Questions about the divine nature, its essence, and its will.

  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.

Questions about the divine nature, its essence, and its will.

God says in Genesis 26:26, "Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, after our likeness…'"

Here we ask a question… Why does God speak in the plural when He is One?

The answer: God is (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), one God, Amen.

He is a Holy Trinity, equal in nature, essence, and will, yet different in their divine persons.

Perhaps some believe that after Adam's sin (original sin), God the Father began preparing His Son, God the Word (Logos), for the salvation of the world… and not before the sin… meaning that He did not begin the plan of salvation until He was surprised by Adam's sin. This is a grave error.

God knew of Adam's fall from eternity, and from eternity He prepared His Son, God the Word, for the process of salvation, not after Adam's fall. The verse in Isaiah 46:10 says, “Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I declare from the beginning…” Beginning with the last, and from the ancient with what has not yet been done.

God declares that He knew "from the beginning" everything that would happen, meaning that Adam's fall was not outside His knowledge… And what confirms God's foreknowledge of the plan of salvation is what the verse in 1 Peter 1:18-20 says: "For you know that you were redeemed... by the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect, foreknown before the creation of the world, but revealed in these last times for your sake."

This verse confirms that Christ was "foreknowledgeable before the foundation of the world," meaning that God knew the plan of redemption from eternity.

Therefore, the Bible confirms that God knew and prepared His Son for the redemptive and salvific plan from eternity.

Perhaps someone might ask, "Since God knew and prepared the plan of redemption from eternity, isn't He responsible for Adam's fall into original sin? He knew Adam would sin and didn't warn him in order to carry out His divine plan of salvation…" The answer is: God forbid that He should be responsible for Adam's sin.

1- Attributing responsibility for original sin to God contradicts His fundamental attributes, as He is holy, just, and absolutely good.

2- What is sin? It is disobedience to the divine will. God created Adam and gave him the freedom to choose between good and evil. It is true that He knew from eternity that Adam would sin, but He gave him the freedom to choose between good and evil. In fact, He gives freedom of choice to all humans in the past, present, and future. He gave Adam (humanity) the choice without any intervention from Him. The fall into original sin was Adam's choice, but God, the Knower of the unseen, knows everything… Psalm 138 says:

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you understand my thoughts from afar.

3 You have discerned my path and my resting place, and you know all my ways.

4 There is not a word on my tongue that you, O Lord, do not know.

5 You have surrounded me from behind and from before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 This knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is too high for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?

8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Hades, you are here.

9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the ends of the sea,

10 even there your hand will guide me, and your right hand will hold me. 11 Then I said, “Surely darkness covers me.” But the night is all around me.

12 Even darkness is not dark with you, and the night shines like the day; as darkness is light.

13 For you formed my intellect and knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know this full well.

15 My bones, which were made in secret and inscribed in the depths of the earth, are not hidden from you.

16 Your eyes saw my unformed body, and all of them were written in your book on the day they were formed, when not one of them existed.

Amen. Glory to the Lord forever.