Messianic Perspectives

Guest (Male): Stay with us as we discuss the question, Do Christians Worship Three Gods? right here on Messianic Perspectives.

Liz Aiello: Shalom and welcome to Messianic Perspectives, a daily program where we look into the scriptures from a distinct first-century Jewish point of view. I'm Liz Aiello.

Today, Dr. Gary Hedrick is discussing the doctrine of the Trinity. Does it really mean that Christians worship three gods, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? Some people think so, and that's what we want to find out.

I'll be back at the closing of the program to tell you about our special offer. And now, with today's installment, here's Gary Hedrick.

Dr. Gary Hedrick: All right, thank you, and it's good to have you with us, listening friend, as we continue this series of studies on the Trinity. And what we're going to be doing on the next few programs is looking at the Trinity from a Hebrew Christian perspective, from a Jewish Christian perspective.

We're going to be looking at the Trinity through Jewish eyes. And in order to do that, first of all, we need to know something about the Jewish concept of God. Most of us are familiar with the Shema. The Shema is the Jewish confession of faith and the verses of the Shema are taken from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 4 through 9 and Numbers chapter 15 verses 37 through 41.

Those verses together form the doctrinal basis for the most fundamental beliefs of Orthodox Judaism. In fact, Orthodox Jews recite these passages three times daily in their morning, afternoon, and evening prayers.

They write out the verses on little scrolls of parchment and place the strips of paper inside the tefillin, the phylacteries, those are the little black leather boxes that Jewish men strap to the left arm and forehead during the weekday morning prayers.

Now, what does the Shema tell us about God? Well, the opening sentence in Deuteronomy 6:4 says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. In the Hebrew it's Shema Yisrael Yahweh Eloheinu Yahweh Echad.

And since Orthodox Jews don't like to pronounce the sacred name of God, they substitute the name Adonai for Yahweh, so they say Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.

That's why this passage is called the Shema. It's the first Hebrew word of Deuteronomy 6:4. Shema Yisrael. It means Hear, O Israel. So what does the Shema tell us about God?

First and foremost, it tells us that God is one! The Lord our God is one Lord. The Jewish translations all convey the same idea of divine oneness. Listen to this.

The Orthodox Jewish ArtScroll prayer book, for example, has: Hear, O Israel: Hashem is our God, Hashem is the One and Only. The Union Prayer Book renders it: Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. The Reform Jewish Gates of Prayer declares: Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.

So the Shema emphasizes the oneness of God. The Lord our God is one. Now, does that mean there's a contradiction because traditional Judaism says God is one while Christianity says God is three?

The rabbis would certainly say so, and they have said so in no uncertain terms. The Rambam, Rashi, and virtually every major Jewish commentator for the past 2,000 years has flatly rejected the Trinity as a pagan idolatry, a form of pagan idolatry.

But the question we need to ask is, is it really? Is the Trinity really a pagan concept? Is it really in conflict with the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4? Well, let's take a little closer look at Deuteronomy 6:4 and see for ourselves.

When it says here that God is one, the Hebrew word for one is echad. It means one. And let's be honest, on the surface, it looks like a contradiction. It does. I mean, how can God be one and also be three at the same time?

But here's what's interesting. There are actually two Hebrew words that can be translated one. The first word is yachid, which occurs 12 times in the Jewish Bible and always means an absolute one, an indivisible one, or a single one.

For example, in Genesis 22:2, God told Abraham, Take now thy son, thine yachid son, thine only son, thy one and only son, that is one son. The same word is used in a well-known Messianic passage in Zechariah 12:10: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his what? Only son. And the word is yachid, only son, one son.

Now, the people who publish dictionaries will tell you that the determining factor, the criteria in establishing a word's definition is the way it's used in the language. That is, a word's definition is determined by its usage.

And when you look at the usage of the word yachid, the meaning is clear. It means an indivisible, singular one, one and only. But here's what's interesting. That's not the word that Moses used in Deuteronomy 6:4 to describe God.

He didn't use yachid. He used another word. It's the word echad. Now, echad means oneness all right, but very often it points to a different kind of oneness. Not a simple oneness, but a complex oneness. Not an absolute oneness, but a compound oneness.

And again, remember, a word's definition is determined by its usage, not the other way around. And notice how the word echad is used in the Hebrew Bible. Now watch this. Genesis 1:5: And there was evening and there was morning, one, echad, day.

You see, it's one day, but it's made up of two parts, an evening and a morning. By the way, that's why a Jewish day begins at sundown in the evening and goes to the following sundown, because in Genesis, God says a day consists of evening and then morning.

The gentiles have turned it around and we say a day starts in the morning. The Jewish day starts in the evening. But it's one day, echad, a compound oneness because the day consists of morning and evening.

Now look at the next chapter in Genesis, if you're following along here. Genesis 2:24 says, Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

That's the word echad. La-basar echad, into one flesh. So you have two people, Adam and Eve, but they become one flesh in marriage. Again, it's the idea of compound unity.

And we're not going to have time to go into all of the examples that are listed in the booklet, but the point is unmistakable, my friend. Very often when the word echad is used in scripture, it denotes a compound unity.

In Numbers 13:23, when Moses sent the 12 spies into Canaan, they returned bearing a gigantic cluster of grapes, eshkol echad, one cluster, but consisting of many grapes.

In Ezra 2:64, we're told that the whole congregation together, echad, numbered 42,360. Again, one congregation, but consisting of many members. Not a simple unity, but a complex unity.

But don't take my word for it. Look it up in Ben-Yehuda's dictionary, which is the standard dictionary of modern Hebrew, and you'll find in the definition of echad, the phrase one of, as in one of a group or a part of the whole.

The dictionary also shows that the Hebrew word for unity is a direct variation on echad and includes the idea of togetherness or plurality. Now, isn't that interesting?

Two Hebrew words, both of which mean one. But one of them denotes an absolute one, while the other word very often denotes a compound one or a plurality.

And in Deuteronomy 6:4, which of those two words does Moses use to describe the oneness of God? He uses the one that means a compound unity. In other words, God is one, but within that unity, there is a wonderful and mysterious diversity, a complexity.

Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. The Lord our God is a unity. Even Moses Maimonides, the foremost Jewish philosopher of medieval times, realized the ramifications of the word echad.

Among the Jewish people, Maimonides is known as the Rambam. He was chief rabbi of Cairo. He was also a physician and he's considered the most important figure in Judaism since Moses himself. He's the father of Rabbinic Judaism.

In fact, you'll often hear him referred to as the second Moses. Maimonides wrote the Mishneh Torah, which is a commentary on the Torah, a very important work in Jewish law, 14 books.

So it's significant that the Rambam, who in Judaism would be roughly analogous to the apostle Paul in Christianity, the Rambam understood the implications of the word echad in Deuteronomy 6:4. Now watch this.

The Rambam, or Moses Maimonides, formulated the 13 articles of Jewish faith. Based on the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4, Maimonides taught the Jewish people to recite daily, I believe with a perfect faith that the creator, blessed be his name, is one.

Also, the second of the 13 articles says, I believe with perfect faith that the creator, blessed be his name, is a unity and that there is no unity in any manner like unto his, and that he alone is our God who was, is, and will be.

Now, here's what's interesting. In both instances, Maimonides expressed one or unity with the Hebrew word yachid, which we have already seen denotes absolute oneness.

In other words, he replaced echad, which Moses used in the Shema to express complex oneness or unity, with the word yachid. Now, what does that tell us? Very simply, it tells us that the Rambam clearly understood the implications of referring to God as echad.

He sought to avoid the trinitarian connotations of the word echad by substituting the word yachid. So our position in this series of studies, listening friend, will be that Moses knew exactly what he was doing when he described God as a complex unity. And we'll talk more about that next time. We'll look forward to seeing you then. You take care. Bye-bye.

Liz Aiello: Thank you, Gary, and thank you, listening friend, for tuning in today. Now, let me tell you about our special offer for this month. It's Gary Hedrick's booklet entitled, Do Christians Worship Three Gods?

In this 70-page booklet, Gary addresses head-on the question of whether or not the doctrine of the Trinity makes Christianity incompatible with the teachings of the Jewish Bible, or what we call the Old Testament. It has an informative question and answer section and also a helpful glossary of Hebrew words at the end.

It's available for a suggested gift of $7. The title again is, Do Christians Worship Three Gods? Then we also have the programs you're hearing here on the broadcast, available on compact disc with the same title, Do Christians Worship Three Gods? This series is available for a suggested gift of $12.

This set is a very effective witnessing tool. Several Jewish people who have come to the Lord in the past have told us that reading this book on the Trinity more than anything else helped them understand and believe the gospel.

More than anything else, it helped them realize that believing in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is not the same as polytheism. Just visit our secure online store at messianicspecialties.com to place your order.

If you would prefer to order by mail, just address your request to Messianic Perspectives, P.O. Box 345, San Antonio, Texas, 78292. To order by phone, use our toll-free order line. The number is 1-800-926-5397.

And as always, when you're in touch with us, please mention the call letters of this station. If you're listening to our webcast or podcast, we need to know that too. I'm Liz Aiello. Join us next time, won't you? As Dr. Gary Hedrick continues our series of studies on Do Christians Worship Three Gods? right here on Messianic Perspectives.

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