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"How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord . . . . . how is He his Son?"
In these two records we have:
(1)
The main body of the argument that is concerned with the love to God and to
neighbour.
(2)
The emphasis in Matthew upon the Deity of Christ, and the omission of the text
concerning "one God".
The emphasis in Mark of the "one God" and the omission of the Saviour's
reference to David and to His lordship.
It is manifest that neither doctrine is denied by the omission, nor unduly stressed by its
inclusion.
Passing to the reference in the Epistles, we come to James. Again James nowhere
discusses the Being of God, the subject "There is one God" is introduced, nor for its own
sake, but to illustrate and enforce the fact that "faith without works is dead":
"Thou believest that there is one God: thou doest well: the devils also believe, and
tremble" (James 2: 19).
It is evident that there is no salvation in the belief that there is "one God", salvation
comes through faith in Christ. We shall have to speak more at large concerning the
growing evil of stressing "God" to the exclusion of "Christ" later, but cannot refrain from
making this protest, however brief. We must confine ourselves however at the moment
to the passages that speak of "one God".
"Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one" (Gal. 3: 20).
It has been computed that between 250 and 300 interpretations of this verse have
found their way into commentaries and essays, but most are unsatisfactory because they
ignore the demands of the context. The last thing that Paul meditated when he wrote
these words or for that matter when he wrote the epistle, was a dissertation upon the
nature and being of God. The innate idea of mediator demands two parties: a mediator
cannot be a mediator of one party. But in the promise made to Abraham 430 years before
the giving of the law, "God was one", for Abraham, the only other who could have been a
contracting party, was caused to fall into a "deep sleep" (Gen. 15: 12) in which state he
could promise nothing.
"As concerning therefore the eating of things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols,
we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods
many, and lords many), but to us there is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all things
and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by Him"
(I Cor. 8: 4-6).
Mediation is implied in this passage although not stated, for that is the office of `the
lords many'. No doctrine of the Unity of the Godhead can be extracted from these