27th June 2025

If you had to try to describe God, where would you start? It’s a rather daunting task. The Nicene Creed will go on to describe many aspects of God, but it begins by affirming that God is one. The Roman Empire, where the Council of Nicaea was held, was a polytheistic society, with citizens worshiping a vast pantheon of gods and goddesses. It was important, therefore, to establish at the outset the ‘oneness’ of God, showing that we are not subject to the whims of multiple deities at odds with one another. 

The confession of God’s oneness has its roots in the divine revelation of the Old Testament. God revealed himself to Israel as the only One: ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one’ (Deuteronomy 6:4), and ‘…for I am God, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45:22). Although Israel believed in one God, they struggled to free themselves from the worship of other gods, for example, Maccabean soldiers carried charms of foreign gods into battle.¹  Nevertheless, Jesus confirmed the Old Testament scripture that “…the Lord our God,  

the Lord is one” (Mark 12:29), and not simply one among a collection of gods.

There is, however, a significant difference between the traditional Jewish view of God and the Christian view: “For Judaism…God’s singleness is at the core of God, unlike Christianity’s belief in a triune God…For…Judaism… ‘one God’ means that God is alone. Not only is there no one like him, but he is himself, solitary, eternally apart, completely other…For Christians there is one God, but the one God is made up of three distinct Persons. Through Jesus Christ, the oneness of God is revealed differently than in Judaism…God’s oneness has a three-ness about it.” ²

The concern for the authors of the Creed in explaining the ‘three-ness’ of God was to avoid the charge of polytheism – there is only one God, not three, but this one God exists in three persons. The Nicaean Council wrestled to understand, accurately communicate, and thus defend this Trinitarian revelation. It stated that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, though not the same person, share the one being of the one God. Said another way, God who is one in being, is three in person. The emphasis on the oneness of God at the outset of the Creed demands that we worship him alone. To worship anything that is not God is idolatry, as these other things become gods in our lives, competing with the one true God.

In our header scripture, Paul, when writing about the one God, included the Father, the Lord (Jesus) and the Spirit. The fact that God is many (three) and one has big implications for our lives. Just as God is one, Paul encourages us to be one with one another. The Christian church, made up of many people, is to be ‘one body’, having ‘one hope’, ‘one faith’, and ‘one baptism’. Although we have differences, the fact that we are all beloved children of the same one God should unite us together. As we reflect on God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – being in relationship as one God, may we strive to be in relationship, united with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

¹ Ray, Stephen, and Walters, Dennis, The Faith For Beginners: Understanding the Creeds, p 32.² ibid, p 33.

About the writer:
Barry Robinson is a minister in Grace Communion International and Deputy National Ministry Leader for the UK and Ireland

Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead 
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA

Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm

Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church

Word of Life contact:  
wordoflife@gracecom.church