I have quoted this several times and I agree, Yahweh was the only God in the Old Testament.
No, you actually don't agree. There is simply no way you can actually agree; you can say you do, but that doesn't mean you do. And I will make this clear.
If Yahweh says there is no other, then there is no other and never will be. Such is the nature of God. If one God existed in the OT, then there can ever be only one God. For another god to come into existence, he would have to have been created and, by definition, cannot be God. It's pretty basic reasoning.
Why not address this verse?:
Isa 43:10 "You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. (ESV)
So, why do you argue there are three in the NT? According to your position, God either lied here or simply didn't know there were two others. Either way, he cannot then be God.
The point is, there is no other God. Never has been another and never will be another.
Isa 45:18 For thus says
the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): "
I am the LORD, and there is no other. (ESV)
Isa 44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD,
who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, (ESV)
We know from the NT that the Son was involved in creation (John 1:3, 10; 1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:2, 10-12). We know that the Son was involved in Creation, as was the Holy Spirit (Gen 1:2). So, if I were to count, and I have taken advanced calculus and linear algebra in university,
that makes three in the OT.
Yet, you say, "Yahweh was the only God in the Old Testament." So, did Yahweh (the Father only, according to you) create everything by himself or did he not? It seems as though you have caught Yahweh in
yet another lie, which means, again, that he cannot be God.
I have already given you over a hundred scriptures that prove you and the one God formula wrong.
What do you got?
You haven't given a single one. Not one.
The main argument is, there are three divine persons, I'm sure we can at least agree on that, but there is and ever will be only one God, according to Yahweh himself.
Another issue is that Jesus claimed preexistence several times, which is why John also said Jesus preexisted as God. Besides John 1:1-18, we have this:
Joh 17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with
the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (ESV)
But, what did Yahweh say?
Isa 48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another. (ESV)
Is Jesus contradicting what Yahweh said? Let's first look at something John said:
Joh 12:36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
Joh 12:37 Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
Joh 12:38 so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Joh 12:39 Therefore they could not believe. For again
Isaiah said,
Joh 12:40 “
He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
Joh 12:41
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. (ESV)
Who does John say Isaiah saw in "his glory and spoke of him"? Clearly, John is meaning that
Isaiah saw the glory of Jesus, or rather, the Son. Looking at the context of what Isaiah was talking about:
Isa 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died
I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
Isa 6:2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
Isa 6:3 And one called to another and said: “
Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
Isa 6:4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isa 6:5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;
for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
…
Isa 6:8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Isa 6:9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Isa 6:10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and
blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” (ESV)
So, who did Isaiah actually see? He saw Yahweh in all his glory. Once again, John supports what he said in John 1:1--that the Word was in intimate, interpersonal relationship with God for all eternity past, meaning that the Word is also God in nature.
Throughout the entire book of John, from beginning to end, there is one consistent message about who Jesus, the Son of God, is--God in human flesh, both truly man and truly God, who, in becoming flesh subjected himself to the will of the Father for our salvation and the redemption of creation.
John applies an OT passage about Yahweh to Jesus, just as the writer of Hebrews does in Heb 1:10-12. Not to mention that Paul equates confessing "Jesus is Lord" with calling on the name of Yahweh in Rom 10:9-13:
Rom 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Rom 10:10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Rom 10:11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Rom 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.
Rom 10:13 For “everyone who calls on
the name of the Lord will be saved.” (ESV)
We both know that Paul is quoting Joel 2:
Joe 2:32 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on
the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls. (ESV)
Not only does that substantiate the use of "LORD" in the OT, we know that at least sometimes when
kurios is used of Jesus is means
YHWH.
That's three passages where NT writers apply passages of Yahweh to the Son. It's pretty clear.
