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A Triune Shema
Deuteronomy 6:4 is known as The Shema, as the single most important declaration of the Jews’ belief in monotheistism, and yet is notoriously ambiguous. Notice the various ways it can be translated (LORD equals Yahweh):
1. The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
2. The LORD is our God; the LORD is one.
3. The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.
4. The LORD our God is one LORD.
5. The LORD our God is the unique LORD.
6. The LORD our God is a united LORD.
Monotheistic religion is the ultimate truth. There is one true God and all others are false in the sense of pretenders, man-made images, or self as a god. Remember that the 10 Plagues are presented within Exodus as a battle of Gods.
So what is the Shema? It is foremost a declaring – Yahweh is Israel’s God.
Could there also be a Defining of Yahweh?
The word “one” is not necessarily a number, but a description. God is one, but how is God one?
Could the clue be found in the text itself?
As readers of the Bible know, man is first defined by God in coordination with God, “in our image”. In that simple statement there is both plurality and singleness – “our” and “image”.
Could this time God be defining Himself in coordination with man? There is again the same plurality and singleness in describing man in Deuteronomy 6:5.
Each man is described as having a heart, soul, and strength. A man is one yet three. The heart is not the soul is not the strength. Think of heart as our mind and spirit. The soul is our breath and life. Strength is body. This is similar in language and thought to 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Man is three separate yet inseparable realities: Spiritual, Immaterial, Material.
Again, in the NT God is defined as one yet three, again tied to man being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 teach we are to love God with our united self. As man is one yet three, so is God a united Yahweh.
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