Here is a good answer ...given from someone in Paltalk.
This is a response to your first question concerning The "Us" and "Our" in the Genesis 1:26 passage in the bible. First let's look at the passage
Genesis 1:26-27
26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
The word God in Genesis 1:26 actually means (This was taken from the original Hebrew and Greek, notice the word is Hebrew)
H430
ŕěäéí
'ĕlôhîym
el-o-heem'
Plural of H433; gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative: - angels, X exceeding, God (gods) (-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.
Remember: Elohim is taken from the Original Eloah. It is the plural of Eloah. So we are talking about the same ONE God NOT another. The reference is to the One God, no one else.
Also remember any references to god(s) in small "g" is a reference to earthly things. Capital "G" is a reference to God himself (divinity, the Spirit God, the One Supreme Divine Being, God Eloah, YHWH, Jehovah)
First let me give you the answer brother David K. Bernard gives to be followed by another study done by J.R. Davis. The first article is the same article I gave you yesterday on line. Then I will answer it more with the word of God.
This is taken from the book by David K. Bernard "The Onness Of God" Chapter 7
Elohim
The most commonly used Hebrew word of God is Elohim. This is the original word in almost every Old Testament passage where we see the English word God. It is the plural form of the Hebrew word Eloah, which means God or deity.
Most scholars agree that the use of the plural word Elohim indicates God's greatness or His multiple attributes; it does not imply a plurality of persons or personalities. The Jews certainly do not see the plural form as compromising their strong monotheism. Flanders and Cresson explain that the plural usage in Hebrew has a certain function other than to indicate plurality: "The form of the word, Elohim, is plural. The Hebrews pluralized nouns to express greatness or majesty."
The Bible itself reveals that the only way to understand the plural form of Elohim is that it expresses God's majesty and not a plurality in the Godhead, both by its insistence on one God and by its use of Elohim in situations that definitely portray only one person or personality. For example, Elohim identifies the singular manifestation of God in human form to Jacob (Genesis 32:30). The Israelites used the word elohim for the golden calf they made in the wilderness (Exodus 32:1, 4, 8, 23, 31), yet the Bible account makes it clear that there was only one golden calf (Exodus 32:4, 5, 8, 19-20, 24, 35). The Old Testament often uses elohim for singular pagan gods such as Baalberith (Judges 8:33), Chemosh (Judges 11:24), Dagon (Judges 16:23), Baalzebub (II Kings 1:2-3), and Nisroch (II Kings 19:37). The Bible even applies Elohim to Jesus Christ (Psalm 45:6; Zechariah 12:8-10; 14:5), and no one suggests there is a plurality of persons in Jesus. So the word Elohim does not indicate three persons in the Godhead. Only one being called Elohim wrestled with Jacob, only one golden calf was called elohim, and one Lord Jesus Christ is God made manifest in flesh.
Genesis 1:26
"And God said, Let us make man in our image." (Genesis 1:26)
Why does this verse use a plural pronoun for God? Before we answer this, let us note that the Bible uses singular pronouns to refer to God hundreds of times. The very next verse uses the singular to show how God fulfilled verse 26: "So God created man in his own image" (Genesis 1:27). Genesis 2:7 says, "And the LORD God formed man." We must therefore reconcile the plural in 1:26 with the singular in 1:27 and 2:7. We must also look at God's image creature, which is man. Regardless of how we identify the various components that make up a man, a man definitely has one personality and will. He is one person in every way. This indicates that the Creator in whose image man was made is also one being with one personality and will.
Any interpretation of Genesis 1:26 that permits the existence of more than one person of God runs into severe difficulties. Isaiah 44:24 says the LORD created the heavens alone and created the earth by Himself.There was only one Creator according to Malachi 2:10. Furthermore, if the plural in Genesis 1:26 refers to the Son of God, how do we reconcile this with the scriptural record that the Son was not born until at least four thousand years later in Bethlehem? The Son was made of a woman (Galatians 4:4); if the Son was present in the beginning who was His mother? If the Son be a spirit being, who was His spirit mother?
Since Genesis 1:26 cannot mean two or more persons in the Godhead, what does it mean? The Jews have traditionally interpreted it to mean that God talked to the angels at creation. This does not imply that the angels actually took part in creation but that God informed them of His plans and solicited their comments out of courtesy and respect. On at least one other occasion God talked to the angels and requested their opinions in formulating His plans (I Kings 22:19-22). We do know that the angels were present at the creation (Job 38:4-7).
Other commentators have suggested that Genesis 1:26 simply describes God as He counseled with His own will. Ephesians 1:11 supports this view, saying that God works all things "after the counsel of his own will." By analogy, this is similar to a man saying "Let's see" (let us see) even when he is planning by himself.
Others explain this passage as a majestic or literary plural. That is, in formal speaking and writing the speaker or writer often refers to himself in the plural, especially if the speaker is of royalty. Biblical examples of the majestic plural can be cited to illustrate this practice. For example, Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar, "We will tell the interpretation thereof before the king" even though Daniel alone proceeded to give the interpretation to the king (Daniel 2:36). King Artaxerxes alternately referred to himself in the singular and the plural in his correspondence. Once, he wrote, "The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me" (Ezra 4:18). In a letter to Ezra, Artaxerxes called himself "I" in one place (Ezra 7:13) but "we" in another place (7:24).
The use of the plural in Genesis 1:26 also may be similar to the plural Elohim in denoting the greatness and majesty of God or the multiple attributes of God. In other words, the plural pronoun simply agrees with and substitutes for the plural noun Elohim.
Still another explanation is that this passage describes God's foreknowledge of the future arrival of the Son, much like prophetic passages in the Psalms. We must realize that God does not live in time. His plans are real to Him even though they are in the future as far as we are concerned. He calls those things that are not as though they are (Romans 4:17). A day is as a thousand years to Him and a thousand years is as a day (II Peter 3:8). His plan - the Word - existed from the beginning in the mind of God (John 1:1). As far as God was concerned, the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (I Peter 1:19-20; Revelation 13:8). It is not surprising that God could look down the corridors of time and address a prophetic utterance to the Son. Romans 5:14 says that Adam was a figure of Him who was to come, that is, Jesus Christ. When God created Adam, He had already thought about the Incarnation and created Adam with that plan in mind.
Taking this idea a step further, Hebrews 1:1-2 says that God made the worlds by the Son. How could this be, seeing that the Son did not come into existence until a point in time much later than creation? (Hebrews 1:5-6). To paraphrase John Miller, God used the Sonship to make the world. That is, He hinged everything on the future arrival of Christ. Though He did not pick up the humanity until the fulness of time was come, it was in His plan from the beginning, and He used it and acted upon it from the start. He created man in the image of the future Son of God, and He created man knowing that although man would sin the future Sonship would provide a way of salvation.
God created man in the beginning so that man would love and worship Him (Isaiah 43:7; Revelation 4:11). However, by reason of His foreknowledge God knew that man would fall into sin. This would defeat God's purpose in creating man. If this was all there was to the future, then God would have never created man. However, God had in His mind the plan for the Incarnation and the plan of salvation through the atoning death of Christ. So, even though God knew man would sin, He also knew that through the Son of God man could be restored and could fulfill God's original purpose. It is apparent, then, that when God created man he had the future arrival of the Son in mind. It is in this sense that God created the worlds through the Son or by using the Son, for without the Son, God's whole purpose in creating man would have failed.
In summary, Genesis 1:26 cannot mean a plurality in the Godhead, for that would contradict the rest of Scripture. We have offered several other harmonizing explanations. (1) The Jews and many Christians see this as a reference to the angels. Many other Christians see it as (2) a description of God counseling with His own will, (3) a majestic or literary plural, (4) a pronoun simply agreeing with the noun Elohim, or (5) a prophetic reference to the future manifestation of the Son of God.
Other Plural Pronouns
There are a few other Old Testament uses of plural pronouns by God, namely Genesis 3:22, 11:7, and Isaiah 6:8. A reading of these verses of Scripture will show that they can easily mean God and the angels (all three verses) or possibly God and the righteous (Isaiah 6:8). Any of the first four explanations given for Genesis 1:26 could adequately explain these plural usages.
The following is another study on this same subject by J.R. Davis,
"LET US MAKE MAN..."
J. R. Davis
Gen 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
To Whom was God speaking? Was the Father speaking to the Son? Or was the Son speaking to the Father? Was it the Holy Ghost speaking to the "other two"? Is there a proper interpretation of this verse which does not divide God into separate persons?
The scripture plainly states in Deut. 6:4, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:" And in Eph. 4:5, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism,".
"God," in Genesis chapter one, comes from the Hebrew, "Elohim."
Note the comment from the Ryrie Study Bible, "Elohim, a generic term for deity as well as a proper name for the true God. It is used of pagan gods (Gen. 31:30; Ex. 12:12), angels (Ps. 8:5), men (Ps. 82:6), and Judges (Ex. 21:6), though most frequently of the true God. Its basic meaning is "strong one, mighty leader, supreme Deity." The form of the word is plural, indicating plentitude of power and majesty and allowing for the NT revelation of the triunity of the Godhead."
It should be noted, the more knowledgeable advocates of the triune doctrine do not often use Genesis 1:26 to further the Trinitarian suggestion, but merely indicate an allowance for the doctrine in a "New Testament revelation." Perhaps it is difficult for them to reconcile who is speaking to whom in Genesis 1:26, since a purely Trinitarian defense of this scripture may indicate tritheism rather than co-subsistance.
H. C. Leupold, a staunch Trinitarian, somewhat angrily declares in his commentary ‘Exposition of Genesis’, "The hortative ‘Let us make,’ is particularly striking because it is plural. Though almost all commentators of our day reject the view that this is to be explained in connection with the truth of the Holy Trinity and treat this so-called Trinitarian view as a very negligible quantity, yet, rightly considered, this is the only view that can satisfy."
Leupold continues, "K. C. Koenig (another commentator who is Trinitarian), may brush it aside with the very briefest remark to the effect that ’the number three cannot be expressed by the plural,’ yet he like many others labors under a misunderstanding of the Trinitarian view.’"
Watch out when Trinitarians disagree on their own doctrine. The fur may fly! Perhaps the "misunderstanding" is not of the Trinity itself, but of the very nature of God.
Leupold then continues, "Those that hold that a reference to the Trinity is involved do not mean to say that the truth of the of the Holy Trinity is here fully and plainly revealed." Then Leupold confesses, "But they do hold that God speaks out of the fulness of His powers and His attributes in a fashion which man could never employ."
So, we see that Elohim refers not to the Trinity in three persons, but to the fulness of the Godhead as one God, manifested in the fulness of His powers and attributes, both moral and natural.
Ryrie in his Study Bible points out, "Vs. 1:26, us . . . our are plurals of majesty. Image . . . likeness are interchangeable terms (Gen. 5:3) indicating that man was created in a natural and moral likenessto God. When he sinned, he lost the moral likeness, which was his sinlessness, but the natural likeness of intellect, emotions, and will he still retains (cf. Gen. 9:6; James 3:9)."
Matthew Henry Commentary says, "Man was to be a creature different from all that had been hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and earth, must be put together in him. God said, ‘Let us make man.’ Man, when he was made, was to glorify the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Into that great name we are baptized, for to that great name we owe our being. It is the soul of man that especially bears God’simage."
It is amazing how close some Trinitarians come to Oneness doctrine and baptismal formula.
From the above comments we should understand that God, in Genesis chapter one, was a Spirit. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:24). Also understand that God, as a Spirit, had no flesh and bones.
Note the words of Jesus, "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." Luke 24:39.
The question arises, how could God come to earth and redeem mankind on the cross of Calvary when He had no body to be crucified? The answer was to beget a body of flesh on earth. How? Through the virgin birth by Mary of the One named Jesus...Emmanuel...God with us. Matt. 1:23, "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." This body born in Bethlehem was a male child, a son, the Son or Body of God.
Where was the Father?
He was in Heaven, but was also in Christ.
Note II Cor 5:19, "To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself..."
Jesus was God manifest in the flesh.
Also 1 Tim 3:16, "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh..."
Where was the Holy Ghost? He also was in Christ. Why and how? Because God is One.
One
God and One Person. The One and the Same. Inseparable. Not co-equal with other persons but One and only One. One Person. Jesus is the Father. Jesus is the Son. Jesus is the Holy Ghost. Elohim - all that God is. The fulness of the Godhead is in Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:9 declares plainly, "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." Ryrie comments on this verse, "In Jesus Christ, deity (the divine attributes and nature) dwelt in His earthly body—a strong statement of the deity and humanity of the God-man."
So why say "us" and not "me"? (Gen.1:26).
God needed an imageafter which to mold the first man, Adam. That image was Jesus Christ. Romans 5:14, "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." God looked into the future and saw Jesus (the one that was to come) and formed Adam after that image. Therefore God said, "let us make man in our image:" so that man would possess the spiritual or moral attributes of God, as well as the physical or natural attributes of God in flesh, Jesus Christ. Thusly man is not a spirit being only, but a physical being as well. Body, soul, and spirit. (1 Thes. 5:23). If God had made man in his image (spirit) only, then man would be spirit only.
Note Gen 1:27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." It is interesting to see verse 27 saying that God created man in his own image, nottheir own image. The clarification has already been made and understood in verse 26.
Consider Hebrews 1:2-3, "Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,..."
God looked into the future by His foreknowledge and saw His Son, thebody that would redeem the world. That body was the flesh of God. God fashioned Adam after that body so that man would not just be a spirit as God is a spirit, but would possess physicalattributes as well.
Therefore God said, "Let us...". Spirit and flesh. Created in God’s own image.
Man will now possess the moral (spiritual) and natural attributesof His Father the Creator, God.
Note Col. 1:15 as it refers to Jesus, "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:"
So, Who created man? He? Them? They? Ease the confusion. Believe in only One Creator. The "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." (Eph. 4:6).
Col. 1:16 refers to Jesus, saying "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:"
Also note Isaiah 44:24, "Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;"
Are there "three persons" in the Godhead or "three titles" for one person? A man can be a husband to his wife, a son to his father, and a father to his son. Is he three persons? Or is he is one person with three titles? He will relate to his wife in one manner. He will treat his son in a different manner. He will behave to his father in yet another manner. Yet he is still only one person. One person with an identifying name.
God is also one. One with three different manners or modes of operation.
One with three different titles or offices. One person with an identifying name, the name Jesus. However, He is the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost. Three offices and manners of manifestations. Yet, the one and only God.
God manifest Himself as Father in creation, Son in redemption, and Holy Spirit in regeneration.
Jesus told his disciples he would be leaving them in the physical manifestation they see Him in, but He would not leave them comfortless. He said He would send another comforter to them, the Holy Spirit. This comforter would abide with them forever. Jesus then said, "I will come to you." (John 14:16-18). God now would benefit mankind by His indwelling Spirit.
He does not vacate one office to fill another, but is always completely and fully God.
. The same Person, but different modes of operation.
Although these two studies/articles alone more than answer your question let me point out some things. For one, these kind of things always get confused by many people because they don not read the complete context. When we read Genesis 1:27 it goes right back to referring to one God.
"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him"
These are all references to the One God, not more than one, But only ONE. See when we read the text in it's entirety we get a plainer view on what scripture actually says! Also notice how many times in this passage of Genesis chapter one, it says "And God" not Gods (plural) but God (singular) it always refers to ONE God (Eloah). Yes, I know these references refer to the plural form of this one God but they are still referring to One not more than one. Elohim is a reference to God's multiple attributes, and his greatness, it expresses God's majesty and not a plurality in the Godhead, both by its insistence on one God and by its use of Elohim in situations that definitely portray only one person or personality.
If we thought it meant anything else it would not be persistant with God's Word.
Jesus said he was. That is good enough for me. I have never seen any others in all of my personal experiences with Him. He is the only one which speaks to me. I there are others they are not talking.
Knowing Jesus in a personal way means to personally know him not just believe and trust him, it means to have a constant contact relationship daily and by the hour with him at all times. I'm doubtful that some do not have that.
When you have developed that sort of personal relationship then you know exactly who God is without any question and neither can you be moved by any other teaching.
