Series: The Theological Blueprint — Study 01 (Study Edition)

"Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." — Deuteronomy 6:4–5

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED...

  • What creed did Jesus himself confess?
  • If God is one, who is the second "lord" of Psalm 110?
  • Does loving God begin with knowing who he is?

THE SENTENCE ISRAEL LIVES BY

1 Every nation has a founding sentence. Israel's is a single Hebrew line, recited morning and evening for three thousand years: Shema Yisrael — "Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one." It is not a math puzzle. It is a wedding vow: our God is one God, with one name, and our whole love belongs to him. Everything else in Scripture is built on this sentence — which is why this whole series begins here.

2 Who is this "one"? Read how God speaks of himself. Read Isaiah 44:6 and 45:5. "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god." "I am Yahweh, and there is no other." Throughout the Hebrew Bible, the one God speaks as a single "I," is addressed as a single "you," and is described by thousands upon thousands of singular pronouns. Israel never once wondered whether her God was more than one someone.

1, 2. (a) What is the Shema — a puzzle or a vow? (b) How does God speak of himself in Isaiah?

JESUS RECITED IT

3 Now the question that decides everything: what did Jesus believe about God? We do not have to guess. A scribe asked him directly: which commandment is first of all? Read Mark 12:28–30. Jesus answered by reciting the Shema — word for word: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart..." The creed of Jesus is the creed of Israel.

4 Watch what happens next, because it is often missed. Read Mark 12:32–34. The scribe restates the creed in the strictest possible terms: "You are right, Teacher... he is one, and there is no other besides him." Does Jesus correct him? Add a footnote? He does the opposite: "You are not far from the kingdom of God." Jesus commended the strictest reading of the oneness of God. Whatever we come to believe about Jesus must fit inside the creed Jesus himself confessed and praised.

3, 4. (a) How did Jesus answer the scribe's question? (b) What reading of the Shema did Jesus commend?

TWO LORDS — ONE YAHWEH

5 But does the Old Testament not hint at a second divine person? The verse most often quoted is Psalm 110:1 — the verse the New Testament itself quotes more than any other. Read Psalm 110:1. "Yahweh says to my lord: 'Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'" Two figures: Yahweh, and David's "lord." Who is the second?

6 Here Hebrew answers with beautiful precision. The Old Testament uses two different words. Adonai — with that ending — is reserved for God Almighty, hundreds of times. But the word in Psalm 110:1 is adoni — "my lord" — which is used over a hundred sixty times and never once of God: always of kings, masters, husbands, human superiors. David's inspired word choice tells us the Messiah's category: not a second Yahweh at Yahweh's right hand, but Yahweh's exalted human lord — the King seated by God, beneath God, at God's right hand. One Yahweh; one lord Messiah; the Shema intact.

7 And this is exactly how the apostles preached the verse. Read Acts 2:34–36. Peter quotes Psalm 110 and concludes: "God has made him both Lord and Christ." Made him Lord — by exaltation, at God's right hand. The Bible's most-quoted verse is a portrait of the Shema with its King: the one God, and the man he has enthroned.

5–7. (a) What two figures appear in Psalm 110:1? (b) What does the word "adoni" tell us? (c) How did Peter use this verse?

WHY IT MATTERS TO YOU

8 The Shema is not merely a fact to file away — it is the shape of your love. "You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart" — the vow only makes sense if there is one to receive it. Jesus called this the greatest commandment; his own life was its perfect performance; and his own prayer names the goal: "This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). To learn the Shema is to learn the first thing Jesus would teach you.

8. What does the Shema ask of you?

📖 KEY SCRIPTURES IN THIS STUDY

Deuteronomy 6:4–5 · Isaiah 44:6; 45:5 · Mark 12:28–34 · Psalm 110:1 · Acts 2:34–36 · John 17:3

💬 SHARING THIS TRUTH

A way in: "Can I show you the one Bible verse Jesus called the most important of all — and what happened when a man agreed with him?" Discussion questions:

  1. "If the Shema is Jesus' own creed, what should our creed be?"
  2. "Psalm 110:1 uses adoni — a word never used of God. What does that tell us about the Messiah?"
  3. "Peter says God made Jesus Lord (Acts 2:36). What does that word 'made' teach?"

✅ IN REVIEW

  • Israel's creed — and Jesus' creed — is the Shema: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.
  • Jesus commended the strictest reading: "no other besides him."
  • Psalm 110:1's second lord is adoni — the human King exalted to God's right hand.
  • The apostles preached exactly this: "God has made him both Lord and Christ."
  • Eternal life is knowing the only true God — and the Messiah he sent.

For the full evidentiary treatment, see the complete Study 01 in this archive.

Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one — the first sentence of the faith, the creed of the Messiah, and the vow of every heart that loves him.