God, Jesus, and the Spirit of God
ONLY ONE IS GOD
There is only one who is God. He is our Creator and the Father of all mankind (Mal. 2:10; Eph. 4:6). He himself declares:
For I am God, and there is no one else;
I am God, and there is no one like me (Isa. 46:9).
Jesus declares that his Father is the “Only True God” (John 17:3) and that the Father is both his God and the God of his disciples (John 20:17).
JESUS IS GOD’S SON
Born of a virgin, Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God (Matt. 16:16-18; 1 John 5:5). He is Lord to all who obey him (Luke 6:46; Heb. 5:9).
He is the way to God. Jesus declares:
I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).
God has made Jesus to be both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). By the power of God, he is now the head of his people (Eph. 1:19-22).
GOD’S SPIRIT
The spirit of God is that of the Father himself (Matt. 10:20). It is the Father in motion; touching and working in his creation. By it, God was/is the Father of Jesus (Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 1:35).
By his spirit, God works in the lives of believers. Through it, we should strive to live like Christ and to mature as Christians. Paul writes:
I pray that, according to the riches of God’s glory, he may grant that you will be strengthened in your inner being with power through his spirit (Eph. 3:16).
SALVATION AND BAPTISM
JESUS IS OUR SAVIOR
Jesus died for our sins and was buried (1 Cor. 15:3, 4). But God raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand as our leader and savior (Acts 5:30, 31). He will never die again (Rom. 6:10). For those who trust in Jesus, God has promised to also raise them from the dead and give them unending life (John 3:16). The Apostle Paul tells us:
God raised the Lord from the dead,
and he will also raise us by his power (1 Cor. 6:14).
Eternal life comes only through Jesus. As human beings, we are entirely mortal and subject to death. It is only through Christ that we can attain immortality – eternal life (Rom. 5:17 and 6:23). John writes:
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not
have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:12).
COMING TO BE IN CHRIST
Our response to God through Jesus Christ is to repent (have a change of mind) and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15), confess our faith, be baptized in water by immersion in the name of Jesus and receive the spirit of God. The Apostle Peter said:
Repent, and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;
and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).
Coming to be “in Christ” makes a person a participant in God’s new covenant (Heb. 13:20, 21). In this covenant, Jesus is our mediator with God (1 Tim. 2:5), our leader – our head (1 Cor. 11:3). In the new covenant, Jesus is our teacher and we will be judged by his words (John 12:48-50).
THE AGE TO COME
OUR FUTURE AND OUR HOPE
Jesus Christ is coming to earth again (1 Thess. 1:10). By the power of God, he will raise the dead, bestow the gift of immortality upon all believers (1 Cor. 15:51-57), and establish the Kingdom of God forever (2 Pet. 1:11).
As his people, we are heirs with the Messiah. God has determined that he will inherit the whole earth (Psalm 2:7, 8) and God also determined that those who are the people of Jesus will be joint heirs with him (Matt. 5:5; Rom. 8:17).
While we wait for the coming of the Lord, we should live with humility, loving our fellows, and walking in truth and light as God shines it to us. The Apostle John said:
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship one with another, and the blood
of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
