A Quick Facts Bible-study image examining God's divine name Yahweh and the biblical identity of the only true God. The study considers the Bible's declarations that Yahweh is one and Jesus' words to his Father in John 17:3: “the only true God.” Research by Simon Brown.
QUICK FACTS: DOES GOD'S NAME DISPROVE THE TRINITY?
Who Does the Bible Identify as Yahweh, the Only True God?
Research by Simon Brown
One of the most important questions any Christian can ask is:
WHO IS GOD?
Is the God of the Bible explicitly revealed as three persons in one divine being?
Or does Scripture consistently identify the one God as Yahweh, the Father, while identifying Jesus Christ as His Son whom He sent?
Rather than beginning with a church creed, let us begin with Scripture.
GOD HAS A PERSONAL NAME
Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, the God of Israel identifies Himself by the divine name:
YHWH — YAHWEH
God told Moses:
“This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.”
Exodus 3:15 — WEB
This name occurs thousands of times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
And the Bible repeatedly associates Yahweh with the one God of Israel.
Moses declared:
“Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.”
Deuteronomy 6:4 — WEB
This became Israel's great confession of faith—the Shema.
But notice something extremely important.
Jesus himself affirmed it.
JESUS SAID YAHWEH IS ONE
When Jesus was asked:
“Which commandment is the greatest of all?”
Jesus answered:
“The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.’”
Mark 12:29 — WEB
Jesus did not replace Israel's confession of one God with a new statement saying:
“God is three persons.”
Instead, he reaffirmed the ancient confession:
THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE.
And the Jewish scribe answering Jesus understood him perfectly:
“Teacher, you have truly said that he is one, and there is none other but he.”
Mark 12:32
Jesus approved his answer.
That deserves serious consideration.
“THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM”
Long before Jesus, Moses told Israel:
“It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him.”
Deuteronomy 4:35 — WEB
Notice the language:
YAHWEH IS GOD.
And:
“THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM.”
Again Moses says:
“Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that Yahweh himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else.”
Deuteronomy 4:39 — WEB
This is extraordinarily strong monotheistic language.
YAHWEH SAYS THERE IS NO GOD BESIDES HIM
Isaiah records Yahweh saying:
“I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.”
Isaiah 44:6 — WEB
Again:
“Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not.”
Isaiah 44:8 — WEB
And:
“I am God, and there is no one else. I am God, and there is none like me.”
Isaiah 46:9 — WEB
The Bible's language is remarkably consistent:
Yahweh is God.
Yahweh is one.
There is no God besides Him.
YAHWEH ALONE CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH
Yahweh also identifies Himself as the Creator:
“I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself.”
Isaiah 44:24 — WEB
Hezekiah likewise prayed:
“Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sits above the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.”
2 Kings 19:15 — WEB
Again we find the same language:
“YOU ARE THE GOD, EVEN YOU ALONE.”
This raises an important question:
Who does the New Testament identify as this one God?
JESUS GIVES US AN EXTRAORDINARILY CLEAR ANSWER
On the night before his death, Jesus prayed to his Father:
“This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”
John 17:3 — WEB
Look carefully at the grammatical distinction.
Jesus identifies:
“YOU” — THE FATHER
as:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD”
and then distinguishes himself as:
“JESUS CHRIST, WHOM YOU SENT.”
This verse does not use the word Trinity.
It does not say:
“You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are the only true God.”
The person Jesus is addressing is his Father.
That is what the text explicitly says.
WHAT DOES “ONLY” MEAN IN JOHN 17:3?
The Greek word translated “only” is:
μόνος — monos
It can mean:
only, alone, solitary, or the only one of its kind, depending upon context.
But an important correction needs to be made to my earlier research.
The Greek word monos does not by itself mean “one person.”
That goes beyond the lexical meaning.
The stronger argument is simply to allow the grammar of John 17:3 to speak:
Jesus is praying to his Father, and it is the Father whom Jesus addresses as:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
The theological significance of that statement should be examined alongside everything else Scripture says about the Father and Son.
PAUL IDENTIFIES THE ONE GOD
Paul gives another remarkably clear statement:
“yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ…”
1 Corinthians 8:6 — WEB
Notice Paul's distinction:
ONE GOD — THE FATHER
and
ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST.
Trinitarians understand this verse within a larger Trinitarian framework and often argue that Paul is incorporating Jesus into Israel's confession of Yahweh.
That interpretation deserves to be represented fairly.
But the explicit wording still deserves equal attention:
Paul actually writes:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
PAUL AGAIN DISTINGUISHES GOD FROM JESUS
First Timothy says:
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 2:5
Again we have two categories:
ONE GOD
and
ONE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND HUMANITY.
The mediator is identified as:
“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS.”
A mediator, by definition in this sentence, mediates between God and mankind.
This is therefore another important passage when examining the relationship between God and His Messiah.
YAHWEH IS THE TRUE GOD
Jeremiah declares:
“But Yahweh is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting King.”
Jeremiah 10:10 — WEB
Notice:
YAHWEH IS THE TRUE GOD.
Jesus later calls his Father:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
John 17:3
These passages naturally raise an important question:
Is the Father whom Jesus calls “the only true God” the same God Israel knew as Yahweh?
The biblical evidence strongly points in that direction.
THE ONE GOD IS IMMORTAL
Paul writes:
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
1 Timothy 1:17 — WEB
Elsewhere he speaks of God:
“who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen nor can see.”
1 Timothy 6:16 — WEB
This becomes particularly significant when compared with Jesus Christ, who genuinely died and whom God raised from the dead:
“This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.”
Acts 2:32 — WEB
The biblical distinction is again clear:
JESUS DIED.
GOD RAISED JESUS.
Whatever theological explanation we subsequently construct must account for those explicit statements.
DOES THE BIBLE EVER SAY “GOD IS THREE PERSONS”?
Here we need to be precise.
The Bible certainly contains passages where the Father, Son and Holy Spirit appear together, such as Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14.
Trinitarian Christians understand such passages, together with other texts concerning Christ and the Spirit, as evidence leading to the doctrine of one God existing eternally as three persons.
But there is an important distinction between:
a doctrine constructed from a collection of biblical passages
and
a statement explicitly found in Scripture.
There is no verse that literally says:
“THE ONE GOD IS THREE PERSONS.”
Nor does Scripture use the expression:
“GOD THE SON.”
Nor:
“GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT.”
Nor:
“ONE GOD IN THREE PERSONS.”
That does not automatically prove the Trinity false.
But it does mean the doctrine must be inferred and demonstrated from Scripture, rather than simply quoted from a verse that explicitly defines God that way.
WHAT ABOUT THE TRINITY?
Orthodox Trinitarian Christianity does not officially teach that there are three Gods.
The doctrine says there is one God in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sharing one divine being or essence.
That distinction is important because we should test the Trinity as Trinitarians themselves define it, rather than arguing against a position they reject.
The real biblical question is therefore:
DOES SCRIPTURE ITSELF REQUIRE US TO UNDERSTAND THE ONE GOD IN THIS WAY?
That is the question my research continues to examine.
And several statements must be taken seriously:
“Yahweh is one.” — Deuteronomy 6:4
“There is no one else besides him.” — Deuteronomy 4:35
“Besides me there is no God.” — Isaiah 44:6
“You are the God, even you alone.” — 2 Kings 19:15
“You, the only true God.” — John 17:3
“One God, the Father.” — 1 Corinthians 8:6
“There is one God, and one mediator… the man Christ Jesus.” — 1 Timothy 2:5
These are not later theological formulas.
They are statements found directly in Scripture.
WHAT ABOUT JESUS CHRIST?
Rejecting the proposition that Jesus is the one God does not require diminishing Jesus.
The Bible presents Jesus as:
the Christ
the Son of God
the only begotten Son
the Lamb of God
the Lord Messiah
the Savior
the one whom God sent
the one whom God raised from the dead
the one whom God exalted
and
the one mediator between God and mankind.
Peter confessed:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:16
Jesus said:
“I said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
John 10:36
And John tells us why his Gospel was written:
“that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
John 20:31
Those are magnificent titles.
We do not need to replace them with titles Scripture itself never gives Jesus.
QUICK FACTS
Yahweh is one.
Deuteronomy 6:4.
There is no one else besides Yahweh.
Deuteronomy 4:35.
There is no God besides Yahweh.
Isaiah 44:6.
Yahweh alone made heaven and earth.
Isaiah 44:24; 2 Kings 19:15.
Jeremiah calls Yahweh “the true God.”
Jeremiah 10:10.
Jesus calls his Father “the only true God.”
John 17:3.
Paul identifies “one God, the Father.”
1 Corinthians 8:6.
Paul distinguishes the one God from “the man Christ Jesus,” the mediator.
1 Timothy 2:5.
Jesus identifies himself as the Son of God.
John 10:36.
John says his Gospel was written so that we believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
John 20:31.
CONCLUSION
God's divine name Yahweh does not, merely by its linguistic form, “disprove the Trinity.”
That claim in my original article went too far.
But the biblical evidence surrounding that name presents a serious and important question for the Trinity doctrine.
The God called Yahweh repeatedly declares that:
HE IS ONE.
THERE IS NO GOD BESIDES HIM.
HE ALONE IS GOD.
HE ALONE CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH.
Then Jesus Christ addresses his Father as:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
And Paul identifies:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
while distinguishing from Him:
“THE MAN CHRIST JESUS”
—the one mediator between God and mankind.
Therefore the question is not simply:
“Does the word Trinity appear in the Bible?”
The deeper question is:
WHO DOES THE BIBLE ITSELF IDENTIFY AS THE ONE GOD?
My conclusion from these passages is that Scripture identifies the Father as the one God, and Jesus Christ as His Son, Messiah and appointed mediator.
Readers should examine every passage carefully and decide whether that conclusion accounts for the whole biblical evidence better than the later doctrine of one God in three persons.
“THIS IS ETERNAL LIFE, THAT THEY SHOULD KNOW YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND HIM WHOM YOU SENT, JESUS CHRIST.”
John 17:3
Research by Simon Brown
wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com
RELATED ARTICLES:
Quick Facts: John 3:16 — What Does “God Gave His Only Begotten Son” Really Mean?
John 1:1
- John 1:1 — Does "The Word Was God" Mean Jesus Is Almighty God?
- IS THE WORD JESUS IN JOHN 1:1?
- What Is the Truth About John 1:1 to 5?
- WHY John 1:1 is not about Jesus!
Hebrews 1:10 – Did God Really Say to the Son, “You Laid the Foundation of the Earth”?
- WHO IS THE ONE TRUE GOD? New video!
- The Greatest Commandment Ever Given — Who Is the One True God?
- Mark 12:29 — Why Did Jesus Quote the Shema?
- Deuteronomy 6:4 — The Shema: "Hear, O Israel, Yahweh Our God Is One"
- John 10:30 — What Did Jesus Mean by "I and the Father Are One"?
- John 8:58 — What Did Jesus Mean by "Before Abraham Was, I Am"?
- John 20:28 — Did Thomas Really Call Jesus Almighty God?
- John 14:9 — "He Who Has Seen Me Has Seen the Father" Explained
- John 17:3 — Jesus Confirmed That the Father Alone Is the Only True God
- John 17:5 — Did Jesus Exist with the Father Before the World Began?
- 2 Peter 1:1 — Another Trinitarian Misunderstanding?
- Colossians 1:15–17 — Does "Firstborn of All Creation" Mean Jesus Was Created?
- Hebrews 1:2 — Did God Create the Universe or the Ages Through His Son?
- Who Is the Alpha and the Omega?
- Did the Doctrine of the Trinity Originate with Jesus Christ and His Apostles?
- Is Jesus God, or the Son of God? What Does the Whole Bible Teach?
- Scriptures Proving Yahweh: The One True God of Israel Is the Creator Alone.
- John 6:38 — How Did Jesus Come Down From Heaven?
- John 1:1 — Does "The Word Was God" Mean Jesus Is Almighty God?
- IS THE WORD JESUS IN JOHN 1:1?
- What Is the Truth About John 1:1 to 5?
- WHY John 1:1 is not about Jesus!
Hebrews 1:10 – Did God Really Say to the Son, “You Laid the Foundation of the Earth”?
- WHO IS THE ONE TRUE GOD? New video!
- The Greatest Commandment Ever Given — Who Is the One True God?
- Mark 12:29 — Why Did Jesus Quote the Shema?
- Deuteronomy 6:4 — The Shema: "Hear, O Israel, Yahweh Our God Is One"
- John 10:30 — What Did Jesus Mean by "I and the Father Are One"?
- John 8:58 — What Did Jesus Mean by "Before Abraham Was, I Am"?
- John 20:28 — Did Thomas Really Call Jesus Almighty God?
- John 14:9 — "He Who Has Seen Me Has Seen the Father" Explained
- John 17:3 — Jesus Confirmed That the Father Alone Is the Only True God
- John 17:5 — Did Jesus Exist with the Father Before the World Began?
- 2 Peter 1:1 — Another Trinitarian Misunderstanding?
- Colossians 1:15–17 — Does "Firstborn of All Creation" Mean Jesus Was Created?
- Hebrews 1:2 — Did God Create the Universe or the Ages Through His Son?
- Who Is the Alpha and the Omega?
- Did the Doctrine of the Trinity Originate with Jesus Christ and His Apostles?
- Is Jesus God, or the Son of God? What Does the Whole Bible Teach?
- Scriptures Proving Yahweh: The One True God of Israel Is the Creator Alone.
- John 6:38 — How Did Jesus Come Down From Heaven?

No comments:
Post a Comment