Imagine, for a moment, walking into a house and seeing a man, woman, and their son sitting on a couch watching television. How many people do you see? Three? Good! Now, how many families do you see? One? Good! There you have it! The perfect example of the Holy Trinity. The Bible tells us that Adam was created in the "image and likeness of God" (Genesis 1:26). When Eve was created, God took out a piece of Adam. Ever wonder why? Why did God not use the same method he used with Adam? It's because Adam already represented the image of God. Therefore, by taking a piece of Adam out and using it to fashion Eve, the two would need to become and remain as one in order to fully represent the image of God. Adam alone didn't do that anymore.
When the two, who together represented the image of God, began having children, they were each giving a part of themselves (chromosomes, etc) to the child so that in order for the image of God to be fully represented it would take the combined union of the family structure. The family unit is the image of the triune God. Not many families. One family three distinct persons: father, mother, and first born son. A family without a son does not accurately portray the trinity. This is not a shameful thing. It simply is what it is. It also explains why the first born son was given preferential treatment throughout the Old Testament as well as many cultures both modern and ancient. It is what it is. There is no mandate to keep having kids until a boy is born, although some non-Christian cultures still cherish the boy over the girls. Thank Jesus that there is no longer any male or female preference in the Kingdom under the new covenant.
It does, however, for the sake of this study, explain the importance of Jesus himself being mentioned as the "first born". He is the Son in the Trinity. Why else would he pray to his father? Was he schizophrenic? Of course not! He was talking to his dad.
Going back to the book of Genesis, we read in the creation story:
" 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
What? Who is this "us" and "our" anyway? Read it again. It is obviously a mention of the Trinity, right? Either God has a serious identity problem or there is more than one personality at work here.
When Jesus said: "The father and I are one", it was in the same context as the husband leaving his mother and father and "cleaving" to his wife so that the "two shall become one". There we see the marriage aspect linked to the trinity.
I hope the lights are coming on in the minds of some of you reading this. It is elementary and crucial in order to understand both the Bible and the God you serve - One God - Three distinct personalities. The Father sent the Son, the Son sent Holy Spirit. That is why we are commanded by Jesus himself to go into the whole world, "Baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". Amen
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