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.