One God The Father, One Lord Jesus Christ

One God The Father, One Lord Jesus Christ

“But if anyone loves God (τὸν Θεόν), the same is known by him. Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God (θεος) but one (εἷς). For though there are things that are called “gods (θεοι)”, whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many “gods (θεοι)” and many “lords (κυριοι)”; yet to us there is one God the Father (εἷς Θεὸς ὁ Πατήρ), of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord Jesus Christ (εἷς Κύριος Ἰησοῦς Χριστός), through whom are all things, and we live through him”

(1 Corinthians 8:3-6)

A much used, or rather, misused, passage from the Bible, by those who argue that only the Father is God in the fullest sense of the word, and Jesus Christ is not. Paul here writes, “But to us One God the Father (αλλ ημιν εις θεος ο πατηρ)”. Does Paul mean, that ONLY the Father is GOD, and that Jesus Christ, is not GOD; or, that there is only “One God the Father”, there is no other, Who is “God” and “Father”? So, “εἷς” is here used as the humeral “one”, and not in the sense of “only”.

For those who can see only from these words, the exclusiveness of the Father being GOD, there is a problem with what follows. Paul goes on to say, “και εις κυριος ιησους χριστος”, that is, “and One Lord Jesus Christ”. Are we to understand this, as, that there is “only ONE Lord, Who is Jesus Christ”, in the exclusive sense?

In Jude 4, we read, “τὸν μόνον δεσπότην καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν”, which is literally, “The Only Master and Lord of us Jesus Christ”. Here we have the use of the adjective, “μόνον (μόνος)”, which can have the meaning of “sole, alone”. In Acts 10:36, Peter says, “ιησου χριστου ουτος εστιν παντων κυριος”, “Jesus Christ Who is over All Lord”, which is the same as “The LORD of the Universe”.

If, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:6, that Jesus Christ is “εἷς Κύριος”, and that the Father is alone “εἷς Θεὸς”; and we are to understand this in the sense that the Father ALONE is GOD; and that Jesus Christ ALONE is LORD, we shall see that this does not mean that the Father as “GOD”, is in any way “Superior” to Jesus Christ, Who is “LORD”.

There are a number of passages in the New Testament, where we read of Jesus Christ as “LORD”, from direct quotes from the Old Testament. In Romans 10:9, Paul says, “Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved”, and then goes on to quote, “For everyone whoever shall call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (verse 13; also Acts 2:21), which is from Joel 2:32, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved”, where “the LORD”, is “Yahweh”, and directly applied to Jesus Christ. In the beginning of the Four Gospels, we read of John the Baptist, saying of Jesus Christ, “For this is He who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the Way of the Lord, make His paths straight (Matthew 3:3)”; which is from the Prophet Isaiah 40:3, “Prepare the Way of Yahweh, make straight a Highway in the desert for our God”. Again, Jesus Christ is clearly called YAHWEH. We also read of the birth of John the Baptist in Luke chapter 1, “And he shall turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (16-17). “The Lord their God”, is clearly “Yahweh”, Who John is to “go before”, which is also seen in verse 76, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest, for you shall go before the Face of the Lord to prepare His Ways”, again for “Yahweh”. Paul, in referring to the People of Israel who were destroyed by serpents, by Yahweh, in Numbers 21:5-6, says that this is the Lord Jesus Christ, “Nor let us tempt the Christ, as some of them also tempted Him and were destroyed by serpents” (1 Corinthians 10:9). In the account in the Book of Numbers, we read in the Hebrew text, “And the people spoke against God (Elohim) and against Moses” (Numbers 21:5). In the Jewish Targum Onkelos, it reads, “And the people murmured (or, growled) against the Word (Memra) of the Lord, and contended with Mosheh”. Clearly that it is “The Word of the Lord”, Who is Jesus Christ, Who is the Yahweh Who sent the serpents to destroy those who murmured against Him, Who is also called “Elohim”.

In Isaiah 45:5 and 6, it says, “I am Yahweh and there is no other”. We have seen that Jesus Christ is “the ONE LORD”; and that there are passages in the New Testament, which are direct quotes from the Old Testament, used for Jesus Christ, where they can only mean, “Yahweh”. Then we read in places like Isaiah, where Yahweh says that He only is YAHWEH, and there is no other. Using the same argument, that says the Father ALONE is GOD, we have to take the references in the Old Testament, of Yahweh, as ONLY for the Lord Jesus Christ. Further, in Isaiah 44:6, it says, “Thus says Yahweh the King of Israel and His Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god”. This can be understood, as “Yahweh the King of Israel”, being One Person, Who is YAHWEH, and Another Person, Who is “His Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts”, Who is also YAHWEH, Who is Jesus Christ. In the Book of Revelation, there are three places, where Jesus says of Himself, “I am the First and the Last (ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος)” (1:17; 2:8, 22:13). These words, “ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος”, are defined in the Greek lexicon by the Unitarian, Dr Joseph Thayer, as “absolutely (i. e. without a noun) and substantively; α. with the article: ὁ πρῶτος καί ὁ ἔσχατος, i. e. the eternal One, Rev 1:17; Rev 2:8; Rev 22:13”. In Exodus 3:14, the Greek Septuagint, reads: “Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν”, which is literally, “I Am the Eternal One”.

We can also see from the Old Testament, where there are places, that Two distinct Persons are YAHWEH.

In Isaiah chapter 48, we have the Speaker, Who is clearly Yahweh:

In verse 3, “I have declared the former things from the beginning”, and verse 5, “I have even from the beginning declared it to you”. In verse 12 and 13 the Speaker says, “Listen to Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called; I am He, I am the First, I also am the Last. My hand has also laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens”. In verse 15 we read, “I, even I have spoken, yes, and I have called him”

Then, in verse 16, Yahweh says: “Come near to me and hear this: “From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there.” Now the Adonay Yahweh has sent me with His Spirit”

The Speaker, Who identifies Himself as “the First and the Last”, and says that His Hands, “has also laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens”, is without any doubt, YAHWEH. This Yahweh says, that Another, Who is “Adonay Yahweh”, is SENDING Himself and “His Spirit”. If One is being SENT, and Another is the SENDER, then it is clear that we have TWO distinct “Persons”. And, then we have “His Spirit”, Who is also SENT, Who must Himself be DISTINCT, from the Other Two.

“His Spirit”, is also identified as Yahweh.

In 2 Samuel 23:2, we have a very clear reference where The Holy Spirit is called YHWH:

“The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; His word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me”

In the first place, “רוּחַ יהוה” (the Spirit of Yahweh), is the One subject, used for One Person. In the second place, even though the subject “רוּחַ” (Spirit), is a feminine noun, the verb, “דִּבֶּר־”, is in the masculine, literally, “He Speaks”. For the purpose of grammatical agreement, we would have expected “מִלָּה”, which is feminine. We have this also in the Gospel of John. In 14:17, Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, “even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for he dwells with you and will be in you”. Instead of “αὐτὸ” which is the neuter, translated “Him”, grammatical agreement with “πνευμα” (Spirit); the oldest Greek manuscript for this Gospel, the Papyri 66, about 200 AD, reads, “αὐτόν”, which is the masculine. In verse 26, Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, that “He shall teach you all things”, where the masculine “ἐκεῖνος (He)”, is used, and not the more grammatically correct, “ἐκεῖνο”, to agree with “πνευμα”. Clearly the Holy Spirit is not only a “Person”, but a “MALE Person”, against some who heretically teach that the Holy Spirit is “female”. Thirdly, the Hebrew, “וּמִלָּתוֹ”, which is “His word”, both referring to “The Spirit”. As do the words that follow, “The God of Israel, the Rock of Israel”. Fourthly, not only is the Holy Spirit, Yahweh and Elohim, but He is a distinct Person from Yahweh.

 

Cont...

In the Book of Zechariah, chapter 2,

“For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her. Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh. For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor He has sent Me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent Me. Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh. Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be My people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent Me to you”

Here we also have the Speaker, Who is clearly Yahweh. He speaks of Another Who is “Yahweh of the Armies”, and Who also SENDS Him. Shows DISTINCTION between TWO Persons, and Their Essential Unity, as both are equally YAHWEH. Jesus Christ Himself says that He was SENT by the Father, in the New Testament. It is clear, that the SENDER is no “greater” then the One Who is SENT, as both are YAHWEH.

In the Hebrew and English Lexicon, by F Brown, S R Driver and C A Briggs, we read of "Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel...the one bringing into being, life-giver, giver of existence, creator, he who brings to pass...he who causes...the one who is: i.e. the absolute and unchangeable one, the existing, ever-living" (pages 217-218)

These definitions are clear, that the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, as They are YAHWEH, are equally ALMIGHTY GOD.

It is very clear from the Teaching of the Holy Bible, that there are THREE Distinct Persons Who are equally YAHWEH. So, when we read that The Father is “ONE GOD”, and Jesus Christ is “ONE LORD”, it is never exclusive, and includes Others.

 

Paul is not saying that the Father ONLY is God, because he is clear that Jesus Christ is the "Great God and Saviour", as in Titus 2:13