My interpretation is that "us" refers to the Holy Trinity, meaning God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. The three of them together make up "God", that's why God is referring to the three of them as "us". Just my 2 cents though.

 

taken from a quick google search..........

Question: "Why does God refer to Himself in the plural in Genesis 1:26 and 3:22?"

Answer: Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.'” Genesis 3:22 states, "And the LORD God said, 'The man has now become like one of us...'" There are other Scriptures in the Old Testament that refer to God using the plural. It is also interesting to note that "Elohim," one of the primary titles of God in the Old Testament (occurring over 2500 times), is in the plural.

Some people have used these scriptures to hypothesize that there is more than one God. We can rule out polytheism (belief in multiple gods), because that would contradict countless other Scriptures that tell us that God is one and that there is only one God. Three times in Isaiah 45 alone, He states: “I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me” (vv. 5,6,18). A second possible explanation is that God was referring to the angels by saying "us" and "our." However, the Bible nowhere states that angels have the same "image" or "likeness" as God (see Genesis 1:26). That description is given to humanity alone.

Since the Bible, and the New Testament especially, presents God as a Trinity (three Persons but only one God), Genesis 1:26 and 3:22 can only represent a conversation within the Trinity. God the Father is having a "conversation" with God the Son and/or God the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament hints at the plurality of God, and the New Testament clarifies this plurality with the doctrine of the Trinity. Obviously, there is no way we can fully understand how this works – but God has given us enough information to know that He does exist in three Persons, - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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In the Genesis 1:26, we find God having a conversation about the creation of humankind.

Then God said, Let Us make humankind in our image, according to 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 wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth (Genesis 1:26).


To whom is God speaking? There are four popular answers to this question:

1.He is speaking to angels.

2.The Us is a plural of majesty.

3.The plural should be translated as a singular.

4. The Us refers to the members of the Trinity.


1.Angels

Some have taught that the reference to Us refers to God speaking to angels. This has been a very popular interpretation among the Jews. However this will not fit with the rest of Scripture. Nowhere do we find angels involved in any type of creation. According to the Bible, angels are created beings, not co-creators with God. The psalmist wrote:

Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts . . . Let them praise the Lord for He commanded and they were created (Psalm 148:2,5).


All His hosts is likely a reference to angels.

God's Image

Furthermore, humanity was not made in the image of angels but rather the image of God.

This is the list of the descendants of Adam. When God created humankind, He made them in the likeness of God. Male and female He created them, and He blessed them and named them Humankind when they were created (Genesis 5:1,2).


Creation belongs to the will of God alone. God did not make the decision with the counsel of angels.

2.Plural Of Majesty

Others have argued that the plural is only a plural of majesty that speaks of God's dignity and greatness. God is too majestic to be spoken of in the singular. They argue that the plural form of the noun for God, Elohim, can be explained somewhat in that way. The grammatical plural expresses something other than number. Hence we have, Let Us. This allows a single person to speak of himself in the plural. However, the plural of majesty does not, in any way, mean there is more than one God.

Only One God

When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek, the Greek word used to translate Elohim was Theos—a singular noun. This demonstrates the people understood Elohim to refer to only one God, not many.

3.Editorial We

It has been contended that the phrase let Us make refers to discourse where the subject, although singular speaks of himself in the plural. Though this use of the editorial we is popular in western literature, there is no evidence of it elsewhere in the Old Testament or in any of the literature in the ancient Near East.

4.Trinity

One of the most popular ways of viewing this verse is that we have communication within the members of the Trinity. Though not explicitly stated in this verse, the implicit nature of the Trinity is evident.

Elohim Plural

The Hebrew noun Elohim, used throughout chapter one, is plural in form, but it takes a singular verb. This speaks of plurality of persons within the nature of the one God. The pronoun Us also suggests in itself a plurality of persons.

Hebrew Grammar

It has been argued, however, that Us is required by Hebrew grammar since Elohim is a plural noun. Therefore we should not necessarily read the doctrine of the Trinity into this passage.

Other Uses

When this phrase is used elsewhere in Scripture it bolsters the idea of the Trinity. Genesis 3:22 has God stating that the man is like one of Us.

Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever (Genesis 3:22).


This cannot mean God was concerned that humanity had become like an angel or some other creature. Humankind was going to be like God if they sinned—knowing good from evil.

Tower Of Babel

In the incident at the Tower of Babel we have God also using the same phrase,

Come, let Us go down and confuse their language (Genesis 11:7).

The next verse tells us that it was the Lord, not angels, that scattered the people.

So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth (Genesis 11:8).


This provides further support of the Us referring to the members of the Trinity.

Not All Agree

There are some Christian interpreters who believe it is not correct to find a reference to the Trinity in this passage. They argue that the Trinity was not revealed until the New Testament and that the passage could be better interpreted as something else (such as the plural of majesty). While affirming the doctrine of the Trinity, they deny that we should read it into this passage. They do not believe that it would have been in the mind of the writer or would have been in the mind of his audience.

Foreshadowing

If Genesis 1:26 is speaking of the Trinity, then it is one of the most outstanding foreshadowings in the Old Testament. It records One Person of the Godhead addressing another. The Trinity doctrine is more fully developed in the remainder of Scripture although the Old Testament has foreshadowed it in various passages (Psalm 110:1; Isaiah 63:7, 9-10; Proverbs 30:4).

Summary

Although we are not specifically told who is talking to whom in the first chapter of Genesis, it seems in more keeping with the entire teaching of Scripture that the members of the Trinity are communicating with one another. Genesis 1 contains in embryonic form the doctrine of the Trinity that is alluded to in other parts of the Old Testament and fully developed in the New Testament.

 

 

@Swiffbboy, thanks except if you read it it says, basically everything up to "We don't know". I asked google already, I came here for opinions and/or information. That copy and paste isn't informative in the least bit. Plus let's be frank the trinity doesn't make any sense. The son, in the trinity is Jesus, Jesus was a man, therefore this conversation happened before "the son" or pre-trinity. Plus as far as I'm aware, Jesus died; he must have went to heaven, therefore he could not have eaten from the tree of life and continue to live, eternally. He died for our sins remember? Now he could have been talking to his own spirit I suppose... but that doesn't make sense when applied to the tree of life either.

@Saki Trust me, I'm always checking my back for GC.

 

you are seeming to forget that Jesus was God in the flesh. you are implying that they are separate. they are three parts and one in the same. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus did die for our sins. He conquered death and rose again. then he ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father until it is His time to return.

 

First of all, the copy paste shows that the explanations I already suggested are popular responses to your question. Take your pick, or come up with your own explanation.
Second, everything is always open to interpretation. The response "we don't know," as you put it, is pretty common... no one knows, with absolute certainty, the meaning of every single verse in the Bible.
Finally, you're trying to apply logic to religion, dude. It's wasted effort.

Again, I'm not religious at all... I'm just not really seeing the point of your thread.

 

Central dogma of Christianity.

 

 

lol'd

 

well played.