What About Jesus?
Part 4: If God Has A Son, Is There More Than One God?
The Bible is clear that there is one God. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 4:6)
But if Jesus is God’s Son and He is also Divine, how can there be only one God? This is a mystery into which God has only given humans limited insight. But of course, how can any creature expect to fully understand his Creator? Logically creatures, in this case humans, have a limit on their knowledge of God. However, this is what we do know:
- There is one God: “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: ‘I am the First and I am the Last; Besides Me there is no God.” (Isaiah 44:6) (see also Is. 44:8; 45:18,22; 46:9)
- A singular God has spoken in plural terms: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;’” (Genesis 1:26a) and “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’”(Isaiah 6:8)
- There are three persons with attributes of God:
... God the Father: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) God is the Creator, He must be God.
... God the Son, called Jesus: God told the angles to worship Jesus. “But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: ‘Let all the angels of God worship Him.’” (Hebrews 1:6) Only God is allowed to receive worship, “for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14) Jesus received worship at the command of God, He must be God.
... God the Holy Spirit: Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” (John 14:16) So God would send someone else who would live with the disciples forever—obviously not a human. Who is this Helper? Jesus answers the question for us, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” (John 14:26) Notice, Jesus calls Him “He”, so the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, but a person who will communicate with Jesus followers. Later, the Apostle Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit … You have not lied to men but to God.” (Acts 5:3-4) This direct equation of the Holy Spirit with God by a leading Apostle, should remove any doubt as to who He is.
Logically, if there are three Persons with the attributes of God and there is only one God, then there must be one God in three Persons. This is definitely a difficult concept to come to terms with, but how many of us really understand how the nuclear reactions inside the sun work? We just enjoy its warmth. So too, we must accept that the Bible tells us, the Three are One, “For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.” (I John 5:7)
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