owes its existence to something else and that is true both from a direct and indirect fashion.

2. Self Sufficiency

Definition: God possesses within Himself every quality in infinite measure. So any quality you can think of like beauty, power or truth God has that quality in that it constitutes His very nature. For example the goodness of God is intrinsic to God because no one gave this to God, no one makes God good, no one grant God to be good, it is His own by nature.

3. Infinity

You notice that this is a negative in that it means God is NOT finite. So what does the word finitude mean? It means to be bounded or limited. God is infinite in that He is not bound nor does He have any limits.

4. Omnipresence
Theologians all the way back to the early church have wanted to talk about God's omnipresence in two particular ways in which God is not bound.

God is not bound in relation to space (omnipresence)
God is not bound in relation to time (eternity)
Omnipresence means that God is not limited in His existence by space. Or God transcends all spacial boundaries and is present everywhere at once.

5. Eternity

God is not limited in His existence by time. The Scriptures speak of God as everlasting or eternal.
Some of the richest passages in the Bible connect the supremacy of God with His being the eternal God.

6. Immutability

This is to say that God is immutable is to say Biblically at least two things:
a. God can’t change in His attributes, His essence, His very being, that is who God is, as God
b. He can’t change in His ethical commitments that are an extension of His own moral nature

Point #2 - Methodological Balance when we come to the Doctrine of God
This means it is easy for us to emphasize one attribute of God that another attribute is lessened to the degree that it gets little or no attention.

Someone could emphasize the holiness, justice, righteousness and the judgment of God that kindness, mercy, forgiveness is hardly accounted for.

But really the problem in our particular culture today is that we have taken an over emphasis to the immanence of God which is God loves you to the limitation or exclusion of the other attributes.

I am going to ask for your patience and diligence to study these notes over the next few weeks. Some of this may seem hard but the more you assimilate the information the better you will come to understand. Remember we behave in life like that which we most behold in our minds. My prayer is that we will behold a correct view of God from the Bible. And in doing so it will lead to us as a community of believers to manifest the glory of Christ in our actions with friends, co-workers, neighbors and family members.