Dialogue with Trypho

The same message, my friends, was expressed by the word of God written by Moses. It shows us that God speaks in the creation of man with the same intention, as follows: ‘Let Us make man in our image and likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and all the crawling creatures on the earth. And God created man: He created him in the image of God; male and female He created them. And God blessed them and said, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and have dominion over it.’

So you won’t change the meaning of the quoted words or repeat what your teachers claim—that God said to Himself, ‘Let Us make,’ just as we often say to ourselves when planning something, ‘Let us make;’ or that God spoke to the elements, like the earth and others we believe man was made from, with ‘Let Us make,’—I will quote again the words by Moses himself. They clearly show that [God] was speaking with someone distinct from Himself and also a rational Being. These are the words: ‘And God said, Behold, Adam has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.’ By saying ‘like one of us,’ [Moses] declared that there are a number of persons associated together, and they are at least two.

I do not claim that the belief of the heresy among you is true, nor that its teachers can prove that [God] spoke to angels or that angels crafted humans. This Offspring, truly brought forth from the Father, was with the Father before all creatures, and the Father communed with Him. Scripture through Solomon makes it clear that He whom Solomon calls Wisdom was begotten as a Beginning before all His creatures and as Offspring by God. This is also confirmed in the revelation made by Joshua the son of Nun. Consider the following from the book of Joshua to make this clear to you; it is this: ‘When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing opposite him. Joshua approached Him and asked, Are you for us or for our adversaries? He said to him, I am the Captain of the Lord’s host: now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the ground and said, Lord, what do you command your servant? The Lord’s Captain said to Joshua, Take off your shoes; for the place you are standing on is holy ground. Jericho was secured and fortified, and no one went out of it. And the Lord said to Joshua, Behold, I give Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men.’