Lant Carpenter on the Plural Words in the Hebrew

 

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Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God (Elohim) created the heaven and the earth. 

The Hebrew word for God is Elohim and it is in the plural form. It is a common practice of the Hebrew Language to put in the plural form, words that express dominion, dignity, and majesty : and, farther, when a plural noun is used to denote a single object, the verb is regularly put in the singular, though it is sometimes put in the plural, owing merely to the termination of the noun. These indisputable facts, at once solve the grammatical difficulty, and it is nothing more, If the doctrine which it is supposed to favour, had any solid foundation in the Scriptures, this Hebrew idiom could afford it no support.-When Jehovah says to Moses, 'I have made thee a god to Pharoah,' the original word is Elohim or Aleim. The plural form is employed in reference to the one Golden Calf, Ex. xxxii. 4. 8. 31; to Dagon, Judges xvi. 23; to the Sidonian deities Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom, each separately. 1 Kings xi. 33. &c. &c. In like manner, Abraham, Pharoah, Joseph, &c. are called Adonim, Lords.--The argument has been rejected by many of the most learned Trinitarians. Even Calvin denies that the plural termination is any evidence of a plurality of Persons in the Godhead.

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Genesis 1:26 - And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...

The Supreme Being is in these passages represented as using the language of dignity, according to the practice of earthly sovereigns. Examples of this practice occur in the Scriptures; e. g. 1 Kings xii. 9. Ezra iv. 18. The only wonder is, that it is found in so small a number of instances. In the Koran, God is continually represented as speaking in the plural number, We did-We gade-We commanded; yet the Muslims are strict believers in the Divine Unity. The Jews themselves inferred nothing from this phraseology respecting a plurality of Persons in the one God. In fact, if it taught plurality at all, it would teach that there are more Gods than one, which, in words at least, all Christians, deny.

See also: How do modern day Rabbis view the word Elohim

The Word's Elohim and One in Hebrew do NOT Prove the Trinity Doctrine

How to Understand the Plural Word "Elohim" By William Laing 1901

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