Who Was the Bible Referring to When He Said Let Us Make Man in Our Own Image?
1) Direct Answer
It was the one God speaking in counsel with His own Word—His Logos—the expression of Himself by which He would create all things and later be manifested in Jesus Christ. It is not three persons, and it is not angels.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Genesis 1:26-27 says, “Let us make man in our image… So God created man in his own image.” The very next verse returns to the singular—one Creator.
- Isaiah 44:24: “I am the LORD that maketh all things… that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.” God did not share creation with another person.
- John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was God… All things were made by him.” The Word is God’s own expressed thought made manifest—God creating by His Word.
- Ephesians 1:11: He “worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” God’s “us” is His own divine counsel—God communing with His Word.
- 1 Timothy 3:16: “God was manifest in the flesh.” The image God had in view would be fully revealed in Christ, the true image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).
Now notice: Genesis 1 shows man created in God’s image (spirit nature and dominion), and Genesis 2:7 shows man formed from the dust. First the image; then the body.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- If “us” meant three divine persons, we would have three creators—yet God says He made all things alone and by Himself (Isaiah 44:24).
- Angels did not create the world.
- “Us” is God deliberating with His own Word, His plan, His self-expression. As a man speaks within himself, God spoke with His Logos.
- “In our image” points to God’s nature reflected in man—spirit, holiness, and dominion—and finds its perfect fulfillment when God Himself was manifested in Christ.
4) Reinforcing Statement
It’s one God, not three. The “us” is the one Lord counseling with His own Word, creating all things and purposing to reveal Himself perfectly in Jesus Christ.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The resurrection of Lazarus
50-0813A §48
A woman said to me here not long ago, said, "Brother Branham," said, "He was a good man, but He wasn't Divine. He was just like an ordinary man." I said, "Oh, yes He was Divine. He was Divine." Said, "He was a good man, but he wasn't Divine." I said, "Yes He was." "I'll tell you what." She said, "Here's the reason He wasn't." Said, "When he went down to the grave of Lazarus, it proved that he wasn't Divine because he went to crying. And that showed that he was a man. The Bible said, 'Jesus wept.'" I said, "Look, la...
Faith
56-0815 §67
Now, if we notice this, how that God keeps His promise. This lady said to me, she said, "Mr. Branham, if I'll prove to you he wasn't nothing but a man..." I said, "He was more than a man." I said, "He was God." I said, "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." Said, "Oh, no. He was Joseph's son." I said, "He was God's Son." I said, "He was divine." She said, "I'll prove to you by your Bible that He wasn't divine." I said, "I want to see you do it." She said, "All right. In St. John, the 11th chapter, t...
Show us the Father and it will suffice us
62-0722 §61
And she said, "I'll prove to you by your Bible that He wasn't divine." I said, "Let's hear you do it." She said, "St. John, the 11th chapter, the Bible said that when Jesus went to the grave of Lazarus He wept." And I said, "Is that your scripture?" She said, "Yes. He could not be divine and weep." I said, "Lady, you know what? That argument you've got is thinner than the broth made out of the shadow of a chicken that's starved to death." I said, "Well, you haven't got room for nothing there." I said, "You failed t...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 6:E-66
Right here I will be getting ahead of myself and maybe I ought to reserve this for the message on the last age, but it seems just right to put it in now because it deals so clearly with organization and what is going to happen through it. And I want to warn you. Revelation 13:1-18, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard,...
An Exposition Of The Seven Church Ages
CAB 8:E-74
Let me tell you of a God-given dream I had about triune baptism. This was not a vision, but a dream. You know, I am sure, that one of the blessings of the church ages was to receive dreams by the Holy Ghost, just the same as one can receive visions. It was about 3 a.m. on a Saturday morning. I had just gotten up to get Joseph a drink of water. When I lay down I fell asleep instantly and dreamed this dream. I saw a man that I supposed was my father. He was a great big burly man. I also saw a woman who was supposed t...