The Development of the Idea of God in the Bible

The purpose of this lecture is to inform Christians and non-Christians alike of the latest studies about God, the development of the idea of God in the Bible, and the points that we can conclude based on them. Of particular importance is bringing this knowledge to parents, educators, and pastors who in turn can help Children learn the great themes of the Bible as the Knights of Columbus started a few weeks ago a bi-weekly Bible competition among teenagers at Jesus the King parish in Toronto.

Summary for Christian parishioners

The idea of God is found in all ancient civilizations and still alive today in different forms of spirituality.

The Biblical literature reflects the development of the idea of God in the Hebrew tradition which is transformed in the New Testament by Christ and his followers to reach out to all nations since the first century AD. With Abraham a tribal local God is worshiped. Moses finds that God is in more than one territory. Hosea speaks of God in terms of love. In Jesus Christ, God becomes human so as to restore fallen humanity to his eternal love (Trinity in One God). Central to Christian thought is the idea that “God is Love” (1 John 4: 8).  

The Appearance of the Idea of God:

How has the idea of God come into human consciousness? Research in anthropology since the 19^th century brought to light a number of discoveries in ancient Greek, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Babylonian, Persian, Roman, Indian and Chinese cultures. Among the well known are James Fraser, Franz Boas, Mircea Eliade, and René Girard. In those authors and others we recognize the interaction and development of history, religion, psychology, and culture. Probably the most influential introduction of religion in the 21^st century is Joseph Ratzinger’s “Truth and Tolerance” published in 2004. For thousands of years, in every region and country a polytheist, or pantheist plethora of gods were worshiped.  There were gods for every material or spiritual need; a god for rain to bring rain to farmers; a god for fertility to bring offspring to mothers; a goddess of love that inspired reflections and poetry, and the Sun as the source of fire and food as well as many other gods and goddesses. The need of humans for worship has never lacked.  In an interview in 2006, the Atheist biologist Richard Dawkins admitted that religion will remain an important human phenomenon.  Since in this lecture we wish to explore the development of the idea of God in the Bible, we will limit the discussion to the Biblical Revelation. The encyclopedic New Jerome Biblical Commentary edited by Raymond Brown, S.S., Joseph Fitzmyer, S.J. and Roland Murphy, O. Carm., was republished in 1990 with contributions by 74 Biblical scholars.  In an article on the “Early Church”, 3 of those scholars assert the idea that while Jesus preached his kingdom in Judea, the Apostles after his Resurrection took it to the entire known world. Their recent research shows that only after the Resurrection could the early Christians relate Jesus’ vision for the Gentiles to a structure of faithful under the leadership of the Apostles and their disciples who succeeded them as bishops and priests. Hence, guided by the Spirit, there is a gradual opening from a strictly Jewish community to an inclusive Church extending from Jerusalem to Antioch to Rome and Alexandria as well as Greece and Asia Minor in the first century AD.   

A scientist’s perspective:

In 2000, "The God Experiment - Can Science Prove the Existence of God?" authored by Russell Stannard was published. The author was a professor of high-energy nuclear physics at the Open University in London. In the book, which discusses many scientific discoveries in relation to Christianity such as evolution and quantum physics, he delves into the development of the idea of God starting with the question "What is God like?" Given the assumption that God has some kind of personal nature, an important source of information in the Judaeo/Christian tradition is the Bible. We are assuming there to be just the one God. The Bible affirms God as the creator and ruler of the whole world. But elsewhere, in the Old Testament, it refers to other gods (for example the Canaanite baals). "The God of the Israelites was jealous when his people worshiped these other gods. God is supposed to be a God of love and mercy, but there is much in the Old Testament about a God of wrath and vengeance. His anger could be so great as to bring him to the verge of destroying his people. Then again, God is supposed to be the god of all peoples - loving them equally. In that case, how are we to account for what happened to the Egyptians? We can understand God wanting the Israelites to be freed from slavery, but killing off the Egyptians' first-born children and drowning their army seems somewhat extreme." This shows, Stannard explains, why we cannot interpret the Biblical literature in a static way, or - in most cases - literally. The Bible is not a precise scientific account of natural phenomena. In order to transmit God's revelation the authors of books in the Old Testament used figurative language as a literary device in such stories as the creation story of the world and the Garden of Eden.  The use of narrative language for history in the Bible makes it possible to transmit God’s message to nomads and settlers such as the ancient Israelites.

I should add here the question on the Biblical story of creation as some scholars think it has elements used from ancient Babylonian myths such as the myth known as Enuma Elish dated around the 7th century BC where Tiamat, a demiurge of ocean water, and Abzu, a god of fresh water, mingle together as the water on whose surface the Spirit of Yahweh hovers. Chaos too could refer to the formless state preceding the creation of the cosmos in ancient Greek mythology (See Genesis 1:1-3). However, the Biblical author inspired by God seems to have included such myths to trumpet the God of Israel over other gods. Yahweh (God) alone created the entire cosmos from nothing (ex-nihilo) and not from pre-existing matter (Cf. Terence Nichols, 2009, The Sacred Cosmos, Wipf & Stock Publishing – Reprint Edition).  The creation story illuminates us in the importance of knowledge of ancient cultures that Biblical scholars study along with the Biblical literary forms such as poetry, narrative history, wisdom literature, and figurative language as well as historical development of such cultures.

The Biblical witness can be divided into two phases:

Phase 1: From many gods to One God

By the 19^th century B.C. Abram of Ur is transformed to Abraham (Giving him a new name indicated a mission). When Abraham followed God out of Ur in Chaldean territories, he was told to go and settle in the land of the Canaanites. Although TNK (pronounced Tanak short for Torah, Nebeim, Ketubim) was not written until 1000-800 B.C. it reflects earlier traditions: Yahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and Priestly.

From the many gods Abraham and his tribe follow the One God revealed to him. This is further illuminated in God's call to Moses to liberate the Israelites from the slavery of the Egyptians and their gods and to follow him in Sinai before settling in Palestine. Here God is seen not only as a tribal God limited to a certain territory but as a God who transcends many territories, defeats other deities with power.  The same is found in Elijah's call to Israelis to stop worshiping Baal who allegedly among many gods competed with God in Northern Israel. Elijah miraculously brings down rain after he had stopped it, and brings down fire when he challenges priests of Baal to a competition between his God and theirs. When the truth is revealed in the burning offering, God is again victorious. Many other events also show the unfaithfulness of the Jews to their covenant with God e.g. Solomon's decision to build altars for gods of the other nations which brings captivity to Persia and Babylonia in wars of defeat and the destruction of the Temple. This still does not exhaust God's attempts to bring back people to worship him in truth. Prophets such as Daniel and Ezekiel show that in the absence of the Temple, God can still be reached in the hearts. However the power of God as the liberator of his people from slavery to other gods gradually turns to the compassion and love of God towards Israel who in Hosea shows that He is faithful to his people even though they have been unfaithful.  

Phase 2: From One God to the Trinity in One God

According to Georges Farah “The Trinity was revealed in the Old Testament.” Based on ancient languages of the Hebrews, Elohim is a plural name of God. Mystical Jewish tradition known as Kabbalah professes the Trinity. Some other scholars refer to the Genesis account where God says “Let us make Man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1: 26) which would imply the Trinity. The visit of the Lord God to Abraham as three men (Trinity?) is shown in Genesis 18. 

The Trinity is explicitly mentioned in Christ’s words to the Apostles “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt 28: 19), but it is also found in the Pauline Epistles mostly written in the 50s of the first century and the Johannine literature written in near the end of the first century. The early Fathers of the Church understood fire with which Christ would baptize as the Spirit of God. This is also the form in which the Spirit descended on the early disciples (tongues of fire Cf. Acts) The incarnation of the Son of God, his teachings, his outreach to the enemies of his people in Samaria and in Canaanite land, his authority with which he spoke and forgave sins, his passion, his forgiveness of those who crucified him, his acceptance of death, his death and then his Resurrection reveal the power of God's love that the apostles understood only after the Resurrection. Following the powerful descent of the Holy Spirit, the apostles and their companions preached the risen Christ and the good news first to the Jews in Jerusalem then to the rest of the cities going to Antioch, Minor Asia, Greece, Rome, and Alexandria and the rest of the world. Here we see how the God of Israel has extended his power rooted in love over the entire known world. The eternal self-giving love of God the Father to his Son is returned by the Son to his Father in the binding love of their Spirit. This eternal love is reflected in the act of creation which God continues to do every second and in the act of redemption in which God restores creation to him through his Son and his Holy Spirit (See Theosis, June 2013 by Henri Boulad, S.J. here). The Son reveals the Father, the Holy Spirit reveals the Son and this same Spirit guides the Church and works in all humans to help them come back to their Father.

Again there is a development of understanding doctrines by the Catholic Church in history as St. Paul refers to (2 Thess.  2:15 and 1 Cor 11: 12), St. Athanasius of Alexandria contributed to (See Athanasius here), Blessed John Henry Newman thought in the 19^thcentury and the Second Vatican Council confirmed (Dei verbum, 8) (Cf. here).

Such a uniqueness of the God of Christianity has impressed and empowered many scientists and scholars over centuries. In his book, the Mystery of Being, Henri Boulad, S.J. says “God does not love us. He loves me. He loves me from conception as the only person who exists.”  Why would Augustine shout “Late have I found you O Most beautiful…”? Teresa of Avila in the 16^th century, a great mystic and saint in the Church once fell off her ladder so she dared to tell God “You know why you do not have many lovers? It is because you let them suffer!” In spite of her great suffering, or probably through it, she loved God more. The mystical experience of this God is found in many religions. Rabia al-Adawiyya, a Muslim Sufi mystic in 8^thcentury Iraq prayed “O God! If I worship You for fear of hell, burn me in hell, and if I worship You in hope of paradise, exclude me from paradise. But if I worship You for your own sake, grudge me not your everlasting beauty” (Cf. Margaret Smith, 1928, “Rabia The Mystic and Her Fellow Muslim Saints”, Cambridge Library Collection). Suffering seems to be the external condition of humans who truly love.  A man who truly loves a woman will suffer greatly and must die to himself as Christ loved and died for the Church, the bride he loves (Cf. The Epistle to Ephesians Chapter 5).

Additional Readings:

 If God risks so much that He becomes man to restore man, then He is not a calculating vengeful God. Game Theory which economists and strategists play to achieve their goals contains the elements of risk necessary for achievement and most of the time requires cooperation of those in the game.  Vulnerability, the study of which brought Professor Brown in sociology a transformative experience  as a mother and wife, is also a theme of the vulnerable love that God initiated (Seehere). Being is opening oneself to the other. Relationality is at the root of everything in the cosmos (Quantum physics; See here). Civilizations could not expand without trade between nations which spells benefits if they cooperate.  Neurologists and psychologists too have come to the conclusion that the body is well off when the mind is not stressed and thus is able to reshape itself and accommodate the others (Cf. Norman Doidge, 2007, “The Brain that Changes Itself…”, Penguin Books; Redford Williams, 1998, “Anger Kills – Seventeen strategies for controlling the hostility that can harm your health, Harper.)

Let me close with my own experience of God’s love. Why I am still alive in spite of many illnesses that should have caused my death can be read here.

More online resources:

Catholic Resources by Felix Just, S.J. http://catholic-resources.org/
St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology: http://www.salvationhistory.com/
R. Girard in First Things: U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops Biblical Resources: http://www.usccb.org/bible/books-of-the-bible/

Baptism of a Naked God!

[As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." So, with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people. But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, added this to them all, that he shut up John in prison. Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."] (Luke 3:15-22).

In contemporary Biblical scholarship, Luke presents here his theme of the universality of salvation. John the Baptist urges the crowds to reform their social conduct in anticipation of the public ministry of the Messiah. Note also how Luke finds Jesus praying before every major key moment in his mission. Jesus prays here before his own baptism. He also prays before feeding the crowds; before the temptations; at the Last Supper with the Apostles; in the Garden of the Mount of Olives before being betrayed; and while crucified on the cross for those who crucified him and his "enemies.."

The Holy Spirit is the life that gives life and the fire that gives light. This is why he descended as tongues of fire on the early church. In the ancient tradition the dove was considered the creature that flies up to the highest sky to bring down peace from heaven. The Holy Spirit descended upon Christ in bodily form as a dove because he brings heaven to earth. And the Father's voice reminds the readers of the "beloved Son" in Psalms (Psalms 2: 7) and in the Father's testimony to Christ in Christ's own transfiguration (Luke 9: 35).

For Origen (Origenus), the famed Biblical scholar of the 3rd century, the baptism of John the Baptist belonged with the Old Testament symbols as a shadow; baptism in the church is the image; and the eschatological baptism of fire and the final conforming to the resurrection of Christ are mystery (Cf. Jean Daniélou, La Table Ronde, 1948).

But an astonishing interpretation of the eschatological meaning of Christ's baptism is found in Henri Boulad, S.J. A couple of weeks ago, in his homily on Christ's baptism, Fr. Henri Boulad, S.J. commented on the baptism with the Holy Spirit and fire (homily in French here). He said that Jesus was born naked, was baptized naked, and was crucified naked. In all the key moments of his mission, Christ is naked (nude).

Is this our God, a naked God? It is written by St. John the Evangelist that "God is love" (1 John 4:8). St. Augustine explores this revolutionary concept of God in a rational thought. According to him, as explained by Henri Boulad, if God is love then he must love another from eternity. The Father empties himself of his divinity - his all - and gives it to the Son. The Son receives it with gratitude but like his Father does not keep it to himself - everything is given back to his Father. The Holy Spirit is the unlimited force or energy of love that binds the Father and the Son in the One God (see here). Emptied of oneself is the character of God and the attribute of true love. A couple who are truly experiencing joy in their love for one another feel "lost in love". A little smile of a child turns his mother, however initially upset, to carry him, because love connects people and connects them with God whose Spirit moves them to repent and return to him.

It is constant prayer that initiates in us a dialogue with God. Our baptism is only the beginning as his baptism was only the beginning of his public and missionary life!