Is God One or Three | Shema or Trinity?
If you are asking, Is God One or Three, you are not alone. Every single day, different views about God’s nature are passionately debated. Most believe in either The Shema or Trinity, when it comes to the nature of God. For the majority of believers within Christianity, Catholicism, and Messianic movements, the Trinity is a foundational doctrine. They hold a deep belief that God (who is Spirit), their Messiah Jesus (who they believe was God in human flesh), and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons of one divine essence, yet still One God.
But is this belief many have come to love and embrace actually biblical?
The Shema
As a former Christian who was raised to believe that God was part of a trinity, my understanding of the nature of God completely changed. This shift began when I started to study deeply into the context of the original Old Testament Scriptures. My personal studies ultimately led me away from traditional Christian doctrines and brought me to fully embrace that God is One—The Shema.
The word Shema is a Hebrew word that means “Listen” or “Hear”. It is the first part of one of the most beloved, sacred texts in all of scripture in Judaism and other beliefs who hold that God is One, not three beings. It serves as the ultimate declaration of who God is and establishes that He is uniquely, strictly One.
In Deuteronomy 6:4, Scripture leaves no room for confusion:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”
This is incredibly important because we see that God has a Name. If you asked me years ago if God’s name was LORD, I’d say with confidence, “Yes, that’s His name.” Well, as I learned, I was completely wrong. LORD is a title, not a name!
The personal name of God is revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures as a four letter word, often called the Tetragrammaton: יהוה
Most importantly, the all caps LORD is specifically reserved for God’s divine name only in the Hebrew Bible. Tragically, His personal name was removed over 6,000 times in the translation of the Old Testament. When we restore His name, the scriptures become even clearer.
The word One in Hebrew is Echad which means alone, single, and unique. While a group can be described as “one” in Hebrew just like in English like “one team”, the word echad itself does not mean “plurality.” It means singularity.
When Moses gave Israel the Shema, he wasn’t introducing a complex, multi-person mystery. He was telling a nation surrounded by polytheistic cultures that their God is strictly, One. And that God has no partners, no divisions, and no equal.
When we restore the Name of God with the meaning of echad, Deuteronomy 6:4 is clear beautifully truth, and that is:
“Hear, O Israel: יהוה is our God, יהוה is One.”
How the Trinity was created
The Old Testament prophets and the Shema focus heavily on יהוה (YHVH) being an absolute One individual God, so how did the three-in-one concept become standard belief among many today?
If we look at history, it shows us that the Trinity doctrine was not a sudden biblical revelation. But that it was formulated centuries after the scriptures were completed, through a series of intense political and theological debates in the Roman Empire.
The Early Centuries
The earliest followers of scripture did not use the word “Trinity.” For the first few hundred years, believers held strictly to the foundational oneness of God taught in the Hebrew scriptures.
The Council of Nicaea (325 AD)
As arguments about God began to cause massive division across the Roman Empire, Emperor Constantine stepped in. He gathered over 300 bishops in modern day Turkey to vote on a standardized creed. This council officially declared for the first time that the Messiah was co-equal and made of the exact same divine substance as the Father.
The Council of Constantinople (381 AD)
The Trinity was still not complete after Nicaea. It took another 56 years for a second political council to officially add the Holy Spirit as the third distinct, co-equal person of the Godhead.
Through these late Roman councils, human tradition gradually replaced the original message of the Hebrew Old Testament Scripture .
God Has Always Been One
When we look passed these church councils and look directly at what the actual words spoken by יהוה and His prophets, we will find that the entire Old Testament leaves absolutely no room for a multi-person Godhead.
In the Book of Isaiah, the Almighty uses singular pronouns— I, Me—to define His identity. He never speaks as being three persons.
Isaiah 43:10: “Before Me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after Me.”
Isaiah 44:6: “I am the first and I am the last; besides Me there is no god.”
Isaiah 45:5: “I am the LORD [YHVH], and there is no other, besides Me there is no God.”
God is the One & Only Creator and Savior
The prophets reveal that the singular Creator who brought us into being, is the very same singular Savior who redeems us.
Hosea 13:4: “I am the LORD (YHVH) your God… you know no God but Me, and besides Me there is no savior.”
Malachi 2:10: “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?”
Final Thought
The scriptures are beautifully consistent. When we look past the titles added by translators and the doctrines formulated by Roman councils, we find the pure truth preserved in the Hebrew Bible. יהוה (YHVH) is one, His name is one, and He stands completely alone as our Father, our Creator, and our Savior.