THE BIBLICAL DATA AND THEIR SYNTACTICAL SIGNIFICANCE The idea first appears in Genesis 1:26, where we read that God in solemn counsel with himself said, “Let us [a probable reflection of the trinity of persons in the divine essence] make man in our image [בְּצַלְמֵנוּ, beṣalmēnû], according to our likeness [כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ, ciḏmûṯēnû].” Quite early in Christian thinking a distinction was drawn between the two terms, due perhaps to the LXX rendering, εἰκώνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν (eikōna kai homoiōsin,