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Series – December 2012 – Grace & Truth Magazine

The Only True God – Part 1

“You believe that there is one God. You do well.” — James 2:19 NKJV

There Is Only One God
The Holy Bible, which is the inspired Word of God – that never has been nor ever will be changed – testifies that there is only one God. It is a well-known fact that the Bible is the oldest book in existence. Thus, if any other book is found that testifies that God is one, the Bible has preceded it in asserting this fact. The following are some quotations from the Bible concerning the fact that God is one.

From the Old Testament:

“Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other” (Dt. 4:39).
“I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me” (Isa. 45:5).
“Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us?” (Mal. 2:10).
“Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” (Dt. 6:4-5).

From the New Testament:

“It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’” (Mt. 4:10).
“There is one God, and there is no other but He” (Mk. 12:32).
“You believe that there is one God. You do well” (Jas. 2:19).
“Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one” (Gal. 3:20).
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim. 2:5).

The Meaning Of God’s Oneness
It is obvious that God’s oneness differs from man’s oneness. Man’s oneness makes him limited. Thus it is not possible for one man to be in two places at the same time. But God can be on His throne in heaven and here on earth at the same time. This is neither impossible nor difficult for God. And we do not mean that part of Him is in heaven while the other part is on the earth. We mean that all of God in all His glory can be on His throne in heaven and at the same time be here on this earth.

This is exactly what happened when Christ came to this earth. The Bible states clearly that in Christ “dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). This is what we call the Incarnation. We have heard of great men and kings who wore poor people’s clothes and went to visit the poor in their homes, without taking servants with them, in order not to frighten the poor, and in order to see their needs and to help them. We admire such men, and praise them for their humility and nobility. The greater the person, the greater is his nobility in humbling himself.

But who is the greatest of all? Is it not God Almighty? And who is the most noble? Is it not He who created them all? To sum up then, God unequivocally declares that “God is one!” But His oneness is not the same as man’s oneness, because God is not limited. And the human mind cannot fathom the depth of what the deity is. It therefore suits man to stand in awe when he considers what God revealed about Himself.

What God Revealed
Man cannot truly know about God except through divine revelation. It is not possible for the finite human mind to understand the nature of the infinite God. Therefore, it was necessary that God reveal Himself to us through divinely inspired writings, and that He protect and guard them from any attempt to change even one word or one letter. It is certain that God’s Word abides forever, as the prophet had said long ago: “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (Ps. 119:89). And the New Testament declares that “The word of God ... lives and abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:23).

The Nature Of The Godhead
Before Christ ascended to heaven, He commanded His disciples saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 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” (Mt. 28:18-19). Notice that He did not say to them, “in the names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” He said, “in the name” because it is one name – the glorious name of the one and only true and living God.

But someone might object and say, “How can that be? How can three be one?” This objection rises from the great error in trying to apply the rules of physics and mathematics to the eternal Godhead. Herein lies the mistake and the cause of much perplexity. The Almighty God, who created nature and imposed on it rules of mathematics and other natural laws, is Himself not subject to such laws. We cannot and should not apply the laws of created material to spiritual issues.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit: One God
Clearly then, the Holy Bible teaches us that there is only one God. Now let’s consider how that agrees with the mention of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in seven places in the Bible.

Jesus said that disciples are to be baptized “in the name (not names) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). It is one name of one God as we have already seen.
Of true believers, who have received Christ in their hearts and thus were born again by a new spiritual birth, Christ said: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and My Father are one” (Jn. 10:27-30).
“Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ 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 ... I am in the Father, and the Father in Me ... the Father who dwells in Me does the works’” (Jn. 14:8-10).
“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). This means he does not belong to Christ. The Holy Spirit of God is also called “the Spirit of Christ” because of the oneness of God.
“But as it is written, ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit ... These things we also speak ... which the Holy Spirit teaches” (1 Cor. 2:9-13). Thus the Holy Spirit is spoken of as the Spirit of God repeatedly through the Word of God.
“But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit ... You have not lied to men but unto God’” (Acts 5:3-4). Thus we see that lying to the Holy Spirit is lying to God because the Holy Spirit is God and is one with the Father and Son.
Jesus said, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God is come upon you” (Mt. 12:28). Thus we see that the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. There are also verses that begin with the statement, “Thus says the Lord” which are quoted elsewhere with “Thus says the Holy Spirit.”

We see therefore that the Bible teaches us that God is one, and that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are together the one and only true and living God. The difficulty is in the limitation of our human mind, and the wrong attempt to analyze God in the same way that we analyze matter – according to the laws of physics, chemistry and other sciences. These laws apply to matter, but should not and can not ever be applied to God.

By Anise Behnam

Next month: part two of this two-part Series.