The Word of Truth

 

The One True God

 

 

 

          In the first chapter we learned the great truth that the Bible is God’s written Word. It is His revelation to us concerning who He is, what He requires of us and what He desires for us. The Scriptures reveal to us all the wisdom we need to live life to the fullest by having a right relationship with God.[1] 

 

          But there are two ways to read the Bible. You can read this book as if it is all about you; what you need to do in order to be in a right relationship with God. If you read it that way, then God’s commandments will be burdensome. And His promises will be doubtful. And the Christian life will become a terrible drudgery, because we will never fully live up to what God requires of us.

 

          Or you can read the Bible as being all about God. Read this way, the Scriptures are all about what God has done and what He will do to restore you to His heart, to provide for you now and to bring you to everlasting life and glory through Jesus Christ. Once you understand that the underlying theme of the Bible is all about God’s grace and mercy towards sinners; that it is all about His kindness and love for us, then reading the Bible is a joy. Then obeying God is the most honorable and noble thing we can do. And His promises to us become sure and certain filling our hearts with comfort and joy.[2]

 

          The greatest thing the Bible does is point us to the one true, living God. So where do we begin in the Bible to learn about God? Since the Bible has a unified theme we could start anywhere in Scripture. We could start in Exodus 19 where with thunder and lightening God revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses. Or we could start in John 3 where we learn that,

 

                    God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten

                    Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but

                    have everlasting life.

                    (John 3:16)

 

Or we could begin our study of God in Revelation 21 where it is revealed that God will bring an end to sorrow and death and that He will wipe away every tear from our eyes.[3] But the most logical place to start is at the beginning.

 

                    In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

                    (Genesis 1:1)

 

          The holy Scriptures boldly and simply tell us that God exists. God is and He is the Creator of everything there is. This truth is reinforced throughout the Bible. In 2 Chronicles 2: 12 the Bible states,

 

                    Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who made heaven

                    and earth.

 

Psalm 121:2 proclaims,

 

                    My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and

                    earth.

 

And Jeremiah 32:17 declares,

 

                    Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and

                    the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm.

                    There is nothing too hard for You.

 

          This is the starting point in learning about God. We must recognize Him first as the Creator, the One who made all things, including us. Understanding that God is our Creator helps us to know that we are dependant upon Him for our lives. Therefore we should strive to know Him and worship Him.

 

          When the apostle Paul was in the city of Athens, Greece, he saw that the city was full of temples and idols to every false god known to mankind. So he began to make known the one true God and His Son Jesus Christ. And the philosophers in Athens invited Paul to speak to them.

 

                    Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said,

                    “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very

                    religious; ²³ for as I was passing through and considering

                    the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this                                    inscription:

                    TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.[4]

 

                    Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing,

                    Him I proclaim to you: ²⁴ God, who made the world and

                    everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth,

                    does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is

                    He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed

                    anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.

 

                    ²⁶ And He has made from one blood every nation of men

                    to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined

                    their preappointed times and the boundaries of their

                    dwellings, ²⁷ so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope

                    that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is

                    not far from each one of us;

                    (Acts 17:22-27)

 

          The apostle began revealing the one true God where the Word of God begins: God is the Creator of all there is. He didn’t create the world or us because He was lonely. God has always been and always will be perfectly complete on His own. He gives life to all things and we find our meaning and purpose in relation to Him. In fact, He has even placed us in a certain time and location that we might find Him and come to Know Him. This is a most wonderful truth. God is knowable. He is not hiding from us. The Supreme Being who created the stars and the flowers and you and me wants us to know Him.  Let’s read what He said to the prophet Jeremiah.

 

                    Thus says the LORD:
                    “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
                    Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
                    Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
                    ²⁴ But let him who glories glory in this,
                    That he understands and knows Me,
                    That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment,

                    and righteousness in the earth.
                    For in these I delight,” says the LORD.

                    (Jeremiah 9:23, 24)

 

          The word “LORD” in all capital letters is in the original Hebrew Yahweh. This is God’s personal name and it means “I am.”[5] God’s name reveals that He is from everlasting to everlasting—eternal.[6] And He is full of lovingkindness. He is just and righteous. The psalmist wrote about God,

 

                    The LORD is gracious and full of compassion,
                    Slow to anger and great in mercy.
                    ⁹ The LORD is good to all,
                    And His tender mercies are over all His works.

                    (Psalm 145:9, 10)

 

God calls us to know Him so we can experience His love and goodness. Psalm 145:18 says,

 

                              The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
                    To all who call upon Him in truth.

 

               If we truly desire to know God we can. The Bible reveals God to us. Psalm 147:5 tells us, “Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.” Psalm 36: 5 reveals that God’s “mercy… is in the heavens; [His] faithfulness reaches to the clouds.” 1 John 1:5 declares that “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” In other words He is good, morally pure and holy. And 1 John 4:8 makes known the wonderful truth that “God is love.”

 

          But the greatest truth the Bible proclaims about God is that He is one person. One of the biggest misunderstandings among many Christians is the belief that God is three persons. Most Christians believe that God is a trinity of beings; Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that together all three equal one God.

 

          This is a concept that crept into Christianity from pagan religions and philosophies. It is not a truth revealed in Scripture. The Bible teaches that there is only one true God and one person who is God. This is Yahweh, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy there is the “Shema” the creed of ancient Israel. The word “Shema” means to hear, to listen to the truth. Here it is.

 

                    Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! 

                    ⁵ You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart,  

                    with all your soul, and with all your strength.

                    (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5)[7]

 

          God is one being not two or three beings that in some mysterious way make up one God. The truth that God is one person and one person alone and that person is Yahweh, is a truth repeated hundreds of times through out the Old Testament. Here are just a few examples.

 

 

                    O LORD God of Israel, the One who dwells between the

                    cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms

                    of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

                    (2 Kings 19:15)

 

                    You are My witnesses,” says the LORD,
                    And My servant whom I have chosen,
                    That you may know and believe Me,
                    And understand that I am He.
                    Before Me there was no God formed,
                    Nor shall there be after Me.
                    ¹¹ I, even I, am the LORD,
                    And besides Me there is no Savior.

                    (Isaiah 43:10, 11)

 

                    Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
                     And his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
                    I am the First and I am the Last;
                    Besides Me there is no God.
                    ⁷ And who can proclaim as I do?
                    Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me,
                    Since I appointed the ancient people.
                    And the things that are coming and shall come,
                    Let them show these to them.
                    8 Do not fear, nor be afraid;
                    Have I not told you from that time, and declared it?
                    You are My witnesses.
                     Is there a God besides Me?
                     Indeed there is no other Rock;
                    I know not one.

                    (Isaiah 44:6, 8)

 

                    I am the LORD, and there is no other;
                    There is no God besides Me.
                    I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
                    ⁶ That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting
                    That there is none besides Me.
                    I am the LORD, and there is no other;

 

                    Tell and bring forth your case;
                    Yes, let them take counsel together.
                    Who has declared this from ancient time?
                    Who has told it from that time?
                    Have not I, the LORD?
                    And there is no other God besides Me,
                    A just God and a Savior;
                    There is none besides Me.
                    ²² Look to Me, and be saved,
                    All you ends of the earth!
                    For I am God, and there is no other.

                    (Isaiah 45:5, 6, 21, 22)

 

          The Bible constantly and clearly tells us that God is one person only and that person is Yahweh. The teaching of the Trinity, that God is three persons, is not a biblical truth. Here are some quotes from reputable and respected reference works on how the Trinity is not a truth revealed in Scripture.

 

"The Bible lacks the express declaration that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are of equal essence." (Karl Barth, cited in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology)

 

“Theologians are in agreement that the Hebrew Bible does not contain a doctrine of the Trinity.” (The Encyclopedia of Religion, Macmillan Publishing Co. 1987, Vol. 15, p.54)

 

“The doctrine of the Trinity is not taught in the Old Testament.” (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. XIV, p. 306)

 

“The Old Testament tells us nothing explicitly or by necessary implication of a Triune God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit…There is no evidence that any sacred writer even suspected the existence of a [Trinity] within the Godhead…Even to see in the Old Testament suggestions or foreshadowings or ‘veiled signs’ of the Trinity of persons, is to go beyond the words and intents of the sacred writers.” (E. Fortman, The Triune God, Baker Book House, 1972, pp. xv, 8, 9)

 

          Now, what about the New Testament? What does it teach us about the person of God? First, Jesus Christ tells us that there is only one true God, His Father. In his high priestly prayer Jesus said,

 

                    Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your

                    Son also may glorify You, ² as You have given Him authority

                    over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as

                    You have given Him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they may

                    know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You

                    have sent.

                    (john 17:1-3)

 

          With simple clarity Jesus Christ states that Yahweh, his Father, is the only true God. In fact Yahweh is Jesus Christ’s God. Here is what Christ said to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection.

 

                    Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My

                    Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am

                    ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My

                    God and your God.

                    (John 20:17)

 

          The Father, Yahweh, is the only true God and He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. This truth is repeated elsewhere in the New Testament.

 

                    Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you

                    to be like-minded toward one another, according to

                    Christ Jesus, ⁶ that you may with one mind and one

                    mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

                    (Romans 15:5, 6)

 

          Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians is full of powerful truths. It presents the truth about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It provides information about our own resurrection to immortality when Christ returns. It also tells us about Christ reigning as king, but that ultimately Jesus himself will become subject to God so that God is exalted above every one.

 

                    Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to

                    God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all

                    authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign till He has put

                    all enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be

                    destroyed is death. ²⁷ For “He has put all things under His

                    feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him,”

                    it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.

                    ²⁸ Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the

                    Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things

                    under Him, that God may be all in all.

                    (1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

 

          Jesus Christ has been exalted to the right hand of God in a place of supreme authority.[8] But he is not God nor is he equal to God. God is greater than the Lord Jesus Christ.[9] And there is a day coming when Jesus Christ will bow in submission to Yahweh, the one true God. Again, here are some quotes from respected reference works.

 

“No apostle would have dreamed of thinking that there are three divine persons.” (E. Brunner, Christian Doctrine of God, Dogmatics, Vol. 1, p. 226)

 

"Neither the word trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord' (Deut. 6:4). . . The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. . . . By the end of the 4th century . . . the doctrine of the trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since." (The New Encyclopedia Britannica 1976)

 

"The formulation ‘One God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century....Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective." (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, Vol. 14, p. 299)

 

"Fourth-century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, on the contrary a deviation from this teaching." (The Encyclopedia Americana, p. 1956, p. 2941)

 

"The word trinity is not found in the Bible . . . it did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century. . . it is not a biblical doctrine in the sense that any formation of it can be found in the Bible . . .Scripture does not give us a formulated doctrine of the trinity . . ."  (New Bible Dictionary 1982)

 

"Jesus Christ never mentioned such a phenomenon [as the Trinity], and nowhere in the New Testament does the word Trinity appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord." (Arthur Weigall, The Paganism in our Christianity, G.P. Putnam and Sons, 1928, p. 198)

 

"At first the Christian faith was not Trinitarian…It was not so in the apostolic and sub-apostolic ages, as reflected in the New Testament and other early Christian writings." (Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings, 1922, Vol. 12, p. 461)

 

If Paganism was conquered by Christianity, it is equally true that Christianity was corrupted by Paganism. The pure deism [belief in one person who is God] of the first Christians . . . was changed by the church of Rome, into the incomprehensible dogma of the Trinity. Many of the pagan tenets, invented by Egyptians and idealized by Plato, were retained as being worthy of belief. (Edward Gibbons, from the preface to History of Christianity)

 

          Isn’t that amazing? Much of what Christians believe about God is influenced by pagan religion and philosophy! But when we go to the Bible, to the Word of truth, we discover the truth about God.

 

          In the pages of Scripture God reveals who He truly is with no suggestion of mystery. We must reject any suggestion that God in reality is different from what Scripture presents. The Bible was not written to mystify, it was written so that we could know the truth—truth matters.

 

          God is eternal. He is the Creator of all there is. He is full of goodness and truth. He is a God of grace, mercy and love. He is truthful, righteous and faithful. He is full of eternal joy and nothing will ever diminish His joy or His love for you. And the one true living God wants us to know Him, because all the goodness we seek in life is ultimately found in Him through faith in Jesus Christ. The apostle john wrote,

 

                    that which we have seen and heard we declare to you,

                    that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our

                    fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

                    ⁴ And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

                    (1 John 1:3, 4)

 

 

                   

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] 2 Peter 1:2-4

[2] Psalm 94:19; Psalm 16:11

[3] Revelation 21:4

[4] Along the pathway to the Areopagus (a place where philosophers met to talk) there were altars and statues of every god known to the Greeks. In order not to dishonor an unknown god they had an altar built for this deity.

[5] Exodus 3:13-15

[6] Psalm 90:2

[7] Or “The LORD [Yahweh] is our God, the LORD [Yahweh] alone.”

[8] Ephesians 1:20-23

[9] John 14:28