The Bible says there is only one God. Yet, you speak of the Father and the Son as the “two Persons of the Godhead.” Doesn’t this suggest more than one God?

Both the Old Testament and the New clearly state that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:39; 1 Corinthians 8:4–6; James 2:19). However, this does not necessarily mean that the one Deity (or Godhead) is limited to one Person. The Father is called “God” throughout the New Testament. Christ is called “God” in only a few passages (see John 1:1; 20:28; Titus 2:13,14; Hebrews 1:8), but some scholars question the translation and/or meaning of some of these passages. Nevertheless, the deity of Christ is clearly seen in the fact that He is worshiped (Hebrews 1:6; Revelation 5:13), prayed to (Acts 7:59), and given titles denoting divinity (John 4:42; cf. Hosea 13:4; Revelation 1:17; cf. Isaiah 41:4; 44:6; 48:12).

The unity and plurality of God can be understood by recognizing the difference between essence and persons.

Consider the following: (1) God is Spirit (John 4:24). Spirit, therefore, is the essence of God. It is what God is. (2) There is only one Spirit (Ephesians 4:4). (3) Therefore, God, who is Spirit, is one in essence.

Our conclusion, then, is that when the Bible says that God is one, it means that the Deity is one in essence—that is, one Spirit, one divine nature.

Now, consider further: (1) The Father is God, and is personally distinct from the Son. (2) The Son is God, and is personally distinct from the Father. (3) Therefore, God is more than one in Person.

When we put all these facts together, we can come to only one conclusion: The Deity, or Godhead, is one in essence but more than one in Person. In our tradition, we have used a simple description that we believe adequately and appropriately conveys an understanding of the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. We have spoken of this composite unity as a Family, since “family” can be defined as “any class of like or related things.” Since the Father is not the Son, but is like the Son in that the two Persons share the divine nature, they may be described as a “Family.”

One way of understanding both the unity and plurality of God is through comparing the Divinity with Humanity. Originally, Humanity consisted of Adam and Eve. There was only one Humanity, but the one Humanity was comprised of two distinct persons. As God is one in essence but more than one in Person, so Humanity was “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24), but more than one person.

The Bible even speaks of Humanity as if “he” were an individual person. Speaking of the human race, God says, “Man…is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years” (Genesis 6:3). God “saw the wickedness of man…and that the intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (verse 5). Similarly, God is called “He” and “Him,” and is often described as an individual Person. But Scripture reveals that the one God is more than one in Person.

Of course, this analogy breaks down at some point because of the limitations of comparing flesh with Spirit. Nevertheless, it should help satisfy our need to understand how God can be one yet more than one.

When a Samaritan woman spoke with Jesus about the places of worship for her people and His, He informed her that true worship is not restricted to a place. He said, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). He simply meant that God, because He is Spirit and therefore not limited to a particular place, can be worshiped anyplace. Jesus’s emphasis is on how to worship God, not where to worship Him.

Jesus was applying to the worship of God what the Old Testament had already revealed about Him. Since God is omnipresent, meaning that there is no place inaccessible to Him, true worshipers can experience His presence at any time and in any place.

David said, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell [sheol, or “the pit”], behold, You are there” (Psalm 139:7,8).

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God says, “Am I a God near at hand…and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?…Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jeremiah 23:23,24).

When Solomon offered a prayer of dedication of the Temple, he said, “Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” (2 Chronicles 6:18).

The apostle Paul acknowledged God’s omnipresence. He said that “He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being,” and that “we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising” (Acts 17:27–29).

Believers in China, Australia, Europe, Canada, Jamaica, the Philippines, and the United States can fellowship with God through His Spirit at precisely the same time; and, as Paul points out, there is “one body [one universal church] and one Spirit” (Ephesians 4:4). The Father and the Son share the one Spirit, the one divine nature, that is not limited by time and space. The one Spirit is called both the “Spirit of God” and “Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9). “Christ in you” is synonymous with the indwelling of “the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead” (verses 10,11). As Paul says, “the Lord [referring to Yahweh] is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17). The divine name (Yahweh) may be used in reference to either the Father or the Son, or to the composite unity we often call “the Godhead.”

The Bible is clear; there is one essence—one divine nature, one Spirit—but there is more than one divine Person. This omnipresent Spirit is what we call “the Godhead,” or “the Deity.” It was the Second Person of the Godhead who became Jesus Christ. This grand truth is expressed beautifully in the prologue of the Fourth Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1–3,14).