Man made in "our image", a reference to the Trinity?

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In Genesis 1: 26, it is said Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness." Is this seen as a indication that there are more than one person in God? If so, how do Jewish people interpret this reading?

Jon
 
upbeatjonm said:
In Genesis 1: 26, it is said Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness." Is this seen as a indication that there are more than one person in God? If so, how do Jewish people interpret this reading?

Jon
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As an adjective exhibiting a majestic power. Plurality has been used in other areas where one wants to magnify the honor or majesty of someone. Even many Christian theologians recognize this as a possible interpretation of this passage while not undermining the doctrine of the Trinity…teachccd:)
 
V. 26 -
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, נַעֲשֶׂה אָדָם בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ; וְיִרְדּוּ בִדְגַת הַיָּם וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבַבְּהֵמָה וּבְכָל-הָאָרֶץ, וּבְכָל-הָרֶמֶשׂ, הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל-הָאָרֶץ.

Literal meaning would be something like:

God said: Make man in resemblence like
Due to the primitive roots and all, it would be translated into let us make man in our image.

However, we also have to look at verse 27 -
וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ, בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ: זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, בָּרָא אֹתָם.

God created man image image God created male female created

Of course though in Hebrew once one sees the Singular, Plural, etc, they can grasp what it means whereas if we look at a literal translation it looks wierd!

Now צֶלֶם is Singular masculine. So we know that in verse 27 it says(and as the translations accurately say) that it is speaking of God creating man in His own Image. So God created man in his own(because of the singular masculine)] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

So, verse 26 says Us and Our, whereas Verse 27 is referring in singular and masculine. So, like a previous member stated, it simply uses us and our to show power or something. 🙂 It is not uncommon to see a such in the semetic languages.

I wish it would refer to Trinity lol so people would stop giving us such a hard time on it!
 
I think perhaps God was talking to the Angels.He probably created the Angels long before humans.I wonder whats the story of the schism, when the bad angels were cast into Hell.I think it must have happened sometime at the beginning of Genesis, because there was a bad serpant.:hmmm:
 
Genesis 1:26 is one of the verses that St. Justin Martyr brings foward in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (Chapter 62), written about A.D. 155, in support of the notion that there are at least two (and actually three) distinct persons who are God.

Justin Martyr, in the same place, mentions a Jewish interpretation of this verse that God was speaking to angels.

By the way, another hint at the plurality of the divine persons in the one God found in the Old Testament is that the Jewish word for “God,” Elohim, is plural, and literally means, “gods.”
 
If you believe in Scripture----

At the begining of the book of **John **we learn that the “Word” is someone, not something.

1 In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God.

2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him.

4 What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men;

5 and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.

And if you look at the begining of the book of Genesis you’ll notice God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created heaven, and earth.

God the Father

2 And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the **spirit of God **moved over the waters.

God the Holy Spirit

3 And God said: Be light made. And light was made.

The Word of God, before He came in the flesh, Jesus

26 God said, “Let **us **make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.”

The Holy Trinity

Back to the book of John

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

15 John beareth witness of him, and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: **He that shall come after me, is preferred before me: because he was before me.**16 And of his fullness we all have received, and grace for grace.

17 For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

18 No man hath seen God at any time: the only **begotten Son **who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Begotten =1. spawn, sire, breed, father, (esp. of a male parent) to procreate or generate (offspring).

Our children share our nature,they are human beings because we are.

Jesus shares His Fathers nature, He is God because the Father is God.

Jesus also shares His mothers nature,He is human because she is human.

All of us have one nature we are human.

Jesus has two natures He is both human and Divine. because of His parents.

And because Jesus is one with His Church His Church is both human and Divine.

We make up the body of His Church that is the human part. Jesus being one with His Church, and the Holy Spirit guiding it. That is the Divine part.

Through Scripture, Tradition and the Magisterium. This is how I know Jesus is both, at the same time, human and Divine.
 
There are two basic Jewish understandings,

He is speaking to angels — but the angels had no part in creation that we know of.

He is speaking to his attributes like Wisdom ( Proverbs 8 ), and God’s attributes did play a role in creation.

Psalm 104:24 O LORD, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions.

Proverbs 3:19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens. (NASB ©1995)

Proverbs 8:22-31 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

22 "The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, [a] ,
before his deeds of old;

23 I was appointed [c] from eternity,
from the beginning, before the world began.

24 When there were no oceans, I was given birth,
when there were no springs abounding with water;

25 before the mountains were settled in place,
before the hills, I was given birth,

26 before he made the earth or its fields
or any of the dust of the world.

27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,
when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

28 when he established the clouds above
and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,

29 when he gave the sea its boundary
so the waters would not overstep his command,
and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

30 Then I was the craftsman at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,

31 rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 8:22 Or way ; or dominion
Proverbs 8:22 Or The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work ; or The LORD brought me forth at the beginning of his work
Proverbs 8:23 Or fashioned

Note: in Proverbs 8:22, the hebrew word has the meaning of purcharse or aquire.

👍

Another theory is Moses was still polytheistic at the time of writing Genesis 1 before learning monotheisism in egypt.
 
Teeliumtrozzle said:
I think perhaps God was talking to the Angels.He probably created the Angels long before humans.I wonder whats the story of the schism, when the bad angels were cast into Hell.I think it must have happened sometime at the beginning of Genesis, because there was a bad serpant.:hmmm:
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I do not think it could be the angels. Of course I am no scholar, but from the english translation, it says “Let us create man in our image.” “Let us create”…the angels played no part in creating mankind (to my knowledge) so that would eliminate this interpretation since there is only one Creator, who did not need the angels help to create anything.
 
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