Excerpt from March 2011 bible study 'Is Jesus God' (http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,12896.msg113153.html#msg113153):
DOES GOD TALK TO HIMSELF?
The first time that the word God appears in the Scripture, is the Hebrew word Elohim. It’s a plural word, it’s a plural of the word El, the EloHIM makes it plural. It answers somewhat, but certainly not exactly to our old English word God in the singular, just God.
In Genesis 1:26 we read Elohim, which is a plural, here Elohim is speaking. In Genesis 1:1 it just says, “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” but here in Genesis 1;
Gen 1:26 And God (Elohim) SAID (He‘s speaking), Let US make man in OUR image…
Gen 3:22 …Behold, the man is become as one of US…
Grammatically that is correct the “Us” and the “Our” is in the Hebrew. They didn’t just add that, it’s in there, okay.
Doesn’t the Bible tell us that God is one being, one individual, one person? How can one person say “let Us” and “Our?” How is that possible? Well no, it actually doesn’t say that anywhere in the Bible, that is an assumption. But again it is not the scope of this paper to go into all of that.
But in Deuteronomy 6 we read what is called the Shema, which states;
Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord (Yahweh) (is) our God…
It can read, “The Lord is our God.”
v. 4 … is one (echad, which means united) Lord:
So the Lord God is one Lord.
I’m presently reading a book called ‘Christ Was No Trinitarian,’ a big thick book. The author, no less than, 50-100 times in that book says that God is one individual person, God is a person… God is one person… God a person… over and over and over. I counted 50-100 times and I haven’t finished the book.
Now we just read it, does anybody see in there, Here, O Israel: The Lord our God is one person? I don’t see that. It’s one Lord, one Yahweh. So it doesn’t say one person. Did Jesus say, I and My Father are one person? No.
Did God tell Adam, therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one person? (Gen 2:24) No.
Did Jesus Christ say, I and My Father are one person? (John 10:30) No.
But here is what the Bible does say. In Genesis 11, this is the people speaking.
Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to, let US build US a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let US make US a name…
Everybody knows what that means, “us,” right? There is a whole bunch of people saying that, “let us.” Everyone understood the pronoun ‘us’ and what it stands for.
Gen 11:6 And the Lord said, Behold, the PEOPLE (multiple people, hundreds of thousands of people) is ONE…
Singular, all these people, “is one,” Hebrew ‘echad,’ meaning unified or one.
v. 6 …and they have all one language.
The next Lord, which is translated from Yahweh, this is not God Elohim. Now pay strict attention here. I thought if anybody has ever caught this, I’ve never heard of anybody catch this.
Gen 11:6 And the LORD (Yahweh, not Elohim) said…
v. 7 Go to, let US…
Now we have Yahweh saying “let Us.” So what is going on?
I’ll just say here the fact that God in the Old Testament most often uses the singular pronoun, He or Me or Mine, does not negate the fact that at other places it does use the plural.
Yet the author of this book I’m reading says, ‘but the majority rules. It says more times singular, so therefore we throw out…’ No we don’t throw out anything in the Bible. No we don’t. Seems to me Jesus had something to say about throwing out things. We don’t throw these plural pronouns out. Yahweh said “let Us,” it should be there.
Is it possible that whenever God is referenced in the Old Testament, it is speaking of Jesus AND The Father? Even when the translators place singular nouns, could the word 'God' be referencing the 'household of God' [Eph 2:19], instead of One singular Entity?
Here is a statement from Jesus that got me thinking:
John 5:17-23 Yet Jesus answers them, "My Father is working hitherto, and I am working." Therefore, then, the Jews sought the more to kill Him, for He not only annulled the sabbath, but said His own Father also is God, making Himself equal to God.
Jesus, then, answers and said to them, "Verily, verily, I am saying to you, The Son can not be doing anything of Himself if it is not what He should be observing the Father doing, for whatever He may be doing, this the Son also is doing likewise. For the Father is fond of the Son and is showing Him all that He is doing. "And greater works than these shall He be showing Him, that you may be marveling.
For even as the Father is rousing the dead and vivifying, thus the Son also is vivifying whom He will. For neither is the Father judging anyone, but has given all judging to the Son,
that all may be honoring the Son, according as they are honoring the Father. He who is not honoring the Son is not honoring the Father Who sends Him.. [CLV]
"My Father is working and I am working"..."Whatever the Father is doing, the Son is doing likewise"..."The Father is vivifying (giving life), thus the Son is vivifying (also giving life)". They seems to be doing everything TOGETHER. Perhaps this is true in the OT as well?
Marques