1Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky and came and rolled away the stone from the door and sat on it. 3His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4For fear of him, the guards shook, and became like dead men. 5The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified. 6He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. 7Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”
8They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring his disciples word. 9As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!”
They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
10Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”
11Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city and told the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12When they were assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers, 13saying, “Say that his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. 14If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him and make you free of worry.” 15So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until today.
16But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 17When they saw him, they bowed down to him; but some doubted. 18Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
This verse presents several issues. First is the use of the plural with the Creator (let us). There is a difference of view on whether "let us" refers to God the Creator and His angels or to members of the Trinity, even though understanding of God is unknown in the Old Testament, but revealed early in the Gospels (Matt 3:16, 17; Matt 28:19). Second, there is the issue of the "image of God in man." Man being in God's image is an example of theomorphic language, in which some of the attributes of God are expressed in humans. As I have explained elsewhere:
"When we speak about humans made in the image of God, we understand this as theomorphic and theopathic language. By this is meant that humans are created to be like, but not the same, as their Creator, in our form and in our spiritual expression, since God created humans physically in His image, as well as spiritually. I do not mean to suggest that God is physical or has a body but that our physical body, when joined with our spirit, has been enabled, in part, to experience and express attributes that God has without a body. Consequently, without material eyes, the infinite God sees, and without a brain, He thinks. God has created humans as finite physical beings to act similarly to God.1
H. Wayne House, Does God Feel Your Pain? (Navasota, Texas: Lampion House Publishing, 2009, rev 2023), 108 [see 109 and 110 for more information]. ↩︎