The most important revelation in all the Scriptures is that there is just one God that we love and serve with all of our beings.
Mark 12:29 (NKJV)
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
There is no one like Him or beside Him. He is the only Savior.
Isaiah 43:10-11 (NKJV)
10 “You are My witnesses,” says the Lord,“And My servant whom I have chosen,That you may know and believe Me,And understand that I am He.Before Me there was no God formed,Nor shall there be after Me.11 I, even I, am the Lord,And besides Me there is no savior.
Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world. He was the one God come in the flesh. The Bible never describes Him as another God or even another person of God. All the fullness of God dwelled in the body of Christ.
Colossians 2:9 (NKJV)
9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
If there is only one God that dwelled fully in Christ, why do the epistles include blessings from the Father and the Son?
2 Corinthians 1:2-3
2Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
Greetings similar to this are very common in the New Testament. At first glance, they would seem to signify a distinction in persons but with further study they are easily understood.
First, why is there no mention of the Holy Ghost? Isn't it odd that "The Comforter" doesn't send words of comfort? The standard greetings give praise to God the Father and to the Son but never mention the Spirit. Obviously the purpose of these passages is not to teach the trinity or to support the doctrine of the trinity.
The words “and” and “even” in the above text are all translations of the same Greek word “kai”. This word can describe multiple objects, or it can be used to give multiple descriptions of the same object. The scripture record shows that this is not a distinguishing of persons but rather multiple descriptions of One Great God who is our Father and Lord Jesus Christ.
If we take these “kai” passages to refer to persons of God, there would be at least four persons.
1 Thessalonians 3:11
11Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
Colossians 2:2
…to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
We now would have God, the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
To make matters worse, if we understood “and” or “even” to always distinguish persons we would also have two devils.
Revelation 20:2 (King James Version)
2And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
These passages need to be understood in the style in which they were written. It was a common practice to use multiple titles or descriptions to add emphasizes to the person being described. In a sense, God was praised for who He was and what He had done.
The apostles also had extra motivation to emphasize the various manifestations of God. The early church was influenced heavily by monotheistic Jews. These Jews believed in Jehovah. Many did not accept that Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us. They worshipped the Heavenly Father, but they struggled to believe that the Father (God) dwelled in the Son (man).
1 John 2:23 (NKJV)
23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
When we receive Christ, we are receiving the Heavenly Father. He is both Father and Son.
Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV)
6 For unto us a Child is born,Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.