Roy Blizzard III © 2013
There are several peculiar passages in the Bible concerning the word “One” that have been argued for centuries and their misunderstanding and misinterpretations have given rise to all sorts of odd teachings like the church’s teachings on Homo-ousia, Hetero-ousia or Homoios-ousia, sameness, difference, or resemblance. These in my opinion are just Straw Dogs.
Three passages in particular are important for us to consider in determining what this word One often means and its importance in fabricating our theology. The first is Deuteronomy 6:4 or the Shema Yisrael – שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל “Hear, [O] Israel the LORD is our God, the LORD is one”.
This prayer serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services and it emphasizes the monotheistic essence of Judaism. Observant Jews consider the Shema to be the most important part of the prayer service in Judaism, and it is recited twice-daily as a religious commandment or mitzvah. Many Jews say the Shema as their last words, and many parents teach their children to say it before they go to sleep at night.
The term “Shema” is used by extension to refer to the whole of the Jews daily prayers that begin with Shema Yisrael and comprise Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21, and Numbers 15:37– 41.
The second passage that is important to consider is in the Gospel of John 5:19, “Then Yeshua (Jesus) answered them saying, “Amen, Amen (listen to what I just said – I healed on the Sabbath and I am like God), I say to you, the Son is not able to do anything from his own (being, soul) except that which He sees His Father do, because the thing which the Father does, also the Son does likewise.” (because they are unified in purpose – echad – one) (Yeshua is saying that He is the Son of Man sent by God to warn the people) [Ezekiel 2:17-21, 3, 12] The Gospel of John, An Actual Translation by Roy Blizzard III © 2013
The third passage is John 10:30, “I and the Father, We are One.” (this is the Shema restated – Echad or “one” … The Gospel of John, An Actual Translation by Roy Blizzard III © 2013
Actually Jesus never said that he and the father were “one”. This is an impossible construction in Hebrew. In Hebrew, you can only use echad to mean one when counting more than one thing. But we know there is only one God, not two or three or four. So when you use echad in this particular usage, it can ONLY mean Unified in purpose, person, and deed and does not represent a number to be counted in a sequence.
If you try to push a “one” translation upon echad then you immediately fall into the concepts of dualism (two Gods warring) since you automatically must have more than one! This is not a Biblical truth.
If this Hebrew grammatical and linguistic rule is true, then you must answer the question, unified for what? They are unified in Purpose. So what is God’s purpose for us? That is a question to be answered in another article. However, we must ask ourselves here and now the most important question, why have the religious powers that be kept this truth from us? Jesus must have understood this word to mean unified or he would not have used it as he did. There is a huge difference between thinking of God in terms of “one” verses “unified in purpose” with his creation. One keeps God at a distance and isolated in realm and the other brings God into present contact with us, His creation. This was the Good News that Jesus proclaimed.
God has always desired to “unify” with his creation. God in the Garden walked with man and talked with man in an intimate relationship. He still desires that, but organized religion works against that for the most part as many denominations keep the congregants in a state of fear to control them and thereby you will never be one in purpose with your God, but subject to your religious leaders. This is certainly why Jesus was upset with many of the Jewish leaders in his day. They were laying traditions of men that were burdensome and not the truth of God and His desire for unification in an intimate relationship.
When we begin to stop thinking in terms of God is One, with all the abstract BS confusion and doctrinal problems that this concept entails and begin to consider that God cares for us deeply and wants more than anything to exist together with us in the empowering existence which is God and thereby we become Justified inside of His existence, then we will begin to realized the potential that God has created and promised that we could utilize when we unify within God. That existence was exactly what Jesus lived and what his desire was for us who are a part of Jesus’ Kingdom here on this earth.
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