Monotheism: The Heart of Judeo-Christian-Islamic faith
God. This is a word we often use without thinking. We talk about God. We pray to God. We refer to God's will. We use "God" in curses (I suppose not the best example). The word God is so much a part of our language that we seldom stop to consider what a profound theological statement we are making when we use the term.
Monotheism, the belief that there is one God (and not many gods) is a remarkable concept. For much of the history of God's people (see there I go using God) monotheism was not even on the theological horizon. For at least a thousand years God's people were henotheists (those who worship one god but accept the presence of other gods). We see this in the Exodus 20:3, "You shall have no other gods before me." In other words while the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob may have believed that other gods existed they were to worship one God alone; the God who had called Abraham and through Moses had liberated the people from the power of Pharaoh.
This belief in the presence of other gods was to be expected in the ancient world. Except for very rare instances nations and peoples had a plethora of gods in which one god would be dominant but not exclusive. Speculation exists that the present understanding of monotheism developed during the Babylonian captivity (597-538 BC). We see this development expressed in Isaiah 44:06, "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god" and it's further developed in Isaiah 44:09-20, a satire on the making and worship of idols. This new concept not only clearly set Judaism off from all other religions but it became the backbone of the Hebraic faith.
Christianity, as an offshoot of Judaism, continued the tradition of monotheism. This absolute adherence to monotheism proved to be a difficulty however as the church tried to discern the nature and work of Jesus of Nazareth (we will deal with this struggle of who Jesus was and is in future articles). In other words, how could Jesus be both a human being and God, especially if God is one and cannot be divided? As the church spread throughout the Roman Empire it would have been very easy for Christians to return to a polytheistic stance in order to deal with this quandary. They refused to do so however and were clear that while Jesus is mysteriously God with us, God is still one.
Ultimately then this adherence to monotheism shaped and shapes our faith in several critical ways. First monotheism allows us to focus our devotion and worship on the one, true living God. If, as we believe, there is but one God then this one God is deserving of our worship and devotion for all of the blessings of life we have received. Second, monotheism reminds us that our primary allegiance is to be offered to God and to God alone. Scripture tells us that we are to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, thus giving God "first dibs" on our lives. This orientation allows us to be guided by God as we seek to bless others. Finally monotheism allows us to orient our lives to God who is the very source of life and blessing itself. Since God is the creator and giver of life, then by aligning ourselves with God we encounter the one who is able to help us become fully human; meaning becoming capable of living in right relationship with Gods-self, neighbor and creation so that we can both be blessed and can bless others. Monotheism thus forms the very foundation of our faith, allowing us to not only talk about God, but to discover who this God is.
Next week: Who is this God?
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