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Genesis 1:26 — Another Trinitarian Misunderstanding?

Quick Facts

One of the most frequently quoted verses used to support the doctrine of the Trinity is Genesis 1:26:

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.'"

Many Trinitarians claim that the words "Let Us" reveal that God consists of more than one divine person—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

But is that really what Genesis is teaching?

When the passage is read in its immediate context and compared with the rest of Scripture, the answer is far from obvious.

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Is Elohim Plural?

Supporters of the Trinity often point out that the Hebrew word Elohim is grammatically plural.

However, if Elohim always meant multiple divine persons, then Genesis 1:1 would effectively read:

"In the beginning, Gods created the heavens and the earth."

Yet the Bible consistently teaches that there is one God, not several gods acting together.

Throughout Genesis 1 the word Elohim is paired with singular Hebrew verbs, showing that although the noun has a plural form, it is functioning grammatically as a singular subject.

This is why virtually every Bible translation correctly renders it:

"God created..."

—not—

"Gods created..."

The doctrine of the Trinity claims there is only one God, yet at the same time teaches three distinct divine persons who are each fully God. Critics argue that this creates an apparent tension that Genesis itself does not express.

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The Immediate Context Answers the Question

Rather than stopping at Genesis 1:26, we should continue reading.

Genesis 1:27

Berean Standard Bible

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Notice the repeated singular language:

• God

• His

• He

• He created

There is no statement that:

"We created..."

or

"Our image."

Instead, the narrative immediately returns to singular language.

The author deliberately emphasizes one Creator.

If Genesis 1:26 were intended to reveal three co-equal divine persons creating together, many readers would expect verse 27 to continue using plural language.

Instead, it repeatedly stresses one Creator acting alone.

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The Hebrew Text Confirms This

Even the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:27 continues using singular grammatical forms.

The verbs describing creation are singular.

The pronouns referring to God are singular.

The passage naturally reads as the work of one Creator.

This is consistent throughout Genesis 1.

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God Alone Created Everything

Genesis does not stand alone.

Many later Scriptures explain who created the universe.

One of the clearest is Isaiah.

Isaiah 44:24

"Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: 'I am Yahweh, who makes all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by Myself.'"

Notice the repeated emphasis:

• I

• Alone

• By Myself

There is no mention of another divine person assisting Yahweh in creation.

God specifically says He acted alone.

Modern Bible translations often replace God's personal name Yahweh with "LORD", but the Hebrew text clearly identifies the speaker as Yahweh, the God of Israel.

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Isaiah 45:12

God says:

"I made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host."

Again the language is unmistakably singular.

• I made

• My hands

• I commanded

The emphasis throughout Isaiah is that one God alone is the Creator.

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So Who Was God Speaking To?

Genesis 1:26 never actually says God was speaking to Jesus or to the Holy Spirit.

That assumption is brought into the text.

Many biblical scholars—including numerous non-Trinitarian scholars—have suggested other possibilities, including:

• God addressing His heavenly court of angels.

• A plural of majesty or excellence.

• A form of divine deliberation.

Whatever explanation one adopts, Genesis 1:27 immediately identifies only one Creator carrying out the work.

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Does the Bible Ever Say Jesus Was Present at Creation?

Many Christians believe Jesus personally existed before creation.

However, there is no verse that explicitly says:

"Jesus always existed before creation."

Instead, this conclusion is drawn from passages that are interpreted in that way.

For example, many understand John 1:1 as describing a pre-existent person.

Others understand the Word (Logos) differently—as God's own self-expression, wisdom, purpose, or spoken word that ultimately became fully revealed in Jesus Christ.

John later writes:

"The Word became flesh." (John 1:14)

Rather than saying a second divine person became human, some understand this as God's own message, purpose, and self-revelation becoming embodied in the man Jesus.

Likewise, Revelation calls Jesus:

"The Word of God." (Revelation 19:13)

This title identifies Jesus as God's perfect spokesman and representative.

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Hebrews Makes an Important Distinction

Notice how Hebrews begins.

Before Jesus came:

"Long ago God spoke to our fathers through the prophets..."
(Hebrews 1:1)

Only afterward do we read:

"...but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son."
(Hebrews 1:2)

The writer distinguishes between God's previous ways of speaking and His speaking through His Son.

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There Is No Other God Beside Him

Throughout Scripture God repeatedly declares His uniqueness.

Deuteronomy 4:35

"The LORD is God; there is no other besides Him."

This theme appears throughout Isaiah as well.

God repeatedly says there is no other beside Him.

Those who reject the doctrine of the Trinity argue that this language is difficult to reconcile with the concept of three co-equal divine persons who are each fully God.

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What About Elohim?

Hebrew scholars have long recognized that Elohim often functions as a singular title when referring to the God of Israel.

The famous Hebrew grammarian Wilhelm Gesenius described this usage as a plural of excellence (pluralis excellentiae), rather than a numerical plural.

In other words, the form emphasizes greatness, majesty, or supremacy—not multiple divine persons.

This explains why Elohim is normally accompanied by singular verbs throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.

Even the few grammatical exceptions do not change the consistent biblical pattern that the God of Israel is treated as a singular being.

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The Jewish Understanding

It is also significant that ancient Judaism never understood Genesis 1:26 as teaching a Trinity.

For centuries before Christianity, Jewish interpreters understood God to be one.

Likewise, Jewish expectation of the Messiah was that he would be the promised descendant of David—not God Himself.

Commenting on Micah 5:2, traditional Jewish interpretation understands the Messiah's origin as existing in God's eternal plan rather than as a person literally living before creation.

Psalm 72:17 similarly speaks of the Messiah's name existing "before the sun," which many understand as referring to God's foreordained purpose rather than the Messiah's personal existence.

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Conclusion

Genesis 1:26 certainly raises an interesting question.

But when the immediate context is allowed to explain itself, Genesis quickly returns to singular language:

• God created

• His image

• He created

The wider testimony of Scripture repeatedly declares:

• God alone created all things.

• God stretched out the heavens by Himself.

• There is no other God beside Him.

For these reasons, many conclude that Genesis 1:26 does not reveal a Trinity, but should instead be understood in harmony with the Bible's consistent declaration that Yahweh alone is the one true Creator.

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Further Reading

• John 17:5 — Trinitarian Confusion and Misunderstanding

• Does Elohim Mean One, Two, or Three?

• John 1:1 — What Is the Word?

• Isaiah 44:24 — Yahweh Alone Created All Things

• Who Is the One True God?

• Is the Trinity in Genesis?

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Related Article:

The Bible consistently declares that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the one true God and the sole Creator of heaven and earth. This study examines key passages from both the Old and New Testaments to compare Scripture with Scripture and understand the Bible's testimony about God's unique identity.

Genesis 1:26 TRINITARIAN Deception.

Quick Facts:

According to the TRINITY faith (Elohim GOD)  is plural meaning more than one.

If we go back to the BEGINNING we read in Genesis 1:1 In the beginning (GOD, singular elohim) created the heavens and the earth.

However the TRINITY faith say Elohim is plural meaning more than one, which simply means Genesis 1:1 would read In the beginning (GODS plural elohim) created the heavens and the earth.

Note, (GODS) created the heavens and the earth, which confirms how the TRINITY faith actually prove with their own hand their own contradiction saying they believe in one GOD, while denying in their other hand by teaching and believing in THREE (GODS plural) and NOT ONE (GOD), contradicting the whole Bible.

What school teachers teach 1 EQUALS 3, OR 3 EQUAL 1, as taught in the TRINITY?

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Full article:

Is the Trinity in Genesis?

Notice a simple fact when GOD said (Let Us)?

Was GOD talking to Jesus and the Holy Spirit when He said (Let Us)?

The simple answer is in the very next verse of Genesis 1:27:

Berean Study Bible:

 So (God) created man in (His) own image; in the image of (God He) created him; male and female (He) created them.

Notice the SINGLE person of GOD the Father ALONE created man in His Image.

If Jesus and a separate person of the Holy Spirit were with GOD doing the creating with GOD, 

then we would simply read Genesis 1:27 saying:

And (WE) created man in (OUR) Image and NOT the singular word GOD with the singular word  (HE) and (HIM).

Genesis 1:27 also agrees with countless other scriptures saying GOD ALONE CREATED ALL THINGS which never mentions Jesus or a separate person of the Holy Spirit.

Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb: “ I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;  

Isaiah 44:24

Also notice GOD the father’s name Yahweh is in the Hebrew translation, but has been removed from the modern translations, to deceive people from knowing this verse is referring to GOD the Father Yahweh alone is the ONLY TRUE GOD ALONE, who is ONE BEING ALONE and the Creator ALONE.

Notice GOD says He was alone and created all things by Himself, and does not mention Jesus and a separate person of the Holy Spirit.

Notice again in:

We see again GOD is singular by the fact He says (MY HANDS) and (I).

In fact there is not a single verse saying Jesus always existed or Jesus was with GOD before all creation, and the verses used to teach that are misunderstood or taken out of context like John 1:1 which is GODS spoken word, divine utterance, the expression of a thought and plan as the word of GOD from GOD, and not Jesus.

Notice this is why John says: and the word was GOD John 1:1c.

But Jesus became the word for His GOD when He arrived as the Lamb of GOD, and as we are told in Revelation 19:13:

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 

It is also interesting how the Hebrews writer does not say in the beginning GOD spoke to us through His SON, but says instead:  

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 

And then we read GOD spoke through His Son when He arrived:

2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the ages . Hebrews 1:1,2.

Also notice GOD says there is no GOD beside Him:

To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. 

Deuteronomy 4:35. English Standard Version 

And yet the Trinity teaches the opposite that there is another two persons side by side with GOD, 

who are also separate beings and also GOD,

 as we see in the catholic image below:

So what did GOD mean saying let (US)?

I believe this none biased article below will help those who are confused understand the truth. 

God of Israel, with singular verb.

In the Hebrew Bible Elohim, when meaning the God of Israel, is mostly grammatically singular. Even in Genesis 1:26 "Then God said (singular verb), 'Let us make (plural verb) man in our image, after our likeness'", Elohim is singular. Wilhelm Gesenius and other Hebrew grammarians traditionally described this as the pluralis excellentiae (plural of excellence), which is similar to the pluralis majestatis (plural of majesty, or "Royal we").[11]

Gesenius comments that Elohim singular is to be distinguished from elohim plural gods and remarks that:

the supposition that elohim is to be regarded as merely a remnant of earlier polytheistic views (i.e. as originally only a numerical plural) is at least highly improbable, and, moreover, would not explain the analogous plurals (below). To the same class (and probably formed on the analogy of elohim) belong the plurals kadoshim, meaning "the Most Holy" (only of Yahweh, Hosea 12:1, Proverbs 9:10, 30:3 - cf. El hiym kadoshim in Joshua 24:19 and the singular Aramaic "the Most High", Daniel 7:18, 22, 25) and probably teraphim (usually taken in the sense of penates), the image of a god, used especially for obtaining oracles. Certainly in 1 Samuel 19:13, 16 only one image is intended; in most other places a single image may be intended; in Zechariah 10:2 alone is it most naturally taken as a numerical plural.

There are a number of notable exceptions to the rule that Elohim is treated as singular when referring to the God of Israel, including Gen. 20:13, 35:7, 2 Sam. 7:23 and Ps. 58:11, and notably the epithet of the "Living God" (Deuteronomy 5:26 etc.), which is constructed with the plural adjective, Elohim Hayiym אלהים חיים but still takes singular verbs.

In the Septuagint and New Testament translations Elohim has the singular ὁ θεός even in these cases, and modern translations follow suit in giving "God" in the singular. The Samaritan Torah has edited out some of these exceptions.[12] 

11. Gesenius Hebrew Grammar: 124g, without article 125f, with article 126e, with the singular 145h, with plural 132h,145i"

12. Richard N. Soulen, R. Kendall Soulen, Handbook of biblical criticism, Westminster John Knox Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-664-22314-4, p. 166.

Also read: 

Is the Trinity in Genesis? 

By https://www.biblicalunitarian.com/articles/is-the-trinity-in-genesis

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I have added bellow a great comment I received from my new and good brother Mr Dudley:

The Jews never believed that the messiah would ever be God they believe he will be a descendant of David.. 

And here is a commentary from the Jewish Bible  on Micah 5:2.  https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16191/showrashi/true   

And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah: whence David emanated, as it is stated (I Sam. 17:58): “The son of your bondsman, Jesse the Bethlehemite.” And Bethlehem is called Ephrath, as it is said (Gen. 48:7): “On the road to Ephrath, that is Bethlehem.”   you should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah: You should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah because of the stigma of Ruth the Moabitess in you.   

from you shall emerge for Me: the Messiah, son of David, and so Scripture says (Ps. 118:22): “The stone the builders had rejected became a cornerstone.”   and his origin is from of old: “Before the sun his name is Yinnon” ((Ps. 72:17).   

The Messiah was created or planed in the mind of God. It does not mean that he was in actual existence. He does not come to reality until the Birth of the Messiah in first century. Notice the wording before the sun is his name, Not his existences.

With you in truth. Dudley.

John 8:24 When we believe GOD is the SON we simply DENY the Father and the SON, and Jesus as the SON of GOD.