Examining the Bible verses used for supporting the Trinity: Genesis

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Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

The reason given for its use to support the Trinity is that "Elohim" is a plural word by itself, like "sheep" in English. In English, one sheep is called a "sheep", ten sheep are also called "ten sheep," not "ten sheeps," the word "sheep" serving as a singular as well as a plural according to context. An example of the singular use of the word is in Exodus 22:20, which says that, "Whoever sacrifices to any god other than Jehovah must be destroyed." Example of the plural forms are Genesis 35:2, "Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you…", and Exodus 18:11, "Now I know that Yehovah is greater than all other gods."

The use of the word "Elohim" to support the doctrine of the Trinity perfectly illustrates the "is-so/ may-be-so" reasoning fallacy (Rule 7 above). This fallacy consists in believing that a text says that "something is so" when at the most the text says that "something maybe so." In many of similar texts we will encounter later on, Trinitarians say that "Elohim" refers to a plurality of persons within the Godhead, that there are three persons in this plurality, that one of the persons in these three is Jesus, and that Jesus was the pre-existent, co-eternal God along with the Father. Whereas at the most one can say about such texts is that "Elohim" may refer to a plurality of persons within the Godhead, that there may be three persons in this plurality, that one of the persons in these three may be Jesus, and that Jesus may be the pre-existent, co-eternal God along with the Father. There are four maybes in this statement, each needing to be examined in detail against other Scriptures. Doctrines cannot be built on "maybes," and certainly not "maybes" whose possibilities are definitely contradicted by other passages in the Bible. They have to be built on definite statements which clearly state that something "is-definitely-so." Let’s examine the four "maybes" to see why the word "Elohim" cannot be used to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

The first "maybe" is that "Elohim" may or may not imply a plurality of persons within itself. There are words such as "group", "team", "committee", "couple", "pair", "crowd" etc. which always imply a plurality of persons within themselves. When they speak about themselves, they can never speak as a singular person. A group or a team or a committee or a couple or a pair has to use words such as "we", "our", "ourselves" to speak about themselves, never "I", "my", "mine" or "myself". Thus a team or a group has to say "We decide…", not "I decide"; a couple or a pair has to say, "Let us…", never "Let me…" Also the pronouns "He" and "His" can never be used of groups like pairs or couples or crowds which imply a plurality of persons. Now in the Bible, such words are often used of God. In Genesis 1:26, 3:22 and 11:7 Elohim does use words like "Let us…" and "our" and this is what Trinitarians latch on to. Why these verses cannot be used to support the concept of plurality of persons within the Godhead will be examined in detail when we consider those verses. But the gist of the argument there is that for these three verses in the entire Bible which may or may not imply a plurality of persons within the Godhead, there are hundreds of others which clearly and definitely imply that there is no plurality of persons within the Godhead. These are the hundreds of verses throughout the Bible wherein Elohim uses first person singular pronouns "I", "me", "mine" and "myself"; plus the hundreds of verses in which second person singular pronouns like "you", "your" or third person singular pronouns like "he", "his" and "him" are used of Him. So in all fairness, a Trinitarian belief has to take into account all these verses and provide a reasonable explanation for them.

Now given the fact that groups implying plurality of persons can NEVER use singular pronouns like "I", "me", "mine", "myself", nor can singular pronouns like "you", "he", "his", "him" can be used of them., and given the fact that these are used of Elohim in hundreds of verses throughout the Bible, we have to conclude that "Elohim" when used of God Almighty, can never imply a plurality of persons within itself. A team, a committee, a couple, a pair, a crowd (words which imply an intrinsic plurality of persons) can NEVER use words like "I", "me" and "myself" to talk about itself, it has to use words like "we", "us" and "ourselves". If there are other good, satisfactory explanations for the use of "us" and "our" in Gen 1:26, 3:22 and 11:7, then the justification for believing that a plurality of persons is implied in the word "Elohim" is further weakened. And there happen to be four very good other explanations, which we see in detail when we cover Genesis 1:26. Here we are dealing with the four "maybes" and the first "maybe" itself happens to be almost impossible since singular pronouns like "I", "me", "mine", "myself", "you", "he", "his", "him" etc. are used of "Elohim" in hundreds of verses throughout the Bible which could not be possible if there were a plurality of persons within the Godhead.

Now let’s look at the instances where the word "Elohim" (when not used of Almighty God) is used in a plural sense. "Elohim" is not used for God or gods alone, but also for "men with authority," or "a man with authority, such as a judge." It is used for "judges" in Exodus 21:6 ("then his master must take him before the judges"), Exodus 22:8 ("But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges to determine…") and 22:9. It is used for "angels" (KJV) or "heavenly beings" (NIV) in Psalm 8:5, "You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings". In none of these cases where Elohim is translated and understood in a plural sense, is it understood to mean "a plurality of persons within themselves." When Genesis 35:2 says, "Get rid of all the foreign gods you have with you," and Exodus 18:11 says, "Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all other gods," they do not mean "one god with a plurality of persons within himself," but "different gods." The judges in Exodus 21:6; 22:8 and 9 were "different judges" not "one judge with a plurality of persons within himself." The "angels" or "heavenly beings" in Psalm 8:5 were "different angels" or "different heavenly beings", not "one angel with a plurality of persons within himself" or "one heavenly being with a plurality of persons within himself" And no Trinitarian says that Jesus is "another God."

And when Elohim is translated as the singular "god" or "judge," there is no hint of any "compound nature" in its meaning. Two examples are Exodus 22:20 ("Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the lord must be destroyed") and Judges 6:31 ("If Baal really is a god, he can defend himself when someone breaks down his altar"). Nobody believes that these gods had any compound nature. In Exodus 7:1, God says that He has made Moses a "god" (Elohim) to Pharaoh. Was Moses a single person or a compound being of different persons? Again, in Judges 11:24, the pagan god Chemosh is called Elohim, and in 1 Samuel 5:7, the pagan god Dagon is called Elohim, yet nobody concludes that those gods were somehow composite or "uniplural". The complete list of verses where Elohim (Strong’s no. 430) is used of other gods, powerful heavenly beings, powerful people, or judges is found in qqq)

The second "maybe" is that there "may be" three persons within this plurality. Now why only three? Why not four? Why not two? In fact a far better case can be made out for having two persons in the Godhead – one male and one female (as many religions do have, the God and his consort). Doesn’t the Bible very clearly say "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (Gen 1:27). So if "male and female" together make up His image, then there should logically be one male and one female in the Godhead! We don’t hear about this plausible argument today, but Augustine had to contend with similar stuff when the whole controversy was raging in the fourth century and the Unitarians were strongly opposing for more than 60 years, the making of the Trinity as the official doctrine of the church. Augustine makes an attempt to address a similar issue in his 15-volune work "On the Trinity". In volume 12, chapter 5 (titled "The opinion which devises an image of the Trinity in the marriage of male and female and in their offspring") and chapter 6 (titled "Why this opinion is to be rejected"), he briefly deals with the argument some were putting forth – that God consisted of a Trinity of Father, Mother and Son! The point is, even if one were to grant the first "maybe" (which itself is highly unlikely to be true), the word "Elohim" still cannot be assumed to consist of three persons.

The third "maybe" is that one of the persons that Elohim includes in the "us" of Gen 1:26 is Jesus in his pre-incarnate form. This is quite possible since there are plenty of other verses which support the belief that Jesus did exist in a pre-incarnate form before the universe was created and that God created the universe through him. This is the only "maybe" which has the strong possibility of being true since it is supported in other places in the Bible. Some of these verses are:

John 3:13	No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-- the Son of Man.
John 6:62	What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!
John 8:58	"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" (egoo eimi="I is" or "I is there" or "I was there" or "I exist")
John 16:5	"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'
John 16:28	I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."
John 17:5	And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
John 17:24	"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
1 Cor 8:6	yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Eph 4:8-10	This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
Col 1:17	He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Heb 1:1-2	In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.
I Jn 1:1	That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-- this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.
Rev 1:17	When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
Rev 2:8	"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.

So the third maybe is quite possible – Jesus may be the person God was speaking to in Gen 1:26, 3:22, and 11:7.

As far as the fourth "maybe" is concerned, there is not a single verse or passage in the Bible which shows that he was co-eternal God along with the Father. In fact there are verses which show that Jesus was a created person (created in the image of God for sure), that he was God’s first creation, which implies that there was a time when he was not. One should not confuse between the pre-existence of Jesus (=existence before the universe was created) which other Bible verses support, and co-eternality (=being eternal with God) which other Bible verses contradict. The picture that emerges out of all the relevant verses taken together is that after creating Jesus in His own image as the first creation, God created the universe through him. The verses which support the belief that Jesus was a created person are:

Prov 8:22	(believed by most to be speaking of Jesus, though not by me, as will be clear why when we examine it in detail later on) "The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old;
Micah 5:2	"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
Col 1:15	He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Heb 1:6	And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God's angels worship him."
John 1:14	The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the (monogenees=) only begotten, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:18	No one has ever seen God, but the (monogenees=) only begotten, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
John 3:16	"For God so loved the world that he gave his (monogenees=) only begotten, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:18	Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's (monogenees=) only begotten.
I Jn 4:9	This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his (monogenees=) only begotten into the world that we might live through him.

The Greek root word "ginomai" (Strong’s 1096), from which the word "monogenee" is derived, always refers to "something that came into being, which was once not."

Thus after examining the four "maybes", we see that only the third one is supported by other verses in the Bible as a possibility. The other three are in fact, contradicted by other verses in the Bible! To use this verse as a support for the Trinity on four "maybes," three of which are definitely contradicted by other Bible passages is like trying to build a house on four pillars, three of which are definitely weak and shaky! To conclude, taken either in an isolated manner, or taken in its context, the word "Elohim", when used of Almighty God, just cannot be used to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

Genesis 1:26
Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness…"

"Let us make man in our image, in our likeness," says God in Genesis 1:26 and Trinitarians immediately jump at it and tout it as a clear proof of the Trinity. However, those who are interested in knowing what the Bible actually says about the particular subject in question (i.e. the nature of God) and are interested more in basing their lives on what the Bible says rather than proving a point, cannot afford such luxuries. For there is no shortcut to hard work. The first task we have to do is to consider all relevant verses on the issue (rule 1 out of the 14). And the first thing we note is that for every verse in which God uses pronouns like "we" and "us" and "our", there are hundreds of other verses in which He uses pronouns like "I", "me" and "myself"! A complete listing of such verses would make it too long, but just to get an idea of what a gigantic task there is in front of an honest Trinitarian, we do the exercise for the book of Genesis. The following is the complete list of verses from the book of Genesis where the pronouns "I", "me", "my", and "myself" have been used by Elohim God; plus the verses in which pronouns like "he", "his" etc. have been used of Him: Do go through them, just to feel the impact, even if you are familiar with them:

Gen 1:29	Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
Gen 1:30	And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
Gen 2:18	The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
Gen 2:19	Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
Gen 2:21	So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
Gen 2:22	Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
Gen 3:8	Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:15	And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
Gen 3:16	To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."
Gen 3:17	To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Gen 3:24	After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
Gen 5:1	This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
Gen 5:2	He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man."
Gen 6:6	The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
Gen 6:7	So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth-- men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air-- for I am grieved that I have made them."
Gen 6:13	So God said to Noah, "I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.
Gen 6:17-18	I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish. But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark-- you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you.
Gen 7:1	The LORD then said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.
Gen 7:4	Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."
Gen 8:21	The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
Gen 9:3	Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
Gen 9:5	And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man.
Gen 9:9	"I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you
Gen 9:11-17	I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth." So God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth."
Gen 12:1-3	The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
Gen 12:7	The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
Gen 13:15-17	All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you."
Gen 15:1	After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
Gen 15:7	He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."
Gen 15:14	But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.
Gen 15:18	On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
Gen 17:1-2	When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
Gen 17:3-8	Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
Gen 17:9-11	Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
Gen 17:13-14	Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
Gen 17:16	I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
Gen 17:19-21	Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
Gen 18:10	Then the LORD said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.
Gen 18:14	Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."
Gen 18:17	Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?
Gen 18:19	For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."
Gen 18:20-21	Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
Gen 18:26	The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
Gen 18:28-32	what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?" "If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it." Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?" He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it." Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?" He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there." Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?" He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it." Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?" He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."
Gen 18:33	When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Gen 19:25	Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities-- and also the vegetation in the land.
Gen 19:29	So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
Gen 20:6	Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.
Gen 21:1	Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised.
Gen 21:13	I will make the son of the maidservant into a nation also, because he is your offspring."
Gen 21:18	Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
Gen 22:2	Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about."
Gen 22:8	Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.
Gen 22:12	"Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."
Gen 22:16	and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
Gen 22:17-18	I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
Gen 24:7	"The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land'-- he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
Gen 24:35	The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys.
Gen 24:40	"He replied, 'The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family.
Gen 24:42	"When I came to the spring today, I said, 'O LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come.
Gen 24:48	and I bowed down and worshiped the LORD. I praised the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.
Gen 26:2-5	The LORD appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws."
Gen 26:24	That night the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."
Gen 28:4	May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham."
Gen 28:13	There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
Gen 28:15	I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
Gen 29:31	When the LORD saw that Leah was not loved, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
Gen 29:33	She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "Because the LORD heard that I am not loved, he gave me this one too." So she named him Simeon.
Gen 30:2	Jacob became angry with her and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?"
Gen 30:6	Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me; he has listened to my plea and given me a son." Because of this she named him Dan.
Gen 31:3	Then the LORD said to Jacob, "Go back to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."
Gen 31:11-12	The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I answered, 'Here I am.' And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you.
Gen 31:42	If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you."
Gen 32:9	Then Jacob prayed, "O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, 'Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,'
Gen 32:12	But you have said, 'I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.'"
Gen 35:3	Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone."
Gen 35:7	There he built an altar, and he called the place El Bethel, because it was there that God revealed himself to him when he was fleeing from his brother.
Gen 35:11-12	And God said to him, "I am God Almighty; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you."
Gen 39:21	the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
Gen 41:25	Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 41:28	"It is just as I said to Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Gen 46:2-4	And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am," he replied. "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes."
Gen 48:3-4	Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.'
Gen 48:15-16	Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the Angel who has delivered me from all harm- may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they increase greatly upon the earth."

Phew! 186 times in 121 verses, does the book of Genesis use singular pronouns by/ of/ for God which can never be used of inherently-plural group-words like "teams", "committees", "couples", "pairs" etc (see explanation for Genesis 1:1). And now, let’s make a complete list of all the verses in the book of Genesis, where pronouns like "us", "we" or "ours" have been used by God:

Gen 1:26	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."
Gen 3:22	And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
Gen 11:7	Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

That’s it folks! A grand total of five instances in three verses where God uses the words "us" and "our"! And this is from the book of Genesis only. If one were to take the entire Bible, the proportion would be even more against the Trinitarian understanding. On the quantitative basis itself, on the sheer lopsidedness of the evidence, one can reject an inherent plurality in the Godhead. Trinitarians routinely ignore 97% of the evidence and clutch at verses like these to justify the doctrine of the Trinity! If Trinitarians are to be fair, then the least they have to do is to make an attempt at handling the overwhelming majority of the verses.

Unitarians would justified at using the sheer overwhelming nature, the sheer volume of the verses to justify their Unitarian belief, and just simply ignore verses like Genesis 1:26! But we can’t afford such luxuries. Genesis 1:26 is there in the Bible, and it does say "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." If we are to base our beliefs on what the Bible says, and if we are to take into account all the relevant verses from the Bible (rule 1), then rule 16 also says that we are to have "adequate, reasonable and sensible explanation to be given for apparently contradictory scriptures." We can’t brush these three verses (Gen 1:26, 3:22 and 11:7) under the carpet the way Trinitarians routinely brush under the carpet the overwhelming majority of the verses in which the singular pronoun is used by/ of/ for God. I have yet to see an honest Trinitarian attempt to handle them. But that’s going to be the Trinitarians’ problem on Judgment Day, not the Unitarians’. We Unitarians have to face these three verses honestly and squarely, and see if there is an adequate, reasonable and sensible explanation for them.

What can be the explanation for the use of words like "us" and "our" in the three verses when all other verses use words like "I", "me", "mine", "myself"? There are four possible explanations. The first, a quite likely possibility, is the plural of majesty, clearly attested to in writing from royalty through the ages. This is the practice of persons of royal standing or persons of great dignity and power, speaking of themselves in the plural number. "Given at our palace," "It is our pleasure," are common expressions of kings in their proclamations. Royal edicts routinely used such expressions - saying we, our, us, instead of I, my, me. The plural of majesty can be seen in Ezra 4:18. In Ezra 4:11, the men of the Trans-Euphrates wrote "to King Artaxerxes, from your servants." (Ezra 4:8 and 4:11). When the king replies, he uses the word "us" to speak of himself: "The letter you sent us has been read and translated in my presence."

Such a practice was quite common in ancient times and is common even now. Mohammed was a determined opposer of the doctrine of the Trinity: yet he often represents God as saying we, our, us, when speaking only of Himself. This shows that the use of such terms was not indicative of a plurality of persons. If no one infers, from their frequent use in the Koran, that Mohammed was a Trinitarian, surely their occurrence in a few places in the Bible cannot to be made a proof of the doctrine of the Trinity!

The second possibility, a quite unlikely one though, is the plurality of emphasis. After Cain murdered Abel, God said to Cain, "the voice of your brother’s bloods cries to me from the ground" (Gen. 4:10). The plural emphasizes the horror of the act. In Genesis 19:11, the men of Sodom who wanted to hurt Lot were smitten with "blindness." The Hebrew is in the plural, "blindnesses," and indicates that the blindness was total so Lot would be protected. Leviticus tells people not to eat fruit from a tree for three years, and in the fourth year the fruit is "an offering of praise to the Lord" (Lev. 19:24). The Hebrew word for "praise" is plural, emphasizing that there was to be great praise. Psalm 45:15 tells of people who are brought into the presence of the Messiah. It says, "They are led in with joy and gladness." The Hebrew actually reads "gladnesses," emphasizing the great gladness of the occasion. In Ezekiel 25, God is speaking of what has happened to Israel and what He will do about it. Concerning the Philistines, He said, "the Philistines acted in vengeance…I will carry out great vengeance on them" (Ezek 25:15 and 17). In the Hebrew text, the second vengeance, the vengeance of God, is in the plural, indicating the complete vengeance that the Lord will inflict. Although many more examples exist in the Hebrew text, these demonstrate that it is not uncommon to use a plural to emphasize something in Scripture.



A third possibility is that God could have been speaking with the angels or other celestial beings. However this possibility can straightaway be ruled out since from other Scriptures we know that angels are not made "in the image of God" nor are they involved in creation.

It’s the fourth possibility which seems to be the most probable, since all other Scriptures are in line with it. It is the possibility that God could have been speaking with the pre-incarnate Jesus, His first creation, created in His image, and the creator of all other things. Other verses in the Bible support his pre-existence, but contradict his co-eternality (see lists under Gen 1:1). When God uses the word "us" in a sentence, it is not necessary that He should be speaking to someone else within the Godhead (if at all the Godhead consists of multiple persons). Just as in Isaiah 1:18, when God says, "Come now, let us reason together," He is talking to the Israelites, human beings who were not a part of the Godhead, in Gen 1:26 He could have been speaking to someone who was not part of the Godhead (if at all the Godhead consists of multiple persons). Genesis 1:26 just cannot be used to support the doctrine of the Trinity.

Genesis 3:22
And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

The reason Trinitarians use this verse to support the doctrine of the Trinity is the same as for Genesis 1:26, i.e. the verse uses the word "us". The explanation for why such verses cannot be used to support the doctrine of the Trinity is given under the coverage of Genesis 1:26

Genesis 11:7
Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."

Genesis 16:7-13
The angel of the LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. Then the angel of the LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."

The reason why this passage comes in the picture is that it is believed by some Trinitarians that the "angel of the Lord" is Jesus Christ before his incarnation. To examine the belief that the angel of the Lord is Jesus, our first task is to gather all the passages in the Bible which speak of the angel of the Lord and examine them. The following is a complete list of such passages. In these passages, an "=" indicates a passage where "the angel of the Lord" is identified with God himself, a "#"indicating a passage where "the angel of the Lord" is clearly distinguished as a person separate from God. In the rest (non-marked ones) the angel of the Lord is simply called "the angel of the Lord" without either identification or distinction from God.

=Gen 16:7-13	The angel of The LORD found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur. And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?" "I'm running away from my mistress Sarai," she answered. Then the angel of The LORD told her, "Go back to your mistress and submit to her." The angel added, "I will so increase your descendants that they will be too numerous to count." The angel of the LORD also said to her: "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael, for the LORD has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers." She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me."
Gen 21:17-18	God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, "What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation."
Gen 22:10-14	Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son." Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place the LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided."
Gen 22:15-18	The angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, "I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
=Gen 31:11-13	The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I answered, 'Here I am.' And he said, 'Look up and see that all the male goats mating with the flock are streaked, speckled or spotted, for I have seen all that Laban has been doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and go back to your native land.'"
=Exo 3:1-5	Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up." When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am." "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."…
Exo 14:19-20	Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
Exo 23:20-22	"See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you…
Num 22:22-35	But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road. Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat her again. Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now." The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" "No," he said. Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. The angel of the LORD asked him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her." Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, "I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back." The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, "Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Jud 2:1-5	The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, "I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land that I swore to give to your forefathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.' Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you." When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.
Jud 5:23	'Curse Meroz,' said the angel of the LORD. 'Curse its people bitterly, because they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.'
=Jud 6:11-24	The angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, "the LORD is with you, mighty warrior." "But sir," Gideon replied, "if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, 'Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?' But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian." the LORD turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?" "But Lord, " Gideon asked, "how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family." the LORD answered, "I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together." Gideon replied, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, give me a sign that it is really you talking to me. Please do not go away until I come back and bring my offering and set it before you." And the LORD said, "I will wait until you return." Gideon went in, prepared a young goat, and from an ephah of flour he made bread without yeast. Putting the meat in a basket and its broth in a pot, he brought them out and offered them to him under the oak. The angel of God said to him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread, place them on this rock, and pour out the broth." And Gideon did so. With the tip of the staff that was in his hand, the angel of the LORD touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire flared from the rock, consuming the meat and the bread. And the angel of the LORD disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he exclaimed, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!" But the LORD said to him, "Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die." So Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and called it the LORD is Peace. To this day it stands in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
=Jud 13:2-23	A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. The angel of the LORD appeared to her and said, "You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines." Then the woman went to her husband and told him, "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn't ask him where he came from, and he didn't tell me his name. But he said to me, 'You will conceive and give birth to a son. Now then, drink no wine or other fermented drink and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite of God from birth until the day of his death.'" Then Manoah prayed to the LORD: "O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born." God heard Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. The woman hurried to tell her husband, "He's here! The man who appeared to me the other day!" Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he said, "Are you the one who talked to my wife?" "I am," he said. So Manoah asked him, "When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?" The angel of the LORD answered, "Your wife must do all that I have told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, nor drink any wine or other fermented drink nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her." Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "We would like you to stay until we prepare a young goat for you." The angel of the LORD replied, "Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD." (Manoah did not realize that it was the angel of the LORD.) Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?" He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding. " Then Manoah took a young goat, together with the grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the LORD. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched: As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame. Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground. When the angel of the LORD did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD. "We are doomed to die!" he said to his wife. "We have seen God!" But his wife answered, "If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this."
1 Sam 29:9	Achish answered, "I know that you have been as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God; nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said, 'He must not go up with us into battle.'
2 Sam 14:17-20	"And now your servant says, 'May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil. May the LORD your God be with you.'" Then the king said to the woman, "Do not keep from me the answer to what I am going to ask you." "Let my lord the king speak," the woman said. The king asked, "Isn't the hand of Joab with you in all this?" The woman answered, "As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my lord the king says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me to do this and who put all these words into the mouth of your servant.Your servant Joab did this to change the present situation. My lord has wisdom like that of an angel of God--he knows everything that happens in the land."
2 Sam 19:27	And he has slandered your servant to my lord the king. My lord the king is like an angel of God; so do whatever pleases you.
#2 Sam 24:16	When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
1 Ki 19:1-8	Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them." Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day's journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, "Get up and eat." He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. The angel of the LORD came back a second time and touched him and said, "Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you." So he got up and ate and drank. Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 Ki 1:1-4	After Ahab's death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury." But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?' Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!'" So Elijah went.
2 Ki 1:15	The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
2 Ki 19:35	That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning--there were all the dead bodies!
#1 Chr 21:9-20	the LORD said to Gad, David's seer, "Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.'" So Gad went to David and said to him, "This is what the LORD says: 'Take your choice: three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD--days of plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.' Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me." David said to Gad, "I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men." So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand." The angel of the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. David said to God, "Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? O LORD my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people." Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. So David went up in obedience to the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD. While Araunah was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the angel; his four sons who were with him hid themselves.
#1 Chr 21:27-30	Then the LORD spoke to the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. The tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses had made in the desert, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time on the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.
Psa 34:7	The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.
Psa 35:4-6	May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame; may those who plot my ruin be turned back in dismay. May they be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away; may their path be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
Isa 37:36	Then the angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning--there were all the dead bodies!
#Zec 1:11-15	And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace." Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?" So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. Then the angel who was speaking to me said, "Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.'
Zec 3:1-7	Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. The LORD said to Satan, "the LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you." Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by. The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
Zec 12:8	On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them.
Mat 1:19-25	Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" --which means, "God with us." When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Mat 2:13	When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."
Mat 2:19-20	After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
Mat 28:2-3	There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow.
Luke 1:11-20	Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."
Luke 2:8-12	And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Acts 5:18-20	They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life."
Acts 8:26	Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Go south to the road--the desert road--that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."
Acts 10:3-8	One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!" Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked. The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea." When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.
Acts 12:6-8	The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists. Then the angel said to him, "Put on your clothes and sandals." And Peter did so. "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me," the angel told him.
Acts 12:21-23	On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
Acts 27:23-24	Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.'
Gal 4:14	Even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself.

The first thing to notice is that there is not a single verse that actually says that Jesus is the angel of the LORD. There are verses which seem to identify "the angel of the LORD" with God, but there also are other verses which clearly indicate that "the angel of the LORD" is distinct and separate from God.

First, verses which seem to identify "the angel of the LORD" with God . In Genesis 16:13, Hagar gave this name to Yahweh who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me" when in the previous verses, it was the angel of Yahweh who is mentioned as speaking to her. In Gen 22:12, the angel of Yahweh says that Abraham had not withheld Isaac from him, whereas in Gen 22:2, it was clearly God who had asked for the sacrifice. Gen 22:16-18 also seem to indicate that it was God speaking. In Gen 31:13, the angel of Yahweh says, "I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and where you made a vow to me," a reference to Gen 28:20 where Jacob had made a vow to God. In Exo 3:2 it is said that it was the angel of Yahweh that appeared to Moses in flames of fire whereas 3:4 says it was God. In Jud 2:1-2, the angel of Yahweh attributes to himself something which God had done. Jud 6:11, 20 and 21 says it was the angel of Yahweh talking to Gideon, while 6:14 indicates that it was Yahweh Himself. Jud 13:3, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21 say that it was the angel of Yahweh who was speaking to Manoah and his wife, while Manoah's reaction in 13:22 indicates that he believed that he had actually seen God.

But there also are other verses which clearly indicate that "the angel of Yahweh" is distinct and separate from God. In 2 Sam 24:16, Yahweh is grieved because of the calamity and commands the angel who was afflicting the people to stop, clearly indicating that they are different beings. So also 1 Chr 21:15. In 1 Chr 21:27, Yahweh speaks to the angel, again indicating that they are different beings. In Zec 1:12, the angel of Yahweh speaks to Yahweh and in Zec 1:13, Yahweh spoke kind and comforting words to the angel, all indicating that they are different beings. The other passages are not clear whether God is being spoken of as a separate person

Unitarians make much of the fact that Mat 1:19-21, and 2:13 make it impossible for Jesus to be the angel of the LORD because he was in Mary's womb when the angel was speaking to Joseph. So also Mat 2:19-20 and Luke 2:9-12 where the angel of the LORD speaks to Joseph after Jesus has been born, and Mat 28:2 where the angel of the LORD rolls back the stone after Jesus has risen. Acts 5:19, 8:26, 10:3-8, 12:6-8, 12:23, and 27:23 all list activities of the angel of the LORD after Jesus has risen. However, all the New Testament verses are translated as "an angel of the Lord," whereas all the Old Testament verses have "the angel of the Lord" giving support to the Trinitarian point that "the angel of the Lord" never appears in the New Testament and the angel who appears to Mary, Joseph, Zechariah etc. is another one (who is identified as Gabriel in Luke 1:19).

How do we reconcile all this? How do we reconcile the fact that some passages call the angel of the LORD as "God" and others indicate that he was a separate being from "God", a being inferior to God, although very awesome and powerful? One possible answer is the Jewish law of agency. I quote the following without endorsement (since I am no expert on these matters) from another website:

According to the Jewish understanding of agency, the agent was regarded as the person himself. This is well expressed in The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion:

Agent (Heb. Shaliah): The main point of the Jewish law of agency is expressed in the dictum, "a person’s agent is regarded as the person himself". Therefore any act committed by a duly appointed agent is regarded as having been committed by the principal, who therefore bears full responsibility for it with consequent complete absence of liability on the part of the agent.

In the texts in which the angel is called "God" or "the Lord," it is imperative to notice that he is always identified as an angel. This point is important because God is never called an angel. God is God. So if a being is called "God," but is clearly identified as an angel, there must be a reason. In the Genesis verse under consideration, the angel is clearly identified as an angel four separate times. Why then would the text say that "the Lord" spoke to her? It does so because as God’s agent or messenger, the angel was speaking for God and the message he brought was God’s message. The same basic idea is expressed when "God" is said to "visit" His people, when actually He sends some form of blessing. God Himself does not show up, but someone unfamiliar with the culture might conclude from the wording that He did. Also, some of the people to whom the angel appeared, clearly expressed their belief he was an angel of God. Gideon exclaimed, "I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!" (Judges 6:22).

God "visits" His people by sending them some blessing. This is clear from verses like Ruth 1:6, "Then she (Naomi) arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread." In the Book of Ruth, Yahweh visited His people by sending them bread, while, in the Gospels, God visited His people by sending them "a great prophet" who raised a widow’s son from the dead.

God works through His people. When He does, He often gets the credit even when people do the actual work. When God works through people, the Word records things like, "God visited His people" (Luke 7:16) and "God has done great things" (Luke 8:39). We today use the same language. If an acquaintance gives you some money when you need it and says, "The Lord put it on my heart to give this to you," you might well say to someone else, "The Lord really blessed me today." Neither you nor any other person would believe that you were saying that the person who gave you money was "the Lord." Everyone understands that the Lord works through people, and so our language, like biblical language, reflects that knowledge.

That looks like a plausible explanation, but since I am not so knowledgeable about these matters, I cannot comment on it. So how do we reconcile the fact that some passages call the angel of the LORD as "God" and others indicate that he was a separate being from "God?" Frankly, it looks impossible to me. I don’t understand it – I don’t understand how some passages call the angel of the LORD as "God" and others indicate that he was a separate being from "God."

But I also don’t build doctrines on the basis of passages which I DON’T UNDERSTAND.

An important rule for objectively arriving at what the Bible says about a particular subject is to build doctrines only from passages which are clear and unambiguous (rules 7 and 8 in qqq). Else we can easily go astray and into all kinds of subjectivism. There are things in the Bible which we don’t understand in spite of all our best efforts, in spite of all our praying. But as has been rightly said, "It’s not the things in the Bible that I don’t understand that trouble me – it’s the things that I do understand!"

There are a few things that tilt the scales to favor the Unitarian position. Firstly, the angel of the LORD speaks about God in the third person. For example, in Gen 16:11 above, the angel says, "The Lord has heard of your misery." The angel does not say, "I have heard of your misery," as if he were God. In Genesis 22:12, the angel said, "Now I know that you fear God," not "Now I know you fear me." In Judges 13:5, the angel says Samson will be "set apart to God," not "set apart to me." Of course God could have been speaking of himself as in the third person (such as when a king says, "The king has decided…") but that’s a "maybe."

Secondly, if Jesus were the angel of the Lord who spoke to Moses at the burning bush, then he did not say so in his teaching. Mark 12:26 records Jesus speaking with the Sadducees and saying, "Have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’" If Jesus had been the angel in the bush, and was openly proclaiming himself to be "the pre-existent God," he would have used this opportunity to say, "I said to Moses." The fact that Jesus said it was God who spoke to Moses shows clearly that he was differentiating himself from God.

That the angel of the Lord seems superior to other angels is no reason to assume he is somehow part of the Trinity. Angels differ in power and authority. The Bible mentions archangels in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Jude 9, for example. It would not be unusual that this angel would be one with greater authority.

Although it is true that the countenance of the angel of the Lord occasionally struck awe in people, that is no reason to assume he is God. Sometimes the people did not even realize that they were talking to an angel! For example, when the angel of the Lord appeared to Samson’s mother, she returned to her husband Manoah with this report: "A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name" (Judges 13:6). Note that angels had a reputation for having an awe-inspiring countenance, and the woman thought this "man of God" did too, but she still did not believe he was an angel. When Manoah met the angel of the Lord and the two of them talked about how to raise Samson, Manoah did not discover he was an angel until he ascended to heaven in the smoke of Manoah’s sacrifice. Therefore, just because someone’s countenance may be awesome, he is not necessarily God.

Conclusion: In the absence of any direct statement that the angel of the LORD was Jesus, we have to conclude that the passages in question cannot be used to support the belief that the angel of the LORD was the pre-incarnate Jesus.

Genesis 18:1-2
The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

These verses pose a problem for those who believe that no one has ever seen God with their physical eyes, nor can anyone do so. This idea comes mainly from the conversation Moses had with God. Moses asked to see the glory of God, and God responded, "You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live" (Ex. 33:20). This belief is further reinforced by Gen 32:30 where Jacob expresses surprise that his life was spared even after seeing God; Moses in Deu. 5:24, Gideon in Jud. 6:22, Manoah in Jud 13:22, and Isaiah in Isa 6:5 expressing a similar sentiment

Yet here, the Hebrew text clearly says that Yahweh appeared to Abraham in the form of a man, and He was with two angels, who also took on human appearance. Not only so, there are other places too where God is seen by men with their physical eyes, besides Adam and Eve before their fall. Moses and the elders of Israel (Ex. 24:9-11), Samuel (1 Sam. 3:10), Micaiah (1 Kings 22:19-22), Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-5), Ezekiel (Ezek. 1:26-28), Daniel (Dan. 7:9-14), Amos (Amos 7:7), Stephen (Acts 7:56) and the Apostle John (Rev. 5:1-8), all saw God with their physical eyes. How do we reconcile the two?

Trinitarians reconcile the two by saying that it was actually Jesus who was seen by those who "saw God." However, the Bible’s text does not say so, neither in this verse nor in any of the verses in which human beings saw God. How do I reconcile the two? I don’t because I can’t.. Like the verses which speak about the Angel of the LORD, I see no way how the two can be reconciled. I don’t understand how "no one has ever seen God with their physical eyes, nor can anyone do so" be reconciled with the examples of people who saw God with their physical eyes and lived on. And I don’t build doctrines on things I don’t understand. An important rule for objectively arriving at what the Bible says about a particular subject is to build doctrines only from passages which are clear and unambiguous (rules 7 and 8 in qqq). Else we can easily go astray and into all kinds of subjectivism. There are things in the Bible which we don’t understand in spite of all our best efforts, in spite of all our praying. But as has been rightly said, "It’s not the things in the Bible that I don’t understand that trouble me – it’s the things that I do understand!"

And it doesn’t matter that I don’t understand these things. It’s not going to affect our salvation if we don’t understand these things. On Judgment Day, we are not going to be judged on whether we got these things right but on how we have lived our lives. In the absence of any direct statement that it was Jesus who appeared to Abraham and the others, we have to conclude that the passages in question cannot be used to support the belief in the Trinity.