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Deuteronomy 6 Verse 4.
Deuteronomy 6 Verse 4.
Deuteronomy 6 Verse 4.
It is believed by
some Trinitarians that the Hebrew wordechad (one) that is used
in Deuteronomy 6:4 and other verses indicates a compound unity. Concerning
the use of the word echad, Anthony Buzzard writes:
It is untrue to say that the Hebrew word echad (one) in Deut. 6:4 points to a
compound unity. A recent defense of the Trinity argues that when one modifies
a collective noun like bunch or herd, a plurality is implied inechad. The
argument is fallacious. The sense of plurality is derived from the collective noun
(herd, etc.), not from the word one.Echad in Hebrew is the numeral one.
"Abraham was one [echad]" (Ezek. 33:24; "only one man," NIV). Isaiah 51:2 also
describes Abraham as one (echad; "alone," KJV; "the only one," NJBO, where
there is no possible misunderstanding about the meaning of this simple word.
Anthony Buzzard and Charles Hunting, The Doctrine of the Trinity:
Christianity's Self-Inflicted Wound [International Scholars Publications, New
York, 1998], p. 25).
What should be clear is that Deuteronomy 6:4 is a statement about our personal
relationship to God. He alone is God, so He is to be our only God and we must
worship Him with all that we are and have. Deuteronomy 6:4 is not primarily a
statement about monotheism, it is a statement about relationship. Stated
another way, Deuteronomy 6:4 is not about the nature of God, it is about our
relationship with God. Monotheism is important, and God had established that
there was only one God earlier in the book of Deuteronomy. Only about 50
verses before the Shema, God had twice stated that He was the only
God. Deuteronomy 4:35 says, Yahweh is God, besides Him there is no other.
Four verses laterDeuteronomy 4:39 reiterates that truth again and reads,
Yahweh is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is no other. After
establishing that there is only one God, Deuteronomy 6:4 then takes that truth
and makes it personal: Yahweh who alone is God is to be our God, and we are
to worship Him with all our heart, soul, and strength. Furthermore,
after Deuteronomy 4:35, 39, and 6:4 have established that there is only one God,
and thus Yahweh alone is to be our God, 6:13 then says that we should fear and
serve Him, and swear oaths in His name.
Furthermore, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4 as part of the first and great
commandment: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone (Mark 12:29).
It is quite inconceivable that Christ would be promoting some form of the
doctrine of the Trinity while at the same time quoting Deuteronomy 6:4 to a
Jewish audience who then would have surely misunderstood him. According to
the use of echad in Scripture, it is more reasonable to believe that Jesus was
simply affirming that if we are to love God with all our heart we must be certain
who He isGod alone for there is no other.
For more information, see Graeser, Lynn, and Schoenheit, One God and One
Lord: Reconsidering the Cornerstone of the Christian Faith, 4 ed. (Indianapolis:
Spirit and Truth Fellowship International, 2010), p. 422.
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