UNIT 5

CONCEPT OF GOD IN THE NICENE CREED

5. Concept of God
5.1. The Nature of God
Omnipotent
Loving and Just
5.2. Oneness of God and the Trinity
The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit
Importance of oneness in the context of Monotheism (I AM statements)
Non Trinitarian denominations / groups
5.3. Existence of Evil and suffering
6.3. Existence of Evil and suffering
Difficulties in belief in a Loving/just God

UNIT 5 CONCEPT OF GOD

CONCEPT
IDEA
BELIEF

Transcendent – outside this world

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

OMNIPOTENT – all powerful

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

SELF EXISTENT - Does not need anything to live

1 Tim 6:16
who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no
one has seen or can see.
TIMELESS / ETERNAL – Is not bound by time. Created time
Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the
everlasting arms ……….

He is loving
- God loves his Creation
- He acts lovingly and Benevolently towards them
Psalm 86:15
He is Just
- He is impartial
- He has no favorites
- He acts justly towards His creation

What does God look like?

God is invisible
John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Colossians 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation

The Oneness of God and the Trinity

 - God is One. Three distinct persons
- Same in substance / nature
- There is no mixture. Three distinct yet separate beings
- Three distinct roles
- Same in authority, power and glory

Jesus as God
Jesus’ I AM Statements
Ego eimi - Greek for - I am, I have Existed, I have been
John 8:24, 8:28, 8:58, 13:19, 18:5, 18:6, 18:8
Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh – I am who I am
Exodus 3:7-8, 13-14

John 1:1-4
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and
without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,
[a]
and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not overtake it.

• Beginning was the word

• The word was with God
• The word was God
• Beginning was with God
• Through Him all things in heaven and on earth were created
ASSIGNMENT 1
Graded assignment (one page)
Defend the statement God is one

Existence of Evil and suffering

Give some examples of personification of evil – in fiction, historical figures.

What are the character traits of evil personified?

Are there other character traits that are personified?

Theodicy
What is Theodicy?
Is an attempt to answer the question of how a good and powerful God
could allow evil and suffering.

Three types of evil

Natural evil – caused by nature
Moral evil (Social) – caused by humans
Ecological evil – damage caused to the environment by human actions

Genesis 3:16-19
16
To the woman he said,
“I will make your pangs in childbirth exceedingly great;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”
17
And to the man[a] he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

What does the passage tell us?

 Adam and Eve
 The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil
 The serpent
 Expulsion from the garden symbolizes a separation from God
Different punishments given to Adam and Eve
Women – difficult childbirth. Ruled over by her husband
Man – The ground is cursed. He will toil to eat. By hard work will he eat.
Both will die. Return to the dust they came from

Do women suffer disproportionately because they are seen less important than
Men? Discuss

The Problem of evil and suffering

Epicurus’ explanation
‘Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing? Then he is wicked.
Is he both able and willing? Then where does evil
come from?
Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him
God?’

View 1 – (Irenaeus)
- God is omnipotent and Omni benevolent yet there is evil. God can
remove it but He wants it there. Why?
- Humans made in the image of God are still not perfect. We are still
learning goodness through witnessing evil.
- God allows us to experience evil and suffering to teach us. Their
presence means we are still in an imperfect stage.
- As we learn we move towards the second stage of creation which will
be easier
View 2 – (Augustine)
- What is evil in God’s wonderful world?
- Evil is not a thing it is an absence of good.
- God’s creation was perfect it changed when human beings arrived.
- When the first humans disobeyed God they suffered. Every human
who gives into temptation and allows evil into the words suffers.
- Humans have brought evil into God’s creation

Questions
Why does God permit humans to suffer?
Where does evil stem from, according to Augustine?
The difference in each thinker’s view of the origins of evil.