God’s Word for You

Genesis 1:26 Part 1 Let us make

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Saturday, August 8, 2026

26 Then God said, “Let us make man…”

Here we will consider the doctrine of the Trinity.

How does God describe himself? We look to the Scriptures for this description, and we realize right away that on one hand, there is a simple manner that any child can grasp. But on the other hand, God’s description of himself exceeds the limits of the human mind.

First, God is alone; there is only one God. The statement that stood as something like a creed for ancient Israel was, “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). One of my professors called that verse “the national anthem of the Old Testament.” The simple truth that there is only one God is the message of the First Commandment: “I am the LORD your God… You shall have no other gods” (Exodus 20:2-3).

When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, he said, “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength’” (Mark 12:29-30). And when Paul preached to the Greek philosophers in Athens, he said, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:24-25).

Jeremiah emphasized the powerlessness of idols. “The rituals of the peoples are worthless. They cut down a tree in the forest. Then the hands of a craftsman work it with an ax. They decorate it with silver and gold, but they have to nail it down with hammers, so that it will not tip over. Their idols are like a scarecrow in a melon patch. They cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them. They can do no harm, nor can they do any good” (Jeremiah 10:3-5). And Paul summarized all of this with simple, clear words: “An idol is not anything real in the world and there is no God but one” (1 Corinthians 8:4).

But God also reveals himself to be three distinct persons. We say “persons” rather than “people” to retain the singularity of the one God, yet “person” means that each exists fully and completely in itself. Just as you are a person who came from one mother and one father, you are not to be confused with your father or mother, for you are you. Each person of the Godhead also exists fully and separately; the names Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not just names for phases or faces of God. Each person exists.

We saw in the first verse of Genesis that God is the creator of heaven and earth (that is, of everything). Verse 2 showed us that the Spirit of God was also present at the creation, moving in a creative way over the vast chaotic mass like a great emulsion that was about to be formed into what we see and stand upon today. Then, in verse 3, God speaks. This voice of God, the Word of God, is identified with the Son of God (John 1:1).

Now, after God had made the “house” for man, with the floor of the land, the containing walls of the seas, the pantry of the food-giving plants and trees, well-lit by day and comfortable even at night, God addressed himself in a divine council. “Let us make man.”

“Let us” is more than a “plural of majesty,” the way that important people are accustomed to speaking about themselves in the plural. But God does not always use the plural to speak about himself, nor do the writers of the holy Scriptures. Even the plural “Elohim” (God), is sometimes shortened to the singular “Eloah” (Deuteronomy 32:15; Job 4:17; Psalm 18:32; Isaiah 44:8) and the still shorter “El” (Genesis 14:8; Psalm 42:3).

Here before he made man, God conferred with God; Father with Son, Father and Son with Holy Spirit. It cannot be said that any one person of the Holy Trinity went off on his own to create man without the knowledge or assent of the rest of the Trinity. In fact, this speech was not so much a conversation as it was a declaration. The time had come at last for the crown of God’s creation: Man. This is why the world was made, the universe, the planets and stars, the birds, fish, and animals, the separation of sea from land, light and dark—all of it. God desired to bring man into communion with him, to create him and then to call him home to heaven.

This is the unanimous agreement of the earliest teachers of the church. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 125-202), wrote: “Man was fashioned by the hands of God, that is, through the Son and the Holy Spirit to whom he also said, ‘Let us make man.’” He also said (in the same book): “Near the Father are always the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Holy Spirit, through and in whom he freely and voluntarily made all things, and to whom he speaks, saying, ‘Let us make man.’”

So we see that we, the humble creatures of God, were always on his mind. He brought forth everything we can imagine for our benefit, and so that we might seek him and learn about him and come to faith in him through his Gospel (Acts 17:27). “Blessed are they who seek him with all their heart” (Psalm 119:2).

Let us marvel at this and remember the blessing of Jesus: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29).

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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