Deuteronomy 6.4, Mark 12.29
| Dt 6.4 שמע ישראל | Hear this, Israel: |
|---|---|
| יהוה אלהינו | Yahweh is our God. |
| יהוה אחד | Yahweh is One. |
| Mk 12.29 ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι πρώτη ἐστίν· | Jesus replied that the first is: |
| ἄκουε, Ἰσραήλ, | Hear this, Israel: |
| κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν | the Master is our God. |
| κύριος εἷς ἐστιν, | The Master is One. |
This is also called the Shema, after the first Hebrew word in the command. It’s said every Sabbath in shul.
R. Moshe put this command third, but R. Jesus put it first. The scholar that had asked Him what the first command was responded, “Good, Teacher; truly said that He is One and there is no other but Him,” (Mk 12.32) and Jesus responded, “You aren’t distant from God’s Kingdom”—unlike the others who were questioning Him. (Jesus also attached to this the command to love God; R. Moshe makes it his fourth command.)
There have been a whole lot of books and extrapolation on what it really means that God is One; and whether it means one or all of the extrapolations, some of which I’ll list here:
- God is One as opposed to God is everything (which counters pantheism).
- God is One as opposed to God is many (which counters polytheism or dualism).
- God is One in that God is uniquely different and transcendent from everything He’s created.
- God is One in that God is not complex, but simple. Thomas Aquinas went a little nuts in trying to describe just how God is simple (not made up of parts, thus not matter; is not a component of anything; is no different from His nature; is not a category; has no non-essential properties) but then again it was Thomas’s job to nitpick such things. God isn’t complex in those ways, but God is certainly complex in that a lot of things about Him are beyond our understanding.
- God is One in that God is the greatest and best at several things. This is a popular but lousy interpretation of “God is One,” for being the best has nothing to do with Him being One. He might be the only omniscient being in the universe; but if He created another omniscient being it wouldn’t make Him any less One.
- God is One in that there aren’t any other gods. I already talked about this; there might be other gods, but there is no other God. He’s unique in that He is divine and the other gods aren’t. He’s uncreated; the other gods are created. He’s almighty; they aren’t.
- God is One in that God isn’t schizophrenic. He’s not hiding a secret, evil personality; He isn’t sometimes one way and sometimes another; He doesn’t switch from “Jesus mode” to “Holy Spirit mode” in order to accomplish things. God is consistently, integrally One. When we deal with God, we’re always dealing with the same God.
I could go on, but you get the point. The most common interpretations have to do with God’s uniqueness as God, and how we’re supposed to recognize this uniqueness. In doing so, that makes us unique. Other religions recognize lots of Gods. We don’t. Other than Judaism and its offshoots, Christianity, Islam, the Mormons, the Baha’i, the Unitarians, and so forth, it’s rare you’ll find a religion that isn’t polytheistic or pantheistic. Some American Indian religions managed to retain the idea of One God, but very few others; in their myths, the Creator was either overthrown or fragmented. We maintain that He’s One.
Following this command has pretty much the same results as following the second mitzvah. There’s no one else to turn to; no one else to follow; no one else to worship; no one else. There’s no “good side” to God that you have to get on or appeal to. And any other gods are a waste of time. God is One.
