Can We Know God?

Take a look at the mysteries of our faith.

5 Session Bible Study
Overview
This 5-session Bible study looks at the mysteries of our faith, such as: the
things about Jesus we'll never know, how we can know the unknowable God,
what it means that God came to Earth in Christ as a uniquely different person
than all others, and how to restore a flawed idea of who God is. Each of these
studies includes a Christianity Today article to further discussion.
Session One
The Jesus We'll Never Know
The quest for the Historical Jesus has failed. But our faith is founded on
something deeper.
Mark 4:35-41; 8:27-38; 9:1-8; Acts 9:1-19
In the Christianity Today article "The Jesus We'll Never Know," author Scot
McKnight points out that we all tend to remake Jesus in our own image. New
Testament scholar McKnight gives students in his classes a standardized
psychological test. "The results are nothing short of astounding," he says. "The
first part is about Jesus. It asks students to imagine Jesus' personality, with
questions such as, 'Does he prefer to go his own way rather than act by the
rules?' and 'Is he a worrier?' The second part asks the same questions of the
students, but instead of 'Is he a worrier?' it asks, 'Are you a worrier?' The test is
not about right or wrong answers, nor is it designed to help students understand
Jesus. Instead, if given to enough people, the test will reveal that we all think
Jesus is like us." Much of the recent Jesus scholarship, McKnight insists,
reveals more about the scholars who promulgate it than it does the central
figure of the New Testament.
Session Two
Knowing the Unknowable God
Knowledge of God begins by accepting our limits.
Job 37:14-24; Malachi 3:1-5; Matthew 5:1-12; 2 Corinthians 3:7-18
Though God made us in his image, we cannot fully grasp his infinite nature. In
order to better know God, we must take a close look at what the Bible does-and
does not-tell us about the Creator of the universe. Knowledge of God begins by
accepting our limits.

Session Three
The Incarnation
What it means that the Word became flesh.
Isaiah 55:8-9; John 1:1-14; 10:11-38; 14:1-6; 16:12-15
Christianity, while inspiring some of the greatest religious and philosophical
thinkers in history, isn't primarily a philosophy. Nor is it simply a means to come
into contact with God, though Christians down through the ages have done just
that. Instead, Christianity is first and foremost news-good news, to be sure-but
news nonetheless. It is about what God has done to reach down to save weak,
helpless sinners such as we. Even more specifically, it is about a God who did
this by becoming one of us.

Session Four
The Uniqueness of Jesus
Jesus called himself the Way, the Truth, and the Life for a reason.
John 13:36-14:7; 15:18-27; Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 4:7-12
In the 1977 movie Oh, God!, Jerry Landers, the assistant manager of a grocery
store, asks God (played by George Burns) whether Jesus is his son. God/Burns
says, "Yes"-then adds that Muhammad, Buddha, and others are also his
children. In other words, Jesus is neither more nor less special than anyone
else. While this approach wins plaudits in our pluralistic times, it runs counter to
the witness of Scripture and the words of Jesus, who said, "I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John
14:6). So are we going to believe a comedian or Jesus? And if we are going to
believe Jesus, what difference does his uniqueness make for our faith?

Session Five
Our Vision of God
Jesus enables us to see God not as a stern taskmaster but as our loving
Father.
Genesis 3; Psalm 5; John 1:1-18; 2 Corinthians 3:12-18
Evangelicals are good at explaining how our sin separates us from a holy God.
"I was raised to understand that sin's gravest consequence is the way it forces
God to perceive me: God is holy, I'm not, and there's no way he can even look
at me until I have the covering of Christ's blood," Carolyn Arends writes in her
column, "Our Divine Distortion." Arends continues: "In my teens, I clipped a
poem out of a youth magazine in which the poet asks-and answers-a pressing
question: 'How can a righteous God look at me, a sinner, and see a precious
child? Simple: The Son gets in his eyes.'" This is good theology, but incomplete.
We need to also get a good dose of biblical anthropology so that we may grasp
how sin warps our perceptions, not just of ourselves, but of God himself?

Total number of pages - 56 pages

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KEYWORDS:
Faith; Knowing God

CATEGORY:
Spiritual Growth

REFERENCES:
Genesis 3; Job 37:14-24; Psalm 5; Isaiah 55:8-9; Malachi 3:1-5; Matthew 5:1-12;Mark 4:35-
41; Mark 8:27-38; Mark 9:1-8; John 1:1-14; John 1:1-18; John 10:11-38;John 13:36-14:7; John
14:1-6; John 15:18-27; John 16:12-15; Acts 4:8-12; Acts 9:1-19;2 Corinthians 3:7-18; 2 Corinthians
3:12-18; 1 John 4:7-12

POSTED:
January 01, 2014