I usually do not quote the Quran, but this is an area of such significant agreement that I feel compelled to start with it:
Say: “O People of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah…” (Q3 1:64 QURAN-ALI)
Christians whole heartedly agree that the True God, the God of the Bible, the One who created the world, does not have partners. Here is what the Bible teaches:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.(Deuteronomy 6:4 BEREAN)
I am the LORD; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols. (Isaiah 42:8 BEREAN)
Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:22 BEREAN)
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:6 BEREAN)
So, you see, the prophets of the Bible teach the oneness of God. You say God has no partners? We agree. Biblical followers of Jesus believe there is only one God.
However, the oneness of the True God is not simplistic. The Bible shows us glimpses of His beautifully complex nature throughout.
…yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:6 BEREAN)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2 BEREAN)
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” (Genesis 1:26 BEREAN)
Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!”
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, …
Now you might be thinking, “Wait! Fafa, you just said that followers of Jesus believe there is only one God! Now you are suggesting that there are three Gods!”
Actually, I am not saying there are three Gods. The Bible does not teach three Gods. However, as I said earlier, the unity of the True God is not simplistic.
One of the verses I quoted to demonstrate the oneness of God was this:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. (Deuteronomy 6:4 BEREAN)
The Hebrew word translated “one” is (אֶחָד) ʾeḥāḏ. It is the same word used in these verses:
God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. (Genesis 1:5 NAS95)
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 BEREAN)
In these verses and others, the “one” is a composite, made up of two entities. ʾeḥāḏ does not always have this nuance, but it is clear enough in these verses.1 This understanding of the Hebrew word allows us to understand the following verses.
God refers to Himself with plural pronouns:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” (Genesis 1:26 BEREAN)
Or,
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” And I said: “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8 BEREAN)
Some say that these are plurals of majesty, or examples of the “royal we.” However, these uses of a plural and this understanding of the text is a modern invention and not a feature of Hebrew literature. No king of Israel ever spoke of himself in the plural.
Then there is the case of multiple Persons being called “Lord.”
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” (Psalm 110:1 BEREAN)
In this verse, “LORD” represents the divine name, the personal name of God. So who is the second Lord? Who is being spoken to? David, King of Israel is writing the psalm. Who is higher than David? No human is higher than Him. This “Lord” is also God. That is two Persons who are God in this verse.
We are still illustrating how understanding that something which is “one” can be a composite. Here is an example from the Injil:
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19 BEREAN)
In this verse, there is one name (“the name”) encompassing three Persons: “of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”
I do not want to make you tired with more examples, but several important points still need to be made. The next point concerns Al Masih, whom we love. We know that He was born of a virgin, as both the Injil and the Quran say. However, the Quran has no explanation for why Al Masih was born of a virgin, but Mohammed was not. The prophet Isaiah explains:
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 BEREAN)
“Immanuel” means, “God with us.” Al Masih was born of a virgin because God was His Father. Please, remember that God did not have a physical or sexual relationship with Mary. This idea is disgusting both to Muslims and Christians. For more explanation see our article, Deity of Christ.
This is why Al Masih could be called Mighty God and Everlasting, with an eternal kingdom.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7 BEREAN)
We could also talk about the Holy Spirit who is present everywhere. He was also present at creation. These are characteristics of deity. Only God is everywhere and only God creates.
Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. (Psalm 139:7-8 BEREAN)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2 BEREAN)
I will stop with examples after this. Earlier when we were talking about the oneness of God I quoted this verse:
Isaiah 42:8 I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another… (Isaiah 42:8)
This verse says that because He alone is God, He does not share His glory. Now please compare that statement with this prayer from the lips of Jesus:
“And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed.” (John 17:5 BEREAN)
In this prayer Jesus asks God to restore Him to the glory they shared. They shared it before creation, that means before time, too. If Jesus shared God’s glory in eternity past, who must He be?
This article affirms that the True God has no partners. The True God–the God of the Bible–is one. But His oneness is not simplistic. We could say He is a composite unity: three Persons eternally existent in one God. You have seen some of the evidence for yourself: God refers to Himself with plural pronouns, multiple Persons are called “Lord,” Al Masih was born of a virgin because God was His Father, the Holy Spirit is present everywhere, even creation, and Al Masih shares glory with God who shares His glory with no one else.
- See also Genesis 11:6; 34:16; 34:22; 41:25; 41:26; Exodus 24:3. I stopped looking at the end of Leviticus. More examples probably exist.
↩︎