God’s existenceDraft · awaiting advisor review
Why believe in one God rather than many?
In short
Christians believe in one God because the Bible teaches it and because there is a strong argument from reason: a truly ultimate, unlimited being cannot have equals, or something would have to distinguish and limit them. The unity of nature’s laws fits one source better than many. Jews and Muslims share this conviction; Christians hold that the one God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Objection
Arguments from design point to a maker, not to one maker. As David Hume argued, a world this mixed could as easily come from many makers, or from a committee. Most human cultures have honoured many gods, and polytheism explains conflict, suffering and diversity in nature without strain. Even Christians speak of Father, Son and Spirit, so why insist on one?
Put as its strongest advocates would put it.
The Christian Case
- Philosophical argument
Many philosophers, from Aquinas on, argue that an absolutely ultimate being, unlimited in power and existing by necessity, could not have a twin. Two such beings would need something to tell them apart, and that difference would mean one lacked something, so it would not be unlimited. Islamic thinkers made a similar argument, echoing Qur’an 21:22.
- Philosophical argument
The same physical laws seem to hold everywhere, from nearby atoms to distant galaxies. Some philosophers, such as Richard Swinburne, argue that one God is a simpler explanation of this unity than many gods with separate wills, which would need some further explanation for why they always agree.
- Scripture
The Bible insists there is one God, the creator of all, and calls Israel to love him alone. The prophets mock idols as made things, not makers. The New Testament keeps this, while confessing Jesus as Lord within that one God’s identity.
- Christians differ
Inscriptions at Kuntillet ʿAjrud bless people by “Yahweh … and his Asherah”, suggesting some Israelites worshipped a goddess beside Yahweh. Some Christians think Israel held clear monotheism from Moses, with such worship a departure the prophets condemned. Others think Israel first worshipped only Yahweh while not denying other gods, with explicit monotheism becoming clear later, as in Isaiah.
- Scripture
Christians do not believe in three gods. The Trinity means one God in three persons, sharing one divine being. Jesus himself quoted “the Lord our God is one Lord”. Muslims respectfully disagree, seeing the Trinity as compromising God’s oneness (Qur’an 4:171; 5:73), and Jews hold a similar view.
Where the Evidence Is Weaker
These arguments point to one ultimate source, but they do not rule out lesser spiritual beings; the Bible itself speaks of angels and other powers. Hume’s point stands that design alone cannot count the designers; the case rests on arguments about ultimate being, which are debated. And many Hindus see the gods as forms of one ultimate reality, so the gap between them and monotheists is narrower than “one versus many” suggests.
Arguments to Avoid
- Saying polytheists are simply primitive or foolish, rather than engaging their actual beliefs.
- Claiming Moses borrowed monotheism from the pharaoh Akhenaten, which goes well beyond the evidence.
- Saying Muslims worship a “moon god”, a myth that is both false and unkind.
- Explaining the Trinity in ways that sound like three gods, such as three separate beings who agree.
Read for Yourself
Deuteronomy 6:4–9
4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: 7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. 8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. 9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
Isaiah 44:6–20
6Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. 7And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. 8Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any. 9They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. 10Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? 11Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together. 12The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint. 13The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house. 14He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it. 15Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. 16He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: 17And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. 18They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. 19And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? 20He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
1 Corinthians 8:4–6
4As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. 5For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
Acts 17:22–31
22Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 23For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 24God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 25Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. 30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.
Related Finds
Kuntillet ʿAjrud inscriptions
c. 800 BC · Found: North-east Sinai, 1975–76
Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Blessings written on storage jars and plaster at a desert way-station.
What it shows
Blessings “by YHWH … and his Asherah”: evidence of the mixed worship the prophets and reforming kings condemned.
What it doesn’t show
It shows what some people practised, not what Israel’s prophets taught; the meaning of “his Asherah” is debated.
Further Reading
- Five Proofs of the Existence of God · Edward Feser (2017)Includes arguments that the ultimate cause must be one.
- One God, One Lord · Larry W. Hurtado (1988)How early Christians worshipped Jesus within Jewish monotheism.
- Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion · David Hume (1779)The classic challenge, including the case that design need not mean one designer.
Drafted with Opened AI and awaiting review by Opened’s apologetics advisors. Labels show the kind of support each point has: Scripture is what the Bible says; historical evidence and philosophical arguments can be checked by anyone; “Christians differ” marks questions on which faithful Christians disagree.
Next QuestionDid Jesus really rise from the dead?