According to Jesus
Anthony Buzzard
God is strictly one person, not two or three. Christians who value Jesus as the Supreme revealer of truth should consider his classic words, uttered in final prayer. "You father, are the only one who is truly God" (Joh_17:3).
It is a serious hijacking of Jesus' words if one adds to Jesus' creed. For Jesus, his Father is "the one alone who is truly God, the only one who is truly God (see also Joh_5:44 and Mar_12:29).
These utterances are clear without a hint of ambiguity. Yet they have been ignored by the church bearing Jesus' name. The church has for centuries, since post-biblical times, defined God as three persons. Jesus defined God as one person, the Father. Jesus believed and taught unitary monotheism. He had never heard of the Trinity -- or if he had, he rejected it.
Centuries later, after church counsels had invested iron-clad creeds and imposed them on the faithful, Augustine came face to face with Jesus' definition of God as the "only one who is truly God." What was he to do? The church by then had lost Jesus' creed. It propagated everywhere belief that God was three persons. The innocent sentence in Joh_17:3 stated that God was a single person, not three persons. Here is Augustine's "solution." He wrote: "The proper order of the words is 'that they may know you and Jesus Christ, the only true God" (Tractates on John, 105:3).
It is hard to see how one can have the words of Jesus and the words of post-biblical creeds at the same time. Following Jesus means believing his teachings. Jesus' teaching about how many persons are the One God is really not difficult: "You , Father, are the only true God." Jesus is the Lord Messiah (Luk_2:11; Psa_110:1), the Son of God (Mat_16:16), but not the One True God. The word "one" should be clear to all.
If anyone has any question about this, he should consult the thousands of singular personal pronouns used for God in the Bible. "I," "me," "mine," "myself," "thee," "thy." "thine," "thyself," "he," "him," "his," "himself." All these words, as well as God's proper name (Yahweh) followed by singular verbs (6700 times), ought to convince the open-minded that God is one person, not more, And monotheism -- belief that God is one -- is, according to Jesus, of critical importance (Mar_12:29).
Jesus, the Son of God, is the perfect human reflection of the One God, his Father. But he is not God. He is the sinless second Adam and the "prophet to be raised up from the house of Israel" (Deu_18:15-18). Created and begotten in the womb of his mother by the poser of God's Spirit, he is designated "Son of God" (Luk_1:35). The idea that he is "eternally begotten" not only has no recognizable meaning in language, but it is false to Scripture. "Eternal generation" contradicts the important biblical fact that the Son of God was begotten "today," not in eternity (Psa_2:7; cp. Act_13:33, referring in the latter text to the birth of Jesus).
Hear O Israel,
the Lord our God is One God
The following verses are posted in support of the One God Doctrine espoused by the monotheistic Jews in the Hebrew Bible, and Jesus and the Apostles in the New Testament. Jesus was a Jew and taught Jewish teachings. He said nothing about a trinity. He never said he was God with a capital "G." He constantly reminded those around him that he was the Son of God, not "God the Son!" Even the demons knew who he was and called him the Son of the Most High God. Yet orthodox Christianity today doesn't know who he is because they refuse to believe what he said! His favorite phrase to describe himself was "Son of Man," meaning that he was 100% human, not half God and half man. Read these verses carefully for they define absolutely the relationship between Jesus and the Most High God, his heavenly Father!
Old Testament
The Most High God (41 x)
Gen 14:19 He blessed him and said, "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
Gen 14:18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.
Gen 14:20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." He gave him a tenth of all.
Gen 14:22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have sworn to the LORD God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,
Num 24:16 The oracle of him who hears the words of God, And knows the knowledge of the Most High,
Deu 32:8 "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
2Sa 22:14 "The LORD thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice.
Psa 7:17 I will give thanks to the LORD according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
Psa 9:2 I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
Psa 18:13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire.
Psa 21:7 For the king trusts in the LORD, And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken.
Psa 46:4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
Psa 47:2 For the LORD Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth.
Psa 50:14 "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High;
Psa 57:2 I will cry to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me.
Psa 73:11 They say, "How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?"
Psa 77:10 Then I said, "It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed."
Psa 78:17 Yet they still continued to sin against Him, To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
Psa 78:35 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer.
Psa 78:56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God And did not keep His testimonies,
Psa 82:6 I said, "You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High.
Psa 83:18 That they may know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, Are the Most High over all the earth.
Psa 87:5 But of Zion it shall be said, "This one and that one were born in her"; And the Most High Himself will establish her.
Psa 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
Psa 91:9 For you have made the LORD, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place.
Psa 92:1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
Psa 97:9 For You are the LORD Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.
Psa 107:11 Because they had rebelled against the words of God And spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Isa 14:14 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'
Lam 3:35 To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High,
Lam 3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth?
Dan 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of
the furnace of blazing fire; he responded and said, "Shadrach, Meshach
and Abed-nego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come
here!"
Dan 4:2 "It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me.
Dan 4:17 "This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers And the decision is a command of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind,
Dan 4:24 this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High,
Dan 4:25 that you be driven away from mankind and your
dwelling place be with the beasts of the field, and you be given grass
to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven
periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most
High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He
wishes.
Dan 4:32 and you will be driven away from mankind, and
your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field. You will be
given grass to eat like cattle, and seven periods of time will pass over
you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of
mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.'
Dan 5:18 "O king, the Most High God granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father.
Dan 5:21 "He was also driven away from mankind, and
his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with
the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body
was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most
High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it
whomever He wishes.
Dan 7:25 'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
No other God (9 x)
Deu 4:35 "To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.
Deu 4:39 "Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
Isa 45:5 "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me;
Isa 45:14 'Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, No other God.'"
Isa 45:22 "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.
Isa 46:9 "Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Dan 3:29 "Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way."
Dan 11:37 "He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all.
Joe 2:27 "Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the LORD your God, And there is no other;
There is no other God (10 x)
Exo 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
Deu 4:35 "To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.
Deu 5:7 'You shall have no other gods before Me.
Isa 45:5 "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God.
Isa 45:6 That men may know from the
rising to the setting of the sun That there is no one besides Me. I am
the LORD, and there is no other,
Isa 45:14 'Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, No other God.'"
Isa 45:21 Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me.
Isa 45:22 "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.
Isa 46:9 "Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me,
Joe 2:27 "Thus you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the LORD your God, And there is no other;
New Testament
Most High God (9 x)
Mar 5:7 and shouting with a loud voice, he *said, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God
Luk 1:32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David
Luk 1:76 "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
Luk 6:35 "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High;
Luk 8:28 Seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said in a loud voice, "What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me."
Act 7:48 "However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
Act 16:17 Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, "These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."
Heb 7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham as he was returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,
Only God (5 x)
Joh 5:44 "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?
Joh 17:3 "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Gal 3:20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one.
1Ti 1:17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
Jud 1:25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
There is only One (6 x)
Mat 19:17 And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."
Mar 12:32 The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM;
1Co 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one.
1Co 8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
1Ti 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
Jas 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?