Who is the one true God?

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True Bible Answers · Accepted Answer

The one true God is revealed in Scripture as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — three distinct Persons in one divine glory, eternally related in love. The Godhead: Three Persons, One God The very first name for God in the Bible already intimates this mystery. A. J. Pollock writes: This is one of the very outstanding names of God in the Old Testament, occurring well over 2,000 times — 27 times in Genesis 1. It is the plural of Eloah, and means creatorial power... the plural word Elohim, is followed by a singular verb. Has this no meaning in the light of Scripture? It is clear that we have here the first intimation of the Godhead as Trinity — Father, Son and Spirit, yet One God. Hence the verb in the singular, the two words, "God (plural) created (singular)" set forth a plural unity, never known save in relation to the Being of God. A. J. Pollock On the great declaration of Deuteronomy 6:4 — "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD" — Pollock continues: Here in this very majestic declaration of the Oneness of the Godhead, care is taken to state it consistently with the truth afterwards revealed concerning the Three Persons of the Godhead — Father, Son and Spirit. These Three Persons, of one Substance, completely united in thought, will, purpose, counsel, are not three Gods, but One God, not a tritheism, but a Holy Trinity. We cannot understand the mystery of all this, but this truth lies at the very foundation of the Christian faith. Pollock The Son Revealed as the True God The apostle John's declaration in 1 John 5:20 is one of the most direct statements in all of Scripture: "This is the true God, and eternal life." J. G. Bellett unfolds how the Son stands in the glory of the Godhead: We are baptized "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" (Matt. 28:19). This carries with it the formal declaration of the mystery of the Godhead; the Son being a divine Person (in the recognition or declaration of this sentence), as is the Father, and as is the Holy Ghost. If there are Persons in the Godhead, as we know there are, are we not to know also that there are relationships between them?... The Persons in that glory are not independent, but related. Nor is it beyond our measure to say that the great archetype of love, the blessed model or original of all relative affection, is found in that relationship. The understanding which has been given us, has been given us to know "Him that is true," as being "in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ"; and to this it is added, "This is the true God, and eternal life." J. G. Bellett "The True God and Eternal Life" H. J. Vine dedicated an entire paper to this title from 1 John 5:20: Before the coming of the Son of God into the world the true God was unrevealed, and it was not until the Spirit was given that any were capable of taking in the revelation made by the Son. From the world's foundation the eternal power and divinity of God were to be perceived in the things that are made, but not the true God Himself... It needed One who was in Himself God to be adequate to perfectly declare God. It is to be noticed, the Father is here called the true God, just as the Son is called the true God in 1 John 5:20. It is not that there are two Gods, but the Son is God and the Father is God, even as also the Holy Spirit is God; but it is in the Son, become man, we see "God manifest in the flesh." "No man comes to the Father but by Me," said the Son of God. "I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life." This excludes all the efforts of man apart from the Son: it shuts out the natural man even at his very best. The Son is the Way, not simply a way! The Son is the Truth, not simply a portion of it! The Son is the Life, not simply a partial manifestation of it. Yea, "He is the true God and eternal life." H. J. Vine The Word Was God Pollock carefully expounds John 1:1: (1) The Word was in the beginning, that is from all eternity. (2) The Word was WITH God, a distinct Personality. (3) The Word was God, DEITY is claimed for the Word. (4) The Word was WITH God in the beginning, that is eternally, a distinct Personality. When John 1:1 says that "The Word was with THE God," it means God absolute, that is Father, Son and Spirit, One God, the Fullness of the Trinity... But when it says, "The Word was God" without putting in the definite article, we see Deity claimed for the Word, God relative. Thus carefully does the inspired word of God put the definite article where it is needed, and leaves it out, when its insertion would not have conveyed the truth of the relative position of our Lord in the Godhead. "God Is Light" and "God Is Love" William Kelly, expounding 1 John, draws out the two great declarations of God's nature: "And this is the message which we have heard from him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." "God is love."... "Herein was manifested the love of God in our case, because God hath sent his Only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as propitiation for our sins." William Kelly One God, One Lord Frank Hole, commenting on 1 Corinthians 8:6, addresses the unity of the Godhead against pagan polytheism: "The deity of Christ can no more be denied because the Father is here called 'one God,' than the dominion of the Father can be denied because the Son is called 'one Lord.'" To this we may add — or the deity and dominion of the Spirit be denied, because He is not mentioned at all. The fact is, of course, that the Godhead is being presented in contrast with the many gods and lords of the pagan world; and in the Godhead the Son is He who has taken the place of Lord. Frank Hole The one true God, then, is the God who has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — not three Gods, but one, in a unity that surpasses all human understanding. He cannot be discovered by the intellect of man; He must be revealed. And that revelation comes supremely through the Son, who is Himself "the true God, and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). It is the Father who sends, the Son who declares, and the Spirit who enables — and in knowing them, through faith in Jesus Christ, we possess what all the ages of human inquiry could never attain: the knowledge of the only true God, and life everlasting.

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