Troy a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ
The Councile of God, The Son and the Holy Spirit.
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
Gen 1:26 (KJV)
This is a clear unmistakable, inarguable reference to the trinity, though the fullest clarification of the doctrine of the trinity doesn't really unfold until the New Testament. You can't fully understand the trinity until the third person...the second person of the trinity rather is incarnate and until the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, comes at Pentecost and begins to do His mighty work as revealed at that time. But the seeds of the doctrine of the trinity are planted here. It would be fair to say that we would overstate the case if we expected any original reader of Genesis to grasp the doctrine of the trinity from Genesis chapter 1. That would be overstating the case...the case...it's not there. B.B. Warfield, the great Princeton theologian, once wrote, "The times were not ripe for the revelation of the trinity in the unity of the godhead until the fullness of the time had come for God to send forth His Son unto redemption and His Spirit unto sanctification." And that's exactly right. We don't see the fullness of the trinity until the Lord Jesus Christ comes and until the Holy Spirit is sent.
So this verse cannot in some simplistic way be used as a proof of the trinity, but looking back at it from the vantage point of the incarnation and the vantage point of the coming of the Holy Spirit, we can see the richness of the meaning here because we have the full revelation. Now there are throughout the Old Testament, and it needs to be mentioned, there are throughout the Old Testament passages of Scripture which indicate communication between the members of the trinity. For example, in chapter 2 of Psalms, or Psalm 2 verse 7, the psalmist writes, "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord, He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee.'" And there is the first member of the trinity, the Father, communicating to the second member of the trinity, the Son. And that, of course, prophesies what was fulfilled in the incarnation of Christ and referred to in Hebrews chapter 1.
Later on in the Psalms, in Psalm 45, and this is very foundational so I'm going to take a minute with it here, in Psalm 45 and verse 7, again the Father is speaking..speaking of the Son, He says, "God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of joy above Thy fellows." Again that is referred to in the book of Hebrews as being directed at the second member of the trinity, the Son. So there is the communion between the Father and the Son again.
And maybe the more familiar one would be Psalm 110:1, some of you may be familiar with and you have a very direct communication there, if I can find it here, "The Lord says to My Lord," there it is. Two Lords, one speaking to the other. The Lord being the Father says to My Lord, being the Son, "Sit at My right hand until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet." And again that is referenced in the New Testament as being a messianic prophecy.
You could look at Isaiah 48:16, you find the same thing, where there is communication between the members of the trinity. But again I say, until you come to the incarnation you don't see the full identity of the second member. And until you come to the book of Acts with the coming of the Holy Spirit, you don't see the full presentation of the third member, namely the Holy Spirit. But here you have back in Genesis indication that God by nature is in relationship to Himself. He is multiple persons in perfect relationship.
Now let's dig a little deeper into this. In verse 26, "Let us make man in our image," implicates the whole of the trinity in the creative act. The whole of the trinity are brought together to do this. "Let us make man in our image," and then verse 27 says, "And God created man." You can speak of God as one as in verse 27, or you can refer to God as more than one as in verse 26 and He says, "Let us make man in our image." God is one God and yet He is three persons, as we know.
What you have here then is the council of the trinity engaged in the purpose of creating man and now the time is right. God had a divine purpose before the world began and that that divine purpose was to...to take a bride, as it were, for His Son, that God the Father desired to give to His Son an expression of love in a bride that would be a redeemed humanity to be given to His Son to love and adore and praise and glorify His Son forever and ever and ever and also to serve Him. That eternal purpose of God unfolded within the executive council that is God within the trinity.
Let me just give you a brief reminder of it because it is so very important. Speaking of Christ in 1 Peter 1:20 it says He was foreknown, which means predetermined, before the foundation of the world but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. So Jesus who has appeared in these last days for your sake to die on the cross, to rise again, to be your Savior, Jesus who has appeared in these days was planned before the foundation of the world. So before Genesis 1.
In other words, God planned redemption before He created the race of people from whom He would draw the redeemed. His redemptive purpose came first. Let's follow that even further, Titus chapter 1, for a moment. It talks about the gospel in Titus 1:1 and 2, Paul a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul's identifying himself there. And he says he is for the faith of those chosen of God. That's salvation faith for the elect, the knowledge of the truth according to godliness, the hope of eternal life. So he's talking about the gospel, the gospel of all saving faith that involves election, it involves the knowledge of the truth, it involves godliness, it involves the promise and the hope of eternal life. But notice this, God's whole saving purpose, His whole saving purpose was something God who cannot lie promised...when?...it says long ages ago, the Greek says before time began. Now when did time begin? When did time begin? On day one. So before day one God had already planned the gospel. And there was an element of the gospel that was a promise. He promised long ages ago. God promised that He would choose some, that He would grant them faith, that He would give them the knowledge of the truth, that He would produce in them godliness, that He would grant them eternal life. God promised that before day one.
Now the question is to whom did He promise it? He didn't promise it to any human being, we weren't even created till day six. He didn't promise it to angels. As I`ve said, angels were created at the same time everything else was created. We don't know exactly or precisely when. But He certainly didn't promise salvation to angels because angels don't experience salvation, do they? So He didn't promise them that. The angels who sinned and fell out of heaven fell forever and there is no salvation for angels. So to whom did God make a promise of salvation before time began?
Well, go over to 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9, we'll get a little deeper into this. It says that God, the end of verse 8, who saved us, called us with a holy calling, etc., etc., etc., did this according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus...and for some reason the translators here translate the same phrase that's in Titus 1:2, same exact phrase, there it's translated long ages ago, or whenever, here it's translated from all eternity, it's the same phrase...before time began. Here we have it again. God made a promise, according to Titus 1:2, before time began. Here it says He had a purpose that involved Christ Jesus from before time began. So before time began God made a promise. He made a promise that He was going to redeem some creatures that He would make and He was going to redeem them by means of Christ Jesus. He must have been discussing then with the second member of the trinity the necessity of an incarnation, the necessity of an entrance into the world, the necessity of sacrifice for sin and all of that.
It was all planned before time began. Verse 10 says but it was revealed by the appearing of the Savior Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus. Now I'm taking you before Genesis 1, I'm taking you in time...before time began, before the earth was given its foundations, before there was any creation in the councils of God. The plan was there was going to be a redeemed humanity who would be created and redeemed, brought to glory by means of the incarnation and the sacrifice of the second member of the trinity.
We know further in the New Testament that they would be redeemed by the work of the third member of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, who would convict their hearts of sin and righteousness and judgment, who would illuminate their minds to understand the truth, who would regenerate them and grant them the new birth. And, of course, at that particular point they would be transferred from death to life, they would become one of God's own. Those who would experience all of that are those whom God chose before the foundations of the earth, before time began.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 talks about the purposes of God, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ...why?...just as He chose us in Him before...what?...the foundation of the world." So the whole divine decree unfolded before time began, before anything was ever created. And this was in the council of the trinity. Verse 4 says, "He predestined us." He did it simply because of His own will.
How far did this go? Well, the Father said I'm going to create and redeem some people, I'm going to give them to the Son as a love gift. In fact, and look at John 17, repeatedly Jesus refers to every believer as those whom the Father has given Me. Remember that? Jesus in John 6 says, "No man comes to Me except the Father draws him." Jesus says, "All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me and I will lose none of them." In John 17 Jesus prays, "I pray, Father, that all that You have given Me will be brought to glory to see our glory." Jesus refers to believers then as those whom the Father has given Him. And that begins to shape this plan. The Father then desires to show His love to the Son. It is His supreme love, it is the love that only God knows the love that is so great that it longs to give and God determines that the way to express that love is to create and redeem humans and then bring them to glory. And when they're brought to glory, they are made like Christ. Philippians tells us in chapter 3 that we'll be conformed to His glory, to the very body of His glory. First John 3 says we'll be like Him for we see Him as He is. And so the Father is going to make us literally reflections, replicas of Jesus Christ who will radiate His glory and we will praise Him and honor Him and glorify Him forever and ever and ever and serve Him as well. That is the Father's love gift to the Son.
The wonderful story, 1 Corinthians 15 says when the Son receives that redeemed humanity from the Father, when the Father gives the Son that redeemed humanity, when they're all brought to glory, when we're all there, and time is no more, and we're all in the presence of God and we're given by the Father to the Son, when the Father gives the complete redeemed humanity to the Son, 1 Corinthians 15 indicates that the Son turns right around and gives it back to the Father and God is all in all. And what has been achieved by that is a whole redeemed humanity along with holy angels populating the new heaven and the new earth forever, for no other purpose than to serve and to praise and glorify God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who is worthy of glory.
Now this gets personal in Revelation chapter 13 and Revelation chapter 17 where twice in both cases, chapter 13 verse 8, and chapter 17 verse 8, it says the same thing, it refers to believers as those whose names have been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life. Those whose names have been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life. And again it takes us back before the foundation of the world.
The trinity we could say then has been planning this. There has been consultation and communion within the godhead. It took place long before day six, it took place before there was any long before. It took place before there was any time. It took place before there was any creation. There was a plan before it was ever carried out. And God is now saying everything else is impersonal to me, everything else burns, everything else perishes, nothing that I've created lasts. The whole universe will be uncreated. As Peter tells us in 2 Peter, it will melt...the elements will melt like fervent heat. I actually believe there will be a "run the tape backwards" kind of thing and creation will become uncreation and there will be atomic dissolution as the whole universe goes out of existence. It all burns. Only one component in the physical universe lasts forever and that is man, for only man in the end mattered to God ultimately. Everything else was only created to provide a world for man which would cause man to praise and thank and glorify God and put God's wonderful power on display and God's wisdom on display and God's intelligence on display. Certainly the complexity and the variety of the universe does that so that man would glorify God and honor God. But it all burns...it all burns. Only man is made in the image of God. It was only man that concerned the trinity ultimately. It was only man that was the product of intra-trinitarian communion.
Let me say it to you. The core of the image of God can be summed up by the word personal. We are persons. We live and move on the basis of relationships. We understand fellowship. We understand love. We understand communion. We understand conversation. We understand sharing thoughts and sharing attitudes and sharing ideas and sharing experiences with others. And that is why when God created man He immediately said it is not good for man to be alone. Why? Because the image of God is personhood and personhood can only function in relationship. The image of God, is the capacity for personal relationships. And most importantly for a personal relationship with God. And isn't it then important to understand that when God said let us make man in our image, He introduces to us at that point the concept that He is a God of relationship and then creates us in that image so that we are creatures of relationship. That's the issue. The image of God is the capacity for personal relationship. God Himself has never existed as a single, lonely, solitary isolated individual. He has always existed in a family. He is the Father, second member is the Son, third member is the Spirit. As the great St. Athanasius used to say in the fourth century, "The Father has never been without His Son."
The amazing mystery of the origin of personhood, of the origin of personality is that the one God exists as three persons in one being, or substance, or essence or reality. And the one substance, the one essence, the one being of God involves personhood. And when God made us in His image, He made us as persons and that is He made us for relationship with Him.
Amen
Drop me a line.
Troy
The Councile of God, The Son and the Holy Spirit.
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
Gen 1:26 (KJV)
This is a clear unmistakable, inarguable reference to the trinity, though the fullest clarification of the doctrine of the trinity doesn't really unfold until the New Testament. You can't fully understand the trinity until the third person...the second person of the trinity rather is incarnate and until the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, comes at Pentecost and begins to do His mighty work as revealed at that time. But the seeds of the doctrine of the trinity are planted here. It would be fair to say that we would overstate the case if we expected any original reader of Genesis to grasp the doctrine of the trinity from Genesis chapter 1. That would be overstating the case...the case...it's not there. B.B. Warfield, the great Princeton theologian, once wrote, "The times were not ripe for the revelation of the trinity in the unity of the godhead until the fullness of the time had come for God to send forth His Son unto redemption and His Spirit unto sanctification." And that's exactly right. We don't see the fullness of the trinity until the Lord Jesus Christ comes and until the Holy Spirit is sent.
So this verse cannot in some simplistic way be used as a proof of the trinity, but looking back at it from the vantage point of the incarnation and the vantage point of the coming of the Holy Spirit, we can see the richness of the meaning here because we have the full revelation. Now there are throughout the Old Testament, and it needs to be mentioned, there are throughout the Old Testament passages of Scripture which indicate communication between the members of the trinity. For example, in chapter 2 of Psalms, or Psalm 2 verse 7, the psalmist writes, "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord, He said to Me, 'Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee.'" And there is the first member of the trinity, the Father, communicating to the second member of the trinity, the Son. And that, of course, prophesies what was fulfilled in the incarnation of Christ and referred to in Hebrews chapter 1.
Later on in the Psalms, in Psalm 45, and this is very foundational so I'm going to take a minute with it here, in Psalm 45 and verse 7, again the Father is speaking..speaking of the Son, He says, "God, Thy God, has anointed Thee with the oil of joy above Thy fellows." Again that is referred to in the book of Hebrews as being directed at the second member of the trinity, the Son. So there is the communion between the Father and the Son again.
And maybe the more familiar one would be Psalm 110:1, some of you may be familiar with and you have a very direct communication there, if I can find it here, "The Lord says to My Lord," there it is. Two Lords, one speaking to the other. The Lord being the Father says to My Lord, being the Son, "Sit at My right hand until I make Thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet." And again that is referenced in the New Testament as being a messianic prophecy.
You could look at Isaiah 48:16, you find the same thing, where there is communication between the members of the trinity. But again I say, until you come to the incarnation you don't see the full identity of the second member. And until you come to the book of Acts with the coming of the Holy Spirit, you don't see the full presentation of the third member, namely the Holy Spirit. But here you have back in Genesis indication that God by nature is in relationship to Himself. He is multiple persons in perfect relationship.
Now let's dig a little deeper into this. In verse 26, "Let us make man in our image," implicates the whole of the trinity in the creative act. The whole of the trinity are brought together to do this. "Let us make man in our image," and then verse 27 says, "And God created man." You can speak of God as one as in verse 27, or you can refer to God as more than one as in verse 26 and He says, "Let us make man in our image." God is one God and yet He is three persons, as we know.
What you have here then is the council of the trinity engaged in the purpose of creating man and now the time is right. God had a divine purpose before the world began and that that divine purpose was to...to take a bride, as it were, for His Son, that God the Father desired to give to His Son an expression of love in a bride that would be a redeemed humanity to be given to His Son to love and adore and praise and glorify His Son forever and ever and ever and also to serve Him. That eternal purpose of God unfolded within the executive council that is God within the trinity.
Let me just give you a brief reminder of it because it is so very important. Speaking of Christ in 1 Peter 1:20 it says He was foreknown, which means predetermined, before the foundation of the world but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. So Jesus who has appeared in these last days for your sake to die on the cross, to rise again, to be your Savior, Jesus who has appeared in these days was planned before the foundation of the world. So before Genesis 1.
In other words, God planned redemption before He created the race of people from whom He would draw the redeemed. His redemptive purpose came first. Let's follow that even further, Titus chapter 1, for a moment. It talks about the gospel in Titus 1:1 and 2, Paul a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul's identifying himself there. And he says he is for the faith of those chosen of God. That's salvation faith for the elect, the knowledge of the truth according to godliness, the hope of eternal life. So he's talking about the gospel, the gospel of all saving faith that involves election, it involves the knowledge of the truth, it involves godliness, it involves the promise and the hope of eternal life. But notice this, God's whole saving purpose, His whole saving purpose was something God who cannot lie promised...when?...it says long ages ago, the Greek says before time began. Now when did time begin? When did time begin? On day one. So before day one God had already planned the gospel. And there was an element of the gospel that was a promise. He promised long ages ago. God promised that He would choose some, that He would grant them faith, that He would give them the knowledge of the truth, that He would produce in them godliness, that He would grant them eternal life. God promised that before day one.
Now the question is to whom did He promise it? He didn't promise it to any human being, we weren't even created till day six. He didn't promise it to angels. As I`ve said, angels were created at the same time everything else was created. We don't know exactly or precisely when. But He certainly didn't promise salvation to angels because angels don't experience salvation, do they? So He didn't promise them that. The angels who sinned and fell out of heaven fell forever and there is no salvation for angels. So to whom did God make a promise of salvation before time began?
Well, go over to 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9, we'll get a little deeper into this. It says that God, the end of verse 8, who saved us, called us with a holy calling, etc., etc., etc., did this according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus...and for some reason the translators here translate the same phrase that's in Titus 1:2, same exact phrase, there it's translated long ages ago, or whenever, here it's translated from all eternity, it's the same phrase...before time began. Here we have it again. God made a promise, according to Titus 1:2, before time began. Here it says He had a purpose that involved Christ Jesus from before time began. So before time began God made a promise. He made a promise that He was going to redeem some creatures that He would make and He was going to redeem them by means of Christ Jesus. He must have been discussing then with the second member of the trinity the necessity of an incarnation, the necessity of an entrance into the world, the necessity of sacrifice for sin and all of that.
It was all planned before time began. Verse 10 says but it was revealed by the appearing of the Savior Jesus Christ, or Christ Jesus. Now I'm taking you before Genesis 1, I'm taking you in time...before time began, before the earth was given its foundations, before there was any creation in the councils of God. The plan was there was going to be a redeemed humanity who would be created and redeemed, brought to glory by means of the incarnation and the sacrifice of the second member of the trinity.
We know further in the New Testament that they would be redeemed by the work of the third member of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, who would convict their hearts of sin and righteousness and judgment, who would illuminate their minds to understand the truth, who would regenerate them and grant them the new birth. And, of course, at that particular point they would be transferred from death to life, they would become one of God's own. Those who would experience all of that are those whom God chose before the foundations of the earth, before time began.
Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 talks about the purposes of God, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ...why?...just as He chose us in Him before...what?...the foundation of the world." So the whole divine decree unfolded before time began, before anything was ever created. And this was in the council of the trinity. Verse 4 says, "He predestined us." He did it simply because of His own will.
How far did this go? Well, the Father said I'm going to create and redeem some people, I'm going to give them to the Son as a love gift. In fact, and look at John 17, repeatedly Jesus refers to every believer as those whom the Father has given Me. Remember that? Jesus in John 6 says, "No man comes to Me except the Father draws him." Jesus says, "All that the Father gives to Me will come to Me and I will lose none of them." In John 17 Jesus prays, "I pray, Father, that all that You have given Me will be brought to glory to see our glory." Jesus refers to believers then as those whom the Father has given Him. And that begins to shape this plan. The Father then desires to show His love to the Son. It is His supreme love, it is the love that only God knows the love that is so great that it longs to give and God determines that the way to express that love is to create and redeem humans and then bring them to glory. And when they're brought to glory, they are made like Christ. Philippians tells us in chapter 3 that we'll be conformed to His glory, to the very body of His glory. First John 3 says we'll be like Him for we see Him as He is. And so the Father is going to make us literally reflections, replicas of Jesus Christ who will radiate His glory and we will praise Him and honor Him and glorify Him forever and ever and ever and serve Him as well. That is the Father's love gift to the Son.
The wonderful story, 1 Corinthians 15 says when the Son receives that redeemed humanity from the Father, when the Father gives the Son that redeemed humanity, when they're all brought to glory, when we're all there, and time is no more, and we're all in the presence of God and we're given by the Father to the Son, when the Father gives the complete redeemed humanity to the Son, 1 Corinthians 15 indicates that the Son turns right around and gives it back to the Father and God is all in all. And what has been achieved by that is a whole redeemed humanity along with holy angels populating the new heaven and the new earth forever, for no other purpose than to serve and to praise and glorify God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit who is worthy of glory.
Now this gets personal in Revelation chapter 13 and Revelation chapter 17 where twice in both cases, chapter 13 verse 8, and chapter 17 verse 8, it says the same thing, it refers to believers as those whose names have been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life. Those whose names have been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life. And again it takes us back before the foundation of the world.
The trinity we could say then has been planning this. There has been consultation and communion within the godhead. It took place long before day six, it took place before there was any long before. It took place before there was any time. It took place before there was any creation. There was a plan before it was ever carried out. And God is now saying everything else is impersonal to me, everything else burns, everything else perishes, nothing that I've created lasts. The whole universe will be uncreated. As Peter tells us in 2 Peter, it will melt...the elements will melt like fervent heat. I actually believe there will be a "run the tape backwards" kind of thing and creation will become uncreation and there will be atomic dissolution as the whole universe goes out of existence. It all burns. Only one component in the physical universe lasts forever and that is man, for only man in the end mattered to God ultimately. Everything else was only created to provide a world for man which would cause man to praise and thank and glorify God and put God's wonderful power on display and God's wisdom on display and God's intelligence on display. Certainly the complexity and the variety of the universe does that so that man would glorify God and honor God. But it all burns...it all burns. Only man is made in the image of God. It was only man that concerned the trinity ultimately. It was only man that was the product of intra-trinitarian communion.
Let me say it to you. The core of the image of God can be summed up by the word personal. We are persons. We live and move on the basis of relationships. We understand fellowship. We understand love. We understand communion. We understand conversation. We understand sharing thoughts and sharing attitudes and sharing ideas and sharing experiences with others. And that is why when God created man He immediately said it is not good for man to be alone. Why? Because the image of God is personhood and personhood can only function in relationship. The image of God, is the capacity for personal relationships. And most importantly for a personal relationship with God. And isn't it then important to understand that when God said let us make man in our image, He introduces to us at that point the concept that He is a God of relationship and then creates us in that image so that we are creatures of relationship. That's the issue. The image of God is the capacity for personal relationship. God Himself has never existed as a single, lonely, solitary isolated individual. He has always existed in a family. He is the Father, second member is the Son, third member is the Spirit. As the great St. Athanasius used to say in the fourth century, "The Father has never been without His Son."
The amazing mystery of the origin of personhood, of the origin of personality is that the one God exists as three persons in one being, or substance, or essence or reality. And the one substance, the one essence, the one being of God involves personhood. And when God made us in His image, He made us as persons and that is He made us for relationship with Him.
Amen
Drop me a line.
Troy
