Introduction:

There is only one person who is God. He is undivided in his nature and personality. Before he created the universe, this living, personal, self-existent God was by himself. He is in a class all by himself; for only He has existed from Eternity, there never was a time when he did not exist. One of the seven ‘ones’ of Ephesians 4:4-6 is “…one God…”.

The unity of God includes two primary thoughts, first the oneness of God and secondly the unity of God's character. The “oneness of God” refers to the fact that there is only one person in the universe who is the supreme source and ruler of all things. The “unity of God's character” tells us that his nature is undivided.

Christianity is based on monotheism. Monotheism is the teaching that God is one person. The God of the Old Testament is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. Moses inspired of God told Israel, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" Deuteronomy 6:4, 5, NRSV. This is the same God mentioned by Jesus in the following Scriptures: Matthew 22:36-38, Mark 12:29 & 30 & Luke 10:25-27. God inspired Paul to write a similar truth in the New Testament about his oneness. "...and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." 1 Corinthians 8:4-6. One God and one Lord Jesus Christ equal two separate individuals.

The New Testament Church was built on the teaching [doctrine] that God is one in person and character. "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom of all,…" 1 Timothy 2:5, 6. This text simply tells us that there is one God, one human race and an arbitrator between the two. Wherever the first missionaries of the apostolic church went they proclaimed the truth of God's oneness. Their converts "...turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God" 1 Thessalonians 1:9.

The oneness of God refers to the fact that there is only one person in the universe who is the supreme source and ruler of all things. The Bible writers show that God is a single individual and a unique being. God is one person; there is no other person who is God. Paul states: "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Ephesians 4:6. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” Hebrews 11:6 NRSV.

I. Let's look at the oneness of God...

A. One Mediator between God and men!!!

"For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human," 1 Timothy 2:5, NRSV. This text clearly shows that God and Christ are two distinctly different individuals. This text reminds me of the telephone my parents had in our home when I was child. It was a party line and the phone was a box on the wall with two bells, a receiver on the end of a three-foot cord, a mike attached to the box and a crank on the side of the box. We could call everyone on our line [about a dozen people], but to call anyone else we had to call the operator [one long ring] and she [Mrs. Shafer] would dial the person for you. When we want to talk to God we need to call our operator [mediator, go between], Jesus, and he will "get in touch" with the Father. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" John 14:6.

If that text weren't enough, these next two go even further in making the point clear that God and Christ are separate individuals. "In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf" John 8:17, 18, NRSV. "Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one." Galatians 3:20, NRSV.

The Bible clearly states that Christ is a mediator. If one is a mediator then there is more than one person involved and God is one person. Therefore, God and Christ are two separate individuals.

B. Answering negative arguments...

1. "Elohim"???

"Elohim, the Hebrew word for "God" or ‘god’ in the Old Testament, is used nearly 2,500 times. It is a "title" and not a name of Jehovah. It is used of heathen gods such as Baal as well as of Jehovah God.

a. Example...

If he be a god [Elohim], let him plead for himself" Judges 6:31. Notice that the word is not did not apply to the true God, nor can it in any sense be called a proper name. Further, it is an unquestionable instance of a plural word used in a singular sense.

b. "Elohim" is plural...

"Elohim" when referring to heathen god or gods, refers to the god of rain, the god of mountains, the god of the sun, and the god of the moon. In this sense, Jehovah takes the place of many gods. He is God of both heaven and earth, [god of the living and the dead], but he is still only a single god [or person], i.e., the one and only true God. See also the following Scriptures: John 17:3; 1 Timothy 1:17; John 5:44 and Romans 16:27.

Judd, the author of "One God, The God Of The Ages," writes, "This tells us that Elohim means - not a plurality of Gods - but a plural God. In simpler language a God of all things and all people.”

1). Plural pronouns in the Old Testament...

The above reason is why translators have chosen plural pronouns to describe God in several places in the scriptures, [Genesis 1:26; 3:22; 11:7 & Isaiah 6:8]. Please notice that these plural pronouns are not in the original Hebrew text at all. [This can be researched and proved through the Strong's Concordance.] The word “…us…” in the previous mentioned text was supplied by the translators and do not exist in the original Hebrew text.

c. "Elohim" only a 'title'...

"Elohim" is only a title. Listen carefully to this scripture. "If Jehovah be God [Elohim], follow him; but if Baal, then follow him" 1 Kings 18:21.

C. Is God "Immortal"...

1. The Scriptures say "yes"...

Let us just look at a few scriptures showing us that God is truly the only source of all of creation. "And this is life eternal, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" John 17:3, NRSV.

Let's look at the writings of the prophet Isaiah. "I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me, so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one beside me; I am the LORD, and there is no other" Isaiah 45:5, 6, NRSV. “Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the LORD? There is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is no other besides me” Isaiah 45: 21, 22 NRSV.

These verses clearly point out that God has existed from the beginning of time and that He alone has that distinction. And as well, he has created all things. "(For every house is built by someone, but the builder all things is God)." Hebrews 3:4, NRSV.

The Scriptures continue with the same theme over and over again, that God alone is immortal. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal [incorruptible], invisible, the only wise God,” 1 Timothy 1:17.

The Bible tells of this truth several more times within its pages. "In the presence of God, who gives life to all things,… It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, who no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen" 1 Timothy 6:13, 16 NRSV.

Many other verses speak of the same truth that God is both eternal and immortal. "The eternal God..." Deuteronomy 33:27. "...even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." Psalm 90:1, 2. "...the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth,..." Isaiah 40:28. "...one who inhabits eternity,..." Isaiah 57:15, NRSV.

2. God cannot die!!!

The Bible is quite clear that God Himself cannot die. Therefore, it was not He, but His Son, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for you and me. If Christ were inseparable from God, He could not have died, because God is immortal and eternal, and therefore is incapable of dying. Because Jesus is the Son of God and not God Himself, he could and did release us from our sin by dying on the cross. "And if Christ be not risen, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins,” 1 Corinthians 15:17. Also, if God and the Son of God was the same person, the Son could not become subject to His Father in the eternal age. This is what Paul made reference to in 1 Corinthians 15:28, when he said, "... And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him [Yahweh] that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."

II. What should we call our supreme being...

A. "I AM THAT I AM:"...

"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, The God of our fathers has sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am has sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the Children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." Exodus 3:13-15.

"And God spoke to Moses, saying, I am THE BEING; and he said Thus shall ye say to the children of Israel, THE BEING has sent me to you." Exodus 3:14, LXX.

1. A look at the Hebrew...

So, the question, "What is His Name" has been asked many times. The correct name in Hebrew for our God is “YHWH”. The original Hebrew manuscripts were written with only consonants. These consonants correspond to a form of the verb "to be". A translation of His name would be “the existing one.” When we add vowels “a” and “e” to this verb we come up with the name “Yahweh”. Jehovah

is the Anglo-Saxon rendering of YHWH. Let us examine his name even further. “The LORD [Adonai, YHWH, Yahweh God’s name] says to my lord [Adoni, my lord], ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool” Psalm 110:1.

“…adoni, which is never used of God but often of the king of Israel and other human superiors. This surprising error of fact is symptomatic of the widespread confusion of standard Hebrew lexicons, ‘lord,’ ‘master,’ or ‘owner,’ and it refers here, by way of prediction, to the Messiah. If David had expected the Messiah to be God, the word used would not have been adoni, but adonai, a term used exclusively for the One God.

“The two words for ‘lord’ in the sentence ‘the “Lord” said to my lord’” are significantly different. The first ‘Lord’ is Yahweh. It is quite true that Old Testament texts containing this word are sometimes in the New testament transferred to Jesus when he functions as an agent for Yahweh (just as the angel of the Lord who exercises the authority of Yahweh). [See Judges 13:3, 6, 9, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, compared with v. 22]. In Psalm 110:1, however, there is no question that the first Lord mentioned (Yahweh) refers to God, the Father, the One God of Israel (as it does on some 6700 occasions). The second word for ‘lord’ (here, ‘my lord’) is adoni… meaning, according to all standard Hebrew lexicons, ‘lord,’ ‘master,’ or ‘owner,’ and it refers here, by way of prediction, to the Messiah. If David had expected the Messiah to be God, the word used would not have been adoni, but adonai, a term used exclusively for the One God”. --“The Doctrine of the Trinity” by Anthony F. Buzzard and Charles F. Hunting, pages 48, 49.

2. A look back at the text...

We know that we cannot pronounce four consonants, no not in English nor Hebrew. After this scholarly study of the name of our Supreme Being we are back to Exodus 3:13-15, see bottom of page 4, which seems to indicate that we should call him the God of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob.

3. Other ways in which God is addressed...

God is described in other ways. Sometimes an adjective is added to His title. Here are some of the ways an adjective added to a title represents the God of Abraham. He is called "El-Shaddai" [Shad-dah'ee, 7706 Strong's Concordance] which means God- Almighty. It is used 48 times in the Old Testament. An example of this word in the Bible is Genesis 17:1, "... the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." The meaning of Shaddahee is that there is nothing beyond His power or ability. Therefore, the God of Abraham, is all-powerful, and can supply every need.

III. God is a real being...

The God of Abraham is called a 'living God' thirty-two times in the Bible. I believe it is to recognize Him as our Father both spiritually and physically [remember, He created us.]

A. God is a living being and person...

One proof of the fact that God is a living being and person is the fact that we are created after His image and likeness.

1. Image and likeness...

Man was molded in the 'image' and 'likeness' of God. "And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: ...So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he them;...” Genesis 1:26, 27.

"...In the day that God created man in the likeness of God made he him;... And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:” Genesis 5: 1, 3.

To say that Adam and Eve and their children were in the likeness and image of God and we are not; is to believe in evolution. But listen to this. Speaking of the Son of God the writer of Hebrews states: "Who being the brightness of glory, and the express image of his person,...", "He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature,..." Hebrews 1:3, KJV & RSV. Also see Genesis 1:27 and 5:3.

2. Jesus was a "real" being following His Resurrection...

Jesus following his resurrection was not a "spirit being"! However, a 'spirit being' and a 'spiritual being' are two different things. "So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a physical [carnal] body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus, it is written, 'The first man Adam because a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical [carnal], and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven." 1 Corinthians 15:42-47, RSV. Read also John 5:19, 26-31.

When Jesus was raised from the dead, he received the power of God in a special way. He talked about this power in Matthew 28:17, "...All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." It was that power, the Holy Spirit from God, that made him a "...life giving spirit [power]..."

For he himself told us that he was not a 'spirit' in Luke 24:39, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have" Luke 24:37-39.

3. What about John 4:24...

"To say that the scripture 'God is a Spirit' [John 4:24) proves that he is without a body is as illogical as to claim that he is a mere emotion because 'God is Love' [1 John 4:16] or that he is composed of flames because 'our God is a consuming fire' [Hebrews 12:29]. The 'true worshippers' [John 4:23] ‘worship the Father in spirit’, but they are certainly not without bodies! Christ is “flesh and bones’ and not a spirit in the physical sense [Luke 24:39]. -- God is a Corporeal Being, Adult Truth Seeker's Quarterly, March 8, 1964, by William Wachtel

4. See God...

It is unbelievable that you and I, if found faithful, will see God Himself and be with him and be his people. See Revelation 21:3, 4; Matthew 5:8; Revelation 22:4; 1 Corinthians 13:12 and 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is” NRSV.

B. God's Moral Personality...

There are three attributes about God's character that we cannot go without mentioning. These characteristics point out to us what God is like and why he acts as he has and will.

1. The first is 'holiness'...

The reason that all sin must be dealt with is because God is so holy that he cannot allow sin to go unpunished. He alone holds this characteristic. "...thou only art holy:..." Revelation 15:4. "Be ye holy for I am holy." 1 Peter 1:16.

2. The second is 'love'...

"He that loveth not knows not God; for God is love." 1 John 4:8. This is why God gave his only begotten son as the Savior of the world, John 3:16. and it is why he is so patient, hoping that the whole world will repent, 2 Peter 3:9.

3. The third part of God's moral personality is 'truth'...

Isaiah described the God of Abraham as "...the God of truth..." Isaiah 65:16. The statement that God is truth shows God to be what he knows and does. Conclusion:

Why have lessons on the God of Abraham? Because you must know in whom you believe. If you don't know God, how can you abide by what he desires for you? There is a divine purpose for every teaching [doctrine] in the Bible. The purpose of the teaching of the oneness of God is: "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 [being], 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 sit in thine house and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rise us" Deuteronomy 6:4-7.

Application: We are to:

1. KNOW the one true God, 6:4

2. LOVE that one true God, 6:5.

3. TEACH the one true God to our children, 6:7.

How to share the truth about God the Father, and Jesus the Son of God: 1. Deuteronomy 6:4, "...The LORD our God is one LORD:"

2. 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, "...there is none other God but one... there is but one God, the Father,..."

3. Ephesians 4:6, "...Father of all, who is above all,..."

4. 1 Timothy 2:5, "...one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;"

5. Galatians 3:20, "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one."

6. John 8:17, 18, "...the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf."

Matthew 22:36, 37, "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.’" [See Deuteronomy 6:4 & 5].

Bible Teacher

edbender02@att.net