Genesis 1:26

“And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, etc.] These words are directed not to the earth, out of which man was made, as consulting with it, and to be assisting in the formation of man, as Moses Gerundensis, and other Jewish writers f85, which is wretchedly stupid; nor to the angels, as the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, and others, who are not of God’s privy council, nor were concerned in any part of the creation, and much less in the more noble part of it: nor are the words spoken after the manner of kings, as Saadiah, using the plural number as expressive of honour and majesty; since such a way of speaking did not obtain very early, not even till the close of the Old…”

“The last stage in the progress of creation being now reached--God said, Let us make man--words which show the peculiar importance of the work to be done, the formation of a creature, who was to be God's representative, clothed with authority and rule as visible head and monarch of the world. In our image, after our likeness--This was a peculiar distinction, the value attached to which appears in the words being twice mentioned. And in what did this image of God consist? Not in the erect form or features of man, not in his intellect, for the devil and his angels are, in this respect, far superior; not in his immortality, for he has not, like God, a past as well as a future eternity of being;…”

“- VIII. The Sixth Day 24. בהמה behēmâh, “cattle; dumb, tame beasts.” רמשׂ remeś, “creeping (small or low) animals.” חוּה chayâh, “living thing; animal.” חוּת־חארץ chayatô-chā'ārets, “wild beast.” 26. אדם 'ādām, “man, mankind;” “be red.” A collective noun, having no plural number, and therefore denoting either an individual of the kind, or the kind or race itself. It is connected in etymology with אדמה 'ădāmâh, “the red soil,” from which the human body was formed Genesis 2:7. It therefore marks the earthly aspect of man. צלם tselem, “shade, image,” in visible outline. דמוּת demût, “likeness,” in any quality. רדה rādâh “tread, rule.” This day corresponds with the third. In both…”

“We have here the second part of the sixth day's work, the creation of man, which we are in a special manner concerned to take notice of. Observe, That man was made last of all the creatures, which was both an honour and a favour to him: an honour, for the creation was to advance from that which was less perfect, to that which was more so and a favour, for it was not fit he should be lodged in the palace designed for him, till it was completely fitted and furnished for his reception. Man, as soon as he was made, had the whole visible creation before him, both to contemplate, and to take the comfort of. That man's creation was a mere signal act of divine wisdom and power, than that of the…”

“1:26 Let us make is more personal than the remote “Let there be” (e.g., 1:3, 6). • The plural us has inspired several explanations: (1) the Trinity; (2) the plural to denote majesty; (3) a plural to show deliberation with the self; and (4) God speaking with his heavenly court of angels. The concept of the Trinity—one true God who exists eternally in three distinct persons—was revealed at a later stage in redemptive history, making it unlikely that the human author intended that here. Hebrew scholars generally dismiss the plural of majesty view because the grammar does not clearly support it (the plural of majesty has not been demonstrated to be communicated purely through a plural verb). The…”

“in the image: Psa 139:14; Isa 43:7; Eph 2:10, Eph 4:24; Col 1:15 male: Gen 2:21-25, Gen 5:2; Mal 2:15; Mat 19:4; Mar 10:6; Co1 11:8, Co1 11:9 Genesis 1:28”