Does Christianity Teach Three Gods or One God?

The Bible clearly speaks of one God in both Old and New Testaments. In a clear emphatic declaration, God tells us in Isaiah:

I alone am God. There is no other God—there never has been, and there never will be. I, yes I, am the LORD, and there is no other Savior.

Isaiah 43:10b, 11, NLT

So, are Christians blaspheming God when they teach that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh? On the surface, it seems like Christians are teaching that Jesus and the Father are two distinct Gods. And since the Holy Spirit is called God in the New Testament (Acts 5:3, 4; John 14:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 6:19), some accuse Christians of worshiping three Gods. But that accusation is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of God.

The God of the Bible is infinitely more complex than our limited minds can comprehend. We would like to put God within the “box” of our own human understanding. However, God tells us that he is beyond comprehension.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.”

Isaiah 55: 7-9

We should not expect our infinite God to be comprehensible; in fact he tells us he isn’t. What a marvelous truth–God is beyond us in every way!

God is spoken of in the Bible as having three distinct persons:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In other words, God is tri-personal rather than uni-personal like us. This plurality of God’s nature is not just a New Testament revelation; it is revealed at the very beginning of the Bible. In Genesis 1:26, God says, “Let us make man in our image,” a clear reference to his tri-personal nature.

Christians worship one God who has always existed in three distinct persons:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Together they created the universe (Colossians 1:15-18). Together they are involved in the redemption of man (Titus 3:4-7). Together they are one God.

Our God has never been lonely or isolated. In fact, Jesus speaks of the love and oneness he had with the Father before the foundation of the earth (John 17:5). Jesus also spoke of God’s tri-personal nature to his disciples before leaving earth when he commanded them:

You, then, are to go and make disciples of all the nations and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew, 28:19, J. B. Phillips

For further reading we recommend the article, “Did the Apostles Believe Jesus is God?”