The Shema
| The Shema is the best-known verse in Judaism. It says that Yahweh is our God and the only God. |
“Hear, O Israel!
The LORD is our God,
the LORD is one!”
(Deuteronomy 6:4)
This is called the Shema after the first word (hear), which is shema in Hebrew. In contrast to the many gods of the surrounding nations, it declares that only one true god exists, and His name is YHVH.
1 Corinthians 8:4-6
| 1 Cor 8:4-6 says similarly that only one true God exists and then identifies that one God as the Father: |
4 There is no God but one.
5 … indeed there are many gods and many lords,
6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father,
from whom are all things and we exist for Him;
and one Lord, Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.
These verses contrast:
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- Pagan gods with pagan lords,
- The many pagan gods and lords with
the one true God and one true Lord, and - The Father with the Son.
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| This verse is a favorite proof text for Unitarians but, recently, Trinitarians have claimed it as support. |
This verse has always been a favorite proof text for Unitarians (as opposed to Trinitarians) for it identifies the Father alone as God, which means that Jesus is not God. But Trinitarians counter this conclusion with the following arguments:
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- Both Father and Son create all things.
- The titles “God” and “Lord” are synonyms.
- The text includes Christ in the Shema.
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(A) Creation
| Trinitarians claim it identifies both the Father and Son as Creator. However, it says the Father creates through the Son. |
Since the text says that the Son co-created the universe with the Father, Trinitarians conclude that Jesus must be God. However, our verse, similar to John 1:3, Col 1:16, and Heb 1:2, says that all things are “from” the Father, meaning He is the only Being who exists without cause and the ultimate Cause of all things. In contrast, all things are “through” the Son, meaning He is the Means through whom the Father creates all things. (Read More)
It means that both the Father and the Son have existed for as long as time existed. However, scientists claim that time began 13 billion years ago. Of the incomprehensible reality outside our universe of space, time, and matter, we know nothing. But we do know that the power, energy, and intelligence, that caused our universe to exist, came from that incomprehensible reality. That helps us to understand the distinction between Jesus and God. (Read More)
(B) God and Lord
| They argue that when the verse identifies Jesus as ‘Lord’, He is also ‘God’ because these two titles are synonyms. |
They argue that first-century Jews (such as the writer Paul) understood “one God” and “one Lord” as synonymous and interchangeable; both referring to the same divine being, namely Yahweh.
They support this view by noting that Paul, in his many writings, refers to the Father both as “God” and as “Lord.”
Therefore, Trinitarians argue, when Paul described Jesus as “one Lord,” he also identified Him as God. This article responds with two counterarguments:
| However, ‘lord’ does not mean ‘God’. It simply means ‘master’. Even some people are described as kurios. |
The word translated as “Lord” (kurios in Greek) means “lord” (e.g., Acts 15:26) or “master” (e.g., Mark 13:35) or “owner” (e.g., Matt 20:8). This title, therefore, may be applied to God and Jesus and a human being without saying that they are all God.
| Furthermore, the Father appointed Jesus as Lord of the universe, which means He is subordinate to the Father. |
Although 1 Corinthians 8:6 identifies Jesus as Lord, this does not mean that He is God or equal to God, for God appointed the Son as “Lord.” For example:
At Pentecost, Peter said to the Jews,
“God has made Him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36).
“God highly exalted Him … so that …
every tongue will confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:9-11).
“God … raised Him from the dead
and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places …
And He put all things in subjection under His feet“
(Eph 1:17-22; cf. Matt 28:18).
(C) Includes the Son in the Shema.
| They claim that 1 Cor 8:6, by distributing the words of the Shema between Father and Son, includes Jesus in Yahweh. |
A third proof Trinitarians find in 1 Corinthians 8:6, for the claim that Jesus is God, is to argue that the verse intentionally distributes the words of the Shema between the Father and the Son:
The “God” of the Shema becomes
“One God, the Father.”
The “LORD” of the Shema becomes
“One Lord, Jesus Christ.”
Therefore, Trinitarians propose that this verse includes Jesus in the identity of the Old Testament Yahweh. They don’t claim that Paul presented Jesus as a second God but that he redefined monotheism to say that the unique identity of Yahweh of the Shema CONSISTS OF BOTH the “one God” and the “one Lord.”
However, for the following reasons, Paul did not redistribute the words of the Shema between the Father and Jesus to include Jesus in the Yahweh of the Old Testament:
| (1) The verse explicitly identifies the Father alone as God. |
Verse 4 repeats the Shema, saying, “there is no God but one.” Then verse 6 continues by using the titles “God” and “Lord” to differentiate between the Father and the Son, explicitly identifying the Father alone as God:
“For us there is but one God, the Father.”
By implication, Jesus is not God. This distinction between the Father as God and the Son as Lord is a consistent pattern in the New Testament. The article on Colossians, for example, shows that that letter:
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- Uses the title theos always for the Father;
never for the Son and - Uses the title kurios (lord or master) always for the Son;
never for the Father.
- Uses the title theos always for the Father;
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| (2) 1 Cor 8:6 is one of several “one God” statements and they all identify the ‘one God’ as the Father alone. |
It would be fair to assume that, with these statements, he applied the Shema within a Christian context. But in all of such “one God’ statements, the Father alone is God, for example:
1 Cor 8:6 is just one of several of Paul’s “one God” statements in which he applies the Shema’s ‘one God” concept in the Christian context, but in all such statements, he identifies the ‘one God’ as the Father alone. For example:
“There is one God,
and one mediator also between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).
”One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all who is over all” (Eph 4:5-6)
| (3) If Jesus was God, Paul would have said so frequently and clearly. But he always identifies the Father alone as God. |
There is only one text in Paul’s writings that possibly refers to Jesus as theos, namely Romans 9:5. (Read More) In every other instance, “God” refers to the Father. For example, Paul opens every one of his letters with phrases that distinguish between God and Jesus and identify God as the Father, e.g.:
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 1:3).
Elsewhere, we find phrases such as “our God and Father” (Phil 4:19-20) and “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory” (Eph 1:17; cf. 1 Tim 6). (Read More).
| (4) 1 Cor 8:4-6 plainly identifies the Son as distinct from and subordinate to the Father. |
While Trinitarians claim that this verse identifies the Father and Son as one Being (Yahweh), by saying that all things are “from” God but “through” Christ, the text identifies them as two distinct Beings, with the Son subordinate to the Father. The Father is the uncaused Cause of all things. The Son is the Means through whom God creates.
The verse also distinguishes between the Father and Son in their titles. While the Father is “God,” the Son is given the lower title “Lord.”
That the Son is subordinate to the Father is a consistent teaching of the New Testament. For example:
“You belong to Christ;
and Christ belongs to God” (1 Cor 3:23). OR
“Christ is the head of every man,
and the man is the head of a woman,
and God is the head of Christ”
(1 Cor 11:3; cf. 1 Cor 15:28).
| A further indication of Jesus’ subordination is that the Bible often describes the Father as Jesus’ God. |
Even many years after His resurrection and enthronement, both Revelation and Paul refer to the Father as His God:
“He has made us to be …
priests to His God and Father”
(Rev 1:6; cf. Rev 3:2, 12). (Read More)
“The God of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Eph 1:17; cf. 1 Peter 1:3; Matt 27:46; John 20:17).
Since God appointed Jesus as Lord over all, the Son will always remain subordinate to the Father and the Father will always remain His God.
| (5) The Shema says Yahweh is one but Trinitarians interpret 1 Cor 8:6 to say Yahweh is two. |
The main point of the Shema is monotheism, namely that “YHWH, our God, YHWH is one.” In the New Testament, the Father and Jesus are two Persons with distinct minds and wills. For example:
Jesus prayed to His Father. “He spent the whole night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12; cf. John 17:1).
The night before He was crucified, He prayed, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
The next day, hanging on the Cross, He cried out, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me” (Mark 15:34).
To understand 1 Corinthians 8:6 as saying that YHVH is actually two Persons is to contradict the Shema.
| (6) If this verse is supposed to teach the Trinity doctrine, why does it not mention the Holy Spirit? |
In the Trinity doctrine, the Father, Son, and Spirit are a single Being.
| (7) 1 Cor 8:6 does not apply the word ‘Lord’ in the Shema to the Son because the Shema does not contain the word ‘Lord’. |
Trinitarians propose that 1 Cor 8:6 redistributes the words of the Shema, describing Yahweh, between the Father and the Son, identifying the Son as the “one Lord.” However, the word “Lord” is not in the Shema. “LORD” is in all capitals, meaning it translates God’s name YHVH, pronounced as Yahweh or Jehovah. (Strangely, modern translators seem to follow the ancient Jewish practice of not mentioning God’s name.)
The counter-argument would be that YHVH is translated as Kurios (Lord) in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) and that Christians generally used the Septuagint, not the original Hebrew Bible, when Paul wrote. However, HO KYRIOS (the lord) was never exactly synonymous with YHVH. It replaced YHVH when the Jews developed the practice of not mentioning the name of God. Paul was well-educated, and he would have known the difference.
Objections to the Trinity Doctrine
| It teaches that Father and Son are one Person. |
The often repeated statement that it teaches three Persons is misleading:
“The champions of the Nicene faith … developed a doctrine of God as a Trinity, as one substance or ousia who existed as three hypostases, three distinct realities or entities (I refrain from using the misleading word’ Person’), three ways of being or modes of existing as God.” (Hanson Lecture) (Read More)
| It also teaches that the Son of God did not die. |
Christ’s death saves us. However, in the Trinity doctrine, the Son of God did not die. The Son has two natures. While His human body and mind suffered and died, His divine nature did not and cannot suffer or die because He has the same uncreated substance as the Father. (Read More)
| The adoration of Mary as the Mother of God is a natural consequence of the teaching that Christ is God. |
Other Articles
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- Is Jesus God? – List of all articles
- The historical development of the Trinity doctrine – List of Articles
- All articles – List of all article series on this website
This is one of the series of articles that analyze John’s view of Jesus. In this article, it is shown that, throughout John’s gospel, Jesus is subordinate to the Father. He received everything He has from the Father, including His ability to give life to the dead, to judge, and to be honored. He prayed to the Father and referred to the Father as His God.