The Baptist Catechism Question No. 8
Q: Are there more gods than one?
A: There is but one only, the living and true God.
When looking at the various religions of the world, one may assume that there are a plethora of gods of which people may worship. Some believe that the God of the scriptures is merely the highest of all gods. However, the catechism clearly teaches the biblical doctrine that there is only one God, the living and true God. This is an important teaching because orthodox Christianity is monotheistic, not henotheistic. We believe in one God who created all things and stands alone as the holy and sovereign ruler of all creation.
Scriptural Basis:
Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
As Moses began to explain the law of God to the Israelites who were on the precipice of the promised land, he proclaimed this doctrinal statement to God’s covenant people. Moses was very specific about the subject and predicate of this doctrinal statement. The subject is “the LORD our God”. When reading most English translations, the covenant name of God (Yahweh) is translated as “LORD” using all uppercase letters. Moses emphasized this point by calling the LORD “our God”. This God had entered into a covenant relationship with the people of Israel. He promised to be their God and they would be his people. We are clearly dealing with one particular being who has acted on behalf of the Israelites in a very real, tangible way. The predicate of Moses’ statement was the adjective “one”. The Hebrew behind our English translation carries the meaning of “alone”. So the point of Moses’ statement is that there is one LORD and He alone is LORD.
Exodus 7:5 (ESV) The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.
Exodus 14:18 (ESV) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.
The LORD is not merely interested in His covenant people recognizing His Lordship. God’s great acts of judgment on Egypt served a two-fold purpose: 1) They provided the means of Israel’s deliverance. 2) They displayed God’s power over the false gods of Egypt, revealing His Lordship. Both of these purposes were important to God’s intentions in delivering His people because they both brought Him glory. From our perspective, each of the ten plagues in Egypt seems random and strange. The thought of frogs, flies, boils, and locusts all baffle our twenty-first-century anti-supernatural minds. However, each of these plagues was specifically used to show God’s dominance over ten of Egypt’s false gods. The darkness which covered Egypt while God’s supernatural light shone on Israel was a slap in the face to Egypt’s false god, Ra. Each and every plague not only brought Israel one step closer to freedom but also systematically destroyed any belief that there was any god but the one, living God. The omnipotent, sovereign LORD of Israel crushed the impotent gods who only existed in the imaginations of rebellious image-bearers of God.
Worldview Challenge:
Truth will always have an effect on an individual. For the believer, the truth that there is one God alone should have implications for our lives. 1.) God is not in a battle for the universe with other deities. The idea of Zeus and the Greek pantheon have permeated many aspects of our thinking. We may be tempted to think that God is having to fight tooth and nail in order to accomplish His plans and purposes because of other powerful beings. This is simply false. Even Satan himself can only do what God allows (Job 1-2). This should give us confidence that God is capable of accomplishing all that He has promised. 2.) Since God is God alone, it makes His revelation the exclusive means of and our only hope for the truth. As His creatures, we cannot know anything with certainty unless it is revealed to us by the One who knows all things. If multiple gods existed and they all had their own, independent revelations, then we would have no way of being certain of anything, and knowledge would be impossible. However, we are capable of knowing things because our Creator has revealed Himself both in His word and His creation to provide a single, unified testimony of truth. More can be said about the implications of monotheism on our worldview, but for now, we can assert that reality as we know it is only possible because the LORD IS GOD ALONE.
Remember: Catechisms should be used as a helpful tool alongside a healthy intake of Holy Scripture. They should never replace God’s Word because their usefulness depends upon their accurate representation of God’s Word. When using these tools, always ground the answers in the scripture references provided.
