Who Was God Talking to in Genesis 1:26?
Brother Bob Pellien: When God said, “Let Us make man in Our image,” who was He talking to at this time of creation? Does that point to a trinitarian or plural god that many believe in?
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Brother Bob: The Bible. The basis of our faith in the Church Of Christ, which answers questions about proper worship, the right relationship with God, and most importantly, salvation. That’s in the Bible!
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Brother Bob Pellien
Minister of the Gospel
Brother Bob: I’m Bob Pellien, and welcome to the program, That’s in the Bible.
In one of our other programs produced in the Church Of Christ called Face the Truth, an episode received various comments for the argument that Jesus is God, and part of a trinity that makes up God. Included in those comments is this one from Miguel. He writes:
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Miguel Aguinaldo
Genesis 1:26 And GOD said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… (pure evidence of trinity) in old testament as well.
Brother Bob: Well we’d like to thank you, Miguel, for your comment and, well, this opportunity to clarify biblical teachings. So together, let’s learn what the Bible is actually teaching in that verse that you’re pointing to. Miguel, you allege that the verse Genesis 1:26, you’re saying that it serves as a basis for belief in a trinitarian concept of God.
So, let’s frame that topic of discussion around these questions:
- What is actually written in the verse mentioned there, Genesis 1:26?
- Why did God say, “Let Us make man in Our image”? Who is God speaking to?
- Are those whom God is addressing, are they involved in the actual creation?
Brother Bob: Well, let’s begin and find out first what is written in the verse mentioned, Genesis 1:26. Let’s turn to the pages of the Holy Bible. It says:
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
[Genesis 1:26 New King James Version]
Brother Bob: Dear friends, here we can clearly see that, well, it’s God Himself, first of all, that is speaking. And what is He discussing? He was speaking about the making or the creating of mankind. What did He have to say? He said, “Let Us make man in Our image.” Well, what did He mean? He said, “according to Our likeness.” What can we clearly notice? God is not alone in heaven. Proof? Well in the verse that we’ve just read, He said and used the pronoun, “Us” and “Our,” which refers, of course, to a plural number or more than one. How many more? The verse does not specify. It could be one more, it could be two more, it could be three more, or millions more.
Now we understand that those who believe in the trinity believe with all their heart that they know the specific number, although it’s not specified in the verse. And the number they’ve come up with is two. Not only that, they’ve even assigned exactly who those two actually are. They conclude that they are our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, believing that this verse, therefore, establishes proof of the trinity, or that God is composed of three parts. But that is not what is written in the verse. It’s not what’s written in the Bible.
What would be the harm in agreeing with or believing those assumptions of Miguel and others? Well, it would contradict what Jesus Christ Himself taught in John 17:3 and 1, which we have shared many times in our programs, that is that the Father is the only true God.
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1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Faither, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
[John 17:1,3 New King James Version]
Brother Bob: So instead of assuming, or jumping to conclusions about what the Bible means there in Genesis 1:26, and then, of course, taking a huge risk of being wrong, let’s simply ask why did God say, “Let Us make man in Our image”? Who is God speaking to? Who else was in heaven at this time that God could have spoken to? Well, in Matthew 24:36, our Lord Jesus Christ, of course, provides us the answer, as He discussed the day of judgment. I quote:
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
[Matthew 24:36 New International Version]
Brother Bob: Who did He say regarding who is with God in heaven? Jesus mentioned that it’s the, “angels in heaven.” So in this reference then that Jesus made as to who is in heaven with God, therefore, could have been spoken to at the time of creation?
Those that God was speaking to when discussing making or creating mankind were the angels that were actually there with Him in heaven. How many angels are there in heaven? The Bible also mentions in Hebrews 12:22 that there are countless multitudes of angels.
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But rather, you have come to Mount Zion, even to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless multitudes of angels in festal gathering,
[Hebrews 12:22 Amplified Bible]
Brother Bob: What should we also notice in Christ’s teaching? Christ is admitting that there are things that the Father knows, which He does not. What in particular did Christ mention? When the Judgment Day would be. What did He say regarding the specific day or hour?
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“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
[Matthew 24:36 New International Version]
Brother Bob: Well He said, “no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Why does the Father know? Because He is the all-knowing. He is the only true God.
Now that we know who God was referring to when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image,” are those angels involved in the actual creation? God Himself answers our question, and He does so in Isaiah 44:24. Here’s what He said:
“I am the LORD, your savior; I am the one who created you. I am the LORD, the Creator of all things. I alone stretched out the heavens; when I made the earth, no one helped me.
[Isaiah 44:24 Good News Bible]
Brother Bob: Dear friends, although God was speaking to the angels when making man, here He clarifies regarding who was involved in actually creating mankind. He said “I am the one who created you… I alone…,” and what else did He say? “No one helped me.”
So we can see that when we learn what is actually written in the Bible, not only is there no biblical evidence of the trinity, but we can even find evidence against that belief that there’s three gods in one.
We started this discussion with these main questions in mind. Let’s review them and what we have now learned from the teachings of the Holy Bible. Number one, we asked:
- What is written? What is actually written in the verse mentioned, Genesis 1:26? Can we read evidence of the trinity? And what did we learn? Nowhere in the verse is the trinity mentioned. There is no mention of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all being together in one God. It’s not there.
- Why then did God say, “Let Us make man in Our image”? Who was God speaking to? We learned from the Bible that the One and only true God was speaking to the angels that were with Him in heaven.
- Are those God is addressing, are they involved in the creation? We learned from the Bible the angels were not involved in the creation of all things because God Himself, He’s the One who said He’s alone in creating all things. No one helped Him.
Brother Bob: So, it’s very important, Miguel, it’s very important to all who are believing such. Be careful to not go beyond what is written in the Holy Bible. Those that believe that Genesis 1:26 is teaching the trinity, they are adding to what is actually recorded there in that verse, and adding is strictly prohibited by God. We do thank you for giving us this opportunity to use the Bible to provide clarification on this very important topic. Thank you, Miguel.
We’d like you to continue learning about the Iglesia Ni Cristo, the Church Of Christ, and to do so:
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Visit incmedia.org
Brother Bob: Please visit us online, browse the different topics or set up an appointment to meet with a Minister of the gospel inside the Iglesia Ni Cristo, Church Of Christ. And if you have any questions about the Bible and salvation, please email them to us:
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Brother Bob Pellien
Minister of the Gospel
Brother Bob: I’m Bob Pellien. Thanks for watching. See you next time right here on That’s in the Bible!
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