The answer in a conversation
Latter-day Saints worship the Father through Jesus Christ and teach that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are distinct beings united in purpose and doctrine. This differs from the Nicene account of three distinct persons sharing one divine substance. Latter-day Saints also believe that God can give his children a share in his glory through Christ. They continue to worship him. Godhead · Becoming Like God
Read the verse before deciding what it rules out
Jeff Durbin and Bill McKeever argue that Isaiah 43:10 rules out mortals becoming gods. Take the claim seriously and read through verse 13. The Lord calls Israel as his witness and declares that he alone saves. Isaiah 44 repeats his exclusivity and mocks idols that cannot deliver anyone. Does that also rule out God sharing his glory with his children? That is the point to test. Isaiah 43:9–13 · Isaiah 44:6–20 · Durbin’s transcript · McKeever’s article
Compare what believers receive
- Paul calls believers joint heirs with Christ and says they can be glorified with him. Romans 8:14–17
- Peter speaks of partaking of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:3–4
- Doctrine and Covenants 76 calls the exalted gods and describes them receiving from the Father, belonging to Christ, and dwelling with God forever. Doctrine and Covenants 76:55–62
The New Testament gives Christians a basis for talking about sharing in divine life. The fuller Latter-day Saint account also depends on modern revelation.
I agree with Isaiah that the Lord alone can save. What I believe about exaltation is that through Christ, God gives his children a share in his glory. What in Isaiah rules out receiving that gift from him?
What the objection claims
Jeff Durbin and Bill McKeever apply Isaiah 43:10 to the Latter-day Saint teaching that people can become like God. McKeever also cites Isaiah 44:8. Their argument is that if no God was formed before or after the Lord, a mortal attaining godhood would contradict Isaiah. Durbin also appeals to the distinction between Creator and creatures. Pieter J. Fris cites Isaiah 43:10 in a Spanish-language critique that also raises the separate question of God’s past. Apologia Studios transcript · Mormonism Research Ministry · Fris’s article
A related objection concerns the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Even if exaltation were taken out of the discussion, a Nicene Christian could ask how three distinct divine beings count as one God. The two questions need different arguments.
One God and the Godhead
In a discussion about food offered to idols, Paul says there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come. Jesus also asks the Father that believers may be one as he and the Father are one. Latter-day Saints read this as evidence that real distinction can coexist with divine unity. Christians agree that the Father and Son are distinct persons. They disagree about how to understand that distinction and unity together. 1 Corinthians 8:4–6 · John 17:20–23
The Church teaches that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three distinct beings perfectly united in purpose and doctrine. Latter-day Saints worship the Father through Jesus Christ and affirm Christ as divine Lord and Savior. The Catholic Catechism also distinguishes the three persons, while affirming that they share one divine substance. John 17 helps explain the Latter-day Saint account of unity. The prayer alone leaves room for debate about whether divine oneness also includes a shared substance. Godhead · Worship God the Father · Catholic Catechism 253–255 · Compare the two readings
What Isaiah says about other gods
Read Isaiah 43:9–13 as a whole. The nations are challenged to bring witnesses, and Israel is called as the Lord’s witness. Immediately after declaring that no God was formed before or after him, the Lord declares that he alone saves. He points to what he declared and did for Israel. In Isaiah 44, the Lord calls himself the first and the last. The chapter goes on to mock someone who uses wood for a fire and carves the rest into a god he asks to save him. Isaiah 43:9–13 · Isaiah 44:6–20
The temporal language in Isaiah 43:10 is strong. Readers can reasonably take it as a statement of the Lord’s unique divine status as well as his power to save. The Latter-day Saint question is whether those claims also exclude God granting his children a share in his life and glory. That further conclusion depends on treating participation in God’s glory as the emergence of another God alongside him. The Church reads Isaiah as affirming God’s supremacy and sees no conflict with the glory God gives his children through Christ. Church Scripture Helps on Isaiah 43:10–11
What exaltation means
Paul calls believers joint heirs with Christ and connects that inheritance with suffering and being glorified with him. Second Peter speaks of partaking of the divine nature. Jesus promises those who overcome a place with him on his throne, just as he sat with his Father. Each passage describes something God grants. Christians disagree on how far that participation goes. Romans 8:14–17 · 2 Peter 1:3–4 · Revelation 3:21
Latter-day Saint scripture goes further. Doctrine and Covenants 76 calls the exalted “gods, even the sons of God.” The surrounding verses describe the Father giving the inheritance, the heirs belonging to Christ, and the heirs dwelling in God’s presence forever. Verse 69 says they are made perfect through Jesus. The Church’s essay Becoming Like God teaches that they continue to worship the Father. In this account, their glory comes through the grace of Christ, and the Father remains their God. Doctrine and Covenants 76:55–69 · Becoming Like God
Participation in divine life has a history outside the Restoration. Athanasius describes the Word becoming human so that humans might be made divine. The Orthodox writer Carmen Fragapane explains theosis in terms of salvation through Christ, with humanity and the Trinity affirmed. These texts support a point of contact. The Orthodox account and the Latter-day Saint account have different premises about God and humanity. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, section 54 · Fragapane, Salvation by Christ
Where the disagreement lands
If by polytheism someone means worship of several competing gods, that label gives the wrong picture of Latter-day Saint worship. If someone is asking whether the Latter-day Saint Godhead matches the Nicene doctrine of one divine substance, there is a real disagreement. Isaiah also puts pressure on any view that makes exalted people independent gods alongside the Lord. The Latter-day Saint reply is that God can share his glory while remaining its source and the one his children worship.
Questions about whether the Father was once as we are, or had a father of his own, raise a different historical and theological issue. The Church’s essay discusses Lorenzo Snow’s couplet and says little has been revealed about its first half. Read the case on divine ancestry
