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Is God simple? If God is simple, is that good or bad? Is God His attributes or does God have attributes? Does any of this matter?
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and we are dually on right now. I�m recording a show for the radio, and I�m also doing the Facebook Live here on Saturday in Lancaster, Massachusetts.
I�m down in the basement, the NoCo Basement Dungeon. I have a little study here, and I�m going to try to do a show here once I figure out all this technical stuff. You can always write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com, and again this month, if you order I think I just blew a spit bubble.
If you order Sexual Fidelity Online, nocompromiseradio .com, we will send you, I will send you, things that go bump in the church for free. I don�t think I have any other announcements. I�m looking forward to recording some shows for Brandon Kimber.
He is the director, producer, executive, everything of the American Gospel movies, the first and the second one. He wants me to do four or five shows on law and gospel, and I hope to do that sometime soon.
I probably should shave if I do those shows, and Ben will film those, and then they�re going to be on Brandon Kimber�s station, email, sorry, internet, something like that. So I�m glad to help out. I�m glad he asked, important subject, law and gospel.
If you get law and gospel rightly in your mind, Luther said that you should be called doctor, and so we can just walk around and call each other doctor, just like that doctor right there, Dr. Samuel Lewis Johnson, Jr.
I think he�s been dead now for 10 years or something, that�s pretty amazing, maybe even 15. Well, I�d like to talk to you a little bit today about the doctrine of divine simplicity, divine simplicity, and you could pull this up maybe in Matthew Barrett�s book on Nothing Greater.
I�m looking forward to Matthew Barrett�s newer book. I think there might even be a speaking engagement coming up sometime soon, and I might be on the same panel. He would be the smart one. I would just sit there and listen to him.
That�s a good book to read. There are other books, Doobie, D-U-B-Y, he has a good book on simplicity. I�m trying to think what else I have on divine simplicity, but the reason why I wanted to talk about it a little bit is because I�m preaching through the book of Nahum, Nahum means comfort, as you know, Yahweh is my comfort, Nahumiah, Nehemiah, that�s the full name, the abbreviated name is Nahum, and I was talking to somebody the other day and they�re like, I think I�m going to start preaching Nahum, or they already did or something like that, so wonderful book to preach and we do talk a lot about the attributes of God, especially at the very beginning because there�s this praise song about God and who he is in chapter 1 verses 2 through 8, and so you can pull up some of the other shows that I�ve done on that, or they�ll be in the future, how they�re not really Caleb songs too much, they are something completely different, but they are praise songs indeed, and later on in chapter 2 and 3 there�s some taunt songs, kind of like ha ha ha, look at you Assyria, look at you Nineveh, but in chapter 1 verses 2 to 8, it�s more this praise song for this sovereign warrior king, the God who is Yahweh, and it says Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord, all those caps that would be Yahweh, I am who I am, I am the God who is, right?
Not really a name for God per se, like we might think of a name, certainly not Pharaoh or President, but this is just who God is. I exist, I personally exist, I exist to help, I�m a covenant-keeping God that helps, but when you watch this front-loaded poem, Psalm, some have called it a broken acrostic, if you look at the Hebrew, you would see that it�s not like a perfect acrostic, but there�s some of that there.
It says things like this, Yahweh is a jealous and avenging God. I don�t know how often you sing about that, the Lord is avenging and wrathful, Nahum 1 2, the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.
And then it just keeps going, so verses 2 through 8, you see this intense warrior psalm that praises God for things that you might not necessarily praise God for. And I�ve asked people this question, and I could ask myself the question, when is the last time you said, God, I praise you and give you thanks because you are a God, you are wrathful?
I mean, it just sounds weird. It should not sound weird, but it does in fact sound weird. When you think God is jealous, when is the last time you said, God, I�m so thankful you�re jealous. I praise you because you�re jealous.
I give thanks to you because you are jealous. And so we were kind of working through the last several shows and even last Sunday when I was preaching at Bethlehem Bible Church. By the way, you can always live stream, especially if you�re on the West Coast and you want to have church before church, and you can do like online.
I know online is not truly church, but if you want to watch our worship service, you can always do that. Or we�ll play, we�ll put it on YouTube later that day. But God is jealous, avenging, wrathful. How do we work through that?
And so one of the ways I think we can work through this is through the doctrine of divine simplicity. When I was growing up, theologically speaking, I never heard about divine simplicity. I think most of the time any discussion about church fathers was looked at negatively, and there are some negative things, of course, in the church fathers.
I never could figure out why R .C. Sproul liked Thomas Aquinas. I mean, I know Aquinas had a great intellect, but he was in the realm of Catholics, Roman Catholics, and so I wanted nothing to do with Aquinas.
And other people liked that, and so I never heard of divine simplicity. My all-time favorite book on the attributes of God is by Arthur Pink, and you can get that online for free, A .W. Pink, Attributes of God.
I want to say there are 19 attributes, and one happens to be God is wrathful. But I would work through things like that, The Knowledge of the Holy by Tozer. There�s a book on attributes by MacArthur�s got one.
Robert Raymond has one. And it�s nice to just kind of work through these attributes of God, but how do I get my mind wrapped around a God who�s a God of love and a God who is a God of wrath, right? God is love.
God is wrathful. How do I work through this? And I think the easiest way is to work through the doctrine of divine simplicity. Typically, when we hear the word simplicity, we�re going to think, oh, God is simple, and that means he�s a simpleton.
Divine simplicity does not mean God is a simpleton. That would be a stretch. I see Richard is watching. Michael�s watching. Good to see you guys. That�s the one thing about doing these shows when I�m on Facebook Live.
Normally, I can just have the camera off. I can do whatever I want. I can scratch my nose. I can go like this on my forehead, and nobody can see. And now I have to be careful. You can tell I�m dressed up for the occasion.
Divine simplicity. I�m trying to find my notes where I have a huge section on divine simplicity, but it�s not showing up. And when I do like this, I have to use two fingers to go ahead and force the issue here to change the pages.
There we go. Divine simplicity. If you think about divine simplicity, it�s simple. And that�s not God is simple. But when I say divine simplicity, I just mean God doesn�t have parts. And just to put it all on the table early on, God is not made up of his attributes.
And therefore, if you say, well, I like pie. I like a pizza pie. I like apple pie. I like pie a la mode. And I think that�s the Matthew Barrett illustration where he�ll say, if you take a pie, and there�s eight slices in a pie, you have all these component parts that make up the pie.
And therefore, if you have 19 slices of the Arthur Pink pie of attributes, that is what makes up God. But divine simplicity would say, no, that�s not true because God is love. And God is wrath. He is wrathful.
And you can�t say the attributes make up God because the whole being of God is identical with all of his attributes. And once we begin talking like this, our minds start going, wait a second, I have to slow down.
I can�t comprehend this. This is beyond me. And I think that�s good. Isn�t that good? It�s good to be able to say, you know, God is transcendent. I�m a creature. I think it was, and maybe Brian, you�re the one that reminded me of this, or Barry.
Maybe he�s the one who reminded me of this. We say that we are human beings, but God is the only being. He just is, right? I am who I am. I am. He exists. He is a being. And so R .C. Sproul said that we are human becomeings.
Did you get that? We are human becomeings. Why? Because we either become older, we become smarter, we become dumber, we become more senile. We become all these things and we are ever-changing. And therefore, God is the only being.
We are human becomeings. And I thought that was a good way to kind of work through this a little bit. When you think of attributes, maybe your favorite ones are his faithfulness or his patience or his forbearance.
Those are identical to who he is. He doesn�t have those. He is those very things. Divine simplicity means that the parts of God don�t exist because he is one. There are no parts of God. He is one divine essence.
He is holy. Everything in terms of his attributes. Here�s what Louis Burkhoff said. If you have one systematic theology, you ought to get Louis Burkhoff�s and I think you can get it for free. Did you know, for a side note here, Wayne Grudem�s systematic theology has gone through some revisions, needed revisions in my mind.
When it talks about eternal subordination and the nature of God, theology proper. I mean, I have other arguments about his eschatology and his charismatic issues. So therefore, I don�t like it nor would I promote it, even though I sadly have promoted it in the past.
It doesn�t mean there�s everything in there�s wrong, but he still hasn�t corrected some of the things. That�s in the news, evangelical news, even this week when it comes to the new Wayne Grudem systematic theology.
I tell pastors when I�m talking to them, if you want your congregation to be charismatic next generation, just give them Wayne Grudem. That�s a side note, but this is no compromise radio. Louis Burkhoff.
From the simplicity of God, it follows that God and his attributes are one. Okay, that�s helpful. The attributes cannot be considered as so many parts that enter into the composition of God, for God is not like men composed of different parts.
I mean, even for us, I have a body and a soul or a body and a spirit. I don�t believe in tripartism where it�s body, soul, and spirit. I have material and immaterial, and therefore I have parts. I don�t have just one.
I�m not a being. I�m a becoming. Why I think this is important when you see God is wrath, God is avenging, God is holy, it just makes it easier for me. It�s not me saying, you know what, God has these different sides.
No, that�s just who God is. He, using Scripture, using words, using English words as he stoops. Remember Calvin said when God talks to us, he stoops and talks kind of baby talk. The language of Scripture is like baby talk because we couldn�t figure out anything else because we�re finite, number one.
And number two, we�re fallen, and therefore our minds are fallen and we aren�t infinite. So it�s no doubt that we come to the passages and he is above me. He is different. And that�s why I�ve always thought to myself that I cannot explain and fully comprehend the Trinity.
That doesn�t hurt my faith. That helps my faith. Because if I can explain all these things about God and what he does in his inner machinations, I mean, this is Romans 11 language, is it not? Where, you know what, God doesn�t ask anybody anything.
Nobody is his counselor. Nobody informs him. He�s not the one that�s going, well, should I or should I not? I mean, I regularly, probably you do the same thing. I�ll say to my wife, well, I need to send this email out.
What do you think? Because I could come across as too harsh or maybe I�m not thinking rightly. You know, there are many scriptures that talk about we need a multitude of counselors, right? There�s victory in that.
There�s all kinds of things that help when there�s extra counselors. But God needs no counselors. God is other. God is himself. God is one, one essence. And so Berkhoff goes on to say, neither can they be regarded as something added to the being of God, that is, his attributes.
So when I come to a passage like Nahum chapter 1 verses 2 and following, I just say, this is who God is. And using the language of accommodation, using language that will help me understand who God is, he just is.
And of course he is wrathful because he is holy and he is loving, yes, but he is all these things simultaneously. You know my love for the confessions. For many years, I didn�t really think much about confessions.
And I think I lost a great tradition that has led up to this point where the Holy Spirit has been working in the life of the church, right? He, the Holy Spirit, has been working. So what has the church taught?
In the old days, I would say to myself, I�m studying a passage. What does it say? What does it mean in context, immediate context, greater context, within the book, within the testament, within the two testaments?
And I�m like, I still can�t figure out what 1 Peter 3 is where Jesus goes to Tartarus. What�s he doing? And so then I go, well, you know what, I�ll just look at my favorite celebrity study Bible or favorite celebrity commentary and they�ll give me the answer.
And that�s kind of the process that I would go through. I don�t go through that process anymore. I�ll try to look at the passage and the context and all that other stuff and do my own study. Yes. And then I�ll say to myself, there�s a problem.
I bet you there�s been a problem in church history that�s looked exactly like this. And what in church history can help me, whether it�s the church fathers or the reformers or the Puritans or someone else, they can help me.
And so what does the Holy Spirit, what has he done in church history to help me with this problem? It�s not a new problem. It�s an old problem. So I studied the Bible, I think differently. And in light of that, listen to what the Belgic Confession says regarding the doctrine of simplicity.
God doesn�t have parts. He just is. We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being. So when he�s saying simple, that�s what he means. He means there�s no parts, right?
And you could add things, you subtract things, you put them all together and you get who God is. No, no. When we say �perfections of God, attributes of God, characteristics of God�, we�re just trying to explain God from a particular angle from our perspective.
But that doesn�t mean God is complex, made of parts. His thoughts in our mind are complex, but he particularly is not complex. He is simple and single spiritual being whom we call God�eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty, completely wise, just and good, and the overflowing source of all good.
He is the being, we are the becomings. That�s exactly what the simplicity of God teaches. If you want to ever quote somebody that�s of high caliber, why do you do that? I quote people for two reasons.
Because then it confirms what I�m teaching. You know it�s just not like my Gabendroth world. And secondly, they say it better than I can say it. I�m just the infantryman. God dropped me off here in New England, parachuted me in behind enemy lines and just says, �Okay, you�re in West Boylston, you guard the fort.
I don�t want you to come up with anything new. You just teach the old, old story. As a matter of fact, I�m very happy that I don�t have a great IQ, or I�m not this theological genius, because I would probably invent some stupid made-up doctrine.
I have to go back and say, �You know what? This is what the Church has always taught, and I�m going to just stay in line and just continue to teach what has been taught. Eventually, I mean, I am 60 years old, and so eventually I will retire or die.
I hope getting kicked out isn�t a possibility, but I guess it is. Then what do I want the Church to do? What kind of person do I want them to hire? Typically, churches will hire the opposite of their current pastor.
So whatever my strengths are and weaknesses, they would take the weaknesses, find strengths in somebody else. Whatever my strengths are, they�d be the other person�s weakness, and I don�t want them to do that.
I mean, I would understand psychologically why that would be a need, but I want somebody who says, �You know what? Every week, I�m going to preach the Bible verse by verse and show them who Jesus Christ is, and I will subscribe without reservation.
Okay, maybe they have a tiny reservation about the Lord�s Day Sabbath or something, but I will subscribe. I subscribed to the Lunden Confession of 1689 and am in general agreement with the confessions of the Great Tradition and the Reformation or something like that.
That�s what I want. I�m not looking for a personality or somebody without a personality. I�m looking for someone who will say, �All right, you were parachuted into the front lines. You were supposed to guard West Boylston and teach the truth.
Now that old guy�s died, and the guy in front of you who�s shooting the bad people, you pull him off the front and then you replace him. That�s what we�re looking for. Well, I�m deviating some. Here�s what John Owen said.
I was going to talk about John Owen, and then we go on through this rabbit trail, but by the way, rabbit trails to me are much more interesting anyway. Is he in dependence upon anything without him? Is God dependent on anything else?
Is it not a most eminent contradiction to speak of God in dependence on any other thing? That would be a contradiction. Must not that thing either be God or be reduced to some other thing without and beside him who is God as the causes of all our affections are?
God is in one mind, and who can turn him what his soul desires that he does? Now, I don�t know. That�s pretty much old English. That�s hard to understand, but God is simple. He is not made up of parts, and so therefore, dear listener, dear watcher, when you�re thinking about attributes, I do not want you to think all these attributes, putting them together, then somehow now that�s how I perceive God.
I think that�s probably what some of us do and some of us have done. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. He is the being. We are the becomers. God is his attributes. If you want to understand simplicity, at the bottom line, he is his attributes.
How can you praise God for being wrathful? I guess that�s the whole show. You come to this passage in Nahum 1, and there are other places that you read something similarly. Maybe it�s about hell or judgment or something like that, and you think, how could I praise God for that?
Because he is his attributes. God is his attributes. We don�t add things and subtract things. His essence is his attributes, and his attributes, Matthew Barrett said, is his essence. God has no properties, Augustine said.
He is pure essence. Once again, we start thinking this way, and we�re like, he is way beyond me. Well, praise the Lord for that. If I can get my arms around this being, then he�s not this super transcendent being that�s not like me at all.
I mean, think about it. Mike Avendroth, he can get his mind around who this God is. I mean, really? That would be one of the most foolish things I could do. So the doctrine of simplicity helps us so we don�t just say, you know, God is this kind of grab bag of all these attributes.
No. The reason why you can praise God, like Nahum 1, verses 2 -8, talking about vengeance, and talking about wrath, and talking about his jealousies, because that is who God is. And any time, Terry said, praise God for his aseity.
That�s exactly right. Can you be simple without being full of, without aseity, or can you be aseity without simple? Now, that�s another question, and it has been answered before, but that�s not going to be on No Compromise Radio today.
I think you can read Matthew Barrett, and he talks about that. But all that to say, God is simple. He has no properties, but is pure essence. I don�t want you to go to Nahum 1 and say, I don�t really like those properties of God, therefore I won�t have to praise him.
No, no, that is God. So when you see God is jealous, that is who God is. You go, well, that�s not my God. Well, then your God is a God of your own imagination, and you�re no better than somebody who just says, I�m going to pick and choose.
I want three parts of love and two parts of this. Well, that would be God as a compound being of parts, and you�re just picking and choosing what you can�t do. So God is his attributes. That�s the show.
That�s divine simplicity, singular perfection and essence. He is a being, and we are human becomings. Anyway, my name is Mike Abenroth. This is No Compromise Radio. That was a fast 24 and a half minutes down here in the, what am I going to call this down here?
It�s a theological bunker is what it is. It�s a theological bunker where I can just have my books and have like Luther look at me and Machen look at me and S. Lewis Johnson look at me and then you can look at me, but I�m down lower compared to all these people.
I think we�ll do another show here in just a few minutes. God bless you. Thanks for watching.
No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abenroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church, firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God�s Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.
Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We�re right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.