Those who cling to the false concepts of philosophy are blinding themselves to the true meaning of God’s oneness. If we sincerely seek to understand the oneness of God, we must look to the words of God, and we must be willing to acknowledge what the Scriptures reveal.
As one author who espouses this belief states, “In reference to God, oneness means the state of being absolutely and indivisibly one, or one in numerical value....Oneness (capitalized) [is used] to mean the doctrine that God is absolutely one in numerical value, that Jesus is the one God, and that God is not a plurality of persons.
The nature of God has for centuries been a subject of intense debate among philosophers and theologians. In their endless discussions, they have explored every conceivable theory and opinion as to what God is. But with all their self-professed knowledge and intellect, they have never been able to reach agreement.
Today, the controversy over the nature of God has reached into the very midst of the churches of God. In many churches, the opinions and theories of men are being presented as absolute fact. The Scriptures are being misinterpreted in a manner that appears to support these humanly devised bold statements of philosophers and theologians and their theories about what God is. This is causing so much confusion that the faith of many Christians is being undermined and subverted.
It is vital for every Christian who truly desires to understand the nature of God to learn to identify the opinions and theories of men and be able to differentiate them from the truth of Scripture. As the apostle Paul admonished, we must be “casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God...” (II Cor. 10:5).
That is why this study was written. This post begins by explaining the various humanly devised theories and teachings concerning God’s nature. This approach was taken in order to compare these theoretical beliefs with the Scriptural revelation of what God is. For some readers, the explanation of these various theoretical beliefs about God’s nature may be difficult to grasp at first. However, do not be overly concerned if you do not fully understand. This will enable you to clearly understand the true Scriptural definition of what God is.
This is a profoundly important question. Because we live in a world with many competing truth claims—and many so-called gods—the identity of the one true God matters. The one true God is distinguished from all the false gods that have been foisted upon mankind by evil spirits and deluded men. Gods that are fashioned by the imaginations and hands of men are absolutely worthless (Isaiah 44:9–10), but the one true God is full of glory, grace, and truth (John 1:14).
The Bible says that the one true God is the sovereign, self-existent Creator of the universe (Isaiah 42:5; Ephesians 1:11). He is spirit (John 4:24), He is eternal (Psalm 90:2), and He is personal (Deuteronomy 34:10). The one true God possesses all knowledge (Isaiah 46:10) and all power (Matthew 19:26), is present in all places (Psalm 139:7–10), and is unchanging (James 1:17). There are many false gods—Hinduism alone supposedly recognizes as many as 330 million gods—but none of them possess the attributes of the one true God.
The Bible says that God is just (Acts 17:31), loving (Ephesians 2:4–5), truthful (Numbers 23:19), and holy (Isaiah 6:3). God shows compassion (2 Corinthians 1:3), mercy (Romans 9:15), and grace (Romans 5:17). God judges sin (Psalm 5:5), but He also offers forgiveness (Psalm 130:4). Any god that is not just, loving, truthful, holy, compassionate, merciful, gracious, and forgiving is not the one true God.
The one true God exists in tri-unity. The Bible speaks of three divine Persons who share the same nature and essence in one God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three in one (Matthew 3:16–17; 28:19). This characteristic of the one true God separates Him from all other gods of monotheistic religions: Islam, for example, teaches one god (Allah), but it is a false god, since Allah is not triune. Any concept of God that excludes Jesus Christ is faulty. As Scripture says, “No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also” (1 John 2:23).
The one true God wants to be known. He has revealed His power and glory in creation (Romans 1:20). He revealed Himself to Abram in Mesopotamia, calling him to a new life of faith and making of him a new nation (Genesis 12:1–3). The one true God later identified Himself as the “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6) and revealed Himself to Moses in Midian (verses 1–5). Using Moses, the one true God began to reveal Himself more clearly through His written Word, the Bible. And, finally, the one true God has given us the ultimate revelation of Himself in the Lord Jesus: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1–2). Jesus is “the exact representation of [God’s] being” (verse 3). Jesus is the Word of God made flesh who “made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14).
We all have a choice of whom to worship. Joshua told the Israelites it was time for them to choose the one true God over the gods of the Amorites (Joshua 24:15). Elijah told the people on top of Mt. Carmel that they could no longer stay ambivalent concerning God: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). Today, people worship some of the same pagan gods mentioned in the Old Testament; or they worship more recent false gods such as Mami Wata and Cernunnos; or they worship themselves. But the worship of false deities leads only to death in the end. “This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). May we be like Ruth, who chose the one true God over the idols of Moab (Ruth 1:16).
Oneness doctrine is a rejection of the Trinity and is found in some branches of Pentecostalism. Oneness doctrine teaches that the one God reveals Himself in various forms: sometimes as the Father, sometimes as Jesus, and sometimes as the Holy Spirit. Oneness Pentecostalism, or Jesus-only teaching, is a modern recycling of the old Sabellianism and modalism of ages past.
The classic statement of Trinitarian doctrine is that there is One God who exists eternally in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. However, the Father is neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the same person as the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. The word Trinity is never used in the Bible, but Trinitarian doctrine is a summary of the teaching about God found in the New Testament.
Oneness advocates resemble Unitarians in that they both deny the Trinity. Unitarians believe in one God who exists as one person, God the Father. The Son is not God but rather a man. Perhaps He was a man who was more fully in tune with God than any other, but a man nonetheless. The Holy Spirit is not thought of as a person but rather as the power of God.
Although the words Oneness and Unitarian would seem to mean the same thing, there is a significant difference theologically. Those who hold to Oneness doctrine believe that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God. But instead of one God who exists eternally in three Persons, they believe in One God (a single Divine Spirit) who manifests Himself in three Persons or, perhaps more accurately, three personalities. Sometimes the One God interacts with humanity as the Father. Sometimes He interacts with humanity as the Son, and sometimes as the Holy Spirit. This is an ancient heretical teaching called modalism, which taught that God reveals Himself in different modes including Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
For many who hold to “Oneness doctrine,” Jesus is the primary manifestation of God. Jesus is the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Scripture plainly speaks of one God but also of distinct Persons. These Persons interact with each other. Jesus prays to the Father (John 17 is just one example). If the Father and the Son are not distinct persons, then this prayer is simply a monologue. To whom did Jesus surrender Himself on the cross (Luke 23:46)? And what did John mean when he wrote, “Whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son” (2 John 1:9)?
While Oneness doctrine would seem to be an improvement over Unitarian doctrine, it still falls short of what the New Testament teaches about the unity of God.
The Bible states, 'know ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?' Truly we can say with Jesus, 'I and the Father are one.' We are the essence, one in Spirit, meaning we are all of one life. As the scriptures state, 'In God we live and move and have our being.' One life force flows through us all. God is your life, for God is the very essence of life itself. We are always joyful when we feel harmony with our Source, God and good. To feel that harmony is to know and realize that we are always in God's presence, for God is omnipresent, meaning everywhere, therefore right where you are. To know that truth is to realize that everything begins and ends in God, and therefore is good. In Truth, God is all there is. God is the only reality of life, and God is the reality of your life, meaning that which is eternally real of you.
Comments
Post a Comment