Where do we start then? Of course, with the Old Testament since that is what appears first in the Bible (quite brilliant aren’t I?) If we only had the Old Testament, there is no doubt in my mind that no one would ever doubt that we are monotheists. But, if we only had the Old Testament, we wouldn’t have Jesus and I wouldn’t be writing this blog. Yet, I digress. From Genesis to Malachi, there is a clear statement the Bible is making; that is there is only one, true, invisible, and all powerful God. As we stand on the theological shoulders of the Old Testament, we can feel firm ground in our belief in our monotheism.
I have heard plenty of people argue that the Old Testament does indeed have the Trinity. Looking backwards, we do have the ability to distinguish passages that talk about God’s Spirit and assign them to the Holy Spirit mentioned in the New Testament. In the same way, passages which predict Jesus the Messiah give us much detail about His role in the Trinity. A few passages are stretched to fit the doctrine, like Genesis 1:26 (and again in 3:22 and 11:7), “Let Us make mankind in our own image…”. The use of the plural pronoun in this verse has been used often as evidence of the Trinity. Some Bible scholars, however, assign this to the sense of either the “royal we” or more likely the sense of “God and the heavenly host” being spoken of. No, without the New Testament, there would be no thought of multiple persons in the Godhead.
The Pentateuch lays the foundation for monotheism. There was only one God who created man, met with him in the garden, and told Noah to build the Ark. From Joshua 24:2, God makes it clear that beginning with Abraham, He was creating a monotheistic people group out of one who had previously only worshipped many gods. God introduces Himself to Moses in the singular in Exodus 3:6 as the “I am” not the “We are”. The whole covenant law begins in Exodus 20:1-4 with the commands to have “no other gods” and once again declaring, “I am the Lord” (not We are the Lord). The slam dunk though comes in the last book of the Pentateuch. Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Now, I may not be a Mensa candidate, but that seems clear to me, crystal clear.
From Judges to Esther shows the battle of monotheism against polytheism and idolatry. Let me give you the Cliff Notes version, the “people of God” don’t do too well. Joshua has barely been dead a few years, and the people give in to the attraction of polytheism and idolatry. That leads to God’s covenant justice and a cycle of sin, oppression, and salvation that goes all the way until the end of 2 Kings which leaves Israel in exile. 2 Kings 17:7 sums it up succinctly, “they worshipped other gods”. Game over if not for the grace of God to bring them back into the land for His Redemptive Plan.
The Prophets show the heart of God in this matter as a jealous husband wanting His people, the wife, to come away from it’s adulterous affairs with polytheism. No book says it quite like Hosea, the first prophet to use the analogy of Israel as the unfaithful wife to their husband, God. Hosea 2:16 says, “you will call me my husband (singular)”. The whole illustration rides on the fact that a woman is supposed to have only ONE husband (doesn’t really work if there are three Gods; what is the big deal with a few more husbands?).
You put it all together and we can safely say that if Christianity is based on the Bible, the WHOLE Bible, then we are most definitely monotheistic and however we describe the Trinity MUST fit within that framework. I only hit the highlights, as we could list so many more Old Testament passages to back this up. The fun part comes up next. Tune in next time when the New Testament says Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God too. Hmmm……..
The Bible Nerd 