The 3 US referents in Genesis
It is asserted by many trinitarians that the 3 verses in the book of Genesis that make reference to the statement made by God regarding “US” all have the same referent and that the referent is the members of the Triune God.
Let’s have a look at the 3 verses in question.
Genesis 1: 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 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Genesis 11: 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
Trinitarians will often point to the writings of the church fathers who made reference to Genesis 1:26 and made the assertion that this was in reference to the father and the word or the father and the son as support for their claims regarding these 3 verses.
God the father is either speaking to the son or the son and the holy spirit.
This argument is not a biblical argument. It is an extra biblical argument. It takes the presupposed belief of the trinity and inserts it back into these 3 verses.
There are a two main counter arguments used by those that deny the Trinity, to demonstrate that this assertion is incorrect.
Plural of Majesty
The first of these arguments is the appeal to plural of majesty.
It is, on the face of it, a plausible counter but in reality has little to no biblical support and thus is not really a viable biblical refutation of the trinitarian claim.
The second being that God was speaking to the angels.
This understanding does have some biblical and extra biblical support.
In the book of 2 Samuel we find such a verse that would at least support the claim that the referents of these 3 verses are in fact angels.
2 Samuel 14:17 Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.
Here we see that just like the man is said to have become “like one of US to know good and evil” the King is said to know good and bad just like an angel of God.
Bad is the Hebrew רַע RA, which is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 3:22 translated as evil. So knowing good and bad(evil) was attributed to being like an angel of God. 2 Samuel is a first temple writing and thus gives us a first temple understanding of Genesis 3:22. If, as it would seem, the referent of Genesis 3:22 are angels of God and the referent of all 3 verses are the same then were must understand that God was speaking to his angels regarding the creation of Man in Genesis 1:26 and also to the angels when he said “let us go down, and there confound their language”.
If we MUST understand that the US of Genesis 1:26, 3:22 and 11:7 all have the same referent then all three MUST be referring to angels.
If it is at all possible, that the referents of these 3 verses are not necessarily the same, then even with the referent of Genesis 3:22 seemingly being that of angels it would not, therefore, follow that the referents of Genesis 1:26 and 11:7 would, by default, also be referring to angels.
What is interesting is that Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, although making the referent of all three verses the same referent actually states that this referent is indeed angels. This is usually NOT something that trinitarians will mention.
Targum Jonathan on Genesis 1:26
And the Lord said to the angels who ministered before Him, who had been created in the second day of the creation of the world, Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl which are in the atmosphere of heaven, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every reptile creeping upon the earth.
Targum Jonathan on Genesis 3:22
“And the Lord God said to the angels who ministered before Him, Behold, Adam is sole on the earth, as I am sole in the heavens above; and it will be that they will arise from him who will know to discern between good and evil. Had he kept the commandments which I appointed to him, he would have lived and subsisted as the tree of life for ever. But now, because he hath not kept that which I prescribed, it is decreed against him that we keep him from the garden of Eden, before he reach forth his hand and take of the tree of life: for, behold, if he eat thereof, living he will live and subsist for ever.”
Targum Jonathan on Genesis 11:7
And the Lord said to the seventy angels which stand before Him, Come, we will descend and will there commingle their language, that a man shall not understand the speech of his neighbour.
We must note that the Bible itself asserts that there are ten thousand times ten thousand angels before God.
As an extra note, Targum Onkelos on Genesis 3:22 simply states that man has become alone in the world knowing good and evil.
Onkelos Genesis 3:22 And the Lord God said, Behold, man is become alone in the world by himself, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch forth his hand and take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live for ever;
We also have a verse in Luke that may support the notion that angels are the referent. Some do believe that when Adam and Eve were made they would have lived forever had they not broken Gods command. Obviously the punishment that God gave for breaking the command was that you shall die. So it most certainly is possible that before they broke the command they would not have died. So they could have been in the image of God and the angels as they would have not died. The verse in Luke tells us that angels do not die.
Luke 20:36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
This does not mean that the angels or Adam and Eve were immortal, only God is immortal, Adam and Eve could die, as we have seen they did, immortality means they could not die. Adam and Eve rather would not have died, which is very different than not able to die. They were reliant on God and his spirit for life. This is also the same with the angels. They are not immortal, but they do not die by natural causes. They are still reliant on God for their life.
Now, while I most certainly do affirm the biblical attestation that angels are the referent of Genesis 3:22, it is my belief that, unlike the trinitarian claims, the referents of Genesis 1:26 and the referents of Genesis 3:22 and 11:7 not only do not need to be the same but, are in actuality, not the same referent.
I would suggest that the referent of Genesis 11:7 would also be angels as Genesis 3:22,
however, it is very unlikely that angels would be the referent of Genesis 1:26.
Firstly it very clearly states that man was made in the image of God not God and the angels.
Secondly, it is never stated in the Bible that the angels were made in the image of God.
It, therefore, stands to reason that God, who is biblically attested to having created alone, would not have been talking to the angels.
It is my belief that the Bible actually answers this.
We have to remember that the Bible was written for the reader. It is written in a way that the reader can understand the texts and not for the writer.
When God states “lets US make man in OUR image he is not literally talking to another member of the trinity but rather he is personifying his spirit in order for us, the reader, to get a better understanding of just how God created man.
The us is God and his life giving spirit. (This is my belief….I do not claim this is a belief held by other biblical unitarians)
God created man in his image, male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The important notice here is that mankind was made in the image of God, male and female.
Now, when we look at the more detailed description of the creation of mankind in Genesis 2 we see that God formed man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life.
Genesis 2: 7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Breath is נְשָׁמָה neshamah. This is a female noun. While God is a masculine noun.
So we have the male, God and from God comes the breath of life, the female.
This is why the female was taken from the male and not formed of the ground like the male. The female comes from the male.
Genesis 2: 21And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
This was after no help had been found for Adam.
Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
So mankind was created male and female like God is masculine but the breath of life is feminine.
A further possible answer
There is also the possibility that God was actually talking to the earth.
The Hebrew word for earth is אֶרֶץ erets , which is a feminine noun. God created the light, sun, moon, stars and the earth itself all from nothing. He simply said let there be. However, when it came to humankind, God used the already created earth in order to create man.
Genesis 2: 7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
The ground is again feminine אֲדָמָה adamah.
So it could be that God formed mankind male and female like God is masculine and the earth is feminine.
This is simply a postulation, although I do think that it has some form of basis for truth.
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