From: "Ken Smith" <>

Newsgroups: aus.religion.christian

Subject: Re: "God" in Plural?





> Sam Giltnick <> writes:

>

> >An atheist I was talking to claimed that in the beginning of the Bible

> >somewhere there was a reference to the word "God" in the plural in the

> >original language, thus, he says, there is more than one God. I tried to

> >tell him that this couldn't be true, as it goes against the rest of the

> >Bible itself, which is purely monotheistic.

>

> He probably had a garbled bit of information from someone that the

> hebrew word for God - elohim - has the grammatical form of a masculine

> plural noun.  But the associated verb is singular when used in

> reference to God.  The verb is only plural in those few cases where

> "elohim" should be translated "gods".

>

> As an aside, in Genesis 1:2 the words "spirit of God" are in the

> original "ruah elohim".  "ruah" is, grammatically, feminine singular,

> so we have the combination of feminine singular and masculine plural.

> But anyone who attempts to derive any theological ideas from the

> grammatical peculiarities of either Hebrew or Greek is barking up the

> wrong tree.

>

> >Does this have any substance to it, or is it yet another thing that

people

> >believe like the "there are heaps of inconsistencies in the Bible." I

don't

> >want an argument of Biblical inconsistencies here, just clarification if

> >this person was arguing a "real" point. He was unable to produce a verse.

>

> >Thanks.

>

> Salaam,

> Ken Smith

>

> --

> Dr Ken Smith - Christian, husband, unpaid mathematician, skeptic, ...

>  "Sometimes I feel like the most liberal person among conservatives, and

>   sometimes like the most conservative among liberals.  How can I fit

>   together my religious past with my spiritual present?" Philip Yancey