Category Archives: Oneness

Oneness in Colossians

Ruins at ColossaeThe book of Colossians, originally a letter to the church in Colossae, is a great book to study when examining the doctrine of the oneness of God. This is a part of a continuing series, which can be found here on the oneness page.

“For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;” (Col 1:19 KJV) In this verse, Paul, a well educated Jewish teacher or rabbi, stated the message found in John chapter 1 succinctly. The entire divinity of God was found in Jesus Christ. He is both 100% man at the same time as being 100% God. There is no division in the spirit of God, or substance who makes up Jehovah. The LORD (YHWH) is not three emanations of a single spirit. He is one and he dwelled fully and inseparably in the human body of Jesus Christ.

Apostle Paul

Apostle Paul

“In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:” (Col 1:22 KJV) It was because the holy, pure and righteous God came and manifested himself in the body of Jesus that we have complete remission of our sins. When we identify with him, as found in 1 Corinthians 15, we take on the blood and are covered by it, and the protection it afforded on the passover.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.” (Col 2:8–12 KJV) This parallels the account written to the Corinthians by Paul. Again, Paul is declaring that we are buried with Jesus in baptism, and we rise from our old dead self through the blood shed by the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Jesus is the express image of God, and is in the form of God. God manifested Himself in flesh so as to be the sacrificial lamb of the world. This plan or idea was in the beginning when God devised the  plan to redeem a fallen mankind.

“Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:” (Col 3:9–11 KJV) The Apostle reiterates the need for putting away our old lifestyle and habit. We are new creatures in Christ, or we should have a new mind and attitude toward life and how to live it when we meet God manifest in the flesh, face-to-face. We will not be perfect in this world, but we now have a faithful pattern to emulate. When we are knocked down, we must get up again!

Oneness in Ecclesiastes

For the next installment of the Oneness in… series, I will examine the book of Ecclesiastes. The book of Ecclesiastes is known as the Book of the Preacher, due to the title being the Greek work for our English word preacher.  In its chapters, however, we find key evidence for God being one. Not a trinity of persons, but rather a single all powerful God who manifested Himself as a man for man’s redemption.

[Eccl 12:1 KJV] “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;”

[Eccl 12:6–7 KJV] “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.”

In the twelfth chapter, Solomon makes some important observations. First, that Elohim is our Creator, and that our spirit will return to Elohim, or God who gave our spirit. Our spirit is the breath that was breathed into the clay formed by God in the 6th day, when he formed man of the dust of the ground.

[Eph 3:8–9 KJV] “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:”

God created all things by Jesus Christ, even mankind.

[Col 1:12–19 KJV] “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;”

Notice closely the words used by Paul, who was taught by the Sanhedrin member, Gamaliel I. …it pleased the Father that in him (Jesus) should all the fulness dwell… What Paul is saying is that Elohim, YHWH, God, the Father, the God of Abraham, chose to dwell in Jesus. God chose to limit His awesomeness in the body of Jesus. Think of the implications of this, that the all powerful, all knowing, all seeing God who formed man of the dust, and chose to breath life in Him, would chose to limit that power in the personage of human flesh, with all the limitations humans have, in the form of man, for our saving. He did it all for our salvation. There was no other God or person of God beside God when the Preacher (Solomon) said …remember thy Creator…

Solomon knew of only one God. Not a hydra god of three heads, or some convoluted god of three persons formed of one substance. That is a creation of man’s. It is not who God is. There is only one God, and He manifested Himself as the man, Christ Jesus, for our redemption.

The Preacher sums his book up by saying:

[Eccl 12:13–14 KJV] “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

Fear God and keep his commandments… Note he did not say Fear God and keep their commandments, or Fear God and keep the Holy trinity’s commandments, or even fear God and keep the divine council’s commandments. No, just Fear God and keep his commandments.

Oneness in Deuteronomy

God is one, and only one, in being. He has not now, nor ever was, three persons in one substance as Tertullian and others would have us believe. What this means is that God is a single entity. He possesses one nature and has made his presence known in various forms called theophanies in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, God has revealed Himself as a man. Fully and completely as a man with a will, body, spirit, mind… everything that a human has, God had in the form of man as Jesus Christ.

God was so adamant about idolatry, He made it a law to forbid worship of any other gods, even forms of himself as an idol by forbidding likenesses, statues, etc… being carved out of rock for man to worship. As an example, Deuteronomy 11 states:

[Deut 11:26–28 KJV] “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.”

God, YHWH, of the Old Testament is the same Holy Spirit who overshadowed Mary, and was born into this world as the only begotten Son of God. This YHWH is the same God who carved the tablets of stone forbidding the worship of other Gods as verse 28 states so clearly. In Deuteronomy six, One of the boldest statements of God’s oneness is proclaimed:

[Deut 6:4–9 KJV] “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.”

So engrained in the Jewish mind is this concept of only one God. It is the first prayer and the last prayer for the day. They wear garments with the command to worship one God sewn into the hem. It is the one command that all believers in the one true God should teach their children above all else.

[Deut 16:1–2 KJV] “Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.”

In the sixteenth chapter, we find instructions on the observance of the Passover to commemorate the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. In this pericope, a sacrifice was to be made in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there. Notice the verses state God’s name in the singular! This command the Israelites accomplished by sacrificing where God choose to place his name, not their names, not a plethora of titles or theophanies, but his (singular) name.

[Deut 26:16–19 KJV] “This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice: And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.”

By obeying God’s commandments, He will set us aside as a special people. A people of His Name. A people of the name of Jesus! Practice holiness by doing as He has commanded. Do not worship false gods. Do not make God into something he is not, such as the trinity.  Our obligation is to live a holy life, set apart from the world and its need for idols, to remain true and steadfast to the one and only God who framed the heavens and put the stars in their places.

Oneness in Leviticus

Leviticus is a book of laws for the priesthood and the laity.   It is also a book that explicitly instructs us to worship one God.

Lev. 11:44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  45 For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

LORD in both of the referenced scriptures above is the tetragrammaton (YHWH) referring to the one God of Israel.  This name for God in the Old Testament occurred  6,823 times in the Biblia Hebraica and Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia which form the basis for the underlying Hebrew text of the Old Testament.

God, as read above,  is a translation of elohim which, as noted in a previous post in this series is the plural form of Eloah and is used to delineate a plural of majesty or a plural of attributes in God.  Notice the coupling of elohim and YHWH.  YHWH is the name of the one true elohim of Israel.

Lev. 18:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.

Lev. 18:4 Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.

Again, we see the same pattern repeated in these scriptures too.  All through scripture we see the God of Israel being a single entity.  He is called YHWH or Yahweh in the Old Testament by Jews and Jesus Christ in the New Testament.  There is no reference to a trinity or even a duality in God in the bible.  The theology and doctrine taught by the scriptures is that of One God who came down to earth manifested in flesh to redeem a fallen mankind from their sin.

Oneness in Malachi

I will be taking up the pen again (or keyboard) and start discussing articles on Oneness again in the Oneness in … series.  Today’s book of the bible is Malachi.

Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?MAL 2:10

The Prophet Malachi tells the Priests that we all have one (echad) father (אָב) and one (echad) God (אֵל).  Both verbs are used in the singular form giving context to the word echad.  Thus we have only one God according to Malachi.
The Prophet Malachi whose name means “my messenger” or “angel” lived approximately 400 years before the Birth of Christ during the time of the return of the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity. Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets, therefore the Post Apostolic Fathers refer to him as “the seal of the prophets.”
The Coffman Commentaries of the Old Testament has this to say of the selected pericope of scripture:
God had emphatically warned Israel against mixed marriages with pagans (Exo. 34:16; Deut. 7:3; and Josh. 22:12,13). Through intermarriages with the heathen they profaned that covenant. Ezra had done his best to eradicate the evil (Ezra 9:10); and, “Nehemiah, too, contended against those who had contracted such marriages,” having found many such violations of God’s law upon his return to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 13:23-28). The important consideration in this desire on God’s part that Israel should not marry foreign wives was that doing so injected an element of paganism into Israel, an injection which had actually been the source of the total apostasy of both the secular kingdoms of Israel before the exile.
The emphasis is mine.  Here we see that the context which contains the verse in question is dealing with the sin of Israel after having just returned from exile.  They have almost immediately profaned their covenant with God by marrying women who were not Jewish.  This is why Malachi states “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?”  He is saying they all have one God who is the father of the Jewish nation.  There is no plurality in the context.  The only God that the priests (and Malachi) know is the one true and living God, YHWH.  The concept of a trinity would not come about for another 600 or so years when Tertullian et.al. would impose their views of a pagan concept of God onto in his words “The simple” as seen in chapter three of Agains Praxeas quoted below.

The simple, indeed, (I will not call them unwise and unlearned,) who always constitute the majority of believers, are startled at the dispensation (of the Three in One), on the ground that their very rule of faith withdraws them from the world’s plurality of gods to the one only true God; not understanding that, although He is the one only God, He must yet be believed in with His own οἰκονομία . The numerical order and distribution of the Trinity they assume to be a division of the Unity; whereas the Unity which derives the Trinity out of its own self is so far from being destroyed, that it is actually supported by it. They are constantly throwing out against us that we are preachers of two gods and three gods, while they take to themselves pre-eminently the credit of being worshippers of the One God; just as if the Unity itself with irrational deductions did not produce heresy, and theTrinity rationally considered constitute the truth.

Tertullian himself admits that the majority of believers in his day were believers in a Unity or oneness view of God as opposed to Tertullian’s view of the trinity.  He even goes so far as to say that the majority of believers threw accusations against him of being a preacher of two or three gods by preaching his doctrine of trinity.

Malachi as well throws accusations against the unrepentant Israel by stating a fact of God’s inherent quality of being one, not divided into a multiplicity of gods or persons.

An interesting series on monotheism

An interesting series entitled “Monotheism and the Bible: Origins, Issues, and the Status Quaestionis” by David A. Burnett interviews four prominent Bible scholars.  The first two in the series are already published, are Dr. Nathan MacDonald, who is the author of “Deuteronomy and the meaning of monotheism”.  The second is Dr. Michael S. Heiser, Adjunct Lecturer, History Department, Western Washington University.

The last two will be Dr. James F. McGrath from Butler University and Dr. Larry W. Hurtado from University of Edinburgh.  Both have obtained PhDs in New Testament theology.  I am a fan of both Dr. Heiser’s and Dr. Hurtado’s blogs: The Naked Bible and Larry Hurtado’s Blog respectively.  Both give insightful answers on their individual blogs and I am especially looking forward to what Dr. Hurtado has to say.

Express Image

Heb. 1:1   God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,  2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;  3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Col. 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

2Cor. 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Jesus Christ is the express image of God.  God manifested Himself in the flesh, and when He did, the world for the first time could look upon the image of God.  God is a Spirit and as such does not have flesh and blood.  A spirit is not tangible and cannot be seen by the natural senses that mankind possess.  We can sense a Spirit in the room but we cannot see, touch, hear, feel or taste a spirit.  God in His infinite wisdom and foresight saw the need of a body that was perfect.  This body was perfect to provide a sacrifice for the sin of all of mankind to be washed away and forgiven forever.

We have a portrait of who God is through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the embodiment of the Supreme God!

God was manifest in the flesh

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Theos- God, Deity, supreme divinity.  God here refers to the Supreme Divinity what Paul and other devout Jews would refer to as YHWH. Paul was not refering to anything other than the Supreme God of the Old Testament.  Not a person. Not a branch or emmination of God, but God fully and completely.

Phaneroo- To render apparent. To appear, render, manifest or declare. God is a Spirit declares John4:24.  Phaneroo means to make something visible to the senses that was previously hidden. So God was made visible.

Sarx- The body or the meat.  Sarx means the flesh as in the blood and tissues and opposes the idea of a person as in his spirit.  This verse is quite clear that God revealed Himself to mankind in bodily form.

Jesus Christ is the body of God.  Jesus’ specific purpose was to redeem mankind from the sin that started in the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden.  God needed a perfect man without spot or blemish to offer as the blood sacrifice for the sin of a ll mankind.  God made that man by overshadowing Mary and birthing through the virgin Mary the man Jesus of Nazareth.

Answering the Godhead question

Various Answers for the Godhead question

Dynamic Monarchianism

Attempted to preserve monotheism by denying the absolute deity of Jesus Christ. Was a mere man to start.  Endued with the Holy Ghost.   Eventually Holy Ghost permeated Jesus such that he was deified

Modalistic Monarchianism

Embraced strict monotheism  Opposed subordination doctrine (Jesus was lower in the chain of command than the Father).  The terms, “Father,” “Son,” and “Spirit” are three titles for the one God as He reveals Himself to mankind relationally and functionally. The Son is the Father manifest in flesh for the purpose of redemption.  The Son was only for a period of time. Taught by Noetus, Praxeas, and Sabellius.  It was sometimes called Patripassianism (The Father suffered).  Close to modern oneness doctrine.

Arianism

This doctrine teaches since God is immutable, His essence cannot be communicated to any other  Therefore Jesus and the Holy Ghost are not God.  Jesus was divine but not a deity.  Sort of a demi-god point of view.

Trinitarianism

Teaches that there are three persons within one God.  God has one essence but has three persons of that one essence and is  coequal, coeternal and consubstantial.  Note: true trinitarianism does not teach the subordination doctrine. Most people professing a belief in trinitarianism believe in the doctrine of subordination.  The father is unbegotten.  The son is begotten.

Additional information on the possible pagan roots of the trinity

The Hindu faith believes this concept of God.  The conception most closely linked with Vedism and Brahmanism is that of the Hindu Trinity, the Trimurti.  The Absolute manifests himself in three persons: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Shiva the Destroyer.

The Egyptian triad of the sun god was “one god expressed in three persons”.  He was known as the “noonday sun” (Ra), “the evening sun” (Tum), and “the dawning sun” (Khepera).  The sun god reportedly said, “Lo! I am Khepera at dawn, Ra at high noon, and Tum at eventide”. He was one god in three distinct persons.

Tritheism  

Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three separate Gods  There is not one essence but three essences  Each is similar to each other but separate and distinct (like three men are similar but yet distinct).

Modern doctrine of Oneness

The bible teaches strict monotheism.

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

One comes from the Hebrew word אחד (echad) which can mean one (singular) or unity. It appears 885 times in the KJV.  Echad means one as in singular 99 percent of the time. Echad is used as unity in such verses as Genesis 2:24. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Other Scripture talking of strict monotheism

Gal 3:20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

Isa 44:6 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.

Zec 14:9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

The Father is God

Gal 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

Mal 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Eph 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

Jesus is God

 

Col 2:8-9 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Mat 1:21-23 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Jesus is the image of the invisible God  

Col 1:4 Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Jesus is God manifest in the flesh

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

1Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

God declares Jesus is God

Heb 1:1,8 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

The Holy Ghost is God

John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Eph 4:4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

This is a small sampling of the many scriptures declaring God to be one and manifesting or revealing himself in the man Jesus the Christ.