"Hear O Israel, the LORD our God the LORD is one."
"Hear O Israel, YHWH our God YHWH is one."
Proof of the Trinity Error
The fact that Jesus was born under the Law and was required to observe the Law, demonstrates to us beyond doubt precisely WHO this passage is identifying: the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Evidence
1. The LORD is One or the LORD is Three?
While the text says that the LORD/Yahweh is one, Trinitarians would have us believe that we can also imagine a different idea into this passage, "Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is three," or, "Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is three yet one." Or, Trinitarians alternatively often imagine the text to be saying, "Hear O Israel, the LORD our God the LORD is one [divine ousia]. Simply contemplating these Trinitarian claims should be enough to cause one to seriously question the plausibility of the Trinitarian interpretation(s) of this verse.
2. "We Jews worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews." - Jesus
It should be obvious that Jesus' God was not any different than the God of Israel, the God of every Israelite. As a Jew under the Law, he was obligated to obey the Law and Jesus' God could not be any different than the God of Israel who is identified at Deut 6:4 as "OUR God." Christ's God was one person and one person alone: his Father alone, and nobody else. If his God was one person then so was the God of Israel.
Let the reader honestly contemplate one simple thing. When young Jesus was reading the Old Testament Scriptures, and he read about all the things his God had done, precisely WHO did Jesus have in mind? Is it remotely rational to suppose young Jesus was thinking about the good ole days when He Himself led Israel out of Egypt? Did he suppose that his God, the God of Israel, was he himself? How is that even going to make any sense? Or was Jesus supposing all those wonderful stories about the God of Israel in the Old Testament Scriptures, his God, were stories about the accomplishments of a three person being? Is it not far fetched beyond rational behavior to suppose such a thing? Or was young Jesus thinking about his Father and his Father alone, his God? If so, then is that not precisely who the Old Testament was talking about when it described all the things God had done?
Let us suppose the same scenario with young Jesus but let us also suppose we weren't talking about the Trinity here and that doctrine was completely out of view. Let us suppose we were simply focusing upon young Jesus and his Jewish life under the Law among a group of Trinitarians. We both know precisely WHO Trinitarians would suppose Jesus had in mind when he read about his God in the Old Testament Scriptures. Don't we? I can tell you how I know. Many times, I have observed Trinitarians acknowledge that the Old Testament Scriptures are simply references to the Father, at least until, someone says the word "Trinity," and then everything suddenly changes and a radical mind-shift takes place. Why? Is this word a signal to ignore reality for the sake of a creedal doctrine?
Trintiarians claim that the Jews did not know they had been worshiping a three-person-being throughout the history of the Old Testament and continued to do so until the Trinity had been revealed to them in New Testament times. However, Jesus declared the opposite. In the context of the appropriate worship of God, Jesus declared that the Jews worshiped what they knew (John 4:20-22). Trinitarians are nullifying Jesus' words for the sake of their tradition. Not only so, they fail to see the implications of Jesus' words, WE worship what WE know. Jesus is including himself among all Jews and saying that all the nation of Israel knew what they worshiped just as he himself knew what he worshiped. Jesus knew who he worshiped as the God of Israel: his Father alone. And Jesus used the word "WE" indicating that ALL Jews knew this and not just he himself.
3. Shema - the Foremost Command of the Law
Jesus also taught that the foremost command of the Law was the Shema command, that is, Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
28 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What command is the foremost of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; 30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 The scribe said to Him, “You are correct, Teacher. You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no one else besides Him; 33 and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Mark 12:28-34
As a Jew under the Law, Jesus was required to keep this command just like every other Jew. This is a very important fact that we must keep in mind and appreciate rather than ignore.
4. The LORD is one single "He"
At Mark 12:28-34, Jesus and a Jewish scribe agreed that the Shema is the foremost command. They also agreed that the words "the Lord is one" mean "He is one and there is no other but He. In this account, Jesus shows us that the Shema means "the Lord is one HE." So we know for certain that Shema means that the Lord is one HE, one WHO, while Trinitarians commonly read the notion, "the LORD is one WHAT" (divine nature) into the text ignoring nullifying the testimony of Jesus concerning the meaning of the Shema. For the Trinitarian, the LORD is three "HEs" (three persons) and one "What" (the divine nature as described in Trinitarian doctrine). But according to Jesus and this scribe, Yahweh is one single "HE/HIM" and there is no other but HE. Jesus and this Jewish scribe agree that the words "the Lord is one" mean that their God is one single HE.
While it is a fact denied by Trinitarians, reasonable people understand that the word "HE" or "HIM" are words used to refer to a single person. Signifying a single person is the very purpose of using singular personal pronouns. Hence, at Mark 12:28-34, Jesus' witness shows us that the Shema is referring to one person. And the proof is in the pudding when we honestly regard how Jesus obeyed the Shema. He observed the Shema command by recognizing and serving only one person as the God of Israel, his Father alone, "HIM."
Jesus agreed that the words "the Lord is one" mean "there is no other but "HIM." And we also know with absolute certainly how Jesus identified that one single HE.. We know how Jesus interpreted Deuteronomy 6:4 because we know how he obeyed it. Jesus showed us unambiguously what Deuteronomy 6:4 means. He did not identify this HE as a Triune being. The way Jesus obeyed the Shema command was to recognize and serve his Father alone as the one God of Israel, "OUR God." According to Jesus, that one HE was no one else but his Father.
5. "Yahweh OUR God"
It is also an extremely significant fact that the Shema says "OUR God." Let the reader understand that this command was given to the nation of Israel. It says, "Hear O Israel" and the words "OUR God" refer to all those Israelites under the Law. The Shema was a command to serve the God of every Israelite, the God of Israel, and that included Jesus because he was an Israelite under Law along with all of the rest of them and he was required to obey this command along with all of them. Jesus could not have interpreted the Shema to mean one thing while it really meant something else for the rest of the Jewish nation. This is because the command to Jesus was to serve "OUR God" not just his God. He was required to recognize "OUR God," that is, the God of Israel. He could not have interpreted the Shema to refer to one person while it actually meant three persons for every other Jew. Such a proposition is absurd. Jesus could not have possibly interpreted the Shema to refer to only his Father, which he did, while at the same time it referred to three persons for every other Israelite. Why? The Shema command says "OUR" God. Who then was "OUR" God? One thing is for certain, Jesus' God was not a three person being and he obeyed this command. Hence, we know "OUR God" simply cannot refer to a three person being.
6. The Father is not the Triune Being
In Trinitarian doctrine, the Father is not the Triune Being. That would be saying the Father is three persons which Trinitarians deny. In Trinitarian doctrine, the Father is but one person OF the Triune being. The Triune being is not the Father and the Father is not the Triune being. Because of this fact, Trinitarians cannot identify "God" in the Scriptures as both the Father and the Triune being. The following illustrates this fact.
"He is God and there is no other but He/Him." Deuteronomy 4:35.
Trinitarians simply cannot identify the "He" in the above verse as the Father. They must refuse to do so since that verse would then declare that nobody but the Father alone is God which contradicts Trinitarian doctrine. By insisting it refers to the Triune God, "HE", they are demonstrating to us that any given verse about God is either referring to the Triune being OR to the Father but not both. As illustrated by Deuteronomy 4:35, they can't have it both ways because they know very well it would make no sense. And it would make no sense because the Triune HE is not the same HE in their doctrine as the Father.
Therefore, it should be clear that in the same way, the Shema either refers to the Triune being or it refers to the Father. If "OUR God" refers to the Triune being, then Jesus was required to obey the commanded to serve the Triune being as his God. But if "OUR God" refers rather to the Father alone, then Jesus, and every other Israelite, was commanded to obey this command by recognizing only the Father as their God. And by his own testimony, Jesus shows us precisely WHO the Shema has in view: his Father alone. This is how Jesus obeyed the command to serve the God of Israel, "OUR God."
7. The God of Jesus = the God of Israel: "OUR God"
Throughout the New Testament, we find that the God of Jesus was the Father alone. His God was not a Triune being; his God was only his Father.
Jesus' God was one person: his Father. Jesus' God was a one person being: the Father alone. A one-person God is not the same God as a three-person God and for that reason we cannot say that Jesus' God was a three-person-being. A three-person-God is not the same thing as a one-person-God. Trinitarians testify themselves that if you do not serve a three-person-God as they do, they you serve another God, a different God.
Now since Jesus was born under the Law, and he was required to observe the Law, he was therefore required to observe the Shema, "Hear O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Simply ask yourself how Jesus was expected to obey this command. Ask yourself who Jesus identified as his one God in order to obey this command. It is quite simple to see that Jesus did obey the command to serve "OUR God" he did this by serving his Father alone. It was his Father alone who he loved with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength. If we suppose the "OUR God" identified at Deuteronomy 6:4 is really a Triune being, then Jesus disobeyed the Law since he did not worship or serve any Triune being nor did he love a Triune being "with all his heart and all his soul and all his strength." Either Jesus knowingly disobeyed the Shema or the Shema is not referring to a Triune God. It is one or the other and there is no escaping that plain fact. Else Jesus also did not know his God was Triune like every other Jew (as Trinitarians claim), in which case, Jesus in his ignorance cannot possibly be the one God.
Conclusion
The undeniable facts confront us. (1) Jesus taught the Shema was the foremost command of the Law. (2) He agreed the Shema command "the Lord is one" meant that God is one single "HE." (3) As a Jew born under the Law, he was circumcised into the Law and required to keep this command of the Law. (4) And the command was a command to all the people of Israel to serve "OUR God," Israel's God. Jesus interpreted and obeyed the command to serve "OUR God" by recognizing and serving only one person. Jesus himself clearly proves to us what the Shema means by how he obeyed the command to serve "OUR God." He showed us that it necessarily means "the Father of Jesus is OUR God, the Father of Jesus is one" and that one must love the Father of Jesus with all his heart, soul, and strength. The testimony of Jesus's obedience to the Shema command to serve "OUR God" decisively demonstrates that the God of Jesus, who was/is one person, is necessarily equivalent to the God of Israel.
Should any of us reasonably suppose that when Jesus heard his brothers (Mary's sons) citing the Shema that he was secretly thinking, "There they go talking about me again" or perhaps, "There they go talking about US again" (a three person being). It is simply ridiculous. Or shall we reasonably conclude that Jesus, like all his Jewish brethren, interpreted the Shema in the same way - by recognizing and obeying only the Father of Jesus as his only God since only the Father was their God too? Is that not what "OUR God" means? And indeed, at John 4:2-22, Jesus indicates to us that Jews had been worshiping the Father in Jerusalem, worshiping what "we know."
It should be quite clear to anyone that Jesus' God was the Father alone and no one else. It should also be quite clear that Jesus was required to obey the Law and the Shema. It was not a Triune being which Jesus loved with all his heart and all his soul and all his mind. It was his Father alone. And if he indeed obeyed the Shema by serving and worshiping his Father alone as the only true God, then it should also be quite clear that only the Father is the one true God. Otherwise, Jesus knowingly disobeyed the Law and you are dead in your sins.
Jesus specifically identified "OUR God" for us, Israel's God; he identified the one God of the Shema command for us. And the way he did that for us is by showing us who someone under the Law must worship as his God: his Father alone. If Jesus worshiped the Father alone as his God but the God of the Shema, "OUR God," was really a Triune being, then Jesus our Lord either misinterpreted or disobeyed the foremost command of the Law. Either that, or Jesus did it right and Trinitarians are disregarding the testimony of Jesus on the matter concerning the identity of "OUR God" whom Jesus was commanded to serve. To deny these facts is simply an irrational response for the sake of a man-made doctrine. Let every reasonable person see that the facts here undeniably prove beyond any doubt whatsoever that the God of the Shema is identical to the God of Jesus, his Father alone, and cannot be said to refer to a three person being without contradicting Scripture and the witness of Jesus Himself.
"I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God." John 20:17
