ONE GOD - 2

BIBLE INFO ON EXISTENCE BUT ONE GOD - 2

The Biblical information bearing on this great affirmation is so voluminous that it is difficult to organize it in such limited space.

1.     It is best to point out at the very outset that the method employed in setting forth this information is twofold: it is implicit and it is explicit. It is implicit in that the narrative of the Scripture is inexplicable apart from under­standing that there is a God, and that God is one. This fact underlies the move­ment of thought at every point in the Scripture. But it is explicit in that there are concrete expressions, exact wordings, that declare that God is one, and there is no other God. "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God besides me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else" (Isa. 45:5-6).

2.     The movement of God in revealing this information begins formally with the call of Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). Abraham and his "fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods" (Josh. 24:2). In fact, from the human flood of Noah to Abraham, the entire/race had turned to the worship of nature evidenced by the tower of Babel (Rom. 1:21-23; Gen. 10-11). So God chose Abraham out of this pagan darkness to vest in him and his seed a light of truth for those in darkness (Rom. 2:19; Gen. 35:2). He made revelation of Himself to them as the only true God (Deut. 6:3-14), and commissioned them as witnesses to the nations. "Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: be­fore Me there is no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no Savior. I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God" (Isa. 43:10-12).

3.     The material from the Bible begins with the writings of Moses. Abraham was informed that God was exclusive in that He was "Almighty" (Gen. 17:1) and "everlasting" (Gen. 21:33). Moses declares to Pharaoh that "there is none like unto the Lord our God" (Exod. 8:10) "in all the earth" (Exod.9:14). At Sinai the children of Israel are admonished, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" (Exod. 20:3). All the wonders wrought upon the nation of Israel are to one end. They are to "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else" (Deut. 4:32-39). One Scripture after another is added to the grow­ing testimony of the Old Testament that there is just one God (Deut. 6:4-6; 32:39; Job 23:13 ASV; Psa. 18:31; 86:10; Isa. 46:9; Mal. 2:10).

4.     The manifestation of the oneness of God comes in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospels. "The Word was God...And the Word was made flesh... and we beheld His glory... No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son... He hath declared Him" (John 1:1, 14, 18). "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life" (1 John 5:20).

5.     The message of the New Testament follows the same pattern as that of the Old Testament, but with increasing emphasis. Christ informed a ruler that there is just one who is good, that is God (Mark 10:18). He does not hesi­tate to take men back to the Old Testament law and point out the first command­ment having to do with the oneness of God (Mark 12:29-30; Deut. 6:4-6). He reprimands the Jews for not seeking honor which rightly comes "from the only God" (John 5:44 ASV). When Christ asserts that "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30), the Jews understood Him to make claim to deity. But in making this claim He was insisting that there is just one Cod.

6. In seeking to establish the fact that there is just one way of salvation, justification by faith, Paul bases his argument on the oneness of God, who in His unity is not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles (Rom.3:29-30). It is the oneness of God that provides the encouragement of strong believers to use their liberty in such a way that it does not endanger those who are weak in the faith (1 Cor. 8:4-5). It is the oneness of God that provides the basis for unity in the Church (Eph. 4:5-6). The one God to whom belongs glory (1 Tim. 1:17), and who alone has immortality and whose light is unapproach­able (1 Tim. 6:16), can be reached by men through that one mediator between the one God and men, Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). Though men have drifted far from God and have lost sight of His oneness, the demons believe that there is just one God (Jas. 2:19).

Thus it is evident that the New Testament and the Old are in perfect harmony on this basic truth about God. At no place does the New Testament relax the severe monotheism of the Old Testament.