Family Bible Studies
Notes by Deborah Disher
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Who and What is God?
7/3/07
Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3, 14; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16
God created all things. What this means is that God the Father made the angels and the physical universe through Jesus Christ. It was a team effort. John 1:1-3 is the real beginning of revealed knowledge in the Bible, chronologically speaking. Jesus did not become the “Son” of God until He was born as a human, but God and Christ were in a divine family relationship prior to Christ's human birth.
Genesis 1:26-27, 2:18, 21-24; Ephesians 5:28-33
God said, “Let Us make man in Our image.“ God and Christ created two human beings in Their own image. Jesus created Adam and Eve under the direction of God the Father. Adam and Eve were two separate individuals, but “one“ by virtue of the fact that they were in a marriage relationship. They were created as “one team,“ “one family,“ and were given the power to reproduce themselves (this was in the image of God; angels were not given that power). Adam was made in the image of God the Father (1 Corinthians 11:7); Eve was made from Adam and became the mother of the entire human race (Genesis 3:20). Hence, Adam and Eve were in the image of God and Christ, who created all things together as a team. 1 Corinthians 11:3 shows that God is the head of Christ in the same way that a husband is the head of his wife; that Christ is over the church in the same way that God is over Him, and that a man is over his wife. It’s all a family matter; God is love (I John 4:8), there is organization.
Ephesians 5:32 calls marriage and family “a great mystery,“ or an awesome concept, because a family is one unit composed of many members. Eve “was” Adam—she was his rib. This illustrates how, in the beginning, Christ could be WITH God, and also WAS God (John 1:1-2).
Family roles are like very important job positions. In the spiritual sense (the family being God’s divine analogy), we need to expand our thinking and really grasp the meaning of these roles. They picture God’s government, the father being the head of the family and the wife being his supportive teammate. The children become a part of the team as the family grows.
There is no gender or sex in heaven (Matthew 22:30), but the Bible does liken the church to a “wife“ (2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:22-33, Revelation 19:7-9), and God did create a married couple in the image of the Godhead, saying, “Let Us make man in Our image.“ Therefore, the marriage analogy does apply within the kingdom of God at the spiritual level.
The Church of God is composed of both men and women. A man in the church can be a husband to his wife while also being a part of the wife of Christ. This “dual role“ is not a contradiction. In like manner, Christ is the Husband of the church, while also being in an assistive and supporting role to God the Father. Christ is, in fact, God's executive assistant in governing the entire universe (Matthew 28:18, Hebrews 1:3)!
A wife has a crucial role in a family. It is a position in government, running a family. This is all a high-level spiritual analogy, and also wonderfully simple. Any child knows that a family is one unit, but more than one person making up the whole. So it is when two are one, whether in marriage or in the Godhead.
1 Corinthians 8:1-7
The true members of the true church know and understand the things of God. The unconverted world lacks that understanding.
Matthew 11:25-27; Luke 10:21-24
It takes God to reveal Himself to a human. The ability to understand who and what God is requires that the “veil of deception“ which has been cast over the people of the earth be removed (Isaiah 25:7; 2 Corinthians 3:14-15, 4:3-4). Satan is presently deceiving the whole world (Revelation 12:9). There is a time coming, however, when this will no longer be the case. Isaiah 11:9 promises that in the world to come, everyone will understand the things of God. Until then, only those to whom it is given can understand (Daniel 12:9-10; Matthew 13:10-11; John 15:15; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14).
When a young man and woman leave their parents' homes, become married, start a new family of their own and bear children, it is all in the image of God--a perfect representation of how God and Christ are working together to build the kingdom of God.
God the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate, distinct and eternal divine beings. When Jesus became human (John 1:1-3, 14; Philippians 2:6-11), He was “God with us“ (Matthew 1:23). The importance of this truth is shown in 1 John 2:22-23. Understand that God is a family, that every human family is in the image of the God Family, and that God wants to bring all human beings up to His divine level when they reach character maturity. It is very exciting!
7/3/07
Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-3, 14; Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:16
God created all things. What this means is that God the Father made the angels and the physical universe through Jesus Christ. It was a team effort. John 1:1-3 is the real beginning of revealed knowledge in the Bible, chronologically speaking. Jesus did not become the “Son” of God until He was born as a human, but God and Christ were in a divine family relationship prior to Christ's human birth.
Genesis 1:26-27, 2:18, 21-24; Ephesians 5:28-33
God said, “Let Us make man in Our image.“ God and Christ created two human beings in Their own image. Jesus created Adam and Eve under the direction of God the Father. Adam and Eve were two separate individuals, but “one“ by virtue of the fact that they were in a marriage relationship. They were created as “one team,“ “one family,“ and were given the power to reproduce themselves (this was in the image of God; angels were not given that power). Adam was made in the image of God the Father (1 Corinthians 11:7); Eve was made from Adam and became the mother of the entire human race (Genesis 3:20). Hence, Adam and Eve were in the image of God and Christ, who created all things together as a team. 1 Corinthians 11:3 shows that God is the head of Christ in the same way that a husband is the head of his wife; that Christ is over the church in the same way that God is over Him, and that a man is over his wife. It’s all a family matter; God is love (I John 4:8), there is organization.
Ephesians 5:32 calls marriage and family “a great mystery,“ or an awesome concept, because a family is one unit composed of many members. Eve “was” Adam—she was his rib. This illustrates how, in the beginning, Christ could be WITH God, and also WAS God (John 1:1-2).
Family roles are like very important job positions. In the spiritual sense (the family being God’s divine analogy), we need to expand our thinking and really grasp the meaning of these roles. They picture God’s government, the father being the head of the family and the wife being his supportive teammate. The children become a part of the team as the family grows.
There is no gender or sex in heaven (Matthew 22:30), but the Bible does liken the church to a “wife“ (2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:22-33, Revelation 19:7-9), and God did create a married couple in the image of the Godhead, saying, “Let Us make man in Our image.“ Therefore, the marriage analogy does apply within the kingdom of God at the spiritual level.
The Church of God is composed of both men and women. A man in the church can be a husband to his wife while also being a part of the wife of Christ. This “dual role“ is not a contradiction. In like manner, Christ is the Husband of the church, while also being in an assistive and supporting role to God the Father. Christ is, in fact, God's executive assistant in governing the entire universe (Matthew 28:18, Hebrews 1:3)!
A wife has a crucial role in a family. It is a position in government, running a family. This is all a high-level spiritual analogy, and also wonderfully simple. Any child knows that a family is one unit, but more than one person making up the whole. So it is when two are one, whether in marriage or in the Godhead.
1 Corinthians 8:1-7
The true members of the true church know and understand the things of God. The unconverted world lacks that understanding.
Matthew 11:25-27; Luke 10:21-24
It takes God to reveal Himself to a human. The ability to understand who and what God is requires that the “veil of deception“ which has been cast over the people of the earth be removed (Isaiah 25:7; 2 Corinthians 3:14-15, 4:3-4). Satan is presently deceiving the whole world (Revelation 12:9). There is a time coming, however, when this will no longer be the case. Isaiah 11:9 promises that in the world to come, everyone will understand the things of God. Until then, only those to whom it is given can understand (Daniel 12:9-10; Matthew 13:10-11; John 15:15; 1 Corinthians 2:9-14).
When a young man and woman leave their parents' homes, become married, start a new family of their own and bear children, it is all in the image of God--a perfect representation of how God and Christ are working together to build the kingdom of God.
God the Father and Jesus Christ are two separate, distinct and eternal divine beings. When Jesus became human (John 1:1-3, 14; Philippians 2:6-11), He was “God with us“ (Matthew 1:23). The importance of this truth is shown in 1 John 2:22-23. Understand that God is a family, that every human family is in the image of the God Family, and that God wants to bring all human beings up to His divine level when they reach character maturity. It is very exciting!
This Bible study was given by Matthew Kalliman on 7/3/07