The whole Oneness case leans hard on one word. They point to the Shema, “the LORD our God is one LORD” (Deuteronomy 6:4), and say, “See, God is one, so He must be one Person.” But that argument has a fatal flaw, child of God, and it is right there in the Hebrew.
Echad is a united one, not a solitary one
The word for “one” in the Shema is echad. And echad is not the word for a solitary, single thing: it is the word for a united one, a one made up of more than one. Do not take my word for it; let the Bible define its own word:
“…and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24, KJV)
Two persons, husband and wife, called one (echad). The spies brought back “one cluster of grapes” (Numbers 13:23): one echad cluster, many grapes. At Babel, “the people is one” (Genesis 11:6): one echad people, millions of persons. Over and over, echad means a unity of more than one.
There was a word for “solitary”, and God did not use it
Now here is what breaks the Oneness argument in half. Hebrew has a word that means an only, solitary one: it is yachid. That is the word used for Isaac: “thine only son Isaac” (Genesis 22:2). If Moses had wanted to say God is a solitary single Person, yachid was sitting right there for him to use. He did not use it. Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, he chose echad: the united One.
So the Shema does not prove God is one Person: it simply proclaims there is one God, and it leaves the door wide open to the plurality the rest of Scripture reveals: the Father speaking to the Son, the Spirit descending, the three at the Jordan (Matthew 3:16–17). The one verse the Oneness position leans on hardest actually points the other way. Glory to God.
Related Teaching
- “One” Is a Language Question, Not Math
- Oneness Doctrine: A False Gospel
- Scripture Supports the Doctrine of the Trinity
The Gospel, Stated Plainly
Everything I teach on this site rests on one message from Scripture. Read it in God’s own words from 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Romans 1:16, and Ephesians 2:8-9.
“And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (KJV)
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