# G1520 - heis **Strong's:** [G1520](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g1520/) · BLB lookup **Pronunciation:** hace **Part of speech:** cardinal numeral / adjective; declines as εἷς (m.), μία (f.), ἕν (n.) **NT occurrences:** ~344 **Hebrew equivalent:** [H0259 - echad](/codex/h0259-echad/) (אֶחָד, "one") ## Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG) 1. **One** (numerical), the cardinal number; the first counting integer. 2. **One and the same, single**, emphasizing identity and unity rather than mere quantity ("they shall become one flesh," [Genesis 2:24](/codex/genesis-2-24/) LXX / [Mark 10:8](/codex/mark-10-8/); "the two shall be one"; "you are one in Christ Jesus"). 3. **A** / **a certain** (functioning as the indefinite article in Hellenistic Greek, anticipating Modern Greek usage), [Matthew 8:19](/codex/matthew-8-19/); 9:18. 4. **First** (in serial sense), [Matthew 28:1](/codex/matthew-28-1/) *eis mian sabbatōn*, "on the first [day] of the week." 5. **Alone, one only**, exclusivist sense, used to deny the existence of a second; this is the controlling sense in monotheistic confessions. ## Theological force, the unity-of-God lexeme *Heis* is the Greek lexeme that does the work of confessing the **oneness of God**, both in Jewish-monotheistic continuity with the Hebrew Shema and in the NT's distinctive *Christianizing* of the Shema. **1. The Shema rendered in Greek.** The LXX renders [Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/), *YHWH ʾeloheinu YHWH ʾechad*, as *Kyrios ho theos hēmōn Kyrios heis estin* ("the Lord our God, the Lord is one"). The numerical-uniqueness claim is preserved verbatim in *heis*. Jesus quotes this in [Mark 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/) when asked the greatest commandment: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is *heis*." The exclusivist sense is explicit in [James 2:19](/codex/james-2-19/), "you believe that God is *heis*; you do well, the demons also believe and shudder." **2. The "one God" formula across the NT.** *Heis Theos* ("one God") is a settled monotheistic predication: - [Romans 3:30](/codex/romans-3-30/), "God is *heis*" - [1 Corinthians 8:4](/codex/1-corinthians-8-4/), "there is no God but *heis*" - [Galatians 3:20](/codex/galatians-3-20/), "God is *heis*" - [Ephesians 4:6](/codex/ephesians-4-6/), "*heis Theos kai patēr pantōn*", one God and Father of all - [1 Timothy 2:5](/codex/1-timothy-2-5/), "for there is *heis Theos* and *heis mesitēs* between God and men, the man Christ Jesus", the only NT verse to predicate *heis* of both God and the Mediator simultaneously **3. The Christianized Shema ([1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/)).** Paul's most striking redeployment: *all' hēmin heis Theos ho patēr… kai heis Kyrios Iēsous Christos*, "yet for us there is *one God*, the Father… and *one Lord*, Jesus Christ." Paul splits the LXX Shema's *Kyrios heis* across two referents: the *Theos* and the *Kyrios* of the Shema are now confessed as the Father and Jesus respectively, with the unity-claim preserved by the doubled *heis*. Bauckham (*Jesus and the God of Israel*, 2008) calls this the most important christological text in Paul: it includes Jesus *within* the unique divine identity of the Shema rather than positing a second deity beside the one God. The same move undergirds [Ephesians 4:5-6](/codex/ephesians-4-5-6/) (*heis Kyrios* + *heis Theos*) and [1 Timothy 2:5](/codex/1-timothy-2-5/) (the *heis Theos* / *heis mesitēs* pair). **4. Trinitarian ground.** Christian Trinitarian theology grounds itself in the unbroken predication of *heis Theos* (against tritheism) while maintaining personal distinction (against modalism). The Nicene Creed begins *Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεόν*, "we believe in *one* God", using *heis* to forestall the charge that confession of Father, Son, and Spirit fragments the divine being. The Athanasian formula "neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance" is the conceptual machinery the *heis* predication requires. **5. Ecclesial unity (the corporate sense).** *Heis* also names the unity of the Church as a single body composed of many members: - [1 Corinthians 10:17](/codex/1-corinthians-10-17/), "we who are many are *heis artos, hen sōma*" (one bread, one body) - [1 Corinthians 12:12-13](/codex/1-corinthians-12-12-13/), "the body is *hen* and yet has many members… we were all baptized into *hen sōma*" - [Galatians 3:28](/codex/galatians-3-28/), "you are all *heis* in Christ Jesus" - [Ephesians 4:4-6](/codex/ephesians-4-4-6/), the seven *heis* clauses: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father - [John 17:11](/codex/john-17-11/), [21-23](/codex/john-17-21-23/), Jesus's prayer "that they may be *hen*, even as We are *hen*" ## Notable verses ### Monotheistic confession - **[Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/)** (LXX), *Kyrios heis estin*, the Shema - **[Mark 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/)**, Jesus quoting the Shema in Greek - **[Romans 3:30](/codex/romans-3-30/); [1 Corinthians 8:4](/codex/1-corinthians-8-4/); [Galatians 3:20](/codex/galatians-3-20/); [James 2:19](/codex/james-2-19/); [1 Timothy 2:5](/codex/1-timothy-2-5/)**, the *heis Theos* formulae ### Christianized Shema - **[1 Corinthians 8.6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/)**, the locus classicus: *heis Theos* + *heis Kyrios* - **[Ephesians 4:5-6](/codex/ephesians-4-5-6/)**, the seven *heis* clauses - **[1 Timothy 2:5](/codex/1-timothy-2-5/)**, *heis Theos* + *heis mesitēs* ### Marriage / two-becoming-one - **[Mark 10:8](/codex/mark-10-8/); [Matthew 19:6](/codex/matthew-19-6/)**, *hoi dyo eis sarka mian*, "the two shall become one flesh" (citing [Genesis 2:24](/codex/genesis-2-24/) LXX) - **[1 Corinthians 6:16-17](/codex/1-corinthians-6-16-17/)**, *eis sarka mian*… *hen pneuma*, sexual union and union with the Lord both use *heis* ### Christological identity - **[John 10:30](/codex/john-10-30/)**, *egō kai ho patēr hen esmen*, "I and the Father are *hen*" (neuter, a unity of essence, not personal collapse) - **[John 17:11](/codex/john-17-11/), [21-23](/codex/john-17-21-23/)**, Jesus prays His disciples be *hen* with the same unity He shares with the Father ### Numerical / serial uses - **[Matthew 18:24](/codex/matthew-18-24/); [Mark 14:10](/codex/mark-14-10/); [Luke 22:47](/codex/luke-22-47/)**, *heis tōn dōdeka* (one of the twelve) - **[Matthew 28:1](/codex/matthew-28-1/)**, *eis mian sabbatōn*, "on the first day of the week" ## Patristic / scholarly note The Nicene fathers had to walk a precise lexical line: they confessed *heis Theos* against tritheism while confessing the Son as *homoousios tō patri* (of one substance with the Father) against subordinationist Arianism. The grammatical neuter of *hen* in [John 10:30](/codex/john-10-30/) (Christ and the Father are "one thing", neuter, not "one person", masculine) became a touchstone: Augustine (*Tractates on John* 36.9) reads the neuter as proof of essential unity without personal collapse, *hen sumus* not *unus sumus*. The Jehovah's-Witness reading that [John 10:30](/codex/john-10-30/) means only "one in purpose" runs aground on the immediate Jewish reaction in v. 31-33 ("we stone You for blasphemy, because You, being a man, make Yourself God"), the audience evidently did not hear "one in purpose." In Jewish scholarship, the *echad* of [Deuteronomy 6:4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/) has long been pointed to as compatible with internal complexity, since *echad* itself names compound unities ([Genesis 2:24](/codex/genesis-2-24/), two humans become one *echad* flesh; [Numbers 13:23](/codex/numbers-13-23/), one *echad* cluster of grapes). The contrast with [H3173 - yachid](/codex/h3173-yachid/) (*yachid*, "only / solitary") is the standard rabbinic counter to the messianic-Christian reading; Maimonides's *Thirteen Principles* deliberately substitutes *yachid* for *echad* in the second principle ("God is one and there is no oneness like His"). That terminological substitution is itself an admission that *echad* / *heis* does not lexically exclude internal differentiation, which is the point Christian Trinitarianism stands on. In contemporary apologetics, *heis* in [1 Corinthians 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/) is the cornerstone text in the [Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ](/codex/cumulative-case-for-the-deity-of-christ/) (Bauckham, Hurtado, Wright), and the *heis Theos* formulae are the reply to charges that Christianity is polytheistic. ## Verses in this codex _See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here._ Top-cited references using *heis*: [Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/), [Mark 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/), [1 Corinthians 8.6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/). ## See also - [H0259 - echad](/codex/h0259-echad/), Hebrew "one", the Shema's actual word; *heis* renders it in LXX - [H3173 - yachid](/codex/h3173-yachid/), Hebrew "only / solitary", what Moses *did not* use - G3441 - monos, Greek "alone / only", adjacent monotheistic vocabulary - [Trinity](/codex/trinity/), the doctrine *heis Theos* must be combined with personal distinction - Christianized Shema, the [1 Cor 8:6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/) maneuver - [Deuteronomy 6.4](/codex/deuteronomy-6-4/), [1 Corinthians 8.6](/codex/1-corinthians-8-6/), [Mark 12:29](/codex/mark-12-29/), locus classicus passages - [Cumulative Case for the Deity of Christ](/codex/cumulative-case-for-the-deity-of-christ/), relies on the *heis Kyrios* predication