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There is no God but One - 1 Cor 8
There is no God but One - 1 Cor 8
In the beginning God. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God that revealed himself to Israel: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut. 6:4). Paul affirmed "we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one" (1 Cor. 8:4).
Idolatry however quickly entered into the thoughts of mankind. As man refused to acknowledge God and worship Him as God, they quickly became foolish in their thinking. They changed their very concept of God into that which has no resemblance at all to God. (reread Romans 1 here).
In ancient times, the struggle was against this false concept of God. It almost destroyed the people of Israel as they turned to Baal and other idols. With the devoted teaching of such prophets as Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah there was a remnant that remained faithful. Such preaching produced master pieces such as Elisha's contest with the prophets of Baal in 1Kings 18 and Isaiah's great 40th chapter showing the folly of such idols.
Today we still struggle with such, but in a different way. Men today will often construct a caricature of God and then either worship it or attempt to destroy it.
The caricature of the 'god' that is worshiped is often one that suites the individual who creates it. Some have created a god of harshness who hates just as they hate. Others have denied that there is anything that their god hates, but rather accepts everything that men do. We end up with a picture of God that no one could serve or a picture of God that doesn't deserve to be served.
The caricature drawn by those who would destroy the idea of 'god' is also usually very 'one-sided'. Most often I have seen it as mean, vindictive, uncaring, weak, etc. They thus feel justified in slandering such a 'god' and refusing to serve him.
We need to be careful in our knowledge of God and not allow ourselves to create our own caricature of Him. God has revealed Himself, but we need to understand all of this revelation concerning Him. When we begin leaving out some traits or over emphasizing others, we are left only with such a caricature of God. With such a false picture of God, we fall into the same errors of the above groups
In spite of such a dire situation, it astounds me that our teaching has so often not included God's character. We have allowed ourselves in times past to get so focused on a particular issue that we have neglected teaching people about God. Jesus said, "this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). How well do you know God?
Hugh DeLong
