The objection
In 1. Corinthians 8,6 only the Father is the “one God.” Jesus, by contrast, is the “one Lord.” Does Paul not thereby distinguish between the true God and a lord subordinate to him?
1. The titles form no ranking
Paul responds to a world of supposedly many gods and many lords. Against this stands the Christian confession of one God and one Lord. If “one God, the Father” meant that the Son could possess no deity, “one Lord, Jesus Christ” would by the same procedure have to mean that the Father is no Lord. This inference is obviously false. Here the titles identify persons; they do not exclude the respective other person from every participation in the divine reality designated.[1]
This does not mean that the designations are arbitrary. Paul distinguishes the Father from the Son. The question is whether this distinction lies within divine action or between God and a creature. The next clause decides.
2. The Son stands on the Creator's side
Of the Father Paul says: All things are from him. Of the Son he says: All things are through him. The “all” encompasses the realm of creation. Jesus is introduced not as a part of this totality but as the one through whom it exists. The same context appears in John 1,3 and Colossians 1,16–17.
The preposition “through” does not make him a nondivine instrument. Romans 11,36 also says of the one God that all things are through him. A particular preposition therefore cannot by itself determine ontological rank. In 1. Corinthians 8,6 it identifies the Son in his relationship to the Father and in their undivided work of creation.
3. Israel's confession is unfolded Christologically
The Greek version of Deuteronomy 6,4 combines the words “Lord,” “God” and “one” in confessing YHWH. Paul uses the same key concepts and places Jesus within the confession of the one Lord. This is more than appointing a further religious dignitary. Precisely against pagan polytheism, the church confesses the Father and Jesus Christ.
The connection to the Shema is a reasoned intertextual interpretation; the argument does not depend on it alone, however. Even setting it aside, the explicit attribution of all creation to the Son would remain. A Unitarian understanding would first have to add an unspoken exception to this universal statement.
4. Creation and redemption have the same Lord
Paul adds “we” twice: We exist for the Father and through Jesus Christ. The Lord through whom everything was created is also Lord of our renewed life. He does not belong to the rival powers Christians would need to fear. The statement therefore supports the practical answer concerning food sacrificed to idols and questions of conscience.
The verse thus supplies no opposition between a divine Father and a nondivine Jesus. It connects personal distinction, creation and Christian belonging in confessing the one God. Anyone making the difference of titles into two different divine ranks reads against the entire paragraph's function.
5. Ephesians and Thessalonians presuppose the same distinction
Ephesians 4,4–6 names in sequence the one Spirit, the one Lord and the one God and Father. The Father is clearly designated as God. But the paragraph does not add that the Son and Spirit are therefore not divine. Its intention is to ground the church's unity in its shared belonging to Spirit, Lord and Father. A particular personal use of the word “God” is no exclusive definition of all to whom deity belongs.[3]
In 1. Thessalonians 1,9–10 the living true God stands opposite the abandoned idols. His Son is distinguished from him, but not classified among the false gods: Believers await him from heaven as their Savior. The passage unfolds no complete doctrine of the Trinity by itself; nor does it contain the additional claim that only the Father's person can be divine. Personal distinction and exclusion of deity are two different statements.[4]
Biblical texts in context
Sources and further study
- John M. Frame, The Doctrine of GodCh. 28, objection concerning 1. Corinthians 8,6, p. 684; shared creative activity.
- Norman L. Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian ApologeticsArticle “Trinity”: biblical monotheism, Christ's deity and distinction of persons.
- Ephesians 4,4–6 in contextOne Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father as the ground of the church's unity.
- 1. Thessalonians 1,9–10 in contextTurning from idols, serving the true God and awaiting his saving Son.