The Father Alone is the One God – Part 2

The Father, the Only God
3. John 5:43-44
“I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

In this setting, the Jews are persecuting Jesus for healing a paralytic on a Sabbath day (John 5:7-18). Jesus knew the Jews did not have the love of God in their hearts (John 5:42). They accepted glory from others and rejected Jesus despite of the fact that he came in his Father’s name (John 5:43). Jesus is asking how the Jews can accept glory from others, but not seek the glory that comes from the “only God” (John 5:44), namely, the Father of Jesus (John 5:43; John 17:1-3). Jesus singles out the Father as the only God and, again, never singles out himself as such in this text or anywhere else in the Bible.

At an apologetics website called Apologetics Index, Bowman posted an outline for the biblical basis of the Trinity, using a variety of biblical references to establish the doctrine. The outline included John 5:44 to show that there is one God as an “explicit” statement in the Bible.[1] Bowman does not provide a reference that explicitly says Jesus is the only God.

One Trinitarian named Bert Thompson of Apologetics Press quotes from K.C. Moser’s book Attributes of God. Thompson writes, “While those who were involved in the false religions that surrounded the Jews worshipped a myriad of non-existent gods and goddesses, the Israelites worshipped ‘Jehovah the true God, the living God, an everlasting King’ (. . . ‘the only God,’ John 5:44).”[2] Thompson does not provide a verse for Jesus being the only God.

Sam Shamoun of Answering Islam is a vehement defender of the doctrine. He uses John 5:44 as one of the bases for Trinitarian monotheism. He writes, “The heart of the Trinity is that there is only one eternal God, only one sovereign Creator and Sustainer, and that there is nothing like him (. . . John 5:44. . .).[3] Like other Trinitarian apologists, Shamoun does not provide a verse where Jesus is identified as the only God.

4. 1 Timothy 1:17
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul greets him and ascribes to the “only God” honor and glory for ever and ever. The “only God” is a reference to “God the Father” and not to “Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Tim. 1:2).

Trinitarian scholars John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck make an important comment on Paul’s use of “only God” in 1 Timothy 1:17. In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, Walvoord and Zuck write, “The only God emphasizes His uniqueness in a typical Jewish monotheistic fashion. To this God alone must all honor and glory be ascribed, eternally.”[4]

McGrath,[5] Bowman,[6] Rhodes,[7] and Bowman and Komoszewski[8] use 1 Timothy 1:17 as yet another basis for establishing Trinitarian monotheism.

5. Jude 25 
“[T]o the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

Who is the “only God” according to the Epistle of Jude? Verse one tells us: “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.” God the Father is the ultimate recipient of “glory, majesty, power and authority,” whereas Jesus Christ is the agent through whom these qualities are ascribed.

McGrath,[9] Bowman,[10] Rhodes,[11] Bowman and Komoszewski,[12] and Shamoun [13] use Jude 25 in establishing the view that the one true God is a Trinity.

The Father, the Only Wise God
6. Romans 16:27
“[T]o the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.”

Here Paul had a perfect opportunity to point out that the “only wise God” is “Jesus Christ” or both Jesus Christ and the Father. Instead, Paul draws a clear distinction between the two, just as what was done in Jude. The “only wise God” here is none other than “God our Father” as seen in Romans 1:7. Again God the Father is the ultimate recipient of “glory forever,” whereas Jesus is the agent through whom glory forever is given.

Rhodes uses this verse in the first of a three-step case for the Trinitarian God. His remarks are worth quoting:
“The fact that there is only one true God is the consistent testimony of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. It is a thread that runs through every page of the Bible. God positively affirms through Isaiah the prophet: ‘This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and the last; apart from me there is no God’ (44:6). God also says, ‘I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me’ (Isa. 46:9).”[14]

Rhodes then states that the verses he quoted from the book of Isaiah “and a multitude of other verses” including Rom. 16:27 “make it clear that there is one and only one God.”[15] What is also clear from the verses he cites is that none of them says Jesus is the “one and only one God.”

Bowman[16] and Bowman and Komoszewski[17] use Romans 16:27 as yet another scriptural basis for the oneness of the Trinitarian God. Looking at the discussed Bible references, the only oneness established thus far is the Father—not the Trinitarian God—being the one God.

Updated January 22, 2021
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[1] Robert Bowman, “The Biblical Basis of the Doctrine of the Trinity,” in Apologetics Index, http://www.apologeticsindex.org/t04.html (accessed June 3, 2017).
[2] Bert Thompson, “Is God Male?,” in Apologetics Press, http://ap.lanexdev.com/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1165 (accessed June 3, 2017), http://www.apologeticspress.org/rr/reprints/god_male.pdf (accessed December 7, 2020).
[3] Ibid.
[4] John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1983), 733, emphasis in original.
[5] McGrath, 120-21.
[6] Bowman, 50.
[7] Rhodes, 72.
[8] Bowman and Komoszewski, 340 note 31.
[9] McGrath, 121.
[10] Bowman, 50.
[11] Rhodes, 72.
[12] Bowman and Komoszewski, 340 note 31.
[13] Shamoun, “The Holy Spirit in Christianity and Islam.”
[14] Rhodes, 269.
[15] Ibid.; cf. 72, 95, 248.
[16] Bowman, 50.
[17] Bowman and Komoszewski, 340 note 31.

The Father Alone is the One God - Part 1

One foundational pillar of the doctrine of the Trinity is that the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, is the one God of the Bible—in addition to God the Father. This teaching is affirmed in the Trinitarian model presented in What is the Trinity? (see C.1 and C.2.). If this pillar goes, then the whole doctrine collapses.

In my journey out of belief in the Trinity, this pillar was first to go. It was heartbreaking to let go because I loved the Trinitarian God with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength as I tried to follow what Jesus commanded in Mark 12:30. I remember when I sang with full delight and awe a favorite of hymn of mine. For me the last two lines were the most beautiful.
“Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!”

In most of my life, I defended the Trinity as absolute truth and at the very heart of Christianity until I discovered later that it is not even taught in the Bible. Instead, the Bible teaches that the Father alone is the one God. The basis for this teaching is derived from two findings.

1. The Bible singles out the Father as the one God.
2. The Bible singles out no one else as the one God.

Together the two make up the teaching that the Father alone is the one God. These findings go directly against a number of areas in the Trinitarian doctrine, of which is the teaching that Jesus is the one God. If the Bible singles out the Father—and no one else as the one God, then it follows that Jesus is not the one God of the Bible—in addition to God the Father.

In this and the next two articles I aim to establish that the Father alone is the one God of the Bible, which renders Jesus being the one God unbiblical. To that end, I will discuss ten most commonly cited biblical references that directly point to who the one God is, engage several popular Trinitarian works, and demonstrate that Trinitarians do not provide a single decisively clear biblical statement for Jesus being the one God of the Bible.

The Father, the Only True God

1. John 17:1-3

“After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’”[1]

In praying for his disciples, Jesus addresses the Father as the “only true God”. He identifies himself as the one whom this only true God, the Father, has “sent”. He does not identify himself as the one true God in this text or anywhere else in the Gospel of John.[2] Neither does Jesus do so anywhere in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke or even where Jesus is quoted by the Apostle Paul in any of his epistles.

Ironically, Trinitarian apologists use John 17:3 to maintain their claim for absolute biblical monotheism.[3] They do this despite of the fact that the “only true God” is a reference to God the Father.

For sure, establishing the Father as the one true God is a necessary step in making a case for one’s biblical monotheistic view. However, there is a gaping hole in Trinitarian apologetics in making a case for a Trinitarian view of God: There is not a single Bible verse that clearly and decisively singles out Jesus as the one true God.[4]

Prominent Trinitarian apologist Robert M. Bowman, Jr. uses John 17:3 as one of his biblical basis for Trinitarian monotheism.[5] In Why You Should Believe in the Trinity, Bowman writes, “There is only one Almighty God Jehovah, and he alone is to be worshipped—but the Bible also states flatly that he is the only God. More precisely, the Bible says that there is only one true God.”[6]

Similarly, cult expert Ron Rhodes uses John 17:3 as a basis for Trinitarian monotheism. He wrote a book titled The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions. Rhodes’ purpose was to train those involved with dialoguing with people in cults “with a view to motivate them to use their religious freedom to choose to leave the cult and transfer allegiance to the one true God of whom Scripture speaks (John 17:3).”[7]

Usage of John 17:3 as a basis for Trinitarian monotheism is not confined within the Trinitarian apologetic movement. It is also found amongst other Trinitarian works. For example, well-respected theologian Alister E. McGrath writes, “The New Testament emphasizes that there is only one God (. . . John 17:3. . .).”[8]

The Father, the Only One God

2. Romans 3:29-30
“Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.”

The “only one God” of both the Jews and Gentiles that Paul refers to here is none other than the Father (Rom. 1:7). He singles out the Father as the only one (true) God (cf. 1 Thess. 1:9) and never does this to Jesus in any of his writings in the New Testament.

Romans 3:30 is used by Bowman in his work with J. Ed Komoszewski to establish Trinitarian monotheism. They write, “Paul and other New Testament writers echo the Shema when they affirm that God is one or that there is one God,” citing Romans 3:30 as one of the biblical references, but they do not cite a reference to Jesus being the one true God.[9]

In volume two of his four-volume work, apologist Norman L. Geisler uses Romans 3:30 as one of the verses to support belief in absolute biblical monotheism. He writes, “[I]t is evident from these many verses that there is, absolutely, only one God. But if God is absolutely one, then He cannot be divided into many gods.”[10] Here, it appears that Geisler is trying to establish monotheism in general, rather than Trinitarian monotheism in particular. However, nowhere in any of his works, that I know of, does Geisler provide a verse that identifies Jesus as the only one God.

What is more, notice how Rhodes tries to establish Trinitarian monotheism. He provides three lines of evidence: (1) there is “only one true God”; (2) there are three persons who are God; (3) there is evidence that indicates “three-in-oneness within the Godhead.”[11] However, as to the first line of evidence, Rhodes uses Romans 3:30 as one of the biblical references, and none of the other references he uses speaks of Jesus being the “only one true God.”[12]

Lastly, Romans 3:30 is on McGrath’s list of biblical references for the Father being the “only one God.”[13] He recognizes the fact that the “only one God” referred to both in the Old Testament and the New Testament is none other than the Father.[14] McGrath states that it is clear that the only one “God is not identified with Jesus: for example, Jesus refers to God as someone other than himself; he prays to God; and finally he commends his spirit to God as he dies.”[15]

Updated January 15, 2021
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[1] Scripture references in these three articles are from the New International Version of the Bible (2011).

[2] Three further considerations pertaining to John 17:3 are in order. First, notice that the only person Jesus places in the category “only true God” is the Father. He does not place anyone else—not even himself—in that category. Second, it seems natural to think that John 17:3 by itself would settle the issue once and for all that the Father alone is the God of the Bible because of the nature of the language. For if the Father is the only true God, then no one else is, not even Jesus Christ. Consider the statement “Donald Trump is the only true President.” If Donald Trump is the only true President, then no one else is, not even Joe Biden. However, there are Trinitarian apologists who do not apply this language to the text for reasons I plan to address in my future blogs. For now, suffice it to say that, while I believe that John 17:3 should settle the issue, my contention here does not rest on the natural way to think of the language of the text. My contention, rather, is that the Bible en toto points to no else but the Father as the one God, which necessarily disqualifies Jesus as such. Third, if “eternal life” is to “know” Jesus as the one God—in addition to the Father, then Jesus missed the opportunity to say so. Trinitarians have their work cut out for them to establish that Jesus did ever say that he is the one God. In fact, they can’t because nowhere in the Bible did Jesus ever say this about himself. So they would have to take some other route to establish that Jesus is the one God of the Bible—in addition to the Father, another topic I plan to address in my future blogs.

[3] As will be realized, the Bible references discussed in these articles all point to none other than God the Father in support of absolute biblical monotheism.
[4] In an attempt to establish that Jesus is the one God of the Bible, some Trinitarians use 1 John 5:20 to argue that “this is the true God” is a clear reference to Jesus Christ. However, even amongst Trinitarians, this is a highly contested—and hence too problematic a—text to be used as a reference to Christ. For a number of reasons this text fails to be a decisively clear indication that Jesus is the one God of the Bible. For an excellent exegetical treatment of 1 John 5:20, see Murray J. Harris, Jesus as God (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), 236-53.

[5] I draw a distinction between monotheism in general (the view that most people naturally think of God as one person, one being) and Trinitarian monotheism in particular (the peculiar view that Trinitarians think of God as three persons, one being).

[6] Robert M. Bowman, Jr., Why You Should Believe in the Trinity (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1989), 51, emphasis in original.
[7] Ron Rhodes, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 15, emphasis in original; cf. 72, 95, 248, 269.
[8] Alister E. McGrath, Understanding the Trinity (Grand Rapids: Academic Books, 1988), 120-121.

[9] Robert M. Bowman Jr. and J. Ed Komoszewski, Putting Jesus in His Place: the Case for the Deity of Christ (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2007), 166.
[10] Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology: God, Creation, vol. 2 (Minneapolis, Minn: Bethany House, 2003), 39-40.
[11] Rhodes, 248.
[12] Ibid.
[13] McGrath, 120.
[14] Ibid. 120-21, 123.
[15] Ibid. 120-21, emphasis in original.

What is the Trinity?

Most Christians today believe that the Trinity is taught in the Bible. Although majority affirm the teaching by faith, they really don't understand it. According Trinitarian apologist James R. White, the doctrine is "so misunderstood that a majority of Christians, when asked, give incorrect and at times downright heretical definitions of the Trinity."[1]

Norman Geisler, another Trinitarian apologist, contends that, although the term "Trinity" is not found in the Bible, the concept is taught in it as a logical conclusion. "The logic of the doctrine of the Trinity is simple. Two biblical truths are evident in Scripture, the logical conclusion of which is the Trinity.

1. There is one God.

2. There are three distinct persons who are God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit."[2]

Geisler suggests that God has one What and three Whos. "The three Whos (persons) each share the same What (essence). So God is a unity of essence with a plurality of persons. Each person is different, yet they share a common nature."[3]

White adds a third feature in defining the Trinity. He states that the belief is based on three biblical foundations.

1. Monotheism: There is only one God.

2. There are three divine persons.

3. The persons are coequal and coeternal.

White explains, "Christians believe in the Trinity not because the term itself is given in some creedlike form in the text of Scripture. Instead, they believe in the Trinity because the Bible, taken in its completeness, accepted as a self-consistent revelation of God, teaches that there is one Being of God (Foundation One) that is shared fully (Foundation Three) by three divine persons (Foundation Two), the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."[4]

A Representation of the Trinity

When I was a Trinitarian, I frequently ran in to this diagram. It is an attempt to illustrate the doctrine of the Trinity.

With the help of this diagram, I understood the doctrine a certain way. That understanding was drawn from what I gathered the Bible is teaching and what Trinitarian theologians, apologists and philosophers I read are saying. Here is what seems to be the best and simplest way the doctrine can be outlined.

A. There is one God.

B. The one God is three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

C. Individually,

1. the Father is the one God,
2. the Son is the one God, and
3. the Holy Spirit is the one God.

D. Collectively, these three persons are the one God.

E. Distinctly,

1. the Father is not the Son,

2. the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and

3. the Holy Spirit is not the Father.

Did I misrepresent the Trinity? If I did, offer a better model. It would be interesting to see how the Trinitarian model you offer differs from others'. We will see how it is able to withstand a close scrutiny.

An Objection to the Trinity

Of course the model above is not an exhaustive treatment—but merely an illustrative attempt—to explain my understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity. Now assuming that the model fairly represents the doctrine, if we want to be biblical Christians, ought we to believe the Trinity?

I submit that we ought not to believe the Trinity. In fact, we ought to reject the doctrine because it is unbiblical. In the next series of articles, I aim to provide good reasons for this.

Updated January 8, 2021

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[1] James R. White, The Forgotten Trinity (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House Publishers, 1998), 16, emphasis in original.
[2] Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1999), 730.
[3] Ibid., 732.
[4] White, 28-29, emphasis in original.