The Doctrine of One God

The seventh and final doctrinal truth in Ephesians 4:4-6 that forms the very essence of Christianity and therefore unites all true believers is one God.

First, there is the meaning of one God. Verse 6 declares: One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Here is the capstone of the passage. This is the culmination, the climax to which Paul has been building. Paul has built each of these spiritual realities on the other until he now reaches the summit in one God.

The three prepositions in this verse encapsulate the very nature of God. Above all speaks of God’s omnipotence, omniscience, and sovereignty. As the Psalmist proclaims, “Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth” (57:11), “For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods” (96:4), and “The LORD is great in Zion; and he is high above all the people” (99:2). “Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?” Paul asks (Rom. 11:34). Flowing from that are the words through all, which demonstrate His providence, as He sustains, guides, and controls all things “according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph. 1:5). In you all, then, pictures God’s omnipresence. As David exulted, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” (Ps. 139:6-10).

Second, there is the application of one God, which is: unity is possible only with a proper view of God. The true God of the Bible is not the polytheistic god of one certain cult we could name, the pantheistic god of another, the strict, harsh, emotionless god of one world religion that comes to mind, or the god of any other cult or false religion. Another particular group leaves its members to “name Him [i.e., God] as he will, think of Him as he pleases; make Him impersonal law or personal and anthropomorphic,” but then tells its more advanced members that the real name of God is Jahbulon. This is a combination of Jehovah (Jah), the God of the Old Testament, Baal (Bul or Bel), the infamous Canaanite fertility god, and On, a probable reference to the Egyptian god Osirus, the brother and husband of Isis. The purpose of such a composite “God” is to show unity between all gods-ideas, that all religions are essentially the same in their ideas of the divine.

What a tragedy and a travesty to the one God of the Bible, the one and only true God that there is. To join the one true God of the Bible with pagan deities is beyond blasphemy, beyond sacrilege. In fact, some of God’s severest judgments were upon those who worshiped pagan deities (see Judges 2:13-14; Jeremiah 32:29, 35-36).

Unity, therefore, can come only from a right view of the one God. To illustrate this right view, ponder a moment a symphony orchestra. As the musicians are tuning up, they each are doing something different, and it sounds awful. But when they are done, the Conductor appears and leads them in a beautiful piece of music. Even though the instruments are tuned and the musicians could go ahead and play the music, the Conductor is still absolutely essential. Likewise, countless people today are playing their own tune, or as Thoreau put it, marching to their own drummer. We so desperately need a Conductor, and we have Him in one God. He is “above all, through all, and in [us] all.”