DustyTomes

It comes as a surprise to some people as they explore the history of the Christian and Jewish faiths that these traditions have not always held monotheistic views – strictly believing that only one god exists and that god is the Lord, God. Their surprise is wholly justified, as both of these traditions have held these beliefs for many centuries at this point. That said, Judaism, and later Christianity, struggled internally to come to consensus, and these evolving perspectives help paint a picture of when and how these faiths came to accept their modern-day beliefs.

Before exploring the history of these changes, some terms need clarification. Likewise, polytheism refers to a belief in many gods. Henotheism exists in between these two, and this refers to the belief in the existence and worship of multiple deities, specifically associated with the idea of a singular, supreme god. [1] Another closely related term, monolatry, refers to “the worship of a single deity (possibly while believing in the existence of others).” [2]

Biblical indications of monolatry exist within some of the earliest books of the Bible. For example, 1 Kings 18:27 indicates that Elijah recognized the existence of the Baalists’ god while he demonstrated the supremacy of his god, the Lord: “And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, ‘Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.’” Similarly, God declared his displeasure to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 17:3 with regard to his followers following other gods: “...and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden.” Also, Joshua proclaimed to the Israelites in Joshua 24:14, “‘Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.’”

Jewish tradition tended towards monolatry until the post-exilic period after 539 BCE (that is, after their exile under the Babylonians). [3] Scholars have posited that the physical crises experienced by Jewish people in this time period caused the evolution of their beliefs into monotheism. Whether from the major crisis of the exile or from a series of crises leading up to the exile, the result remained the same – the Israelites of the post-exilic period adopted monotheism. [4]

Centuries later with the arrival of the early Christian faith, debate began anew. While the idea of trinitarianism holds the majority view by modern Christians, this has not always been the case. Within the first couple centuries of the religion’s birth, substantial debate arose over the nation of Jesus and his place within the godhead. One early Christian presbyter and ascetic, Arius (c. 250-336 CE) suggested an early form of unitarianism (a singular god entity). The basic belief was that “the uniqueness of God, who is alone self-existent (not dependent for its existence on anything else) and immutable; the Son, who is not self-existent, cannot therefore be the self-existent and immutable God. Because the Godhead is unique, it cannot be shared or communicated. Because the Godhead is immutable, the Son, who is mutable, must, therefore, be deemed a creature who has been called into existence out of nothing and has had a beginning. Moreover, the Son can have no direct knowledge of the Father, since the Son is finite and of a different order of existence.” [5]

Comparably, other early Christians subscribed to the belief that Jesus did not truly exist as a human, rather he was a form of illusion. Within this concept existed two branches, one held that “Jesus’ body was a phantasm,” and the other believed that “Jesus was a real flesh-and-blood human. But Christ was a separate person, a divine being who, as God, could not experience pain and death.” [6] These latter docetics believed that the divine Christ entered Jesus during his baptism in the form of a dove and later departed from him at his death on the cross.

By the time of the First Council of Nicaea in 325 CE, the vast majority of Christian leaders already held the beliefs that they expressed in the Nicene Creed and unequivocally demonstrated their trinitarian views:

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten from the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through Whom all things came into being, things in heaven and things on earth, Who because of us men and because of our salvation came down, and became incarnate and became man, and suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the heavens, and will come to judge the living and dead, And in the Holy Spirit. But as for those who say, There was when He was not, and, Before being born He was not, and that He came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance, or created, or is subject to alteration or change – these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes. [7]

In short, the Jewish faith largely shifted from quasi-pluralistic beliefs in their earliest recorded texts into a strict monotheism after their exile in Bablyon in the late 6th century BCE, and the Christian faith rapidly developed a trinitarian, monotheistic system of belief within the first couple centuries after Christ’s death.

#bible #christianity #newtestament #judaism #oldtestament

Sources:

[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/henotheism.

[2] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monolatry.

[3] Wiley Blackwell, The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel, edited by Susan Niditch (Hoboken, NY: John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2016), 263.

[4] Robert Karl Gnuse, No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel (Sheffield, Great Britain: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), 215.

[5] Britannica Editors, “Arianism,” Encyclopedia Brittanica, accessed March 21, 2026, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arianism.

[6] Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), 15.

[7] “THE CREED OF NICAEA – AGREED AT THE COUNCIL IN 325,” Early Church Texts, https://earlychurchtexts.com/public/creed_of_nicaea_325.htm.

Eric B – BA History, Minor in Religious Studies
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