Different worlds, different faiths

 One God, Many Heavenly Beings, a Real Satan, an Exalted Christ,and How Later Christianity Reshaped This Faith

Most people today imagine that ancient Jews believed in only one God and nothing else in heaven. But the world that Jesus and the apostles lived in was far richer and more populated. Their faith included:

• one God
• many heavenly beings
• a real Satan
• real demons
• a divine council
• an exalted “Son of Man” figure
• and Jesus placed above all heavenly powers except God Himself

This was normal Second Temple Judaism — the faith of Jesus’ time.

Later Christian centuries reshaped this worldview into the philosophical doctrine of the Trinity.
But to understand that later development, we must first understand the original world of Jesus and the apostles.

1. The Bible Teaches One God — But Also Many Heavenly Beings

Scripture says clearly:

Deuteronomy 6:4

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

Yet the same Scriptures speak of heavenly beings called “sons of God,” “angels,” “holy ones,” and even “gods.”

Psalm 82:1, 6

“God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment…

‘I said, You are gods,
sons of the Most High.’”

Job 1:6

“The sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.”

So the biblical picture is:

• One God
• Many heavenly beings
• Satan included

This is the spiritual world Jesus assumed as normal.

2. Satan, Demons, and Rebellious Spirits Were Fully Real in Jesus’ Time

Modern people debate whether Satan exists.
Jesus did not.

Luke 10:18

“I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

John 8:44

“He… is a liar and the father of lies.”

The New Testament also describes demons speaking, attacking, and possessing people.

Luke 4:33–36

“A man who had the spirit of an unclean demon cried out…
‘Have you come to destroy us?’”

This was normal belief among Jews of Jesus’ time.

3. Ancient Jewish Writings Like 1 Enoch Show This Heavenly World Clearly

1 Enoch, widely read before Jesus’ time, describes:

• angels,
• rebellious spirits,
• evil spirits,
• archangels,
• and a pre-existent heavenly Son of Man.

1 Enoch 6:1–2

“The angels, the sons of heaven, saw and desired the daughters of men.”

1 Enoch 15:8–11 (excerpt)

“The spirits of the giants shall be called evil spirits on the earth…
They shall oppress, corrupt, fall, and make war.”

1 Enoch 48:3–6 (excerpt)

“In that hour, the Son of Man was named before the Lord of Spirits…
All who dwell on earth shall fall down and worship before him.”

This worldview shaped how early Jews understood Jesus, angels, demons, and the Messiah.

4. Jesus Places Himself Among the “gods” of Psalm 82 — Yet Above Them

When accused of blasphemy, Jesus quotes Psalm 82:

John 10:34–36

“‘Is it not written in your Law, “I said, you are gods”?’…

do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world,
‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”

Jesus points out:

• If Scripture calls heavenly beings “gods,”
• how much more the one sanctified, sent, and anointed by the Father?

So Jesus places Himself:

• within the heavenly “gods” group
• but above all of them
• by the Father’s appointment

5. The Apostles Teach the Same Pattern:

One God, the Father — One Lord, Jesus Christ**

Paul gives the clearest summary of early Christian belief:

1 Corinthians 8:4–6

“There is no God but one…

yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things…

and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things…”

This is not the Trinity language of later centuries.
This is the simple, original pattern:

• One God — the Father
• One Lord — the Son
• One Spirit — the power of God

This fit perfectly into the Second Temple worldview with many heavenly beings under one God.

6. After the Temple Fell, Judaism Became More Strictly Monotheistic

After AD 70, Jewish leaders rejected the older belief in:

• a second heavenly figure beside God
• a divine Messiah
• a heavenly Son of Man
• exalted “gods” under God
• the “two powers in heaven” idea

This new, stricter monotheism put early Christians in a difficult position.

They had to explain:

• how Jesus could be worshiped
• without worshiping “another God”

This pressure from both Jews and Greeks shaped the next centuries of Christian theology.

7. LATER DEVELOPMENTS:

From the Early Church to Nicaea and the Trinity**

Below is a simple, short summary—not detailed, not academic—of how Christian belief shifted in the centuries after the apostles.

1. Modalism (2nd–3rd centuries)

To defend strict monotheism, some Christians taught:

• God is one Person
• Father, Son, and Spirit are different “modes” or appearances of the same God
• God becomes the Son when He appears as Jesus

This preserved “one God” but erased the real relationship between Father and Son seen in Scripture.

2. Other Christians reacted

Because Jesus prays to the Father, obeys the Father, and is sent by the Father, others insisted:

• The Father and Son must be distinct
• But the Father is still greater
• The Son comes from the Father
• Yet the Son is divine in some way

This was the most common view before the 300s.

3. Arius (early 4th century)

Arius tried to protect monotheism by teaching:

• Only the Father is eternal
• God created the Son before the ages
• The Son is the highest heavenly being
• but not equal to God

This sparked a huge conflict.

4. The Council of Nicaea (AD 325)

Nicaea declared:

• The Son is not created
• The Son is eternal
• The Son is “of the same essence” as the Father

This was meant to protect Christian worship of Jesus without making two Gods.

5. The Trinity (4th–5th centuries)

Later councils added:

• The Holy Spirit is also fully divine
• God is one Being in three Persons
• Father, Son, and Spirit are coequal and coeternal

This was the final shape of mainstream Christian doctrine.

Final Picture

The faith of Jesus and the apostles

• One God, the Father
• Jesus as the exalted Lord under God
• The Spirit as the power and presence of God
• A real heavenly world of angels and spirits
• A real Satan
• A divine council
• A heavenly Son of Man beside God

The faith of later centuries

• One God in three equal Persons (the Trinity)
• Father, Son, and Spirit coeternal and coequal
• Jesus fully God and fully man

These two expressions of faith are related, but they come from very different worlds:

• the biblical / Second Temple world,
• and the later philosophical world.

Understanding the first helps us understand how and why the second was formed.

Stephen D Green with much of the succinct wording by AI

Gods and the One God

 There is the kind of God which is one God. Then there is another kind of “gods,” of which there are many—human rulers, authorities, and heavenly beings of power. Jesus puts himself in the second category. These gods are those given their power by the One God, “the one true God”, the Father.

So there is the kind of God which is one God. Scripture affirms:
“Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (Deut 6:4)

Paul echoes this explicitly:
“We know that an idol has no real existence, and that there is no God but one.” (1 Cor 8:4)

And Jesus identifies the Father as that One:
“This is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Thus the Father is the first kind—the One God, the source of all.

Paul reinforces this distinction:
“Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.” (1 Cor 8:6)

Then there is another kind of “gods,” of which there are many—created rulers, authorities, and heavenly beings. Jesus refers to this category when he cites Psalm 82:
“Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?” (John 10:34; cf. Ps 82:6)

Here Jesus places himself within that same category—among those addressed with the term “gods.”
But at the same time, he distinguishes himself from them by immediately stressing his unique consecration and divine appointment:

“If he called them gods to whom the word of God came… do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” (John 10:35–36)

In other words, Jesus acknowledges that he stands in the Psalm 82 “gods” category, yet he is unlike the rest of them:
• He alone is sanctified (set apart) by the Father.
• He alone is sent into the world.
• He alone is the Christ, God’s appointed ruler and judge.

Thus Jesus is both within that category and above it. But he is given that exalted power by God who sent him, appointed him, raised him from the dead, keeps him alive forever, and anointed him.