Friday, December 09, 2011

One God and One Lord

In Dr. White's recent debate with Patrick Navas, I was struck by Navas' attempt to say that Paul is distinguishing between Lord and God in 1 Corinthians 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Keep in mind that the Shema actually begins:

Deuteronomy 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: 

Mark 12:29  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:

And one of God's titles is "Lord God"

Ezekiel 5:8  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. 

Revelation 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

So, to say that we have only "one Lord" to exclude the Father from that title seems blasphemous, at best.  Moreover, later in Jude this very title ("Lord God") is applied to Jesus:

Jude 1:4  For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Of course, Navas may attempt to view the "and" there as disjunctive, but if he does there are now seemingly two lords.

So, it seems that Navas cannot consistently maintain this argument.

-TurretinFan

1 comment:

Dan Chapa said...

I would have to listen to the debate, but based on what you have said here, I would say there are differences between the words "God" and "Lord" as well as differences between the person's Father and Jesus Christ. Paul starts from Deut 6, but recasts it in Trinitarian terms.

God be with you,
Dan