The Divinity of Jesus Christ: Paul & The Jewish Shema
Overview
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Jesus claimed to be the Almighty God on several occasions by applying to himself the exclusive titles and descriptions of God from the Old Testament. Familiarity with the Old Testament is therefore vital for understanding and recognising Jesus' self-identification as the Almighty God in the New Testament. Jesus' decision to communicate his identity by using the thought categories and religious texts of Judaism makes perfect sense, for Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah and to minister firstly among the Jewish people. Like Jesus, the New Testament authors also describe Jesus as the Almighty God by using the exclusive titles and descriptions of God from the Old Testament.
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The following is an example of the Apostle Paul identifying Jesus as the Almighty God (in union with the Father and the Holy Spirit) by applying to Jesus a title or description of God from the Old Testament.
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Paul & The Jewish Shema
The Old Testament states that only God existed before anything was created and through God all created things were brought into existence and given life (Genesis 1:1, Psalm 8:3-4, 19:1-6, 33:6-9, 90:2, Isaiah 42:5-7, 45:12, 48:12-13 & Nehemiah 9:5-6). It is also specified that God made all things alone or by Himself, meaning that God was without help or partner when He created (Job 9:8 & Isaiah 44:24). God’s unique identity as the Almighty Creator is why God revealed the ‘Jewish Shema’ to Israel (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) and why the Israelites were commanded to remain faithful to its monotheistic declaration (Deuteronomy 5:6-7). Israel was to worship God alone as the Almighty Creator and reject the false gods of the pagan nations.
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The New Testament states that God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are the One God of the Jewish Shema. According to the Apostle Paul, the ‘God’ of the Jewish Shema is the Father and the ‘Lord’ of the Jewish Shema is Jesus (1 Corinthians 8:4-6). The Almighty Creator and One God of the Jewish Shema is thus God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why Paul says that it is from God the Father that “all things came and for whom we live” and it is through the Lord Jesus Christ that “all things came and through whom we live”. Paul attributes the same creative work and divine power to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ by highlighting their co-creatorship and co-divinity as the One God.
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Paul’s inclusion of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ does not violate the monotheism of the Jewish Shema. This is because the English word “one” in Deuteronomy 6:4 is the Hebrew word ‘echad’ and can be used to convey the idea of unity between parties (a compound unity). For instance, ‘echad’ is used in Genesis 2 when God states that “a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one [echad] flesh” (Genesis 2:24). God expects the husband and wife (although two distinct persons) to be perfectly united (one/echad) in soul and body. Paul takes the meaning and use of the Hebrew word ‘echad’ and applies it to the unity that exists between God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as the One God (in union with the Holy Spirit - 1 Corinthians 2:10-13).
Bible Passages
Genesis 1:1
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(1) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.​
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Deuteronomy 5:6-7
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(6) I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. (7) You shall have no other gods before me.
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Deuteronomy 6:4-5
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(4) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (5) Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
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Job 9:8
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(8) He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
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Psalm 8:3-4
(3) When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, (4) what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
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Psalm 19:1-6
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(1) The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (2) Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. (3) They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. (4) Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. (5) It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. (6) It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
Psalm 33:6-9
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(6) By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. (7) He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses. (8) Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. (9) For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
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Psalm 90:2
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(2) Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
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Isaiah 42:5-7
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(5) This is what God the LORD says - the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: (6) “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, (7) to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
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Isaiah 44:24
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(24) This is what the LORD says - your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, the Maker of all things, who stretches out the heavens, who spreads out the earth by myself.
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Isaiah 45:12
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(12) It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.
Isaiah 48:12-13
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(12) Listen to me, Jacob, Israel, whom I have called: I am he; I am the First and I am the Last. (13) My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up together.
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Nehemiah 9:5-6
(5) And the Levites - Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah - said: “Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. (6) You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you."
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1 Corinthians 2:10-13
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(10) ... The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (11) For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. (12) What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. (13) This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
1 Corinthians 8:4-6
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(4) So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” (5) For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), (6) yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
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