Living Room Study

Genesis 6

“When the Lord saw that man’s wickedness was widespread on the earth and every scheme that he thought of was nothing but evil all the time, the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart.  Then the Lord said, “I will wipe off the face of the earth: man, whom I created together with the animals, creatures that crawl, and birds of the sky – for I regret that I made them.”  Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”  Genesis 6: 5-8

When mankind was created, God said, “Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness. (Genesis 1:26) The text describes God in the plural form, as opposed to a singular “I will make man in MY image, according to MY likeness.”

This usage of God in the Plural is similar to the Bible’s opening statement, “In the Beginning, God…” (Elohim: Gods). Genesis 1:1

Because of the Bible’s statement that God is ONE (Echad), (Deuteronomy 6:4) the rabbis have traditionally rejected the notion that God exists as a Plurality. This is, they do not believe in the Trinity.

Two arguments the Rabbis use to explain-away the notion of God as a plurality are:

1) The traditional Hebrew use of plurality illustrates power, i.e., “one” possesses the strength of “many”. This is definitely true of omnipotent God.

2) Plurality denotes internal debate. That is, they believe that God debated as to whether to create man. That is, the terms “us” and “our” are simply representative of the different opinions God held while debating whether to create mankind.

If you agree with the rabbis’ argument over God’s internal debate, it is easy to understand His statement, “I regret that I made them.” God is represented as being “singular”, “One”. But there is a problem with that argument: It is impossible for God to be double minded. (1 Samuel 15:29, Malachi 3:6) Remember God pronounced creation “Very Good” at the end of the 6^th day. So, how can creation be “very good” and regrettable?

Perhaps, the answer lies in the primary roles of the individual members of the Trinity. God: Justice, Jesus: Mercy & Grace, Spirit: Revelation of Truth. In the creation of man, we are allowed a glimpse of the Trinity conversing with each other, as a single unit: “God said, ‘Let Us…’”. In the pronouncement of judgment in the days of Noah, we see the persons of the Trinity represented individually with respect to their ministries: The Spirit: revelation of widespread wickedness. The Father: weighs the Spirit’s testimony and pronounces regret over mankind’s sin. The Son: provides grace for Noah and mercy for the rest of his family. (Remember: only Noah was pronounced righteous) Therefore, we conclude that while still in communion with the Spirit & Son, it is altogether possible for God’s pronouncement to be as an individual.

Blessings.

Steve Wiggins