šļø THE SOUL & THE WORD Is God's Word God? Is God's Breath Part of God? And What Does āONEā Really Mean?
- Honorable Rabbi Yosef Edery
- 6 minutes ago
- 10 min read
What if one of the biggest theological questions in the world is actually hiding inside two very simple words: āGod saidā?
Think about it.
If God speaks, there is a Word of God ā ×Ö°Ö¼×Ö·×Ø ×׳, Dvar Hashem.
If God gives life, there is the breath of life ā × Ö“×©Ö°××Ö·×Ŗ ×Ö·×Ö“Ö¼××, Nishmat Chayim.
And if the human being receives a soul from Godā¦ what exactly have we received?
Is God's Word somehow a second divine reality?
Is God's Spirit a third?
Is the soul inside a human being actually a piece of God?
And if God's Word, God's Spirit, and God's essence are all somehow āGod,ā then what does the Torah mean when it commands:
āשְ××Ö·×¢ ×֓שְ××ØÖø×Öµ× ×׳ ×Ö±×Ö¹×Öµ×× ×Ö¼ ×׳ ×Ö¶×Öø×ā
āHear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.ā
ā Deuteronomy 6:4
Now we're getting somewhere. š
Because these aren't merely philosophical questions for people sitting around a table trying to sound clever.
They matter.
They matter if we sincerely want to know the Creator.
They matter if we want to distinguish between worshipping the One true God and accidentally directing worship toward something created.
And they matter because the consequences of getting our understanding of God wrong are, wellā¦ rather more significant than getting our pizza order wrong. šš
š„ WATCH THE DISCUSSION: āTHE SOUL & THE WORDā
In our latest discussion, we take these questions head-on in a respectful dialogue between the Jewish Torah perspective and Christian Bible-based perspectives.
Featuring Sanhedrin Initiative Advisors Rabbi Yosef Edery and Gavriel Yosef Mormon, together with Mr. Jesse from the āLet the Bible Speak!ā show.
The conversation explores the relationship between:
š God's essence
š God's Word ā Dvar Hashem
š„ God's Spirit / breath
š§ Human consciousness
ā¤ļø The human soul
š The Christian doctrine of the Trinity
š The Torah's declaration that God is One
The conversation is approximately 40 minutes, and we certainly don't pretend to solve every mystery of existence in one sitting.
If we had another 40 minutes, we'd probably discover another 400 questions. š
But that's precisely the point.
Good theology should make us ask better questions.
š Watch āThe Soul & the Wordā here:
š„ QUESTION ONE:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT GOD IS āONEā?
The Torah does not begin its theology with a complicated philosophical formula.
It gives Israel a declaration:
שְ××Ö·×¢ ×֓שְ××ØÖø×Öµ× ×׳ ×Ö±×Ö¹×Öµ×× ×Ö¼ ×׳ ×Ö¶×Öø××
āHear, O Israel: the LORD is our God, the LORD is One.ā
ā Deuteronomy 6:4
The Hebrew word ××× ā EchadĀ means āone,ā but the deeper Jewish tradition refuses to reduce God's unity to merely a numerical statement.
Chizkuni makes the point particularly sharply, explaining that God is not a component of some larger pair or group, nor a being whose unity is comparable to a physical object that can be divided.
And the prophet Isaiah gives the same uncompromising message:
āI am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.ā
ā Isaiah 44:6
And again:
āBefore Me no god was formed, neither shall there be after Me.ā
ā Isaiah 43:10
So here is the question:
If the Creator is absolutely One, what exactly do we mean when we speak about God's Word, God's Spirit, or God's presence?
Are these separate beings?
Separate persons?
Separate essences?
Attributes?
Actions?
Modes of divine revelation?
Or something else entirely?
That is where the conversation becomes fascinating.
š āTHE WORD OF GODā ā WHAT IS A āWORDā DOING IN THIS DISCUSSION?
The Torah and Tanakh repeatedly speak about Dvar Hashem ā ×Ö°Ö¼×Ö·×Ø ×׳, the Word of God.
For example:
āBy the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.ā
ā Psalm 33:6
Stop there for a second.
The verse itself places God's WordĀ and God's breathĀ into the language of creation.
So the obvious question becomes:
Is God's Word something separate from God Himself?
Or is āthe Word of Godā a way of describing God's command, communication, will, creative action, or revelation?
The Tanakh itself gives us another important image:
āSo shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.ā
ā Isaiah 55:11
A word can go forth.
A word can be sent.
A word can accomplishĀ something.
But does that make the word a second God?
That's the puzzle.
And this is where Jewish and Christian theological language can sometimes begin using similar vocabulary while meaning very different things.
Same Bible. Different theological map.
That's exactly why dialogue matters.
š§ HERE COMES THE MIND-BENDER:
WHAT ABOUT YOUR SOUL?
Now let's turn the question around.
If God's Word creates, what about God's breath?
Genesis tells us:
āAnd the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.ā
ā Genesis 2:7
The Hebrew expression is × Ö“×©Ö°××Ö·×Ŗ ×Ö·×Ö“Ö¼×× ā Nishmat Chayim, the breath of life.
And Proverbs says:
āThe spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inward parts.ā
ā Proverbs 20:27
So here's the next question:
If God breathed life into humanity, is our soul literally part of God's essence?
If yes, does that mean there is now a little piece of God sitting inside every human being?
And if there is, does that mean God has multiplied Himself into billions of human souls?
Obviously, that creates some enormous theological problems.
But there is another possibility:
Perhaps something can come from GodĀ without becoming another piece of God's essence.
That distinction is crucial.
A candle can light another candle without the original flame becoming two separate gods.
šÆļøš
Creation can receive life from the Creator without becoming the Creator.
And this is one of the fundamental distinctions that must be kept clear:
Origin is not necessarily identity.
š A FASCINATING CHABAD DIMENSION
Jewish mystical thought can take the discussion even deeper.
In Tanya, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi describes the Jewish divine soul using the extraordinary expression:
ā××ק ×××× ×××¢× ××שā
āA literal part of God above.ā
ā Tanya, Chapter 2
Now THAT sounds like it could make our question even more complicated!
But Chassidic language here is operating within an elaborate mystical framework concerning the relationship between God, creation, the soul, divine vitality, and spiritual consciousness.
It does notĀ simply mean that God has been physically divided into pieces and distributed among human beings.
And this brings us back to the central mystery:
How can something be profoundly connected to God without becoming another god?
That is a question worth sitting with.
š SO WHERE DOES THE TRINITY ENTER THE Conversation?
This is where our Christian friends will immediately recognize the discussion.
Christian theology traditionally speaks about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one God, not three independent gods.
Therefore, it is important to represent the Christian position accurately.
A serious Trinitarian Christian does not generally say:
āThere are three gods.ā
Rather, the claim is that God is one divine being/essence existing in three persons.
And that brings us straight back to Deuteronomy 6:4.
What does āOneā mean?
Can three persons constitute one God?
If so, what is the relationship between personhood, essence, being, and unity?
And perhaps the most provocative question of all:
Does the Torah itself teach such a distinction, or is that theological framework being developed later from an interpretation of the biblical texts?
These are not questions to answer by shouting.
They are questions to answer by opening the Scriptures.
š Read the Hebrew.
š Read the context.
š Read the surrounding passages.
š Compare interpretations.
š Ask what the earliest sources actually say.
And most importantly:
Be willing to discover that you may have misunderstood something.
That last one is difficult.
Especially on Facebook. š
š THE FLOODGATES OF KNOWLEDGE HAVE OPENED
For thousands of years, access to religious knowledge was limited by geography, language, institutions, and simple physical access to books.
Today?
A teenager in Brazil can study Hebrew.
A Christian in Texas can open Sefaria and read a Jewish commentary.
A Jew in Jerusalem can listen to a Christian Bible teacher in America.
A Noahide in Japan can study the Talmud.
A pastor can have a conversation with a rabbi from Israel.
And a rabbi can sit down with Christians and say:
āLet's open the book and actually talk.ā
The Internet has created an unprecedented opportunity for people from different religious backgrounds to encounter texts, traditions, languages, arguments, and each other.
That doesn't automatically make the Internet wise.
The Internet also gave humanity 47,000 different opinions about how to cook an egg. š³š
But it does mean that the old walls surrounding information are much harder to maintain.
For sincere seekers, that can be a tremendous blessing.
The question is not whether we have access to more information.
The question is whether we have the humility and discipline to pursue truth with it.
š¤ JEWS AND GOD-FEARING CHRISTIANS: WE CAN TALK
There are Christians who genuinely love Scripture.
There are Christians who sincerely fear God.
There are Christians who are beginning to investigate Hebrew, Torah, the Jewish roots of the Bible, and the historical world in which the biblical texts emerged.
And there are Jews who have never seriously sat down with Christians to understand what they actually believe.
There is an opportunity here.
Not for cheap polemics.
Not for humiliation.
Not for āgotchaā theology.
Not for Jews screaming at Christians and Christians screaming back.
For truth.
The Torah teaches:
āYou shall love your fellow as yourself.ā
ā Leviticus 19:18
And the prophetic vision is bigger than winning religious arguments.
Isaiah describes a future in which the nations seek the God of Israel:
āFor My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.ā
ā Isaiah 56:7
That is a beautiful vision.
Not humanity becoming less human.
Not everyone being forced into one culture.
But humanity learning to turn toward the Creator, morality, justice, compassion, responsibility, and peace.
š WHAT ABOUT THE SANHEDRIN INITIATIVE?
This is also part of the larger vision behind the Sanhedrin Initiative.
The Initiative is an effort to explore the restoration and development of Torah-based institutions of justice, wisdom, leadership, and accountability in the Land of Israel, while engaging Jews and God-fearing people throughout the world. Moshiach News Global describes its work as seeking Torah-based justice, wisdom, and righteous judgment for Jews and the nations.
The goal should not be religious domination.
The goal should be elevation.
Justice instead of corruption.
Truth instead of manipulation.
Responsibility instead of selfishness.
Compassion instead of cruelty.
Holiness instead of exploitation.
And ultimately, a world in which knowledge of God produces better human beings.
Because if our theology makes us experts at explaining God but terrible at treating peopleā¦
we may want to go back to Lesson One. š
š THE UNIVERSAL SIDE OF TORAH
Judaism does not teach that every human being must become Jewish in order to live a righteous life.
The Jewish tradition speaks of universal obligations given to humanity through the covenant with Noah.
The Talmud teaches:
āThe descendants of Noah were commanded to observe seven mitzvotā¦ā
These include establishing courts of justice, rejecting blasphemy and idolatry, avoiding forbidden sexual relationships and murder, prohibiting robbery, and avoiding eating a limb taken from a living animal.
ā Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a
That's worth thinking about.
The universal Torah vision isn't merely:
āBelieve the right thing.ā
It is:
Build a just society.
Don't murder.
Don't steal.
Don't worship idols.
Respect human dignity.
Control destructive desires.
Establish justice.
In other words:
Faith should become character.
And character should become civilization.
ā¤ļø THE REAL TEST:
WHAT DOES YOUR BELIEF DO TO YOU?
Perhaps this is ultimately the most important practical question.
After we finish arguing about God's essenceā¦
Are we more honest?
After discussing the Trinityā¦
Are we more compassionate?
After debating the meaning of Echadā¦
Do we love our neighbor more?
After studying God's Wordā¦
Do we actually obey what we understand?
After discovering the mysteries of the soulā¦
Do we treat another human soul with greater dignity?
The Torah does not allow theology to float endlessly above everyday life.
The command is:
āYou shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.ā
ā Deuteronomy 6:5
And immediately afterward, Torah tells us to teach these words to our children and bring them into our daily lives.
Theology must eventually land.
It must become action.
šļø SOā¦ IS GOD THREE?
That's the question.
But perhaps there is an even better question:
What does the One God Himself tell us about who He is?
And then:
What does that truth require from us?
That is the conversation we want to continue having.
Jews.
Christians.
Noahides.
Scholars.
Rabbis.
Pastors.
Teachers.
And ordinary people who simply have the courage to say:
āI don't know. Let's open the Scriptures and find out.ā
That sentence may be one of the most powerful sentences in religious dialogue.
Because humility is not weakness.
Humility is how learning begins.
š„ WATCH āTHE SOUL & THE WORDā
If you care about the relationship between:
š Torah
š Christianity
š Judaism
š„ God's Spirit
š God's Word
š§ Human consciousness
ā¤ļø The soul
āļø Divine Oneness
š The future of humanity
then don't just read about the conversation.
Watch it.
Then do something even better:
Share it with someone who will actually think about it.
Send it to the Christian who has questions.
Send it to the Jew who wants to understand Christian theology.
Send it to the Noahide searching for clarity.
Send it to the Bible teacher who isn't afraid of difficult questions.
And most importantly:
Don't just watch it. Discuss it.
š Comment below:
Is God's Word identical with God's essence?
What is the relationship between God's Spirit and God's essence?
Is the human soul āfrom Godā without being a part of God's essence?
And what does the Torah mean when it declares that God is ×Ö¶×Öø× ā ONE?
Let's have the conversation.
Respectfully. Honestly. Fearlessly.
Because the objective isn't to defeat one another.
The objective is to seek truth, fear Heaven, develop better character, care for one another, and help make the world a place worthy of the Creator who gave it to us.Ā šā¤ļøšļø
May the knowledge of God increase.
May justice increase.
May compassion increase.
May hatred decrease.
May truth increase.
And may humanity learn to walk together toward a world of peace.
××Ø×× ×׳ ××¢××× ××× ××××
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