GOD IS ONE

Stuart Olyott

No truth is more plainly taught in Scripture than this. There is but one God who really exists.

If this were not so, we would have to assume that there are more Gods than one. This is something which Scripture constantly denies. There are no other Gods at all. Mankind at large does not believe this to be so, and there have been, and are, false Gods without number. But none of these is a true God. None of these is the living God.

It is true that the word 'God' is sometimes used of angels (Psalm 97:7). This is because they are spiritual creatures of high rank and excellence. The title is also used of rulers and judges (Psalm 82:1, 6), because of their authority over others. Satan, the devil, is called 'the God of this world' (2 Corinthians 4:4) because of the dominion over the wicked which he has wrongfully seized. But these are all figurative uses of the word 'God'. Scripture continues to insist that there is but one true God, one living God.

So it was that from his earliest years a little Jewish boy was taught to recite the words of Deuteronomy 6:4: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.' It was the most basic belief of the Jewish faith, built, as it was, on the Old Testament. It was a belief from which no Jew could be shifted. He knew that 'the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him' (Deuteronomy 4:35).

The Jew would think back to the time when the glorious temple of Solomon was dedicated. After praying urgently and at length to God, the king turned to the people, and expressed his most heartfelt desire: 'The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us … that all the people of the earth may know that the Lord is God, and that there is none else' (1 Kings 8:57, 60). That expressed perfectly what every Jew felt. He was to be a witness to an ignorant world that there is no other God but the Lord.

He would think back to the days of the great prophet Isaiah, and the words which God spoke to him: 'Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God' (Isaiah 44:6). The God who spoke these words announced Himself as the King of Israel. The Jew saw it as his great mission to uphold the truth that there is no other God but Jehovah. How he loved to read, 'I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me... I am the Lord, and there is none else'! (Isaiah 45:5-6.)

Jesus Himself was reared to know and love the Old Testament Scriptures, and consistently maintained their truth. The confession of the uniqueness of God was something He unreservedly took upon His own lips (Mark 12: 29, 32), and it was also taught quite clearly by His apostles (1 Corinthians 8:4-6; Ephesians 4:6; James 2:19). It is the clear declaration of the whole Scripture.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and when the Jew recited Deuteronomy 6:4, he did it in that language--as he still does today. Unfortunately our English language cannot perfectly translate in one sentence precisely what Deuteronomy 6:4 means. It means more than 'The Lord our God is one Lord.' That can be taken simply as a statement that there is no other God but the Lord. He is the only One. It can also be translated, 'The Lord our God, the Lord is one.' He is not just the only One. He who is the only One, is one.

What are we trying to say here? 'God is one in His essential being or constitutional nature,' writes Louis Berkhof. But what does that mean? It means that God cannot be divided or split up. You cannot have a collection of pieces which are less than God, put them together, and have God! He is not like a jigsaw. Nor is He like a human body, made up of many organs. You cannot add eternity and unchangeability and all-power and holiness together, and make up God. He is not made up of parts. He is indivisible. He is one. All of Him is eternal: All of Him is unchangeable. All of Him is all-powerful. All of Him is holy. You cannot, for instance, take away His holiness, and leave most of God behind. If you could take away His holiness you would have destroyed God, for all that He is is holy.

This is what theologians mean when they talk about God being 'one indivisible essence'. The word 'essence' or 'being' can be used almost interchange-ably with the word 'substance'. This does not mean that God is made of anything. Later in the book we shah talk of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit being of 'the same substance'. We shall not mean that they are composed of the same 'stuff'. We shall mean that although they are distinct, they are the same one God. All that God is is the Father. All that God is is the Son. All that God is is the Holy Spirit. Each one is all that God is. Each one is God in the same sense--of the same essence, being or substance. And yet God is indivisible.

Let us put it another way, to stress what we are saying. The Father is Jehovah. The Son is Jehovah. The Holy Spirit is Jehovah. But we must never think that there are three Jehovahs. It is here that the mystery lies, and we are running ahead of ourselves. For the moment we must be content to know that there is only one Jehovah, and that the ,Jehovah, who is, is one.

And yet even at this stage it needs to be said that from the earliest times it has been clear that there is more than one who is Jehovah. Notice what we are saying. There is not more than one God. We have just seen that. Yet there is more than one who is God. There is a single God. And yet there is a plurality of Persons in the divine essence.

You can see this on almost the first page of your Bible. Genesis 1:26-27 reads, 'And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… so God created man in his own image.' The words I have put in italics show that God, who is one, speaks as more than one. The verses emphasize both the unity and the plurality of God. Two or three pages later on we read, 'And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us...' (Genesis 3:22); and in chapter 11:5-7 we read, 'And the Lord came down… and the Lord said… let us go down .... ' Only one God is to be found in all these passages. And yet He speaks in the plural! There is more than one who is God. So it was that centuries later Isaiah heard Jehovah saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' (Isaiah 6:8.)

Just as extraordinary are those Old Testament passages which refer to 'the angel of the Lord'. It is quite plain that this person is God Himself. It is equally plain that He is to be distinguished from God. The word 'angel' means 'messenger' or 'one sent', and the phrase 'the angel of the Lord' therefore means 'the one sent by Jehovah'. Genesis 16:7-13 records how Hagar, who had run away from Abram and Sarai, was commanded by 'the angel of the Lord' to return. It is then made clear that it was the Lord Himself who was speaking to her, and she called the place where she met Him 'Thou God seest me'. The One who was sent by God was God Himself!

Abraham himself had a visit from the Angel of the Lord some time later, in the plains of Mamre (Genesis 18). The visitor appeared as a man (verse 2), but it is clearly stated that it was the Lord Himself (verses 1, 13-14). Abraham recognized this, and offered prayer to Him (verses 23-33).

This was not the last time that Abraham was to meet the Angel of the Lord. It was none other than the Angel who stopped him from slaying his son Isaac (Genesis 22:11, 15). Abraham called the name of the place, 'The Lord will see' (verse 14), for once more he clearly recognized the identity of the heavenly Visitor. The Angel gave him a promise, which began: 'By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord...' (verse 16). The One whom the Lord sent was the Lord!

There are many references to the Angel in the Old Testament, and on each occasion it is plain that God's messenger is God. It is 'the angel of the Lord' who speaks to Moses from the burning bush, and says, 'I am the God of thy father...' (Exodus 3:6), and goes on to reveal His name as 'I AM THAT I AM' (verse 14). That Angel is the God who led Jacob and redeemed him (Genesis 48:15-16), and is the Lord Himself who goes ahead of the Israelites as they flee from Egypt (Exodus 13:21; 14:19). It is the Angel of the Lord who appears twice in the book of Judges, and on each occasion reveals that He is God Himself (Judges 6:11-12, 14, 16; 13:3, 9, 22). So we have God sent by God!

The prophecy of Isaiah revealed something similar. He told Israel that the Lord God would give a sign, which would be a son born of a virgin. His name would be Immanuel, which means 'God with us' (Isaiah 7:14). This one whom God would send would himself be 'the mighty God' (Isaiah 9:6). How could God send God if there was not more than one Person who was God? And yet we must not forget the verses from Isaiah which we mentioned earlier. The same book insists that there is no God except the One whom Israel worshipped. One God; yet more than one who/s God.

So it is that the Old Testament tells us of God anointing God (Psalm 45:6-7); the Lord God and His Spirit sending One who is Himself God (Isaiah 48:16-17); and Jehovah raising up a promised King who will be Jehovah (Jeremiah 23:5-6)! Again and again we are confronted by the mysterious truth that the one God is more than one.

We are not saying that the doctrine of the Trinity was completely revealed in the Old Testament; but nor are we saying that it was completely absent. The Old Testament believer knew that there was a plurality in the Godhead. Indeed, he even had some faint indications that the one God is three. When the priest blessed the Israelites, and put God's name upon them, did he not always use the name of Jehovah three times? (Numbers 6:22-27.) Had not Isaiah overheard the seraphim acknowledge the Lord as three times holy? (Isaiah 6:3.) All this was a preparation for the truth which the New Testament was to unveil fully. The God revealing Himself little by little in Old Testament days at last sent His Son into the world, and later took up His abode in believers' hearts by His Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity was not revealed as a series of sentences or propositions. It was God's work of salvation which finally made it clear. The Christian believer can read the Old Testament, and understand it much more easily than the original readers. The passages which speak of God as one, and yet more than one, make good sense to him. He does not stumble over the verses which speak both of God's unity and His plurality. He is not surprised to read of God having a discussion with Himself, or to survey the promises that God would send God into the world. He still cannot grasp how God can be One-in-Three and Three-in-One. Yet he knows that it is so. The Old Testament believer had many clues, but never saw the truth as clearly as that. What was dark to him is light to us.