Deuteronomy 6:4

The Essence of the Covenant Principles

6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ¹ 

Isaiah 44:6

The Absurdity of Idolatry

44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,

their protector, ²  the Lord who commands armies:

“I am the first and I am the last,

there is no God but me.

Mark 12:29-33

12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 12:30 Love ³  the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ⁴  12:31 The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁵  There is no other commandment greater than these.” 12:32 The expert in the law said to him, “That is true, Teacher; you are right to say that he is one, and there is no one else besides him. ⁶  12:33 And to love him with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength ⁷  and to love your neighbor as yourself ⁸  is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

John 17:3

17:3 Now this ⁹  is eternal life ¹⁰  – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, ¹¹  whom you sent.

Romans 3:29-30

3:29 Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too! 3:30 Since God is one, ¹²  he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Romans 10:12

10:12 For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him.

Romans 10:1

10:1 Brothers and sisters, ¹³  my heart’s desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites ¹⁴  is for their salvation.

Colossians 1:6

1:6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel ¹⁵  is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing ¹⁶  among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

Galatians 3:20

3:20 Now an intermediary is not for one party alone, but God is one. ¹⁷ 

Ephesians 4:6

4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

[6:4]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord, our God, the Lord, one.” (1) One option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This would be an affirmation that the Lord was the sole object of their devotion. This interpretation finds support from the appeals to loyalty that follow (vv. 5, 14). (2) Another option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique.” In this case the text would be affirming the people’s allegiance to the Lord, as well as the Lord’s superiority to all other gods. It would also imply that he is the only one worthy of their worship. Support for this view comes from parallel texts such as Deut 7:9 and 10:17, as well as the use of “one” in Song 6:8-9, where the starstruck lover declares that his beloved is unique (literally, “one,” that is, “one of a kind”) when compared to all other women.

[44:6]  ² tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

[12:30]  ³ tn Grk “You will love.” The future indicative is used here with imperatival force (see ExSyn 452 and 569).

[12:30]  ⁴ sn A quotation from Deut 6:4-5 and Josh 22:5 (LXX). The fourfold reference to different parts of the person says, in effect, that one should love God with all one’s being.

[12:31]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

[12:32]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 4:35.

[12:33]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Deut 6:5.

[12:33]  ⁸ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

[17:3]  ⁹ tn Using αὕτη δέ (Jauth de) to introduce an explanation is typical Johannine style; it was used before in John 1:19, 3:19, and 15:12.

[17:3]  ¹⁰ sn This is eternal life. The author here defines eternal life for the readers, although it is worked into the prayer in such a way that many interpreters do not regard it as another of the author’s parenthetical comments. It is not just unending life in the sense of prolonged duration. Rather it is a quality of life, with its quality derived from a relationship with God. Having eternal life is here defined as being in relationship with the Father, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent. Christ (Χριστός, Cristos) is not characteristically attached to Jesus’ name in John’s Gospel; it occurs elsewhere primarily as a title and is used with Jesus’ name only in 1:17. But that is connected to its use here: The statement here in 17:3 enables us to correlate the statement made in 1:18 of the prologue, that Jesus has fully revealed what God is like, with Jesus’ statement in 10:10 that he has come that people might have life, and have it abundantly. These two purposes are really one, according to 17:3, because (abundant) eternal life is defined as knowing (being in relationship with) the Father and the Son. The only way to gain this eternal life, that is, to obtain this knowledge of the Father, is through the Son (cf. 14:6). Although some have pointed to the use of know (γινώσκω, ginwskw) here as evidence of Gnostic influence in the Fourth Gospel, there is a crucial difference: For John this knowledge is not intellectual, but relational. It involves being in relationship.

[17:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “and Jesus the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[3:30]  ¹² tn Grk “but if indeed God is one.”

[10:1]  ¹³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[10:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “on behalf of them”; the referent (Paul’s fellow Israelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “just as in the entire world it is bearing fruit.” The antecedent (“the gospel”) of the implied subject (“it”) of ἐστιν (estin) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Though the participles are periphrastic with the present tense verb ἐστίν (estin), the presence of the temporal indicator “from the day” in the next clause indicates that this is a present tense that reaches into the past and should be translated as “has been bearing fruit and growing.” For a discussion of this use of the present tense, see ExSyn 519-20.

[3:20]  ¹⁷ tn The meaning of this verse is disputed. According to BDAG 634 s.v. μεσίτης, “It prob. means that the activity of an intermediary implies the existence of more than one party, and hence may be unsatisfactory because it must result in a compromise. The presence of an intermediary would prevent attainment, without any impediment, of the purpose of the εἶς θεός in giving the law.” See also A. Oepke, TDNT 4:598-624, esp. 618-19.