God is One Trinity

God is One Trinity is a study on the Oneness of God, yet the realness of the three persons in the Trinity. Taken from the work, Cox Study notes on the Holy Spirit, a work by Pastor Missionary David Cox. It is in Appendix 26.

This article is by David Cox on David Cox’s website.

26. God is One.

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

The first thing to note is that there is only one God. There are no more Gods than our one Jehovah God. In answer to the question, “How many Gods are there?” the answer is a resounding “one.” The second thing to note is that this doesn’t conclude the teaching of these three verses. There is more. The idea of “one God” is simply that other gods outside that one true God do not exist. They are the imagination of people. Humans make gods out of money, control, their own vices, etc. None of that is the Supreme Being, although in the sense of “a false god”, that is exactly correct. So the statements above are not counting the number of Gods only, but the statements insist in the exclusivity of that one Supreme Being.

Satan, himself, presents himself as “the god of this world.”

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god (G2316 θεός theos) of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
John 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince (G758 ἄρχων archon) of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince (G758 ἄρχων archon) of this world be cast out.
Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince (G758 ἄρχων archon) of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

So the point is, God calls Satan, the god of this world, and uses theos, the normal name for God Himself. But if we understand what Scripture says about Satan, Satan is a created being, an angel. Satan fell, and God is the Supreme Being, the only one that exists, and Satan is just an angel, powerful albeit, but a created being. That is the difference. Perhaps God gave Satan the place of being the prince of the world, the high priest between the creation and God, at some point before he fell.

John 16:11 Of judgment, because the prince (G758 ἄρχων archon) of this world is judged.

So we should probably understand from these verses that Satan was installed as some kind of prince over the world. This is not the same as being the Supreme Being who created, sustains, etc. the world.

The Lord God Jehovah is Exclusive as God

The idea of God is one also conveys the idea that the God is exclusive. Think of this point as being a family, mother and father, with a bad child. When the child wants candy, he asks his mother. She says no, so he turns to his father. He doesn’t reveal that the mother has already said no, he just asks. This is the idea here. If you cross God by doing sin, there is nobody else other there to save you (Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name… whereby we must be saved“). God is alone in his position.

Isaiah 44:6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
Deuteronomy 4:35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
1 Kings 8:60 That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.
James 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. (The oneness of God causes demons to tremble and fear, because they no there is no other god as a resource to use against the wrath of Jehovah God.)
1 Chronicles 17:20 O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
In this point, we need to squarely declare to all men, that there is only one Savior, Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 1 Timothy 2:6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

This One God exists as a Trinity of Persons

The Trinity is a doctrine difficult to understand, but absolutely necessary and essential. There is only one God who exists in three persons. Again we are treading on difficult ground here, because first, we are human and don’t or cannot understand the being of God. Second, we only know limited things that God has seen fit to reveal to us. Before you really start investigating the biblical doctrine of the Trinity, consider for a moment a thought.

If this were a human “king” over a kingdom, and this human king had to go to another land to effect a rescue operation of somebody, who would be tending the throne while he is gone? I know you will say God is great, He can do that, both go to a far away land and sit on the throne. But how would He do that? Very simply, human kings tend to have generals, and often their son, a prince, will go into battle, and the father sits on the throne to tend to things there. Isn’t this exactly like God has done? Send God the Son to accomplish a rescue mission, while God the Father sits on the throne in heaven? So the persons of God, one single unity God, each have a separate personality, and they each have a particular task to accomplish.

God the Father is identified with the will of God. This is the plan that things are supposed to go by, this plan. God the Son is the incarnated person of God, who rescues mankind by being an umpire, completely identified with man because he was incarnate, and completely God in every aspect. The Holy Spirit is that identified with giving understanding, life, and with making places, objects, and people holy, the characteristic that identifies with God. While the Son’s mission is to save, and Jesus makes that happen, the Spirit’s task or mission is to make holy like God, and “He makes it happen.”

1 Corinthians 8:6 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.

This passage is very difficult to understand in this mini-study of the oneness of God. But the fact of the verse is that it states that “But to us there is but one God, the Father”. So without twisting this text, let us take it at face value. There is only one God. That God is identified with the Father. Why the Father? The terminology of “father-son” implies a relationship of some kind.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses (among others) say God the Father is really Jehovah God (Yahweh). They claim Jesus is a created being. So they set Jesus as inferior to the Father, and basically equal with Satan. The Son being good, and Satan being evil, two brothers in power fighting against each other. In oriental religions, this is represented as ying and yang, the co-equal and opposing forces of good and evil.

But in just considering things as being that way, you have reduced the power of God to being equal with Satan a created being, and removed the Almighty from Jesus. (See some verses where Jesus is linked with being this Almighty God. Rev 1:8; Heb 1:3; Isa 9:6 Jesus is called “Mighty God”; Mat 1:23 Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us”. Would that give you comfort, if Jesus is anything but God Almighty? Zep 3:17; Col 2:9 “the whole fullness of deity, or God, dwells bodily.”

How can Jesus only be a little god, if the fullness of God describes Him? Doesn’t Jesus being a “god” with a small “g” mean a god entity apart from Jehovah God, so then there are legitimate other gods? If Jesus is “a god” as the Jehovah’s Witnesses proclaim, and that is not fully God Jehovah, then in the Bible these “other gods” that are not Jehovah are false gods, and are condemned if you worship them. Jesus is the center focus of the Bible, so why isn’t Jesus condemned as a false god if he is not fully God?

Jn 10:33 The Jews understood perfectly Jesus’ teaching, that Jesus is Jehovah incarnate. “Jehovah” is like the word “God“, it refers to the Trinity. The Bible declares that we are to worship only Jehovah God Mat 4:10 “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve“, yet Jesus received worship Mt 2:2, 8, 11; 14:33 “they worshiped Him” calling him the “Son of God“. Mt 28:9, 17; Heb 1:6 God the Father commands the angels of God to worship the Son. John 9:38).

But in returning to look at 1 Corinthians 8:6 passage, there is the problem of mentioning two elements, first that God is one, and immediately the word “Father” associated with this oneness of God. Okay. But then immediately as a parallel to that is the statement that “and one Lord Jesus Christ.” This Lord Jesus is associated with Creation (a test of the Supreme Being) and the Creation of man. The concept of “lord” is someone who is tasked with ruling, with making things happen. So it is difficult to conceive as Jehovah (the Father) only is God, and that Jehovah is Lord, and yet there is another person who is Lord. This way of looking at things only confuses and does not resolve things to clarity.

Psalms 100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Leviticus 11:44 For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Leviticus 18:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.
Psalms 83:18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
Deuteronomy 4:35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
1 Kings 18:39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
Deuteronomy 4:39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
2 Samuel 7:28 And now, O Lord GOD, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
Also Leviticus 18:6, 30; 19:3-4, 10, 25, 31, 34, 36; 23:22, 43; 24:22; 25:17; 25:38, 55; 26:1, 13, 44; Num 10:10; 15:41; Deu 5:6; 29:6; Judges 6:10; Joshua 22:34.

In observing and meditating on these verses, it is very difficult to somehow separate the concept of only true God from the name “Lord God“. But 1 Corinthians 6:8 instead of being a problem for the Trinity, it is a support of it. In the concept of the Trinity, one God exists as three distinct persons, each with their “task” or “mission” in the world, coexisting equal one with the other, yet being only one God.

Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

In this passage, Jehovah God (LORD your God) is “Lord”, and he is a mighty God. So the associations here are reinforcing the Trinity doctrine, and difficult for those who reject the Trinity. A mighty God is still referring to a powerful God, and you cannot just separate that Jesus is Lord while Jehovah is God. It cannot be that way.

The Holy Spirit is the Supreme Being

Only God Jehovah, the Supreme Being, can truly create. This means only the Supreme Being can bring from matter from nothing. Only the Supreme Being can impart life where there is none.

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. Psalms 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. (The Holy Spirit is connected with the Word of God in inspiration, and this Word of God, made the heavens, and “the breath of his mouth” made the heavens. Breath here is “spirit” or Hebrew “ruwach”.) Job 26:13
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. So the breath of God, His Spirit, the Holy Spirit gave life to that clay that day. (Job 12:10 “the breath of all mankind”)
Psalms 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. (renewed is built again, so this is the sustaining of creation)
Isaiah 40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Isaiah 40:13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?

So we need to see the distinction and mark its importance here. The Holy Spirit participated in creation, the bringing of something material out of nothing. The Spirit of God is also represented as giving life. Satan wasn’t around in these creation moments. He was created later.

The Holy Spirit gives Life

Moreover, we need to see that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, is what gives man “life.” Life has to have some kind of description for us to understand it. A rock is not alive. Animals, plants, and people are alive in some way. They all experience death, the cessation of life. (Job 34:14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; Job 34:15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.)

Understanding and awareness of the world around a person’s own self is part of “life” for that person. When he dies, he no longer perceives, or has part in this world.

Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

First to note here, is that the spirit of man that is in him is given by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, this spirit is what causes understanding of a person in the world. Even plants respond inherently to their environment, turning and growing towards the light. Thirdly, we need to see a very hard, close relationship between this “Spirit of God” and God himself. He is “of the Almighty.”

Psalms 139:7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? Psalms 139:8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Psalms 139:9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

God is one Trinity

More from Coxs Holy Spirit Notes

• Enroth – Recovering from Churches that Abuse
• Emergent Church Refutation
• Emergent Church Marks pt 2
• Emergent Church Errors part1
• Drugs and Theology
• Discerning if you are in an Emergent Church
• Discerning between a False and True Christianity
• Detecting Emergent Churches Soteriology Part 3
• Detecting Emergent Churches pt1
• Detecting Emergent Churches Methodology pt2

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