To whom was God speaking in Genesis 1.26 when he said, “Let us make humanity in our image”? My guest today, Sam Mansfield of Adelaide, South Australia, has found six different answers to this question. In the following interview, I ask him about his recent presentation at the inaugural Australian Unitarian Christian Alliance conference, called “Wrought with Wisdom: How Solomon Understood Genesis 1:26, 3:22 & 11:7.” Mansfield puts forward the deliberative position with a twist.
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Some thoughts as I listened to this discussion.
Is this a simple translation issue? If so, are we creating an issue that doesn’t even matter. Where in the original language is “let us” and “in our” or “in his” for that matter. I do not see any Greek equivalent for these pronouns or the word “let” when I click on the “tools” tab in the Blue Letter Bible app that I use.
Is the use of these pronouns to be “understood” for grammatical reasons I do not understand because I do not know Greek? If so, then the question is simply, “Why did they choose the plural in v 26 and the singular in v 27?” The plural of “Elohim” is the likely reason for v 26 but then why go singular in verse 27? Is there a lucid way to translate the original words more specifically without inserting pronouns? Is there a more “neutral” way to insert the pronoun if we are to do this? Finally, does leaving out the pronoun change the meaning to any significant degree?
In Proverbs 8:1, where is the word for “her”? It seems a LOT of energy is placed on understanding these pronouns that are not in the original language. It seems that if ANY pronoun would be used it should be a neutral “it”.
A similar issue surfaces in John 14:23 where Jesus says that His Father will come to us and make His abode with us. However, all translations insert “we” as the two coming and making “their” (or “our”) abode. This is then used as an argument that Jesus and God are the same. The issue is further muddied when they then say that Jesus “indwells” us. According to scripture the holy spirit is the only entity that “indwells” or “takes up residence.” There is no “we” in the original text. Just as there is no “us” in Genesis.
At the risk of veering off topic, in John 1:1 we have what I think is the most egregious translation violation in the Bible. In this case, “logos” becomes “Jesus” even when “houtos” and “autos” are specifically used in the first three verses. Why the use of two different pronouns in these first three verses? I think the answer is that we have a non-personal Plan (Logos) in verse 1 that is referred to with a neutral (non-personal) pronoun (houtos) in verse 2. Why switch to the personal pronoun (autos) in verse 3? I think it is because God is the last noun mentioned in verse 2. Usually, pronouns refer back to the last-mentioned noun. The writer switched the pronoun because he changed from talking about God’s Logos (houtos – or “it”) to talking about God Himself (autos – or “He”).
Could a pronoun skip a noun and refer to some other main topic? Certainly. But that is clearly not what we are looking at here. God is the last entity mentioned. The reason for the switch is because the personal pronoun refers to God and not His Logos. With this understanding, one does not steal the glory from the Creator God to share or give to another entity. Verses 3-4 are saying: V3 “All things were made by Him (God), and without Him (God) nothing was made that was made.” V4 “In Him (God) was life, and the life was the light of men.” This perspective returns all the glory back to our Creator God. It also keeps Him in His unique category as the only God who – unlike all other pagan gods –did not want to become His creation.
Was Messiah with God at the beginning? Yes, figuratively as God’s Plan from the beginning to be the means to fix everything God knew Adam and Eve were going to ruin. Does that make Jesus the Creator? No! That glory belongs only to Jehovah / Yahweh / Elohim.
Sorry for the Rabbit Trail but the problem is that the corrupted teaching of the pagan tradition of a trinity in Christianity has so many verses that are abused, beginning with Genesis 1:26.
Thank you both for making this podcast. Very informative!!