Paul keeps monotheism, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and 1 Timothy 2:5

Sources

• 1 Corinthians 8:6, NASB. (opens in a new tab)

  1 Corinthians 8:6, NASB.

• 1 Timothy 2:5, NASB. (opens in a new tab)

  1 Timothy 2:5, NASB.

Objections & responses

1 Corinthians 8:6 says “one God, the Father” and then separately “one Lord, Jesus Christ.” Paul is distinguishing the one God from Jesus, and 1 Timothy 2:5 calls the mediator “the man Christ Jesus.”

This is the strongest unitarian reading and it deserves a direct answer. In 8:6 Paul is reworking the Shema itself (the LORD our God, the LORD is one), splitting its two divine titles between the Father and Jesus and then attributing creation to both: from whom all things, and through whom all things. Attributing creation to Jesus places him on the Creator’s side of the line for a Jew. As for 1 Timothy 2:5, calling Jesus a man is what the incarnation requires; the Trinity has always held that the mediator is fully human. The texts show distinction between Father and Son, which the Trinity affirms, not inequality of nature, which it denies.

Most critical scholars think 1 Timothy wasn’t written by Paul.

The majority critical view is that the Pastoral letters are deutero-Pauline, and that is worth knowing. The point here does not depend on authorship: whoever wrote 1 Timothy, an early Christian writer affirmed one God while treating Jesus as the unique mediator, which is the monotheism-plus-Jesus pattern this claim describes. If anything, disputed authorship widens the circle of early Christians who wrote this way.

Appears under 1 claim in this case

• The whole Bible, Old Testament and New, teaches that there is only one God.