What does it mean by One God?

[Godistruth1]

Christians often say that God is one and not more than one but as i understand it is it mostly means One family of Gods not One God as there are three distinct deities not one God but three gods. Please explain. If ur example is similar to one i said above please dont post your answer as ive been through this justification many times

 

[GospelS]

One God means one WHOLE God because He is God.

God being one is different from man being one because God is not a man.

 

[Godistruth1]

One God means one WHOLE God because He is God.

God being one is different from man being one because God is not a man.

So do you agree there are three deities in One God?

 

[GospelS]

So do you agree there are three deities in One God?

No.

 

[HTacianas]

Christians often say that God is one and not more than one but as i understand it is it mostly means One family of Gods not One God as there are three distinct deities not one God but three gods. Please explain. If ur example is similar to one i said above please dont post your answer as ive been through this justification many times

What is meant by only one God is that there are not multiple competing gods or one god for some group and another god for another group. One god cannot be greater or lesser than some other god because there is only one.

The second part of your question seems to relate to the Christian Trinity. The nature of the one God is triune. Or as Philo of Alexandria explained it, God exists as a "divine Triad". He appears on one level to be three, but is actually one.

Different people have different ways of destroying the triune nature of God, but many don't convey the idea very well. We avoid using the term "part" in describing the nature of God because it leads to other problems, but I think of God in the form of an atom with a proton in the center and two electrons surrounding it. Missing the proton renders the atom something else. Missing either electron renders the atom something else.

Philo described the ark of the covenant as an image of God. The cherubim on either side represented God's creative and regent powers, with God the Father resting on the mercy seat between them is the divine Triad.

 

[jayem]

I believe it was Joseph Priestley, the 18th century English dissident theologian, philosopher, scientist (often credited with discovering oxygen,) and good buddy to Thomas Jefferson, who said that the idea of a trinity is "metaphysical insanity."

 

[Godistruth1]

What is meant by only one God is that there are not multiple competing gods or one god for some group and another god for another group. One god cannot be greater or lesser than some other god because there is only one.

Im not saying they are like competing. There might work in harmony but they are still 3 distinct gods

The second part of your question seems to relate to the Christian Trinity. The nature of the one God is triune. Or as Philo of Alexandria explained it, God exists as a "divine Triad". He appears on one level to be three, but is actually one.

But how is it one when theres three distinct because father is not son nor is son holy ghost etc

 

[coffee4u]

Christians often say that God is one and not more than one but as i understand it is it mostly means One family of Gods not One God as there are three distinct deities not one God but three gods. Please explain. If ur example is similar to one i said above please dont post your answer as ive been through this justification many times

No, it's one God showing himself in 3 forms. Like water can be wet, solid or gas but all is water. That is as close as an explanation as I think you will find. Our flesh and blood bodies cannot fully understand it, just know that it is and know that once we have passed on we will understand all things. Here though in the flesh, it's like a 2D man trying to undertsand a 3D man.

 

[GoldenKingGaze]

As revealed in scripture, and by the early church fathers explaining misunderstandings, God is one God, one substance, expressed in three, co-existing, co-eternal, co-equal persons.

You see that if people thought Jesus was an angel, that would interfere with their faith's ability to save them, justify them.

The Bible says, Listen Israel the Lord your God, the Lord is united. And Genesis open with plural, God, they created... ElohIM.

The Father and the Son are the same age, being above time, having created time as we know it. Isaiah 9:6 YLT.

The Spirit who never manifested like the Son, is a person, because scripture says He has a mind, will and emotions. We are created in His image and likeness.

From God comes living water, light, love. This they seem to have in common. A common substance and nature, the same mind, three minds. Perfect agreement.

 

[hedrick]

No. Every Trinitarian theologian has said clearly that there is only one God.

 

[Godistruth1]

co-equal persons

But arent they different? Also who is most powerful among them? Jesus depicts father as most powerful

 

[hedrick]

But arent they different? Also who is most powerful among them? Jesus depicts father as most powerful

There are actually a couple of different approaches to the Trinity. in the West, theologians start with God as one, but see some distinction with the one God. Augustine, pretty much the founder of Western theology, saw the distinction as just sufficient to allow a relationship. After all, if love is intrinsic to God, and love is a relationship, God has to in some way be able to experience both sides of the relationship. In this concept of the Trinity, it's one God who experiences in three ways. The Catholic Encyclopedia says "the same mind will have a three-fold consciousness, knowing itself in three ways in accordance with its three modes of existence". Remember, that at least in the traditional Western theology described by the Encyclopedia, the Trinity has a single will and is a single mind.

 

[HTacianas]

Im not saying they are like competing. There might work in harmony but they are still 3 distinct gods

But how is it one when theres three distinct because father is not son nor is son holy ghost etc

It's the same as the example of the atom. How can it be a single atom when the atom cannot exist without each of the components?

 

[Aryeh Jay]

It's the same as the example of the atom. How can it be a single atom when the atom cannot exist without each of the components?

What you are saying is God is the manifestation of three lesser gods, when combined into one becomes God. Sounds like a Japanese cartoon like Voltron.

is Jesus the Proton or Electron?

 

[HTacianas]

What you are saying is God is the manifestation of three lesser gods, when combined into one becomes God. Sounds like a Japanese cartoon like Voltron.

is Jesus the Proton or Electron?

I have not said anything of the sort. I described the triune nature of God. Neither is a "lesser god". The three are one.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

I have not said anything of the sort. I described the triune nature of God. Neither is a "lesser god". The three are one.

An electron is not an atom, it is an electron

A proton is not an atom, it is a proton

A neutron is not an atom, it is a neutron

 

[hedrick]

Personally I think the terminology "three persons" is unfortunate when dealing with non-Christians. It sounds like three people, which would be three gods. "person" is a translation of a Greek term that doesn't mean what "person" means in English. Given that God has one will and consciousness (at least in Western theology), I believe that in normal English terms it is closer to one person.

Discussions are also complicated by the fact that they are peppered with misleading analogies and explanations.

 

[HTacianas]

An electron is not an atom, it is an electron

A proton is not an atom, it is a proton

A neutron is not an atom, it is a neutron

But together they are an atom.

 

[LoG]

Being that we are created in God's image, the best analogy might be that since we are composed of mind, body and spirit, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, each represent one of those aspects. So in the same sense that we are one in 3 distinct parts, He is One.

 

[Godistruth1]

It's the same as the example of the atom. How can it be a single atom when the atom cannot exist without each of the components?

Is it possible that there can be more than 3 parts of God or infinite and not 3? Also so it does not matter how many components are there in One God, they are still One God?