Bible Question: Who was God talking to in Gen. 1:26?

Bible Question:In Gen. 1:26 God was obviously talking to someone, and it's not likely God was talking to Himself. Right? So, the person God was speaking to had to be a separate individual who obviously wasn't God The Father. Apparently, there was another person there with God The Father. Now let's say a person was reading the Bible for the first time. There is no way that this person could rightly identify this individual to whom God was speaking. Would you agree?

Bible Answer: You are correct that someone would have difficulty understanding the following verse.

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (NASB) Genesis 1:26

Many would assume that God was talking to someone other than Himself. A reader would not understand that the Hebrew word for God is ELOHIM and that the word is plural. However, if they knew the Hebrew word and then read Deut. 6:4 they might understand that this “plural God” is “one God” or a God who is a “plural-one.”

The sacred name of God is Jehovah. He is described as ELOHIM and one. The Hebrew word translated as “one” is EHAD. It means “one” or “single.” That is, God is a “plural-one.” The Bible teaches that there is only one God, and there will only be one God who is a plural-one. There are no other gods besides Jehovah Himself. Listen to God in the following verses,

"You are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. (NASB) Isaiah 43:10

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: 'I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me.’” (NASB) Isaiah. 44:6

I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me . . . (NASB) Isaiah 45:5

Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit. (NASB) Isa. 48:16

Here God says that He is the only God and there are no other gods. So to whom was He speaking? He was talking to Himself – within Himself to the other members of the Trinity. The term Trinity refers to the “plural-one” or God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion:Those who want to understand the novel titled The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe must read more than the initial pages of the book. It would be impossible to capture the fact that the lion would be a savior of Narnia in the first two pages or even the first chapter. They would need to read the entire novel. The same is true of the Bible. One cannot understand the Bible by reading only the first two pages or the first book of the Bible. One who reads the entire Bible will discover that it teaches that there is only one God. One must study the whole Bible to understand it. It was not written for the person who likes to read novels or short stories. It was written for those who are on a serious treasure hunt to understand the truth of and about God.