The doctrine of the Trinity has been one of the most baffling doctrines of Holy Writ throughout history. It is the very inability of man to comprehend this truth that is witness to its factuality. The only way man could ever understand all of the how’s and wherefore’s of God is if the god he served were a god of his own making. God, as He truly exists, is beyond our capacity to comprehend. The surprising thing is not our inability to understand the Trinity, the truly surprising thing would be if we could. However, just because a truth is difficult to understand should not deter us from trying our best to do so. Indeed, the most precious truths are the ones that require the most effort on our part. I do not claim to have grasped all facets of the Trinity but hopefully I can offer a biblical illustration that will help us both. Therefore, open your Bibles, open your minds, and think with me for a moment.
On the sixth day of creation God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness . . . So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them” (Genesis 1:26, 27). There is a sense in which man would be a picture of God Himself; man would be created “in the image of God.” Man’s creation as here recorded not only refers to the individual man but also to the collective whole, that is, mankind and both offer pictures of God.
What picture of God is present in the individual? First, man has an eternal spirit within him. “God is spirit” (John 4:24, emphasis mine), and a “spirit hath not flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39). Indeed, when Jesus witnessed Peter’s confession of His Sonship He responded, “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). Our Father is not flesh and blood, therefore, being created in His image does not refer to our physical appearance and make-up. The affirmation that we are created in God’s image means that some part of man is not “flesh and blood.” We have an immortal spirit within us and it is this spirit which separates us from the animals. It is our spirit that gives us the ability to think and to reason, “for what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him?” (1 Corinthians 2:11, emphasis mine). The spirit of man is the knowing part of man, the reasoning part of man. Of all God’s creation we are the only ones that have this reasoning power. We are the only earthly creatures who are able to think in the abstract, to form opinions and beliefs, and the only ones to have free-will in the true sense of the word. This is a picture of God Himself.
Second, man pictures God by the exercise of his dominion. The same passage that records man’s creation also records his authority. “And God said, Let Us make man in our image, after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26, emphasis mine). Psalm 8 echoes these thoughts, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas” (vs.4-8, emphasis mine). Even James speaks of man’s dominion on the earth, “For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind” (3:7, emphasis mine). This is also a picture of God. Just as the beasts of the earth must recognize man’s sovereignty over them so also must man bow down in reverence to and recognition of God’s sovereignty over him. These characteristics of man are small pictures of larger truths about God. We are knowing reasoning beings in the same way that God is, but we are not all-knowing. We have a kind of authority over the earth but all authority rests only with God (cf. Matthew 28:18). We are miniscule pictures of grander Truth. We are shadows of the substance. Man points beyond himself to something, indeed someone, larger than himself.
However, the creation of man ('âdâm), as recorded in Genesis, includes not only the individual but also the collective whole of mankind. Notice again, “Let Us make man in our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion” (1:26, emphasis mine). The word man as used here does not refer to one man (singular) but to all of mankind, to them (plural). It is this collective definition of “man,” as distinct from the individual definition, that makes the picture of “the image of God” full and complete. As long as there is only one person, Adam, who possesses the essence of manhood, we do not have a full picture of God because God is three Persons who possess Godhood. It is in the creation of woman that the picture is completed. The creation of Eve provides what the current picture of Adam alone lacks. She is the second individual person to possess the singular essence of manhood.
Notice, “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man ('âdâm), in the likeness of God made He him. Male and female created He them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam ('âdâm), in the day when they were created” (Genesis 5:1,2, emphasis mine). In this passage the plurality of personhood in mankind is affirmed (notice the three-fold use of the plural pronouns) as well as their singleness and unity. This is our clearest insight into what it means for man, that is, mankind, the collective body, to be created in God’s image. God is three Persons with one name. Here we have two persons with one name, 'âdâm. So often people wonder how there can be three Persons in the Godhead and yet still be only one God. They say, “Does that not make three gods?” In response we might ask this question: does there being two persons, Adam and Eve, called by one name, âdâm, make two “mankinds?” Of course not. Adam and Eve are distinct in personhood and yet neither is lacking in any quality that constitutes manhood for they are both called âdâm (cf. Genesis 5:2). One may object, “You said that the creation of mankind is a picture of the Trinity but here you only have two persons, not three.” True, but when Adam and Eve bore Cain there existed three individuals with distinct personhood. Did they then begin to lack any quality that determines manhood? Or did they then constitute three distinct “mankinds?” We must answer, “No.” If there can be two distinct personalities which share the same unified name and essence, why can there not be three? And if there can be three then why can there not be four? And if four, then why not 7 billion? The earth today contains nearly 7 billion individuals with distinct personhood. If we can accept in 7 billion the simultaneous individuality of personhood and unity of essence in manhood, then why can we not accept the simultaneous individuality and unity of three? There is only one God just as much as there is only one man, one âdâm, one mankind, and there are three Persons in Godhood just as much as there are nearly 7 billion persons in manhood.
From the very first chapter of our Bibles God has given us a picture of His unity in plurality and yet there remain so many who fail to see it. The inspired text of the Holy Bible attributes Godhood to three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is no contradiction. This is a truth that should cause us all to bow down in reverence and awe of a mighty God. Our reaction should be no less than to prostrate ourselves before the God Who is beyond our comprehension and to exclaim to His praise and glory, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:33).
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