On Sunday, August 19, 2007, Sheila Drummond recorded what is "believed to be the first hole-in-one by a totally blind female golfer" in the history of the sport. The article noting this accomplishment was titled, Blind Woman Makes History with Ace.² The ace in golf, of course, means that one stroke was all it took to put a little ball into a little hole some 100 plus yards away. Rare as it is, golf lovers understand terms like "ace" just as card players recognize what it means to have "an ace in the hole."

"For [there is] one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ;" I Timothy 2:5

Throughout the course of history, words have grown with the languages that adopt them. Underlined above is a most basic and familiar word that we find in the New Testament almost 300 times. "One" or "only" comes from the Greek cardinal number eis. Believe it or not, eis is pronounced Ace and is source for our modern ace. In many cases, we use it when we're talking about someone who is the best at what they do. In other words, if someone is "#1," then they are an ace.³

Certainly it could be said that understanding eis is a rather insignificant detail in the grand scheme of things, but let's bear in mind the period and audience that Paul is writing. Less than 30 years before Christ came into the world, an epic poem was written to give both Emperor Augustus and the Roman people a sense that they had descended from some one and some place of great reputation. This mythological story is known as The Aeneid. In it, readers find the gods, of whom each has their own purpose and task, working quite frequently against each other because of individually self-seeking hopes that they have for mankind. At moments when the hero (man) seems just about to achieve his seeming destiny, a frustrated god or goddess steps in to raise up armies against him. And so the story goes.

Roman and Greek mythology is based around a world where "the gods" affect every day life, no matter how ordinary or profound. One's only hope to live peaceably on the earth is to appease each god individually through sacrifices, worship, prayers, and required ceremonies. Taking a look at mythology, however, should not surprise you as a student of the Scriptures. Throughout Paul's journeys, we find him encountering some very fascinating experiences with those who fear these many gods.

"And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, 'Stand upright on thy feet.' And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, 'The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifices with the people. [Which] when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard [of], they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, 'Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.' " Acts 14:8-15

The story of The Aeneid places Jupiter as the highest of all gods. Greeks called him Zeus. At any time that Jupiter felt he needed to get a message down to someone on the earth, he would send Mercury, or Mercurius, as his messenger. To quote a passage from the epic, the following gives a fairly good rendition of how the Romans saw these two particular gods:

"So spoke Jupiter, and he sent down Mercury, the son of Maia, to make the lands and the citadel of the new city of Carthage hospitable to the Trojans, in case Dido, in her ignorance of destiny, should bar her country to them. Through the great expanse of air he (Mercury) flew, wielding his wings like oars, and soon alighted the shores of Libya. There he lost no time in carrying out the commands of Jupiter…" ⁴

Various other gods in this epic take on the form and image of men or women that they believe will give them an advantage in persuasion. When the people in Lystra saw that our Apostle Paul had healed a cripple and that he was doing the majority of the speaking, they naturally assumed that the quiet and tall one, Barnabas, was Jupiter and that the speaker was his servant, Mercury. The apostles' response, of course, is one of disheartened weeping. They are not there in representation of two different gods, but are there in representation of "the living God." Similar problems arise several chapters later in Acts:

"Therefore disputed he (Paul) in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, 'What will this babbler say?' other some, 'He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods:' because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, 'May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, [is]?' " Acts 17:17-19

Epicurus was a Greek philosopher who lived some 300+ years before Christ and taught that the highest good is one's own modest

pleasure through virtue and friendships. Stoics, whose philosophy originated around the same time, believed that relational emotions were nothing more than a distraction that hindered proper learning and maturity. The two political ideals were pitted against each other throughout the area that Paul was engaging. In the marketplace, he was forced to address this belief that he was babbling on about some new and "strange gods."

Greeks were not, by any means, comfortable with the idea of embracing Roman gods any more than Romans were comfortable believing in Greek gods. Although they had similar parallels, the Greeks of Acts 17 took for granted that because Paul was a Roman and was speaking about Jesus as God, that he must be introducing yet another series of Roman gods. This opened the door for him to silence any question:

"Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, 'Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye too are superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;" Acts 17:22-25

Putting to rest any superstition that he is speaking about a multiple series of gods, Paul quite simply lays out the "God that made the world and all things therein." He displays the "ace in the hole" that listeners were unaware existed. While they were lost in the ignorance of their own worship practices, we find Paul pointing them to God, the "Lord of heaven and earth."

Additional Roman gods like Diana in Ephesus (Acts 19) are mentioned throughout the rest of the Acts period, but it's important to stop here and turn our attention forward. Gentile audiences were captivated by polytheistic religion. That is, a religion that worships many gods (Greek: poly = many; theism = god) in ignorance of "one" God who created all.

In addition to the word eis that we discovered earlier in I Timothy, another very familiar term shows up on several occasions.

"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, [be] honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." I Timothy 1:17

Most of us throughout our lives have been required at some point to offer a monologue or a speech. Monologue builds from Gk.monos, which indicates more than just being "one." If any person must give a presentation without the assistance of another, then they are the "only" one giving it. In essence, they are alone.

I Timothy 1:17, as you'll find, is a key verse throughout this study because it packs so much within its borders of "now" to "amen." Here we focus our attention on the truth that "the King eternal, immortal, invisible," is the "only wise God." This term "only" is monos, which we have already become familiar. If He is the monos of anything, He is for lack of outside assistance. No one "assisted" or "helped" God become wise. He simply is on His own. Thus, all wisdom stems from God alone because God is one.

Look, for just a moment, a little more closely at the word "alone." Perhaps you see in it the key word we're dealing with in this section. And you would be correct to notice that it is made up of "all" and "one." It is, in fact, built from the contraction of understanding someone or something that has "all" in "one." Thus, if God is "alone," it is not that He is empty or void of something (as we often find ourselves believing when we use the term today). Rather, it is that He is "all in one."

"One God (eis) and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all, and in you all." Ephesians 4:6

"For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Colossians 1:16-17

Putting these together allows us to see, first and foremost, that apart from any characteristics we can and will find in Him, He is one God by way of two descriptions. He is one because there is no other (eis). He is also one because He alone is all in one (monos).

"God and God alone
Created all these things we call our own
From the mighty to the small
The glory in them all
Is God's and God's alone" ⁵