Who is God? What are his attributes? His eternal plan? His works in history? At the most fundamental level, the Scriptures were given to us to teach us about who God is and what he has done for us. In fact, knowing God is essential for us to understand ourselves and our world. This is why we study what theologians call theology proper, or the doctrine of God.

Course Goals:

• Introduce the primary concerns of systematic theologians in regard to theology proper.
• Discuss a systematic approach to discerning God’s attributes.
• Survey God’s plan and works, especially his decrees, creation and providence.

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This lesson introduces how evangelical systematic theologians have approached some of the most basic issues related to understanding who God is and what he does.

This companion video asks the following questions:

• What can we know about God from the Bible’s portrayal of him as King?
• How should Christians today respond to the kingship of God?
• What are the main ways we can come to know God?
• What does creation tell us about God?
• What is natural theology?
• Can human beings be saved by general revelation alone?
• How important are the Scriptures in the life of a believer?
• Why does Scripture sometimes describe God as mysterious?
• What do theologians mean when they say that God is incomprehensible?

This video introduces what the Bible teaches about our triune God and considers the following questions:

• What do Christians mean when they say that God is three persons in one essence?
• How can we begin to understand such a complex doctrine as the Trinity?
• What do Christians mean when they say that God is one?
• How do theologians explain the doctrine of God’s simplicity?
• What passages in the New Testament teach us about God’s three-in-oneness?
• With respect to the Trinity, what is a person?
• Why do some people accuse Christians of worshiping three gods?
• Why do we believe that God’s divine threeness does not violate the doctrine of God’s simplicity?
• Has God eternally existed in Trinity?
• Was Christ a created being or has he always existed?
• How do the Trinitarian formulas in the New Testament help us see the equality of the Holy Spirit with the other members of the Godhead?

This video focuses on how all three members of the Trinity are unified in one divine essence and considers the following questions:

• Why does the Trinity seem to be more clearly expressed in the New Testament than in the Old Testament?
• Why do the Scriptures call God our Father?
• What encouragement can we draw from the fact that we are part of the family of God, with God himself as our Father?
• How do the images of a lion and a lamb in Revelation 5 demonstrate that the Son is a divine person equal to the Father?
• How does John 1:1 teach that Jesus is God?
• Why was it necessary for the man Jesus also to be God?
• How can we demonstrate the divinity of the Holy Spirit from Scripture?
• How do the works of the Holy Spirit demonstrate his divinity?
• How can we demonstrate the personality of the Holy Spirit from Scripture?

This video focuses on the personal attributes and responsibilities of the individual persons within the Trinity and considers the following questions:

• If the Father has authority over the Son and Spirit, what happens if they disagree?
• What does it mean when we say that the Son is eternally begotten of the Father?
• What did John mean when he called Jesus the Son of God?
• What encouragement can we draw from the fact that the Son of God himself is our brother?
• What did the early church councils affirm about the eternal procession of the Holy Spirit?
• What were the implications of the Council of Toledo for the doctrine of the Holy Spirit?
• What practical applications can we draw from the fact that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person from the Father and the Son?
• What is the ontological Trinity?
• What is the economic Trinity?
• Why is it important to distinguish between the ontological and economic Trinity?
• Is there a gap between the economic Trinity as he reveals himself to us and the ontological Trinity?

This lesson focuses on what theologians have often called God’s incommunicable attributes, how gloriously unlike his creation God is.

This companion video asks the following questions:

• Why should we distinguish between God’s communicable and incommunicable attributes?
• What do the Scriptures tell us about God’s spirituality?
• What do theologians mean by God’s simplicity?
• What is God’s omniscience?
• What do theologians mean by God’s aseity or self-existence?
• What does God’s aseity, or self-existence, teach us about his independence from his creation?
• What is God’s infinity?
• What does it mean to say that God is eternal?
• What is God’s immutability?
• How can God be immutable if the Bible says that he sometimes changes his mind?
• What does it mean that God is omnipresent?
• What does omnipotence mean?
• How do you interpret the passages of the Bible that tell us that there are some things God cannot do?
• Where is God’s love best demonstrated?

This lesson examines what theologians commonly call God’s “communicable attributes”, the ways that God and his creation are similar.

This companion video asks the following questions:

• Can we learn everything we need to know about God through natural theology, or do we also need special revelation?
• How can figurative comparisons about God found in the Bible teach us about God’s attributes?
• What does Psalm 8 teach us about our value and significance before God?
• What does it mean that we are created in God’s image?
• Is it possible to really know ourselves without some knowledge of God, and is it possible to really know God without some knowledge of ourselves?
• Why is it sometimes difficult to infer theological propositions from Scripture, especially narrative and poetry?
• How can theologians infer theological propositions from the narratives and poetry of Scripture?
• How does God demonstrate his communicable attribute of love for us?
• How should God’s communicable attribute of love affect our lives?
• How does God manifest his wisdom in creation?
• What does the Bible mean when it says that God is holy and that we also are to be holy?
• How should God’s attribute of holiness affect our lives on a daily basis?

This lesson explores how evangelical systematic theologians have approached the plan of God and the works by which he accomplishes his plan.

This companion video asks the following questions:

• What is divine immanence?
• What is divine transcendence?
• Why is it important to balance both God’s transcendence and his immanence in the doctrine of God?
• Must God’s eternal plan also be immutable?
• How can we avoid fatalism if God has an eternal plan for his world?
• How should believers evaluate the teachings of open theology?
• How is it possible for God to know the future?
• How significant is the debate between differing views on the order of divine decrees?
• What is divine foreknowledge?
• Where do you stand on the debate over the role of God’s foreknowledge in the salvation of sinners?
• What is the value of the doctrine of God’s eternal plan, counsel or decree for systematic theology?
• Why is God’s glory so pervasive in the Bible?
• What do theologians mean by the providence of God?
• What do theologians mean when they say that God often operates through second causes?
• Is there any aspect of God’s creation that is outside the realm of God’s authority or sovereignty?
• What power does Satan have in this world?
• What aspects of God’s extraordinary providence can we call miracles?