It is (Re)-Written: Doctrine of God

Ep. 1: THE ONE GOD

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4)

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"No true doctrine will lose anything by close investigation." - (Ellen White, Counsels to Writers, pg.37) Let us put this quote to the test. The above verse is believed by many to refer to the unity of the Trinity. Thus, this is the conception of ‘one God’ that many people have. However, is this really what the verse means?

(Deuteronomy 4:35 KJV) Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.

(Jeremiah 10:10 KJV)But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation

The pronouns ‘he’ and ‘him’ are used, at the very least pointing towards a singular individual in the plainest language, ‘there is none else beside him’. This one God is identified as LORD (when in full capital letters, it indicates that the Hebrew written is the tetragrammaton YHWH - Jehovah), He is called ‘the true God’ and ‘the living God’. With this in mind, consider the following now...

(John 17:3 KJV) And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

We gather from the above verse that Jesus Christ is not identified as ‘the only true God’. Rather there is a distinction between the only true God and Jesus Christ for it was the only true God that sent Jesus. Paul adds a voice to this, using the same phrases helping us distinguish between the true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent:

(1Thessalonians 1:9 KJV) For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;

(1Thessalonians 1:10 KJV) And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Here then we may safely conclude that there is one true God, and that this individual is the Father of Jesus Christ, YHWH, Jehovah.

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(1Corinthians 8:4 KJV) As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.

(Ephesians 4:6 KJV) One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

(1Timothy 2:5 KJV) For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

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Does this mean that Jesus is not God? No. In answering Deuteronomy 6:4, we are not dealing with the word 'God' as refers to nature, but as refers to identity or personality. Jesus' identity as we have clearly seen from various scriptures is distinct from that of the one God and one LORD (Jehovah). Jesus is the son of the one God. That is His identity.

(1Corinthians 8:5 KJV) For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)

(1Corinthians 8:6 KJV) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

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1. Who is the 'one God' and who is the 'son of the one God'?

2. Consider the following quote and deduce relevant points

“God is a spirit; yet He is a personal being, for man was made in His image. As a personal being, God has revealed Himself in His Son” - [Ellen White, Education, pg. 131, par. 1]

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NEXT: THE FATHER