Gen 3:22, Who are the US here?

[pelathais]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

There are two issues, 1 They were present at the creation of man and shared a similiar image so God addressed them including them in His plans. 2 Though not necessary, it is possible that angels participated in the MAKING of man but not in the creation of man. Had anyone really read this quote and my subsequent explanations the differences between create and make would already be known.

There have been some really interesting replies here. I'm wondering if Chan's and Prax's (and other's) point might be better understood by reading Hebrews 1 and 2 and looking at the way angels, "the Son" and human beings are being discussed. You can even work with it from a trinitarian viewpoint for purposes of discussion - though "God" is said rather expressly to be "a (singular) person" in this passage.

But concerning the "participation" of the angels at the time of creation- compare the angels at creation with the presence of angels at the giving of the Law at Sinai (as discussed in Heb. 1 & 2). In both cases a close reading of the OT narratives show God alone to be the primary, even exclusive actor. "God said... " and it was so. "God spoke..." to Moses, and so forth.

Yet, when he harkens back to the giving of the Law, the writer of Hebrews says, "For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward ..." Now, where in Exodus does it say "angels spoke" in the giving of the Law? And, before you try and pounce - I am standing on good ground here in asserting that Heb. 2:2 is a reference to the giving of the Law; even the Jewish Talmud makes this point. See also Galatians 3:19, "and it (the Law) was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator (Moses)."

So, on the one hand we have a narrative (in Exodus) where God is the exclusive actor; and on the other hand, much later, we have inspired sources (and others) who state that angels were present and involved. I don't think angels performed the "ex nihilo" work of creation any more than they inspired the Law, but they were there and if nothing else, their praise and even their wonder would contribute to the tableau of creation. Remember, angels look at us to find the "wisdom of God" - Ephesians 3:10 and 1 Peter 1:12.

This is the view that was always held concerning the "us" of Genesis 1:26, all the way up until around the 3rd century A.D. There is a huge body of Jewish literature on this subject, and at no time did the Jews ever attribute the "us" to being a mutiplicity of "Persons" within the nature of God. To this day, nothing even close to that conclusion can be found in Jewish/Hebraic sources.

Of course, God still might be a "Tri-Unity" of "distinct Persons," but Genesis 1:26 and 3:22 really give us no information that He is. Of course, we haven't even scratched the surface of "the image" and what that's about. Though obviously, it is something that God, angels and man all share. But, it also appears to be something "the Son" has in a degree far greater than angels or ordinary man.