Checkpoint wrote: ↑Thu May 06, 2021 4:46 am
onewithhim wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 1:54 pm
Not gods (plural) god (singular): scripture indicates YHWH was speaking to The Word, his first and foremost spirit creation; later known as the human Jesus Christ.
Maybe, maybe not; can anyone be really sure about who He meant, and/or what is conveyed by "Let us/Us make man"..."in Our/our image".
Well, if it's not taken out of the context of the rest of Genesis 1, yes. We know that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were present from (at the very least) verse 1 and 2 of Genesis itself. And from John 1:1, we know that the Word (even if the Word was only later to become the Son Jesus -- which is quite a silly thought) was present also. So yes, we can be absolutely sure.
We also know that this... being... did not cease to be the Word when He came into this world; the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), or, as Paul says, He
took the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7).
And to that point, since we know -- again, from John 1:1 -- that
all things were made (created) through Him, and without Him was not
any thing made (created), Christ therefore cannot be created in any sense, because He was present when all things were made and all things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made.
So we know that He was not created -- as in never having before existed -- before the timeframe depicted in Genesis 1, and He was not created -- as in never having before existed -- in the two timeframes (the first being the beginning, and the second being at His birth) depicted in John 1. He is eternal, along with the the Father and the Holy Spirit, from eternity past to eternity future, from everlasting to everlasting. To deny this is exactly that... denial.
Yes, as many of us have said many times, there is One True God -- even Jehovah -- and He exists in three Persons.
Checkpoint wrote: ↑Thu May 06, 2021 4:46 am
...how do you explain the existence of these two texts?
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, (Titus 2:13)
There is a similar verse in 1 or 2 Peter.
I'd like to hear your answer to your own question, Checkpoint. I believe the verse you are referring to is 2 Peter 1:1 ("
Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ...") And don't forget these, too:
- 1 Timothy 1:1 -- "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,"
- 1 Timothy 2:3 -- "This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior..."
- 1 Timothy 4:10 -- "For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, Who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe."
- Titus 2:10 -- "...not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior."
- Titus 3:4 -- "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared..."
The wording is not the exact same, but I'll throw in what Paul says in Colossians 1:15 -- that He, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God -- and say just a bit about it. There is a distinction to be made here, and that is that Jesus
is the the image of God, whereas we and the rest of mankind are
made in His image. That should say volumes, and does, but alas...
Grace and peace to all.