Is Christianity Polytheistic?

It’s often leveled against Christianity that it’s a polytheistic religion, either because of its doctrine of the Trinity or because of its worship of saints. Both are legitimate critiques and require a close inspection of the Bible’s understanding of God’s nature. Both Islam and Judaism are almost impossible to be attacked in this direction as both do not include an overt concept of the Trinity and have not extensively developed the practice of prayer through human agents.

I will argue that a proper understanding of the Trinity is consistent with monotheism but that the worship and prayer through or toward saints is problematic. Christianity identifies itself as monotheistic, and it is only a limited amount of people who truly consider it polytheistic, but I think it will be helpful to unpack why these arguments are only so effective.

Monotheism vs. Polytheism

The two terms are relatively simple to understand. Does a religion believe in one God or a multitude of Gods? Hinduism, at least in the most basic readings of its canonical texts, is a polytheistic religion. And so is the ancient Greek mythology. There are many gods with many different origin stories and values. There are many ways of reconciling how people ought to live in a world inhabited by many gods who often war against each other, but we’ll leave that for another day.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are considered the major monotheistic religions of the world. But Christianity creates a type of complexity that, at least on the surface, doesn’t exist within the other two.

How is the Christianity not polytheistic? What about the Trinity?

Talking about the Trinity for too long will almost always produce problems. The church has been divided in its history between groups that highlight too much the singular nature of God while others have focused exclusively on the distinctions between the Three “Persons” of the Trinity.

But just because something is difficult to understand or communicate does not make it problematic in itself. The Bible is clear that not all things are meant to be understood. Moses writes in Deuteronomy, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” [Deuteronomy 29:29] I would argue that the Trinity is somewhere in the middle of that passage—something we have only a limited grasp of.

Earlier in Deuteronomy, Moses writes, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” And this is the same God that Jesus asserts is His Father. And yet Jesus Himself says that, “I and the Father are one.” [John 10:30]

I understand the complexity and apparent paradox of the above passaged, but there are many questions that live at the edge of human understanding. Humility is required to accept the bounds of our understanding.

Ultimately, the critique has a relatively simple solution: Someone is not talking about the Trinity accurately if they are producing an understanding that Christianity is polytheistic. And someone who is thinking about the Trinity is not thinking about it correctly if they think that Christianity is polytheistic.

Not to get too sidetracked, but I see the problem posed by atheists and agnostics on miracles about as simple to respond to. If one accepts the idea of God who transcends physical reality, the breaking of natural laws isn’t very difficult to do. If one is unwilling to accept the concept of that God, then miracles are impossible. The question then never hinged on the question of miracles and rather was based on one’s ability to understand the concept of God.

Is the worship of saints in Christianity polytheistic?

I think that prayer through and the worship of the saints is problematic, but it still may be helpful to call this distinct from a polytheistic religion. Christians that pray to saints are not necessarily approaching the saint as a god but rather as a mediator to God. I don’t think that this added step is necessary as Jesus teaches His disciples to pray directly to the Father. And the book of Hebrews consistently asserts that all Christians have access to God through His Son, Jesus. But, even if mediators are unnecessary, it doesn’t mean that the result is the belief in multiple gods.

The creation and worship of saints is certainly more problematic, however, and most likely is a form of syncretism between Christianity and previous religious beliefs. By allowing individuals to keep their original gods along with the new Christian God, Christianity became more palatable to a much wider audience. There was a misunderstanding that the new religion, Christianity, was not the addition of a new god, but rather the complete rethinking and restructuring of life.

Conclusion: is Christianity polytheistic?

Though the worship of saints is akin to polytheism, few Christians practice their beliefs in this way, and I would argue that their practice is opposed to the Scriptural teachings. And because the concept of the Trinity includes the belief that God is one, the problems created by the doctrine are more often imposed on the doctrine rather than created from it.

I don’t think my word is final, but I do think that the Scriptures should form the basis of all concepts that are attached to Christianity. I always enjoy dialogue on these subjects as I only want to learn more. Please reach out if you see holes anywhere here or if you want to argue or talk through these things together. The objective of this blog is never to conclude dialogue but rather to begin it.