The Oneness

Last week, we talked about how the greatness of the universe we live in speaks to the greatness of the God who made it.

A God who is great enough to be the source of it all.

The greatness of nature also speaks to the oneness of God.

You see, in Athens, Paul was not only speaking to the greatness of the creator God, he was attacking the idea of Polytheism.

The Greeks, and pretty much everyone else in the world, believed in a pantheon of gods.

These gods were the embodiments/personifications of the the things that they observed.

There were gods for everything:

Skies, seas, and land.

love, marriage, family.

war, agriculture, parties.

Endless pantheons of gods representing everything that could be concieved of.

The greeks worshiped so many gods that they hedged their bets by building a shrine to the “unknown god” in case they should accidentally make him angry.

Paul’s answer to this worldview is found in Acts 17 23-25

Acts 17:23–25 ESV

23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

You see, the athenians are wrestling with the fact that for all the gods they know, they still felt like they were missing something, or someone else.

But, Paul wasn’t simply claiming to know the “unknown” god’s identity.

He was claiming that this unknown God was the God; the Creator of the whole universe and everything in it.

This God was unlimited by space, time, and matter.

This God was independent of His creation.

He needed nothing from His creation (worship, service, sustainence)

This God gave and sustained the existence of all things.

He is necessary; everything else is contingent.

The follow-on from these statements was the logical conclusion that if there is a singular God, from which everything else derives its ongoing existence, then this God alone is worthy of our worship.

The Greatness we see is also a Oneness.

Why Polytheism?

It’s an understandable response to the greatness we see in creation.

The vast causal chains of events that lead to the everyday happenings of our lives are too big for us to process…it would make sense that there were intelligent actor’s at work.

In our limitedness, we mistakenly ascribe the same limitations upon the divine.

We can’t conceive of the infinite, and so we limit god’s to appropriate levels that we can fathom.

This leads to multiple great beings with domains of authority.

Nature’s Case for God: A Brief Biblical Argument Questions for Reflection and Discussion > Chapter 2: The Oneness

1. Is it possible for anything to be purely one, without being many in some way?

But what this lacks is the ability to bring all these varied domains, events, etc. together into a unified whole.

Consider the most important event in human history, the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Consider the story in all its complexities.

The number of people involved and what had brought each of these people to the point of their involvement in the story.

The number of choices that were made that week that impacted the story.

If any of them had chosen to do otherwise, what could have been the outcome? Is it possible that the crucifixion never happens?

Of course not, because there is one being who brings all the different pieces together into a unified whole and gives it meaning…the one God.

Polytheism can tell that story, because it would divide the event into discrete parts. with gods involved in areas of their domains, and each requiring the proper honor.

All the interrelations and integrations break down.

Polytheism cannot integrate the workings of the world.

The god of the sea cannot affect the movements of the jetstream, for that is the realm of the god of the winds.

They need help from each other and cannot accomplish their work without the actions of the others.

They are limited and contingent.

Paul offers a God who can integrate the vast complexities of the natural world and history.

A God who has infinite capacity and understanding.

A God who is undivided in his will and action.

Nature’s Case for God: A Brief Biblical Argument Questions for Reflection and Discussion > Chapter 2: The Oneness

2. How is God’s oneness related to his sovereignty, his lordship?

But what should our response to these things be? What does it mean for our everyday lives that there is one God.

There is one Lord.

We may not have a divided loyalty/devotion.

We may not share our worship with other gods in addition to him.

We may not give our highest love to any being other than him.

Matthew 22:37 ESV

37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

The problem is that we blind ourselves to God’s oneness.

We do this because we prefer to spread our affections around.

adultery, infidelity, idolatry—all describing the same concept.

Romans 1:18 ESV

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

When we intentionally ignore this oneness, we think that we free ourselves to pursue other affections.

Nature’s Case for God: A Brief Biblical Argument Questions for Reflection and Discussion > Chapter 2: The Oneness

3. How does the oneness of God tell you to live?

Nature’s Case for God: A Brief Biblical Argument Chapter 1: The Greatness

Likewise, when we think of our achievements from a cosmic perspective, it is very difficult to isolate what we do from what has been done for us. We are alive because of a vast causal nexus above and below us. The same is true of our abilities, and, therefore, our achievements. Beethoven could write symphonies because he came from a vast family tree, and because all his ancestors breathed the earth’s air and received food and drink from its seeds, rain, and sunshine. He had the right genes, education, and experience. At any moment of his life, he might have been destroyed by a falling tree or a tiny virus. Or one of his ancestors might have been destroyed, preventing Beethoven’s family line from bringing him to life. He wrote the symphonies; nobody else did, and nobody can take those away from him. But his achievements are dependent on something vastly larger than he.

Nature’s Case for God: A Brief Biblical Argument Chapter 2: The Oneness

But how is it possible for the Greatness to also be a Oneness? The world is a place of astonishing complexity, of a vast number of things, events, processes, and causal chains. There is a huge complex of relationships in this world. Beethoven’s genetic inheritance is something different from his breakfast. But his breakfast becomes Beethoven, and his genetic inheritance determines what his breakfast later becomes. Genetics and food interact with one another and with many other things to produce the next chapters in Beethoven’s story. Imagine the complex of factors that must be united to tell the world’s story. Polytheism cannot tell that story. It must neatly separate all the factors, so as to ascribe one event to one god and another to another, so that no god is deprived of his proper honor. The one-and-many world must result from one overarching intelligence that provides not only causes, but interrelations and integrations.