The very first thing we read about human beings in the Bible is that we were created in the image and likeness of God. Quite how we’re made in the image and likeness of God has been the cause of a great deal of debate over the years. It’s usually thought to mean that we, human beings, in some way reflect some quality or characteristic of God but the question of how we do that, in what way we do that, is made more complicated because we, as Christians, believe that God is a Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
That’s quite in keeping with what we read in the first chapter of Genesis because the story begins with God, God’s Spirit and creation through God’s Word, which we believe to be God’s Son. And in creating human beings God says,
“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…”
And this is seen as a conversation within the Trinity, a conversation between Father, Son and Spirit. The problem is that we can’t really explain how God can be three distinct and separate persons and yet be only one God. We can’t explain how each of the three distinct persons of the Trinity can each be fully God in their own right and yet be only one God rather than three gods. And if we don’t have the language to explain this, to explain the nature of God, how can we explain what it means for us, as human beings to be made in the image and likeness of God? It is a problem but it’s one I think we can answer at least to some extent, by looking at what the Scriptures say about each of the three persons of the Trinity and how we are called to show in our lives, what the Scriptures say about them.
In the creation story in the Book of Genesis, the first thing that God creates is light. Now although both the Son, the Word of God, and the Spirit of God are active in creation, we always see the source of all things as the Father. So the Father is the bringer of light. Later in the Scriptures, in the prologue to St John’s Gospel, we read about the Father sending light into the world through his Son and incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. And Jesus spoke about the Father’s light on a number of occasions during his ministry. In teaching his disciples to love their enemies, he used the analogy of God’s created light;
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good…”
And urged them to,
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
And he called on his disciples to bring God’s light, the light of truth and understanding to the world;
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
So when we love others, regardless of who and what they are or whether we like them or not, we’re being like the Father, because that’s something he does. And when we bring the Father’s light to other people we’re bringing glory to Father. What were actually doing is, by showing others what we’re like, we’re showing them something of what the Father is like. We’re showing them something of the image of the Father in ourselves.
As Christians, our basic calling is to be like Jesus Christ, that’s what the name Christian really means. And so, if giving glory to the Father is showing others what the Father is like, then our basic calling as Christians is to give glory to Jesus Christ by showing others what he is like through following his teaching and example in our own lives. And by doing that we give glory to the second person of the Trinity because if our lives can be lived in the image of Jesus, then they’ll also be lived in the image of the Son. Jesus himself spoke about this in his prayer to the Father during what we know as the Farewell Discourse in John’s Gospel.
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me….All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.”
So through our faith in Jesus and our obedience to his words, we give him glory because we show to others who he really is, the Son of God. And through our faith in Jesus and our obedience to his words we show in our lives the image of Jesus, the Son of the God.
That brings us to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament, we read that,
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
and in his First Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul explicitly states that God’s wisdom is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
…we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—
these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.
In St John’s Gospel, Jesus himself speaks about the Spirit as a bringer of understanding ‘the Spirit of truth’ as he calls him, and says,
“…the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”
So wisdom, knowledge and understanding of God’s ways, and the fear of the Lord, reverence for God’s ways, are gifts of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
But Jesus said that the Spirit would also remind his disciples of everything he’d said to them. And in the Great Commission he gave to the Church, Jesus told his disciples to,
“…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
So in and by the power of the Spirit who leads us into truth, we’re called to lead others into the truth. In and by the power of the Spirit who leads us into wisdom, into knowledge and understanding of God’s ways, we’re called to bring others to know and understand God’s ways. In and by the power of the Spirit who teaches us fear of the Lord, reverence for God’s ways, we’re called to teach others to have reverence for God’s ways. And when we do these things, in and by the power of the Spirit, what are we doing other than revealing in ourselves and in our lives something of the image of the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity?
Of course, to show the image of the Trinity more fully in our lives, we’d have to be one as the three persons of the Trinity are one, as Jesus prayed we may be. That we, though we are many, might be one body, as we pray each and every time we break bread together in the Eucharist. Sadly, we don’t seem to have become quite that wise, or that close to the image and likeness of God just yet. But nevertheless, in spite of our failings and in spite of the difficulty we have in describing God as Trinity, we can show in our lives at least something of the image and likeness of God as Trinity, through showing in our lives the image and likeness of the three persons of the Trinity. We can show the likeness of the Father by bringing light to the world. We can show the likeness of the Son by our obedience to Christ’s teaching and example. And we can show the likeness of the Spirit by leading others into the truth to which we ourselves have been led.
Amen.
The Propers for Trinity Sunday can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 