That is the "royal us." The plural of majesty.
I am going to give a thorough answer to the question about the "us" in the creation account. Did God need to counsel with anyone else to create all things? No.
Isa 40:12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him?
To answer your question we must first discuss some basic things.
1) The Bible is God's Word. We must interpret the Bible wth the Bible or we fall into error. The Bible should be our source of doctrine (2 Tim 3:16)
2) The fundamental teaching of both Old and New Testaments is that God is one.
Deut 6: 4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
3) I will show that "us" is being used as a plural of majesty.
In the Ancient Near East, it was common to refer to the deity in the compound plural, and when speaking of an owner or master, it was often the rule to speak of him in such terms. To give you just a few examples, Abraham's servant speaks of his master in the plural in:
Genesis 24 ('adonim, literally, "lords"), Joseph speaks of his master Potiphar in the plural in Genesis 39, and David the king is spoken of as "lords" in 1 Kings 1:11. In Isaiah 19:4, the prophet tells Israel that God will hand them over to "a cruel lords" and Isaiah 1:3 tells us that a donkey knows the feeding crib of its "masters" (ba'alim, referring to just one person; as we see in the first half of the verse in which reference is made to an ox's owner-in the singular).
These examples, which are really very common, show clearly that compound plurals were often used to speak of leaders, owners, masters, or kings. We see similar expressions used to speak of The Lord, The Master, The King, and The God. I'm going to use a VERY literal translation of the Hebrew to illustrate the point.
In Malachi 1:6 God asks, "If I am a Lords where is my honor?"
David exclaims in Psalm 8:1, "O YHWH, our Lords," and Deuteronomy10:17 hails YHWH as "the Gods of gods and the Lords of lords."
Now, the Hebrew word translated "God" is Elohim. The most commonly used Hebrew word of God is Elohim. This is the original word in almost every Old Testament passage where we see the English word God. It is the plural form of the Hebrew word Eloah, which means God or deity.
Most scholars agree that the use of the plural word Elohim indicates God's greatness or His multiple attributes; it does not imply a plurality of persons or personalities. The Jews certainly do not see the plural form as compromising their strong monotheism.
Flanders and Cresson explain that the plural usage in Hebrew has a certain function other than to indicate plurality: "The form of the word, Elohim, is plural. The Hebrews pluralized nouns to express greatness or majesty."
The Bible itself reveals that the only way to understand the plural form of Elohim is that it expresses God's majesty and not a plurality in the Godhead, both by its insistence on one God and by its use of Elohim in situations that definitely portray only one person or personality. For example, Elohim
identifies the singular manifestation of God to Jacob(Genesis 32:30).
The Israelites used the word elohim for the golden calf they made in the wilderness (Exodus 32:1, 4, 8, 23, 31), yet the Bible account makes it clear that there was only one golden
calf (Exodus 32:4, 5, 8, 19-20, 24, 35). The Old Testament often uses elohim for singular pagan gods such as Baalberith (Judges 8:33), Chemosh (Judges 11:24), Dagon (Judges 16:23), Baalzebub (II Kings 1:2-3), and Nisroch (II Kings 19:37).
The Bible even applies Elohim to Jesus Christ (Psalm 45:6; Zechariah 12:8-10; 14:5), and no one suggests there is a plurality of persons in Jesus.
So the word Elohim does not indicate three persons in the Godhead. Only one being called Elohim wrestled with Jacob, only one golden calf was called elohim, and one Lord Jesus Christ is God made manifest in flesh.
Now, consider this.In ancient times(and still today) a person of royal blood often refered to himself in the plural. Biblical examples of the majestic plural can be cited to illustrate this practice. For example, Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar, "We will tell the interpretation thereof before the king" even though Daniel alone proceeded to give the interpretation to the king (Daniel 2:36). King Artaxerxes alternately referred to himself in the singular and the plural in his correspondence. Once, he wrote, "The letter which ye sent unto us hath been plainly read before me" (Ezra 4:18). In a letter to Ezra, Artaxerxes called himself "I" in one place (Ezra 7:13) but "we" in another place (7:24).
Now, let us examine the verse you inquired about.
Genesis 1:26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over 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.
Do you recall that we learned the fundamental teaching of the Bible is that God is one? So we must remember that as we examine all scripture. It should be noted that the Bible uses singular pronouns to refer to God hundreds of times.
Now, let us consider the next verse.
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Now, can you explain to me why in the very next verse after 26 the singular is used? Was God 3 people in verse 26 and 1 person in verse 27? NO. God is one. Verse 26 emphasised
God's majesty, glory, dominion, greatness, and power in creation. In verse 27 God made it clear to us that it is only the one God who created, lest we misunderstand and get the pagan notion that there is more than one God. This can be the only interpretion when we look at other scriptures referencing creation.
Isa 43:15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
Isa 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
Now if we advocate the existence of more than one person of God we run into severe difficulties with the above verses.
Mal 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
This clearly says that God, our Father created us. God alone. Now, what does the New Testament say? Colosians makes it clear Jesus created all things and upholds all things.
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, ivisible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:
all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
So we see that the Father created all things and Jesus created all things. This is not a contraditction because Jesus is the Father in flesh.
Isaiah 9
6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
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Now for furthur evidence let us look at even more scriptures.
1) Jesus refered to the Creator as a "He", not a they.
Matt. 19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
Mark 13:19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
Mark 10:6 But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female
2)John says the Creator is a "thou" and a "him"
Rev. 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Rev. 10:6 And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven...the earth, ... and the sea
3) Paul used "Him," "who is" and "God"to refer to the creator.
Col. 3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
1Tim. 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
Rom. 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.
4)Peter said "him," a "faithful Creator," (singular).
1Pet. 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creatorhful Creator