In a previous Back to Genesis article, "The Wonderful
Truth of the Trinity" (Acts & Facts, November 2005), the Biblical
doctrine of the tri-une God (or Trinity) was briefly expounded in terms of some
of the key verses of Scripture teaching it. A comprehensive treatment was
obviously impossible in three pages (entire books have been written on this
subject), but at least the essential truth was presented, namely that the God
of Creation is one God, in three Persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is arguably the most important doctrine of
Christianity—certainly the most distinctive. This does not mean that there are
three Gods; there is only one God who created Heaven and Earth and everything
in them. The term "God" as used in the Bible most commonly refers to
the Father, but the Son and the Holy Spirit are each also recognized as God.
This concept is so difficult for many to accept that some have argued that the
three divine Persons are not really three distinct individuals but merely three
modes in which the one God can express Himself as occasion demands.
But this also is a false invention. There are many accounts
of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit speaking to each other, for example. The
doctrine of the Trinity is admittedly difficult (in fact impossible) to
comprehend fully with our minds, but it is taught so definitely in God's Word
that we believe it with our hearts.
Skeptics can deride the Trinity doctrine as mathematically
impossible. One plus One plus One does not equal One, but three. Nevertheless,
the Bible reveals God to be a Trinity—one God in three Persons. Are we naïve
and credulous to believe such a thing?
Well, not really. It is also a remarkable fact that the
divine Trinity, the tri-une God, has created a great universe which is itself a
trinity, with each of its three components also structured as trinities. This
would not necessarily prove that God is a Trinity, but it is a fact that needs
explanation. Could God have created it as a model (or type, or analogy) that
would help people understand His own Nature, at least in some degree?
Consider: The created universe is actually a tri-universe of
Space, Matter, and Time, each permeating and representing the whole. However,
the universe is not partly composed of space, partly of matter, and partly of
time (like, for example, the three sides of a triangle). A trinity is not a
trio or a triad, but a tri-unity, with each part comprising the whole, yet all
three required to make the whole. Thus, the universe is all Space, all Time,
and all Matter (including energy as a form of matter); in fact, many scientists
speak of it as a Space-Matter-Time continuum.
Furthermore, note the parallels between the divine trinity
and the tri-universe in terms of the logical order of its three components.
Space is the invisible, omnipresent background of everything in the universe.
Matter-and-Energy reveal the reality of the universe. Time makes the universe
understandable in the events occurring in it. Note that exactly the same
sentence will apply if the words Father, Son, and Holy Spirit replace the
words, Space, Matter, and Time.
Space itself is also a tri-unity, comprised of three
dimensions, with each dimension permeating all space. The reality of any
portion of space is obtained by multiplying the three dimensions together (the
"mathematics of the Trinity" is not 1+1+1=1, but rather 1x1x1=1).
Further, Space is identified in the first dimension seen in the second
dimension, experienced in the third dimension. The same sentence could be used
with Father, Son, and Spirit replacing first, second, and third dimensions.
Similarly, Time is future, present, and past. The future is
the unseen source of time, manifest moment-by-moment in the present and
understood in the past. Again substitute Father, Son, and Spirit.
Finally, Matter is unseen, omnipresent Energy, manifesting
itself in various forms of measurable motion, then experienced in corresponding
phenomena. For example, light energy generates light waves, which are
experienced in the seeing of light. Sound energy generates sound waves which we
experience when we hear sound.
Thus, the physical universe is a great "trinity of trinities,"
with the inner relationships of each element modeling the relationships of
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All of this (as cautioned above) does not prove
that God is a Trinity, but it certainly is a remarkable fact. It is an amazing
effect, which can at least seemingly be explained on the assumption that God is
a tri-une God, and has made His creation to reflect Himself. In fact it is very
hard to explain any other way.
The above several paragraphs have been quoted mostly from the
footnotes supporting Romans 1:20 in The Defender's Study Bible. So far as I
know, however, this striking analogy was first recognized by Dr. Nathan H.
Wood, former president of Gordon College in his book The Secret of the Universe
(Warwick Press, 1932), which included a very laudatory Foreword by Dr. G.
Campbell Morgan, one of the greatest British Bible teachers of the early
twentieth century. This book was also reprinted by Kregel in 1978, under the
title The Trinity in the Universe.
It is therefore a fact that the physical universe is a great
trinity of trinities. But how about the universe of life? Many expositors have
called attention to the fact that each person is a trinity of body, soul, and
spirit. Each of these entities is real and distinct, yet each involves the whole
person. The prayer of Paul, in one of his first epistles was this: "And
the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and
soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it" (I Thessalonians
5:23-24).
The "soul" is that part of the person that is the
actual "life" that energizes the "body," which then is the
material component that others can see and hear and touch. The classic Old
Testament verse relating these two is Leviticus 17:11: ". . . the life of
the flesh is in the blood." The Hebrew word for "life" in this
verse is the same word as for "soul," and scientists have known for
many years that it is the blood's circulation throughout the body that
maintains life in the body.
The body's "spirit," on the other hand, is the
body's "breath," and this also is essential for maintaining its life
(the Hebrew word for "breath" and its New Testament Greek equivalent
are each used also for "spirit"). It is sometimes hard to
differentiate between soul and spirit for this reason, but the fact that they
are different is confirmed especially in Hebrews 4:12, which says that
"the word of God is quick, [that is, alive] and powerful [that is,
energizing], and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the
dividing asunder of soul and spirit, . . ."
The "spirit" is more than merely the
"breath" of the body, however, for the person's spirit somehow is
also that entity which partakes of the very image of God. When the first man
was yet an inert body formed of the dust of the ground, God "breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis
2:7). Thus "God created man in His own image" (Genesis 1:27). The
breath of God thereby became the image of God implanted in man's body of dust
and his living soul.
The analogy with the tri-unity of God is fairly obvious. The
soul is the life of the body, unseen and intangible but nevertheless the very
basis of the person's existence and actions; the body then is the visible and
tangible manifestation of the soul. Furthermore the spirit of the person is
(like the soul) invisible and intangible but very real in its capacity to
interact intelligibly with others, especially with God, including also the
ability to make moral and esthetic judgments.
Now animals also possess soul (that is life), body, and
spirit (in the sense of breath). They also in a very limited sense seem able to
interact with other animals and even human beings on more than a mere
instinctive level; however, they cannot, so far as we know, comprehend moral,
or spiritual concepts.
To what extent, if any, this animal tri-unity correlated with
that of humans in the beginning we do not know. In any case, the entrance of
sin and death into the world made drastic changes. Now there is a vast
difference. Death comes to both men and animals, and "all turn to dust
again." But then it is "the spirit of the beast that goeth downward
to the earth" while the spirit of man and "shall return unto God who
gave it" (Ecclesiastes 3:20-21; 12:7), consistently with Paul's prayer
noted above.
In any case, we can infer that both human life and animal
life are actually trinities (three components in the logical trinitarian order
with each also pervading the whole). However, the human tri-unity will be
restored to live forever whereas animals (body, life, breath) will not. Only
men and women are in the image of the eternal God.
Thus, there is a remarkable tri-unity pervading the physical
universe, and also one throughout the biological creation. Neither one is
perfect, of course. No model can ever be perfect when the original is God
Himself. But they are each real trinities. Each unit is distinctive with its
own function, and yet all three are necessary components of the whole, and each
pervades the whole.
These trinities pervading the creation may not be perfect
reflections of the Creator. But they are good and realistic models of the
tri-une God who made them.
It would seem there must be some good explanation for this
remarkable fact other than coincidence. A plausible explanation would surely
seem to be that they were deliberately created by God to help us understand, in
at least some small degree, His own tri-une nature.
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