The ShemaThe Creed of Jesus

The Apostles’ Creed (2nd Century)I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the grave. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy universal church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Nicene Creed (4th Century)We believe in one God,the Father, the Almighty,maker of heaven and earth,of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,the only Son of God,eternally begotten of the Father,God from God, Light from Light,true God from true God,begotten, not made,of one Being with the Father.Through him all things were made.For us and for our salvationhe came down from heaven:by the power of the Holy Spirithe became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,and was made man.For our sake he was crucified under

Pontius Pilate;he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose againin accordance with the Scriptures;he ascended into heavenand is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy universal and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Shema (Deuteronomy 6.4-5)

Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!

ד ָח9 ה ֶא; הָו9 ְינּו ְי? Cֹלה Eה ֶא הָו9 ל ְי? Cֶא ָר9 ע ִיְׂש? Kַמ ְׁש?

� ְב!�ָכ�ְל־ְל�ְב�ְב�ָך � ֱא&ְל%ֶה#יָך �ֶה �ֶהָו י ֱא*ת � �ֱא�ֶה+ְב�ת! ָו� +ְפ�ְׁש,�ָך !ְב�ָכ�ְל־ַנ � ָו ָך !ְב�ָכ�ְל־ְמ�ֱא%ֶד# ָו

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart

and with all your soul and with all your might.

“Yahweh” and “I Am who I Am”

Exodus 3.14-15 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.

NASB note: The Hebrew word translated as “I AM” is related to the name of God, Yahweh, rendered LORD, which is derived from the verb “to be” (hayah)

NET note:The verb form used here is ֶה# the Qal imperfect, first person ,(ehyeh') ֱא#ֶה�יcommon singular, of the verb ֶה� It forms an excellent .("haya, "to be) ֶה�יparonomasia with the name. So when God used the verb to express his name, he used this form saying, "I AM." When his people refer to him as Yahweh, which is the third person masculine singular form of the same verb, they say "he is."

Related Old Testament Scriptures

Exodus 8.10; 19.16-20; 20.1-6; Deuteronomy 4.35-39; 5.1-7; 6.4-5; 7.9-10; 10.17-21; 32.12, 39; 1 Samuel 2.2; 2 Samuel 7.22-24; 1 Kings 8.60; 2 Kings 19.15, 19; 1 Chronicles 17.20; Nehemiah 9.6; Psalm 83.18; 86.9-10; 135.5; Isaiah 37.16, 20; 41.4; 42.5-8; 43.10-13; 44.6-8, 24; 45.5-7, 12, 18, 21-22; 46.9; Jeremiah 10.7-10; Joel 2.27; Zechariah 14.9

Zechariah 14.6-9

6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. 8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

Jewish Traditions Related to the Shema

• Full Shema includes Deuteronomy 6.4-9; 11.13-21; Numbers 15.37-41

• Said twice daily: when one rises and when one reclines…i.e. morning and night

• Children are taught the shema as soon as they are able to learn it

• Reciting the first verse of the Shema is called “the acceptance of the yoke of the kingship of God”

Jewish Traditions Related to the Shema

• “Further, as written in a Torah scroll, the letters "Ayin" and "Dalet" of the first verse are enlarged -- encoded to spell out the Hebrew word Aid -- "witness." When we say the Shema, we are testifying to the Oneness of God.”*

• In other words, the Shema is a witness against anyone who may change this simple core truth that God is one.

*www.aish.com/literacy/mitzvahs/Shema_Yisrael.asp

Tefillin

Mezuzah

The scroll contains

Deut. 6.4-9; 11.13-21

The Shema and Jewish Martyrs

“It is the last word of the dying in his confession of faith. It was on the lips of those who suffered and were tortured for the sake of the Law. R. Akiba patiently endured while his flesh was being torn with iron combs, and died reciting the "Shema'." He pronounced the last word of the sentence, "Eḥad" (one) with his last breath (Ber. 61b). During every persecution and massacre, from the time of the Inquisition to the slaughter of Kishinef, "Shema' Yisrael" have been the last words on the lips of the dying.”

taken from JewishEncylopedia.com

The Shema and Jewish MartyrsThe great second century Talmudic scholar, Rabbi Akiva (second century) loved God so much, that he taught Torah despite the Roman law forbidding it. When the Romans found out, they sentenced him to a painful death. They took a large iron comb and began to scrape off his flesh. When Rufus—"Tyrannus Rufus," as he is called in Jewish sources—who was the pliant tool of Hadrian's vengeance, condemned the venerable Akiba to the hand of the executioner, it was just the time to recite the Shema. Full of devotion, Akiva recited his prayers calmly, though suffering agonies; and when Rufus asked him whether he was a sorcerer, since he felt no pain, Akiva replied, "I am no sorcerer; but I rejoice at the opportunity now given to me to love my God 'with all my life,' seeing that I have hitherto been able to love Him only 'with all my means' and 'with all my might,'" and with the word "One!" he expired (Yer. Ber. ix. 14b, and somewhat modified in Bab. 61b).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akiba_ben_Joseph#His_martydomwww.aish.com/literacy/mitzvahs/Shema_Yisrael.asp

The Shema and Jewish Martyrs

Seth Mandel, spoke at the massive pro-Israel rally in Washington DC in April 2002. He told the following story:

In the Sbarro Pizza bombing which killed 15 people in Jerusalem, five members of a Dutch family were killed. One was a 4-year-old boy named Avraham Yitzhak. As he was lying on the ground -- bleeding, burning and dying -- he said to his father, "Abba, please help me. Save me." His father reached over and held his hand. Together they said the words of the Shema.

Taken from www.aish.com/literacy/mitzvahs/Shema_Yisrael.asp

Jesus and the Shema (Mark 12.28-34)• Some Observations

– 1. The Jewish scribe did not believe that either Jesus or the holy spirit was God

– 2. The scribe plainly understands the Shema to mean, “He [Yahweh] is one, and there is no one else besides him”

– 3. Jesus agrees with the scribe on this understanding by saying to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

• Conclusion– If the Jewish scribe did not believe in the Trinity and

Jesus agreed with the scribe on his definition of God then Jesus was a biblical unitarian—he believed that Yahweh alone is God.

More on How Jesus Thought about God

• John 5.43-44

43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

More on How Jesus Thought about God

• John 20.16-17 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.'"

More on How Jesus Thought about God

• Mark 10.17-18 17  As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 18 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

• More statements by Jesus

• “Truly, truly, I say to you, the son can do nothing of himself” (Jn 5.19)

• “I can do nothing on My own initiative” (Jn 5.30)• “I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these

things as the Father taught Me.” (Jn 8.28)• “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the

Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak…the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.” (Jn 12.49-50)

• “The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.” (Jn 14.10)

• “The Father is greater than I” (Jn 14.28)

More on How Jesus Thought about God

• John 17.1-3 1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son, that the Son may glorify you, 2 even as you gave him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given him, he may give eternal life. 3 "This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

The New Testament on God’s Oneness

• The only God is eternal, immortal, and invisible (1 Tim. 1.17)

• There is one God and one mediator (1 Tim. 2.5)• God is the only Sovereign who alone possesses

immortality whom no man has seen or can see (1 Tim. 6.15-16)

• for us there is but one God, the Father (1 Cor. 8.6)• God is one (Galatians 3.20)• There is one God and Father of all (Eph. 4.6)• Even the demons know that God is one (James 2.19)

The Challenge

Why not adopt the creed of Jesus, the central creed of Israel, the Shema as your creed? Knowing who God is and loving him are the foundation of everything.

Romans 3.29-30 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”