Podcast 23: Let Us Make Man (Sean Finnegan)

by Sean Finnegan

In Genesis 1.26, God says, “Let us make man in our image.”  Since this is the creation of humanity, he couldn’t have been speaking to any humans.  So whom was God speaking to?  One common interpretation is to say he was speaking to another person within his being–God the Son.  But, this is quite a strange idea.  Honestly, it sounds like a multiple personality disorder.  In any other literature, when we encounter the word “us” we know it means the speaker and whomever he or she is speaking to.  Why do we suddenly, go into theology land when God says “us.”  Who else was there?  The angels.  Join me as I present the case for why Genesis 1.26 (and the other “us texts”) should be taken as God speaking to his heavenly court.

The word “person” has multiple meanings.   In normal conversation, it means simply a human being. However, in theological terminology (thanks to the council of Nicaea in AD 325) “person” means a being that has a mind (an independent consciousness).   According to this definition, God is a person because He (note the personal pronoun) thinks, acts, and feels demonstrating his unique personality. Even so, the Trinity states that there are three persons in one God. Thus, each person － the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit － are independent in mind but are thought to share the same substance ( i.e. they are all considered to be fully God).

“The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament contain well over twenty thousand pronouns and verbs describing the One God.”*[1] In order to grasp this statement, perhaps a brief grammar lesson will clarify.   Personal pronouns are those little words that are used to refer to a person rather than repeating his or her name. There are both singular and plural personal pronouns.   Plural personal pronouns include: we, us, our, ours, they, them, their, and theirs. Singular personal pronouns include: I, me, my, he, him, his, she, her, and hers. Back to the Bible: God is referred to by the words “he,” “his,” and “him” thousands of times.   For example, perhaps the most famous verse in the whole Bible is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….” Notice the type of personal pronouns used for God － “he” and “his.” These pronouns are singular; thus, God is a singular person ( i.e. He is one). If God were a Trinity (three persons), then John 3:16 should read: “For God so loved the world that They gave Their only begotten Son….”   Thus, the simple fact that God is always** referred to by singular personal pronouns is strong evidence that God is a single person!

This is exactly what one would expect if the central creed of Jesus (the Shema) is taken seriously: “Hear O Israel, the LORD your God is one LORD” (Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:29).   Yahweh is in a class by Himself (Deut. 4:35, 39; Is. 45:5 and 6). There is no one that even comes close to Him － He has no equals.   He alone is the uncreated One, and He alone deserves all of our worship (Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8; John 4:23 and 24).

There are four “us” texts in the Bible (Genesis 1.26; 3.22; 11.7; Isaiah 6.8). These are verses in which God uses a plural pronoun when referring to something He will do. The most common example of this phenomenon is quoted below.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’…God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1.26-27)

The traditional understanding is that these places prove that God is composed of multiple persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) who are conferring together to act.