Is Christianity a monotheistic religion?

Question

One of the commandments states "place no other gods before me". Does this mean God is implying the existence of other gods, or why is this explicitly stated?

The Biblical universe also includes a varied cast of supernatural characters like Lucifer, Metatron, Archangels, Demons, Seraphim, etc. Some of these manifest with power in the world and represent the roles of messengers, warriors, healers, advisers, protectors, troublemakers, and so on.

Why are these not acknowledged as "gods" or "lesser gods" like in the pantheons of other religions: how is the nature of their existence different?

On what basis is Christianity classified as monotheistic given the existence of other powerful beings in the Bible?

Answer 1

Christianity is monotheistic as its adherents believe in only one God.

The first commandment speaks about the gods of other religions. Although Christians believe in only God, they do acknowledge that other gods are believed in by non-Christians.

In other words, there are many gods in which to believe, but you believe in only one if you are Christian.

Also, the same passage applies to Muslims and Jews.

To answer the third part of your question: the belief in the Christian God (i.e. the Trinity) is what defines Christians.

Belief (or lack thereof) in the supernatural attributes of Satan, the Saints, Virgin Mary, angels vary by interpretation, but in general these figures are considered non-divine, and certainly subsidiary to God.

Answer 2

Disciples of Christ believe in the existence of (powerful) invisible created beings such as those mentioned above. But none of them are worshiped; worship (in Greek, latreia) is only to be given to the (uncreated) Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In that sense, Christianity is monotheistic.

Your question surprises me; the real issue of the monotheism of Christianity for me doesn't lie with the existence of the unseen realm, but instead with the notion of the Trinity as One God.

Answer 3

The Ten Commandments were originally written for a band of desert wanderers who had recently escaped a polytheistic culture. They apparently brought some of the polytheistic beliefs with them, because even while Moses was up on the mountain, they were building an idol:

[Aaron] took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!" —Exodus 32:4

The subsequent history of Israel shows that polytheism never fully died out, and was practiced even by kings:

For Solomon followed Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. —1 Kings 11:5

[Ahab] took as his wife Jezebel daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made a sacred pole. Ahab did more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than had all the kings of Israel who were before him. —1 Kings 16:31b-33

For [Manasseh] rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected altars for Baal, made a sacred pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. —2 Kings 21:3

The prophets make it clear that these idols are not beings like God:

Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made. —Isaiah 2:8

Everyone is stupid and without knowledge; goldsmiths are all put to shame by their idols; for their images are false, and there is no breath in them. They are worthless, a work of delusion; at the time of their punishment they shall perish. Not like these is the Lord, the portion of Jacob, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance; the Lord of hosts is his name. —Jeremiah 51:17-19

So the "no other gods before me" commandment is not an acknowledgement of the existence of other deities, but of the existence of other objects of worship.

Answer 4

Christianity is monotheistic in that it acknowledges only one spiritual entity as God. It then goes further to say that this is because there is only one Divinity, i.e. that the condition for someone or thing to be worthy of being worshiped and acknowledged as God includes the condition of singularity, inasmuch as things such as 'omnipotence' in any true sense must belong properly to only one. Thus divinity in the Christian conception presupposes a monotheism, instead of arriving at it from selecting a god among gods to be 'the true god'.

The history of the faith through its Jewish roots suggests that men came to understand the God among gods first, and then later began to understand that his divinity was singular and complete and absolute.

The other spiritual entities, being separate from the divinity in nature, cannot therefore be the God, even if they have been worshiped in other places and times as gods by other human beings.

Answer 5

I find the Bible to display a bit of a broader perspective--or, perhaps, several different perspectives--than a simple term like monotheism.

In one sense, as others have argued, the Bible makes clear that there really is only one God. Belief in other "gods" is a joke, because those would-be gods are made by the very people who worship them. This is the perspective in, for example, Jeremiah 5:7: "Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods." (ESV) In this sense, the Bible displays a fundamentally monotheistic perspective.

On the other hand, the Bible talks about other "gods" in more than one way. For example, I found 9 cases in which God either warns his people not to worship other gods, or is angry at them for doing so. In these cases, they are spoken of not as idols, but as gods. Likewise, there are over 100 references to "my God", without denying that "my God" is the only god anyway.

Or see Joshua 24:15 (ESV):

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Don't hear me to be arguing that the Bible is claiming that these gods are the real deal, or that scripture is advocating henotheism--in none of these cases is the Bible claiming that other "gods" truly are gods. However, the perspective that seems apparent is that inasmuch as they are worshipped as such, they are de facto gods to the people.

So, I would say that the Bible has a broader perspective than you might imagine. Ontologically, scripture is clear that God is the only God, and Christianity (and Judaism) is thus monotheistic. However, the perspective of some passages allows that, functionally speaking, men do worship many gods.

Answer 6

I feel that it should also be noted that there have been questions regarding the unity of Jesus with God the Father.

Most of the time, these non-trinitarians simply disagree upon the divinity (or more accurately, the deity) of Jesus. However, some actually believe in the deity of Jesus as a separate, but lesser god.

One particular faith that believes this is the Jehovah's Witness belief system.

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Having said all of this, the majority of Christianity believes in one, single God. It actually comes from many passages throughout the bible. Here's one I like:

Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV)

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

(Other translations read "The LORD is our God, the LORD alone".)

Pretty solid backing for monotheism.