Re: An Early Trinity

Gary Collins (etlgycs@etl.ericsson.se)
Tue, 14 Sep 1999 07:21:57 +0100

I have a question: I have heard it said that in Genesis 1 the nouns/pronouns used for
God are in the plural, but the verbs used are in the singular. Do you know if this is
correct? Also, is it true that there is a 'dual number' in Hebrew, and the use of Elohim
implies at least three (two would have a different word ending)? Thanks for your time,
/Gary

George Murphy wrote:

> ArvesonPT@nswccd.navy.mil wrote:
> >
> > George Murphy said:
> >
> > >In fact, excessive emphasis on the plural "let us make..." here might lead
> > one
> > >to the mistaken idea that _only_ the creation of humanity is a work of the
> > Trinity and
> > >that in all the other creative work only one person of the Trinity is
> > acting.
> >
> > This conclusion may be discouraged by Genesis 1:1, where the word used
> > for God is Elohim, not El.
>
> Yes if the grammatically plural form of elohim is understood in a trinitarian
> sense, but I think that's even more debatable than understanding "let us make" in such
> a way.
>
> George L. Murphy
> gmurphy@raex.com
> http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/