Grace Lutheran Church
Lowell, Arkansas
2026
What Lutherans Believe, Lesson Two
I. The God of the Bible – the Only true God
Our God is the “Triune” God
What do the following passages say about what our God is:
II Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Deuteronomy 6:4: Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God. The Lord is one!
The God of the Bible is Triune, that is, He is THREE distinct persons in ONE divine essence (or being).
(Other passages that affirm this truth include: Numbers 6:22; Matthew 28:19; Genesis 1:26)
Which are Some of the Characteristics/Attributes of God?
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. (The Creator of All)
Exodus 34:6-7 The Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, 7 maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin. He will by no means clear the guilty. He calls their children and their children’s children to account for the guilt of the fathers, even to the third and the fourth generation.” (Loving, yet also just/righteous)
Leviticus 19:2 Speak to the whole community of the Israelites and tell them these things: You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. (Holy/perfect)
Psalm 90:1-2 Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 2 Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from eternity to eternity you are God. (Eternal / Everlasting)
Malachi 3:6 Certainly I, the Lord, do not change. That is why you, sons of Jacob, have not come to an end.
(The Lord is changeless)
Matthew 10:29-30 “Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without the knowledge and consent of your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
(God’s Omniscience – knows all)
Matthew 19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (God’s Omnipotence – He is all-powerful)
Matthew 28:20 teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you. And surely I am with you always until the end of the age.” (God’s Omnipresence – present everywhere)
II Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, he remains faithful, because he cannot deny himself.
(He is ever-faithful to us)
I John 4:16 We also have come to know and trust the love that God has for us. God is love. Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. (God is the essence of love)
Believing In God
How can we come to “believe” in God?
Romans 10:17 So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ
What does it mean “believe” in God?
Psalm 31:4-5 You will pull me out of the net that they hid for me, because you are my refuge. 5 Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, O Lord, the God of truth.
Hebrews 11:1 Faith is being sure about what we hope for, being convinced about things we do not see
II Timothy 1:12 that is why I am suffering these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the one in whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
Why do we call the first person of the Trinity “God the Father”?
Malachi 2:10 Don’t we all have one Father? Hasn’t one God created us?
Galatians 3:26 26 In fact, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Identify a Few of the Things God Does For You
Psalm 50:15 Call on me in the day of distress. I will deliver you, and you will honor me.
Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose,
Romans 8:32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also graciously give us all things along with him?
II. How Everything Came into Existence
We start at the very beginning of the Bible. Genesis 1:1 tells us that “In the beginning (i.e., at the very start of all time and existence), God created the heavens and the earth.” The fact that GOD made everything is something our Savior, Jesus Christ, also confirmed in Mark 13:19, when He noted, “God created the earth.”
But what method did God use to “create,” or bring into existence the universe and our world? The Bible gives us a very simple, but to-the-point answer in Hebrews 11:3, where we’re told “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.” (also see Genesis 1:3, 6,9,11,14,20, and 24; “And the LORD said, ‘Let there be…..’” ). Although the “creation process” goes beyond our limited human understanding, that same passage reminds us that God’s miraculous, supernatural act of creation is something that we accept “by faith.”
Another question we need to consider is, “How long did it take for God to create the world?” The clearest answer is found in Exodus 20:11, which tells us that God created the world in six natural days. (for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. In this way the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy.)
Referring back to Genesis 2:1, the context (the surrounding verses) clearly speaks about normal 24-hour days. In the “context” of Exodus 201 the Israelite people were being instructed to rest from their six- day-per-week labors and worship God on the seventh day of every week, just as God “rested” on the seventh day after His six days of creative activity. We have additional evidence for our six day creation believe in Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31. In those verses each day is described as consisting of “the evening and the morning.” Again, it is very reasonable to understand that the “context” is referring to a normal 24-hour day period.
According to Genesis 1:31, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.,” the result of God’s creating activity was that He produced a perfect, sinless world.
And what about the first humans….How did God bring the first man and woman into existence? The LORD created Adam in a special way, by forming him from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7 “The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground[e] and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”) Genesis 2:17 tells us that God later formed Eve from a rib taken from Adam.
What’s more, the made the first humans “in His own image.”
Genesis 1:27 “God created the man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them.”
These passages help explain what the “image of God” is……
Ephesians 4:24 “put on the new self, which has been created to be like God in righteousness and true holiness.”
Colossians 3:5-10 So put to death whatever is worldly in you: sexual immorality, uncleanness, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 It is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 7 You too once walked in these things, when you were living in them. 8 But now, you too are to rid yourselves of all of these: wrath, anger, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to each other since you have put off the old self with its practices, 10 and put on the new self, which is continually being renewed in knowledge, according to the image of its Creator.
Divine Creation and Evolution, Compared:
Creation Evolution
Time: six days billions of years
Method: God’s word and decree only “chance,” by accident
Man: a special creation a superior animal
Man’s purpose: to serve and honor God to survive, to serve himself
Man’s
responsibility to thank and obey God none — but to please himself
III. Mankind and Sin
What Is Sin?
I John 3:4 Everyone who commits sin also commits lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness
Who Sins?
Romans 5:12 So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned.
Psalm 51:5 Certainly, I was guilty when I was born. I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
How the World came to be such an Awful Place?
Let’s briefly look at Genesis, chapter 3 to recall how a world, so good (Genesis 1:31, part III), could become so bad.
1. Who really was the serpent? ______________________________________________________
2. What was the Lord’s command
about the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil? (2:16,17) ______________________________________________________
3. In what way did the serpent
lead Eve to doubt the Lord’s
command?
4. Once Adam and Eve ate the for-
bidden fruit, what did they
realize? ______________________________________________________
5. After they’d sinned and God
came to the Garden in the cool
of the evening day, what did
Adam and Eve do? Why?
6. When God challenged Adam,
what did Adam say to defend
himself? ______________________________________________________
7. How did Eve try to defend
herself?
8. Specifically, what disciplines
did the Lord impose on men? ______________________________________________________
9. Specifically, what disciplines
did the Lord impose on women?
10. What two final disciplines did
Adam and Eve share? ______________________________________________________
How Sin Has Affected The Rest Of God’s Creation?
In connection with the evil and suffering that have compromised God’s perfect creation, Romans 5:12 teaches (“So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned.” ) that sickness, the aging process, and especially death are the direct result of sin being introduced to our world, and corrupting it.
We also want to read Romans 8:18-21, which speaks about our sin-corrupted creation eagerly anticipating the day when its corruption will be reversed and its perfection will be restored. (“For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope 21 that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.”)
Everyone who has ever or who will ever live has “inherited” sin from their parents. We sometimes refer to this as Original Sin (also called “Inherited sin”). Psalm 51:5 (quoted at the bottom of the preceding page) reminds us that we are all “sinful at birth;” in fact, we are sinful from the moment we are conceived.)
In addition to our “original sin,” we are also guilty of Actual Sin. Matthew 15:18-19 provides a brief listing of just a few of the sins that humans actually commit, as well as the potential that we all have in our hearts to commit some of the most horrible types of sin. In short, we are…because of both our inherited and our actual sinfulness….”Enemies of God” (Romans 8:7). And, ultimately, the consequences (“wages”) of our sinfulness against God is not just physical death, but eternal death in hell. (Romans 6:23 – The wages of sin is death).
God Has Rescued us from the Curse of our Sins
Why would the perfect God choose to rescue us sinners?
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
II Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to do what he promised, as some consider slowness. Instead, he is patient for your sakes, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.
(Other passages that support this are: II Corinthians 5:19; I Timothy 1:15; Ezekiel 18:32)
How did God rescue us?
II Corinthians 5:21 God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
And How are we saved?
Ephesians 2:8,9 Indeed, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.