Hey everybody, Pastor Steven Anderson here from Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona
to talk about the famous phrase in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 where it says,
and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. And I want to talk about those
plural pronouns where he said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. This is a verse
that Jews have a hard time with. Oneness Pentecostals have a hard time with this verse
because I'm going to prove to you in this video that it is just clear proof of the Trinity. The
Trinity is the only explanation of this verse that makes sense. This verse proves that God is
not one person, but that God is three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So let's talk about
some of the explanations that people have for this verse. One explanation that the Jews will pull out
is to say, well, this is a royal we, as in a king referring to himself as we. Well, here's the
problem with that. That is something that just never happens anywhere in the Bible where a king
refers to himself as we. Also, it's something that there's no evidence of in the ancient world
period. You're going to have to fast forward almost 6,000 years to a play by Shakespeare
or to the Queen of England or something before you find a king referring to himself as we.
So that has no basis in history, no basis in reality, no basis in the Bible. That's just
grasping at straws. In fact, I can prove that wrong beyond any shadow of a doubt because if
we just go two chapters later to Genesis chapter 3, it says in verse 22, and the Lord God said,
Behold, the man has become as one of us to no good and evil. So notice the Lord God says the
man has become as one of us. So not only does God call himself we, us, our, but he also even uses
the term one of us. He says that the man has become like one of us, meaning that there are
more than one there. So God is not one person. God is three persons and this royal we falls apart
pretty fast when you compare that to chapter 3. Another explanation that people have put forth is
that God is speaking to the angels. He says to the angels, let us make man in our image.
Well, the problem with that is that the angels are not in the image of God. So our image,
our likeness wouldn't make sense speaking to them since they don't look like God. They don't have
his image. They don't have his likeness. The other problem with that is that pronouns
need an antecedent. You know, if you use a pronoun, there's got to be an antecedent.
Well, us as a pronoun, our is a pronoun. So there would have to be some mention of the angels
in this passage. And there is no mention of the angels in this passage. The only person that's
mentioned is God. And so if God were just one person, then you'd have let me make man in my
image after my likeness. I'm going to do that. But that's not what we see. What we see is a plural
pronoun referring to the antecedent God. Okay. The only antecedent is God. So this can't be
God speaking to some third party because that third party would have to be mentioned
in order to use a pronoun to replace that third party. So this is God saying,
let us make man in our image after our likeness because God is three persons.
And so that's pretty clear. Another explanation that the Mormons would use is that, well,
you know, this is Elohim saying to Jehovah, let us make man in our image. You know,
basically a multiple gods view because the Mormons believe in a multiplicity of gods.
So they believe that Elohim and Jehovah are two separate gods. And so that, you know,
this is the gods plural having a conversation. Well, the problem with that, of course,
is that the Bible teaches that there is only one God. The other problem with that is that
in Genesis chapter two, over and over again, it refers to God as the Lord God, the Lord God,
the Lord God, which is Jehovah Elohim, Jehovah Elohim. So that's one God being referred to as
Jehovah Elohim because it's the same God. It's only one God and his name is Jehovah and his
name's Elohim. He has many names, but the point is that this is not two gods talking to each other
because all throughout the chapter, God is singular. And in the next chapter, the Lord God
is again singular. Why singular? Because there's only one God, but why the plural pronouns? Because
God is three persons. Another explanation that one could use would be that, you know, this is God
speaking to his literal words. You know, the stuff that he said earlier in the chapter, he's talking
to those words. Okay. This would be like a partialist view, another Trinity rejecting view
that would basically say that God just has different parts, you know, his spirit, his literal
words, his soul, but that, you know, we're not talking about three persons. Well, the problem
with that is that if God were talking to the word saying, let us make man in our image, that would
only make sense if the word were a person. And then that person would be Jesus, right? Because the word
is Jesus. So now you're back to the Trinity again, right? Because in order to use a plural personal
pronoun, you got to have multiple persons. You can't have one person saying us, we, our. It would just
be me, my, mine. If we were talking about one person, if Jesus and God, the Father and the Holy Spirit
are all the same person, well, then a plural pronoun would make absolutely no sense. And this
is not just some obscure passage. We're talking about the first chapter in the Bible. We're talking
about God for the first time referring to himself with a pronoun ever. And he says, we, us, our.
So that's pretty significant and there's really no way around it. The only interpretation of this
passage that makes any sense is that God is made up of three persons. And that's why the plural
pronouns are appropriate. And that's why in Genesis 3, he says, the man has become like unto one of us,
because there are three persons and man had become like unto one of them. Very clear that
us isn't being used in some majestic royal way or that God is talking to something other than
a person or that God's talking to the angels. That's just adding to the text because it's not
in the scripture. The plain reading of the text in light of what the rest of the Bible teaches
is clearly that God made up a Father, Son and Holy Ghost is saying, let us make man in our image.