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Writer's pictureBible Brian

The Trinity and the Shema: How God is One



In Deuteronomy 6:4, we read "“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" Every Christian, regardless of denomination, regardless of preferred Bible translation, regardless of personal background, believes this truth, for it is a central claim of our faith, and to deny it is apostasy. Why, then, do we also believe in the doctrine of the Trinity? If God is one, how can He also be three in one?


As insane as it sounds to anti-Trinitarians, who of course, themselves perishing, regard the truth as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18), the three are, in fact, one. The Father is not a different God than the Son, who is not a different God than the Holy Spirit, who is not a different God than the Father.


In the Old Testament, we see this quite clearly, right from the very beginning. In Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God hovers over the waters, and God speaks His creative acts, one by one. This leads into verse 26, when God not only says "let there be", but gets far more personal: "“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”"


Lest one assume this is a deliberate mistranslation in modern English Bibles, consider that this has always caused a headache for anti-Christian Jews. In Bereshit Rabbah, we read "Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: When Moses was writing the Torah, and was writing what was made on each day, when he reached this verse: “And God said: Let us make Man in our image, in our likeness” – he said before Him: ‘Master of the universe, why do you provide the heretics with basis for a claim? This is bewildering.’ He said to him: ‘Just write, and if someone wants to err, let him err.’ The Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: ‘Is it not so regarding this man whom I created, that I will bring forth descendants of greater and lesser status? If someone of greater status is about to seek approval from one of lesser stature than he, but he says: Why do I need to seek approval from one who is of lesser stature than I? One may say to him: Learn from your Creator, as He created the heavenly realms and the earthly realms, but when He came to create man, he consulted with the ministering angels.’" (1).


Note, therefore, how as early as the 3rd century, the Jews not only acknowledged the fact that God speaks in the plural in the very beginning of Scripture, but that this "provides the heretics with basis for a claim". Rabbi Shmuel even puts those words in the mouth of Moses, claiming God responded with "Just write, and if someone wants to err, let him err." Following it up with the claim that by "us", God was referring to Himself and the ministering angels.


Now of course, nowhere do we find in Scripture that God ever consulted with angels, or that man is made in their image also. In fact, in describing the relationship of man and angels in the created order, both Old and New Testaments describe us as "a little lower" than them (Psalm 8:5; Hebrews 2:7). Never once are we said to be made in their image, and at best, in the book of Job, they are shown to be passive observers (Job 38:4-7).


On top of all of this being absent from Scripture, it is even absent from history. This exchange between God and Moses is entirely fictitious. Never did Moses, being inspired to write Genesis, ask God why He gave excuse to the heretics, nor did God say "if they want to err, let them err, but I was talking to the angels in order to teach humility". This is all an excuse to explain away what the Christians were adeptly using to justify their Trinitarian beliefs.


With that excuse failing, it is worth noting that the statement in Genesis 1:26 was not only written before Deuteronomy 6:4, but also by the same author. And of course, the words therein were spoken by the same God, inspired by His same Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:19-21). Now, what I am not saying is that one takes priority over the other. Quite the opposite, what I am trying to say is that Genesis 1:26 and Deuteronomy 6:4 are one.


Well would you look at that. Using the same terminology found in Deuteronomy 6:4, I managed to speak about a plural concept as a singular. Genesis 1:26 is not Deuteronomy 6:4, yet they are one, because they form one, coherent theology. Interestingly, I'm about 3,400 years too late on that, as Scripture even does the same, describing two as one in the most sacred of covenants: Marriage.


In Hebrew, Deuteronomy 6:4, i.e. the Shemah, reads "Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad" (שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד). (2). We find the same in Genesis 2:24: "al-ken yaazav ish et aviv v’-et imo v’-davaq b’-ishto v’-hayu l’-vasar echad." (עַל־כֵּן֙ יַֽעֲזׇב־אִ֔ישׁ אֶת־אָבִ֖יו וְאֶת־אִמּ֑וֹ וְדָבַ֣ק בְּאִשְׁתּ֔וֹ וְהָי֖וּ לְבָשָׂ֥ר אֶחָֽד) (3). Nothing within this statement suggests there can only be one being involved in this relationship.


Perhaps this is why, historically, the Shemah never stopped the Jews from formulating and maintaining the idea of "two powers in Heaven", independently of the New Testament. As Daniel Boyarin wrote, "The ideas of Trinity and incarnation, or certainly the germs of those ideas, were already present among Jewish believers well before Jesus came on the scene to incarnate in himself, as it were, those theological notions and take up his messianic calling." (4).


While of course falling short of the fully revealed doctrine of the Trinity as found in the New Testament, the Two Powers teaching is, in effect, a "Binity". The Jews would notice that their Scriptures presented, in effect, "two Yahwehs", one being spirit, the other being seen as a man. Far from violating the monotheistic Shemah, these two beings were seen as being equally Yahweh. It wasn't a case of one God in Heaven, and another running around on Earth, but all of this being one God. Nevertheless, Rabbis during the second temple period (516 B.C. - 70 A.D.) would attempt to identify this "second Yahweh", with their speculations ranging from exalted humans to exalted angels.


The culmination of this would be essentially a three-way schism. Of course, Judaism has never been monolithic as it is. Through Scripture alone, we see several competing Jewish sects, so divided against each other that Paul was even able to expertly utilise the divisions in Acts 23:1-10. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, and in angels, but the Saducees rejected both. Even within individual sects, there were a variety of beliefs - even some Pharisees came to believe in Christ.


Nevertheless, the three-way schism of which I speak regards three Jewish schools of thought:


✦ The Jews who would go on to anathematise the Two Powers teaching around the 2nd century, believing it to be a heresy foisted upon Israel by the Christians.


✦ The Jews who would continue to discuss the Two Powers teaching, who, as far as I can tell, seem to have gone extinct in the Medieval period.


✦ The Jews who embraced the full revelation of their Messiah, of course later becoming Christians.


Christianity, on that basis, is an entirely Jewish faith, not only embracing historical Judaism, but of course having received the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints (Jude 1:3). It is no surprise, then, that it was so easy to convince so many Jews to worship Jesus "in spite" of the Shemah. Long before the beginning of His miraculous ministry, long before His baptism, long before His powerful preaching, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His Ascent unto the Father, Jesus Christ, our Lord (!), was worhiped by the Magi (Matthew 2:2-11).


Now tell me, is it permissible to worship anyone but God? This would be a grievous sin, if Jesus was a mere prophet. Yet, even before His third birthday, the Magi recognised the Lord as being worthy of their devotion. This tiny baby, this humble Son of a maidservant, this future carpenter, they saw as God. Yet, not only are they seen in every Christian tradition as being among our brethren, but they are never ever seen as heretics for identifying Jesus this way.


Now of course, that's not entirely true. The non-Christian side of the aforementioned schism, of course, do not identify Jesus as this "second Yahweh", and would firmly condemn the Magi for doing so. But whenever the Gospel was preached in the synagogues, the fair minded Jews would search the Scriptures daily to find out if these things were so (Acts 17:11). Surely these Jews, who on a daily basis would recite the Shemah, would find some conflict between it and this Trinity doctrine?


Not if they were already familiar with the "Binity", i.e. the Two Powers doctrine. Indeed, the Christians of the day would utilise this idea with great skill, something which the Talmud, of course, attacks. We saw an example earlier on in this article. But you cannot attack what does not exist. The rejection of the Two Powers idea, as Alan Segal notes in his book "Two Powers in Heaven", seems to go back only as far as the second century, as a response to the rising "threat" of Christianity (with some also responding to Gnosticism, and even atheism).


When we read the Old Testament, it's not hard to see where this idea comes from. As we have already examined, God speaks of Himself in the plural; "let us make man in our image". Is this, as the Talmud suggests, merely God condescending to the angels? Is it, as some suggest, the "plural of majesty" (as if it is somehow more majestic to be plural, and yet, somehow, the Most High lacks this majestic trait)? Or is it, as the New Testament reveals, that Christ Himself, and the Spirit of God, are indeed One? Were the Jews, prior to the time of Christ, absolutely correct to suggest that there are two powers in Heaven?


When we travel to the New Testament, we see just how solid the Two Powers teaching is. Incomplete though it is, it combined Old Testament revelation to peek through at what the Lord would go on to reveal. To begin with, compare the beginning of Genesis with the beginning of John's Gospel.


"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light."

- Genesis 1:1-3


"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made."

- John 1:1-3


Sometimes, Scripture is so clear on its own that it really feels redundant to write about it. Indeed, in a perfect world, free from the stain of sin and death, Scripture would be entirely sufficient on its own. Alas, free from sin we are not, and totally depraved we are. Thus, we must rely on Scripture in its own perfection, and use it to overcome the deceit of our own hearts.


John 1 is quite explicit. He tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This, he even follows up with a reiteration that He (the word) was in the beginning with God. Much like the Two Powers teaching, this identifies two Yahwehs; a God with God. But because this "other" God is God, He is not a separate God, in violation of the Shemah. Rather, He is a separate being. An individual mind, being one with God, yet also being with God.


John goes on to identify this Word as being the Creator. All things were made through Him, and without Him, nothing was made that was made. The question we could follow this up with, then, is what made the Word?


There is an old paradox: "The barber shaves all and only those who do not shave themselves." This statement is paradoxical, because if the barber shaves all who do not shave themselves, then he must shave himself, but if he shaves only those who do not shave themelves, then he cannot shave himself. But because he does not shave himself, and shaves all who do not shave themselves, he must shave himself. The statement, therefore, implodes, and cannot be true.


Now, if all things were made through the word, and without the Word, nothing was made that was made, then the Word must be eternal, because the only alternative is that John's statement is false. But now note that Jesus is the Creator. Paul goes into more detail even than John, declaring to us that "He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:13-17).


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Possible interjection


Colossians 1:15 says Christ is the firstborn, therefore meaning He was created.


Christian response


Especially in Biblical terms, firstborn does not always literally mean the first to be born, but instead has a deeper meaning. To be the firstborn means to be preeminent, as we see in verse 18: "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence." Thus, rather than showing that He is the first created being (or the first spirit child born to Yahweh and His spirit wives, as is seen in Mormon theology), this simply means Christ is the first to be resurrected from the dead, making Him preeminent in His Father's Kingdom. His status as firstborn has nothing to do with His actual origins, which Scripture makes abundantly clear are eternal.

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Yet another similar statement is seen in the beginning of Hebrews, in which we read "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say: “You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”? And again: “I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son”? But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: “Let all the angels of God worship Him.”And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.”


But to the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” And: “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail.” But to which of the angels has He ever said: “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool”? Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?"


I dare say, having just cited Hebrews 1 in its entirety, that there is nothing found in that chapter that is not utterly devastating to anti-Trinitarians. Verse 8 alone, in my experience, never fails to cause them a headache. God says to the Son "your throne, O God, is establisshed forever"? And He even follows it up with "Therefore God, your God, has anointed you..."? And He continues to point out the Son's role as Creator.


Now, when God Himself calls the Son "O God", what does that make the Son? God! Of course, it makes Him God! For who else can God call "God" but God? So here we have this concept of the Binity. Father and Son, two powers in Heaven, separate yet synonymous, one on their own, yet one with each other, each being entirely, and unconditionally, Yahweh.


What's more is that they cannot be divided. In discussing His divinity, Christ never tries to break away from the Father. He never tries to grasp His own power, His own glory, even His own will. Rather, He and the Father think, speak, and act, with one accord.


Note, as an example, the exchange in John 5, wherein the Jews collar Jesus for healing on the Sabbath. From verse 16 until the end of the chapter, we read "For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”


Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.


“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.


“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His formBut you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.


“I do not receive honor from men. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”"


These are all huge claims on the part of Christ. To begin with, He claims He can only do what God does. God works on the Sabbath, therefore Jesus works on the Sabbath. The Jews identify this as blasphemy, almost rightly so. Were any other Jew to say it, blasphemy it would be. But Christ says it truly, because He is indeed God. Yet, He can do nothing apart from His Father. In other words, while He is claiming to be God, He is not claiming to be a different God. Rather, what He is saying is "I and My Father are one.”" (John 10:30).


There it is again. To be one does not necessarily mean to be a monad. As a man and a woman can become "one" flesh, as the Son and the Father are one, so also does "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" permit, and as I believe we have already seen necessitate, the involvement of more than one being.


But what about more than two? After all, establishing that the Jews accepted two powers in Heaven, and that Jesus fits the bill for the long sought after identity of the second Yahweh, hardly confirms the whole Trinity. But as Christians, we needn't fear; our case is not at an end.


Just as Christ can do nothing of Himself, but can only do as He sees the Father doing, so also does the Holy Spirit have no power but God's power. Of course, unlike Christ, we don't actually see much of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. We see Him descend upon Jesus in the form of a dove at His baptism (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32), but in general, the Holy Spirit likes to act invisibly. However, He does "speak". But not of His own accord.


In John 16, Jesus speaks about the Holy Spirit and His impending trip to the Earth. He says "Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you." (John 16:7-15).


From this, we see that, just as Christ can do nothing of Himself, but only what He sees the Father doing, the Holy Spirit (whom, it should be noted, is a He, not an "it") does not speak of His own authority. Instead, He takes from the Son what the Son takes from the Father. Here, we see the entire Trinity acting in one accord, being one with each other. They are separate, even to the extent of having a sort of hierarchy, yet not so separate as to be considered different Gods. Yet they are God! The Father, of course, is God. The Son, as we have seen, is identified as God by God Himself in Hebrews 1:8. The Holy Spirit is identified as God in Acts 5:3-4. Three beings, one God.


This is the only way to make sense even of our baptism. Before Jesus departs, He levies upon His Apostles a final charge: "Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen." (Matthew 28:16-20).


As Christ receives worship from the 11, He doesn't bother to rebuke them for clearly seeing Him as God. Rather, He charges them to spread His message, because all authority has been given to Him in Heaven and on Earth. Thus, the resulting disciples are to be baptised in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. One name for three beings. Why? Because the Trinity is One. It is not, as some erroneously assert, three Gods, but one God, who exists in three separate persons.


What we see, then, is that the Shemah in no way conflicts with the Trinity, nor was it even believed to in historical Judaism. The Unitarianism of modern Judaism is a novel idea that is alien to Scripture and to history. Furthermore, those who claim the Christian faith, yet reject the doctrine of the Trinity, are not even Christians. In both Old and New Testaments, we see that God is, and has been from everlasting to everlasting, multipersonal. If, therefore, we are to claim to be His followers, it is essential that we follow Him in His entirety, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Hear, oh children of God, Yahweh, our triune God, the Lord is One.



References

1. Bereshit Rabbah 8:8 (link)

2. My Jewish Learning - The Shema (link)

3. The Contemporary Torah - Genesis 2:6, 2006 (link)

4. Boyarin, Daniel - The Jewish Gospels - The Story of the Jewish Christ, The New Press, July 11th 2013

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