Many in the modern world believe that all religions are the same. Whether this means equally correct, that is, all religions lead to the same God, or equally wrong, depends on the person whom you are speaking to. For at least the past few centuries “enlightened” people have come to believe that all religions are essentially the same and no one religion should be promoted over any other. Although popular, is this kind of thinking accurate? Are all belief systems and their God or gods the same?
One of the subtopics within this argument is that all divine beings are the same or at least very similar. This essay will show that this particular argument is false by demonstrating that the God of the Bible is unique compared to all other divine beings.[1]
Everyone has an opinion
The word “god” can mean different things to different people. For example, we have pantheistic gods, in which nature is a kind of divine being or supernatural power.[2] We have the god of deism where he creates the world and then leaves it alone to operate according to natural laws. Think of a clockmaker who designs his clock, winds it up, and lets it tick all on its own. Essentially, deists do not believe in a god who interacts with the world that he created; hence, they do not believe in miracles[3] or in answered prayer.
Some people believe in a benevolent grandfather/grandmother like god or goddess. Others believe in a god who gives people whatever they want while others look at god as a cosmic policeman who makes all sorts of arbitrary laws that he wants us to obey. Everybody has an opinion.[4]
In the Bible, however, we come across a divine being that is completely different from all others and is situated within a worldview that is leaps and bounds beyond anything we find in other religions throughout history.
Creator-Creature Distinction
One of the most important differences between the biblical God and other divine beings is what is known as the creator-creature distinction. Throughout history, most religions have followed some form of pantheism. Nature and the divine have been seen as one and the same. Think of the Greek gods for a moment. Zeus is associated with thunder and lightning, Neptune with the oceans, etc. The gods and goddesses of pagan religions are almost always associated with nature.
In the Bible, God and his creation are distinct from one another and are not to be identified as one. Unlike in pantheism, where the divine and the world are part of the same reality, in the biblical worldview, “there are two levels of reality; that of the Creator and that of the creature.”[5]
There are many distinctions between God the Creator and his creation (which includes everything from animals to people and the environment that they are found in). For example:
- God is eternal; his creation is temporal. God has always existed and always will. Creatures have a beginning, and if God doesn’t sustain them, they will eventually cease to exist.
- God is omniscient, that is, he knows everything; in contrast, his creatures have only limited knowledge.
- God is omnipotent, that is, his power unlimited. He can do anything he wants; by comparison, his creatures are weak.
- God owns the world and he establishes the rules that the world runs by. We are expected to follow those rules.
- The mind of God is different from that of his creatures. He knows more than us and knows in a different way. He is the ultimate criterion of knowledge. His strength, justice, love, and wisdom are different than ours as well. His ways are not ours.[6]
God is also separated from his creation by the way he created. God made the world ex nihilo, that is, “out of nothing.” He did not create it out of already existing material. This shows that he is above and outside of the universe. He is completely distinct from it.
Creation “out of nothing” is not found in any form of secular thinking. Nor do we find in it in any form of pagan religion. Although it is given respect in Islam, the idea is unique to biblical religion. Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe in creation out of nothing because they find it in the Bible.[7]
Within some pagan belief systems, there are mediators that exist between the ultimate being and the creatures on Earth (think of sub-creators or some other kind of being as in Gnosticism). In biblical religion, there are no mediators between God and his creation, nor is an emanation from God’s essence like in Gnosticism. There are no levels between God and his creation.[8]
Although distinct, God is free to communicate with the world and act in it (more on this below). It is interesting that in Christian belief Jesus has two distinct natures: divinity and humanity. “In Christ, there is the most intimate possible union between God and man…but even in Christ, God and man are distinct.”[9]
Absolute Tripersonality
Another uniqueness of the God of the Bible is that he is “absolute personality.”[10] He is absolute because he does not depend on anything else. He has no needs (Acts 17:25) and “all the conditions of his existence and continued existence are within himself. So nobody can threaten or endanger God’s existence.”[11] Instead, everything depends on him.
Absolute beings are common in religions. Examples include the Hindu Brahma, the Greek Fate, Plato’s Idea of the Good, Aristotle’s Prime Mover, Parmenides’ Being, Plotinus’s One, and Hegel’s Absolute. These absolute beings are not personal in any way.
In addition, the biblical God has attributes of personality. “He is not only absolute, but personal: he knows, loves, speaks…our relationship with him is the most important of all our personal relationships.”[12] Personal gods abound in other religions. These gods, however, are never absolute. “Zeus and Hera, for example, had parents, and were subject to fits of anger and jealousy. The gods of polytheism are not a se, not all-powerful, and certainty not paragons of morality and truth.”[13] This includes all polytheistic religions.
Scholar John Frame says it well, “Only biblical religion acknowledges an absolute being who is also personal. So for the Christian, the Creator of the universe is also our Lord, our ultimate Judge, and our dearest friend. So the God of the Bible is not only the First Cause, but also the ultimate standard of truth and of right.”[14] Not only does he have “sufficient power to meet all of our needs, but he is also able to speak to us…our relationship with God is dully personal.”[15] This unlike the pagan gods.
He “enters into an intimate relationship with the things and people he has made, dwelling with them wherever they are (Ps 139).”[16] He enters into covenants with people and nations and he commits himself to them. He dwells with them. Think of the tabernacle, the temple, and the person of Christ.
A very unique characteristic of the biblical God is that he is also tri-personal. He is one God in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is known to most people as the Trinity. Because God is a trinity, he “is himself a society” before he created anything else. “God’s social nature does not depend on his creating social partners. Rather, when he befriends creatures, they enter into an incredibly rich and blessed society that has always existed beyond our horizons.”[17]
“The three persons of the Trinity are, of course, ‘distinct but not separate.’ They work together in all of world history. But they do play distinct roles, particularly in their relation to the world, in the metanarrative of creation, fall, and redemption. In general, God the Father is prominent in biblical accounts of God’s eternal plan. The Son, not the Father, becomes incarnate to implement that plan in obedience to the Father. Then the Spirit comes to be ‘with’ and ‘in’ God’s people as he bears witness to the work of Christ.”[18]
Lordship
Lordship is perhaps the most fundamental relationship between the Creator and his creatures. “God’s control is his power to bring all things to pass according to the counsel of his will (Eph. 1:11). His authority is his right to be obeyed, so that his control has a moral basis. His presence is his nearness to his creation and his intimate relationships with it. The most profound relationship is the covenant, in which God says, ‘I will be your God, and you will be my people’ (Ex. 6:7; Lev. 26:12; Rev. 21:3).”[19]
By his absolute power, the biblical God “controls all aspects of every situation.”[20] He lays down the law for every one of his creatures and “he rules the world by fiat; all things live and move and have their being by his sovereign legislative decree.”[21]
If God has authority over everything he created, then he has control over everything, “for he has the right to command anything (personal or impersonal), and it must obey. For example, even in the original creation he made the world by issuing commands. He commanded even nonexistent things to spring into existence (‘let there be light,’ Gen. 1:3 cf. Rom. 4:17). And his authority implies his presence, for his authority extends to all things,”[22] and because of his presence nothing in all the universe can escape from him or his authority (Ps. 139).
Conclusion
The God of the Bible is unique. He is separate from the universe that he has created. He is personal and interacts with his creatures, and he has authority over everyone and everything. He lays down the law and it must be obeyed. His personal attributes are so intimate that he became one of us and took our place on the cross. That is a God who is unlike anything you will find in any other religion.
[1] I am indebted to Professor John Frame for the idea and material in this essay. John M. Frame. A History of Western Philosophy and Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2015). John M. Frame. Christianity Considered (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).
[2] “Pan” means “all” and “theos” means “god(s).” Thus, pantheism is the belief that all is god.
[3] With the exception of creation.
[4] Frame 2018, 30-31.
[5] Frame 2015, 15.
[6] Frame 2018, 31.
[7] Frame 2015, 16.
[8] Ibid., 15-16.
[9] Ibid., 2015, 16.
[10] Frame 2015, 17; Frame 2018, 32-33.
[11] Frame 2018, 32
[12] Frame 2015, 17.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Frame 2018, 33.
[16] Ibid., 34.
[17] Ibid., 33.
[18] Frame 2015, 19.
[19] Ibid., 18.
[20] Frame 2018, 34.
[21] Albert M. Wolters. Creation Regained. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2005, p. 15.
[22] Frame 2015, 19; Frame 2018, 34.
