About God

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

The Watch Argument

If we found an old watch on the ground, having never seen a watch before, we might pick it up and examine it. We might open the back and look at the complicated mechanism. We would notice how the tiny wheels worked against each other and turned the hands on the face.

We would know that such an intricate piece of mechanism must have been made. The watch must have been designed; it must have been planned. The watch could not have made itself. The parts could not have come together by accident. The fact that the watch exists is evidence that there must be a designer – there must be a watchmaker.

The universe is made up of millions of stars. The earth has a moon revolving round it. The sun and the planets are part of a marvellously intricate system of which every part is moving exactly along its appointed path. This is much more complicated than any watch. This did not happen by accident. There must be a designer. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

What the Bible tells us

God has revealed Himself as the Creator. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). “I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded” (Isaiah 45:12). God has revealed Himself as eternal. He has always been and always will exist. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Psalm 90:2). “Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting” (Psalm 93:2). There is only one God. Israel were reminded that the various gods the Egyptians worshipped had no power and were no more than man-made images. “For all the gods of the people are idols: but the Lord made the heavens” (1 Chronicles 16:26). God is all powerful. He knows all that is going on and is present everywhere by the power of His spirit. “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off…and art acquainted with all my ways” (Psalm 139:2-3). David in this Psalm says that our minds are too small to understand the greatness of God (v6). But if we know that God sees and knows all things it can be a great comfort and a source of strength. “If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:9-10). The Bible tells us that God’s ear is always open to hear the cry of His children and God has declared, too, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5; Joshua 1:5).

The Unity of God

The Bible teaching that there is one God is important, particularly as there are many who do not believe this. It is the clear teaching of both Old Testament and New Testament. Look up these verses – Isaiah 45:5; 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Ephesians 4:6. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus himself emphasised the importance of this Bible doctrine when he said, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3).

The Doctrine of the Trinity

Few doctrines are more generally accepted by the Christian world than that concerning the Godhead, known as the doctrine of the Trinity. Roman Catholics, the Greek Church, and almost all denominations of Protestants, however they may differ upon some points, agree on this, and believe that ‘the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one God’. They further believe that all three are co-equal and co-eternal. Is this a true doctrine? If so, while we may not understand it, must we accept it? How are we to know? Obviously only by what God has been pleased to reveal in His word. Therefore, to the Bible we go and soon discover that there is no support anywhere in its pages for this popular doctrine, but quite the reverse. The Scriptures always teach the unity of God, not the trinity. The following quotations clearly show this:-
  • “Here, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord”  (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29).
  • “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me”  (Isaiah 45:5).
  • “To us there is but ONE GOD, the Father, of whom are all things”  (1 Corinthians 8:6).
These are not by any means isolated passages, but examples of many more might be quoted, all teaching that God is one, not three. The last of the above passages is strikingly significant. Christ had appeared, had died, been raised from the dead and exalted to the Father’s right hand, yet Paul says there is ONE GOD! Who is this? The triune God of orthodoxy – Father, Son and Holy Ghost? No! it is THE FATHER. He was the God whom Paul worshipped.

Was Jesus God the Son?

What, then, of Jesus Christ? Was he not ‘God the Son’? In view of the frequent use of this expression today, it is remarkable that such a phrase is not to be found in the Bible. We read of the “Son of God”, but not ‘God the Son’. The natural inference is that the doctrine involved by that expression is not a scriptural one. The Athanasian Creed says of the Father and Son that they are co-equal and co-eternal. Passing over the remarkable conception that a Father and Son can be co-eternal, what does the Bible say concerning the co-equality? It speaks most plainly on the matter. Was Christ the equal of the Father when he was here 1900 years ago? Let him answer for himself:-
  • “I can of mine own self do nothing”  (John 5:30).
  • “My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me”  (John 7:16).
  • “My Father is greater than I”  (John 14:28).
The very fact that he was sent by the Father (John 5:24, 37) negates the theory of co-equality, whilst his want of knowledge concerning the time of his second coming is an additional evidence against the popular belief, for one cannot imagine the Second Person of the Trinity being ignorant of anything. Not only was there this absence of equality in the past, it is the same now. Ponder the words of Paul when he speaks of the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:31), even as Jesus himself, after his resurrection, referred to the Father as “My God” (John 20:17). The further fact that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5), is another testimony to the same effect.

Christ’s Future Position

This line of evidence can be carried further. We look forward to the time at the end of Christ’s reign on earth of one thousand years. What do we see? “Then cometh the end, when he (Christ) shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father…He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet…When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto Him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28). Thus in the past, the present, and the future, high as is the position assigned to Jesus Christ, the Father is supreme, and co-equality is never even suggested. Who, then, is Jesus Christ? The Son of God, born of a virgin mother, as recorded in Matthew and Luke:- “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Jesus lived as recorded in the Scriptures, was tempted, suffered, and died, but was raised from the dead by the Father, and exalted to the Father’s right hand as High Priest and Mediator. There he will remain until the time when he shall return to the earth to establish the Kingdom of God.