​Commencing from my short stint (Fall of 1982 to Summer of 1983), in the Faculty of Divinity, at the University of Aberdeen, attaining greater clarity and experientially knowing Who, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, is, has been the consuming focus of my life.
 
It is with this Jesus lens and focus that I have revisited the GOD - 'elohiym(אֱלֹהִים)[1] and LORD GOD -Yahweh(יְהֹוָה)'elohiym(אֱלֹהִים)[2] narratives of creation, humankind and Adam and Eve, in the first 3 Chapters of the Book of Genesis.
 
I begin by presenting my personal take regarding the word אֱלֹהִים - 'elohiym(God) and יְהֹוָה – Yahweh(Lord), with hope, that all may be blessed.
 
It is written in Genesis 1:26-30: “26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.”[3]
 
In the quoted passage, the word translated “God” is the Hebrew word אֱלֹהִים - 'elohiym[4], plural of אֱלוֹהַּ[5] - 'elowahh, which is always translated as God or god (singular). In Genesis 1:1, the plural noun אֱלֹהִים - 'elohiym is followed by a singular verb.
 
However, in Genesis 1:26, although God-'elohiym, (the plural noun) is followed by a singular verb ‘said’, the next word נַֽעֲשֶׂה – noshe[6][7] “Let us make”, is in the plural form. Therefore in Genesis 1:26, there is the imputation that there is more than one Creator involved in creating Man[8].
 
This is also alluded to in the next verse of Genesis 1:27: “So God created man[9] in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female (more than one) he created them.”
Humankind was created in the image of God(plural), 'elohiym - אֱלֹהִים.
 
Humankind or humanity, according to this verse comprised of both male and female, each a true, real and whole human being. Yet, the description, understanding and reality of humanity or humankind would be incomplete, if one is without the other. In the narrative, these two, in their distinctiveness as male and female, are not only respectively truly and properly human beings, but also are jointly one as humankind. As such they respectively and jointly determine and define what humankind truly is, as well as what and how God is to be perceived.
 
For, according to these verses[10], this is God’s ('elohiym) creative expression of the image and likeness of what and who God (אֱלֹהִים - ʼĕlôhîym) is.
 
In these verses, there seem to be an allusion of relational Plurality and Oneness of Being in God אֱלֹהִים - ʼĕlôhîym, that of Oneness in Plurality and Plurality in Oneness(hereinafter referred to as Oneplural and Pluralone).
 
In Mark 12:28, when a scribe asked Jesus; “Which commandment is the first of all?”[11], he replied “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’[12]
 
The opening words of Jesus’ reply "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the LORD is one"[13] (Hebrew:שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד׃) is commonly known as the Shema Yisrael proclamation of Deuteronomy 6:4.
 
To Israel, the Lord God is always[14] one.
 
How then does one address this relational Plurality and Oneness in the Being of God, אֱלֹהִים - ʼĕlôhîym, in light of the proclamation of Deuteronomy 6:4 “the Lord  יְהֹוָה – YAHWEH our God אֱלֹהִים - ʼĕlôhîym, the LORD יְהֹוָה – YAHWEH is one.”


[1] Genesis 1

[2] Genesis 2:5

[3] Revised Standard Version (RSV)

[4] See Strong’s H430

[5] See Strong’s H433

[6] Genesis 1:26 Scripture4all Online Interlinear Old Testament Hebrew Text WLC_v (v1.1): Westminster Leningrad Codex with vowels

[7] from נַֽעֲשֶׂ – `asah  See strong’s H6213

[8] With reference to Genesis 1:26, the footnote of the Tanach The Stone Edition has it that the Targum Yonasan paraphrases; “And God said to the ministering angels who hand been created on the second day of Creation of the world, ‘Let us make Man.’”
The footnote of Genesis 1:26 continues with, “When Moses wrote the Torah and came to this verse (let us make), which is in the plural and implies ז”ח that there is more than one Creator, he said: “Sovereign of the Universe! Why do You thus furnish a pretext for heretics to maintain that there is a plurality of divinities?” “Write!” God replied. “Whoever wishes to err will err… Instead, let them learn from their Creator Who created all, yet when He came to create Man He took counsel with the ministering angels” (Miderash)”  Tanach The Stone Edition
See Strong’s H433 under item (B) of Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon [?]
and also Wikipedia on Royal-We “The royal we, or majestic plural (pluralis majestatis), is the use of a plural pronoun (or corresponding plural-inflected verb forms) to refer to a single person who is a monarch.”
My view is that there is no evidence from the Old Testament concerning this narrative that would support the above views.

[9] אָדַם ʼâdam – Strong’s H120 – humankind

[10] Genesis 1:26,27

[11] Mark 12:28 RSV

[12] Mark 12:29,30 RSV

[13] Tree of Life Version. TLV

[14] emphasis mine

Even as God is Triune love and loving, I perceive complete genuine love and loving displaying three essential and distinct characteristics: the elements of giving, receiving and reciprocating.

Father loves (giving) Son and Spirit. Son and Spirit accept and embraces (receiving) Father’s love (giving). Son and Spirit reciprocate (reciprocating) by similarly loving Father in return. All this happens, in a reciprocal, simultaneous, synergistic, dynamic loving exchange.
 
If God is only ONE, and is love, then complete and eternal love, would ONLY be eternal self-loving. Then, the highest and greatest expression of love would ONLY be loving one’s self, for in eternity there is no genuine and authentic OTHER to love and to be loved in return. There is giving to and receiving from yourself in self- loving. However, there is no reciprocating, as there is no genuine and authentic other reciprocating love to yourself.
 
Jesus’ statements on the first and great commandment[1] and the second like it[2], is instructive on the importance and genuineness of self, the other, love and loving.
 
In the second, Jesus introduced the element of love and loving to one’s relationship to one’s neighbour (the other). More than that, he linked it, as inseparable, of equal importance[3] to the first ; to the love obligation that an Israelite had of loving LORD (YHWH) GOD (Elohim- Plural).[4]
 
In so doing, even as Self and the Other is genuinely real in YHWH ELOHIM, so too, our individual self, and therefore, the self of another, is correspondingly, genuine and real. As such, our love and loving is also authentically and meaningfully real. I believe that this comforts and gives purpose to many who struggle with the notion of whether self or love and loving is authentically meaningful. Even as self and another freely and willingly initiate, create and complete love, giving, receiving and reciprocating love makes self and the other complete, whole and fulfilled.
 
Loving your neighbour as yourself is much more than just doing to others what you wish others will do to you or do not do to others what you do not wish others to do to you. God lives, rests and abides in us when we love our neighbour. It is written in 1 John 4: ”Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”[5] “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” [6] God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.”[7]
 
Giving, receiving and reciprocating love and loving, to and from God and each other, not only enables us to know God and each other, it eventually makes us one in God. Jesus prayed: “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us[8], so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”[9]


[1] Matthew 22:37, 38

[2] Matthew 22:39

[3] See Matthew 22:34-39.  The word commonly translated ‘and’ is actually Strong’s  G1161 Greek word “ δέ - de” more accurately having the meaning of “but, moreover”. When paired with the Greek words “ὁμοία [(homoia) from homois ( See Strong’s G3664)”] αὐτῇ - literally ‘like it’” , the phrase has within it the connotation of “like but equally important.” “A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" New Living Translation. “And the second is like it in importance: ‘You must love your friend in the same way you love yourself.’” The Passion Translation. The word “second” connotes distinction and inseparability rather than priority vis a vis the first.  You cannot love God if you do not love thy our neighbour. By loving your neighbour, you are also loving God. See 1 john 4:7,16

[4] Deuteronomy 6:4,5  In Hebrew the word “יְהוָה-YHWH” is translated LORD, and the word “אֱלֹהֶיךָ-Elohim” is translated as God. Note that YHWH is ONE (Deuteronomy 6;4) but Elohim is Plural See Strong’s H430 – plural of אֱלוֹהַּ-‘elowahh meaning God.

[5] 1 John 4:7,8

[6] 1 John 4:12 NRSV See Strong’s G3306 translated as  “lives” here

[7]  1 John 4:16 NRSV   See Strong’s G 3306 translated as “abides’ here.  “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” NLT

[8] Other ancient manuscript reads be one in us
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[9] John 17:20-24 NRSV