Hi there, I am dealing with a Jehovah’s Witness who, as I am sure that you know, deny the Deity of Jesus, deny the resurrection, so forth and so on. Here is my question. I was using Genesis 1 to prove the Deity of Christ, i.e. ‘elohim (God) being plural (the plural of ‘el as used in Malachi 2:10 for example). In looking at creation, Jesus must be included in ‘elohim, keeping in mind John 1 and Colossians 1:16. Also we read, “Let us make man in our image,” followed by, “In the image of God (‘elohim) created He (singular) him.” This Jehovah’s Witness proceeded to tell me that the Hebrew language uses plurality such as ‘elohim, us, and our as a way to express the majesty of Jehovah; that it does not indicate more than one. Of course that sounds bogus to me, but do you have any insight on how best to refute it? Many thanks, Roland
Anciently through the present, conservative Bible students have always understood the plural for God in Genesis Chapter One and the accompanying plural pronouns to refer to the three persons in the Godhead. Especially the New Testament clearly teaches that there are three persons in the one Godhead. More recently, religious liberals who handle the Bible with less esteem have sought alternatives to admitting the divine origin of the Bible, much less that there are three divine persons in the one Godhead. Guy N. Woods summarizes the evidence respecting the plural references to God in Genesis Chapter One.
The word “God” is from the Hebrew Elohim, plural of El. …The word occurs 57 times in the singular, and about 3000 times in the plural in the Old Testament. …The appearance of the plural form of God in Genesis 1:1, Elohim, and the use of plural pronouns in reference to God (Genesis 1:1; 1:26), has long been regarded by conservative scholars as an indirect allusion to the three persons comprising the godhead. Advocates of modernistic and liberal views touching creation deny this, alleging that the plural form is a relic of polytheism, or a form of majesty, or a reference to the manifold attributes of deity, or association with angels. There is no evidence that the “we” of majesty existed in Moses’ day and other efforts at explanation are the products of unbelief. …Why should there be any difficulty whatsoever in accepting the plural form as an allusion to that which is so clearly and often taught in subsequent scripture? (227-228)
Additional resources likewise confirm the longstanding appreciation of the plural form of God in Genesis Chapter One and the accompanying plural pronouns as referring to three divine persons in the Godhead. The “plural form is obscurely taught, at the opening of the Bible, a doctrine clearly revealed in the later portions of it–namely, that though God is one, there is a plurality of persons in the Godhead, who were engaged in the creative work (Prov 8:27; John 1:3-10; Eph 3:9; Heb 1:2; Job 28:13)” (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown). Adam Clarke also affirms the common understanding from antiquity that the three divine persons in the Godhead appear in Genesis Chapter One.
The original word ‘Elohim (OT:430), “God,” is certainly the plural form of ‘Eel (OT:410), or ‘Eloah (OT:433), and has long been supposed, by the most eminently learned and pious men, to imply a plurality of Persons in the divine nature. As this plurality appears in so many parts of the sacred writings to be confined to three Persons, hence, the doctrine of the TRINITY, which has formed a part of the creed of all those who have been deemed sound in the faith, from the earliest ages of Christianity. …The text tells us he was the work of ‘ELOHIYM (OT:430), the Divine Plurality, marked here more distinctly by the plural pronouns US and OUR; and to show that he was the masterpiece of God’s creation, all the persons in the Godhead are represented as united in counsel and effort to produce this astonishing creature.
Still another resource contrasts the false notion that one divine person in the Godhead manifests himself in three different ways. “Further, the God of the Bible is not one Person who shows Himself to human beings in three ways or forms (an error called Sabellianism). There are three separate Persons comprising one God. This is suggested or taught in such passages as Gen. 1:26; 11:7; Ps. 2:7” (Karleen). James Burton Coffman concludes that the only reasonable appreciation of Genesis Chapter One with its plural references to Deity and plural pronouns referring to Deity is that it correlates with the three divine persons in the Godhead, commonly called the Trinity.
“God created …” The word for “God” here is “[‘Elohiym],” a plural term, and by far the most frequent designation of the Supreme Being in the O.T., being used almost 2,000 times. Despite the plurality of this name, it is connected with verbs and adjectives in the singular. Thus, in the very first verse of the Bible there would appear to be embedded embryonically in the very name of God Himself a suggestion: (1) of the Trinitarian conception more fully revealed in the N.T., and (2) also a witness of the unity of the Godhead. Some have questioned this, of course; but we have never encountered any other adequate explanation of it [emphasis added]. …”And God said, Let us …” The plural word [~’Elohiym] is used here; and the most logical understanding of it is that of seeing in it a foreshadowing of the doctrine of the Trinity revealed ages afterward in the N.T. Such views as making it like an editorial “we,” or the majesterial plural, or as an inclusion of angelic hosts or other heavenly beings are totally inadequate. It cannot be believed that God discussed the creation with the angels and included them as participants in His decision to create man. John 1:1, which affirms that the Word was God, and in the beginning with God, and that without Him there was nothing made that hath been made, supports the thought that both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit (revealed in Gen. 1:2 as active in the creation) should be understood as included in “us” and “our” here. Thus, it appears from the very beginning that God is represented as a compound unity.
Vine refers to Elohim as “a plural of majesty.” Some resources simply acknowledge that various persons adopt contradictory positions respecting Genesis Chapter One and its references to God (Wycliffe; Nelson’s). Keil and Delitzsch also recognize that some contemporary commentators discount references to the Trinity in Genesis Chapter One, but old scholarship throughout the centuries has always regarded Genesis Chapter One as part of the overall biblical evidence of three divine persons in the one Godhead.
The plural “We” was regarded by the fathers and earlier theologians almost unanimously as indicative of the Trinity: modern commentators, on the contrary, regard it either as pluralis majestatis; or as an address by God to Himself, the subject and object being identical; or as communicative, an address to the spirits or angels who stand around the Deity and constitute His council. [emphasis added]
Especially New Testament commentary on the Old Testament respecting the Trinity (a thoroughly biblical doctrine though the summary word with which it is labeled does not appear in the Bible) validates use of the plural form of God in Genesis Chapter One, along with the plural pronouns, as authentic references to the three divine persons in the one Godhead. The same principle by which Genesis 3:15 is understood to be a Messianic prophecy (cf. Galatians 3:16; 4:4; John 12:31-33), the plural word for God and plural pronouns of Genesis Chapter One are understood properly as references to the Trinity (cf. John 1:1-3, 14; Colossians 1:16-17).
Works Cited
Adam Clarke’s Commentary. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 1996.
Coffman, James Burton. James Burton Coffman Bible Study Library. CD-ROM. Abilene: ACU Press, 1989.
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary. CD-ROM. Seattle: Biblesoft, 1997.
Karleen, Paul S. The Handbook to Bible Study. CD-ROM. New York: Oxford UP, 1987.
Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament. New Updated Edition. CD-ROM. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996.
Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary. CD-ROM. Nashville: Nelson, 1986.
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words. CD-ROM. Nashville: Nelson, 1985.
Woods, Guy N. Questions and Answers. Vol. II. Nashville: Gospel Advocate, 1986.
The Wycliffe Bible Commentary. CD-ROM. Chicago: Moody Press, 1962.
