Elohim thoughts

The Word, in the beginning--before ANYTHING had been created--was with God, and he, also, was God. Now how could that be?
There might be a man named John. And John might be with the man named Smith, and John might also be Smith because John is the son of Smith, and Smith is the family name. Yet they are two separate persons.
The only point of difference in that analogy is that the Word, at the time of John 1:1, was not, yet, the Son of God. But he was with God, and he also was God.
They were not yet Father and Son--but they were the GOD KINGDOM! From Mr. Armstrong


From Randall Ricker

As he wrote, he substituted names. Substitute the word “John” for “the Word” and substitute the last name “Smith” for “God.” So what we have is: In the beginning was John and John was with Smith and John was Smith. This can be true because John is the son of Smith. Smith is the family name, but they are two separate persons. You can call them persons or personages. One is called the Word which comes from the Greek word “Logos”, which means “spokesman”.

Mr. Herbert Armstrong referred to it as a uniplural noun like family, group or church containing two or more members. Uniplural is an unusual term. Most people have not heard that term, but there is a term in English grammar called a collective noun. That is exactly what this is, like group, family and church. Elohim, this term for God, is a collective noun. Think of it that way if you like. It is the same thing. It allows for a God family with two members, as we have talked about in John 1:1 the Word and God.






collective noun - 3 dictionary results
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collective noun 
–noun Grammar. a noun, as herd, jury, or clergy, that appears singular in formal shape but denotes a group of persons or objects.


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Origin:
1510–20
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Cite This Source
collective noun
n. A noun that denotes a collection of persons or things regarded as a unit.

Usage Note: In American usage, a collective noun takes a singular verb when it refers to the collection considered as a whole, as in The family was united on this question. The enemy is suing for peace. It takes a plural verb when it refers to the members of the group considered as individuals, as in My family are always fighting among themselves. The enemy were showing up in groups of three or four to turn in their weapons. In British usage, however, collective nouns are more often treated as plurals: The government have not announced a new policy. The team are playing in the test matches next week. A collective noun should not be treated as both singular and plural in the same construction; thus The family is determined to press its (not their) claim. Among the common collective nouns are committee, clergy, company, enemy, group, family, flock, public, and team. See Usage Notes at government, group.





Fundamental of Belief #1

Part A; God Is One



Edited Sermon Transcript

Jon W. Brisby; 11-27-99


Well, what is Elohiym? Elohiym is a uniplural noun, very similar to words like church and family and kingdom. It is a single word and yet the word itself denotes more than one within the composition. When we talk about a church it is singular and yet it is a uniplural noun that implies there are multiple individuals that make up the body that forms the church. The same way that the word family implies that it is made up of several members. So it is in a kingdom, it is one kingdom, a unified kingdom, and yet within that kingdom are several parts. That's what we are talking about with this term God. Within the very uniplural noun that's talking about one God is contained a description that tells us there is more than one part. So therefore an explanation that says there is only one being that is considered God is refuted by the very Hebrew words that were inspired to describe that God.



Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."



That's Elohiym, a God defined in a plural form. What's further proof of that? Skip down to verse twenty-six and what do we read? What was it that God did and accomplished?



And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion of the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.



If "God" refers only to a single individual, why is Elohiym a uniplural noun and why then is it translated "us" and "our" in Genesis 1? This tells us very specifically that there is more than one being in that Godhead that had a part in the design and the execution of everything that was involved in that creation. God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Otherwise, maybe we think we are serving a God that is schizophrenic. We would be considered crazy, wouldn't we, if we talked about ourselves individually as if we were two people or if you talked about yourself as "us," "we," or "our"? I think people would wonder about our sanity. Wonder if that's what we do when we look at the scripture and see that whoever was involved in this creation talked about "us" and "our." So we know by the use of Elohiym in the Old Testament that we are dealing with God, singular God, and yet it is a divinity, a family that is composed of more than one being. Who are those beings? Well, let us look next at that word YHVH.


Jimmy Swaggart

ELOHIM

The names of God prove plurality of persons. The Hebrew word Elohim, translated "God" in Genesis 1:1 and also in more than 2,700 other places in the Old Testament, is a uniplural noun which means "more than one." Had the sacred writer been led to use the singular El, then there would have been no indication of a divine plurality. But in this initial reference to God, he was led of the Holy Ghost to pen the Word Elohim (Genesis 1:1). Also when one considers that the word Elohim is used about ten to one over the word El, we would have to conclude that this preference for the plural over the singular indicates a definite sign of plurality in the Godhead.



nccg.org

Man Created in God's Image
The first chapter of the Bible says: "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." (Genesis 1:26, NIV). The word for "God" in the Hebrew is Elohim and is what is called a "uniplural noun". Literally translated, the word Elohim means "gods" and is frequently used in the Old Testament to describe human judges too. Here, though, Elohim is a name for God that not only depicts the plurality of His majesty but also the plurality of the Godhead.

It is plain from the text that more than one divine Person is involved in the creation, as is evidenced by the use of the plural forms "us" and "our". The New Testament teaches that Jesus pre-existed the creation and was Himself God, or part of the Godhead (John 1:1). It also teaches that Jesus Christ created the world at the command of His Heavenly Father (John 1:10). It is reasonable to suppose, therefore, that the Elohim of Genesis 1:26 refers to both God the Father and the pre-existent Jesus Christ since elsewhere we are told that God created the universe through His Son.

Mankind is therefore made in the express image of God the Father and God the Son. This same wording is used to describe the relationship between Adam and his son Seth: "When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth" (Genesis 5:3, NIV). Thus the testimony of Paul, in which he says that "we are (God's) offspring" (Acts 7:28-29), suggests that the relationship between God, Christ, and man is closer than most ordinary Christians might care to admit.



Missing Dimension in Sex

WHO—WHAT IS God?

I have quoted that passage in the English language. But when God inspired Moses to write it, originally, it was written in the Hebrew language. What I quoted is a translation from the Hebrew. And in the Hebrew, the word—or the name—translated into the English name, “God,” was Elohim. That is a uniplural [collective] noun. It is uniplural, like such words as group, church, crowd, family or organization.

Take, for example, the word church. You will read, in I Corinthians 12:20, that the Church is only one Church—the “one body” yet composed of “many members.” Even though it takes many persons to constitute the Church, it is not many churches—it is only the one Church!

A family is made up of more than one person, yet only the one family.

And so, incredible as it may seem to those who do not rightly and fully understand the Bible—and only an infinitesimal minority does—God is not merely one Person, nor even limited to a “Trinity,” but God is a Family.

The doctrine of the Trinity is false. It was foisted upon the world at the Council of Nicaea. It is the pagan Babylonish trinity of father, mother and child—substituting the Holy Spirit for the mother, Semiramis, and calling it a “person.”

God is a Kingdom—the supreme divine Family which rules the universe! The whole Gospel Jesus brought to mankind is, merely, the Good News of the Kingdom of God—and that Kingdom is God. It is a family—a ruling divine Family into which humans may be born!

It is vitally necessary that we understand this truth—if we are to understand the meaning and purposes of sex!

There is only the ONE GOD! Because of false teaching—including that of a “Trinity”—nearly all of us have been reared from childhood to assume that God is one individual Person. It is true that one Person—the Father—is head of the family, but each Person in the God Family is an individual divine Person.

Elohim is the divine Family—only one family, but more than one divine Person. Jesus Christ spoke of His divine Father as God. Jesus said He was the Son of God (as well as the Son of man). Jesus is called God in Hebrews 1:8 and elsewhere. All the holy angels are commanded to worship Jesus (Heb. 1:6, Ps. 97:7)—and none but God may be worshiped!

In Genesis 1:26, Elohim said, “Let us [not me] make man in our image.”

So the Eternal Father is a Person, and is God. Jesus Christ is a different Person—and is God. They are two separate and individual Persons (Rev. 4:2, 5:1, 6-7). The Father is Supreme Head of the God Family—the Lawgiver. Christ is the Word—the divine Spokesman.