Part 6

Heb 1:3--"Uphold all things." Col. 1:15-17--"By him all things hold together." Psa. 104:27-30--All creatures wait upon Him for "their meat in due season." Psa. 75:6, 7--"Promotion" among men, the putting down of one man and the setting up of another, is from the hand of God.

What do we learn from these scriptures regarding the relation of God to this universe, to man, and to all God's creatures?

First. That all things are held together by Him; if not, this old world would go to pieces quickly. The uniformity and accuracy of natural law compels us to believe in a personal God who intelligently guides and governs the universe. Disbelief in this fact would mean utter confusion. Not blind chance, but a personal God is at the helm.

Second. That the physical supplies for all God's creatures are in His hand: He feeds them all. What God gives we gather. If He withholds provision we die.

Third. That God has His hand in history, guiding and shaping the affairs of nations. Victor Hugo said: "Waterloo was God."

Fourth. Consider with what detail God's care is described: The sparrows, the lilies, the hairs of the head, the tears of His children, etc. See how these facts are clearly portrayed in the following scriptures: Matt. 6:28-30; 10:29, 30; Gen. 39:21, with 50:20; Dan. 1:9; Job 1:12.

Statement: The personality of God is shown by His active, interest and participation all things, even the smallest things, in the universe, the experience of man, and in the life of all His creatures.

THE UNITY OF GOD: (Vs. Polytheism).

There are three monotheistic religions in the world: Judaism, Christianity, and Mahommedanism. The second is a development of the first; the third is an outgrowth of both.

The doctrine of the Unity of God is held in contradistinction to Polytheism, which is belief in a multiplicity of gods; Tri-theism, which teaches that there are three Gods--that is, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are, specifically, three distinct Gods; and to Dualism, which teaches that there are two independent divine beings or eternal principles, the one good, and the other evil, as set forth especially in Gnostic systems, such as Parseeism.

a) The Scriptures Assert the Unity of God.

Deut. 6:4--"Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord"; or, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Isa. 44:6-8--"First.... last.... beside me there is no God." Isa. 45:5--"There is none else, there is no God beside me." 1 Tim. 2:5 "There is one God." 1 Cor. 8:4--"There is none other God but one."

That God is one, that there is no other, that He has no equal is the forceful testimony of above fifty passages in the Scriptures. The fundamental duty of life, namely, the devotion of the entire being to the Lord, is based upon the Unity of God: "The Lord....is one .... therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," etc.

No other truth of the Scripture, particularly of the Old Testament, receives more prominence than that of the Unity of God. This truth is clearly pronounced also in the material universe; it is the introduction and conclusion of all scientific researches. Any other representation contradicts both creation and revelation. Its denial is a proper object for the ridicule of every thinking man, and of the disbelief of every orthodox Christian. Let this, then, be our first and necessary conclusion--that Deity, whether creating, inspiring, or otherwise manifesting itself, is one God; one, and no more.--Cerdo.

A multiplication of Gods is a contradiction; there can be but one God. There can be but one absolutely perfect, supreme, and almighty Being. Such a Being cannot be multiplied, nor pluralized. There can be but one ultimate, but one all-inclusive, but one God.

Monotheism, then, not Tri-theism, is the doctrine set forth in the Scriptures. "If the thought that wishes to be orthodox had less tendency to become tri-theistic, the thought that claims to be free would be less Unitarian."--Moberly.

b) The Nature of the Divine Unity.

The doctrine of the Unity of God does not exclude the idea of a plurality of persons in the Godhead. Not that there are three persons in each person of the Godhead, if we use in both cases the term person in one and the same sense. We believe, therefore, that there are three persons in the Godhead, but one God. Anti-trinitarians represent the evangelical church as believing in three Gods, but this is not true; it believes in one God, but three persons in the Godhead.

(1) The Scriptural use of the word "One."

Gen. 2:24--"And they two (husband and wife) shall be one flesh." Gen. 11:6--"The people is one." I Cor. 3:6-8--"He that planteth and he that watereth are one." 12:13--"All baptized into one body." John 17:22, 23--"That they may be one, even as we are one ... that they may be made perfect in one."

The word "one" in these scriptures is used in a collective sense; the unity here spoken of is a compound one, like unto that used in such expressions as "a cluster of grapes," or "all the people rose as one man." The unity of the Godhead is not simple but compound. The Hebrew word for "one" (yacheed) in the absolute sense, and which is used in such expressions as "the only one," is never used to express the unity of the Godhead. On the contrary, the Hebrew word "echad," meaning "one" in the sense of a compound unity, as seen in the above quoted scriptures, is the one used always to describe the divine unity.

(2) The Divine Name "God" is a plural word; plural pronouns are used of God.

The Hebrew word for God (Elohim) is used most frequently in the plural form. God often uses plural pronouns in speaking of Himself, e. g., Gen. 1:26--"Let us make man." Isa. 6:8-"Who will go for us?" Gen. 3:22--Behold, man is become as "one of us."

Some would say that the "us" in Gen. 1:26--"Let us make man," refers to God's consultation with the angels with whom He takes counsel before He does anything of importance; but Isa. 40:14--"But of whom took he counsel," shows that such is not the case; and Gen. 1:27 contradicts this idea, for it repeats the statement "in the image of God," not in the image of angels; also that "GOD created man in HIS OWN image, in the image of God (not angels) created he him." The "us" of Gen. 1:26, therefore, is properly understood of plural majesty, as indicating the dignity and majesty of the speaker. The proper translation of this verse should be not "let us make," but "we will make," indicating the language of resolve rather than that of consultation.

4. THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY: (Vs. Unitarianism).

The doctrine of the Trinity is, in its last analysis, a deep mystery that cannot be fathomed by the finite mind. That it is taught in the Scripture, however, there can be no reasonable doubt. It is a doctrine to be believed even though it cannot be thoroughly understood.

a) The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament.

This doctrine is not so much declared as intimated in the Old Testament. The burden of the Old Testament message seems to be the unity of God. Yet the doctrine of the Trinity is clearly intimated in a four-fold way: