# Monotheism ## Intro *"Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one."* That sentence, the [Shema](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/), is the heart of monotheism. Monotheism is the teaching that exactly one God exists, one uncreated being who is the source of everything else. It is what Israel confessed in the Old Testament, what historic Christianity confesses, and what Islam confesses. Within the monotheist family there are three live forms. **Strict unitarian monotheism** says God is one Person, period. This is the position of Judaism and Islam. **Trinitarian monotheism** says God is one being who exists eternally as three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who share one undivided divine nature. This is the historic Christian position. It is *not* tritheism (three gods) and *not* polytheism with a head god on top. It says one God exists in three eternal personal relations. **Modalist monotheism** says God is one Person who plays three roles in different times or settings, like an actor changing costumes. The mainstream of all three Abrahamic religions rejects this. The Jewish and Muslim objection to Christianity is that the Trinity is sneaking polytheism in through the back door. The Christian reply is that Trinitarian monotheism is genuine monotheism. There is one being, one divine substance, one will, one set of attributes. The threeness is the threeness of personal relations within that one being, not three separate gods. The page covers the Old Testament data first, starting with the [Shema](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/), moving through [the first commandment](/codex/exodus-20-3/) and the major Isaiah monotheism passages ([Isaiah 44:6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/), [45:5](/codex/isaiah-45-5/), [45:21](/codex/isaiah-45-21/)). Then it covers the New Testament, where the Christian writers do not drop monotheism but rewrite the Shema around Jesus, as Paul does in [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/) when he splits the *Lord is one* clause between the Father (called *theos*) and the Son (called *kyrios*). It walks through the philosophical case for one God instead of many. It covers the patristic and conciliar development. And it covers the modern conversations about how to keep monotheism without collapsing into modalism or expanding into tritheism. For the dedicated argument against Oneness theology, see [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/). For the case that Israel's monotheism was original and not a later development, see Israelite Monotheism. ## In full Monotheism is the doctrine that there is exactly one God, one being who is the uncreated, self-existent source of everything else. It is the foundational confession of Israel, of historic Christianity, and of Islam. Within monotheism three forms are theologically live: **strict unitarian monotheism** (Jewish, Islamic), **Trinitarian monotheism** (Christian), and **modalist monotheism** (rejected by all three mainstream traditions). The Christian claim is that Trinitarian monotheism is genuine monotheism, one God in three persons, and not a disguised polytheism or tritheism. ## OT anchor, the Shema and the Isaianic monotheism The OT teaches monotheism not as an inference but as a covenant confession. - **[Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/), the Shema.** "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one" (NASB95). The Hebrew *YHWH eloheinu YHWH echad* admits two readings: (a) YHWH is *unique* (the only God), or (b) YHWH is *one* (numerically singular). Both are exegetically defensible; classical Jewish reading takes (b) as primary, Christian reading often takes (a) as primary and (b) as compatible with internal triunity. The word *echad* itself is famously a *unity-permitting* number, used of a compound unity in [Gen 2:24](/codex/genesis-2-24/) ("they shall be one flesh") and elsewhere, though this argument is over-leaned-on by some Christian apologists; the lexical point doesn't *establish* the Trinity, it only blocks one Jewish objection. - **[Exodus 20.3](/codex/exodus-20-3/), the first commandment.** "You shall have no other gods before Me." A relational-exclusivity claim with metaphysical entailment: the LORD will not share covenant loyalty. - **[Isaiah 44.6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/); [Isaiah 44.8](/codex/isaiah-44-8/); [Isaiah 45.5](/codex/isaiah-45-5/); [Isaiah 45.21](/codex/isaiah-45-21/); [Isaiah 46](/codex/isaiah-46-10/).** The Isaianic monotheism is the OT's most explicit. "I am the first and the last, and there is no God besides Me" ([Isa 44:6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/)); "There is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me" ([Isa 45:21](/codex/isaiah-45-21/)). These passages move beyond henotheism (worship one but acknowledge others) to ontological exclusivism: the other "gods" are *nothing* ([Isa 44:9-20](/codex/isaiah-44-9-20/) on idols). - **Other anchors.** [1 Kings 8:60](/codex/1-kings-8-60/) ("there is no one else"); [Jer 10:1-16](/codex/jeremiah-10-1-16/) (idol satire); [Neh 9:6](/codex/nehemiah-9-6/) ("You alone are the LORD"). ## NT monotheism The NT does not retreat from OT monotheism, it intensifies it while restructuring it Christologically. Paul, a Pharisee Jew, retains the Shema and *rewrites it around [Jesus](/codex/jesus/)*: > Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. ([1 Cor 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/), NASB95) [Richard Bauckham](/codex/richard-bauckham/)'s central argument (*God Crucified*; *Jesus and the God of Israel*) is that Paul has split the Shema across Father and Son without lapsing into polytheism, including Jesus inside the unique divine identity. See Richard Bauckham. Other NT monotheistic confessions: - "There is no God but one" ([1 Cor 8:4](/codex/1-corinthians-8-4/)). - "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" ([1 Tim 2:5](/codex/1-timothy-2-5/)). - "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder" ([Jas 2:19](/codex/james-2-19/)). - "One God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all" ([Ephesians 4.6](/codex/ephesians-4-6/)). ## The three forms of monotheism ### 1. Strict unitarian monotheism God is one person. The divine essence is not internally distinct from the divine person; "God" names one numerically single self. - **Judaism**, post-Temple rabbinic Judaism and most contemporary Jewish theology hold strict unitarian monotheism. [Maimonides](/codex/maimonides/)'s *Thirteen Principles* anchor it: "The Creator, blessed be His Name, is a Unity, and there is no unity in any manner like Him." See Maimonides. - **Islam**, *tawhid* is the indivisible oneness of Allah; *shirk* (associating partners with Allah) is the unforgivable sin. The Qur'an's polemic against Christianity ("Say not 'Three', desist!", Surah 4:171) is the most sustained ancient critique of Trinitarianism. See [Tawhid](/codex/tawhid/). - **Modern unitarian Christianity**, Socinians, 19th-century Unitarians, and contemporary Biblical Unitarians (e.g., the Christadelphian tradition) reject the Trinity while retaining Christian Scripture. Jehovah's Witnesses reject the Trinity but are not classical unitarians, they hold a *modified Arianism* in which Jesus is the first-created angelic Logos. ### 2. Trinitarian monotheism, the Christian form God is one *being* (essence, *ousia*) existing eternally in three *persons* (*hypostases*): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The persons are not three Gods, three parts of God, or three modes of God, they are three subsisting relations in the one indivisible divine essence, distinguished only by *relations of origin* (paternity, filiation, spiration). The classical formula (Cappadocian / Augustinian / Thomist): - **One ousia** (one in essence, nature, will, power, glory). The Father, Son, and Spirit do not divide the divine being; each is wholly God. This safeguards monotheism. - **Three hypostases** (three subsisting persons). The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father. This safeguards distinction. - **Distinguished only by relations of origin**, the Father is *unbegotten* (source of deity); the Son is *eternally begotten* of the Father; the Spirit *proceeds* from the Father (and, in the Western tradition, the Son, see [Filioque](/codex/filioque/)). The persons do not differ in attributes, only in their internal relations. See [Trinity](/codex/trinity/) for full treatment; [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/) for the comparative spread; [Trinity Coherence Defense (Latin-Thomist)](/codex/trinity-coherence-defense-latin-thomist/) for the analytic case that the doctrine is coherent. ### 3. Modalist monotheism, rejected God is one person playing three roles or wearing three masks. The Father, Son, and Spirit are not three distinct subjects but three *modes* of one person, sometimes one at a time (sequential modalism / Sabellianism), sometimes as three faces of the same self (modal monarchianism). See [Modalism](/codex/modalism/). Held today primarily by Oneness Pentecostalism (United Pentecostal Church International). Rejected by all branches of historic Trinitarian Christianity because it cannot make sense of the simultaneous distinctions in the NT (Father speaks while Son is baptized while Spirit descends; Son prays *to* the Father; Son asks the Father to send the Spirit). ## "Christianity is polytheism", the charge The polytheism charge against Trinitarianism comes most forcefully from Islamic apologetics and from Jehovah's Witnesses, with secondary echoes in rabbinic anti-Christian polemics. ### The Islamic version The Qur'an addresses what it takes Christians to say: "They have certainly disbelieved who say, 'Allah is the third of three.' And there is no god except one God" (5:73); "Do not say 'three'" (4:171). The objection treats the Trinity as either: - **Three Gods stacked together** (tritheism), or - **A composite God** with parts (incompatible with simplicity). **Response.** Neither is what Trinitarian Christianity teaches. The Trinity is not three Gods because there is one *ousia*, one divine being, one will, one power, one glory. It is not composite because the persons are not *parts* of the essence; each person is *wholly* God, identified with the whole divine essence under different relational modes. Divine simplicity ([Divine Simplicity](/codex/divine-simplicity/)) explicitly rules out composition. The Islamic objection often relies on the Qur'an's apparent misidentification of the "third" of the Trinity, Surah 5:116 presents Mary as the third member, implying the Qur'an polemicizes against a heretical Marian devotion rather than orthodox Trinitarian doctrine. Either way, the standard *tawhid* objection conflates *numerical persons* with *numerical Gods*; it equivocates between the *count of self-subsisting beings* (one) and the *count of subsisting personal relations within that being* (three). See [Tawhid](/codex/tawhid/), [Islamic Dilemma](/codex/islamic-dilemma/). ### The Jehovah's Witness version The Watchtower argument is exegetical rather than philosophical: the NT never explicitly says "Trinity"; Jesus calls the Father "the only true God" ([John 17:3](/codex/john-17-3/)); Jesus prays to the Father (suggesting non-identity); the Spirit is presented impersonally; therefore Trinitarianism is post-biblical importation. **Response.** None of these conclusions follow. - *Trinity* as a *term* is post-biblical; the *doctrine* is biblical, it is the only synthesis that holds together (i) strict monotheism, (ii) deity of the Son ([Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/); [John 1:1](/codex/john-1-1/); 20:28; [Col 2:9](/codex/colossians-2-9/); [Heb 1:8-12](/codex/hebrews-1-8-12/)), and (iii) deity of the Spirit ([Pneumatology](/codex/pneumatology/); [Acts 5.3-4](/codex/acts-5-3-4/)). - "The only true God" in [John 17:3](/codex/john-17-3/) is set against false gods, not against the Son. The same Gospel calls Jesus *theos* (1:1) and has Thomas confess him as "my Lord and my God" (20:28). - Praying to the Father is what we expect on Trinitarianism, the Son has a distinct relational mode and submits to the Father in the economy without ceasing to be of one essence with him. - The Spirit's personhood is exegetically demonstrated; see [Pneumatology](/codex/pneumatology/). ### The rabbinic version Some Jewish polemics treat *shituf*, "association," roughly the inclusion of any second hypostasis in the divine identity, as a step into polytheism. Maimonides's principles formalize this. Pre-rabbinic Judaism, however, was not as monolithic as later orthodoxy: figures like Philo and texts like the early Logos traditions of Second-Temple Judaism allowed for "second power in heaven" speculation (Alan Segal's research), which Christian theology took up and Christianized. The Christian claim is that Trinitarian distinctions are *not foreign imports* but the actualization of latent OT theology, the *malak YHWH* / Angel of the LORD theophanies, the Wisdom literature, the personification of Word and Spirit. See [Angel of the LORD](/codex/angel-of-the-lord/), [Philo of Alexandria](/codex/philo-of-alexandria/). ## Why Trinitarian monotheism is genuine monotheism The metaphysical claim, compressed: 1. *Polytheism* is the existence of multiple self-subsisting divine *beings* (multiple instances of the divine kind). 2. *Trinitarianism* posits one self-subsisting divine *being* in which there are three subsisting *personal relations*. 3. Counting beings (one) is not the same operation as counting persons-within-a-being (three); they are different counts of different kinds of things. 4. Therefore Trinitarianism asserts strict numerical-being monotheism while allowing internal personal distinction, and is not polytheism. The remaining objection, that *person* on the Trinitarian use is not really the same as *person* on the human use, is not a polytheism objection but a *coherence* objection. It is answered by clarifying that "person" in Trinitarian theology is a *technical* term for a subsisting relation, not a Cartesian self. See [Trinity Coherence Defense (Latin-Thomist)](/codex/trinity-coherence-defense-latin-thomist/). ## See also - [Are There Other Gods](/codex/are-there-other-gods/), the pastoral "two senses of *elohim*" + "where are they now?" one-page primer - [Trinity](/codex/trinity/), three persons, one essence - [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/), comparative position-spread - [Modalism](/codex/modalism/), rejected one-person-three-modes alternative - [Arianism](/codex/arianism/), Christ as created, denial of consubstantiality - [Filioque](/codex/filioque/), East-West dispute on procession - [Pneumatology](/codex/pneumatology/), doctrine of the Holy Spirit - [Christs Deity](/codex/christs-deity/), biblical case for the deity of Christ - [Tawhid](/codex/tawhid/), Islamic doctrine of divine unity - [Islamic Dilemma](/codex/islamic-dilemma/), defeater against Islamic theology - [Divine Simplicity](/codex/divine-simplicity/), God is not composed of parts - [Council of Nicaea](/codex/council-of-nicaea/), first formal conciliar statement of consubstantial deity - [Angel of the LORD](/codex/angel-of-the-lord/), OT theophany pattern feeding Christological reflection - [Trinity Coherence Defense (Latin-Thomist)](/codex/trinity-coherence-defense-latin-thomist/), analytic defense of doctrinal coherence - [Trinity Invented at Nicaea Objection](/codex/trinity-invented-at-nicaea-objection/), defeater against the late-invention charge - [Doctrine](/codex/doctrine/), parent hub ## Common questions this page answers **Q: What is monotheism?** Monotheism is the teaching that exactly one God exists, one uncreated being who is the source of everything else. It is what Israel confessed in the Old Testament, what historic Christianity confesses, and what Islam confesses. The OT anchor is the [Shema](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/): "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one." **Q: How does the Trinity stay monotheistic?** Trinitarian monotheism says one *being* exists eternally in three *persons* who share one undivided essence, will, and power. Counting beings (one) is not the same as counting persons within a being (three). The persons are distinguished only by *relations of origin*: the Father unbegotten, the Son eternally begotten, the Spirit proceeding. See [Trinity](/codex/trinity/) and [Divine Simplicity](/codex/divine-simplicity/). **Q: Isn't the Trinity actually polytheism in disguise?** No. Polytheism is the existence of multiple self-subsisting divine *beings*. Trinitarianism posits one self-subsisting divine being in which there are three subsisting personal relations. There is one *ousia*, one will, one set of attributes; the threeness is the threeness of personal relations within that one being, not three separate gods. See [Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism](/codex/trinity-vs-oneness-vs-modalism-vs-arianism/). **Q: How does Paul's [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/) relate to the Shema?** Paul, a Pharisee Jew, splits the Shema's "LORD is one" clause across Father and Son: "one God, the Father... and one Lord, Jesus Christ" ([1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/)). [Richard Bauckham](/codex/richard-bauckham/) argues this includes Jesus inside the unique divine identity without lapsing into polytheism. The NT intensifies monotheism while restructuring it Christologically. **Q: How does Islamic tawhid differ from Christian Trinitarian monotheism?** [Tawhid](/codex/tawhid/) (Islamic doctrine of divine unity) holds that Allah is one Person, indivisible; *shirk* (associating partners with Allah) is the unforgivable sin. Trinitarian Christianity affirms one divine being but distinguishes three personal relations within that being. The Islamic objection conflates *numerical persons* with *numerical Gods*. See [Islamic Dilemma](/codex/islamic-dilemma/). **Q: What is the Old Testament's strongest monotheism passage?** [Isaiah 44:6](/codex/isaiah-44-6/) ("I am the first and the last, and there is no God besides Me") and [Isaiah 45:21](/codex/isaiah-45-21/) ("There is no other God besides Me, a righteous God and a Savior") move beyond henotheism (worship one but acknowledge others) to ontological exclusivism: the other "gods" are *nothing*. [Nehemiah 9:6](/codex/nehemiah-9-6/) adds "You alone are the LORD."