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Reading the Bible can raise many questions, and it is not always easy to find answers on your own. We publish answers to frequently asked questions, so the question you want to ask may already have been answered here.

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Bible, Church, Christianity

Bible and life

In the Book of Genesis, 3:22, it is written: “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever.’” What does “like one of us” mean? Are there many of Them, and is there someone else, rather than just one God?

Your question is a natural one, but we must not assume that simple answers can be found for all our questions regarding the Bible. The text you are inquiring about is one of the most ancient in the Scriptures, and we cannot easily comprehend the exact mindset of its author. There are a few clues for our reflection. In the beginning of the Book of Genesis, God is referred to by the name Elohim, which is the plural form of the word “El” (God). At the same time, whenever God addresses humanity, He speaks of Himself in the singular: “I”. But when God speaks not to mankind, but as it were to Himself, the plural form appears: “Us” (see also Gen. 1:26). All of this suggests that the ancient author already possessed a faint glimpse of the truth that although God, in relation to all creation, reveals Himself as the One God, within His own being He possesses a complex nature that cannot be confined to a solitary personhood. In the course of further biblical revelation, this understanding would develop and, in New Testament times, be expressed in the Christian dogma of the Trinity: God is One in three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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