1-2 Implications Of The Unity Of God
A Demand For Our All
That God is one is not just a numerical description. If there is only one God, He therefore demands our all.
Because He is the One God, He demands all our worship; and because He
is One, He therefore treats all His people the same, regardless, e.g.,
of their nationality (Rom. 3:30). All true worshippers of the one God,
whether Jew or Gentile, are united in that the one God offers salvation
to them on the same basis. The fact there is only one Lord Jesus
implies the same for Him (Rom. 10:12). Paul saw these implications in
the doctrine of the unity of God. But that doctrine needs reflecting on
before we come to grasp these conclusions. Christ taught that the
command that God was one and therefore we must love God included the
second command: to love our neighbour as ourselves. The first and
second commands were in fact one command; they were inseparably part of
the first commandment (Mk. 12:29-31). This is why the 'two'
commandments, to love God and neighbour, are spoken of in the singular
in Lk. 10:27,28: " this do…" . If God is one, then our
brother bears the one Name of God, and so to love God is to love our
brother (cp. 1 Jn. 4:21). And because there is only one God, this
demands all our spiritual energy. There is only one, the one
God, who seeks glory for men and judges them (Jn. 8:50)- therefore the
unity of God should mean we do not seek glory of men, neither do we
judge our brother.
That God is one is a command, an
imperative to action (Mk. 12:28,29). It underlies the whole law and
prophets (Mt. 22:40)- it's that fundamental. If there were two Gods,
Yahweh would only demand half our energies. Nothing can be given to
anything else; for there is nothing else to give to. There's only one
God. There can be no idolatry in our lives, because there is only one
God (2 Kings 19:18,19). Because " there is none else, you shalt keep therefore his laws" (Dt. 4:39,40). The one God has only one people; not all religious systems can lead to the one Hope.
Dt.
6:4 is far more than a proof text. Indeed God is one; but consider the
context. Moses has set the people up to expect him to deliver them a
long list of detailed commands; he has told them that God told him to
declare unto them " all the commandments…that they may do them…you
shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God has commanded
you…you shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has
commanded you…now these are the commandments…that you might do them…hear therefore O Israel and observe to do it
[singular]…" . Now we expect him to reel off a long list of commands.
But Moses mirrors that last phrase with simply: " Hear, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one" (Dt. 5:31-6:4). And in this context he gives
no other commandments. " Observe to do it " is matched with "
The Lord our God is one" . This is the quintessence of all the commands
of God. And he goes straight on to say: " And these words…shall be in
your heart" and they were to talk of them to their children in the
house and by the way, bind them upon their hands and on the posts of
their homes. It was the unity of God and the imperative from it to love
Him with all the heart which is what was to be programmatic for their
daily living. This is why it was Jewish practice to recite the shema several times a day, and also on their deathbed.
Dt. 6:1 RV reads: " Now this is the commandment
[singular], the statutes and the judgments…the Lord our God is one" .
And then they are told to write the statutes on their door posts etc.
It would have been hard to literally write all 613 of them there. Yet
the whole way of life for Israel was epitomized in the single
command…that God is one. It was and is a command; not a mere
statement. The Jewish zealots who died at Massada had as their battle
cry " the Lord our God is one!" , and some time later Rabbi Akiba was
flayed alive by the Romans, crying as the skin was stripped from his
bones: " The Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might" (1). And there are many accounts from the Nazi Holocaust of similar things.
We
do not have two masters; only one. Therefore, the more we grasp this,
the more we will give ourselves solely to Him. And this leads on, in
the thinking of Jesus, to having no anxious thought for tomorrow; for a
life of total devotion to Him means that we need not worry about
tomorrow (Mt. 6:24,25).
No Idolatry
There
is a religious impulse within all men, a desire to serve someone or
something. Generally, men and women sink this in the worship of the
many idols of this materialistic age. But for us, there is to be one
God, one channel alone for our devotion; for God is one. When Israel
rejected the fountain of Yahweh, they hewed out many other fountains,
in the form of idols (Jer. 2:13). The urge to worship is there within
all men and women. We are asked to concentrate and consecrate that
passion solely for the one God- not to share it between the many things
that demand it. Romans 1 goes so far as to condemn men because they
worshipped the created things besides (Gk.) the creator. All
their adoration should have gone to the one God Himself. And there will
come a day when all the world realizes that God is one (Is. 37:20
Heb.)- in that they will realize that He alone is God and all else is
pure vanity. Because God alone is holy, only He will be worshipped then
(Rev. 15:4). " The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Is.
2:11,17).
Our worlds, our lives and hearts, are full of
potential idols. And what, in the most fundamental essence, is wrong
with idolatry? It seems to me that idolatry trivializes this
wonderful God of whom we have spoken. It makes the Almighty God into a
piece of wood or stone, or into a smart career or new house. And so anything that
reduces the majesty, the surprise, the passion, the vitality in our
relationship with God is an idol. Time and again in our lives, God is
edged out by petty distractions- a car that needs repair, a leaking
gutter, a broken window. One could almost weep for the frequency and
the way in which all this occurs, so tragically often.
Faith
The
unity of God is related to His sovereign power in our lives: " He is
one [and therefore] what his soul desires, even that he does. For he
performs that which is appointed" (Job 23:13,14 RVmg.). The idea of
truth is often linked with the fact there is only one God (Is.
45:5,6,14,18,21,22). This means that all He says is the total Truth;
for there is no other God. Thus one God has given us only one faith,
hope etc (Eph. 4:4-6). Other belief systems can't be acceptable with
us. Such was the crucial importance of the unity of God; and likewise
it should influence our lives, hourly.
David had to
remind himself: " My soul, hope only upon God [one-ly upon the one
God]; for my expectation is from him [i.e. Him alone]" (Ps. 62:5).
There is only one God, one source of help and power- and thus the
oneness of God inspires our faith in Him. This motivated Asa to cry
unto Yahweh in faith: " LORD, there is none beside you to help…help us
, O LORD…for we rely on you" (2 Chron. 14:11 RV). Summing up, James
2:14-18 speaks of the connection between faith (believing) and works (doing). It is no co-incidence that 2:19 then says in this context: " You believe that God is one; you do well" (RV). To have faith in the unity of God will lead to works,
'doing well'. God would not be inquired of by Israel, i.e. He would not
answer their prayers, because they worshipped other gods, whereas God
is one (Ez. 20:31). Prayer and wholeheartedly requesting things from
the one God, relying on nothing and nobody else, is thus a form of
worship of the one God. If we are truly believing in one God, then we
shouldn’t feel awkward about asking Him for things- it’s a form of
worshipping Him.
Unity
Paul,
writing to those who thought they believed in the unity of God, had to
remind them that this simple fact implies the need for unity amongst us
His children, seeing He treats us all equally as a truly good Father: "
If so be that God is one...he shall justify the circumcision by faith,
and [likewise] the uncircumcision through faith" (Rom. 3:30 RV).
Notes
(1) See L. Finkelstein, Akiba: Scholar, Saint and Martyr (New York: Atheneum, 1975) p. 277.
