The Church of Jesus Christ

• The New Testament affirms the numerical oneness of God and the proper interpretation of Deut 6.4.

Deuteronomy 6.4 reads, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (KJV)

Heb “the Lord, our God, the Lord, one.” (1) One option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This would be an affirmation that the Lord was the sole object of their devotion. This interpretation finds support from the appeals to loyalty that follow (vv. 5, 14). (2) Another option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique.” In this case the text would be affirming the people’s allegiance to the Lord, as well as the Lord’s superiority to all other gods. It would also imply that he is the only one worthy of their worship. Support for this view comes from parallel texts such as Deut 7:9 and 10:17, as well as the use of “one” in Song 6:8-9, where the starstruck lover declares that his beloved is unique (literally, “one,” that is, “one of a kind”) when compared to all other women. - Wallace, NET Bible Notes

Turning to the Gospels, Christ confirms the Shema. In Mark 12:29, the Lord says:

And Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord’ - KJV

ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι Πρώτη ἐστίν, Ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν, - NA26

I turn to the Septuagint here because it is commonly quoted in the New Testament. Besides, it is the Greek Old Testament from which many Greek words in the New Testament receive their meaning. The quote is exactly the same,

Καὶ ταῦτα τὰ δικαιώματα καὶ τὰ κρίματα, ὅσα ἐνετείλατο κύριος τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐξελθόντων αὐτῶν ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου Ἄκουε, Ισραηλ· κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν·

The Greek εἷς (heis) is the numerical 1 in this case. (See Ephesians 4.5) So, the ancient translators and Christ both understood the Shema to state that God was numerically one, versus unified or unique. Would not Christ have taken that moment to correct the Jews on the unity of God? Christ confirms that the correct understanding of the Shema is not a unification of the Godhead that later Trinitarians try to apply to Deut. 6.4, but that the numerical one that was understood by the Jews and subsequent Christians.