We Know That God Is One

1 Corinthians 8:4 - "Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one."

In 1 Corinthians chapter 8 the apostle Paul is dealing with the issue of eating things sacrificed to idols, and in the middle of this instruction he makes a statement concerning the singularity, or uniqueness, of God. He says "We know that there is no such things as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one." And he goes on to say in the next two verses - "For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him." There are other things, imaginations of men, idols of mans own making, to which people will ascribe the title of "god" and fashion images to which they will bow, but even so, these things are not God. There is one God, the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Gods exclusivity is something that is emphasized throughout Scripture. It doesn't really matter where we go in the Word of God we find the truth that He alone is God and there is no other. The folly of worshiping idols is also spoken of time and again in the Word of God. In Psalm chapter 115 the psalmist is crying out to the one true God and speaking of the gods of the surrounding nations, and he says in verses 4-8 - "Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them." They may have an image and a form, but so what. They're not alive, they cannot function. In fact, if it were not for man they would not even exist. We worship the one who created us, not the things that we have created. Why would you worship something that you created? The Lord points out how ridiculous this is in Isaiah 44:9-17 - "Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame. Who has fashioned a god or cast an idol to no profit? Behold, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble themselves, let them stand up, let them tremble, let them together be put to shame. The man shapes iron into a cutting tool and does his work over the coals, fashioning it with hammers and working it with his strong arm. He also gets hungry and his strength fails; he drinks no water and becomes weary. Another shapes wood, he extends a measuring line; he outlines it with red chalk. He works it with planes and outlines it with a compass, and makes it like the form of a man, like the beauty of man, so that it may sit in a house. Surely he cuts cedars for himself, and takes a cypress or an oak and raises it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow. Then it becomes something for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also makes a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god and worships it; he makes it a graven image and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he eats meat as he roasts a roast and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Aha! I am warm, I have seen the fire.” But the rest of it he makes into a god, his graven image. He falls down before it and worships; he also prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god.”" I love the logic of this. A man cuts down a tree, burns half of it to cook his food and bows down and worships the other half. Can't you see the discrepancy? But this is mankind in his folly. He does not like to retain God in his knowledge and so he would rather bow down to the work of his own hands or the vain imaginations of his own sinful heart.

The Exclusivity of God is something that is really brought out a lot in this section of Isaiah. In 44:8 the Lord says - "Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none." He continues in 45:5-6 - "I am the Lord, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God... That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other" And in 45:14 - "Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, no other God." We read in Isaiah 45:18 - "For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am the Lord, and there is none else."" And He says in verses 21-22 - "There is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other." And He says in 46:9 - "I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me." We could go on, but you get the point. God has made it abundantly clear that He alone is God.

All the way back in the book of Deuteronomy the Lord made it clear to His people that He alone is God and there is no other. In Deuteronomy 4:39 we read - "Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other." Before the Lord states the first and greatest commandment in Deuteronomy 4:5-6, namely loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, He gives a declaration concerning Himself, saying in verse 4 - "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" The Lord is one, there is no other. Therefore, He should have no competition in our lives. Since the Lord is one, you should love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, mind and strength. If there were many gods our love would be divided between them, but since there is one He expects and demands it all. If your love is divided between Him and anythings else, whatever it may be, that thing has become an idol to you. The children of Israel were about to enter the land of Canaan, a land of pagan people who worshiped idols, and the Lord wanted to warn His people about the danger of following after so-called "gods." And so He emphasizes His exclusivity.

After the Lord Jesus ascended into heaven His disciples began to spread the message of salvation throughout the world, and those who were involved in the crafting and selling of idols vehemently hated the gospel message, because it was bad for business. After all, if someone starts going around and convincing people that they don't really need your product then you're bound to go out of business. Well, this is what was going on in the city of Ephesus in Acts chapter 19. It came about that as the apostle Paul began to preach the gospel in Ephesus a good deal of people began turn to the one true God and reject their old idolatrous practices. We read in Acts 19:23-27 - "About that time there occurred no small disturbance concerning the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing no little business to the craftsmen; these he gathered together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made with hands are no gods at all. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be regarded as worthless and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence." These men did not care about the souls of men, they cared only for money. And there are a lot of people like this today. Religion is a very profitable business, and men will say almost anything in order to make a profit. There are people in churches and shrines and synagogues and college classrooms all around the world who are toying with religion for what they can gain from it. I know of a college professor who was heard saying "There's a lot of money in religion." And that's sadly the way that many people think. And the message that God is one is detrimental to the business of world religion, but that is the truth that the Word of God declares, it's the truth that the Lord God reveals about Himself, and it's the message that we must proclaim whether it's popular or not. He alone is God and there is no other. 

In Isaiah chapter chapter 36 a messenger came to Jerusalem from the king of Assyria, who was conquering all the cities and nations in that region of the world. When this messenger came to Jerusalem he began to discourage the Lords people in order to persuade them to surrender without a fight. He began to tell them that Hezekiah, the king of Judah, was misleading them by telling them that the Lord God would be able to deliver them, and he made the case that none of the gods of the other nations had been able to deliver them from the Assyrian army, and so it would be no different with the God of Hezekiah. Well, when this message was brought to Hezekiah he was greatly distressed and immediately brought the matter to the Lord in prayer. His prayer is only five verses long, but he both begins and ends the prayer speaking about the fact that God is God alone and there is no other. He prays in Isaiah 37:16 and 20 - "O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who art enthroned above the cherubim, Thou art the God, Thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth... And now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou alone, Lord, art God." Because of how the Assyrians compared the one true God to all the false gods of the nations around them, this was a main focus of Hezekiah's prayer. He prayed for deliverance, in order that all the nations might now that there is one true God, the Lord.

1 Timothy 1:17 - "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen."

Jude 25 - "To the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen."