What does it mean that God is one?
To say God is one is the Bible's first confession: 'Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.' It means there is one true and living God, not many, and that He is wholly Himself, undivided. This 'one' does not contradict the Trinity: the one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so that when Jesus claims divine honor and the Spirit is poured out, we have not added a second or third God but have met the one God revealed in His fullness.
This question arose from studying Does Jesus sharing God's nature mean there are two Gods? and What is the Trinity?.
Begin by reading
Go into the Word
Not a summary of these passages: the passages themselves. Read them, then come back to the study below.
The study
What the Scripture says
The first confession of the faith
The Shema is Israel's creed: 'Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one,' and Jesus calls it the first and greatest of all, saying we must love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Over and against the many gods of the nations, Israel confessed one God. James affirms the same belief and adds a warning: 'The demons also believe, and shudder.' To confess that God is one is to know who deserves all of our allegiance.
Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.
Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment.
You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.
There is no other God
Isaiah records God's own testimony: 'I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God,' and again, 'I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God.' Paul applies it to the idols of Corinth: 'we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one,' though there are many so-called gods and lords. The first commandment follows: 'You shall have no other gods before me,' because there are none to have.
This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me; that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
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 but one.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
The one God is triune: this does not divide Him
The confession that God is one is not undone by the appearing of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, because these are not three gods but one God revealed in three Persons. Paul, right in the middle of guarding God's oneness, writes: 'to us there is one God, the Father... and one Lord, Jesus Christ,' and in the same breath he calls Jesus divine, the one 'through whom are all things.' Jesus and the Father are one, John hears Him say, and yet He is the Son of the only true God; the 'one' describes the being, not a loneliness.
yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.
This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
I and the Father are one.”
Go,and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Why it is good news, not a cold arithmetic
The oneness of God is not an abstract fact; it is the ground of our security. Because He is one, He cannot waver or split: the God who made a promise and the God who keeps it are the same. Because He is one, we are called to one whole-hearted love, with no rival in our affections. And because the one God is Father, Son, and Spirit, the deity we confess is not a solitary reign but the God who sent His Son to save us and His Spirit to dwell in us.
You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder.
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.
First commandment means first love
The confession of one God immediately becomes a command: 'You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.' Jesus folds the whole law of love for God and neighbor out of the oneness of God. To believe in one God is not merely to win an argument; it is to give one undivided heart. When rivals are gone, the whole person can turn to the only God, and that is the shape of true worship and the beginning of rest.
You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
Studying the Word naturally opens more of it. Follow what you just read: it leads somewhere.
Continue this trail
What will believers be rewarded for, if salvation is by grace alone?→“each man’s work will be revealed. For the Day will declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself will test what sort of work each man’s work is. If any man’s work remains which he built on it, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but as through fire.”What does it mean to eat His flesh and drink His blood?→“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”For whom did Christ die?→“I am the good shepherd.The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”What does the title 'Christ' mean?→“The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,”Does the Bible teach there are other gods?→“It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him.”Who are the 'gods' (elohim) of Psalm 82?→“God presides in the great assembly. He judges among the gods.”If Jesus is the 'firstborn of all creation,' was He created?→“who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.”Do I need a priest to reach God?→“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”What does Scripture show us about Mary?→“Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,”Does it matter which Jesus I believe in?→“But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed.”Which modern portraits of Jesus preach another Jesus?→“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?””How does Jesus becoming man show us the Father's love?→“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”What does it mean that Jesus is the Lion of Judah?→“One of the elders said to me, “Don’t weep. Behold, the Lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome; he who opens the book and its seven seals.” I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.”Explore further
Can we really understand the Trinity?→The Holy Spirit trail“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”How do the Persons of the Trinity relate to one another?→The Holy Spirit trail“Go,and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.
Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one:
yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.
This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.
Go,and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Worth visiting