Audio Download

The Spiritual Significance of Numbers – The Number One

 [Study Aired December 28, 2025]

With very little controversy, the number one in Hebrew and Greek is acknowledged as signifying unity. It also signifies preeminence in time, power and position. It does the same in many other languages. Its prime significance therefore is of God Himself who is the “one God the Father, of whom are all things.”

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and [besides the “one God, the Father” there is also] one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Deu 6:4  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Paul’s doctrine, and the doctrine of Christ Himself, is that the “one God, the Father” is greater than the son:

Joh 14:28  Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father:  for my Father is greater than I.

Referring to this verse, I asked Google how Christ could be equal with His Father and yet say His Father is greater than He? This was the Babylonian answer Google gave me:

 “Jesus says, “the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). The Lord also admits that he does not know the time or the hour, only the Father does (Matt 24:36). Christ elsewhere says that he came “not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). In the garden, Jesus prays “not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

“These verses—and others like them—might jar us. After all, we believe in Christ’s divinity. But Jesus himself says he is less than the Father. How should we understand his words?

“Historically, some understood these verses to mean that the Father is naturally greater than the Son of God. In 357 a Council of pastors in Sirmium even concluded, “the Father is greater, and the Son subordinated to the Father together with all things which the Father has subordinated to Him.”

“Yet something feels off here. Jesus says the Father is greater than he is, true. Yet we worship Christ as God, and God cannot be less than or greater than God. What is going on here?

“The solution to this problem is found in the Bible itself. What Christians have learned and what the Bible teaches is that Christ is less than the Father in his humanity but equal to God in his divinity. Since Christ is divine and human, certain Bible verses highlight his divinity and others his humanity.” (End Quote)

“Christ is less than the Father in his humanity but equal to God in his divinity” is the doctrine of both Protestants and Catholics. Yet 1 Corinthians was written many years after Christ had resumed His divinity, and here we have Paul telling us the “one Lord Jesus Christ” is not the “one God of whom are all things.” Rather, Paul’s doctrine is the same as Christ’s doctrine… “My Father is greater than I [and] by Him (by Christ, through Christ) were all things made.”

Joh 1:3  All things were made by [G1223: dia, through] him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:3 here agrees with Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 8:6:

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by [G1223: ‘dia’, through] whom are all things, and we by [G1223, ‘dia’ through] him.

This doctrine teaches that “all things are of God… the Father”, [and] ‘all things are through (G1223: ‘dia’] Christ.

The Greek word translated as ‘of’ in 1Co 8:6 is ‘ek’ G1537. This is how Strong defines this Greek word ‘ek’:

G1537
ἐκ, ἐξ
ek    ex
ek, ex

A primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence motion or action proceeds), from, out (of place, time or cause; literally or figuratively; direct or remote): – after, among, X are, at betwixt (-yond), by (the means of), exceedingly, (+ abundantly above), for (-th), from (among, forth, up), + grudgingly, + heartily, X heavenly, X hereby, + very highly, in, . . . ly, (because, by reason) of, off (from), on, out among (from, of), over, since, X thenceforth, through, X unto, X vehemently, with (-out). Often used in composition, with the same general import; often of completion.

Total KJV occurrences: 917

Paul consistently refers to God as “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”:

2Co 11:31  The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

This is all long after Christ has resumed His divinity. Paul never once refers to Christ as the God of the Father.

All of Paul’s epistles were written long after Christ had ascended to heaven and had resumed the divinity He had with the Father before He “emptied Himself and took on the form of a servant.”

Php 2:7  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; (ASV)

Yet Paul repeatedly refers to the Father as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Rom 15:6  That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

Col 1:3  We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

Peter also considered the Father to be the God of Christ long after Christ had resumed His divinity:

1Pe 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Christ and His Father, who are of one mind, never once in all of scripture refer to Christ as the God of the Father.  Christ even refers to Himself as “the beginning of the Creation of God… the Father of whom are all things.”

Rev 3:14  And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

This verse accords with this doctrine of Colossians 1 where we are told that the Father created Christ as “the firstborn of every creature” and then “by Him were all things created.”

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Christ is “the firstborn of every creature… the beginning of the creation of God… the image of the invisible God by whom all things were created.”

Of whom is Christ and of whom are all things? Who is the ultimate cause of “all things?”

Col 1:19  For it pleased the [one God the] Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

The word ‘of’ in 1 Corinthians 8:6 is not ‘dia’, which is defined as “by or through.” Rather, the word translated ‘of’ is the Greek word ‘ek’, which is defined as “A primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence motion or action proceeds).” It is the “one God the Father, of whom are all things” and it is the “one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things.

Christ’s doctrine is that we are to be one with Him as He is one with His Father:

Joh 17:11  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Christ repeats this desire just a few verses later:

Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

That is how “”The Lord our God is one Lord.” We are even told that the Godhead is understood “by the things that are made”, followed by the statement that “the head of Christ is God”:

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

1Co 11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Again, this epistle was written years after Christ had resumed His divinity with His Head, His Father.

Yet we are told that Christ “made Himself equal with God”, and He “thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”

Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

How is it possible for Christ’s Father to be “greater than [Christ]” (Joh 14:28), to be “Christ’s God and Father” (2Co 11:31), and His head (1Co 11:3), and still be “equal with God” (Php 2:6)?

The answer to this apparent dilemma is found in the story of Joseph and his relationship to Pharaoh in the book of Genesis. This is how the Father is greater than Christ while Christ can also make Himself equal with God:

Gen 41:40  Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Gen 41:41  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:42  And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;
Gen 41:43  And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Gen 41:44  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

“He made him ruler” means that Pharaoh made Joseph equal with Himself  over all the land of Egypt. “Only in the throne was Pharaoh greater than Joseph.” So it is with Christ and His Father. His Father has made Him equal to Himself and ruler over all this world. Only in the throne is the Father greater than Christ.

God the Father is one in every sense of the word. He is first before all things. There cannot be two firsts, and the Father is first in order:

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Psa 90:2  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Isa 44:6  Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

Nothing is right which refuses to acknowledge that God is first and that He is the Creator of all things. All the studies and documentaries of men which begin with the lie of evolution without the hand of God are all wrong, and when your premise is wrong, your conclusion will also be a wrong conclusion.

The “one God, the Father” is first in wisdom, and His wisdom is wiser than men’s wisdom:

1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

The nature of Christ’s wisdom, which is the wisdom of His Father is revealed in us through humility and His chastening grace, both of which are foolishness to the natural man:

1Co 1:23  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
1Co 1:24  But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

There is no foolishness nor weakness in God, but what men consider to be His foolishness is wiser than men, and what men consider to be His weakness is stronger than men.

The Father is certainly first in power:

Isa 40:15  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

Isa 40:17  All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity

Christ is preeminent only “because it pleases the Father” for Him to be so:

Col 1:19  For it pleased the [one God the] Father that in him [in Christ] should all fulness dwell;

The ‘oneness’ of God is expressed through how Christ is at one with His Father in everything. Christ tells us that He could do nothing but what His Father wanted:

Joh 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Christ came and set us an example to follow in His steps:

Joh 13:15  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Christ’s mind was a perfect reflection of His Father’s mind, and that is what He wants us to be. More than anything Christ wants us to be of one mind with Himself and His Father. That was His parting prayer to His Father for us as we quoted earlier in discussing the difference between the words , ‘ek, of, and the word, ‘dia’, through. Christ’s parting prayer for us was that we would all be of one mind as He and His Father are of one mind:

Joh 17:11  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

This singleness of mind is emphasized by His disciples whose inspired writings make up the New Testament. This desire to be as much like Christ as possible is belittled by men as not being able to think for oneself. Those who do achieve this one mind of Christ are disparagingly labeled ‘a cult.’

Nevertheless, this is doctrine of Christ, and it is the doctrine of all who will follow Him:

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that [1] ye all speak the same thing, and that [2] there be no divisions among you; but that [3] ye be perfectly joined together [4] in the same mind and [5] in the same judgment.

This unity, this oneness of mind, was so important that it is urged upon us time after time.

Php 2:1  If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Php 2:2  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Rom 12:15  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
Rom 12:16  Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

Php 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

Php 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

Php 4:2  I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

The apostle Peter was of the same mind as the apostle Paul on this point:

1Pe 3:8  Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:

Having the ‘one mind’ of Christ necessitates that we have compassion, love, patience, and pity for each other.

In scripture those in Christ are referred to as both a family and a body:

Eph 3:14  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many.

We are a many-membered ‘family’, and we are a many-membered ‘body’, but we are in Christ “one body”, and we are one family. No family can remain a united family without honoring and obeying the father who is the head of the family. A family with two heads is not a properly functioning family. The neck cannot turn the head unless the head tells it to do so. Our bodies could not function if the various members were being directed by more than one head. The thousands of denominations of men will quote all these verses about being of the same mind and being of the same  judgment and being perfectly joined together in the same spirit. They will even agree that we are admonished to reject heresy and put heretics out of our fellowship, and yet they will not acknowledge that their conflicting doctrines are heresies being spread in the churches by heretics.

If you want to teach that “Jerusalem which now is” is not under bondage and is indeed the son of the freewoman, while I agree with the apostle Paul’s words of Galatian 4 that “Jerusalem which now is is in bondage” and is spiritually the son of the bondwoman, the ecumenical mind is unwilling to tolerate such direct contradictions of their false doctrine that physical Israel is still God’s chosen people.

Ecumenical churches will tolerate differences like worshiping Mary as the mother of God, considering the Pope’s proclamations as equal to scripture, infant baptisms etc., but they will not tolerate teaching that God is the head of Christ (1Co 11:3) , and modern Israel is the son of Hagar (Gal 4:24-25).

Neither will the ecumenical mind tolerate you or me believing that “there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things and besides this ‘one God, the Father’ there is also one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things.”

Mind you, some ecumenical ministers will even tell you that ‘Jerusalem which now is’ does not need to believe in Christ to be saved, yet if you or I refuse to agree with those ministers that ‘To us there is one God in three persons, or one God in two persons”, and if we want to agree with the apostle Paul that there is but “one God the Father, of whom are all things, then you and I are labeled a heretic who must be ostracized. That is exactly what is prophesied would happen to all who refused to compromise the inspired words of scripture:

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Fortunately for all of us the unity and cohesion of the family of God and the body of Christ does not depend upon any of us. All those who have Christ’s mind recognize His voice, and those who have His mind will flee from strangers who are bringing “another gospel”.

Joh 10:1  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
Joh 10:2  But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
Joh 10:3  To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the number one signifies the Father and the unity that is in Him and His Son.

One signifies that which is all powerful, all knowing and is present everywhere at all times.

One signifies the Truth because there is but one Truth, and that One Truth is Christ:

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

The number one signifies the one mind of the family of God and the body of Christ. These words were penned by the apostle Paul, but they were inspired by “the holy spirit of God” to let us know what we can do to please Him:

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions [denominations of men] among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Php 2:1  If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Php 2:2  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Php 2:3  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Our unity in the one Truth of one mind of Christ is what fulfills His joy.