Is Christianity monotheism?

Albion said:

TO US perhaps.

We already are convinced of the Oneness of God and we have the advantage of knowing the whole history of the Hebrew people up to Christ.

But for the Hebrews at the time of those Old Testament writings, polytheism was known to be the rule among the various peoples who surrounded them.

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The Most High God is in line with titles like “king of kings” and “lord of lords”. It indicates that he is above all others in those categories.

They’re not redundant and misleading titles - they are witnesses to his supremacy and eminence over all gods, kings, lords, powers, principalities, authorities etc.

God is above all, thus he is El-Elyon. I’m sure we agree on that he

Dkh587 said:

The Most High God is in line with titles like “king of kings” and “lord of lords”. It indicates that he is above all others in those categories.

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Not the same kind of comparison, though, is it?

Albion said:

Not the same kind of comparison, though, is it?

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there is also God of gods.

Psalms 136:2
O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Dkh587 said:

there is also God of gods.

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We've already addressed the point about such figurative language. The Bible simply cannot be read to mean that there is literally only ONE God but also that he's better than all the other gods!

And yet that is what your line of argument is asking us to do.

Albion said:

We've already addressed the point about such figurative language. The Bible simply cannot be read to mean that there is literally only ONE God but also that he's better than all the other gods!

And yet that is what your line of argument is asking us to do.

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that’s exactly what the Scriptures are teaching us, that there is 1 true God above all other gods.

The 10 commandments even teach us to have NO OTHER GODS before God. Whether you think they’re real or not, God said don’t worship other gods, thus he acknowledges other gods.

King of kings = the king above all kings
Lord of lords = the lord above all lords
God of gods = the God above all gods

El-Elyon = Most High God, the highest God, meaning there is no god higher than him. He is the highest.

The Bible teaches that God is the only savior, and there is no other savior besides Him, but yet there are dozens of saviors throughout the Bible. This is language used to denote supremacy and eminence, not singularity.

Dkh587 said:

that’s exactly what the Scriptures are teaching us, that there is 1 true God above all other gods.

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But you are trying to make a reference to "gods" be automatically literal. There is no reason to do that, especially when to do so contradicts other parts of Scripture which tell us that there is only one god.

Do you also consider Father Time, the Jolly Green Giant, and Old McDonald, to be literal, actual, beings? Probably not, but you've heard of them and you can speak of them. Doing so often conveys some meaning to the listener.

As has been explained, OTHER people, not the Hebrews, were polytheists, which is a false belief, but it is almost impossible to teach the wrong of believing in these other "gods" of these neighboring peoples without mentioning it!

The 10 commandments even teach us to have NO OTHER GODS before God.

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Right. It is forbidden to worship Baal or Osiris or Zeus, etc. But that doesn't make these gods be real beings.

LayHong_Loves_Christ said:

Lamb of God is Jesus Christ, right?
Will we see God the Father face to face in New Jerusalem?

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Yes, but it is impossible that heaven will be like some really wonderful place on Earth that we could describe to a friend.

What "seeing" and "face" will mean will be entirely different from what we experience now when we use those words.

LayHong_Loves_Christ said:

Is Christianity monotheism?

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Yes. Trinitarianism is a form of monotheism. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one and the same God, distinct in their person and economic function.

GPendu said:

God has revealed himself as ONE GOD in three persons, but ONE in essence. This means the Father is essentially the Son, and essentially the Spirit,- and vice versa to all.

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Sorry but Jesus is not God the Father, nor is he God the Son and the same applies to the other members of the trinity.

Tolworth John said:

Sorry but Jesus is not God the Father, nor is he God the Son and the same applies to the other members of the trinity.

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I am sure you misunderstood me, or I failed to clearly spell what I meant. I am talking of ESSENCE here. Jesus Christ is not God the Father but God the Son, but his ESSENCE is of the Father. Christ's intrinsic nature is ESSENTIALLY of the Father, and Christ can rightly be called Wonderful Father, because of his intrinsic nature which is essentially of the Father.
A dictionery defines ESSENCE as follows:
[ˈɛs(ə)ns]
NOUN

1. the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, which determines its character.

I hope you get this clear.

LayHong_Loves_Christ said:

Is Christianity monotheism?

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Of course! We worship ONE God that is in 3 separate forms. They are not 3 separate gods.

I had for the longest time the hardest time recognizing Jesus Christ as equal to God the Father or recognizing the Holy Spirit as equal to Jesus. Jesus has since shown me that he is in fact, and all members of the trinity are in fact, equal to each other in each and every way and are the one and only God almighty.

GPendu said:

Christ's intrinsic nature is ESSENTIALLY of the Father, and Christ can rightly be called Wonderful Father, because of his intrinsic nature which is essentially of the Father.

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No, that won't work, either. To the extent that we are talking about essence, the Son is indeed eternal, omniscient, a spirit, and all of that. It's his essence. But he is not the Father. That would be contrary to belief in the Trinity and, in addition, contrary to Jesus' own description of the matter.

LayHong_Loves_Christ said:

Is Christianity monotheism?

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If Christian means that person is a disciple of Jesus, then Christianity is monotheism, because Jesus said there is only one true God that is greater than him.

This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
John 17:3

the Father is greater than I.
John 14:28

And also, Paul said:

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
1 Timothy 2:5

Trinity is the nature of God. A human has one head and 2 arms, it's still one person. The Trinity is still one God.