How do Trinitarians distinguish whether the Hebrew bible is referring to the "being" or "person[s]" of God in the verses that declare oneness?
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The authors of the Hebrew bible make several statements declaring the oneness of God:
> **Deuteronomy 6:4** - "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one."
> **Isaiah 44:6** - "Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.'"
> **Deuteronomy 4:35** - "To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him."
> **Deuteronomy 32:39** - "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand."
> **1 Kings 8:60** - "That all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other."
Under trinitarian hermeneutical approaches, these verses are not contrary to the trinity because they actually refer to the *single being* of God, not to the trinitarian *multiplicity of persons*.
### Questions
- How do trinitarians know that the verses of the Hebrew bible which make positive claims about the "oneness of God" are in fact only referring to the "being of God"?
- How are these verses exegeted for the referent to be only the "being of God"?
- What about the wording of these verses give a clue about the distinction between "person" and "being"?
Asked by Avi Avraham
(1246 rep)
Jul 31, 2024, 04:18 PM
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