Who Did the Jews Understand the Creator to Be?

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! Yahuwah is our God, Yahuwah is one!

This passage, known as the Shema (Hebrew for the word hear or listen), became a statement of belief and the essence of Jewish faith and culture. Award-winning author Rabbi Reuven Hammer writes regarding the profound meaning of this Jewish creed:

Briefly, the first paragraph, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, commands Israel to accept the one and only existing God whose name was revealed to Moses at the burning bush in the four Hebrew letters yod heh vav heh from the root meaning “existence” and to love that God. It is, therefore, a proclamation of monotheism, of belief in one God, creator of all, sovereign of all.

The Shema encapsulates a truth that is repeatedly emphasized in Scripture: Yahuwah is one, and there are no other gods besides Him:

Exodus 8:10 Then he said, “Tomorrow.” So he said, “May it be according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like Yahuwah our God.

John 5:44 [Yahushua speaking] “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?

Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas Yahuwah is only one

Yahuwah’s uniqueness is emphasized even more powerfully when He declares it Himself:

Isaiah 40:25 “To whom then will you liken Me that I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.

Isaiah 43:10 “You are My witnesses,” declares Yahuwah, “And My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me.

Isaiah 45:5-6 “I am Yahuwah, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am Yahuwah, and there is no other.

As stated by Rabbi Hammer, and validated by Scripture, this God is the Creator of all things:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth.

Isaiah 44:24 Thus says Yahuwah, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, Yahuwah, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone

Who is God of Creation?

According to Trinitarians, the god of Creation is a triune being consisting of three persons that exist in one god-essence. However, this seemingly foundational truth is never articulated in Scripture. Undaunted by this glaring omission, orthodoxy further instructs us that each member of the three-person god (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) had a hand in forming Creation. The following verse is often cited as Scriptural proof:

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

The use of the plural pronouns us and our are said to refer to the Trinity. However, even Trinitarian scholars admit that the pronouns do not refer to a triune god, but rather to Yahuwah and His angelic court. For example, Gordon J. Wenham, in his Word Biblical Commentary on Genesis, writes:

From Philo onward, Jewish commentators have generally held that the plural [us, our] is used because [Yahuwah] is addressing his heavenly court, i.e., the angels (cf. Isa. 6:8).¹

Wenham reveals that this view changed in the second century with the advent of certain Church Fathers when he writes:

From the Epistle of Barnabas and Justin Martyr, who saw the plural as a reference to Christ, Christians have traditionally seen this verse as foreshadowing the Trinity.²

Wenham powerfully concludes that “It is now universally admitted that this was not what the plural meant to the original author.” ³ In other words, there was a time when the second century Church Fathers deviated from the original Biblical interpretation of Genesis 1:26. Wenham notes today’s scholarship has corrected the errant course.⁴

Who did the Jews believe Yahuwah to be?

The Jews, being strict monotheists, understood the one God to be the Father:

Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Yahuwah, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter; and all of us are the work of Your hand.

John 8:41 “You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: Yahuwah.”

John 8:54 Yahushua answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’

Furthermore, they also understood God the Father to be the Creator. We see this belief firmly reflected in the preaching and teaching of the early Church. For example, after Peter and John were released from prison, they gathered with fellow believers and prayed to Yahuwah:

Acts 4:23-24 and 27-28 When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴ And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to Yahuwah with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who have made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them…²⁷ “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Yahushua, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, ²⁸ to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.

These Jewish believers addressed their prayer to Yahuwah, the One “who made the heaven, the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.” It’s important to note that they differentiated between Yahuwah, who is the Creator, and His servant Yahushua. More specifically, they did not ascribe credit to Yahushua for any portion of Creation.

In addition, when the apostle Paul addressed the Athenians on Mars Hill, he preached that Yahuwah was the Creator while Yahushua was the man whom He raised from the dead and appointed judge:

Acts 17:24-25 and 30-31 “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; ²⁵ nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things…³⁰ “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, Yahuwah is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, ³¹ because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

Paul’s understanding of the Creator is in agreement with that of the Jewish believers in Jerusalem. Furthermore, Paul taught this same belief to other members of the early Church. For example, in Ephesians 1:17, Paul says that Yahuwah is “the God of our Lord Yahushua Christ, the Father of glory.” Later, in the same epistle he says that this God (of Yahushua) is the Creator:

Ephesians 3:9-11 and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in Yahuwah who created all things; ¹⁰ so that the manifold wisdom of Yahuwah might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. ¹¹ This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Yahushua our Lord

For Paul, God the Father is the Creator while Yahushua is the human Christ.

Peter reiterated his belief about the Creator’s identity in his first epistle. He writes that not only is God the Father of Yahushua, He is also the God of Yahushua. The apostle then goes on to identify Yahuwah (who is the Father) as a faithful Creator:

1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of Yahuwah shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

The Testimony of Heavenly Beings

The twenty-four elders surrounding Yahuwah’s throne concur:

Revelation 4:9-11 And when the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, to Him who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ¹¹ “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.”

Notice that the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to Yahuwah alone as the Creator. The use of singular personal pronouns he, him, you and your further emphasize the heavenly beings are referring to one person and not a Trinity.

Of great significance is the fact that Yahushua is never worshiped as God or the God of Creation. Rather, he is said to be worthy because he is the Lamb who purchased men for Yahuwah (i.e., not for himself). Once again, there is no mention of Yahushua’s participation in the creation of the world:

Revelation 5:8-9 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹ And they *sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for Yahuwah with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”

The heavenly beings then announce what Yahushua will receive for his sacrificial obedience:

Revelation 5:12-14 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” ¹³ And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” ¹⁴ And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

If Yahushua is God, how is that he will receive power, riches, wisdom and might? As deity, especially as the Creator of all things, these would inherently belong to him. However, suppose Yahushua is the human Messiah, as Scripture teaches. In that case, this passage is easily understood to mean he is given these things for his obedience to Yahuwah's will. Furthermore, notice in verse 13 that every created thing makes a distinction between Yahuwah, who sits on the throne, and the Lamb. Both are worshiped (the Greek here is proskuneô, and it means to do reverence, to bow down), but only Yahuwah is worshiped as God who is the Creator. Theologian Emil Brunner explains:

God alone is the Creator,…the Son is called simply and solely the mediator of the Creation. In the New Testament, the Son, or Yahushua Christ, is never called the Creator. The title is given to the Father alone.⁵

What did Yahushua believe?

Yahushua is decidedly Jewish. As such, he is a monotheist in the Biblical sense of the word. When he prayed to the Father, he called Him the “only true God,” while he identified himself as the Christ whom the one God sent. In addition, when Yahushua was asked what the foremost commandment was, he began his answer by reciting his creed, that is, the Shema:

Mark 12:28-29 One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” ²⁹ Yahushua answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear O Israel! Yahuwah our God is one…'”

Who does Yahushua say is the Creator? If he were part of a triune being that created or co-created all things, we would expect him to say as much. However, each time Yahushua speaks of Creation, he credits the only true God, whom he declares to be the Father, with the miraculous feat:

Matthew 19:4-6 And He [Yahushua] answered and said, “Have you not read that He [Yahuwah] who created them from the beginning made them male and female, ⁵ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one’? ⁶ “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore Yahuwah has joined together, let no man separate.”

Yahushua gives Yahuwah the credit for creating mankind. The Christ does not say “we” who created them, but “He who created them.” If Yahushua were the Creator, this statement would be disingenuous and an outright lie at worst.

In addition, Yahushua further credits the Father for sending rain and for creating the sun, which he refers to as “His sun,” that is, the Father’s sun:

Matthew 5:45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

What’s more, Yahushua says it is Yahuwah who is responsible for Creation, this time in clothing the grass of the field and humanity:

Matthew 6:30 “But if Yahuwah so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Lastly, Yahushua speaks of Yahuwah as being the one who was active at Creation, an obvious reference to Genesis chapter 1. He makes no mention of himself or the so-called third member of the Trinity:

Mark 13:19 ¹⁹ “For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which Yahuwah created until now, and never will.

Conclusion

The monotheistic Jews believed Yahuwah to be the Father. Furthermore, they believed the Scriptures, which said that Yahuwah made all things by Himself and that He “alone” formed Creation. They had no concept of a triune god, a post-Biblical development that was not made an official dogma until 381 AD. Therefore, let us affirm what the Jews and Yahushua believed and what Yahuwah Himself declared:

Isaiah 45:18 For thus says Yahuwah, who created the heaven (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am Yahuwah, and there is none else."

¹ Gordon Wenham, Word Biblical Commentary on Genesis, (Word Books, 1987), p. 27

² Ibid.

³ Ibid.

⁴For a more detailed defense of this passage, Sir Anthony Buzzard notes: ” No argument can be built for plurality in the Godhead from the plural ending on Elohim (God). Moses, who is a single person, is called Elohim (Ex. 7:1). The Messiah is called Elohim (Ps. 45:6; Heb. 1:8). Note that the Greek version of the Old Testament and the New Testament always render the word god by theos which is a singular, not plural, word. In Judges 8:33; 16:23-24, a single idol is called Elohim. In 1 Kings 11:33 Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh, the god of the Moabites, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites, are each designated Elohim, though each was a single god. Furthermore, Abraham is called “lord,” where a plural form, adonim (“lords”), is used (Gen. 24:9-10). Potiphar is called the adonim (“masters”) of Joseph (Gen. 39:2, 3, 7, 8, 19, 20) and the “lords” of Joseph in Genesis 39:16 and 40:7. Joseph is called the man who is the “lords” (adonim) of the land and the “lords” of the country (Gen. 42:30, 33) . Other examples of a plural ending with singular meaning may be found in Num. 25:1-5; Deut. 4:7; 1 Sam. 4:5-8; 1 Kings 11:5; 2 Kings 1:2; 19:37.” As quoted in “God, the Father, the Sole Creator of Heaven and Earth,” Restoration Fellowship, Focus on the Kingdom, http://www.focusonthekingdom.org/creator.htm

⁵ Emil Brunner, The Christian Doctrine of God, Dogmatics, Vol. 1 (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1949), p. 232.

This is a non-WLC article. Source: https://onegodworship.com/who-did-the-jews-understand-the-creator-to-be/

We have taken out from the original article all pagan names and titles of the Father and Son, and have replaced them with the original given names. Furthermore, we have restored in the Scriptures quoted the names of the Father and Son, as they were originally written by the inspired authors of the Bible. -WLC Team