Author Archive: mdhauz

Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt.12: Helpful Observations

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Class #12:  This week we  examined a host of Bible passages which bear witness to our one God and three persons.  Applying the rules we learned concerning the internal and external works of  the Trinity, we went through some useful and helpful observations that can help us in clearly speaking about the Holy Trinity–so that we neither confound the persons, nor divide the substance.

Handout: opera ad extra and opera ad intra July 15
Handout 2: Trinity and Unity Heresies July 15 (yellow sheet)
[Picture: Pr. Henson in front of Christ Lutheran Church (Richmond, MO)

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Part 10: The Works of the Trinity

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Class #10:  How do we speak about the Triune God?  The Athanasian Creed correctly instructs us that we need to do it “not confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.”  In order to speak correctly, we must understand where the Holy Scriptures are speaking about the unity of God and where they are speaking about the Trinity of persons.

There are two rules to help us.  1. The external works of God are undivided.  “When God outside His essence works something among His creatures, then the three persons are together and work together, because there is one doer and maker.”   2. The internal works of God are divided.  “The works which God does outside of all created things, within Himself, are not common to the three persons, but are peculiar to only one person, so this it is characteristic of the Father to beget, of the Son to be begotten, and of the Holy Spirit to proceed from both.”  (Loci Theologici, p.74)

Handout: opera ad extra and opera ad intra

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Theology Summary Bible Class Pt.9: Face to Face

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Class #9:  We think that God is working, when we are victorious and everything is going our way.  When tragedy hits, we think that God has abandoned us. That kind of thinking  is dead wrong.  We learned from Jacob’s wrestling with God(Gen 32) and Manoah’s visit from God that we don’t recognize God. We don’t have spiritual receptors. Like Moses we want to see the glory (Ex 33:18). God tells him, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live” (v.20). God promises to go with Moses and show him goodness, graciousness, and compassion. The Divine Service proclaims those same promises of forgiveness and Jesus’ presence with His church.  We call that revelation proclaiming “the name of the Lord” (v.19). With that promise revealed to us in the Word, we can face anything, even death.  God is mightily working through suffering and the cross.  Sometime after the fact, we get to see God’s back–where He has been working.

The prophet Moses is unlike any other prophet.  Moses does get to talk with God like a man speaks to his friend face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth. He doesn’t see the essence of God(Jn 4:24), but a similtude or form(Num 12:8).

Handout: Jacob Wonderful Name
Handout: The Name of the Lord Jun 24 2018

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 8: Wonderful

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Class #8:  Romans 10:13-15 quotes Joel 2:32, “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” With this phrase, the New Testament and the Old Testament agree that “calling on the name of the LORD” encompasses (1) the entire revelation of Jesus Christ (2) through the pastoral ministry(the preaching of the Word, the divine service, faith, confession, etc.).

In Judges 13, Manoah and his wife do not realize that the angel of the LORD is God Himself.  When they figure it out, Manoah is sure that they will die for having seen God.  In Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles with a man but does not know who He is. The revelation of God which they desire is too wonderful(Isaiah 9:6). That is, it is beyond human understanding. Through Jacob’s clinging to Jesus Christ, God says to him,  “you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.” The revelation of God is always centered in Jesus Christ!

Document: Handout The Name of the Lord Jun 17 2018
Presentation: Presentation The Name of the Lord Jun 17 2018

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 7: Yahweh

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Class #7:  Exodus 3 is the greatest revelation of God’s proper name, “Yahweh,” in the Old Testament.  Verses 13-14 read, “Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

YHWH or Yahweh is the proper name of God and is translated “I am” in most English Bibles. The name Yahweh is not a secret or magic formula, but a revelation of God’s nature and his Gospel promise to redeem His people (Ex 6:2-8).  Yahweh is the God, who remembers His unilateral covenantal promises.

[Unfortunately the last ten minutes of this study didn’t get recorded.]

Document: Yahweh Name Explanation Lord
Document 2: The Name of the Lord c
Document 3: Diagrams

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Theology Summary Bible Class Pt. 6: The Name of the LORD

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Class #6:   Genesis 4:26, says, “And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD.” The “name of the LORD” is not one particular name, nor does it simply denote prayer, as if there had been no prayer before Enosh. It is by God’s name that He reveals the nature of who He is and has will toward us. “To call on the name of the LORD” refers to the formal church activities of invocation, profession, and the reception of God’s gifts.

In the New Testament, the Gospel of St. John also speaks this way.  Rather than say, “believe in the LORD,” it says “… He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…” (1:12). We believe in Jesus because of the revelation of God in His Word.  Our prayers are to be in accordance with God’s revelation of His person and His work (Jn 14:13). Finally, the gift of the Holy Spirit also comes through the self-revelation of God through His Word (Jn 14:26).

Handout: The Name of the Lord Handout
Handout 2: The Definition of God Handout b

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Theology Summary Bible Class Pt. 5: Content to Know In Part

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Class #5:  God is incomprehensible and his substance is indivisible. Luther says, “We are at our wits’ end when we try to define God.”1  God’s essence and attributes are not separate.  God is not loving, as if it were a changeable attribute. The Scriptures tell us that “God is love” (1 john 4:8). He can’t be otherwise–and not sometimes, but always.  Furthermore, when the Scriptures predicate something about God, that attribute is not the same attribute when it is applied to a created thing. Though angels are spirit and “God is spirit” (Jn 4:24), they are quite different is substance.

As creatures, we admit that God is unsearchable without His Word. We need to be content with what God has revealed about Himself. Now we know in part (1 Cor. 13:12).  However, what we do know is taught us by the Spirit and we have been correctly instructed in the knowledge of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We can be sure that we “know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Cor 2:12-16).

Handout: The Definition of God Handout b

  1. Christian Dogmatics, p.439, footnote 72.

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 4: The Definition of God

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Class #4:  The Holy Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant Word of God.  Written in human language, we use our human reason as a servant to determine what the Scriptural Text says. In our attempt to define God, we find that the rules of human logic, which works well for defining created things, does not help us in defining God.

First of all, God cannot be apprehended by our five senses.  Second, we cannot divide God up into the sum of his intelligible parts.  Third, God does not fit into a category, as He is unique!  Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the Lord is one!”

God is incomprehensible and his substance is indivisible.

Handout: The Definition of God Handout

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 3: Revealed Knowledge

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Class #3:  With natural knowledge, we know that God exists, but we don’t know who that true God is.  We know that God punishes wrong and demands righteousness, but we don’t know of His will toward us.  Natural knowledge shows us our great lack and leaves us with unending doubt.

The revealed knowledge of God’s Word provides us a clear testimony from God–where He reveals Himself and His will.  We learn of the Triune God and the reconciling work of His Son, Jesus Christ.  God wills that we would believe in His Son and in this way worship and praise the Father.  Through the hearing of God’s Word, faith is created.  Justified by faith in Jesus Christ we know without a doubt that we are forgiven and receive eternal life.  God has commanded that His Church separate true worship from false worship.  Finally, the Word teaches us to subordinate natural knowledge under revealed knowledge.

Handout: God wills to be

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Theology Summary Bible Class, Pt. 2: You Can't Build on Natural Knowledge

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Class #2:  Armed with only the truths taught by natural knowledge, man will know neither the essence nor the will of God. Natural knowledge does not create faith in the person and work of the Son, and thus it is impossible to know the Father(Mt 11:27). Ignorant of the promises of salvation in Jesus Christ, a person cannot have the required faith to please Him (Heb 11:6), which is a gift of God through the Word. Therefore, natural knowledge does not provide a foundation on which to build, but teaches us what we do not know: Who He is and what His will is toward us. For those things God has provided the reveal knowledge of His Word (1 Cor 2:7)

The Triune God has given natural knowledge for the sake of discipline(Rom 2:14-15), that we “seek the Lord” whom we don’t know by nature(Acts 14:15-17, 17:23-28) and that “men might be without excuse” (Rom 1:19-20).

Handout: God wills to be known and worshiped

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