Proof of the Trinity Error
The fact that Jesus was born under the Law and was required to observe the Law, demonstrates to us precisely WHO this passage is identifying: the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Evidence
The LORD is three
While the text says that the LORD is one, Trinitarians would have it 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, they alternatively imagine the text to be saying, "Hear O Israel, the LORD our God the LORD is one [divine nature].
We Jews worship what we know
Jesus' God was not any different than the God of Israel. 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. His God was one person and one person alone, his Father alone. If his God was one person then so was the God of Israel.
Trintiarians claim that the Jews did not know they had been worshiping a three-person-being all along until it had been revealed to them in New Testament times. However, Jesus declared the opposite. In the context of worshiping God in Jerusalem, 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. But Jesus used the word "WE" indicating that ALL Jews knew this and not just he himself.
Yahweh OUR God
The Shema says "OUR God "not "MY God." These words referred to the God of EVERY Israelite and that included Jesus. Jesus could not have interpreted the Shema to mean one thing while it really meant something else for the rest of the Jewish nation (even if they didn't realize it as Trinitarians claim). He could not have interpreted the Shema to refer to one person while it actually really 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. The Shema says "OUR" God.
The LORD is one single "He"
At Mark 12:28-34, Jesus and a Jewish scribe agreebly conclude that the Shema is the foremost command. They also agree 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 read the notion, "the LORD is one WHAT" into the text ignoring and nullifying the testimony of Jesus concerning the meaning of the Shema.
Even further, we know with absolute certainly how Jesus identified that one single HE of the Shema. He did not identify this HE as a Triune being. The way Jesus observed the Shema was to recognize and serve his Father alone as the one God of Israel.
Reasonable people further understand that the word "HE" or "HIM" are words used to refer to a single person. That 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.
The God of Jesus - His Father Alone
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. 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 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' God was the God of the Shema and Jesus' God was 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 God being identified at Deuteronomy 6:4 is a Triune being, then Jesus disobeyed the Law since he did not worship or serve this Triune being nor did he love this 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. Else Jesus did not know his God was Triune in which case, Jesus cannot possibly be the one God.
Conclusion
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." It is ridiculous. Or shall we reasonably suppose that Jesus, like all his Jewish brethren, interpreted the Shema in the same way - by recognizing and obeying only his Father as his only God? 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 identified the one God of the Shema 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 was a Triune being, then Jesus misinterpreted and disobeyed the foremost command of the Law. Either that, or Jesus had it right and Trinitarians are disregarding the testimony of Jesus on the matter.
Created: August 23, 2012
Last Updated: January 8, 2014
