The Plural God

I cannot continue to explain our relationship with God without explaining and clarifying a common concept in Christianity. This concept does apply to Judaism as well, but what follows is going to help clarify a common Christian misconception about God. 

In the Christian faith, it is most often taught, that Jesus Christ is God, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit) are just different aspects of the same personage. That God himself came down and took mortal form as the Savior. But is this really the case?  Is this really what the scriptures teach?

In my last post I explained that we are God's children and He desires us to become like Him. Now immediately thus concept may come as a shock to many. That's because this view or statement may come across as a challenge to God's authority. After all, in the Bible it states:

“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

Exodus 20:1-3

So how can the idea of becoming like God be reconciled with this commandment?  The answer comes in the context combined with a better understanding of the ancient Hebrew religion. The ancient Hebrew religion is not to be confused with modern Judaism. 

Part of the context of this commandment that is given is that these ancient Hebrews were being brought out of Egypt. They had spent several centuries living among the Egyptians and as such had assimilated much of the Egyptian culture. Part of this assimilation included a mixing of Hebrew and Egyptian beliefs. This mixing produces a false god or gods. Think of it as an ancient political correctness, a way that the Hebrews and Egyptians could come up with an acceptable compromise. This mixing however produces a new god that is not very much like the  God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Many of the Hebrews made a practice of worshipping both their own God and the Egyptian gods, and this was not an acceptable practice. Also many Hebrews were taking the attributes of the Egyptian gods and mingling them with their own beliefs. So when God instituted the lower law that the Hebrews were required to obey, it included this commandment to worship only God, and not the gods of other religions.

That being said, this commandment neither teaches nor implies the monotheism that has come to dominate both Judaism and Christianity today. Now this may seem like a bold statement that contradicts what the scriptures say. But I wish to teach and show by the scriptures themselves that this concept was actually what the ancient Hebrews believed, and that the ancient belief was correct.  In my coming articles I am going to delve into the various names for God and show some powerful and deep meanings that are embodied into the letters and words themselves.