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30 Is “ELOHIM” Really Uni-plural?

also the true God! Throughout the New Testa- name.” And yet thousands nodded approvingly
ment the One God and Jesus [Yeshua] are dis- as we sat through theology “101”, and biblical
tinct individuals -- as we would now say, languages “101”, little knowing that our mentors
“different people.” The Father and Son are as were unequipped to teach us correctly the most
distinct as any two individuals. God is one, and fundamental meanings of the word “Elohim.”
Jesus [Yeshua] is another. They relate to each The correct meanings however were available in
other as “I” and “you,” Father and Son, and Jesus standard authorities. (But we argued that only
[Yeshua] speaks of themselves as “we” and we really knew! This is the height of arrogance).
“us.” They are never said to be One Person,
much less are they together called “the One “Let Us Make...”
God,” or the “true God.”
Much of our confusion came to us via
The term “God” (Elohim) is applied to Genesis 1:26. Overlooking some 20,000 occur-
judges in Israel (Psalm 82:6), to single pagan rences of the words for God with accompanying
gods like Ashtoreth and Chemosh, and on one and confirming singular personal pronouns and
occasion to the coming Messiah (Psalm 45:6). In verbs, we were invited to latch on to four (only)
the New Testament the word “God” is referred appearances of the word “us,” connected some-
to Jesus [Yeshua] twice for certain (John 20:28; how with the One God. “And God said, ‘Let us
Hebrews 1:8, quoting Psalm 45:6). But the Fa- make man in our own image...’” With our false
ther of Jesus [Yeshua], the Yahweh premise well in mind, that Elohim is really plural
[YEHOVAH] revealed as a single divine Person in meaning, we needed only to be reassured by
6,800 times in the Old Testament, is called Genesis 1:26 that the Elohim family of Gods was
“God” or “the God” over 1300 times in the at work. Herbert Armstrong wrote with confi-
Greek New Testament. When the New Testa- dence about “two Gods in the One God Family.”
ment cites an Elohim text, meaning the One There in Genesis 1:26, he said, they cooperated
God, it translates it into Greek as the singular in the creation of man.
word “theos” (God), never ever a plural word
“theoi.” But of course nothing is said in that verse
about “two,” nor about a Son. Furthermore the
This must prove that Elohim has no trace verb is in the SINGULAR: It was God who said,
of plurality in its meaning when it designates the “Let us...” and then He -- not they -- performed
One God of Creation. How great then was the di- the creative act. “Let us,” of course, means “Let
saster when some announced on their own unin- me and any number of others take action.” The
formed authority that Elohim in Genesis 1:1 is a One God was in conversation with one or two or
“uniplural” word. many others who are not here defined. Is it rea-
sonable to imagine on this evidence that He was
No lexicon, as far as we know, says that talking to one other, His Son? And if the Son was
Elohim is “uniplural.” In fact we do not find the addressed, is he said to be a coequal member of a
word “uniplural” in either the Oxford Dictio- God Family? This would be in the highest de-
nary or in Webster’s “Unabridged.” Was that gree unlikely, especially since Elohim is not a
word an invention? (Perhaps readers can help us collective noun at all!
track its origin). If “uniplural” was intended to
mean “collective” the sense would have been The One God is, as we have seen, con-
clear. But the statement is false. Elohim is NOT stantly in the Old Testament a SINGLE Person.
a collective noun, and certainly, since it is noth- He is just that in Genesis 1:26. Why destroy the
ing like the word “family,” it is not a “family evidence of 20,000 texts with the evidence of

The Berean Voice July-August 2002