Paul addressing the Athenians told of the "Godhead" or "Deity." (Acts 17:29). We are not aware of the full meaning of this expression. In the Godhead or Deity we have three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

      The Bible begins with a statement about creation and says, "In the beginning God created," and that "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Genesis 1, 2). In the gospel of John we are told that, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."

      "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:1, 14).

      In these texts we have the mention of three persons: God, the Spirit, and the Word which afterwards became flesh and yet all are God or Deity and make up the God-head.

      Some people refer to this as the Trinity. The Bible does not use this word. It is better that we use Paul's word "Godhead" or "Deity." We accept the fact without fully understanding the meaning of the term.

      Real difficulty in understanding arises out of the fact that we belong to a material world and are of the earth. God is Spirit and while we can taste, smell, see, hear and touch materials we have no means though our senses of contacting pure Spirit. It is only as God breaks into our material world as He did in Jesus Christ that we begin to understand Him. Someday we may better know and understand. (1 Cor. 13:12).

GOD THE FATHER

      God is not an abstraction, a mere principle, but a person who is real, living, active and creative. God is not to be confused with or to be made a part or the whole of His creation. According to the Bible He is distinct from His creation. He was before the creation of the heavens and the earth.

      We speak of Him as the "Transcendent" God and this means that He is over and above all that has been made. That could mean that God made everything as a watchmaker makes a watch. He set it going and need have no more to do with it. To avoid that idea of God the Bible speaks of "One God and Father of all; who is above all and through all and in you all." That is what we mean when we say that God is "Immanent." God is at work in His world. (John 5:17). He has not left us to our own devices. These two terms "Transcendent" and "Immanent" serve to show us that God is both apart and distinct from His creation but also works in and through it.

      When thinking of God as Father we remember that Paul said, "We are all the offspring of God" (Acts 17:29). In that sense we are His

children. But some are referred to as "the children of the devil." (John 8:44). When we sin we cut ourselves off from God and are no longer true children of God.

      Jesus taught His disciples when they prayed to say, "Our Father."

      In a very special sense God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is God's only Son. (John 3:16).

What Is God Like? How Shall We Know God?

      It is hard to think of God apart from what He has made and apart from Jesus Christ. "No man hath seen God at any time" (John 1:18), and what we know of Him, is--

      (a) Through what He has done; through the beauty, order and harmony of His created world--the glories of sunrise and sunset, the beauty of flower and star. The laws operative in the vast expanse of the universe all speak of the Maker. He is the great designer and Lawgiver.

      (b) Through what He has spoken to inspired and holy men. This we have in our Bible.

      (c)Through Jesus Christ, God's Son. The best way to know God the Father is to look at Jesus and say God is like that. God is Love and He so loved that He gave Jesus to suffer and die for us. We see God the Father in His Son Jesus Christ healing the sick, touching lepers, feeding the hungry, forgiving men whose sin threatened them with death, bearing our sins on the cross and finally showing that even death has no power over Him. Jesus said "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." (John 14:9).

      When we look at God in Christ we are led to say with John the apostle, "God is Love." (1 John 4:8). John also said, "God is Light" (1 John 1:5), and Paul speaks of Him as "dwelling in light unapproachable" (1 Tim. 6:16). In Jesus we see a little of that light shining in the darkness of this world of sin. (John 1:5). God is He who is Light and Love and of whom Jesus spoke of as "My Father."

JESUS

      Of the three in the Godhead we know most about Jesus for He shared our life in human form here upon the earth and the story of that life is told in part in the gospels. John said it was impracticable to write of all that could be told for in that case the world itself could not hold all the books that should be written. (John 21:25).

Pre-existence.

      Jesus existed before he took our human form. John tells us he was in the beginning with God and was God (John 1:1), and Paul says that in that pre-existent state he did not count the being on an equality with God something to be held on to at all costs, but he "emptied himself" and came to earth. (Phil. 2:6-8), This coming to earth we call the Incarnation, for clothed in human flesh he came into this world. In that very act He limited Himself in order to be God's revelation to us. in Him God was able to speak to us in a language and in deeds we could understand.

Prophecy.

      His coming had been foretold by good men called prophets hundreds of years before. Early evangelists made an appeal to the Old Testament prophetic teaching to help substantiate what they had seen and what they told about Him. His coming they said was a fulfilment.

Two-fold Nature.

      Since He existed before as God and was now clothed in human flesh He became both God and man. He said, "I and my Father are one" but He continually used of Himself the title, "Son of Man."

His Deeds.

      In very wonderful ways He demonstrated His power over nature over evil spirits, over disease and even death. As the disciples watched they became quite sure that He was the Christ the Son of the Living God." (Matt. 16:16), (See also 1 John 1:1-4).

His Teaching.

      When He taught it was with authority and as God, in human form, He should be obeyed. He said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life." (John 14:6). He is the great authoritative teacher and we believe Him not only because of what He did but because of the teaching which gathered and summed up into one glorious whole all the best that man had ever heard or was likely to hear on earth. He not only enunciated the best principles but gave us the best programme for life. The Sermon on the Mount is a good summary. (Matt. 5, 6, 7).

Himself.

      But there is yet another facet to this wonderful person and we believe in Him not only because of what He did and taught but because of what He was in Himself. Pilate the Roman governor declared, "I find no fault in Him." Jesus Himself daringly asked of His enemies, "Which of you convicteth me of sin?" With Him who taught us to love God and our neighbour as ourselves no one can honestly find fault.

      No wonder God set His seal upon Him at His baptism (Matt. 3:16,17); on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:5) and in His resurrection. The people He gathered around Him so strongly and surely believed that He was the Christ of God that they preferred to be gaoled, persecuted and cruelly put to death rather than deny the faith they had in Him.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

      If we know most about the second person in the Godhead we seem to know least about the third person, the Holy Spirit, sometimes called the Holy Ghost. In the Greek New Testament personal pronouns are used of Him even where the word is of neuter gender. We should not refer to the Spirit of God as "it" as though the name denoted mere influence. Jesus did not say He would send "it" or an "influence" or a "power," but "I will send Him to you." (John 16:7).

      We may read of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament and of both Zechariah and Elizabeth, father and mother, of John the Baptist we are told they were "filled with the Spirit." But after the ascension of Jesus, in a very special sense, the Holy Spirit was sent into the world to live in the bodies of true believers (1 Cor. 6:19), and in the church. (1 Cor. 3:16). He is the Comforter in the sense of Strengthener, Advocate and Counsellor of the believers (John 14:16, 17). This was the fulfilment of the promise Jesus made.

      Jesus said, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you." (John 16:7). Jesus was located and limited by his earthly or fleshly body. He could not be here and there at the same time. The Holy Spirit would not have a body except He would dwell in the bodies of believers. He then could be everywhere. Wherever there is a true believer we may expect the presence of the Holy Spirit. Hence Peter on the day of Pentecost said to the enquirers, "Repent and be baptised . . . for the remission of your sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." That promise of the Holy Spirit was made to all who believed, repented and were baptised. So the Holy Spirit is a person or guest in the heart and life of the believer. To the believer he is a very real person who directs, guides, strengthens and, generally,

carries on the work that Jesus began (Acts 1:1-5). While Jesus was confined to one place God in the Holy Spirit is truly and universally at work. Wherever Christians are, there is the Holy Spirit of God.

      The Holy Spirit's work is to convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment (John 16:8). That is, he makes clear to men the sinfulness of sin and its penalty and he will also assure them there is a forgiveness for sin and he will guide us in our search for truth. (John 16:13).

      But though He is called the Spirit of God and is one in the Godhead, so great and terrible is man's power that man can resist and grieve and even insult him (Matt. 12:31, 32; Eph. 4:30 and Heb. 10:29). But then it is true of Father, Son and Holy Spirit that not any of them will force himself upon us. Still he desires to be with us. The grace or benediction of the apostles will now bring home to us the fact of the three in the Godhead. "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all." (2 Cor. 13:14).

1. SAVED FROM

      When Jesus talked about being saved, as He did, (Mark 16:16). He wasn't using words without meaning. We speak of people being saved as when a fireman may save a child from a burning building or a man may save a child from drowning. Over the child there is a threat of death because of the predicament in which it finds itself, and unless the rescue takes place death will destroy. So it is with our soul's salvation. The Bible says "The wages of sin is death." "The soul that sinneth it shall die." Over all who sin there is the threat of death.

      But what is sin? The Bible tells of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden and of their disobedience.

      Having once sinned we are expelled from the garden of our innocence and we can never return to it. The disobedience of Adam and Eve to God was sin. All disobedience to God is sin and it is this that spoils the world. Sin is any form of wrong-doing or even a failure to do right as we know it. It is a missing of the mark we aim at, transgression, lawlessness, disobedience.

      What does sin do? It separates us, from those we sin against. If we do a wrong action against another we are not happy any more in the company of that one. Adam hid from God. He was ashamed.

      It destroys, for sin is the breaking of ourselves on the Law of God. If a man sins against his body, he injures it and may even destroy it. If he goes on sinning against God he will destroy the very finest thing about himself. God made man in His own image. It is that part of us also that sin can destroy,

      All sin is against God. If I make a very beautiful piece of mechanism and someone in a fit of temper kicks it to pieces the sin is not so much against the thing I have made as it is against me, the man who so delicately and wonderfully fashioned it. If one should wilfully injure a baby the sin is against the mother who loves her babe. God made everything beautiful and saw that it was good. My sin is not against nature or against an animal or man but against God who made them. For that reason David the king said after a terrible sin against one of his subjects and in prayer to God, "Against thee only have I sinned and done that which is evil." (Psa. 51:4). He didn't mean that he had not sinned against his subjects but that that sin was insignificant in view of his awful sill against God. All sin against man is sin against God.

      Now, since all have sinned various ways (Rom. 3:9, 10), and over all there is the threat of death,

we need to be saved. Sin is badness and sets up decay and there must be an arrest of this rottenness. Because we may find it and see it and experience it anywhere we should be the more concerned about it. We may be inclined to cry out with the apostle Paul, "O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me." (Rom. 7:24), and the answer to this is, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom. 7:25).

      Sin is that which destroys. Jesus alone is the Saviour from this threat of death which hangs over us because of sin, to say nothing about the load of guilt and misery associated with a conviction of wrongdoing. And the death that threatens is the death of the soul, a dying to beauty and truth and goodness and a separation from God. This threat of death is a terrible thing as is sin itself.

2. SAVED HOW?

      We answer as he becomes a Christian.

1. BY JESUS CHRIST

      We have already hinted that we are saved by Jesus Christ or through Jesus Christ. It was He who made it possible that we should be saved. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And how did God give His Son? In the incarnation so he might live among men and by His example and word warn and teach them. In his self-giving on the cross where the eternal love of God for His creation was so beautifully though tragically shown and demonstrated we are saved. "The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." "Christ died for us" Rom. 5:8). "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).

      But does Jesus Christ in that act without regard to the person, without regard to sin or a continuance of it save from that threat death? Is there no reformation?--no change in man? Wherein is the purpose of Jesus' death, for sin cannot enter heaven or reign there in the presence of God?

      What Jesus did was to direct attention to the love of God, and indeed to offer forgiveness through His shed blood, but all this is but the opening of a door, a provision of means and not the forcible saving of a man against his will to sin and to keep on sinning. Jesus Christ does not save us against our will. He does not break down the closed door and forcibly enter our hearts. "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12). In fact we must become CHRISTian in order to be saved.

But Who Are Christians? How do be become such? We know that the first use of the name was at Antioch. (Acts 11:26). The disciples mentioned in Acts then were Christians. How did they become such? What was involved? What must I do to be saved is one of the leading questions in the Acts which tells of the growth of the early Church which was made up of disciples or Christians. The question for us too, is what must I do to be saved from the threat of death because of my sin?

2. FAITH IS NECESSARY

      "Without faith it is impossible to please God for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." (Heb. 11:6). This faith in God is foundational and without that we must be Atheists, that is without God or gods. But a bald statement that we have faith in God is not enough. The Jews have faith in God and so do Mohammedans but it does not follow that such faith saves them.

Faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and our Saviour is necessary. "Ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." (Gal. 3:26) Faith in God and faith in

Jesus Christ is of the greatest importance.

What Does the Term "Faith" Mean?

      So often do we use it in association with the church and salvation that we are likely to think it has a queer theological meaning. As it appears in the New Testament it was an ordinary Greek word which like so many of our own had different shades of meaning according to the context and setting. But the essential meaning was trust, belief, confidence, assurance. Some confusion has arisen over the word because while we have the noun "faith" we have not a corresponding verb "faithed." The Greek could say he faithed a person and we translate that by saying he believed. Actually and for all ordinary purposes we can use "belief" and "believed" to translate the terms used as the translators so frequently do. It follows then that when we say faith in Jesus Christ is necessary we mean that belief in Jesus Christ is necessary.

      We said above that the word may carry different shades of meaning according to the context. We must remember that. If I say I believe or have faith in the Prime Minister I am not committing myself absolutely and unreservedly to him. All I mean is that I have faith in him as the leader of the Commonwealth. If I have faith in a man who works for me I believe him to be honest. I trust him and believe that he will do a good day's work. But when I say that I have faith in Jesus Christ as God's Son I am surely committing myself in a different way. If I believe that He is the Christ and that He is God's only Son then I will believe as He said that "all authority is given unto Him in heaven and in earth." If He is that then He has the right to direct, control and command me who am a sinner. If I have a true faith in Him nothing else matters much except that I obey Him and trust Him absolutely. It is the person I have faith in that makes all the difference, Faith in Jesus as God's Son is all important, far-reaching and demanding. Because of that Paul said to the jailor, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house." (Acts 16:31). Jesus said to the people, "except ye believe that I am He ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:24). Or to put it in a positive form, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." (John 3:36 and 6:47).

      This meaning of faith in Jesus will carry more with it than a mere intellectual assent. It will mean an absolute trust in and on Him. What we mean may be illustrated by a man who looks at a rope which holds the elevator or cage running up and down a deep mine shaft. He may say I believe that rope is strong enough to carry and hold the weight of the elevator and me, but if he will not commit himself to it and trust himself in it he will never travel that way. If we say we believe in Jesus Christ as God's Son and yet are not prepared to trust Him and His word we too are in a hopeless state, for there is no other way but His. The first thing so necessary is the committal of the life in obedience to Him who has all authority. Heaven, eternal life and salvation from the threat of death and a living of the best life here and now are all bound up with that exercise of faith. The lost soul over whom there is the threat of death because of sin has no other hope save through faith in Jesus Christ.

How Do We Obtain This Faith?

      Some people say, "I do wish I could believe but I can't." There are at least three ways of obtaining faith.

      (a) We can have it on authority. For a child, what the teacher says is generally accepted as true. The teacher is an authority. As children we may believe in Jesus Christ because parents, Sunday School teacher, minister and Bible said so. These are authorities.

      (b) But as we grow older we may begin to doubt some authorities.

It is then that we begin to work and to think through the thing for ourselves. Just as when a problem or theorem in geometry is presented and we work through it for ourselves we are no longer believers in that because of what the teacher said but for the reason we, have proved it for ourselves. In relation to Jesus one may examine the historical evidence and even make some enquiry on the philosophical side and finally be able to say that the evidence shows clearly that Jesus is indeed the Christ.

      (c) But there is an even stronger faith which we may have who, having first believed on authority and having examined the evidence then begin to put it into practice. Then we live as Jesus said. We do as He commanded and we find real happiness and satisfaction in life. When we see that the Christian life, if lived by all would bring peace, would make available huge wealth, now wasted in sinful ways, and with this the hungry would be fed, that it would really bring heaven on earth, that it does work in our lives, faith is strengthened. Our experience tells us that Jesus is the Christ and that His way, His teaching should be followed. Our strongest faith is through the test of experience. It works.

3. REPENTANCE IS REQUIRED

      John the Baptist came preaching ". . . saying, Repent ye for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 3:2). Jesus also in His preaching used the same theme. "Repent ye and believe the gospel." (Mark 1:15). To the people he said "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). When he gave directions to apostles about their mission to the world he commanded "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name unto all nations." (Luke 24:47). On the day of Pentecost when sin-convicted men wanted to know what they must do Peter said, "Repent and be baptised everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins." (Acts 2:38). Jesus died to save us from sin but we must repent. Paul told the Athenians to whom he preached, "God commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent." (Acts 17:30). Repentance then is necessary for the salvation of the sinner. It is necessary in order to be saved from that threat of death that is over us because of sin.

What Is Repentance?

      It is an important question if it is necessary to our salvation, and if John the Baptist, Jesus, Peter, Paul and others preached it. The word for repentance really means a change of mind, will or heart. One has put it this way, "Repentance is a change of will caused by sorrow for sin and leading on to a reformation of life." The Prodigal Son is a good example for he was sorry for his sin, sorry for himself but it was not until he said, "I will arise and go to my father and say unto him, father I have sinned against heaven and before thee" that he really repented. He made a break with the old life and resolved to turn right about face and to go back to the father. That was repentance.

      It is not only sorrow for sin. One can be sorry and not change or try to make amends. John the Baptist told the people to "bring forth fruits worthy of repentance." (Luke 3:8). There are two words which are both translated "repent" in our New Testament. The one has more the idea of regret in it. Judas is said to have repented (Matt. 27:3), but obviously this was not true repentance. The other word has the fuller meaning and is the word used by John the Baptist and Peter and others where a change of life is involved. Judas was only sorry and his regret led to suicide.

      True repentance is seen in the case of the Prodigal Son and in the case of Zacchaeus who said that if he had taken anything from any man wrongfully he would restore it

fourfold. This was an attempt to make the wrong right. The fact is that we cannot expect God's forgiveness unless we turn away from sin and live a better life.

      Even the Christian needs to repent for he too, though not living in sin sometimes falls into it. Peter was deeply repentant when he went out into the night and wept bitterly. That subsequent morning with Jesus by the sea of Galilee brought it home to him very clearly. (John 21:15-17). Another Simon who had in thought committed a great sin, was urged to repent. He had already been baptised and was a believer, we imagine, but Peter said he must repent. (Acts 8:22). And the Spirit of God urged members of churches in Asia Minor to repent because of misdeeds. (Rev. 2:5, 16, 21; 3:3,19).

      Of course no one will be different unless he first believes in God. Hence sometimes, although we usually put faith before repentance, the New Testament sometimes puts repentance first and before faith in Jesus. When one already believes in God and having sinned is sorry for it, it is easier to believe in Jesus Christ. Sin so often comes in to destroy our faith. We wish to hold on to our sin and if we love these pleasurable sins we shall find it harder to believe in and accept Jesus Christ as Lord. If we forsake sin we shall find it easier to believe. So we listen to Paul declaring that he preached repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21). Even Jesus preached, "Repent ye and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15).

      Now that doesn't mean that we must wait until we have become very good and are without sin before we acknowledge our faith in Jesus, for when we have made open acknowledgement of our faith in Jesus we shall find it easier to refrain from sinning. Repentance should be in evidence along with our profession of faith.

H. J. PATTERSON--

      After securing the College of the Bible Diploma in 1917, H. J. Patterson proceeded to the Melbourne University where he graduated M. A., after gaining Final Honours in the B. A. degree. He subsequently served the churches at Ascot Vale, Gardiner, Balwyn and is now at Hartwell, Vic. For seven years he was Lecturer and Principal in succession to A. R. Main at Woolwich Bible College. During that time he also served the church as preacher at Lane Cove, N.S.W. For over a year he lectured in New Testament at the College of the Bible, Glen Iris, and for well over a decade he contributed a Prayer Topic column for the "Australian Christian."