Passage

Genesis 1.26

Book: Genesis · NASB95

Verse

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'" (Genesis 1:26, NASB95)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

NASB95 (NASB95)

"Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind'; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good."

"Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.'"

"God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'" (Genesis 1:24-28, NASB95)

Setting

Speaker: Moses (traditionally) reporting divine speech.
Audience: Israel, in the wilderness.
Location: Sinai / wilderness composition.
Time period: the verse narrates the climactic act of the sixth day of creation; written 14th-13th c. BC.

Theological reading

The verse is the opening of Hebrew theological anthropology, and one of the most contested in OT-internal interpretation due to the plural language ("Let Us make… in Our image, after Our likeness"). Three claims:

Plural divine speech. Na'aseh adam betzalmenu kidemutenu, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Three plural elements:

Na'aseh, first-person plural cohortative ("let us make")
Tzalmenu, "our image" (plural possessive)
Demutenu, "our likeness" (plural possessive)

Image and likeness. Two terms paired: tzelem (image, visible-physical-pattern, what something looks like) and demut (likeness, abstract-pattern, what something resembles). Together: humanity is patterned on God in both visible (form, role, relational capacity) and abstract (rationality, morality, spirituality) dimensions.
Dominion mandate. "Let them rule", humanity is given delegated authority over creation. This grounds the cultural mandate (cultivation, exploration, science, art) and stewardship-of-creation ethics.

The plural language, three readings

The plural "Let Us" / "in Our image" has been read three ways across the history of exegesis:

1. Plural of majesty (Jewish / some Christian). Royal speakers throughout the ancient world used the we of office (cf. modern royal "we"). On this reading, God's plural is simply majestic, no implication of internal plurality. Counter: Hebrew elsewhere has clear plural-of-majesty conventions (the noun elohim with singular verb), but the verbal cohortative na'aseh is not the standard plural-of-majesty form. Plural-of-majesty in the Hebrew Bible appears in nouns and possessives, but is rare-to-nonexistent for verbal speech. The grammatical case for plural-of-majesty as the explanation for na'aseh is weak.

2. Plural of self-deliberation (some modern Jewish + some moderate Christian). God deliberating with Himself, like an inner monologue. Counter: Hebrew has clearer ways to express self-deliberation; the plural is striking enough to require explanation.

3. Divine-council deliberation (some modern critical scholars; Michael Heiser). God speaking to the heavenly council of angels / bnei elohim (sons of God; cf. Job 1:6, Job 38:7, 1 Kings 22:19, Psalm 82:1). On this reading, "Let Us make" is God speaking to created angels. Counter: v. 27 immediately follows: bara elohim et ha-adam, "God (singular) created man." The actual creation-act is by God alone; v. 26's plural deliberation does not include angels in the creative act. Also: humans are made in God's image (singular reference in v. 27 betzelem elohim), not in the image of angels-plus-God.

4. Trinitarian foreshadowing (patristic / traditional Christian). The plural anticipates, though does not yet explicitly reveal, the tri-personal nature of God. The Father consults with the Son and Spirit in the creation of humanity. Defense: the plural fits the broader canonical theology of God's tri-personality (Genesis 11:7 "let us go down"; Isaiah 6:8 "who shall we send"; the OT Word / Wisdom / Spirit theology); v. 27's singular-creation-act preserves divine unity (one God acts) within the plural-deliberation. The plural language is consistent with and anticipatory of full Trinitarian revelation, even if not yet explicit.

The Christian-traditional position: the plural does not prove the Trinity from Genesis 1:26 alone, but the doctrine of the Trinity makes sense of the plural language in a way the alternatives do not.

Imago Dei, the foundational doctrine

The verse establishes the imago Dei doctrine, with implications across:

Human dignity, every human bears God's image; murder is forbidden because of the imago Dei (Genesis 9:6); slavery / abuse / dehumanization are violations of imago Dei (see Exodus 21.16).
Pro-life ethics, the unborn bear the imago Dei.
Anti-racism, every ethnicity equally bears the image (Acts 17:26).
Christology, Christ is the perfect imago Dei (Colossians 1.15); fallen image-bearers are restored into His image (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18).
Cultural mandate, the dominion mandate authorizes human creativity, science, governance, art; humans are vice-regents under God.

Patristic reading of "Let Us"

Patristic tradition uniformly took the na'aseh as Trinitarian-foreshadowing:

Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 62, c. AD 160), Father speaks to the Son; possibly to the Spirit
Irenaeus (Against Heresies IV.20.1, c. AD 180), Father speaks to the "two hands" (Son and Spirit)
Tertullian (Against Praxeas 12, c. AD 213), explicit Trinitarian reading
Athanasius (Discourses Against the Arians II.31, c. AD 358)
Augustine (De Trinitate 7.6; City of God 16.6), affirms Trinitarian implication while acknowledging Genesis alone is insufficient to demonstrate the doctrine
Calvin (Genesis commentary, ad loc.), Trinitarian; "Christians have sometimes interpreted this plural number as if Moses ascribes a council to God between the Three Persons of the Godhead. Although I do not reject the explanation, yet I think it more likely that…"

Calvin's caveat shows the pattern: the patristic-Reformed tradition treats Genesis 1:26 as consistent with and anticipatory of Trinitarian doctrine, while acknowledging the explicit revelation comes through later Scripture. The Trinitarian doctrine is grounded across the canon, but Genesis 1:26 remains one of its earliest hints.

Apologetic significance

The verse anchors:

Trinitarian apologetics against unitarian (Jewish, Islamic, JW, Oneness) readings of monotheism. The Christian claim is that the plural-language of Genesis 1:26 / 11:7 / Isaiah 6:8 + the singular echad of the Shema together permit (and on the canonical witness require) a tri-personal monotheism. See H0259 - echad.
Pro-life / human dignity arguments, imago Dei is the universal-human-worth ground.
Anti-evolutionist anthropology, humans are categorically distinct from animals (made in God's image, not just on a continuum with apes).
Anti-Marxist / collectivist anthropology, every human individually bears the image; not a faceless collective.

Key words

H0430 - elohim, elohim (God), plural noun; takes singular verb in v. 27 but plural cohortative in v. 26
H1254 - bara, bara (created), singular subject in v. 27 (God created)
H6754 - tselem, tzelem (image)
H1823 - demuth, demut (likeness)
H0120 - adam, adam (man / mankind)

Connection to other passages

Genesis 1.27, the singular execution of the plural deliberation; humans created in God's image
Colossians 1.15, Christ as the image (eikōn) of the invisible God; the perfect imago restored
H0259 - echad, the Shema's word for "one"; the unity-in-plurality argument
John 1:1, the Logos with God in the beginning (anticipated in Gen 1:26's "Let Us")