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To: Aquinasfan
Genesis 1 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [2] and over all the creatures that move along the ground." Who's "us"? Invincible ignorance can be overcome.

With little authority from those trained in the Hebrew language. Trinitarians and Binitarians sometimes advance the statement in Genesis 1:26 as proof (in contradiction of the evidence of thousands of singular pronouns denoting the One God) that a plurality of persons in the Godhead was responsible for the creation. "Then God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our Likeness". This argument is precarious. Modern scholars no longer take the Hebrew phrase, "Let Us" or the word elohim to mean a plurality of God persons as creator. It is most likely that the plural pronoun "us" contains a reference to the One God's attendant council of angels, who themselves had been created in the image of God and had been witnesses to the creation of the universe (Job 38:7). It is fanciful to imagine that this verse supports the idea that God was speaking to the Son and the Holy Spirit. Where in Scripture does God ever speak to His own Spirit? the text says nothing at all about an eternal Son of God, the second memnber of a coequal trinity. Moreover, the "us" of the text gives no indication of two other equal partners in the Godhead. If God is a single person His use of the word "us" means that He is addressing someone other than Himself, e.e., other than God.

135 posted on 06/24/2003 7:17:28 AM PDT by Invincibly Ignorant
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To: Invincibly Ignorant
the plural pronoun "us" contains a reference to the One God's attendant council of angels, who themselves had been created in the image of God and had been witnesses to the creation of the universe

That's the traditional Jewish explanation. The problem is the following. The text says, "Let us make..."

Only God can create a soul from nothing. Angels cannot provide any kind of assistance to God in creating. Even a figurative explanation is dubious since no perfect analog to creation from nothing is possible.

235 posted on 06/24/2003 11:31:36 AM PDT by Aquinasfan
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