Godhead Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

Both believers and skeptics ask the question, “What is the godhead?” While I don’t pretend to understand the Godhead, I have spent years trying to explain it.

Passages like John 14:26 bother a lot of folks. That passage has Jesus saying, “But the Comforter, even the Holy Spirit, who the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” The word “godhead” is found three times in the King James version of the New Testament, each time translating a different Greek word. In Acts 17:29 (theios), Paul was talking to the philosophers in Athens. Romans 1:20 (theiotes) deals with evidence for God’s existence. Colossians 2:9 (theotes) was dealing with philosophy and human deceit.

An analogy that may help us understand the Godhead is that humans have three parts that makeup one individual. We all have intellect, which allows us to be creative and have ideas of a spiritual nature. God’s intellect is seen in the creation and design we see all around us.

We all have a personality that allows us to express our spiritual nature and to love in a way that is not just survival. Jesus taught His followers to be known by their love (See John 13:34-35) and demonstrated it in His life. He used the Greek word “agape” and referred to caring about all of humanity – even our enemies.

We all have spirit, which is the action that we do, and the Bible consistently uses that word with a verb. (“The Spirit MOVED upon the face of the waters.” “He will TEACH you.” My spirit will not always “STRIVE” with man.) We are all just one individual, but we all have intellect, personality, and spirit.

When the disciples questioned how they could see God, Jesus gave an answer that involved one part of the Godhead while referencing the other parts. (See John 14:9-10.) John 1:1 and 1:14 and 1 Timothy 3:16 show that Jesus was God in the flesh. It is impossible for us to understand the Godhead. St. Augustine wrote, “If you understand God, what you understand isn’t God.” J.B. Phillips wrote a book titled “Your God is Too Small,” in which he pointed out how the human mind limits God.

We humans will never understand everything there is to know about God, creation, or God’s purpose in creating us, but we can understand enough to make our lives meaningful and productive.

People in Christ’s day did not understand what Christ was. The same is true today. Jesus himself highlighted this issue when He asked his disciples, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” (Matthew 16:13). The disciples gave the same kind of answers that we see people giving today. One response was that Christ was a mystic ghost. In this case, they thought He was the ghost or resurrected form of John the Baptist. (See Matthew 14:2.) Some said Christ was the resurrected prophet Elijah who had come to lead Israel. (See Malachi 4:5.) Today we have people claiming that Jesus appeared to them in a ghost-like visit. Who or what is Christ?

After hearing what others were saying, Jesus asked His disciples, “But whom do YOU say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded by saying that God Himself revealed it to Peter (Verse 17). John 1:1-14 spells this out as clearly as humans can comprehend. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” “Word” in Greek is “Logos” and refers to the person of God.

The one “Godhead” is made up of three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is the intellect of God, seen in wisdom and design (See Proverbs 8 and Romans 1:20.) In Jesus, we see the personality of God called the Logos by John. The message of John 1:14 is not that a man became God, but that God became a man. Colossians 1:16 says concerning Christ that “all things were created by Him, and for Him.” When Jesus spoke, He spoke the words of God.

In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus said: “Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Is being a Christian always easy physically? How many times was Paul beaten? What happened to Stephen? We, too, have a terrible physical battle to maintain our faith. Jesus is not talking about physical burdens but the peace, confidence, freedom, security, and joy that comes from being in Christ. It is a tragedy that some preachers make the burden hard by adding a bunch of human requirements to the yoke of Jesus.

Jesus was God in the flesh. That flesh died on the cross, but you can’t kill the Logos. Jesus was not just a good man or a myth or a ghost. What is Christ? He is God.

Tag: Godhead

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