The objection
Israel's God is one, incomparable and no human. Three divine persons and an incarnate God therefore seem to contradict the Hebrew Bible's foundations.
1. God's unity is not restricted
The Shema in Deuteronomy 6,4 is binding for Christians too. Jesus reaffirms it in Mark 12,29. We do not believe in three gods and add no further deity to Israel's God. The disputed question is whether the one God can necessarily be only one person. This additional determination is not already contained in the number “one.”
Jewish doctrines of God are not identical in every detail. Maimonides offers an influential classical formulation: God's unity is neither the generic unity of many instances nor the unity of a body composed of parts.[1] Classical Trinitarian doctrine also rejects precisely such composition and multiplication.
2. “God is no human” has a context
Numbers 23,19 contrasts God's faithfulness with human lying and inconstancy. The question is: Will God break his promised word? The sentence does not describe every possible relationship of God to human nature and formulates no prohibition on a future incarnation.
Moreover, Christians do not claim that divine nature is inherently human or has transformed into a body. John 1,14 says that the eternal Word became flesh. The agent is the divine Son; he assumes true humanity without ceasing to be God. The distinction of natures precisely preserves God's immutability.
3. Apostolic proclamation of Christ reads Israel's scripture
Hebrews 1,10–12 applies words from Psalm 102 about the enduring Creator to the Son. Philippians 2,10–11 takes up the universal homage from Isaiah 45,23 and connects it with confessing Jesus as Lord. No alien deity is placed alongside the LORD; the Son is included in his incomparable dominion.[2]
This identifies the point of dispute: We acknowledge the apostolic interpretation as a divinely authorized disclosure of his earlier revelation. A reader who does not acknowledge the New Testament does not share this premise. This difference should be disclosed rather than pretending to offer neutral word statistics.
4. The incarnation does not make God dependent on the world
The Son does not become Son only through creation. His fellowship with the Father exists before the world (John 17,5.24). The incarnation is a free saving act of the already perfect God. God needs no body to be God; the Son assumes a body and human soul to save as a true human.
The Christian claim is therefore: Israel's God has revealed himself in Christ. Whether this claim is true is decided by this revelation and its scriptural witness. The claim “one God, therefore no personal distinction and no incarnation,” by contrast, presupposes precisely what it would first have to prove.
Biblical texts in context
Sources and further study
- Maimonides, Foundations of the Torah, chapter 1Sections 7–8: unity and incorporeality. As a Jewish primary source, not as a presentation of all Jewish positions.
- Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian FaithSection on Christ's deity; pp. 311–312: Old Testament statements about the LORD applied to Christ.