Is God One or Three?

Is God One or Three?                                         June 7, 2026

          James 2:19 tells us, “You believe that God is one.  You do well; the demons also believe, and shutter (tremble).”  We know the Father is God, but is the Son not also God?  In Matthew 26:63-64 we read, “But Jesus kept silent.  And the high priest said to Him, ‘I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, ‘You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power (God), and coming on the clouds of heaven.’”  And is the Holy Spirit not called God as well?  In Acts 5:3-4 we read, “But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own?  And after it was sold, was it not under your control?  Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart?  You have not lied to men, but to God?”  The answer is most certainly yes, they are all referred to as God.  But there is one God.  The question is “how” are they One?  While there may be several ways to answer this question, I believe Jesus answers it by His words to the Father in John 17:21 which reads, “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me.”

          In this text Jesus is speaking to His Father about His followers, or as known today, “Christians.”  He prayed to His Father that we “Christians” be “one” in the way that He is with His Father.  We know that we cannot become one being for that would be impossible.  So how are They “one” in a way that we can become “one?”  I believe Jesus showed us the answer in John 14:8-9 which reads, “Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip?  Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’”  How are they one?  They are one in unity.  What Jesus teaches is perfectly unified in the same mind and the same judgment.  Paul writes, “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.”  We cannot be one if we teach different doctrines.  We can only be one when we teach the same doctrine as Christ and His apostles taught.  Then we will be one as God is one.                                                          By Bob Oliver

(Many years ago my father explained the Godhead to me this way.  He brought out an egg and asked me what it was.  Obviously, I told him it was an egg.  He asked me if I was sure it was an egg.  Absolutely, it was an egg.  Then he told me it was an egg shell, an egg yolk and an egg sac.  Three distinct parts of the egg yet together, they are always  referred to as an egg.  The Godhead is like that.  There’s God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  Three distinct parts of the Godhead yet together, they are always referred to as God.  Thought this might help you some in your understanding of God – Brian Thompson)