Do Jews Christians and Muslims believe in one God?

Answer 1

Quite a challenging question to attempt to answer in succinct fashion but let's give it a shot. First, each of the three claim God is one: the Jew 1; The Muslim 1; the Christian majority 1 God in 3 persons; 1 God in 2 beings; and just 1 God.

The famous 'Shema (sh MAH)' states: "Here O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4). Many have had trouble with this passage in their attempts to understand who and what God is. Eartly Catholic theologians reading this verse struggled to formulate their 'trinity theory' of 3 persons in One God. Most Jews for centuries read God is one as the literal numeric 1 which is a meaning of the Hebrew word 'echad' and therefore have ruled out the possiblilty that Jesus of Nazereth could be the son of God - on the same divine plane as God the Father. But the Hebrew language has a much more limited vocabulary compared to the Greek or English for example. Therefore, in the Hebrew, a single word can and often does have multiple meanings which makes precise translations quite difficult. Let's see what else 'echad' can mean:

One, as we see above in Deuteronomy 6:4 - the number one but also "one and the same as one man together (unified)," "each, every," "one after another" and "first (in sequence or importance)" (Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 1951, p.25). It can also mean 'alone' as in the New Revised Standard Version translates the Shema (William Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicone of the Old Testament, 1972, p. 9). So, like many other Hebrew terms, the exact meaning is best determined by the context.

For the Shema then, was Moses telling the Israelites that the true God was to be first, given the highest priority in their hearts and minds? Seems so in the context of the Exodus events.

Another meaning for the term 'echad' is 'alone' which could also fit the Shema. But no matter which translation we accept - "The Lord our God, the Lord is first," "The Lord is our God, the Lord alone" or "The Lord our God, the Lord is one (in unity) - none of these limits God to a single divine being.

The Bible makes it clear that God is a plurality of beings - a plurality in unity. Currently, God the Father and God the Son, Jesus form a perfect family united as one (see John 10:30, 17:20-21). And some day if we are baptized, repent and hold fast to the end, we will become sons and daughters in the God Family (see 2 Corinthians 6:18).

Answer 2

Yes, each claim to believe in One God.