Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Learn the MOST ESSENTIAL truths for following Jesus.

Get FREE articles and audio teachings in my discipleship emails!


  • Join Us!
  • Scripture
  • Theology
  • My Books
  • About
  • Discipleship
  • Courses
    • What is Hell?
    • Skeleton Church
    • The Gospel According to Scripture
    • The Gospel Dictionary
    • The Re-Justification of God
    • What is Prayer?
    • Adventures in Fishing for Men
    • What are the Spiritual Gifts?
    • How to Study the Bible
    • Courses FAQ
  • Forum
    • Introduce Yourself
    • Old Testament
    • New Testament
    • Theology Questions
    • Life & Ministry

What does Jesus Reveal to Us about God? (John 5:19)

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

What does Jesus Reveal to Us about God? (John 5:19)
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/842810098-redeeminggod-god-01-how-god-is-defined-in-the-gospel-of-john.mp3

The truth presented in John 5:19 is that Jesus perfectly reveals God to us. Jesus says that He only does what He sees the Father doing. In all of the earthly ministry of Jesus, Jesus did nothing that God was not already doing, and which God would not do. Jesus imitates God and only acts in the manner that God would act.

This study is an excerpt from my Gospel Dictionary online course. This course considers 52 key words of the Gospel and thousands of biblical texts. The course contains over 100 hours Bible teaching. You can take the course by joining my online discipleship group.

Jesus Christ crucified

What does John 5:19 Show Us About the Character of God?

John 5:19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

Though one central theme to the New Testament is that Jesus reveals God to us, the Gospel of John stands out as one of the premier books in the New Testament to reveal this theme. The Gospel of John, more than any other New Testament book, seeks to show that Jesus was God incarnate, and therefore, can be trusted when He invites people to believe in Him for eternal life (John 3:16; John 5:24; John 6:47). Throughout the Gospel of John, we see Jesus say over and over again that if people want to know what God is like, all they have to do is look at Him. Jesus reveals God to this world.

It is important to note, however, that when Jesus says this, He is not talking about the physical appearance of God. Since God is “spirit” (John 4:24) He does not have a physical body the way Jesus does. Although Jesus is fully God, this does not mean that God Himself is a Middle-Eastern Jewish man in His mid-thirties, who (likely) has a beard, dark brown hair, and calloused hands from working long days as a carpenter. So while it is true that “God looks just like Jesus,” it is more theologically accurate to say that “God acts just like Jesus.”

God is not angryThis is the truth that Jesus presents in John 5:19. Jesus says that He only does what He sees the Father doing. In all of the earthly ministry of Jesus, Jesus did nothing that God was not already doing, and which God would not do. Jesus imitates God and only acts in the manner that God would act.

It follows similarly, that God does not do anything that Jesus would not do. If Jesus only does what He sees the Father doing, then Jesus always does what the Father is doing. Therefore, whatever the Father does, Jesus also does. And if Jesus does not do something, that is because the Father does not do it either.

So when Jesus refuses to burn down a city because they rejected Him and His message (Luke 9:54-55), this means God would not do such a thing either. When Jesus refuses to condemn sinners, but forgives them instead (Matt 9:5-6; Luke 7:48; 23:34), this reveals that God behaves similarly toward sinners. He also does not condemn, but freely forgives.

When reading Scripture and trying to understand what God might think about a particular subject or how God might behave toward a particular person, it is always helpful to think of Jesus. Consider how Jesus might act in that situation or how Jesus might respond to that person. Once this is understood, you now also know what God thinks or how God would act. Jesus reveals God to us, showing us how God behaves and acts. If you cannot imagine Jesus doing or saying something, then God would not do it or say it either.

What does John 10:30 Show Us About the Character of God?

John 10:30. I and My Father are one.

Not only are actions of Jesus a perfect guide for how God acts, but in John 10:30, Jesus also indicates that He and the Father of one mind and purpose. When Jesus says, “I and my Father are one,” He is not necessarily implying anything about Trinitarian theology (though that is part of it). Instead, Jesus is saying that His goals, values, purpose, mission, and vision are perfectly aligned with those of the Father. They are not at odds with each other in how they think and feel about humanity, sin, or redemption.

God is not angryThis is a significant truth because there have been some in Christianity who argue that the “God of the Old Testament” was a God of law, vengeance, and warfare, who wanted blood sacrifice to appease His wrath and bloody violence against His enemies. But Jesus never reveals any such tendencies in the Gospels, and so some have argued that Jesus reveals a “new” side of God, or a “different” aspect of God than what is revealed in the New Testament.

But if God the Father approached the world through violence and bloodshed, while Jesus approached the world through love and forgiveness, would not these two approaches be at odds with each other? They would. God the Father and Jesus Christ do not play a “Good Cop, Bad Cop” routine with humanity. They are of one mind and purpose, and behave in one way toward humanity, specifically, the way revealed in Jesus. There is no schism in the Godhead; no schizophrenia in the Trinity. God is One, with one mind, goal, and purpose.

What does John 14:9 Show Us About the Character of God?

John 14:9. Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”

The disciples, just like many followers of Jesus, wanted to know God on a more intimate level. Yet the disciples, just like many followers of Jesus, did not realize that Jesus was fully revealing to them what God was like. So in these final hours with Jesus before He want to His death, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them clearly what God was like, and even show God to them. They wanted to see the glory of God, just as Moses did in Exodus 33:18.

Jesus responds by saying, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” In other words, Jesus says, “What do you think I’ve been showing you these last three years? I’ve been showing you what God is like. If you have listened to Me, you have been listening to the Father. If you have seen what I do, then you have seen what the Father does. If you want to know what God is like, just look at Me!” It is unclear if the disciples understood these words of Jesus, but it is clear that most Christians today have not yet grasped these shocking words.

The disciples were confused by the words and actions of Jesus, because much of what He said and did failed to match up with what they thought God said and did in the Hebrew Scriptures. Whereas God in the Bible seemed to strike down His enemies and demand that His people separate themselves from sinners, Jesus forgave His enemies and frequently dined with sinners. Whereas God in the Bible seemed to require strict adherence to laws, regulations, and sacrificial systems, Jesus tended to avoid and eschew such things.

So it is understandable that the disciples finally asked Jesus, “When are you going to start doing the things that God does? I mean, you say you are going to show us what God is like, but so far, what you’ve been doing looks almost nothing like the God we though we knew from the Bible.” The words of Jesus are a gentle rebuke and correction to this way of thinking, both to His disciples then and to His followers now. Jesus basically tell them that what they have seen and heard in Him is the true revelation of God, and if it clashes with what they thought God was like, they need to change what they think about God.

During His ministry, Jesus perfectly revealed the Father to them, so if they want to see the Father, they should not begin by looking to the Hebrew Scriptures, but instead begin with looking at Jesus. If they look at Jesus, they will see the Father.

what is god like

Note carefully what this means. If God truly has a dark and violent side, and this side never appears during the earthly ministry of Jesus, then Jesus would be lying to say that He reveals the Father to us, for Jesus never revealed the “dark side” of God. In this way, we are face with a choice when it comes to what Jesus claims regarding His revelation of God. Either the words of Jesus can be trusted so that God is non-violent just like Jesus, or God does have a violent streak which is not seen in Jesus and therefore, Jesus is lying. The choice is simple. Jesus does not lie; and nor does God.

Jesus is telling the truth about the extent of His revelation of God. He fully reveals God to us. If we want to know what God the Father is like, all we have to do is look at Jesus. Therefore, since Jesus does not reveal a dark and violent streak in God’s nature, this means that God does not have this violent streak.

Once we come to this realization, we are then able to reconsider and re-study the “violent” portrayals of God in the Hebrew Scriptures with new eyes. We do not need to write them off as hopelessly in error, but can instead read them through the lens of the crucified Christ to see what the Hebrew Scripture actually teach about God, about sin, about humanity, and about God’s rescue plan of redemption.

The Gospel DictionaryUnderstanding the Gospel requires us to properly understand the key words and terms of the Gospel. Take my course, "The Gospel Dictionary" to learn about the 52 key words of the Gospel, and hundreds of Bible passages that use these words.

This course costs $297, but when you join the Discipleship group, you can to take the entire course for free.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: God, gospel, Jesus, John 10:30, John 14:9, John 5:19

Advertisement

Jonah 3:9 – What is Repentance?

By Jeremy Myers
Leave a Comment

Jonah 3:9 – What is Repentance?
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/340820228-redeeminggod-88-jonah-39-what-is-repentance.mp3

Jonah 3:9 what is repentanceWhat is repentance? How do we repent? Does God ever need to repent?

It is these sorts of questions we are considering today as we look at Jonah 3:9, where the king of Nineveh expresses his hope that God will repent.

The Text of Jonah 3:9

9Who knows? Perhaps God will repent and be sorry, repenting of His burning anger, and we will not be destroyed.”

In this discussion of Jonah 3:9 we look at:

  • The king’s statement that he hoped God would repent
  • The two words for repentance that the king uses and what they both mean
  • Why repentance is important for all people
  • The fact that repentance is not a condition for receiving eternal life

Resources:

  • Redeeming God Discipleship Area
  • The Gospel Dictionary Online Course
  • Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: evil, God, Jonah 3:9, One Verse Podcast, repentance

Advertisement

I’m inviting you to invent God!

By Jeremy Myers
42 Comments

I’m inviting you to invent God!

I want you to invent God.

Seriously.

This blog post is an invitation to you to invent God, and then tell me about this God in the comments below. If you are uncomfortable sharing what you write, feel free to leave an anonymous comment.

This is a practice I have occasionally done in small groups of people, but I am interested in seeing what sorts of response I get from you, my blog readers.

invent God

Here are the guidelines I want you to think about and follow as you invent God.

1. Forget Everything you Know about God

In order to invent God, you need to forget everything you have ever learned about God. Forget what the Bible says (or doesn’t say) about God. Forget what you have read in theology books. Forget what you have learned from Bible studies and sermons. If possible, just forget everything you know (or think you know) about God.

2. Look into your heart and imagine the perfect God

If you could invent God to be and do anything you wanted, how would God behave? How would God act? What would be the character and qualities of this God you invent? What would you want this God to do?

Describe this God in the comment section below.

3. WARNING!

There is the one caveat to this exercise I want you to keep in mind….

Remember that the God you invent will be the God of the entire world. So however this God behaves toward you is also the way this God will behave toward others.

This means that if you have this God give you $1 million, God will also give every other person $1 million, which doesn’t put you ahead of anyone else, and essentially makes that money meaningless.

Similarly, if you have this God kill all your enemies, just know that this God will also kill all the enemies of your enemies, which most likely means you yourself will get killed.

So in this exercise, whatever God does for one, God does for all.

Got it? Good.

Sound fun? Of course!

Is this dangerous? You bet!

But has that ever stopped us before? Nope.

So … On your marks … Get set … GO!

What would God be like if you could invent God? Leave your description in the comment section below. I am excited to read what you write.

After you leave your comment, share this post using the social buttons below to invite others to participate.

God is Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: God, Theology of God

Advertisement

The Bible is More Violent than Video Games

By Jeremy Myers
9 Comments

The Bible is More Violent than Video Games

In light of my series on the violence of God in the Bible, in which I said that the Bible is the most violent religious text in the world, someone sent this picture to me. It made me think… Hmmm, why do I want my children to read the Bible again?

Bible is violent

Go here to see some more humorous Christian memes.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: bible, God, humor, laugh, Theology of the Bible, violence of Scripture

Advertisement

God Takes on Our Violence

By Jeremy Myers
27 Comments

God Takes on Our Violence

old testament violenceIf it is on the cross that Jesus most fully reveals God, and it is on the cross that Jesus became sin for the world, then this means that in the Old Testament, God also was becoming sin for the world.

Just as Jesus became repulsive on the cross by taking on the sin of the world, the proper response to reading about the violence of God in the Old Testament is to be repulsed. We are repulsed by the violence of God in the Old Testament because we are supposed to be repulsed.

God Takes on the Violence of Israel

The violence of God in the Old Testament is exactly the violence of God, but is God taking on the violence of Israel. Israel, much like any other nation in history, was a child of its times, and set about living and functioning in a way that resembled the surrounding nations. Often this led to acts of war and violence against other people.

And though this was not the way God wanted them to behave, when they set out in these violent and warlike directions, God took their actions upon Himself.

He took responsibility for their behavior. He did not condone or command their actions, but when they set out to live in a way that was contrary to His will and ways, He inspired the biblical authors to put the violent actions of Israel upon Himself, so that He could take the blame and the shame for their sin.

God fights against violence by recognizing it for the evil that it is, and by taking the pain and suffering caused by evil upon Himself, thus emptying it of its power. God defeats violence by absorbing the violence on Himself. By not responding to violence with more violence, but simply taking the violence onto Himself, the infinite spiral of violence unravels itself upon the scarred and bloodstained back of God.

If he can manage to absorb the violence onto himself rather than either responding with new violence of his own or hardening himself in a way that deflects the original violence back onto the world, he has a means of dampening the reaction and winding down the conflict.

… Evil is stymied because it simply cannot get the usual chain reaction as much as started. It punches itself out against the defenselessness of the [suffering] servant (Eller, King Jesus’ Manual, 161.

The Bible Says What God Wants

Look at it another way: If the Bible is inspired and inerrant, then it records exactly what God wanted recorded. And if we read the Bible backward, then we read Jesus back into those violent portrayals of God in the Old Testament rather than read those depictions of God forward onto Jesus.

When we do this, we can assume that whatever appears inconsistent with the nature and character of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels, comes not from God but from agents who oppose the will and ways of God, or from those who simply do not understand what God is truly like.

But often these passages in the Old Testament will state that the instructions were given by God, and if we read these texts in the light of Jesus, then we understand that although God was not telling them to do such things, He nevertheless inspired them to write what they did so that He could take the blame for their sinful actions. Just as Jesus came to destroy the devil’s work, to become sin for us, and to reveal God to us through His entire life and ministry and especially on the cross, then this also is what God was doing in the Old Testament.

God inspired the Old Testament authors to write about Him in a violent way so that He could do the same thing for Israel that Jesus did on the cross. Just as Jesus became sin for us, God became sin for Israel, and in this way, hopefully, stops the cycle of violence from continuing.

violence in Old TestamentGod Takes on the Violence of All Humanity

Of course, God’s action of taking the blame for the sin of His people does not begin with Israel, but with the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. From the very first sin, God takes the blame and violence upon Himself.

He does this in at least two ways.

First, He does not argue with Adam, Eve, and the serpent all implicate Him in their shame. Satan blames God for putting the tree in the garden and for wanting to keep the knowledge of good and evil to Himself (Genesis 3:5). Eve blames God by saying that she was tricked by the serpent (Genesis 3:13), who was in God’s garden. Adam blames God for giving the woman to him (Genesis 3:12).

God, like Jesus after Him, never utters a word in His defense.

But even in Genesis 3:14-19, God takes the blame for the evil that comes upon the world as a result of Adam and Eve’s sin. Many interpret these verses as God cursing the serpent, the man, the woman, and the ground.

And while a surface reading of the text does seem to indicate that this is what happens (although the word “curse” is never used in connection with Adam and Eve themselves), a more careful reading of the text reveals that God is more likely just describing the natural consequence of their decision to rebel against Him and hand dominion of the earth over to Satan.

Yet by pronouncing what will happen as a result of sin, God takes the blame for it.

t appears as if He is the one actively causing enmity, strife, sorrow, pain, thorns, thistles, and death.

People Sin. Bad Things Happen. God Takes the Blame.

This sort of pattern is followed throughout the rest of Scripture. People sin, bad things happen, and God takes the blame.

When people see God taking the blame for the violence and evil of His people (sometimes by “commanding” them to do it), they feel that they must somehow justify the violence and explain how it is really “good.” But this is the wrong approach. God is repulsed and saddened by the destructive violence, which is why He takes the blame for it. But He knows that by taking the blame upon Himself, He will hopefully stop the cycle of violence from continuing, for while a person might retaliate in violence against a violent neighbor, how does one retaliate against a violent God?

When we look at what Israel does in the Old Testament and are repulsed by it, we can know that we are feeling the right thing, for this is what Jesus did on the cross.

He became repulsive. He became despised, rejected, forsaken, and shamed (Isa 53:3).

So also with God in the Old Testament.

If we despise what He is described as doing and are tempted to reject and forsake those shameful depictions of God, then we are feeling exactly what God wants us to feel.

Rejection of the violent portrayals of God is good and godly because God is not violent.

God of the Old Testament and JesusHow can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?

These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: evil, Genesis 3, God, Old Testament, Theology of God, Theology of Jesus, violence, violence of God, When God Pled Guilty

Advertisement

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »
Join the discipleship group
Learn about the gospel and how to share it

Take my new course:

The Gospel According to Scripture
Best Books Every Christian Should Read
Study Scripture with me
Subscribe to my Podcast on iTunes
Subscribe to my Podcast on Amazon

Do you like my blog?
Try one of my books:

Click the image below to see what books are available.

Books by Jeremy Myers

Theological Study Archives

  • Theology – General
  • Theology Introduction
  • Theology of the Bible
  • Theology of God
  • Theology of Man
  • Theology of Sin
  • Theology of Jesus
  • Theology of Salvation
  • Theology of the Holy Spirit
  • Theology of the Church
  • Theology of Angels
  • Theology of the End Times
  • Theology Q&A

Bible Study Archives

  • Bible Studies on Genesis
  • Bible Studies on Esther
  • Bible Studies on Psalms
  • Bible Studies on Jonah
  • Bible Studies on Matthew
  • Bible Studies on Luke
  • Bible Studies on Romans
  • Bible Studies on Ephesians
  • Miscellaneous Bible Studies

Advertise or Donate

  • Advertise on RedeemingGod.com
  • Donate to Jeremy Myers

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!

© 2025 Redeeming God · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Knownhost and the Genesis Framework