Defining Echad

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In the New Covenant writings the Greek word used for the concept of Echad is “henotes”, which means unity -- but more in the sense of a unanimous agreement rather than “one-ness”. The Hebrew concept of One-ness brings with it the idea of joining together organically -- literally growing together, creating inseparable union, completing and creating wholeness, which is one of the attributes of holiness. There doesn’t appear to be a word in Greek that properly translates the uniquely Hebrew concept of “echad”, so henotes is close, but no cigar.

The true form of Echad can better be defined in the Old Covenant writings; for instance, Genesis 2:24 states that Adam and Eve are to be “one flesh,” but what does it mean to be one flesh? Does it mean that Adam and Eve should be both 100% man and 100% woman? Of course not! It's like saying Adam and Eve are two distinct genders but yet they are one and the same. "One flesh" is simply a Hebrew expression to mean "unity" or “likeness.” The unity of a man and women in marriage is probably a great example of the Hebrew expression "one flesh,” meaning they are to be in unity with each other – that is, in spirit not in the physical.

The same principal applies to Yeshua and our Creator. Note what Yeshua states:

JOHN 17:20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word; that they all may be ONE, as You, Father, are in me, and I in You; that they also may be ONE in us, that the world may believe that You sent me. And the glory which You gave me I have given them, that they may be ONE just as we are ONE: I in them, and You in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent me, and have loved them as You have loved me."

Here, we find Yeshua saying that he and the Father share a "oneness" – the Father was IN him, and he was IN the Father. He also states that we all as believers should unite in the same shared "oneness.”

The Hebrew word echad also carries a prominent meanings "unity," as the following verses clearly show:

JOHN 10:30 "I (Yeshua) and the Father are one [echad]." Meaning Yeshua and the Father in unity of one another not that they are one and the same deity.

GENESIS 11:6 And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one [echad] and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them." Speaking of the descendants of Noah who were building the Tower of Babel after the Flood, YHVH said that they were "one." Plainly echad here means that they were united in their desire to build the tower.

GENESIS 41:25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one [echad]; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do." Joseph told Pharaoh that the two dreams he had dreamed (seven fat cows eaten by seven skinny cows and seven plump heads of grain consumed by seven thin heads) were "one." That is, they were unified because they both had the same meaning -- the coming of seven years of good harvests and seven years of famine in Egypt.

JUDGES 20:1 So all the children of Israel came out, from Dan to Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one [echad] man before the LORD at Mizpah." Here we see the gathering of all the tribes of Israel together "as one man before YHVH at Mizpah." This Scripture speaks of a physical union of all the children of Israel in one place.