The idea of God being “one” is not
unique to Judaism; it is also present in Hellenistic religion, where there is a
tendency to unify the pantheon under one highest deity, or to speak of one of
the gods, as εἷς θεός. As early as the 6th
century BCE, Xenophanes of Colophon wrote: “There is one God (εἷς θεός),
greatest among gods and men, unlike mortals in either shape of thought” (in
Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica XIII, 13:36). The writer continues to
acknowledge other gods alongside the one god. Similarly, the acclamation Εις Ζευς Σαραπις, which is attested in the first
century CE, is accompanied by other expressions that demonstrate belief in the
existence of other members within a pantheon of deities. Nicole Belayche,
scholar of pagan religion in the Roman Empire, writes:
The term heis theos,
“alone/unique,” signifies that the divinity was alone of its type, unmatched .
. . , capable of achieving the impossible, but not one god as such. It is the
equivalent of a relative superlative form, like hypsistos, designed to
affirm the unequalled characteristics of the god celebrated. (Belayche, “Deus
Deum . . . summorum maximus (Apuleius): ritual expressions of distinction
in the divine world and in the imperial period,” 166)
The use of the word heis is
similar to the use of echad in Deut 6:4 where . . . echad refers
to YHWH’s uniqueness and incomparability, not to numerical oneness. (Lori Ann
Robinson Baron, "The Shema in John's Gospel Against its Backgrounds
in Second Temple Judaism," PhD diss., Duke University, 2015, 121-22)