Quick Facts Bible study image showing Moses speaking to the people of Israel and declaring Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.” The study examines the Shema and asks whether Scripture defines the One God as the Trinity.
Quick Facts: Deuteronomy 6:4 — Does “Yahweh Is One” Teach the Trinity?
“Hear, Israel: Yahweh Is Our God. Yahweh Is One.”
One of the most important declarations about God anywhere in Scripture is found in Deuteronomy 6:4:
“Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.”
— Deuteronomy 6:4, WEB
These words became known as the Shema, from the Hebrew word shema, meaning “hear.”
But this verse raises an important question for Christians today:
WHEN SCRIPTURE SAYS YAHWEH IS ONE, WHAT DOES “ONE” MEAN?
Does Deuteronomy 6:4 teach that the One God is a compound unity consisting of three coequal, coeternal Persons?
Or does the Bible identify Yahweh simply as the one and only God, whom Jesus later identifies as his Father?
Let us examine the biblical evidence.
QUICK FACT 1 — THE SHEMA IDENTIFIES YAHWEH AS ISRAEL'S ONE GOD
Quick Facts Bible study infographic examining Deuteronomy 6:4 through nine biblical facts, including the Shema, the Hebrew word echad, Jesus' teaching in Mark 12:29–34, John 17:3, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and John 20:31. The study asks whether Scripture identifies the One God as Yahweh, the Father, or defines God as a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The verse does not begin with a philosophical explanation of God's nature.
It begins with a straightforward confession:
“YAHWEH IS OUR GOD.”
And then:
“YAHWEH IS ONE.”
— Deuteronomy 6:4
The One whom Israel was commanded to love and worship was:
YAHWEH.
Immediately afterward Moses says:
“You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”
— Deuteronomy 6:5, WEB
So the Shema is not merely a mathematical statement that “one equals one.”
It identifies who Israel's God is.
QUICK FACT 2 — THE CONTEXT EXPLAINS THE EXCLUSIVITY OF THIS ONE GOD
We should not build our understanding of Deuteronomy 6:4 from the word “one” alone.
Moses had already told Israel:
“It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him.”
— Deuteronomy 4:35, WEB
And again:
“Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that Yahweh himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else.”
— Deuteronomy 4:39, WEB
This gives us important context for the Shema.
YAHWEH IS GOD.
THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM.
And then:
YAHWEH IS ONE.
These statements belong to the same biblical confession.
QUICK FACT 3 — WHAT DOES THE HEBREW WORD ECHAD MEAN?
The Hebrew word translated “one” in Deuteronomy 6:4 is:
אֶחָד — ECHAD
Echad is the ordinary Hebrew word for one.
Sometimes Trinitarian arguments claim that echad specifically means a “compound unity” and therefore allows or even suggests a plurality of Persons within God.
But echad itself does not mean:
“THREE PERSONS IN ONE BEING.”
Its basic meaning is simply:
ONE.
The theological question therefore cannot be settled merely by pointing to the Hebrew word echad.
We must allow the surrounding Scriptures to tell us who this One God is.
QUICK FACT 4 — JESUS QUOTED THE SHEMA
Centuries later, Jesus was asked:
“Which commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered:
“The first is, ‘Hear, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.’”
— Mark 12:29
Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:4.
This is enormously important.
Jesus did not reject Israel's confession about God.
He placed it at the very beginning of what he called the foremost commandment.
JESUS REAFFIRMED THE SHEMA.
QUICK FACT 5 — LOOK AT WHAT THE SCRIBE SAID NEXT
The scribe responded to Jesus:
“Truly, Teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he.”
— Mark 12:32
Notice his language:
“HE IS ONE.”
And:
“THERE IS NONE OTHER BUT HE.”
This closely echoes Deuteronomy 4:35:
“Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him.”
What did Jesus do after hearing the scribe's understanding?
Did Jesus correct him and explain that the One God was actually three coequal Persons?
No.
Mark tells us:
“When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, ‘You are not far from God's Kingdom.’”
— Mark 12:34, WEB
Jesus regarded his answer as wise.
QUICK FACT 6 — JESUS LATER IDENTIFIED THE “ONLY TRUE GOD”
This becomes even more significant when we compare the Shema with Jesus' own prayer in John 17.
Jesus lifted his eyes toward heaven and prayed to his Father:
“This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”
— John 17:3, WEB
Notice the distinction:
“YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD”
and:
“JESUS CHRIST, WHOM YOU SENT.”
Jesus identifies the One to whom he is praying — his Father — as:
THE ONLY TRUE GOD.
And Jesus identifies himself as:
THE CHRIST WHOM THAT GOD SENT.
QUICK FACT 7 — PAUL CONTINUED THE SAME PATTERN
Paul writes:
“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, WEB
Again Scripture distinguishes:
ONE GOD — THE FATHER.
and:
ONE LORD — JESUS CHRIST.
Paul does not say:
“For us there is one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
Instead, he explicitly identifies:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
This is remarkably consistent with Jesus' words in John 17:3.
QUICK FACT 8 — DOES THE SHEMA SAY GOD IS A “COMPOUND UNITY”?
This is where we need to represent the Trinity accurately.
Classical Trinitarian Christianity does not officially teach that there are three Gods.
It teaches that:
The Father is God.
The Son is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons.
Yet there is only one divine Being or essence — one God.
The question is therefore not whether Trinitarians believe in three Gods.
They explicitly deny that.
The real question is:
DOES DEUTERONOMY 6:4 DEFINE THE ONE GOD THIS WAY?
Where does Moses explain that:
YAHWEH IS THREE COEQUAL AND COETERNAL PERSONS?
That explanation is not given in the Shema.
Instead, the surrounding biblical language says:
“YAHWEH IS GOD.”
“THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM.”
“YAHWEH IS ONE.”
QUICK FACT 9 — BELIEVING THE FATHER IS THE ONE GOD DOES NOT REJECT JESUS
This point is essential.
Recognizing the Father as the One True God does not mean rejecting Jesus.
Scripture gives Jesus an extraordinary and unique position.
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.
John explains the purpose of his Gospel:
“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, WEB
The biblical confession is therefore not:
JESUS DOESN'T MATTER.
Quite the opposite.
It is:
THE ONE GOD SENT HIS SON.
THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT LEAVES US WITH A SERIOUS QUESTION
Put the passages together.
Moses:
“Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him.”
— Deuteronomy 4:35
Moses:
“Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.”
— Deuteronomy 6:4
Jesus:
“The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
— Mark 12:29
The scribe:
“He is one, and there is none other but he.”
— Mark 12:32
Jesus praying to his Father:
“You, the only true God.”
— John 17:3
Paul:
“There is one God, the Father.”
— 1 Corinthians 8:6
The pattern deserves serious consideration.
MOSES SAYS YAHWEH IS ONE.
JESUS REAFFIRMS IT.
JESUS IDENTIFIES HIS FATHER AS THE ONLY TRUE GOD.
PAUL IDENTIFIES THE ONE GOD AS THE FATHER.
So we must ask:
WHERE DOES SCRIPTURE REDEFINE THIS ONE GOD AS THREE COEQUAL, COETERNAL PERSONS?
That question cannot be answered merely by saying that echad can describe something composed of more than one element.
The question is:
HOW DOES SCRIPTURE ITSELF IDENTIFY THE ONE GOD?
CONCLUSION
Deuteronomy 6:4 was not an obscure Old Testament statement that Jesus later replaced.
Jesus himself brought it directly into his teaching.
When asked for the foremost commandment, he began:
“HEAR, ISRAEL: THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE.”
And when the scribe responded that:
“HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NONE OTHER BUT HE,”
Jesus said that he had answered wisely.
This fits naturally with Jesus' later prayer to his Father:
“YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD.”
And Paul's declaration:
“ONE GOD, THE FATHER.”
Therefore, every Christian should ask a simple but important question:
DO I DEFINE GOD THE WAY LATER THEOLOGY DEFINES GOD—
OR DO I BEGIN WITH THE WAY JESUS DEFINED THE ONE GOD?
The purpose of this study is not simply to accept or reject a doctrine because of tradition.
It is to do what Scripture tells us:
“Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:21, WEB
Research by Simon Brown
wwwrealdiscoveriesorg-simon.blogspot.com

