Lesson #5—One God, Living and True

Shorter Catechism Q & A #5

Q. Are there more Gods than one?

A. There is but One only, the living and true God.

Memorize Q & A—Exposition

Man speaks the term ‘we’ knowing that decisions and actions come not from ‘one’ thought but many. However, God alone can use the term ‘I’—for in him alone is perfect knowledge and wisdom—“I am God, and there is none other” [Isa. 46:9]; and God alone is truth (Isa. 65:16). The Trinity speaks as one; Christ said, “I and my Father are one” [John 10:30], revealing the unity of the Godhead.

What does it mean?

1. Discuss the meaning of “One God” (1 Cor. 8:4, Deut. 6:4)

Define Jehovah / God (Isa. 44:6).

2. Discuss the meaning of “living and true.” (Jeremiah 10:10).

What is our practice?

We need to acknowledge God in areas other than ‘worship’ time on the Sabbath. We need to acknowledge him in our conversation with one another, talking to our children or talking about out daily work. We ought not to ignore God, separating our faith from community activities or civil responsibilities.

We ought not to sound like atheists during the week, for our world view is much different than theirs.

Quotes for thought and discussion:

“There is but one Omnipotent Power. If there be two Omnipotents, then we must always suppose a contest between these two: that which one could do, the other power, being equal, would oppose, and so all things would be brought into confusion. If a ship should have two pilots of equal power, one would be ever crossing the other; when one would sail, the other would cast anchor; there would be confusion, and the ship would perish. The order and harmony in the world, of the constant and uniform government of all things, is a clear argument that there is but one Omnipotent, one God that rules all. ‘I am the first, and I am the last, and beside me there is no God’ (Is. 44:6).” (Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity)

“Let each of us, therefore, in contemplating his own nature, remember that there is one God who governs all natures, and, in governing, wishes us to have respect to himself, to make him the object of our faith, worship, and adoration. Nothing, indeed, can be more preposterous than to enjoy those noble endowments which bespeak the divine presence within us, and to neglect him who, of his own good pleasure, bestows them upon us.” (John Calvin, Institutes)

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