Q1.
Is there only one God?
YES
Answer
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The Almighty God has appropriated
to himself and declared his name to be Jehovah, which signifies the "Self-Existing
One" or "The Immortal One." Thus we read his declaration to Moses,
saying: "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the name
of God Almighty [the superior or most mighty God], but by my name Jehovah was
I not known to them." (Exod. 6:3) By this name, Jehovah, God was thereafter
recognized amongst his people. The name is used hundreds of times throughout
the Old Testament, but is covered, in a large degree, from the English reader,
through an error of the translators, who have rendered it "LORD."
It can, however, be recognized readily, being always printed in small capitals
when used to translate their sacred name, Jehovah.
Thus in the first Commandment given to Israel the Lord said, "I am Jehovah,
thy God...thou shalt have no other gods [mighty ones] before me [my equals]...for
I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God." Exod. 20:2-5
Again Moses declares, "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one--Jehovah;
and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul
and with all thy might." (Deut. 6:4,5) And this is the very passage of
scripture which our Lord Jesus himself commended as the very essence of truth.
When inquired of respecting the greatest commandment, he said, quoting this
scripture, "Thou shalt love the Lord [Jehovah] thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind; this is the primary and great
commandment." (Matt. 22:37,38) Again we read, "I am Jehovah; that
is my name: and my glory [honor] will I not give to another." (Isa. 42:8)
And let not the context escape our notice, for this positive declaration that
the name Jehovah is exclusively that of "the Father of Lights with whom
is no variableness"
A sharp distinction should be drawn between a confession of faith in a Trinity,
and a confession of faith in the Unity of the heavenly Father, Jehovah, and
the heavenly Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the holy Spirit. The doctrine of
the Trinity holds that the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit "are one
in person, equal in glory and in power," as stated in the Church creeds.
The Bible, while showing the absolute Unity between the Father and Son and holy
Spirit in the various steps of the great plan of salvation, most positively
contradicts the thought that the Father and Son are one in person, denies that
they are equal in majesty and in power, except as before shown, that the Father
has glorified the Son, has highly exalted him and given him a name above all
others except his own, making him his agent and representative in the exercise
of "all power in heaven and in earth." All the various scriptures
agree in their statements to the effect that the Father sent the Son into the
world; and that the Son, for the joy set before him by the Father, endured the
cross, and despised the shame; and that he was the heavenly Father's first and
only begotten Son; and that after he shall have accomplished the work which
the Father has given him to do, he shall deliver up the Kingdom of earth, at
the close of the Millennial Age, to the Father; and the additional statements
already called to attention, in which the Son cheerfully and fully acknowledges
that he "came forth from the Father," that he "came not to do
his own will" but the Father's will; and that the power he used was not
his own power, but the Father's power; also his statement, "The Father
is greater than I," and the declaration of the prophecy, that he is the
Messenger or servant of the Covenant, and not the Maker of the Covenant; together
with the repeated declarations of the New Testament Scriptures, that he is the
Mediator of the New Covenant--the one Mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." These various scriptures
all consistently and harmoniously teach a distinction of person and glory and
power as between the heavenly Father and the heavenly Son; but a most absolute
and profound unity of plan, will, purpose: for the Son was worthy to be the
executor of the great plan of Jehovah, because he had no will of his own, but
renounced his own will that he might be filled with the Father's spirit and
do his will in every particular. John 6:38,39
Moreover, the very words "Father" and "Son" imply a difference,
and contradict the thoughts of the Trinity and oneness of person, because the
word "father" signifies life-giver, while the word "son"
signifies the one who has received life from another. The heavenly Father received
life from no one; he is the fountain, the source of life, not only to our Lord
Jesus, his only begotten Son, but through him the source of life to all others
of his creatures. And all this is fully in accord with the scripture which stands
at the head of this chapter, in which the Apostle plainly denies that the Father
and the Son are one in person or in power, saying, "To us there is one
God, the Father, of whom are all things...and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom
are all things."
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