06/14/2026
Monotheism by its own definition is a numerical claim. Mono μόνος greek meaning “alone” with the inference of 1 numerically. And theos θεός meaning “God” or “god” depending on context. Now the meaning of these two terms within the word “Monotheism” gives us the meaning of the term as a whole. According to the Oxfords learners dictionary the meaning is affirmed as a numerical claim saying it is “the belief that there is only one God.” I think this is the generally accepted understanding of monotheism today.
As students of the bible there are a few principles that guide us in learning the bible, the most prominent of these principles is that the bible is the authoritative source of all divine knowledge. Without getting into the controversies of versions, textual criticism, translation, canon and manuscripts. Which is a universe of discussion all its own. Generally what ever we believe must be rooted in the bible and supported by the bible.
There are at times we discover things that seem like contradictions in the bible. As an example the bible says God has never been seen1 and is also said to have been seen2. These two facts seem diametrically opposed to one another. So in such a situation what is our course of action?
Courses of Action
The simplistic solution is to favor one of the two supposed contradictory facts and ignore the other unless such a one is force to agree with the non-favored scripture, sometimes the decision bears on if the road favoring the less controversial one is smoother, life is easier, the motivation is peace, not truth. Also know as herd mentality, or appeal to the majority. Many biblical figures did not conform to the masses. The problem is leaving the conflict unresolved, in hopes of dying without ever dealing with the issue. Never making the effort to harmonize the bibles narrative. Never seeking to discover the truth God intended us to learn with a little more effort than usual.
The road less traveled solution is to accept both as true facts, and attempt to understand how both facts can be true at the same time. The bible is always true and when we come to complexities we must do the work of understanding how both can exist at the same time, and not deny one over the other. We must be able to balance both truths and sometimes admit, we don’t yet know how, but both are true. I apologize that I can not answer how God is not seen and seen yet, the reason is we must lay this foundation about the problem with the term “monotheism” before you could understand my answer to that question.
Now that we have looked at the easy way and the harder way to look at issues with seemingly biblical contradictions. I want to use the harder path to examine the claims of the term “monotheism.”
Given that monotheism is a numerical claim, I want to look at these claims in light of its numerical declaration. What we are investigating is whether its numerical claim is consistent with the biblical narrative.
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Biblical support for 1 God alone.
Supportive Scriptures for monotheism?
““You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,” (Exodus 20:3–5, NASB95)
In dealing with numerical limitations does this verse impose a limit to the category of “god”? I do not see where. The best explanation is that God is telling Israel that he is their God and that all other gods are not to be worshipped. Peter Enns in his book Inspiration and Incarnation explained it very well saying {pg 101 - 102} considering his attempt to understand with his monotheistic cope.
This brings us to the opening of the Ten Commandments. They begin with a prologue (as we saw in chapter 2): “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exod. 20:2).
This prologue establishes the basis for the commandments: what God has done. Delivering the Israelites from Egypt gives God the right to command that they worship him in the way he is about to outline. The first commandment reads: “You shall have no other gods before me” (20:3). Modern readers might be tempted to add, “But of course, as we all know; there are no other gods.” But this is not what the text says or implies, and we must resist the temptation to assume that ancient Israelites had at their disposal what we do: a fuller revelation of God.
The first commandment says not “There are no other gods” but “You shall have no other gods.” Yahweh is saying, “You saw what I did in bringing you up from Egypt. Now, I am the one you are to worship, not the gods of Egypt you are leaving behind nor the gods of Canaan you are about to encounter.”
This reading of the first Commandment may be counterintuitive for contemporary Christians, but that is precisely the point. If we wish to understand ancient Israelites and the ancient literature they composed, we must learn to develop intuitions, as best we can, that reflect the ancient world to which these texts were given.
We see the same point made in the second commandment
You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LorD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (20:4-6)
The way this commandment is phrased seems to imply that idols can be real rivals of Yahweh, so much so that he would be jealous if Israel were to worship them. Again, remember that, standing as we are with the benefit of much subsequent revelation and reflection, we know that idols are not real. We also know that anything other than God, if it becomes an object of devotion (spouse, career, money, fame), is an idol. But the Israelites of the exodus were living in the infancy of their national existence amid a polytheistic world. They were taking their first baby steps toward a knowledge of God that later generations came to understand and we perhaps take for granted. At this point in the progress of redemption, however, the gods of the surrounding nations are treated as real. God shows his absolute supremacy over them by declaring not that “they don’t exist” but that “they cannot stand up against me-look at what I did in Egypt. Did the gods of Egypt help you? No. I did it. And when you enter Canaan and you are met with a whole new list of gods, remember:
I brought you out of Egypt. What I did to their gods I will do to any other gods who get between you and me.
So this text does not limit numerically the category of who are “gods.” There is no narrowing the number of “elohim” to just one. I start with this verse because naturally this is the first verse that comes to mind to many who have not look in depth at this scripture.
But there are verses that do indeed limit numerically. The best one I think is this one from the book of Isaiah.
““Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:21–22, NASB95)
Powerful and profound, this does limit numerically, in the “no other besides me” and “For I am God, and there is no other.” Yes, said perfectly there is no other God. Now at this point you must think that I am done, the issue is now settled. This is not the case, because we must look at the totality of the scripture. You might think, Sir, God has already by his mouth said there is no other. And I agree, but there is more nuance to be understood. God said something else we also can not ignore.
Scriptural evidence of other gods?
From the word of God comes all things existence, they are defined by Gods very words. So let us deal with these words from the mouth of God, and assess what we can know from them.
“I said, “You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. “Nevertheless you will die like men And fall like any one of the princes.”” (Psalm 82:6–7, NASB95)
Given Gods creating and defining power, what did God speak over them? He made a declaration that they are “gods.” Now just as I would not want to deny the words of God in the previous verse in Isaiah, so also I do not want to deny these words of God. Remember when we come to a place where there seems to be a contradiction we must make a choice, either the simplistic solution or the road less traveled solution. My preference is to deny neither, I must try to understand how both can be true at the same time. On the one hand we have “I am God and there is no other” and on the other we have God himself saying “you are gods.” We must look closer, and dig deeper into the biblical narrative.
The necessary nuance.
Nuance meaning : a quality of something that is not easy to notice but may be important:
Lets look at another scripture that helps me understand a bit more when trying to balance these two truths simultaneously, Jeremiah helps me to find clarity to answer this in the context of Jeremiah 10:10
“But Yahweh is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation. Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.” It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He gives forth His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses. Every man is senseless, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images; For his molten images are a lie, And there is no breath in them. They are vanity, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish. The portion of Jacob is not like these; For the Maker of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; Yahweh of hosts is His name.” (Jeremiah 10:10–16, LSB)
These verses must be broken down into their separate parts to understand fully what is being said here, within the light of what we previously noticed about the truths that God is God and there is no other, and his declaring others as gods. Balance is the key, maintaining both truths as we walk forward, in an effort to affirm both truths, a difficult but achievable and necessary endeavor.
First, God through Jeremiah makes a few declarations about himself.
“But Yahweh is the true God;
He is the living God and the everlasting King.”
God declares he is the “true God.” This statement does not deny the existence of other Gods, but says who ever they are, they are not really comparable to Yahweh, they may be “elohim” but they are not even comparable to Yahweh. They are eclipsed by Yahweh in comparison. True God means when you look back at all the contributions any god could have done, ultimately the truth is even all of these gods owe their existence and abilities to Yahweh. So it is not a denial of the existence of these gods, but that they are wholly so incomparable that Yahweh is really the only God in the truest sense of the word, without denying the membership of these lesser gods being what Yahweh calls them “gods.”
God declares he is the “living God.” Not to say that the gods Yahweh declared as gods were not really alive, but Yahweh’s life is not dependent on anyone, living in the truest sense, any and all that exists to include any “god” mentioned by God exists because God permitted life for them, they are dependent on a more powerful being, dependent on Yahweh for existence. For Yahweh this is not so, he is the truly living God, with no others existing this way. Yahweh is independent of anything, in all and every way, he is dependent on none. Thus Yahweh is explaining why he is the Ultimate God, even if there are others, they pale in comparison. These gods are completely dependent on the Most High God for life, Yahweh the Most High God has life in himself3, independent of all, there is no dependency in the Most High God.
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God is the “everlasting King.” This means just as it says he will never be dethroned, he will never be usurped, forever from age to age, whether this world or the one to come, he is Supreme, for no other “god” is this true, only Yahweh.
With God beginning with his declarations of why he is the Apex God, we see examples of his supreme authority.
“At His wrath the earth quakes,
And the nations cannot endure His indignation.”
God is in absolute control of the earth, he can cause the earth to quake as an example, if we remember there has been times when the “god of this world” the devil has been able to do things involving natural disasters. Satan in a discussion with God about Job, had to have permission from God to cause disasters upon Job.
““Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. “But send forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.” Then Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand, only do not send forth your hand toward him.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.” (Job 1:10–12, LSB)
This shows that even the “god of this world” is subject to the unrivaled authority of Yahweh, further reenforcing the Supremacy of Yahweh over anything called “god.”
This meeting of the “sons of God” and Satan in Job 1, echos the council God had with other gods in Ps 82.
“God takes His stand in the congregation of God; He judges in the midst of gods.” (Psalm 82:1, LSB)
Later we see the “sons of God” being mentioned, and punishment that awaits the unjust gods, showing the members of this council are not all blameless and righteous. The fact that “punishment” is judged upon these “gods” speaks to their reality. Showing that even presumably sinful gods can join such a council and not be punished until the appointed time, just as satan could attend and participate in the council and speak up in the Job discussion, even though he is doomed to the lake of fire eternally eventually. Until then he is tolerated until his time has come.
“I said, “You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. “Nevertheless you will die like men And you will fall like any one of the princes.”” (Psalm 82:6–7, LSB)
So God is showing in the example of his ability to cause earthquakes that he is the ultimate authority, and even if at times others may wield that ability it is delegated, where Yahweh is always the source of that delegation, because he is the supreme power. Likewise the mention of the nations, are subject to his indignation, his rule does not end where society or government begins God is in control of all these, and as we know the devil would love the world to worship him, but God still is in complete control of it all.
Further in Jeremiah 10:11 Yahweh declares that these Gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish, essentially these gods have a judgment day appointed for them eventually, including Satan.
“Thus you shall say to them, “The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”” (Jeremiah 10:11, LSB)
This reenforces the fact that there are other gods and they did not make the heavens and the earth, and they are going to perish or die. Now these gods have to have life to have them perish, so are these gods real and living according to the text? The fact that in Ps 82:6-7 that Yahweh declared death to them, and here also a reminder of this death sentence. So we have in the same context, Yahweh as the true, living, supreme God, and the acknowledgment of gods who are destined to die, almost in the same breath. This shows how Jeremiah could understand God as the true God and still be able to acknowledge inferior gods simultaneously. We are still working through the two texts that on first blush seemed to be contradictory, “God and there is no other” and God describing others as “you are gods,” we are not done yet but we are getting closer to reconciling the two texts to be true at the same time without contradiction as Jeremiah was able to do.
To support Yahweh being the unrivaled God the bible elaborates.
“It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens. When He gives forth His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.” (Jeremiah 10:12–13, LSB)
God is reminding everyone that he is in supreme control of all things and has always and will always have this power and control, because he made it all “who made the earth by his power”, “stretched out the heavens”, none of this exists without the true God.
Next we leave the topic of the doomed gods and their lack of any real creation or control over the world, and the focus turns to vain idols and their fashioners.
“Every man is senseless, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven images; For his molten images are a lie, And there is no breath in them. They are vanity, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish.” (Jeremiah 10:14–15, LSB)
The punishment of these craftsmen of lies through promoting idolatry for monetary gain, is assured. The idols themselves are the lies. These lies do not rival Yahweh and could never.
Next we see that the God of Jacob, is not like these doomed gods, or lying fictional idols, God has made Israel his chosen people, the final reason for God being the true God, is summed up in the statement.
“For the Maker of all is He”
Because he is the Maker of all, Yahweh is the cause of all, he is the source, the reason for all existence. This is the culmination of all the reasons why Yahweh is the true God, because he caused all, and thus all are dependent on him for existence and life.
And now we return to the original point of this discussion on the numerical claims of the category of “gods.” Does the bible say only one God exists at all? Or does it say there is one true God and all others are wholly inferior to the most high God? Both of these biblical statements that we are examining “For I am God, and there is no other” and God saying “I said, “You are gods” needs a resolution and I think we have one. There are more gods than just one, but within that category, One caused all the others to exist, thus Yahweh stands Supreme above them all, there is one God of Gods and there is no other who willed everything else to exist. Yahweh alone is God in the truest sense, without the need to deny the existence of these inferior gods. Their real existence poses no threat to the Most High God. Yes Yahweh is truly God and there is no other like him. This is the balance we must strike with these texts, both are true, both texts are valid, but we must see them in the correct light. The biggest evidence is that God is called the true God, and also mentions the dying gods as-well. I think it would be hard for most monotheistic christians to say something like this, and really mean existing real lesser gods. I will show you a New Testament verse that to the shock of many christians also does as this Jeremiah portion.
“Therefore, concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” (1 Corinthians 8:4–6, LSB)
Now this text goes exactly as the previous one did, a declaration of one true God, “no God but one.” Then also an admission of the existence of other gods “in heaven” or “on earth” saying “indeed there are many gods and many lords.” Then turning after this statement a clarification that christians who knew other gods existed yet they serve the one God, “yet for us there is one God.” They don’t care about these other gods, and do not deny the term “god” to them because they already know whom should be worshiped, and the reason is the same as it was in Jeremiah “from whom are all things” because he is the maker of all the Jeremiah text said “the maker of all is he” , he is the reason any and all exist, thus he is the True God. The ability to not take the simplistic solution and study brings greater understanding, and clearer vision. It explains why Paul had no problem calling satan “the god of this world”, he is not a polytheist, he is biblical, worshiping one God, without denying the existence of inferior gods. The lack of this understanding makes us blind to the perspective of Paul and all early christians, and we misunderstand Jeremiah and much more.
The original issue was and is the topic of monotheism and its numerical claim, the widely accepted word “monotheism.” Biblically, is the word “monotheism” reflective of the biblical narrative? I think it is lacking, it actually causes problems. If you felt uncomfortable reading these texts that do not deny the existence of real yet inferior gods, where does that tension come from, do you think that the concept of “monotheism” being set at the foundation of the christian world view is the cause of this tension?
When we see Israel stray from God and serve idols, Baal and others do you think they were monotheists to make that jump? No monotheist could ever make that leap, but if they thought they were real they might decide to sin in this way. They saw the other gods as real, and thus could see them as a valid option, a monotheist could never. Now this could raise an argument as to why not to understand this truth, that we should keep truth secret, in an effort to keep others from assuming another god were real, but I think not knowing the truth clearly enough can also cause stumbling, and I can demonstrate this in a few. Given this evidence that no monotheist would ever look to another god because none exists, does this prove that biblical Israel was not monotheist? I think so.
On the topic of not knowing the whole truth, or hiding truth because of fear of some end result, is that the nature of truth? If we are walking in the dark, and we give a flash light to a another that limits how much they can see, hiding hues that show some information that could possibly help them. Are we being truly helpful to that one? Are we responsible for mistakes they do make because of the misunderstanding of truth? Isn’t truth, the whole truth never bad? I always think of Eve on subjects in these areas. What did she say God said about the tree? She said …‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Eve was not present when Adam was told not to eat of the tree, yet some how she was under the impression she could not touch it. It was not a sin to use it for target practice, or use the wood of that tree. Just like we are aware of poisonous plants and we know we can touch them just not eat them. If she was under the impression that she could not touch it, the devil was well aware she didn’t fully understand. The serpent could have touched it before her to make her question the truth of the whole matter. The devil could make her accidentally touch it, or have it fall from the tree upon her, and then make her question it all. I don’t know if any of that happened but its just an example of lack of full knowledge, whether Adam told her that or she assumed it, that misunderstanding leaves a person vulnerable to deception. Back to monotheism, and its numerical demand is not the whole truth its partial truth, and I think because it is not fully biblically supported its harmful. Teaching why in the midst of god, Yah is the source of them all which is why only he is worthy of all homage, honor, glory and obedience is due him, the other gods are subject to Yah, all await death in some way, at the will of Yah. That clarity should keep most from stumbling on the reality of these inferior gods, and maintain Yah as the only true God.
If we permit and encourage people to put this concept at the foundation of there theology, are we not asking people to put up barriers to explicit biblical teachings like this? I think the biblical narrative is quite clear, that a more nuance view of God as the only True God, and the existence of other inferior gods, requires a better term than “monotheism,” a numerical claim that clearly does not support the biblical narrative. Some will never accept this concept because it violates their view of monotheism. Possibly some have not made it this far into this article because of the conflict upon a foundational tenet, most can not handle it. Should we be encouraging people to set up a concept in there theology that clearly causes misunderstanding, and resistance to clear biblical concepts?
If you have been able to be confident enough to read this far, Thank you.
Monotheism and the intention behind it is noble yet flawed. So lets discuss if the bible does not support the notion of monotheism and its numerical claim, which excludes the existence of others what term can we use? Its never a good idea to remove a fundamental tenet and not offer a solution, and there is a great solution.
A certain teaching of Christ now fits into this discussion, and I understand it and so should many reading this.
““And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. “But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. “And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, ‘The old is good enough.’ ”” (Luke 5:37–39, NASB95)
The change of a core tenet especially one involving ones faith, is a difficult one to undertake. The old wine in our situation is “monotheism” and the wine skins are each of us, some can not accept new wine, most are set in their way, the foundation of monotheism is so ingrained they could not undertake such a change in wine, like those who could not accept Jesus Christ as the messiah, they could not receive. And I fully understand and accept that most can not accept that monotheism is lacking to describe the biblical narrative. My hope is that the few exceptional persons that God has led to this, the Saul of Tarsus figures who can accept this, would walk in this understanding, and also to call the new christians to come and consider, what makes more biblical sense. I want to continue this discussion leaving the question of if monotheism represents the biblical narrative, I clearly do not think so, to what is the alternative.
I will continue God willing in my next article a more full throated discussion on the topic, but the framework to replace monotheism is one that 1. Places Yahweh as the only God worthy of worship, devotion, and allegiance. 2. Acknowledges lesser and infinitely inferior gods who are not worthy of the same or any devotion. On the next article we will define this and discover it and its richer concept for biblical interpretation. In my opinion the framework that best describes the biblical narrative is - Monolatry. See you at the next article for further discussion.
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1
“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” (John 1:18, LSB)
2
“and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they beheld God, and they ate and drank.” (Exodus 24:10–11, LSB)
3
““For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;” (John 5:26, LSB)
