God is One Being
As to nature, essence or substance, that is, God is a unity. But even
more than that, God is not only one in the numerical sense, but He is also one
in the integral and the essential sense. It may be truly affirmed that God is
one in thought, emotion, purpose, and action, yet that is not the point
involved when it is affirmed that God is one. The oneness of God is the
essential substance out of which there comes thought, emotion, purpose, and
action. Note, then, at least three things constituting the oneness of God.
In the first place, God is one in the numerical sense. In this respect
there is a denial of the existence of any other God. Moses emphasized this in
his final discourse to Israel on the plains of Moab amidst the polytheism of
that day. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord
our God is one Lord" (Deut. 6:4).
Fifteen hundred years later, Paul affirmed this amidst the polytheism of
Greece. "We know...that there is
none other God but one" (1 Cor.
8:4). This is what constitutes absolute monotheism. The God of the Bible
insists on being known as "the only
true God" (John 17:3; 5:44)
and that "beside me there is no
God" (Isa. 44:6).
In the second place, the unity of God encompasses the totality of His
being. By this it means that the divine nature is undivided and indivisible.
This in no sense comes into conflict with the triune personality of God. When
Jesus declared, "I and my Father
are one," He was not talking of purpose or will, although this was
true, but He was pointing to essential substance and being. The Father is God,
and in this same respect Christ was claiming that the Son is God, and that they
are both the same God. This meaning was so clearly recognized by the Jews that
they concluded that His claims constituted blasphemy and He was therefore
worthy of death (John 10:31).
In the third place, the unity of God must be understood in the most
absolute sense. In this respect the Bible teaches that there is but one God,
whether He is being considered in the moral or positional sense. It was quite prevalent
among the pagan nations given to polytheism to hold to a god of good and a god
of evil, hence espousing dualism. Some believe that Isa. 45:7 was intended to correct
any such notion with respect to the true God.
"I form the light,
and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these
things." "Evil" in this
verse, therefore, has reference to physical evil and not moral evil. There were
others, however, who believed in many gods, and considered one to be the
highest in position. Against this notion Paul spoke out, "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or
in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God" (1 Cor. 8:5-6).
On this point, it must be concluded that at least in a threefold
approach to the subject at hand, there can be no other reasoned outcome than
that God is one as the Scriptures declare. Looking at the matter
philosophically, the unity of God must be placed over against a multiplicity of
gods as a logical necessity. As creator of the universe, if God were not one
there could be no such thing as a universe, for the issue would be a
multiverse. And on the moral and spiritual side, departure from the unity of God
and endorsement of polytheism was an effort on the part of fallen men to escape
allegiance to the one true God.
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