Quick Facts Bible study examining Deuteronomy 4:35 and its declaration that Yahweh is God and there is no one else besides Him, compared with the traditional doctrine of the Trinity.
QUICK FACTS: DOES THE TRINITY CONTRADICT DEUTERONOMY 4:35?
“Yahweh Is God. There Is No One Else Besides Him.”
One of the clearest declarations about God in the Old Testament is found in Deuteronomy 4:35:
“To you it was shown, that you might know that Yahweh, he is God. There is no one else besides him.”
Deuteronomy 4:35 — World English Bible
This statement raises an important question for Christians:
Who is the ONE God whom Moses identifies here?
Does Moses describe God as three coequal Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
Or does Scripture consistently identify the One God as Yahweh, whom Jesus later identifies as his Father?
Let us examine the evidence.
QUICK FACT 1 — DEUTERONOMY 4:35 USES SINGULAR LANGUAGE
Notice carefully what the verse says:
“Yahweh, HE is God.”
And then:
“There is no one else besides HIM.”
The language is strikingly singular.
The verse does not say:
“They are God.”
It does not say:
“There is no one else besides them.”
Instead, Yahweh is spoken of as HE and HIM.
This does not by itself settle every later theological question about the nature of God. Trinitarians also affirm that there is only one God.
But it does establish something extremely important:
The God proclaimed to Israel is presented as one Yahweh, and no other God exists beside Him.
That should be the starting point for any Christian doctrine of God.
QUICK FACT 2 — THIS WAS NOT AN ISOLATED STATEMENT
Only a few verses later Moses declares:
“Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that Yahweh himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other.”
Deuteronomy 4:39
Again the message is unmistakable:
YAHWEH IS GOD.
THERE IS NO OTHER.
This same truth continues throughout Scripture.
Isaiah records Yahweh saying:
“I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God.”
Isaiah 45:5
And again:
“There is no God besides me.”
Isaiah 44:8
The Old Testament repeatedly presents Yahweh as the one and only God.
QUICK FACT 3 — DEUTERONOMY 6:4 CONTINUES THE SAME TEACHING
Two chapters later we find perhaps the most famous declaration of biblical monotheism:
“Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.”
Deuteronomy 6:4
This became known as the Shema.
Israel was commanded to believe in and worship the ONE God — Yahweh.
This is important because Deuteronomy 4:35 provides the context for understanding Deuteronomy 6:4.
First Moses says:
“Yahweh, HE is God. There is no one else besides HIM.”
Then Moses declares:
“Yahweh our God, Yahweh is ONE.”
These passages belong to the same biblical understanding of God.
QUICK FACT 4 — JESUS REPEATED THIS SAME FAITH
Centuries later a Jewish scribe asked Jesus:
“Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Jesus did not introduce a new definition of God.
He quoted the Shema:
“The foremost is, ‘Hear this O Israel: The Lord our God is One Lord.’”
Mark 12:29
The scribe then replied:
“Right, Teacher. You have spoken according to truth that He is One, and there is not another besides Him.”
Mark 12:32 — Berean Literal Bible
Notice the similarity with Deuteronomy 4:35.
DEUTERONOMY 4:35
“Yahweh, HE is God. There is no one else besides HIM.”
MARK 12:32
“HE is One, and there is not another besides HIM.”
And what did Jesus say about the scribe's answer?
“And Jesus, having seen him that he answered wisely, said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’”
Mark 12:34
Jesus described the man's answer as wise.
That is extremely significant.
Jesus did not correct the scribe by saying that Israel's understanding of the One God now needed to be expanded into three coequal Persons.
Instead, Jesus affirmed the Jewish confession that:
HE IS ONE.
THERE IS NOT ANOTHER BESIDES HIM.
QUICK FACT 5 — JESUS IDENTIFIED HIS FATHER AS “THE ONLY TRUE GOD”
The evidence becomes even more important in John 17.
Jesus lifted his eyes toward heaven and prayed to his Father:
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
John 17:3
Look carefully at the distinction.
Jesus identifies:
YOU — the only true God
and
JESUS CHRIST — whom YOU have sent.
Jesus is not praying to himself.
Neither does he say:
“That they may know us as the only true God.”
He addresses his Father as:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
And he distinguishes himself as:
“Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
This fits naturally with the declaration of Moses:
“Yahweh, HE is God. There is no one else besides HIM.”
QUICK FACT 6 — PAUL ALSO IDENTIFIED THE “ONE GOD”
Paul's language follows the same pattern.
He wrote:
“Yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him.”
1 Corinthians 8:6
Paul does not merely say:
“There is one God.”
He identifies that One God:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
And alongside the One God, Paul identifies:
“ONE LORD, JESUS CHRIST.”
The Father and Jesus are not confused with one another.
God is the Father.
Jesus is God's Son and God's appointed Messiah and Lord.
Paul similarly writes:
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 2:5
Again we have:
ONE GOD
and
THE MAN CHRIST JESUS — the mediator between God and humanity.
A mediator is distinguished from the one before whom he mediates.
QUICK FACT 7 — WHAT DOES THE TRINITY ACTUALLY CLAIM?
To examine this question fairly, we should represent Trinitarian doctrine accurately.
Classical Christianity does not officially teach that there are three Gods.
The doctrine teaches that:
The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
Yet the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons, while together constituting one divine being or essence — one God.
Therefore the real question is not:
“Do Trinitarians openly believe in three Gods?”
They do not.
The real biblical question is:
DOES SCRIPTURE ITSELF DEFINE THE ONE GOD IN THIS WAY?
Where does Moses explain that the One God consists of three coequal and coeternal Persons?
Where does Jesus redefine Israel's confession of One God in this way?
Where does Paul say:
“For us there is one God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”?
That is the issue this study asks the reader to investigate.
QUICK FACT 8 — “THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM”
Return now to the original statement:
“Yahweh, he is God. There is no one else besides him.”
Deuteronomy 4:35
The statement is remarkably simple.
YAHWEH IS GOD.
HE IS GOD.
THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM.
Then compare Jesus:
“He is One, and there is not another besides Him.”
Mark 12:32
And compare Jesus' prayer:
“You, the only true God.”
John 17:3
And compare Paul:
“One God, the Father.”
1 Corinthians 8:6
These passages form a remarkably consistent pattern.
QUICK FACT 9 — JESUS IS NOT EXCLUDED FROM GOD'S PLAN
Saying that the Father is the One True God does not mean rejecting Jesus.
Quite the opposite.
The New Testament tells us exactly who Jesus is.
John explains why his Gospel was written:
“But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”
John 20:31
The biblical confession is not that Jesus is unimportant.
Jesus is:
The Christ.
The Son of God.
The one sent by God.
The Lord and Messiah.
The Savior through whom God gives eternal life.
God exalted Jesus and made him Lord and Christ.
Therefore honoring Jesus as God's Son does not diminish him.
It recognizes him according to the identity Scripture gives him.
THE QUESTION DEUTERONOMY 4:35 LEAVES FOR THE TRINITY
The issue is therefore very simple.
Moses declares:
“YAHWEH, HE IS GOD.”
and:
“THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM.”
Jesus affirms:
“HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NOT ANOTHER BESIDES HIM.”
Jesus calls his Father:
“THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
Paul declares:
“THERE IS ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
And John says that eternal life comes through believing:
“JESUS IS THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD.”
So where does Scripture change this definition and tell us that the One God is actually three coequal, coeternal Persons — Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
That question cannot simply be answered by quoting later creeds.
It must be answered from Scripture.
CONCLUSION
Deuteronomy 4:35 is one of the clearest declarations about God anywhere in the Bible:
“YAHWEH IS GOD. THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM.”
The same monotheistic confession continues through Deuteronomy 6:4, the prophets, the teaching of Jesus and the writings of Paul.
Jesus affirmed that God is One.
Jesus called his Father “the only true God.”
Paul identified the “one God” as “the Father.”
And the New Testament identifies Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, whom the Father sent.
Therefore every Christian should ask:
DOES THE LATER DOCTRINE OF ONE GOD IN THREE COEQUAL PERSONS FIT THE WAY MOSES, JESUS AND THE APOSTLES ACTUALLY IDENTIFIED GOD?
Do not accept this article merely because I wrote it.
Do not reject the Trinity merely because someone tells you to.
Open the Bible.
Read the passages in context.
Test the doctrine for yourself.
As Scripture says:
“Test all things. Hold fast that which is good.”
1 Thessalonians 5:21
And never forget the words that began this investigation:
“YAHWEH, HE IS GOD. THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM.”
Deuteronomy 4:35
Research by Simon Brown
wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com
