I am, I am the Lord: and there is no saviour besides me.
אָנֹכִ֥י אָנֹכִ֖י יְהוָ֑ה וְאֵ֥ין מִבַּלְעָדַ֖י מוֹשִֽׁיעַ׃
4 Church Fathers comment on this verse · 5 commentaries
He states that you did not implore or convince me to be your Redeemer; rather, I desired your liberation according to my purpose. Do not believe that this freedom came about by coincidence; I, in fact, announced it beforehand and subsequently brought it to fruition.
Be witnesses, He proclaims, that I alone am the Sovereign God of all, for there was none before Me, and there will be no one after Me; I alone am the Redeemer. I have declared this from the beginning and have accomplished what I promised, for I have brought salvation through Christ. I have admonished you, and there is no foreign god among you. At times, the Israelites forgot the sacred commandments given by wise Moses and sought after pleasures rather than God; thus, by neglecting their duty, they found themselves vulnerable to the assaults of their enemies. Yet in their distress, they turned to the One who always rescues. For this reason, He rebuked them through the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And in the time of their bitterness they shall say, Arise, and deliver us.
And where are thy gods that thou hast made, that they may arise and deliver thee in the time of thy affliction” (Jeremiah 2:27, 28). I have corrected you, O descendants of Israel, time and again; you have learned from your own experiences that there was no other god among you, no stranger, for none could save you. Thus, I alone am the Savior. Therefore, bear witness, and I too will bear witness concerning Myself, says the Lord God. In the words of Christ: “Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32). Proclaim that I am He who has been from the beginning, who foretells the future and is able to freely save those who yearn for fellowship with Me—saving in such a manner that no one can snatch from My grip what I have chosen. “For there is none,” He says, “who can snatch out of My hand; I will create, and who will turn it away?” He has fulfilled, He asserts, the calling of the nations, or saved those who go astray. Who shall change it or prevent it from being so? The Savior Himself assures us that no one can snatch those saved by Him from the hand of God, declaring, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no man can take them out of My Father's hand” (John 10:27-29). Clearly, this affirms that no one shall be taken from My grasp.
The Redeemer and God The two witnesses are also present in the Holy Gospel: for the Lord Jesus, addressing the Jews, declared, "It is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I bear witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me" (Jn 8:17-18). I, I am the Lord, and there is no Redeemer besides Me (Is 43:11). This reflects the declaration of the singular Godhead. The title of Saviour attributed to the Lord Jesus is affirmed in the divine Scriptures, a point that even the followers of Arius and Eunomius would likely concede; and given that no other Redeemer exists apart from Him, and since Christ is recognized as Saviour, it is clear that He is part of that one divine essence.
If this were not the case, as asserted by the heretics, then He could not be considered a Redeemer. However, acknowledging Him as Saviour implies that He shares the same essence that alone possesses the authority to bring about salvation.
The belief that God is singular rather than multiple is a certainty for those who adhere to the Holy Scriptures. As it is stated, "Before Me there was no God, and after Me there shall not be... And there is none but Me" (Isa. 43:10-11). For those who do not accept the Holy Scriptures, we can argue as follows: God embodies perfection in goodness, wisdom, and power—without beginning, infinite, pre-existing, and boundless—truly perfect in all respects. Consequently, if we accept the existence of multiple gods, we must also acknowledge a differentiation among them. If no distinctions exist, then we have but one God, not many; yet if distinctions are present, where is the perfection? Any deficiency in goodness, power, wisdom, time, or place negates the existence of God.
Universal identity suggests the existence of one God instead of many. Additionally, should many gods exist, how could their unique essence be maintained? Where one is present, another cannot simultaneously exist. The governance of the world by multiple deities would lead to chaos or destruction, particularly during conflict among rulers, since diversity breeds discord. However, should one claim each deity governs their own realm, we must question what established such order and division—only God could impose this. Thus, there exists one God—perfect, ineffable, the Creator of all, Sustainer, and Sovereign, exalted above all forms of perfection. Furthermore, it is a natural necessity that the singularity is the origin of the plural.
The Concealed Divine Nature It is abundantly demonstrated that God exists and that His essence is beyond human understanding. It is also clear to those who accept the Holy Scriptures that there is only one God, not many. At the outset of His commandments, the Lord proclaims: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; you shall have no other gods before Me (Ex 20:2). He further affirms: Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one (Deut 6:4). The prophet Isaiah asserts: I am the Lord, the first; and with the last, I am the same (Is 41:4); there was no God before Me, and there will be none after Me... there is no Saviour besides Me (Is 43:10-11).
In the New Testament, the Lord addresses the Father, stating: This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God (Jn 17:3). To those who reject the Holy Scriptures, we offer this reasoning: God embodies perfection without any flaw in goodness, wisdom, and power—He is uncaused, infinite, eternal, boundless, and perfectly complete in every respect. Thus, if we were to accept the existence of multiple gods, we would need to recognize differences among them. Should there be no differences, we are left with one God rather than many; yet if differences exist, where is the perfection? A deficiency in goodness, power, wisdom, time, or space negates the notion of a true God. The unity found in all attributes points more convincingly to the existence of one God instead of many.
Passages read together with this verse.
THEOSIS