Who is the "us" when God stated "let us make man in our image"?
Genesis 1:26
ESV - 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
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Asked July 08 2013
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Jacintha Davis
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James Bellamy
We can see in John 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome[a] it." There are other verses, but these help to paint a picture that we know at least God and Jesus were there in the beginning. "Let us make man in our image" was a conversation being held between the Holy Trinity-God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I think that is a view going around today that the Holy Spirit is not a person and not a part of the Godhead. Scripture refutes this notion.
Elder Ashe
Here’s the thing about Elohim = ‘Us’ and ‘Our’ of Genesis 1:26; 11:7 and other plurals yet single meaning words. © 1974, 2013 by Elder S. D. Ashe From my series and book: Here’s the thing ----® My personal notes on Hebrew language structure – 1. In the Hebrew language plural words are used for two reasons: a. To show number b. To strengthen the idea of the single word Main subject reference: Genesis 1:26 (KJV) 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Genesis 11:7 (KJV) 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. These two words “US” and “OUR” are plural words in Hebrew, both are the word ‘Elohim’, but they are not to show numbers; they are, in fact, to strengthen the concept or idea of God as being Almighty in His ability to do all things. This type of Hebrew grammar process is called: The 'Law of Majestic Plurality' or the 'Rule of Plural Majesty'. There are many instances in the Bible where this Law or Rule can be found. A few of many examples are: Genesis 24:9 (KJV) 9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter. Master in Hebrew as used in this verse is the word אָדוֹן 'adown (aw-done’) – to rule, sovereign, i.e. controller Here the word ‘master’ is plural in Hebrew. It does not mean that there are two Abrahams. The Hebrew wording here refers to Abraham as the ‘BIG BOSS’ showing his importance and the amount of respect the servant had for Abraham as a man of God, and as a good master. Genesis 24:51 (KJV) 51 Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as the LORD hath spoken. Master in Hebrew as used in this verse is the word אָדוֹן 'adown (aw-done’) – to rule, sovereign, i.e. controller Again, the word ‘master’s’ is plural in Hebrew as used here Laban and Bethuel was saying that they regarded Abraham as a great and noble man deserving respect and honor of great quality.. Genesis 39:20 (KJV) 20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison. Master in Hebrew as used in this verse is the word אָדוֹן 'adown (aw-done’) – to rule, sovereign, i.e. controller This plural ‘master’ shows the total and complete power and position that this man had in his action against Joseph. Joseph was accused of a great crime, and his ‘BIB BOSS’ made it a point that he, himself, would see to it that Joseph was put into prison. ` Genesis 40:1 (KJV) 1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. King in Hebrew as used in this verse is the word ‘melek’ (meh’-lek) –a king. Pharaoh was the only ‘King’ of Egypt but here the word ‘King’ is plural, again showing power, Authority and Position. 1 Samuel 16:16 (KJV) 16 Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. Lord in Hebrew as used in this verse is the word אָדוֹן 'adown (aw-done’) – to rule, sovereign, i.e. controller Saul’s servants call him ‘lord’ which in this case is a plural word. Saul was not two or more people, only one who had a very high rank and position in the land. Other cases for the plural word ‘Elohim’ being used but meaning something single: The golden calf the Israelites made of gold was always called ‘Elohim’ but there were never two or more calves but only the one. Exodus 32:1, 4, 5, 8, 20, 23, 24, 31 and 35 gods = Elohim = one golden calf. See also Psalm 106:19-20 and Acts 7:40-41. Now for a brief moment I want to introduce some very important and fascinating facts. 1. In the Old Testament, the words ‘presence’ and countenance’ are always plural. 2. European Kings and Queens and all Royalties refer to themselves in the plural. 3. During World War I and before all Germany army officers were always addressed in the plural. 4. Today, if you are alone and a Hebrew man addresses you, he will say ‘Shalom Aleken', which means Peace to you’s. This is referred to as ‘Polite plural of respect’. 5. Furthermore, today Arabic Chieftains in Ugaritic (a form of Hebrew) refers to themselves as ‘us’ (this also holds true in Hebrew). They use a plural of nouns, pronouns and verbs to refer to one individual. Here is another example from the Old Testament. Daniel 2:36 (KJV) 36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Notice here Daniel refers to himself as ‘we’. In understanding this Law of Majestic Plurality in the New Testament let me state this brief fact: The New Testament was by most accounts was originally written in Greek by Hebrew men (Luke being the only exception). The words were Greek, but all the grammar techniques were Hebrew. For example: 1 Thessalonians 3:1 (KJV) 1 Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone; Here Paul refers to himself as ‘we’. Another New Testament example: Revelation 1:4-6 (KJV) 4 John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; 5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. Notice verse 4 talking about the ‘seven Spirits’ of God. Upon reading the rest of this chapter we are made to understand that the term ‘seven Spirits’ refers to the seven distinctive ways God is working with those seven different churches (vs 11 – Revelation 1:11 (KJV) 11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.). To put it another way it is seven different technique's God will use with them to get each one back on the right track and path to be once again pleasing to Him and obeying the Word of God. For a much more complete study of the word Elohim see my Bible study entitled: Us and Our - Elohim of Genesis explained: US and OUR = ELOHIM © 2004, 2008 by Elder S. D. Ashe
Eve Montano
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Gen 1:1 (Creator - Father God The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Vs 2 (Holy Spirit) And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. Vs 3 (Jesus Christ) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:1-3 So it is in the image of the triune God that we are made! Then God said, "Let us make man [fn] in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Genesis 1:26
Elder Lionel Grant
God the Father, God the Son(Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Ghost. Isaiah 48:16- Come near unto me, hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning ; from the time that it was, there am I, and the Lord GOD, and his Spirit hath sent me. 17a- Thus saith, the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord thy God(Jesus). 1John 5:7- For there are three that bear record in Heaven, The Father, the Word (Jesus is the Word)- St John 1:1; and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. Elder Lionel Grant
Anonymous
As others have stated, the "Us" appears to be the Triune God, speaking in consultation to create the pinnacle of creation, man. I say that man is the highest creation based on two Biblical teachings. (I am aware of the verse that states that man is made lower than angels in Psalm 8: but bear with me in explaining.) The first teaching is that man is made in the image of God, a teaching of both the Old and New Testaments. No other creation was created bearing His image, as man was. The second teaching is that man, and only man, can be redeemed by the blood of Jesus. No other creature, including angels, can be redeemed. God lets us know the value He places on human life by virtue of the Sacrifice He made to redeem man. Returning to the original question, this pinnacle of creation being made in the very image of God, man shares the tripartite nature of God. Man is not triune in the sense that God is: man is not three persons in one. But man does possess a spirit, a soul, and a body (cf. 1Th 5:23). Giving a scriptural defense for belief in the Trinity is a mammoth task, and short blurbs on a website wouldn't do it justice. I give this one thought to consider, as food for thought on the subject: God is love. God is eternal, and His love is called everlasting love. Before creation, before man or angels, before heaven or earth, whom was there to love? What would it mean to say, "God is love," if there were only one person in the Godhead? "God is love" has meaning eternally, only if there is more than one in the Godhead. Jesus refers to this love the Father had for Him, before the foundation of the world (Jn 17:24). John 17 is the longest recorded conversation of Jesus with the Father: in this prayer, He petitions for the unity of the church: "that they may be one, even as We are One." If God were only one person, then this prayer request would make no sense. But if there is a Godhead where these Persons are One, then that principle can be applied powerfully to the church, to also become one in function, in vision.
MICHELLE BROWN
When God said "Let's make man in Our image" He was talking to the "Word" who was Jesus at that time. Also the Spirit. 1 John says That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life. This tells mes that Jesus was with God all time but He was the "Word" and have not manifested at the time of creation, but still He was with God, and the same with the Holy Spirit. To understand God being three in one you look at an boil egg, on the outside you have the shell, the second layer is the egg white, and the third layer is the yoke (the yellow part of the egg). If a egg can be three in then I know God can be as the egg.
Rotimi EWEDEMI
The answer to this question is probably to be found in Proverbs 8:22-30: "The LORD created me as the beginning of his works, before his deeds of long ago. From eternity I was appointed, from the beginning, from before the world existed. Proverbs 8:24 When there were no deep oceans I was born, when there were no springs overflowing with water; Proverbs 8:25 before the mountains were set in place - before the hills - I was born, Proverbs 8:26 before he made the earth and its fields, or the beginning of the dust of the world. Proverbs 8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he marked out the horizon over the face of the deep, Proverbs 8:28 when he established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep grew strong, Proverbs 8:29 when he gave the sea his decree that the waters should not pass over his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, Proverbs 8:30 then I was beside him as a master craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, rejoicing before him at all times, Proverbs 8:31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and delighting in its people." The "I" in that passages is Jesus, and the " He" Is The LORD, God Almighty himself. So,the " us" in Genesis 1:26 is God Almighty and His Son, Jesus.
Craig Hayes
God's Spirit was present in the creation. (Job 33:4, Ps 104:30) and from Col 1:16 we know that Christ was at work in the creation.
Jeremiah Kaaya
Well, the most easily understandable extraction from the scripture; "let us" is the Trinity; God the Father, God the Son-Jesus Christ, and God the Spirit. When God said; "let us", He was simply confirming to us that nothing was done in disagreement, not even with Himself in the Trinity. In John 14:7-10, Jesus tried to express to Philip He was/is not only a person, but God Himself incarnate in Jesus the Christ. So the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were all in agreement which means God Himself was in agreement with Himself. Remember nothing was created without Jesus, that is; the Father created using the Son; the power to create. Then the Spirit hovered and stabilised the whole situation. By this, the Trinity is complete and that is God Himself and is one, not any other number other than ONE.
Georg Kouz
ONE IN UNION. From the HEBREW WORD ECHAD. In Deuteronomy 6.4, the original oldest manuscripts is written the word ECHAD, but the Marores later because they did not believe in Jesus daity changed it to JACHID which is numerical ONE
Delphin Bukasa
The bible teaches us that there are three persons in God: the Father,Son and the Holy Spirit but the three are one God alone.even the angels have only soul and spirit. When God said let us make man in our image,it means let me(God) make man in three dimensions similar to me(God) that why of all creation there is only man (soul,mind and body)who is like God in three. God bless you!
Rene Garza
When God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion” He was speaking to Adam and Eve. I understand this may be a little confusing but you must understand the sequence of events. The subject matter for Genesis chapter 1:1 through Genesis chapter 2:3 is the heaven and earth’s physical condition throughout two periods of time. Within chapter 1:1 through chapter 2:3, we will learn of the earth’s creation 1:1, its’ destruction 1:2, and the reformation of its’ terrain and the reintroduction of its inhabitants 1:3-2:3. God will reference these two periods in time in two manners; the earth which He created and the earth which He formed and made. In verse 1, we will learn about the heaven and earths creation; paradise, a heaven on earth if you will. This is when God calls everything into existence; creating everything from nothing. In verse 2, we learn of earth’s destruction. We now find the earth without form and void. We are not told what happened or why it happened, only that there has been a dramatic event, leaving the earth without form and void. Lastly from verse 3 through chapter 2:3 we read about the haven and earths reformation, were God beginnings to put everything back to the way it was and reintroduces its’ host.
There are different views concerning verse 2 of chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis; one of which is that God created the earth without form and void. The other is that the earth became without form and void. The key Hebrew word in verse 2 for determining which translated view is correct is הָיָה hayah {haw-yaw} which is in your Strong's Concordances {01961}; it is a primitive root that means to exist, be, become, or come to pass. I believe that the translators could not find the reason why the earth would become without form; so they opted to add the verb “was” to the translation for clarity, giving you, “And the earth was without form, and void.” Verse 2 should read; and the earth became without form and void.
In Chapter 2:4–5 it reads: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.” What this is telling us is that; what we are about to read is the history of the heaven and the earth “when they were created.” The adverb “when;” is telling us at what time or what period in history this happened. Chapter 2:4–chapter 3 is taking us back to chapter 1:1 when the heaven and earth were created. It then further clarifies this by stating, “in the day” which furthermore distinguishing this from the six days of when the earth was formed. Chapter 2:4–chapter 3 tells us the story of what happened in Chapter 1:1.
Priscilla Quarles
When God said let us make man in our image and after our likeness.. Well the image of God is a spirit. We are spirits that lives in a body.We were not made just like God. for it says in Psalm 8:4,5 and Hebrews 2:6,7 What is man for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels And when Satan tempted Adam and Eve with the temptation of the forbidden fruit .The temptation was to be just like God.. If we were made in the image of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit from the beginning of creation. We would 'nt have to ask Jesus into our hearts and ask God to fill us with his Holy Spirit In fact Adam would not have fallen. God's words are spirit and they are life.John 6:63 .And in Galatians 5:22 The fruit of the spirit is love,joy,peace longsuffering,gentleness,goodness,and faith .This is the spiritual characteristics of the human spirit and some of God's Genesis 3:22. In 2 Timothy 1:7 is say For God did not give us the spirit of fear but of power,love and sound mind. God speaks to spiritual characterics as though they are a person.In Proverb 8:22-30 We can see that the Spirits of Understanding and Wisdom have a voice to share their opinions if fact Widsom is refer to as a female. When God said let us made man is our image after our likeness he was talking to the Spirits of the Fruits of the Spirits in Galatians 5:22. Through the blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ we died with him and were born again unto his likeness and our new recreated spirit is God in me the hope of Glory!
Salem Markus Purba
Since the LORD our God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4), the "us" mentioned in Genesis 1:26; 3:22, are all creatures wich God has created in six days before creating man in the sixth day (Genesis 1:3-25); the body is made from dust (Genesis 3:19), the soul is an image of a living creature (Ecclesiates 3:18-22), and the spirit is the breath of God (Genesis 2:7). The man has a knowledge of good (positive) and negative (evil), like all creatures have a potencies of positive and negative as God Himself has a potencies of good/positive (blessings) and evil/negative (curses) as mentioned in Genesis 3:22). Nations are using a symbol of creatures wich are created by God in their Coat of Arms and flags, symbolizes the soul and spirit of their nationality. People try to predict their fortune through the horoscope and calendar (chinese) both are using a symbol of creatures, as a source of their life. All creatures are created by God alone, so God is the one and only source of our life, the God of heaven, and the God of earth (Genesis 24:3).
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