Chapter 2: The Three-Personal God

I. What is God?
    A. God beyond personality
        1. Most mean God is impersonal.
        2. Christians mean God is a person and much more.
    B. Becoming part of God
        1. Most mean being absorbed into God, therefore ceasing to exist.
        2. Christians mean entering into the life of God and becoming more oneself than before.
II. Practical theology
    A. Dimensionality as metaphor for understanding God
        1. One dimension exists only as a line.
        2. Two dimensions exist only as a plane.
        3. Three dimensional objects cannot be imagined in a two-dimensional space.
        4. That situation is like trying to understand someone who is 3 persons and 1 being.
    B. The analogy of Christian prayer
        1. The Christian prays to God.
        2. God is within, motivating the Christian to pray.
        3. God is also the vehicle for prayer.
        4. When praying, the Christian is being caught up in Zoe, pulled by God, into God, while remaining oneself.
III. Theology is experimental, discovery not invention.
    A. The doctrine of the Trinity arose from the experiences of the first believers.
    B. Knowing God
        1. The initiative is all on God’s side.
        2. God shows Himself more to some than others, based on their capacities.
        3. The instrument by which one sees God is oneself.
        4. One sees God more clearly with a clean, obedient life.
        5. God shows Himself most of all to a Christian community.
IV. Theology, based on fact, is not simple.

Discussion Questions: (pp. 160-165)
    1. Using the analogy of dimensions, how does God see us? (p. 162)
    2. How does Zoe expand our understanding of God? (John 10:10) (p. 163)
    3. How has the doctrine of the Trinity helped (or hindered) your and the church's understanding of God? (p. 165)