What builder, or carpenter, or tanner, alone, pondering over any tool or building without help, says to himself: "Let us make ourselves a tool," or: "Let us make a plough," or: "Let us dye the leather," and does not simply silently do his work? It's a lie to say that. Such actions are characteristic of foolish people, and not of wise people: being alone, talking to oneself and instructing oneself in one's work. And if it is absurd and unseemly for a wise man to do so, how much more is it unbecoming of God.

That is why God did not say: "Let us create the heavens, let us create the earth, let us create the sea." But He said, "Let there be heaven!" and so it was. And all the rest of creation He created One.

But God did not create man in this way, He said: "Let us create man." Evidently God spoke to another Person, with whom He conversed and consulted.

Who is God's counselor? They will answer me: prophets.

But Isaiah says of the Only-begotten Son of God that He is God's counselor, Jesus Christ, the Son of God in essence and not by grace. Isaiah said, "For unto us a child is born, a son is given unto us... and they shall call His name Angel of the Great Council..."(Isaiah 9:6) The Father said to Him: "Let us make man in Our image and after our likeness..." Further, wishing to show that He is not a mere child, nor one of the angels, but the true God, the prophet says of Him: "Mighty God, Lord, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Further, lest they think that He is God not in Essence, but only by grace, as Moses and David did (for God said to Moses, "Behold, I have made thee God unto Pharaoh..." (Exod. 7, 1.); and David says: "I said, You are gods...")(Ps. 81:6.), Isaiah said of the Lord Jesus Christ: "God is mighty." Moses and David were not strong in themselves, but received power from God and did not keep it, but sinned against the Lord and fainted, and the one wept for the promised land, and the other for his sins. Further, Isaiah, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, concludes: "The Father of the world to come" (Isaiah 9:6). With this, the prophet stopped all impious fabrications! For no man will be the Father of the age to come, but only the Son of God, who is both a child and Christ by human nature, and an angel, and a mighty God, and the Father of the age to come, and the counselor of the Father in the creation of man, and not such as Moses and David.

The Holy and Life-Giving Spirit is also a counselor of the Father. But first let the Holy Scriptures speak of the Only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, and then of the Holy and Life-Giving Spirit.

We have already seen how a heretic is overcome by our arguments, when he understands that it is absurd not only for God, but also for a reasonable person, to talk to himself when he is engaged in any work alone. But the Jew persists and says that the words: "Let us make man in our image and likeness" — God said to the angels.

We will answer the Jew in the following way: if God had addressed the angels, it would not have been written: "God created man, in the image and likeness of God created he him" (cf. Gen. 1:27), but it would have been written that man was created in the likeness and image of God and in the likeness and image of the angels. No one will dare to say that the likeness of God and the angelic are one; for nowhere is it written that God created the angels in the image and likeness of God. When God created thousands of angels and thousands of thousands of archangels, He did not need a counselor. When He wanted to create a small and weak man, did God really need an angel for advice? The angels, God's creatures, did not participate in the creation of the world with God, as God testifies in the book of Job, saying: "When I created the stars, all the angels praised Me with a loud voice, and sang of Me." But after the creation of man, God said: "Behold, Adam became as one of Us" (Gen. 3:22). If the Godhead were one, then God would say, "Behold, Adam became like me." But He didn't say, "As one of Us." And again it is said: "And God created man... in the image of God he created him" (Gen. 1:27). If the Godhead had one Person, the books would say, "God created man, in His own image created he him." But God, before creating man, said, "Let us make man"; after creation He said, "Behold, Adam became as one of Us"; and again: "And God created man... in the image of God created him." And so in many places the Holy Scriptures indicate that the Godhead is not of the same hypostasis, but Triune!

Further, the Scripture speaks of the confusion of nations: "Let us go down and confuse their language there" (See Gen. 11:7. In the Slavonic Bible: "Come, let us go down and confuse their languages"). To whom is this said? Isn't it obvious that God said this to His Son and the Holy Spirit?

В Книге Бытия пишется: “И явился Аврааму Бог. Авраам возвел очи свои и взглянул, и вот, три мужа стоят против него. Он побежал навстречу им и поклонился до земли, и сказал: Владыка, если я обрел благодать пред очами Твоими, не пройди мимо раба Твоего”[5]. Авраам увидел в образе трех мужей Святую Троицу. Видя Троих, Авраам обращался к Одному, и этим он объявил единство Божества; ибо Троица едина и троична: едина по Естеству, троична — Ипостасями.

Далее Писание говорит о Содоме: “И пролил Господь… огонь от Господа с неба”(Быт. 19, 24.). Какой Господь и от какого Господа, кроме как Господь наш Иисус Христос, Единородный Сын Божий, и Святой и Животворящий Дух, от Бога Отца Вседержителя?

Далее, в книге Исход написано: “Сказал Господь Моисею: Я проведу пред тобою всю славу Мою и провозглашу имя Господне пред Тобою”(Ср.: Исх. 33, 19.). Будучи Сам Господом Богом, какого Господа Он призывает? Разумеешь ли, как таинственно Писание поучает благочестивому знанию об Отце и Сыне?

И далее Писание говорит: “И сошел Господь в облаке, и остановился там близ него, и провозгласил имя Иеговы. И прошел Господь пред лицом его и возгласил: Господь, Господь, Бог человеколюбивый и милосердый, долготерпеливый и многомилостивый и истинный”(Исх. 34, 5–6.). Немного ниже написано: “И пал Моисей и поклонился Богу, — то есть поклонился Сыну Божию, призывающему Отца, — и сказал… Да пойдет Владыка посреди нас”(Исх. 34, 8–9.).

И потому еще известно, что у Бога Отца есть Бог Сын, что Исаия говорит: “Ты — Бог, и в Тебе есть Бог”(Ср.: Ис. 45, 14–15. В славянской Библии: “…ибо в Тебе Бог… Нет Бога кроме Тебя, ибо Ты — Бог”.).