This very thing, my Friends, did the word of God say also by Moses, indicating to us that of Him whom he (Moses) made known God spoke in that same sense at the creation of man, saying: Let us make man after our image and after (our) likeness; and let them rule over the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the heaven, and the cattle, and all the earth, and all the crawling things that crawl on the earth. And God made man, after the image of God made He him; male and female made He them. And God blessed them, saying: Increase, and multiply, and fill the earth and have lordship over it.
Now that you may not, by changing the words already quoted, say what your teachers say, either that God said to Himself, Let us make, as we also, when we are about to make anything, often say ‘Let us make’ to ourselves; or that God said, Let us make to the elements, namely the earth and such like, out of which we understand man has come into being; I will again relate words spoken by Moses, from which we can recognize without any question that He conversed with one different in number from Himself and possessed of reason.
Now these are the words: And God said: Behold, Adam has become as one of Us, to know good and evil. Therefore by saying as one of Us He has indicated also number in those that were present together, two at least. For I cannot consider that assertion true which is affirmed by what you call an heretical party among you, and cannot be proved by the teachers of that heresy, that He was speaking to angels, or that the human body was the work of angels.
But this Offspring, which in reality was put forth from the Father before all His works, was with the Father, and with Him the Father conversed, as the word showed us plainly by means of Solomon, that this Itself which is called Wisdom by Solomon was begotten by God both as (the) Beginning before all the works, and as (His) Offspring. God says the same by the revelation that was given to Joshua the son of Nun. But in order that what I say may thus become clear to you, hear also the following words from the Book of Joshua:
And it came to pass when Joshua was at Jericho, that he looked up with his eyes and saw a man standing in front of him. And Joshua drew near and said to him: Art thou ours or one of our adversaries? And He said to him: As chief commander of the host of the Lord, have I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and said to Him: Sir, what charge givest Thou to Thy servant? And the chief commander of the Lord saith unto Joshua: Loose the sandals of thy feet; for the place on which thou standest is holy ground. And Jericho was shut up and fortified, and none went forth out of it. And the Lord said unto Joshua: Behold I deliver to thee Jericho to be under thy hand, and its king who is in it, though they are mighty men in strength.