The God Squad: Wording is tricky, but there is one single God

Question: In Genesis 1:26, my Bible says: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.’” Notice the plural references. Is God one or is he plural? Or is my translation incorrect from the original?

I pray that you will be blessed today and continue to be a blessing to others. I often feel like we’d be great friends if we knew each other. — K., via godsquadquestion@aol.com

Answer: The use of the plural in that verse is most often interpreted by Bible scholars as the Royal Plural. Like the Queen of England who might say, “We will be in residence at the palace this weekend.” When she really means, “I will be in residence.”

There’s no doubt that God is believed to be unique and singular in all of Jewish, Christian and Muslim theology. In fact, the monotheism of God is reaffirmed in Genesis in the very next verse, Genesis 1:27, which reads: “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created he them.”

The Christian belief in the Trinity, to which I assume you’re alluding, is not a belief in three gods. If Christians did believe in a plurality of gods, they would be polytheists and ultimately idolaters because they’d be worshiping something other than the one, single and true God.

In fact, as I understand it, the Trinity is a kind of elaboration, not an abrogation, of the oneness of God. It is a way of expressing the three principal manifestations of the one God. This is similar to the Muslim belief in the 70 names of Allah (The Good, The Merciful, etc.). It also is echoed in the Jewish beliefs in the several primary attributes of God, such as the God of Mercy and the God of Justice.

There is, however, a lovely Jewish legend that does take Genesis 1:26 as a plural usage but imagines it as a dialogue between God and the angels as to whether to create human beings at all. The angels were, according to this legend, opposed to the creation of people because of our propensity for evil. God agreed with them but settled the dispute by getting up from his throne of justice and sitting on his throne of mercy, and from that throne, the single God created us all in God’s image.

Now, as far as our possible friendship is concerned, if you play golf, I could be your friend. If you don’t play golf, I could have lunch with you but that’s as far as it could go. God bless.

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