Did the Concept of God Change… or Did We Change It?

In Exodus 20:3–5 we read:

“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them.”

The first commandment offers the human mind a clear foundation: God is One, transcendent beyond form and image, alone in sovereignty and creation.

❖ Doctrinal Commandments: The Mind Discovers Oneness

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 states:

“Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

No partner, no embodiment, no likeness. This is the intellectual summit toward which the commandments guide human understanding.

❖ Jesus: Reaffirming the Same Core Message

In Mark 12:28–30:

“One of the scribes asked Him which commandment is the first of all. Jesus answered: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.”

Jesus reiterates the same essence of monotheism proclaimed by Moses without addition or alteration.

❖ Job and the Kings: Universality of the Message

Job 9:8:

“He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.”

Job 31:15:

“Did not He who made me in the womb make him? Did not the same One form us in the womb?”

1 Kings 8:60:

“So that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God there is no other.”

2 Kings 19:19:

The message is clear: monotheism is not confined to one nation but addressed to all humanity. God is singular in kingship and creation.

❖ Divine Oneness Against Idolatrous Shadows

The first commandments prohibit any composite conception or representation of God.

Idolatrous systems however varied never reached this clarity in understanding the Creator nor purified human thought from confusion.

❖ The Echo of the Message in the Qur’an

“Say He is Allah One.

Allah the Eternal Refuge.

He neither begets nor is born.

And there is none comparable to Him.” (Qur’an 112:1–4)

One: without partner.

Eternal Refuge: self-sufficient and independent of all.

Neither begets nor is born: complete transcendence.

None comparable: no equal or likeness.

Here we find a clear continuity of monotheism from Moses and Jesus to the Qur’an affirming the unity of the Creator across time and revelation.

❖ Final Reflection

The commandments the words of the prophets the message of Jesus and the Qur’an all point to one absolute God without partner without likeness without embodiment.

No composite conception of God appears in these texts.

The human mind can recognize pure monotheism within these words free from myth or representation.

Perhaps the path to understanding God is shorter than we imagine and closer to the repeated words of the prophets who throughout history affirmed the unity of the Creator and invited humanity to reflect on the greatness of the One God