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The following verse is known as
the “Shema” or “Sh’ma” as recited by the Jewish people
daily:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God
is one LORD (Deut. 6:4)
Trinitarians often claim that the
Hebrew word translated as “one” [“echad”]
means “compound unity,” and Deut. 6:4 is a proof text in support
of the trinity teaching in the Hebrew scriptures.
One would have to do a lot of
mental gymnastics to conclude that Deut. 6:4 speaks of a compound
unity. They split up the One true God into thirds! After all, the
word “compound” means to put parts together to form a whole. A
trinitarian will explain it this way:
God is distinctly called ‘one
Lord’ (Duet. 6:4, Mark 12:29), but we must examine closely as to
how the word one
is being used. There are two kinds of unity or ‘oneness’ both in
English and Hebrew; an absolute unity and compound unity. Absolute
unity is that of singularity; I give you one apple, and you get a
single apple. But if you ask for ‘one’ bunch of grapes, you don’t
simply get one grape! ‘One’ in this case is a word of compound
unity, the many in the one.
We do not have to resort to
trinitarian philosophy. The Hebrew word “echad” is simply
rendered as “one.” A common-sense understanding of the Sh’ma
(Duet.6:4) tells us that echad is only one person and that one person
is our Father, Yahweh.
Trinitarians like to use grapes
as their illustration to try to prove a compound unity of the word
‘echad’. The deception is a clever one. As a biblical professor
and author Anthony Buzzard would say, “Let’s put this to the
test.” Please note:
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Does
“one tripod” mean that “one” means three?
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Does
“one quartet” mean that “one” means four?
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Does
“one centipede” mean that “one” means 100?
Author Raymond C. Faircloth does
an excellent job concerning the word echad. He states:
The Hebrew word echad occurs 970
times in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is an adjective meaning “one
single” i.e. a numerical absolute. Yet a few Trinitarians have
tried to redefine it as meaning one in unity – a compound one. By
so doing they attempt to restate the shema regarding the one God of
Israel as allowing for the Trinity. However, this is false because
all reputable lexicons show that echad is used in exactly the same
way the English word one is used. When used with a collective noun,
that is, a noun containing the idea of plurality e.g. one herd of
cattle, the one still means “one single” i.e. one single herd of
cattle. Whatever number of cows constitute the herd is not relevant.
Nowhere in Scripture is there any Hebrew or Greek word that refers to
a One that encompasses three divine eternal persons.1
If we were to look at Deut. 6:4
through trinitarian lenses, we would see this:
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God,
the LORD is a compound
unity.
That is not what the verse says.
The word ‘Echad’ means “one single.” It is simply the
numerical digit one, both in Hebrew and English. Nowhere is there any
evidence that the Hebrew writers ever considered that the word echad
meant more than one person in one God.
Trying to fit the trinitarian
philosophy of a compound unity to fit into Deut. 6:4 becomes very
illogical. Why? Because if the trinity doctrine claims that God is
more than one person, then God the Father
is part of God, but not all God, Jesus is part of God, but not all
God, and the Holy Spirit is part of God, but not all God, but yet
they are all supposed to be one
God?! Do you remember the illustration I gave above in the first
chapter? What we really have is this:
Yet, trinity doctrine does not
claim that God is 1/3 God, that Jesus is 1/3 God and the Holy Spirit
is 1/3 God. Do you see how confusing the trinity dogma is? Moreover,
the trinitarian
definition of echad is
not a true definition because it does not exist. The definition is
bogus to suit the trinity doctrine. Nevertheless, they call it a
“mystery.” There is no mystery about it; it is simply a
philosophical lie.
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