Lesson summary
One page: key verse, five things to remember, the comparison chart, and a reflection question.
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Stop 2 · Shema Summit
One God: Hear, O Israel
The Shema and the Trinity: what does “one” really mean?
Step 1 of 5 · about 5 min left
Six famous words
שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ ה׳ אֶחָד
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD is One.”
Deuteronomy 6:4The Shema, word by word
שְׁמַעShemaHearיִשְׂרָאֵלYisraelIsraelה׳AdonaiThe LORDאֱלֹהֵינוּEloheinuour Godה׳AdonaiThe LORDאֶחָדEchadis OneRead right to left, as Hebrew is written. Out of reverence, Jewish texts write the divine name as ה׳ and say Adonai in prayer.
Jews say the every morning and evening, teach it to young children, and hope to say it with their final breath. It is written on the tiny scroll inside every on a Jewish doorpost.
What Christianity teaches
Most Christians also say they believe in one God. They understand that one God as a : one divine being in three persons, the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit. Christians stress that this is not three gods.
Some Christians note that echad can describe a group acting as one, as in “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). They see room for plurality within God.
Two pictures of “one”
Judaism
God is One, “and there is no other” (Isa. 45:5).
Christianity
The traditional “Shield of the Trinity”: each person is God, and each is distinct.
What Judaism teaches
Judaism teaches that God's oneness is absolute. God has no parts, persons, or pieces. Echad is the ordinary number “one.” In “one flesh,” the sense of togetherness comes from the word flesh, not from echad.
The prophets say it again and again
“I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.”
Isaiah 45:5“I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.”
Isaiah 44:6“The LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him.”
Deuteronomy 4:35Notice the words God uses about Himself: “I,” “Me,” “besides Me.”
Side by side
Side by side: God's oneness
5 comparisonsTopic Judaism Christianity Who is God? One God, indivisible, with no partners or persons One God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit What does echad mean? One: the plain number used in counting Can allow a unity of several, as in “one flesh” “Let Us make man” (Gen. 1:26) God speaking to His heavenly court. The next verse says God created, singular Often seen as a hint of the Trinity To whom do we pray? To God alone, directly To the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit Key verses Deut. 6:4; Isa. 44:6; 45:5 Matt. 28:19; John 1:1 Why it matters
The first of the Ten Commandments says, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). From a Jewish point of view, worshiping any person alongside God crosses that line. That's why the Trinity is the single biggest difference between the two faiths.
Did you know?
In a Torah scroll, the last letters of the Shema's first and last words, ע and ד, are written extra large. Together they spell ed, “witness.” Each time a Jew says the Shema, he or she becomes a witness to God's oneness.
Pause and ponder
Why do you think the Shema begins with the word “Hear” instead of “Believe”?
Five things to remember
- The Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) declares that God is One. Jews say it every morning and evening.
- Echad simply means “one,” the ordinary number used in counting.
- Christianity teaches one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- Judaism teaches God's oneness is absolute, with no parts or persons.
- This is the single biggest difference between the two faiths.
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