Oneness

By: Mike Richardson

I'd like to continue with the theme Michael F. brought up a couple of weeks ago. That of the nature of God (Trinity or not) and our relationship to him. So often, doctrinal disagreements can be traced back to differences regarding these two questions. I've recently added my two cents on this topic to an ongoing discussion between evangelical Christians and Mormons elsewhere in the online world, and so decided to adapt them to the present context. As Michael F. noted, an important point is that the concept of Trinity (in its various forms) is not Biblical. The purpose of Trinitarian interpretations, I think, is to reconcile an apparent monotheism in the Old Testament (one God) with an apparent Polytheism in the New Testament (a Father God, a Son God, and a Holy Spirit God), resulting in the apparent need for the reconciliation to transcend these texts.

However, this non-Biblical reconciliation is unnecessary. Christ himself reconciles the Testaments and clearly explains the meaning of God's oneness, as well as the various ways in which he (the Son) is distinct from the Father. For example, Christ indicated that he was forsaken by the Father for a time, which a oneness of being would prevent. He also indicated a distinction of will (not my will, but thine be done). This is more than a simple "self-awareness," or a distinction of personality but not of being (as Trinitarians might have it), but it demonstrates an awareness that he could have resisted the Father's will if he so chose--going his own way, so to speak, as a being as well as a personality. However, he CHOSE to submit to, rather than resist, the Father's will. To me, this moment, so central to the atonement of Christ, is one of the most important indicators of Christ's distinction from the Father not only as an identity, but also as a being. It is also a powerful demonstration of the nature of their unity and oneness. The Son, with the power to "go his own way," also had the ability to CHOOSE to submit to the Father, which he did at that crucial moment--just as he had always done--thus retaining a unity or oneness of will (or purpose) even in a moment of physical/spiritual/mental separation so dramatic as to be described as being "forsaken." The definition of forsake is to "quit or leave entirely; abandon; desert" (dictionary.com) or "to renounce or turn away from entirely" (Merriam-Webster.com). And yet they remained one through a unity of will, or of purpose--the only oneness possible in a moment of ENTIRE abandonment.

This is not an extra-Biblical inductive theory used to explain the unexplainable. This is Christ's own testimony. He retained a oneness of will with the Father, even through an obvious and dramatic separation of being. Perhaps more difficult to accept for some Christians (Catholics, Protestants, and Mormons alike--although maybe for different reasons) is Christ's offer to extend that very same oneness (EVEN AS...) to all that believe in Christ. In his prayer to the Father he requested:

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one (John 17: 20-22).

Here Christ uses the astonishing phrases "ALL may be one; AS thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they ALSO may be one in us," and "the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, EVEN AS we are one.

So the unity (oneness) of the Father and Son is explained further by the prayer of Christ to bring ALL that believe on him into the same unity (and glory) EVEN AS that shared by the Father and the Son. Perhaps more astonishing still, in Revelation 3:21 Christ indicates that not only does this oneness entail a sharing of will and glory, but also of power: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

Christians who are concerned about Mormon beliefs regarding Christ having a oneness of purpose (will) with the Father, rather than a oneness of being, and those who are concerned about Mormon beliefs regarding a God-like exaltation promised for the faithful (perhaps two of the most persistent and central concerns), have as much or more to contend with in their own Holy Book than in any distinctly Mormon scripture.