One God, not three

Here’s what many Muslims have heard their whole lives: Christians say one God, then pray to three. If that were true, it would be a serious problem, and Catholics would agree. So let’s slow down and look at what the Church actually teaches.

“Say: He is Allah, the One! Allah, the eternally Besought of all! He begetteth not nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him.”

Catholics begin where you begin: God is one

Start here: Jesus Himself prayed the great prayer of Israel, the Lord is one. CCC 202 And the Church insists that calling Jesus Lord “is not contrary to belief in the One God.” CCC 202

“Jesus answered, ‘The greatest is: ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment.”

“The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons”

Then what does “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” mean?

One God, not three gods; but this one God has shown us His inner life. CCC 253 Father, Son and Holy Spirit are really distinct, yet each is fully God, not a third of God. CCC 253 CCC 254

“God is one but not solitary.”

And “Son” does not mean God took a wife and had a child; Catholics would call that blasphemy too, since God “is neither man nor woman: he is God.” CCC 239 The Son is “eternally begotten of the Father” and “begotten not made.” CCC 242 No beginning, no biology. CCC 242

An honest note: this is a real difference. Muslims read the Qur’an’s words “He begetteth not nor was begotten” as ruling out any Son of God. Catholics hear a rejection of something we don’t believe either, a God with a physical family, and we hold that the Son is God from God. You don’t have to agree. But now you know what we actually mean.

The verses you might bring: 4:171, 5:73 and 5:116

“O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not "Three" - Cease! (it is) better for you! - Allah is only One Allah. Far is it removed from His Transcendent Majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.”

If “Three” means three gods, Catholics agree with this verse: we confess one God, not three, and each divine Person is God whole and entire, not a third of God. CCC 253

Notice, too, what this verse calls Jesus: “His word” and “a spirit from Him.” John’s Gospel opens by calling Jesus the Word. Where we differ is whether that Word is eternal and divine.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

“They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the third of three; when there is no Allah save the One Allah. If they desist not from so saying a painful doom will fall on those of them who disbelieve.”

Christians don’t believe God is one god among three: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not three gods but one God, which the Church calls “the consubstantial Trinity.” CCC 253 CCC 254

“And when Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah? he saith: Be glorified! It was not mine to utter that to which I had no right. If I used to say it, then Thou knewest it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy Mind. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Knower of Things Hidden?”

Treating Jesus and His mother as two gods beside God is something Catholics reject too: Mary is not God, and the honor Catholics give her “differs essentially” from the adoration given to God alone. CCC 971

An honest word: most Muslims read these verses as rejecting Christian belief itself, and we won’t pretend the difference away. The real question between us isn’t “one God or three?” We both say one. It’s whether Jesus is the eternal Son of that one God.