The most fundamental question one can ask about Christianity is, “Who is God?” That’s because God’s identity is the foundation upon which the tenets of the faith stand. Who then is this God? The Church Fathers of the fourth century, backed by the cunning and heavy handed Emperor Theodosius[1] at the Council of Constantinople (381 AD), declared God to be three persons in one substance. If this is the case, we should be able to find this doctrine stated in Scripture. However, even Trinitarian scholars admit that the teaching is not in the Bible. Charles Ryrie, professor, author and theologian, writes in his respected work Basic Theology:
It is fair to say that the Bible does not clearly teach the doctrine of the Trinity… In fact, there is not even one proof text, if by proof text we mean a verse or passage that ‘clearly’ states that there is one God who exists in three persons. [2]
Ryrie is not alone in his assessment. C. Peter Wagner, author and professor at Fuller Theological Seminary writes:
Nevertheless, there is no appearance of the word Trinity in the Bible, nor is there any single passage that describes God as three Persons in one essence. That is why it took hundreds of years of debate to arrive at our trinitarian doctrinal conclusion. It obviously had to be the result of extrabiblical revelation.[3]
If we are to truly know God, it is important that we base our understanding of who He is, not on who we think He is or who we want Him to be, but on who the Bible reveals Him to be. To that end, let’s explore what Scripture has to say about God’s identity.
God is the Father
According to the Jews, God is the Father:
Isaiah 64:8 (NASB) But now, O LORD [Yahweh], You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand. (emphasis added)
John 8:41 (NASB) “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.” (emphasis added)
John 8:54 (NASB) 54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’ (emphasis added)
A survey of Paul’s thirteen epistles reveals this fundamental truth about God’s identity, but it is often overlooked because it appears in his greetings. Nevertheless, in every letter the apostle plainly states that the Father is God. He also delineates between God and Jesus, whom he says is Lord and Christ, both of which are both Messianic titles and not designations of deity. For example:
Romans 1:7 (NASB) to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (emphasis added)
Galatians 1:3-5 (NASB) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. (emphasis added)
Philippians 1:2 (NASB) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (emphasis added)
1 Thessalonians 1:1 and 3 (NASB) Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace…3constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father (emphasis added)
Note also that the Holy Spirit–whom Paul designates in his letters as the Spirit of God[4]–is never included in his standard greeting. If the Holy Spirit is God, this would be quite the omission.
Unlike the Council of Constantinople, Paul unequivocally declares the “one God” to be the Father and not some triune being. Moreover, Jesus is not God, rather he is the Christ (Messiah):
1 Corinthians 8:6 (NASB) yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. (emphasis added)
Ephesians 4:6 (NASB) one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (emphasis added)
Furthermore, Paul knows Jesus to be the man who mediates between the one God and men:
1 Timothy 2:5 (NASB) For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (emphasis added)
Paul is joined by James, the Lord’s brother, in his acknowledgment of God being the Father and Jesus being the Christ:
James 1:1 and 27 (NASB) James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. (emphasis added)
Peter also, in both of his epistles, affirms that God is the Father, whereas Jesus is the Christ:
1 Peter 1:2 (NASB) according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ … (emphasis added)
2 Peter 1:17 (NASB) For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”—(emphasis added)
The apostle John writes in his epistles that God is the Father and, like the other New Testament writers, places Jesus in a separate category, that of “Christ”:
2 John 1:3 (NASB) Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. (emphasis added)
Jude, another of the Lord’s brothers, also knows that God is the Father. He ranks Jesus as the Christ:
Jude 1:1 (NASB) Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are the called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ (emphasis added)
As important as all of these passages are, of even greater significance is the fact that five times Paul declares that God, who is the Father, is also the God of Jesus:
Romans 15:6 (NASB) so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (emphasis added)
2 Corinthians 1:3 (NASB) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. (emphasis added)
2 Corinthians 11:31 (NASB) The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. (emphasis added)
Ephesians 1:3 (NASB) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (emphasis added)
Ephesians 1:17 (NASB) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. (emphasis added)
This is quite astounding considering orthodoxy from the 4th century onward has insisted, often under penalty of death,[5] that Jesus is God. How can God have a God? A question to which orthodoxy has still not provided a satisfactory answer.
Paul is not alone in his claim that Jesus has a God. Peter also states this truth:
1 Peter 1:3 (NASB) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (emphasis added)
Perhaps it would be best if we allowed Jesus to settle the question as to God’s identity. If anyone knows the answer, it’s Jesus. Who does he say God is?
John 4:21-24 (NASB) Jesus *said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (emphasis added)
Jesus’ doctrinal creed is that the Father is God. The Father is the one we are to worship. He also states, most emphatically, that the Father is his God.
John 20:17 (NASB) Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'” (emphasis added)
At least twenty times[6] the Bible tells us that Jesus (Messiah) has a God. Ten of those times Jesus himself says God is, “My God.” Some try to explain this away by saying Jesus had a God while in the earth in his humbled state. However, even after Jesus is exalted by God the Father to His right hand, he continues to call Him, “My God.”
Revelation 3:12 (NASB) ‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. (emphasis added)
Some might suggest that the Father being God does not preclude Jesus or the Spirit from being God as well. However, in what has been called Jesus’ “high priestly prayer” he resolutely declares the Father to be the only true God, and says of himself that he is the Christ (Messiah):
John 17:1 and 3 (NASB) Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You…3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (emphasis added)
While there are numerous other times in Scripture where God is referred to as the Father, this list should be sufficient to demonstrate who the first century Church believed the one God to be. The question is, who do you believe Him to be? Does your belief align with that of Jesus’ and the Scriptures? Or are you more in agreement with the post-Biblical tradition known as the Trinity? Either way, we encourage you to walk with us as we continue to explore the One God of the Bible.
Philippians 4:20 (NASB) Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (emphasis added)
[1] In January 380 AD, the Emperor Theodosius I decreed by law that one must believe in the doctrine of the Trinity or face the penalty of death. This was done one and a half years prior to his convening the Council of Constantinople at which the Church Fathers were, not surprisingly, found to be in agreement. Kegan A. Chandler, The God of Jesus in Light of Christian Dogma, (McDonough, GA: Restoration Fellowship, 2016), p. 219
[2] Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth, (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 1999), p. 89.
[3] C. Peter Wagner, “But That’s Not in the Word!” Charisma Magazine, June 2014, accessed 04-13-19, http://www.charismamag.com/spirit/bible-study/19995-but-that-s-not-in-the-word
[4] The Spirit of God is not a separate person from God, just as the spirit of Elijah is not a separate person from Elijah, and your spirit is not a separate person from you.
[5] For example, Emperor Theodosius II also order the death penalty for those denying the doctrine of the Trinity. Robert H. Bainton, Christendom: A Short History of Christianity and Its Impact on Western Civilization, Vol. 1 (New York: Harper & Row, 1964), p. 101.
[6] Messiah has a God: Micah 5:4; Psalm 45:6-7; Psalm 22;1; Psalm 89:26. Jesus has a God: Matthew 27:46 (2x); Mark 15:34 (2x); John 20:16-17; Romans 15:5-6; 2 Corinthians 1:2-3; 11:30-31; Ephesians 1:1-3; 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:8-9; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:4-6; 3:2; 3:12 (4x).
