The following statement expresses the thought of at least some Jews concerning the Christian doctrine of the Trinity:"The chief and fundamental difference between Judaism and Christianity is that the former is committed to pure and uncompromising monotheism and the latter subscribes to the belief in the trinitarian nature of the Divine Being. Trinitarianism, that is to say, the belief in and worship of ‘God, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ are as basic and important to all types and denominations of Christianity as they are contrary to all and everything Judaism holds sacred. To the unconditional monotheism of Judaism the doctrine of the Trinity is profoundly objectionable, because it is a concession to polytheism, or, at any rate, an adulteration of the idea of the One, Unique, Indefinable and Indivisible God" (Judaism and Christianity:The Differences, by Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY 11379). To my Jewish friend who gave me this book to read, I sent the following response concerning the Unity and Trinity of God.

The classic statement of Jewish theology is the "Shema" in Deut. 6:4:"Hear, O Israel:the Lord our God is one Lord." There is more than one Hebrew word for "one." Two of these are ehad which can refer to a composite unity or "many which make one," and yahid or "only one." Ehad is used in such verses as those in Gen. 1 which refer to the evening and the morning being one day; and Gen. 2:24, "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they shall be one flesh"; and Num. 13:23, "And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes." Yahid is found in Gen. 22:2, "Take now thy son, thine only son." Now in Deut. 6:4 the word for "one Lord" is ehad, not yahid. The word implies that God is the united One or a composite Unity. Thus, the use of the word ehad in this passage would seem to allow the possibility of God as a Trinity.

Dr. Weiss-Rosmarin speaks of the doctrine of the Trinity as "a concession to polytheism … an adulteration of the idea of the One, Unique, Indefinable and Indivisible God." However, the Christian view of the Trinity is in stark contrast to the polytheism of Rome, Greece, etc., where the gods and goddesses were always at odds about something or other. We believe in one God who has chosen to make Himself known in three persons or modes of being (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The three persons have always been and always will be in perfect harmony and unity of mind, spirit, motive, will, etc. There are no arguments, no disagreements among the persons of God. Also, there is no division of attributes among the three:all are equally omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all-wise, infinite, transcendent, self-existent, loving, gracious, merciful, holy, righteous, etc.

Since I have been referring to the "persons" of God, let me clarify a problem of definition which perhaps has contributed to the Jewish-Christian conflict concerning the Trinity as well as dividing some groups of Christians from one another. This problem is illustrated by the following statement by Dr. Weiss-Rosmarin:"Judaism is an ethical monotheism not predicated on a person:the Ultimate is spirit, but not a person." I believe the confusion comes from equating "person" with "human body" in this context. In other contexts one of the dictionary definitions of "person" is, indeed, "a living human body." But when Christians speak of the three persons of the Trinity they are not thinking of God in three different bodies but as three separate individualities. In fact, until the Second Person came down to earth to take on a human body, they were all three "spirit-persons," not "body-persons." The use of the word "persons" in reference to the Trinity is perhaps unfortunate (because of its common connotation of a human being) and may be responsible for some of the confusion and conflict. However, on the other hand, "person" also conveys the thought of a rational being with intellect, emotion, and will; thus it is a most appropriate word to designate God in opposition to the notion that God is impersonal_a mere influence or synonymous with nature.

For these and many other scriptural arguments that could be put forth, I believe that the Christian doctrine of the Trinity is in full agreement with the Old Testament teaching concerning the Unity and Oneness of God.