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 (Living Waters 1980 Volume 2)
Oneness of God

ONENESS OF GOD

INTRODUCTION 

To grasp the concept of God one must turn to the Holy Bible and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord Jesus Christ declared that "God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth." We will understand Him better if we compare spiritual things with spiritual and avoid any faltering superficial' interpretation.

Although this study can not be claimed to be full and complete, I feel that I have tried to base the following discussion of Oneness of God upon the Bible.  Because we now see "through a glass darkly," we do not have all the answers necessary on this subject.  We must wait until a truer and fuller dimension is revealed to us so that we will be able to know better and more comprehensive than what we have so far known about the mystery of Godhead.  This is the day when we shall see the Lord face to face at His Second Coming.

With the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God in mind, I hope to share this important and fundamental truth of "Oneness of God" with all our Christian, Jewish and gentile friends throughout the world, so as to glorify Him.


CHAPTER I : Elohim, Jehovah GOD

The first statement in the Holy Bible is: "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Gen 1:1).  The original Hebrew text for the word for God is "Elohim," plural form of "el," which means "strong and mighty." The word "Elohim" occurs about 2,570 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, and there is much controversy regarding the use of the plural form.  There are three principal views regarding the significance of the plural form "Elohim" as follows:

A.     HEBREW MONOTHEISM (GOD IS THE ABSOLUTE ONE)

Most Hebrew scholars affirm that it was a custom to use the plural form to denote the majesty of kings, and therefore "Elohim" is simply a "Pluralis majestaticus." Theologians have also regarded "Elohim" as a "Pluralis excellentiae," that is, a word put in the plural to express the idea of the superlative in the highest possible degree, or denoting "multiplied powers." The Jews, whom the One True God chose to reveal Himself long before any other race, never saw in the word "Elohim" any suggestion of more than One God.

"Monotheism is basic and essential to Genesis 1.  It belongs to the very fabric of the material and could certainly never have been achieved by some process of purging a polytheistic original of its offensive elements.1

B.     CHRISTIAN MONOTHEISM (ONE TRUE GOD IN CHRIST)

The Lord Jesus continued to teach the concept of the One True God to the Hebrew people during His ministry on earth.  He repeated: "Hear, 0 Israel; The Lord our 'Elohim' is One Lord" (Mk 12:29; Deut 6:4).  He went further and claimed His divinity: "I and My Father are One" (Jn 10:30).  His disciples called Him God (Jn 20:28; Rom 9:5; Col 2:9).

Today, followers of Christian Monotheism not only interpret the plural form  Elohim" in the same way as the Early Church did, but also regard the word as an allusion to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Here are some of their views:

1.        In Genesis 1:27 we read that "Elohim created man in HIS image, in the image of Elohim HE created him." Nothing plural about that, is there?  If God in His Absolute Essence is a plurality of persons, why am I, made in the image of God, NOT a plurality of persons?  I am threefold: spirit, soul, and body, but only ONE person.  The true significance of Elohim is a Plurality of attributes, such as Power, holiness, knowledge of good and evil, etc., and has always been so understood by the Jews.  If you doubt my word, look up any authentic Jewish writings dealing with this subject.  In fact, the Bible itself gives this explanation: "Ye shall be as Elohim, KNOWING GOOD AND EVIL" (Gen3:5);  the man is become as one of Us, TO KNOW GOOD AND EVIL". (Gen 3:22).2

2.        Elohim is applied to Christ, thus proving that it does not mean a Plurality of persons. A few examples will suffice - Elohim was sold for thirty pieces of silver (Zech 11:4,12,13); Elohim was pierced at Calvary (Zech 12:10); Elohim is coming back as King (Zech 14:5).  Do we think that three persons were betrayed, crucified and coming again?  Of course not!  The very use of the word Elohim in Scriptures proves that by it the sacred writers did not mean three Divine Persons but rather our one Lord Jesus Christ, Who has all the attributes of full-orbed Deity.”3

3.        The use of the plural form for God "implies a prophetic truth.  The Omniscient God f'oreknew man would fall, and He foreordained Himself as the incarnate Messiah to restore and regenerate human beings."4 (Heb 2:14)

C.     TRINITARIANISM (THREE PERSONS IN ONE GOD)

1.        The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1967) has this to say about Trinitarianism:"Biblical Basis - Neither the word 'Trinity – nor the explicit doctrine as such appears at any one place in the Bible; the ecclesiastical dogma is an effort to unite in one confession all the several strains of the biblical description of God."

2.        Historical Development - It was not until the 4th century that the distinctness of the three taught by subordinationism and their unity taught by modalism were brought together in a single orthodox doctrine of one essence and three persons.  The Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. stated the crucial formula for that doctrine in its confession that the Son is "of the same essence (homoousios) as the Father," even though it said very little about the Holy Spirit." (Vol. 22, p.241)

3.        The New Catholic Encyclopaedia says: “It is difficult in the second half of the 20th century to offer a clear, objective, and straight-forward account of the revelation, doctrinal evolution, and the theological elaboration of the mystery of the Trinity.  Trinitarian discussion, Roman Catholic as well as other, presents a somewhat unsteady silhouette.” (Vol. 14, p.295)

4.        J. Vernon McGee admits in his book How Can God Exist in Three Persons?: "I assure you that with all of my heart I believed in the Trinity.  I reveal and rejoice in it, believing that it is not only a great truth but one of the unique truths of the Christian faith.  I confess that I find it an enigmatic mystery.  I find it an inscrutable riddle.  I find that it is complicated, and complex, and bewildering.  I find that it is impossible to explain."5

5.        ”Trinitarians have considered that the joining of the plural 'Elohim' with the singular 'bara' (created) in the opening verse of the Scriptures is an allusion to the Trinity.”6

6.        The Jewish Encyclopaedia bluntly declares: "The idea of the Trinity is, of course, regarded by the Jews as antagonistic to their Monotheistic faith (belief in One God) and is due to the Paganistic tendency of the church.  Though the Jews rejected Jesus, they still believed that Messiah would come and that He would be God Himself."

D.     MODERN BIBLE SCHOLARSHIP

"Though a plural form, Elohim can be treated as a singular, in which case it means the one supreme Deity, and in the English Bible is rendered 'God.' Like its English equivalent, it is, grammatically considered, a common noun, and conveys the notion of all that belongs to the concept of Deity, in contrast with man (Num 23:19) and other created beings." (The New Bible Dictionary printed by The Inter-Varsity Fellowship, London , P.478)

E.     REVELATION FROM THE HOLY BIBLE

Throughout the entire Bible there is a consistent teaching of the One True God.  God Himself revealed to the Old Testament prophets and also to the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ concerning His Oneness.

Old Testament Revelation

1.       "And God spake all these words, saying, 'I am the Lord thy God ... Thou shalt have no other gods before Me."(Ex 20:1-3)

2.       "Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightiest know that the Lord He is God; there is none else beside Him." (Deut 4:35)

3.       "Hear, 0 Israel: The LORD our God is One LORD." (Deut 6:4)

4.       "See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me." (Deut 32:39)

5.       "Wherefore Thou art great; O Lord God: for there is none like Thee, neither is there any God beside Thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears." (2 Sam 7:22; 1 Chr 17:20)

6.       ”All the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else." (I King 8:60)

7.       "For Thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou art God alone." (Ps 86:10)

8.       "...before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me." (Is 43:10)

9.       "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." (Is 44:6; 45:5,18)

10.   "I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else." (Joel 2:27)

New Testament Revelation

11.   "And Jesus answered him, 'The first of all the commandments is, Hear, 0 Israel; The LORD our God is one LORD." (Mk 12:29)

12.   "And the scribe said unto Him, 'Well, Master, Thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but He." (Mk 12:32)

13.   "...and there is none other God but one." (I Cor 8:4)

14.   "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one." (Gal 3:20; 1 Tim 2:5)

15.   "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in you all." (Eph 4:6; Jas 2:19)

Of the three principal views regarding the interpretation of the word "Elohim," we find that the position of Christian Monotheism is the most consistent one which not only harmonizes with the Holy Bible but is also clear and logical.  Hebrew Monotheism is the truth but not the whole truth.  The Jews are still waiting for their Messiah.  If they will only "search the Scriptures" they will be able to recognize their Messiah as Jesus of Nazareth (Jn 5:39).

Why is the view of Trinitarianism so hard to understand?  Because it has taken the teaching of the One True God who manifested Himself in three ways and has sought to make three Persons out of Him.  Look at "three Persons" any way you wish and you still have three distinct and separate Beings.  Three separate Beings can only mean three distinct Gods.  Three distinct Gods in the Godhead is POLYTHEISM, which is the basic characteristic of Paganism.

The Only True God has challenged the world by asking, "Is there a God beside Me?  Yea, there is no God; I know not any." (Isa 44:8) "Elohim," God of Israel, has never and will never be more than one God.

(To be continued)

FOOTNOTES

1.        Yehezkel Kaufmann, The Religion of Israel: from its beginning to the Babylonian exile, trans. by Moshe Greenberg, Chicago, 1960, p.68.

2.        .John Paterson, God in Christ Jesus, 1966, pp.40,41.

3.        Gordon Magee, Is Jesus in the Godhead or Is Godhead in Jesus?  Houston, 1966, p.27

4.        Lin Wu-chen, Tu-i shen-kuan (The Only True God), Taichung, Taiwan, General Assembly of the True Jesus Church, 1960, p-15.  See also Lin Feng-sheng, Tu-i shen-lun (On the One True God), Taichung, General Assembly of the True Jesus Church, 1975.

5.        J. Vernon McGee, How Can God Exist in Three Persons? p.3

6.        Carl Brumback, God in Three Persons, P.36

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