Part Four: The only true God
One of the clearest and most
succinct statements revealing the identity of the one true God is found in John
17:1-3. There, we read that Christ prayed, “Father,
come has the hour. Glorify your Son, that your Son should be glorifying you,
according as you gave him authority over all flesh, that everything which you
have given to him, he should be giving it to them, even life eonian. Now it is
eonian life that they may know you, the only true God, and him whom you
commission, Jesus Christ.
In these verses we read of Christ praying to, and
distinguishing himself from, the “only true God.” Since Christ was addressing
the Father alone, it’s clear that Christ believed the Father to be the only
true God. In accord with this fact is the equally clear truth that the only
true God to whom Jesus Christ prayed was (and is) his God. But is the Father alone the only true God? According to
Trinitarianism, he isn’t. Trinitarians believe that Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit are just as much “the only true God” as the Father to whom Christ was
praying in John 17:3. Thus, the position of Trinitarians could be expressed as
follows:
1. The Father is identical with the only true God.
2. The Son is identical with the only true God.
3. The Holy Spirit is identical with the only true God.
According to Trinitarianism, then, each person of the Trinity
is understood to be identical with (the same as) the only true God. By
identifying each member of the Trinity with the same “only true God,”
Trinitarians believe they’re able to avoid the conclusion that the Father alone
is the only true God to whom Christ was praying. However - as will be
demonstrated below – there is no tenable way for the Trinitarian to understand
the words “the only true God,” such that each member of the Trinity can be
identified with that which is being expressed through these words.
The Trinitarian has three options when it comes to
understanding how each person of the Trinity could be identical with “the only
true God”:
1. Each member of the Trinity is identical with
the same divine essence.
2. Each member of the Trinity is identical with
the same divine person.
3. Each member of the Trinity is identical with
the same triune God.
None of these options work. To understand why, let’s consider
each one in turn:
1. Each member of the Trinity is identical with
the same divine essence.
As was demonstrated in part one of this study, the members of
the Trinity cannot be identified with the one divine essence in which they are
understood to subsist (or of which they are understood to be distinct “modes of
existence”). Although the Trinitarian may understand the existence of the
persons of the Trinity as being inseparable
from the one divine essence, neither
the Father nor the other two persons of the Trinity can, in Trinitarian
theology, be equated with the one divine essence. The
Trinitarian can’t equate one person (the Father, for example) with the essence
of the other two persons. Assuming the idea is even intelligible to begin with,
the idea that each person of the Trinity is identical with (the same as) the
essence of the other two persons flat-out contradicts the idea that there is
any real distinction between the persons of the Trinity at all.
Thus, the words “the only true God” cannot be understood to
mean, “the only true divine essence.”
2. Each member of the Trinity is identical with
the same divine person.
If the last option implicitly
involves the destruction of any real distinction between the persons of the
Trinity, this option explicitly does so. The acceptance of this view would be
contrary to the Trinitarian doctrinal essential that each person within the
Trinity is distinct from the others (the Father is not the Son, the Son is not
the Holy Spirit, etc.). To believe that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are
really the same person is to affirm the central theological tenet of Modalism,
which is incompatible with orthodox Trinitarianism.
Alternatively, if the Trinitarian were to understand Christ as
saying that the Father was the only true divine person, they would be affirming
the very doctrinal position to which I subscribe. The term translated “only”
(mon’on) really does mean “only” (i.e., without another, alone, sole). If,
after creating Adam, God referred to his human creation as
“the only true human person,” it would mean that, besides him, there was no
other human person (as was the case before Eve was formed). So for the Father
to be “the only true divine person” would mean that, besides him, there is
no other divine person. But of course, according to Trinitarianism, the Father isn’t the only true divine person.
Rather, he is understood to be one of three
divine persons. The position that the Father is “the only true divine person”
is, therefore, precisely what Trinitarians don’t
believe.
3. Each member of the Trinity is identical with
the same triune God.
The triune God is a tri-personal being identical with three
distinct persons subsisting in one divine essence. Since no individual member
of the triune God can be understood as being identical with three distinct
persons subsisting in one divine essence, this last option doesn’t work,
either. Even according to Trinitarianism, the Father himself is not the triune
God. And since Christ was clearly addressing the Father in his prayer, he most
assuredly wasn’t referring to the triune God as “the only true God.” Consider
the following argument:
1. The only true God
cannot be both the triune God of Trinitarianism and another God.
2. According to Christ in John 17:3, the only true God is the
Father.
3. The Father is not the triune God of Trinitarianism.
4. The triune god of Trinitarianism is not the only true God.
Everything said above can be considered “negative” arguments
against the doctrine of the Trinity. However, having eliminated the three
options available to the Trinitarian by which they can attempt to reconcile
Christ’s words in John 17:3 with their theological position, let’s now consider
some scripturally-informed logical arguments which positively state the truth
concerning the identity of the only true God:
1. Either the Father alone is the only true God, or he isn’t.
2. If the Father alone isn’t the only true God, then the only
true God is a different god than Jesus’ God.
3. But Jesus’ God is the only true God.
4. Therefore, the Father alone is the only true God.
1. In John 17:3, the God to whom Christ was praying is the
only true God.
2. Jesus was praying to his God.
3. Jesus’ God is the Father alone.
4. The only true God is the Father alone.
1. No one can be the only true God without being greater than
all and thus worthy of the worship of all.
2. The Father alone is greater than all and thus worthy of
the worship of all (John 10:29; 14:28; cf. John 4:21-24).
3. The Father alone is the only true God.
Thus, the only logically possible, legitimate referent for
the words “only true God” in John 17:3 is the
Father alone. There is only one “only true God,” and the Father alone is
he.
At this point, the Trinitarian may attempt to resist this
conclusion by appealing to 1 John 5:20: “Yet we are aware that the Son of God is arriving, and has
given us a comprehension, that we know the True One, and we are in the True
One, in His Son, Jesus Christ. This One is the true God and life eonian.”
According
to the standard Trinitarian interpretation of this verse, the person referred
to as “this One” in the last statement refers to Jesus Christ rather than to
the Father (thus making Jesus “the true God”). However, as has already been demonstrated, we have good reason to
believe that the Father alone is the only true God. And insofar as this is the
case, we have good reason to believe that 1 John 5:20 is completely consistent
with this truth, and that the Trinitarian has simply misunderstood what is
being said in this verse. As with the “only true God” referred to by Christ in
John 17:3, the “true God” who is being referred to by John in 1 John 5:20 is
the Father alone. This can be confirmed through a more careful analysis of the
verse itself. To make the distinction between the two persons in view in this
verse as clear as possible, I’ve placed references to Jesus in red and
references to the Father in blue: “Yet we
are aware that the Son of God is arriving, and has given us a comprehension, that we
know the
True One, and we are in the True One, in His Son, Jesus Christ. This One is the true God and life eonian.”
According to John, Jesus
Christ (the Son of God) had given the recipients of his letter knowledge of the
Father (“the True One”). Notice how the Father is repeatedly referred to by
John as the “the True One.” When we get to the last statement of this verse,
the clear implication is that “this One” refers back to “the True One” who had
already been referred to twice by John (i.e., the One whose Son is Jesus
Christ). The Trinitarian may object that “Jesus Christ” is the closest noun to
“this One.” However, the proximity that a noun or pronoun has to a certain
referent does not, in itself, determine the identity of the referent. The
following are just a few examples in which the context (and not the closest noun or pronoun) is
necessary to determining the identity of the referent: Acts 4:10-11, Acts
7:18-19 and 2 John 1:7. Since, in the context, the “true one” clearly refers to
the Father, we can reasonably conclude that “this one” refers back to the same
person (who, in John 17:3, is referred to as “the only true God”). Moreover, in
the larger context of Scripture, the expression “the true God” is found four
other times (2 Chron. 15:3; Jer. 10:10; John 17:3; 1 Thess. 1:9). In all four
places, it is the Father alone who is being referred to. And in the immediate
context of John’s letter, “him that is true” is found two times, and both times
it refers to the Father.[1]
For us there is one
God, the Father
In 1 Corinthians 8:4-6, Paul wrote the following:
“We are aware that an idol is nothing in the world,
and that there
is no other God except One. For even if so be
that there are those being termed gods,
whether in heaven or on earth, even as there are many gods AND many lords,
nevertheless for us there is one God, the Father, out of Whom all is, and we for Him, AND one Lord, Jesus Christ, through
Whom all is, and we through Him.”
In this passage, Paul was clearly distinguishing the one God
(the Father) from Jesus Christ (who is referred to as our “one Lord”). The same
contrast between the Lord Jesus Christ and God can be found in Ephesians 1:1-2
and 4:5-6 as well:
“Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
“…one Lord, one faith, one
baptism, one
God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all.”
Notice
how the one God is the “God and Father of all,” and is said to be “over all.”
The word “all” must be understood as including the Lord Jesus Christ, since the
same God who is “over all” is the “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Eph. 1:2). This is also clear from 1 Corinthians 11:3: “Now I want you to be aware that the Head of every
man is Christ, yet the head of the woman is the man, yet the Head of Christ is God.” Christ also declared the Father to be
“greater than all” (John 10:29), including himself (John 14:28). Thus, when we
find Paul referring to Christ as the “one Lord” in 1 Cor. 8:6, the implication
is that Christ is the one Lord who is distinct from, and subordinate to, the
one God. That is, among all who are subordinate to the one God, there is, for
us, one Lord.
That Christ - as the “one Lord” - is to be understood as
distinct from, and subordinate to, the one God, is further evident from the contrast
being made by Paul in 1 Cor. 8:4-6. When Paul referred to “many gods” and “many
lords” he was referring to two different classes of beings with two different
statuses. The “gods” are not the same as the “lords”; they are the beings to
whom people rendered divine worship/service. And the “lords” in view are not
the same as the “gods”; the “lords” refer to those persons who, although
understood to have a superior status/rank, were not considered divine. When
Paul referred to the Father as the “one God,” he was contrasting the Father
with the “many gods” to which he’d referred previously (that is, in contrast
with the “many gods” referred to, there is, for us, one God – i.e., the
Father). In the same way, when Paul referred to Jesus Christ as the “one Lord,”
he was contrasting Christ with the “many lords” to which he’d referred previously
(that is, in contrast with the “many lords” referred to, there is, for us, one
Lord – i.e., Jesus Christ). For us there is ”one God, the Father” rather than “many gods,” and ”one Lord, Jesus Christ”
rather than “many lords.”[2]
When we understand the contrast Paul was making, we can see
that, by referring to Jesus Christ as the “one Lord” of believers, Paul wasn’t
denying that the title “Lord” could also be appropriately applied to God.
Clearly, the Father is also “Lord.” For example, in Luke 1:31-32 we read, ”And behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He
will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the
throne of his father David” (for other examples of the title
“Lord” being applied to the Father, see Matthew 4:7, 10; 22:37; Luke 1:68;
20:37; Acts 2:39; 3:22; 4:24; 17:24; Rev 1:8; 4:8, 11; 21:22; etc.). However,
just as the “many lords” Paul had in view were understood as distinct from, and
subordinate to, the “many gods,” so the “one Lord” with whom Paul identified
Christ is to be understood as distinct from, and subordinate to, the one God.
Trinitarians will often argue that, because the Father is also
“one Lord,” Jesus Christ can also be considered the same “one God” as the
Father. However, this argument is flawed. The Father is not the “one Lord” of v. 6. In fact, the very thing that allowed
Paul to refer to Christ – but not the Father – as the “one Lord” in v. 6 is
that Christ doesn’t have the same divine status as the Father. By virtue of not
having divinity, Christ can’t be contrasted with the “many gods” of v. 5. Only
the Father (who possesses divinity) is a suitable contrast to the “many gods”
of v. 5. And yet Christ can be
contrasted with the “many lords,” because he is the only non-divine person
(i.e., the only person subordinate to the one God) who is our Lord. Among all
who are distinct from and subordinate to the “one God,” there is for us “one
Lord, Jesus Christ.”
It must also be kept in mind that, in contrast with the Lordship
of the Father, Jesus’ Lordship is not a status that has always belonged to him.
Rather, as argued earlier in this study, Jesus’ Lordship was given to
him by God (Acts 2:36; Phil 2:8-11; Rom. 14:9; Matt. 28:18;
Heb. 1:4). Since Jesus’ Lordship is derived and the Father’s is un-derived,
they cannot be the same “one Lord.” And since Jesus and the Father are not the
same “one Lord,” they cannot be the same “one God.” The one God is the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and no one else. And this means that the one
God is not the god of Trinitarianism:
1. According to 1 Cor. 8:6, the one God besides whom there is
no other God is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. If the one God besides whom there is no other God is the
Father alone, then the one God is not the tri-personal god of Trinitarianism.
3. The tri-personal god of Trinitarianism is not the one God,
but is a false god.
[1] Some have objected that, elsewhere, Christ is referred
to as “the life” and “life eonian.” However, there is no good reason why both
God and his Son can’t be referred to as “life eonian” (especially since, according to Christ, life eonian is said to
involve, and be closely associated with, knowing both God and his Son).
[2] It is because the
larger context of this passage involves the subject of idols (which are things
that represent gods) that Paul first referred to “those being termed gods.”
However, in anticipation of his reference to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Paul
made sure to add that there were “many lords” as well as “many gods.” For the
contrast that Paul planned on making was not only between the Father and the
“many gods,” but also between Jesus Christ and the “many lords.”
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