Russell Grigg, creation.com, 2023
The God of Genesis is not someone whom Christians share with Islam, modern-day non-Messianic Judaism,1 Hinduism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, or any other belief system which rejects the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Rather, unlike those systems, Genesis portrays the God of Christianity (the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) to be the God who is not only one, but is also more than one.
The very first verse of the Bible reads: “In the beginning God (plural) created (singular) the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Moses, the author of Genesis under the direction of the Holy Spirit, chose to use the Hebrew plural term elohim for God,2 rather than the singular el3 or the singular poetic form eloah. But he does use the singular form of the verb ‘created’!
Besides elohim, Moses also used other plural forms with reference to God in Genesis. Genesis 1:26 reads, ‘Then God said, “Let us make [plural] man in our [plural] image.’”4 Here Moses uses the singular verb ‘said’, but quotes God as using a plural verb and a plural pronoun with reference to Himself. See also Genesis 11:7, where God says, “Let us go down and confuse their language.”
Why did Moses use these plural forms?
Some have suggested that this plurality is merely a plural of majesty, like the ‘royal we’ grandly used by kings, queens and others today. However, the kings of Israel and Judah were all addressed in the singular in the Bible accounts. Linguist Dr Charles Taylor says:
‘Nobody is in a position to show that in Moses’ day or earlier, people were in the habit of addressing kings and princes in the plural. In fact, there is no evidence at all from the Bible itself, and the Bible is one of the oldest books there is.’5
Others have gone further and said that elohim shows that God includes within Himself plurality of powers, attributes and personhood. With this we agree. Elohimis a plural noun with a singular meaning. The Old Testament writers used it over 2,500 times, usually with singular verbs and adjectives (as in Genesis 1:1), implying that God is one, yet more than one—what some commentators have referred to as the ‘uniplurality’ of the Godhead.6 So does this ‘uniplurality’ or ‘plurality of personhood’ refer to the Trinity?
Second Person: the Word of God
The doctrine of the Trinity was not, and could not be, fully formulated or understood until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, in the New Testament (see box). After Jesus came, one of His titles was revealed in John 1:1–14 to be ‘the Word’ (Greek logos), and note that “the Word was God” (John 1:1, emphasis added). If we reread Genesis chapter 1 with this in mind, we find that everything that God created on each of the six days of Creation Week was by His word. The formula God used on each day was “And God said …”, and it was so.
We should note that although this activity of the Son of God is not defined at this stage in Genesis, it is clearly confirmed in the New Testament, which explicitly states that God created everything through Jesus. For example, Colossians 1:16 reads: “For by Him [the Son of God (v. 15)] all things were created.”7 Thus, the heavens and the earth and all things in them came into being, not through self-causation or evolutionary natural processes, but by the divinely powerful, intelligent will of God, operating through the Son of God. Furthermore, the same Son is “upholding all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3; cf. Colossians 1:17).
Third Person: the Spirit of God
Genesis 1:2 reads, “… and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”. The Hebrew word ruach used by Moses can mean ‘spirit’, ‘wind’ or ‘breath’, with the choice being determined by the context. So did Moses mean to say that a wind was fanning the waters, or that the Spirit of God8 was participating in the creation event, particularly with regard to making the unfinished earth habitable?
Answer: The participle ‘hovering’ does not adequately describe the blowing of a wind. And if the text merely says that at the start of all the momentous events of Creation Week a wind was blowing, we might reasonably ask, ‘So what?’ We conclude that it was Moses’ intention to tell us that ‘despite the fact the earth was not then habitable, all was under the control of God’s Spirit’.9
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All the above should remove any doubt, except among the most obstinate (stiff-necked), that there are three persons in One God. Apart from that we have the testimony of Jesus Himself: “Don’t you know I must be about My Father’s business?”, and the prayer He taught us which begins with “Our Father”.
Elsewhere he tells us that the Holy Spirit would come after Him. Perhaps those tongues of fire over the apostles’ heads were the Holy Spirit.
Well that’s a stretch! The writers of the old testament or torah would have never guessed that Christians would have connected God to the son of God. Even Isaiah 43:10 and 11 deny any other gods before or after God even Christ.
If you truly know and understand the Bible, you would know that Jesus is God (Gen. 1-11; John 1):
“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” John 5:46-47
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. ” Luke 24:27
There is only one God. The fact that He is perceived differently by different cultures with different histories is a basic truth of human existence.
Your first statement, “only one God”, is completely correct. But your second statement is not, given that you’re drawing upon historical accounts to establish “basic truths” which only the Bible can provide, not history books.
The Biblical truth is that those different cultures don’t yet know who and what their Creator God is, the Alpha and Omega, and waste their time chasing after false gods. Without perceiving His Everlasting Light, they’re still in the darkness and can’t see God or His Trinity.
I think Jesus as God “the Word” is fascinating in terms of what the universe, and particularly life is made of. We have discovered everything is made of codes, formulae, data, laws, information, blueprints which of course are all forms of words. And how do we make sense of the universe? Through language and we codify our discoveries, being made in the image of God ourselves. We are made of words and we speak and even create things ourselves.
I rather think we (our souls) are made of spirit, thus when we speak our words are spirit as well.
Sorry there’s a typo in the other comment, can u publish this one? Thanks
Yes that’s an interesting point and our words are so powerful for good or evil. Being made in Gods image do our words not return without achieving what we intend, for good or ill.
And if we are the God of AI in terms of being its creator, isn’t that made of lines of code written by us; so has création gone full circle and certain groups are bringing to fruition the original satanic promise “you will be as God”. Which is satans desire also.
Our words are so powerful they can pass through the physical body and enter, knifelike, into the soul.
It’s interesting all our words are recorded, and by our words we will be acquitted or condemned; there’s that scripture about muttering wicked things under our breath which always convicts me Isaiah 59