THE ONENESS OF THE GODHEAD

I. INTRODUCTION

            One of the most misunderstood of Bible truths today, is the doctrine of the Godhead. The most universally accepted view of the Godhead in denominations today, is the teaching of the Trinity. This view basically states that God is three distinct persons who are co-equal in power, knowledge, and existence. The word trinity is never mentioned in the Bible, but the existence of One God is mentioned many times in scripture. Why is it important to know about the Godhead? Jesus said in John 8:24, “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins; for if you believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins”. We also read of Jesus saying, “All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him” (Luke 10:22). These verses tell us that if we don’t want to die in our sins, we must know who Jesus is, and the only way to know who Jesus is, is by revelation from Jesus Himself. If you have never received that revelation for yourself, it is our hope that this lesson will give you the knowledge to receive for yourself the true Bible doctrine of the Oneness of God.

II. THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

          Many times in our version of the Old Testament the word God, or LORD is used in place of the name which was used by the writers. Some of the Hebrew names for God are:

              El. Strength, mighty, almighty, which denotes deity.

              Eloah. Derived from El. Always refers to deity.

              Elohim. A plural form of Eloah. The word used most often to denote God. The

                            Hebrew plural is intensive, denoting God’s greatness, majesty, and many

                            different attributes, not a plurality of Gods.

              Adonai. Lord.

              Eheyeh asher Eheyeh. I AM THAT I AM.

              YHWH (Yahweh). GOD, LORD, JEHOVAH.

              El-Elyon. Most High God.

              El-Shaddai. Almighty God.

              El-Olam. Everlasting God.

            Yahweh is the redemptive name of God in the Old Testament, and the name that God used to distinguish Himself from every other god. It means “Self-Existing One”, or the “Eternal One.” In the English it was translated as Jehovah due to the way that the Hebrew scribes wrote God’s name in their scrolls. The Hebrew language didn’t use vowels. Instead, when they wrote His name , they used the letters “YHWH”. So that they wouldn’t use His name in vain, it was not commonly spoken. After a long period of time had gone by the pronunciation of His name was uncertain. The translators had to guess what vowels went between the letters, and came up with the word Jehovah. So Yahweh (Hebrew) and Jehovah (English) mean the same thing.

            To take it one step farther, God revealed Himself to Moses as “I Am”. Yahweh is our way of speaking the same about God, only we would say “He Is”. So Jehovah or Yahweh simply mean “He Is”. Just as God assumed that everyone knew that He is the only One who could say “I Am”, the people assumed that God was the only One who could be called “He Is”. Both names speak of being eternal, or without beginning, or end.

            God continuously revealed Himself to the Old Testament people in different ways, which caused them to use descriptive words along with the name Jehovah. Remember that Jehovah (Yahweh) was many time translated as LORD. He was called in Genesis 22:14 “Jehovah-jireh”, which means the LORD will provide. In Exodus 15:26 He is “Jehovah-rapha”, the LORD that heals. In Judges 6:24 He is “Jehovah-shalom”, meaning the LORD our peace. Combining a descriptive action with the name Jehovah, gave a fuller meaning to His name. It told them more about who God was. We will talk more about this when we look at the God of the New Testament.

III. HOW MANY GODS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT?

            “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4).

            “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour” Isaiah 43:10,11).          

            “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” (Isaiah 44:6).

            “Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself” (Isaiah 44:24).

            “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one LORD, and his name one” (Zechariah 14:9).

            “Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us” (Malachi 2:10).

            There are too many verses in the Old Testament to reference them all. But, it is clearly stated that only one God is Creator, Redeemer, King, the First and the Last. and our Saviour. Many have tried to say that the name “Elohim”, which is a plural word, is in  reference to a trinity of the Godhead, when the rest of the phrasing in the surrounding verses refer to God in the singular.

            For instance, it says in Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:”, but goes on to say in verse 27, “So God created man in his own image.” Does the Bible contradict itself? No. So, how do we explain this portion of Scripture which refers to a plural “us”,. and a singular “him”? We know the Bible says that God is a Spirit. Were Adam and Eve spirit, or were they flesh, or were they both? Adam was made of the dust of the ground, which became his flesh, and then God breathed into Adam the breath of life, which came from the Spirit of God, making Adam both flesh and spirit. Was God flesh and Spirit? Not yet. God has all foreknowledge and is not restricted in time as we are. Knowing that man would sin and that He would have to become our Savior, God looked ahead into future time, and saw what He would look like as a man dwelling on this earth. After He decided what He would look like, He made Adam in His likeness, which was the image of Jesus, who was both flesh and God (Spirit). “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature” (Colossians 1:15). The “us” referred to is God and the man “Christ Jesus”, who is God manifested in flesh. Not two persons, but two manifestations of the same person of God. Since Jesus was the express image of God, when God made us in Jesus’ image, He was making us in His own image.

IV. THE GOD OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

            “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” (Matthew 1:21-23).

            “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” (I Timothy 3:16).

            “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.  and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:8-11).

            All three of these portions of New Testament writing let us know that God came to earth in the form of a man. It says God was manifested, which means He was made visible, or He showed Himself to us in a fleshly form. The name Jesus could never have been used by God if He hadn’t come in the flesh. The name Jesus described the new role that God would play in relationship to mankind’s need. Only flesh and blood could die, and God said that blood was the only thing that could buy the remission of our sin. “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22). Since the Spirit of God had no blood to shed, God formed a body for Himself by overshadowing the virgin Mary. That body was made for the purpose of becoming our Redeemer. In Old Testament law, only a near kinsman could redeem a person, or the land, when they were sold out side of the family.. God became one of us so that He could be our near kinsman and buy our salvation. The name “Jesus” is a combination of “Jehovah” and “our salvation”. He was called Jesus because Jehovah had become our salvation. Only by dying and shedding His blood could that happen.

            The Word then went on to say that God put every thing that there was of the Godhead in the physical body of Jesus. When we have Jesus, we have every thing we need for salvation. His very name means “salvation”.

            So, we are finding that the same Jehovah, who was God of the Old Testament, is still the God of the New Testament.

V. HOW MANY GODS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT?

            “I and my father are one” (John 10:30).

            “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:5,6).

            “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

            “And immediately I was in the spirit: and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne” (Revelation 4:2).

            All of the above scriptures refer to only one God. There can only be one first, and one last. John only saw one God sitting on the throne of heaven. So why is there so much confusion about the idea of a trinity of persons in the Godhead? Let’s look at a verse of Scripture for the answer.

            “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).

            This verse is the foundation of trinity teaching. It would appear to refer to God as consisting of three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So let’s look at the command and how it was obeyed.

            “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:28).

            It would seem, at first glance, that Peter misunderstood what Jesus told the disciples to do. But, look at Jesus’ command to baptize. He said to baptize in a name (singular). So what is the name of the Father, and the Holy Ghost? (We already know that the name of the Son is Jesus).

            “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” (Isaiah 9:6).

            “I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not” (John 5:43).

            “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you , and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? (John 14:8,9).

            Since Jehovah is one of the Father’s names, and Jesus came in that name (Jehovah is salvation), the Father’s name must be Jesus. Since Isaiah said that the Son who would be given, would be called “The everlasting Father”, Jesus must be the Father, for surely He is the Son that was given. Jesus told Philip that He was the Father. We can easily determine that the name of the Father is Jesus. But, what is the name of the Holy Ghost?

            “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:17,18).

            “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

            “Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (II Corinthians 3:17).

            “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

            “Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow” (I Peter 1:11).

            Can there be any doubt that the Spirit that dwells in us, which we call the Holy Ghost, is Jesus. He said He would come to us. It says it is Christ in us. Jesus is that Spirit. In II Peter 1:21,22 it says that the Old Testament writers were moved by the Holy Ghost, yet, the Bible says that it was the Spirit of Christ. So, we know that the name of the Holy Ghost is Jesus. All the fullness of the Godhead is in Jesus. One God, manifested in three offices. He was the Father in creation, the Son in redemption, and the Holy Ghost in habitation.

VI. THE DUAL NATURE OF JESUS

            Many people have a hard time accepting the Oneness of God because they cannot understand the dual nature of Jesus. They say, “If there are not at least two persons, who was Jesus talking to when he prayed in the garden?” You will hear many similar questions, but they can all be answered by understanding the dual nature of Jesus. Jesus was both man and God in one body. The part of Jesus that was flesh would get hungry, thirsty, and cold, and would have to pray for divine strength. The part that was God was the Bread of Life, the Living Waters, and the One who answers prayers. Was Jesus talking to Himself? No, the flesh was talking to the Spirit, the man to God. Look at the statements of Jesus in the Gospels to prove this to yourself. When Jesus said “I thirst” who was talking? The man. When He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” God was talking.

            The hardest thing to conceive is not that God is One, but how He made a physical body to dwell in that was fully man and fully God. God made a man so perfect that He would be able to die for our sins. Because God was the Father of the man, Jesus, Jesus had undefiled blood. We get our blood type from our father, so Jesus blood was untouched by the sin of Adam. As a man, His Father was God. Being the Spirit of the Everlasting God, He was the Father.

VII. CONCLUSION

            Without understanding the Oneness of God, it is hard to understand our salvation. We are baptized into the name of the one God, (Jesus) both in water and Spirit. If we didn’t know that God’s revealed name is Jesus, we wouldn’t understand why we obey, without fail, the command of Acts 2:38.

            “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

            What a privilege to know who Jesus is, and that He is the One True God!

            For an even fuller understanding on the doctrine of the Oneness of God, I recommend that you read Bro. David Bernard’s outstanding book “The ONENESS of God” which is available in our bookstore.

            God bless you in your search to know Him in a greater way.