Anti-Mormon Claims
Anti-Mormon Claimsisaiah 43monotheismpolytheismexaltation

Isaiah 43:10 — No Other Gods?

Isaiah says ‘before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.’ Doesn’t that forbid exaltation, the Godhead as three, and everything Latter-day Saints teach?

Bible

They quote this

Bible · Isaiah 43:10–11

KJV + NRSVUE

Their knockout verse against exaltation. Isaiah is slamming idols, not the divine council or Romans 8.

King James Version

Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

NRSVUE

You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior.

How we read it

Isaiah is slamming idols and rival nations’ gods: Israel’s LORD is the only Savior. He is not rewriting Psalm 82 or Romans 8. Paul can say “gods many” and still confess one God, the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 8:5–6). Exaltation is joint-heirship under that God, not a second Yahweh.

The Bible answers

Bible · 1 Corinthians 8:5–6

KJV + NRSVUE

Paul knows ‘gods many’ and still confesses one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.

King James Version

For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 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 whom are all things, and we by him.

NRSVUE

Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Bible · Psalm 82:6

KJV + NRSVUE

Jesus quoted this: ‘ye are gods.’ He did not think Isaiah had banned the thought.

King James Version

I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

NRSVUE

I say, ‘You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you;’

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon answers

Mosiah 3:8, 17

There is no other name under heaven. Exaltation does not dethrone Him.

And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning… there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.

Also restored

Doctrine and Covenants 76:58

Joint-heirs are still His children, not His rivals.

Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God—

Ancient witnesses

Dead Sea Scrolls and related extra-biblical texts that illuminate the same pattern the Restoration restores.

1QIsaiahᵃ (Great Isaiah Scroll); Deuteronomy 32:8 in 4QDeutʲ; 11QMelchizedek on Psalm 82

Qumran’s Isaiah is already the text of 43:10. Qumran’s Deuteronomy 32:8 reads ‘sons of God,’ and 11Q13 places Melchizedek in Psalm 82’s council of elohim.

Ancient Israel could confess that YHWH has no rival Savior and still speak of a heavenly host, sons of God, and elohim in council. That is the Bible’s own grammar. Isaiah 43 is a polemic against idols (‘no god formed’ — the verb is about manufacture), not a ban on the Father glorifying His children (Romans 8:17; 2 Peter 1:4; John 10:34–36).

Faithful answers

Gospel Topics Essays

Becoming Like God

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Isaiah’s point is exclusive worship and exclusive salvation: Israel has one Lord and one Savior. Latter-day Saints agree without remainder. We do not pray to a pantheon. We do not set up a rival to the Father. Exaltation is children becoming like their Father by His grace — the hope Paul and Peter already named — while He remains God. The critic who uses Isaiah 43 to cancel Psalm 82, John 10, 1 Corinthians 8, and Romans 8 is not reading a Bible. He is protecting a system.

Latter-day Saints believe that God’s children will always worship Him. Our progression will never change His identity as our Father and our God.

  • Isaiah 43:11: ‘beside me there is no saviour.’ Mosiah 3:17 says the same. We are not polytheists shopping deities.
  • Paul can say ‘gods many and lords many’ and still say ‘to us there is one God, the Father… and one Lord Jesus Christ.’ That is Restoration speech.
  • Jesus cites Psalm 82 against the charge of blasphemy (John 10:34–36). If ‘ye are gods’ were illegal, the Lord mishandled His Bible.
  • ‘No god formed’ hits manufactured idols. It is not a metaphysics exam about whether glorified heirs can be called gods (D&C 76:58; 2 Peter 1:4).
Read the original

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Further reading

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