Understanding what the Bible teaches us about the nature and attributes of God is a lifelong endeavor. There is always more to delve into. There are always new aspects and nuances that can be gained as we study Scripture. If we understand something about the creator-creature distinction, then it should not be surprising that this is the case. After all, we are created, finite, and limited beings who are seeking to understand the infinite creator of all things. I would be foolish to assume that we are capable of fully grasping all there is to know about the Lord. In theology, we refer to this concept as the incomprehensibility of God. It does not mean that we cannot know anything about God because it is clear that we can know truth about God, but it does mean that there are going to be elements that we can never fully grasp. The Westminster Larger Catechism attempts to lay out the foundational elements so that we have a place we have a place to start. So, there is only one question about the attributes of God, and then the questions move on. The point of highlighting this is to emphasize the need to go deeper into each of these questions. Being able to answer the questions is great, but we need more. That is why we are going through them like this. So let us dig into the next question.
Question #8
After looking at the attributes of God, Westminster then begins to ask questions about the nature of God. Question eight starts the series of questions with the most basic of these questions.
Are there more Gods than one?
Anyone who has been a Christian for more than five minutes should be able to answer this question, but that does not make it any less important. The answer is;
There is but one only, the living and true God.
Again, this is at the heart of Christianity. We are monotheists, meaning those who believe in one God. The question is worth digging into because, in our cultural moment, we think of ourselves as being beyond the polytheistic inclinations of former cultures. When the church was in its beginning stages and continuing through the first several centuries of the church age, the question of how many gods there were seemed to have more weight. After all, the Christian church begins its growth in the context of the Greek and Roman belief systems. When Christians are captured and brought before the Roman authorities, one of the things they are being accused of is atheism, or denying the existence of the gods. We do not encounter the same type of things, but it does not mean we do not encounter the same thing in a different form.
Polytheism Today
In a recent gathering of young people in Singapore, Pope Francis made some striking statements. He said, "All religions are paths to God." Then he went on to explain by saying, "I will use an analogy, they are like different languages that express the divine." Apart from the obvious example of how far Rome has fallen, even since the Reformation, it demonstrates the necessity of looking at the question. We find a similar idea in what might be a surprising place for many in C.S. Lewis's Narnia. There is this part in the Last Battle where one of the Calormen soldiers enters the shed where the children are with Aslan. The soldier, who has been a faithful worshiper of the false god Tash, who is described as a demonic god, comes to Aslan, finding himself in this heavenly setting, and is confused about how he is here with Aslan. Aslan then says to him, "I take to me the services which thou hast done to Tash...If any man swear by him and keep his oath for the oath's sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him." The idea here is essentially the same as what Pope Francis is saying. All faiths, as long as it is devoted faith, will lead to salvation. The problem with all of this is that it is in direct contradiction with scripture. The polytheism of today is not so much that there are a whole bunch of different gods, like in the Greek or Roman pantheons, but it is this idea that all faiths lead to salvation. That Allah and all these other gods are just different manifestations of the truth.
Looking At the Answer
When we look at the answer to the question about the number of gods, the catechism does not simply state that there is only one God, again, there are other monotheistic religions, it goes on to say that only God is the living and true God. It references passages such as Deuteronomy 6:4, also known as the Shema, which clearly states that "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." There is only one God, and all the other so-called gods are false or even manifestations of demons. Paul references this idea in 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 when he writes, "An idol has no real existence, and there is no God but one." Later on in chapter 10, he says, "I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons" (v.20). We also find the same idea in the Old Testament in places like Deuteronomy 32:16-17 and Leviticus 17:7. Far from being other manifestations of the Lord, these other so-called gods are actually demons.
A Helpful Illustration
I have often used an illustration about my wife to help people understand the importance of what we are talking about. For those who have not met my wife, she is a wonderful woman. She is 4'11", shy, dark hair, and half Cambodian. These details obviously do not fully describe her, but if you had met her and I told you that the woman I love is 5'10", outgoing, blond, and such, you would have questions about why I did not love my wife. If we claim to love and worship god but describe him in the way that Isalm describes Allah or any other religion describes their god, the right response would be to say that we are not worshiping the same God. The Lord our God is described as a jealous God (Exodus 20:5). The practical aspect of this is that he is deeply concerned about our worship. About how we worship him. About us knowing him as he reveals himself in his word. There is only one God and he calls us to know and worship him alone. There are not many paths or understandings of this God, there is only one. He is the living and true God.
This is Important
We often want to skip over the idea that there is only one God as something obvious, but it is of paramount importance. We must know and understand that God is one. That the Lord is the true and living God. He is the unchanging, all-knowing, all-wise, creator of all things. He has made himself known through Scripture and calls us to a right understanding. We rightly emphasize faith in our worship of the Lord, but faith without knowledge cannot be saving faith. We have faith in Christ, who is the only way to salvation. We must know who he is because we cannot get to the end of things and expect our half-hearted faith in something nebulous to be enough. Faith without knowledge is dead. Faith without work is dead. The idea that all gods are a path to salvation is patently false. One of the foundational elements of our knowledge about God, must be that he is one, the living and true God.
Soli Deo Gloria
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