It is untrue to say that the Hebrew word echad (one) in Deuteronomy 6:4 points to “compound unity. A recent defense of the Trinity1 argues that when “one” modifies a collective noun like “bunch” or “herd,” a plurality is implied in echad. The argument is fallacious. The sense of plurality is derived from the collective noun (herd, etc.), not from the word “one.” Echad in Hebrew is the numeral “one.” “Abraham was one [echad]” (Ezekiel 33:24; “only one man,” NIV). Isaiah 51:2 also describes Abraham as “one” (echad; “alone,” KJV; “the only one,” NJB), where there is no possible misunderstanding about the meaning of this simple word. Echad appears in translation as the numeral “one,” “only,” “alone,” “entire, undivided,” “one single.”2 Its normal meaning is “one and not two” (Ecclesiastes 4:8). “God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4, cited by Jesus in Mark 12:29, NASV), hence obviously one person only and distinct from the “Lord Messiah” mentioned in the same passage (Mark 12:36). The One God is identified with the Father in Malachi 1:6 and 2:10 and is constantly in the New Testament distinguished from Jesus, the Son of God, who is presented as a separate individual. In the Hebrew Bible “the Lord’s anointed” (literally “christ”) is the King of Israel. This agent of the Lord God is on no occasion confused with God.
The claim that “one” really means “compound oneness” is an example of argument by assertion without logical proof. Robert Morey holds that echad does not mean an absolute one but a compound one.3 The argument involves an easily detectable linguistic fallacy. Echad appears some 960 times in the Hebrew Bible and in no case does the word itself carry a hint of plurality. It means strictly “one and not two or more.” Echad is a numerical adjective and naturally enough is sometimes found modifying a collective noun—one family, one herd, one bunch. But we should observe carefully that the sense of plurality resides in the compound noun and not in the word echad (one).
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Author: Anthony Buzzard
Keywords: echad, god is one, monotheism, trinity, Tri-unity, Oneness, LORD is one, One God, trinitarian, three persons one god, three persons, doctrine trinity, compound unity, plural pronoun, royal we
Bible reference(s): Genesis 3:22, Deuteronomy 6:4, Zechariah 14:9, Mark 12:29, Ephesians 4:5
Source: Anthony Buzzard & Charles F. Hunting, The Doctrine of the Trinity (Lanham, Md.: International Scholars Publications, 1998), pp. 25-27.
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