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Bible source shelf

These Bible passages set the standard for testing later claims about God, Christ, revelation, and the church.

The main biblical tests #

The key tests are one God, the deity and uncreated status of Christ, Father/Son/Spirit distinction without separate gods, church continuity, and the rejection of another gospel.

These texts do not depend on later Protestant assumptions. They judge every claimed restoration.

Monotheism and Christology do the heaviest work #

Isaiah's denial of any other God and John's claim that all created things were made through the Word set hard boundaries. They leave no room for exalted humans becoming gods or for Christ as one spirit child within the same order as other beings.

The Trinity page then brings the rest of the data together: one God, the Son as God and Creator, the Spirit as divine, and real distinction among Father, Son, and Spirit.

The Bible also tests later claims #

Galatians 1, 2 Corinthians 11, 1 John 4, Jude, and Acts 17 give the logic for testing restoration claims. The issue is not whether God can act. The issue is whether a later message changes the apostolic gospel.

That test is public. It keeps private testimony, angelic claims, and institutional authority from becoming self-authenticating.

Passage	Biblical claim	Use in the case
Deuteronomy 6	Israel confesses one Lord.	Christian monotheism inherits Israel's confession, not a council of true gods.
Isaiah 43	No God was formed before or after the Lord.	This directly challenges exalted humans becoming gods in the same order.
Isaiah 44	God made all things alone and knows no other God.	This contrasts with Abraham 4's language of 'the Gods' organizing creation.
Isaiah 45	The Lord repeatedly says there is no other God.	This reinforces monotheism as more than one preferred object of worship.
1 Corinthians 8	Many are called gods, but Christians confess one God and one Lord.	Paul answers divine plurality by folding Jesus into Christian monotheism, not by adding a second God.
John 1	The Word was God, and all things were made by Him.	If all created things came through Christ, Christ is not inside the created order.
John 8	Jesus speaks of Himself before Abraham with divine identity language.	Premortal existence alone is not enough to explain the force of Jesus' claim.
John 10	Jesus' unity with the Father provokes a charge of blasphemy.	Psalm 82 language cannot be used to flatten Jesus' unique divine claim.
John 17	Jesus prays that believers will be one as Father and Son are one.	The text supports unity language, but it must be read with John's claims that the Word is God and Creator.
John 20	Thomas confesses the risen Jesus as Lord and God.	The confession belongs inside Jewish monotheism, not a category of lesser gods.
Colossians 1	All things were created by and for Christ.	The Son is before all created things, not one spirit child among others.
Hebrews 1	The Son receives divine honor and is superior to angels.	This separates Christ from angelic or spirit-child categories.
Matthew 28	Baptism is into one name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.	Triadic language belongs with one divine name, not three unrelated beings.
Acts 5	Lying to the Holy Ghost is lying to God.	The Spirit is treated as divine, not merely an impersonal influence.
Acts 17	The Bereans examine apostolic preaching by Scripture.	Religious claims are tested publicly by the received word rather than accepted by assertion.
2 Corinthians 13	Paul blesses the church in a triadic pattern.	Father, Son, and Spirit belong together in Christian worship and blessing.
Ephesians 4	One Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father ground the church's unity.	The triadic pattern is tied to one divine foundation, not a council of separate gods.
Galatians 1	A different gospel is rejected, even if announced by an angel.	This is the public test for restoration claims and later revelation.
2 Corinthians 11	Paul warns about another Jesus, spirit, and gospel.	The same names can carry different doctrinal content.
Matthew 16	The gates of hell will not prevail against Christ's church.	This challenges total priesthood loss and restoration as a restart.
Romans 3	Justification is grounded in Christ and received apart from works of the law.	This presses against making highest salvation depend on a restored ordinance ladder.
Ephesians 2	Saved by grace through faith, created for good works.	Works are fruit of salvation, not a ladder to exaltation as gods.
Titus 3	God saves by mercy, not by righteous deeds.	Christian obedience matters, but it is not the ground of exalted godhood.
Jude 1	Believers contend for the faith once delivered.	A restoration claim must explain why the delivered faith needed replacement rather than preservation.
1 John 4	Believers must test the spirits.	A testimony claim must be tested by apostolic doctrine.
John 4	God is spirit.	This presses against later teaching that the Father is embodied by nature.
Psalm 82	The psalm addresses gods under judgment.	The passage is a rebuke, not a promise that humans become gods in the Father's order.
1 Corinthians 15	Paul mentions baptism for the dead while arguing for resurrection.	The passing reference does not establish the full LDS temple and proxy-ordinance system.
Hebrews 7	Christ has an unchangeable priesthood and always lives to intercede.	Christian confidence rests in Christ's continuing priesthood, not restored nineteenth-century keys.
Matthew 22	Jesus says resurrection life is not ordered by ordinary marriage.	Later temple-sealing claims must supply what Jesus and the apostles do not teach.

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Representative text of the historic Nicene confession of one God, the Trinity, and the eternal deity of Christ.