According to the Scriptures

Guest (Male): Describing the triune nature of every born-again believer, here's Pastor Damian Kyle.

Damian Kyle: Paul writes himself of this restoration that's true of every Christian and the triunity of man, an inferior trinity, when he declares in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Guest (Male): Ever wonder how men and women who are physical can be in a relationship with God who is spirit? Well, we'll dive into that wonderful mystery here today on According to the Scriptures with Pastor Damian Kyle.

We've just begun a series we've called Gleanings from Genesis. And today's focus is on God making us in His image. And He did so that we might be in a relationship with Him. Here's Damian.

Damian Kyle: The title of the book of Genesis, Genesis is a Greek word and it means origin or beginning. And without the revelation that is contained within the book of Genesis, we would be completely in the dark concerning so many things in life. I don't think that we would be able to make any real sense of the world that we live in at all without the revelation that is found there.

We come to what is perhaps the most important revelation of all for each of us individually. It is certainly the most personal. The context of our passages is that God has created at this point the heavens and the earth, verse 1. He brought time into existence in the beginning. He created space. He created the heavens and then matter. He created the earth and the time, space, and matter, all of it brought into existence by His voice.

And then in verses 22 through 27, rather, Genesis chapter 1, he provides us with a greater description of how he did all of that. And then in verse 26, on the seventh day, we come to the account concerning what is the crowning achievement of God's creation, and that is the creation of man.

I think that in the current intellectual climate in the United States of America, that a statement like that can be considered arrogant. It can be considered to be egotistical. But if you doubt me on the fact that mankind is the pinnacle, the acme of God's creation, after this description of the creation of man in chapters 1 and 2, second only to the Bible's focus upon God in the Bible, man now becomes the great central focus, not only of Genesis, but the entire Bible.

The atmosphere is not the focus, the land or the sea is not the focus, the plant life is not the focus, the sun, the moon, the stars are not the focus of the Bible. The animal life, whether birds or fish or zebra or elephants or pandas or dogs or cats, none of them are the focus of the remainder of the book from chapter 1 on. Man is unique in the midst of God's creation.

This passage that we've looked at here this morning, and we'll put our main focus upon verses 26, 27, and 28, it tells us that man was created by God. We're provided a little more insight into all of this in chapter 2, verse 7, where we're told and God formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. And so we're told that man's physical body was formed by God and that our bodies were formed from the earth.

The Hebrew word that is used there for formed describes the work of an artist. It describes the work of a potter shaping a beautiful vessel from clay. It is interesting to realize that the same 17 elements that make up the soil also make up the human body. And all of that is completely in line with God's revelation here in the book of Genesis.

We're told that man became a living being through the breath of God. In other words, God has the ability to do what no human potter could ever do with clay, and that is the ability to impart life into His work. Now exactly what the fullness of this was that God imparted uniquely to man as opposed to what He imparted to the rest of His creation, including the animal kingdom, is communicated in chapter 1, verse 27, that man was created in the image of God.

So that raises the question, and it's an important question to consider, and that is exactly what does it mean that mankind was created in the image of God? It cannot mean that God is 5 foot 10 inches tall and 170 pounds. It cannot mean that we were created in the image of God in any kind of physical sense at all, because God the Father does not have a body. He is spirit, the Bible teaches us.

Jesus declared to the woman at the well, "But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for God is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth."

Well, being created in the image of God certainly means that Adam and Eve had characteristics of God that were imparted to them by God that are not shared by the rest of creation, that are not shared by the animal kingdom. I think one way to start to think about how are we uniquely created in the image of God is to simply note all of the things that make human beings different than the animal kingdom and to realize that those things are things that were imparted to us that are a part of God's image in us and upon us.

We certainly possess a vastly superior intellect to the animal kingdom. You'll notice that zebras don't have libraries. Apes are not creating iPhones or this kind of technology. They have no universities to speak of. We possess a range and a depth of emotion that is completely unique to us. We possess a capacity to reason and a capacity for decision making that transcends instinct, the instinct that marks the decision making and reasoning of the animal kingdom.

We possess a moral nature of conscience, a self-conscious reflection in life that is unique to us. It allows us to make moral judgments with a nuance and a depth that far excels instinct. We possess a creative capacity that is far beyond the animal kingdom. You'll notice there are no museums, there are no art galleries in the animal kingdom.

But the crowning glory of man is our unique capacity for a relationship with God. Beyond God simply being our Creator, you notice in verse 28 that God speaks to man. Here we have the capacity unique to man to hear God, to understand God, to obey God's voice, to know and relate to God personally in a relationship with God that goes far beyond the creator-creation relationship.

When you look into the eyes of your dog gazing up at you in the morning, you never see any indication that that dog is contemplating the meaning of life or even that it's contemplating all of the things that it has to get done that day and will it be able to get to all of those things. No, it has no plan at all. It has no list at all to begin the day. It doesn't contemplate the meaning of life. It's just simply happy to see you and is wondering when you're going to feed it. And this is characteristic of the entire animal kingdom. In other words, anybody can recognize the uniqueness of man in creation exactly as Genesis states.

I agree with all of that, but I think that all of that is true under a larger umbrella. I think all of that is contained in what is the most satisfactory explanation for us being created in the image of God that I've ever heard. And that is the recognition that God is a Trinity and He is a triunity. And it is interesting to note that when God talks about man being created in the image of God, He does so in the context of the triunity of God.

The Bible teaches that God is a Trinity or triunity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that Adam and Eve were created before the Fall as an inferior trinity of spirit, soul, and body. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, spirit. Our relationship with God was in the realm of the spirit. Spirit, soul, and body.

You remember that God spoke to Adam and Eve. He declared to Adam and Eve, of every tree in the midst of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of that, for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die. Very next scene in the Bible, chapter 3, they are at the foot of that tree. They partake of the forbidden fruit, and they died.

How did they die? They certainly didn't die physically. Our presence in this room here right now is an indication of that. How they died is they died spiritually, cut off from the relationship with God that they were created for. And there is only one solution to the catastrophe of this condition, the condition of a spiritual death, and that is the necessity of a spiritual birth.

And that is precisely why Jesus said unless a person is born again, then we will not be able to enter into the kingdom of God. And He taught in that very same context that if we will trust in Him and believe in Him for the forgiveness of our sins and salvation and make Him our Savior, that the Holy Spirit then comes into our life, we experience a spiritual birth, and now we have regained the capacity for relationship with God that Adam and Eve once had but then lost in their sin in the garden.

Paul writes himself of this restoration that's true of every Christian and the triunity of man, an inferior trinity, when he declares in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse 23, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Now having brought up the Trinity, the Bible's teaching of the triunity of God, its description of the fact that there is one God, but that God is manifested in three persons: the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. I want you to notice in verse 26, it plainly declares, "Then God said, let us," you can circle that in your Bible, that's plural. "Let us make man in our," again plural, "in our image according to our," circle it again, "likeness." We see a plurality that's being described here in verse 26.

And so it raises the question for us, who is this us and this our that God is talking to and talking about? Most Jewish literature that I've read on this verse explains that God speaks of us and our in this verse concerning the creation of man, and that when He uses these plural terms, He is talking to angels. And they do that for the simple reason that they don't want to see any support in the Old Testament Scriptures for the deity of Christ or the deity of the Holy Spirit, and with that then a foundation for the Trinity or the triunity of God.

One group, Jews for Judaism, goes so far as to say in their interpretation of this verse, "One possible reason for the use of the plural on the part of God is in order to manifest His humility. God addresses Himself to the angels and says to them, let us make man in our image. It is not that He invites their help, but as a matter of modesty and courtesy, God associates them with the creation of man. And this teaches us that a great man should act humbly and consult with those lower than him."

Of course, all of that is complete nonsense. And that kind of an explanation really accuses God of a false humility and really of deception because He doesn't want to hurt the feelings of the angels and because He doesn't want them to feel inferior or to feel left out. But the fact of the matter is they are inferior and they are infinitely inferior to God.

But God cannot be speaking to angels. It's amazing how the Bible will open up to us if we will simply read the next verse. And all you have to do is read in the very next verse in verse 27 for absolute clarity. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them." And so clearly man was not, as God explains to us, He interprets verse 26 in verse 27, clearly man was not created in the image of God and angels. We were created in the image of God. He declares it twice in verse 27 and three times if we include His declaration in verse 26.

Later in chapter 5, verse 1, the Holy Spirit declares the same thing again. "This is the book of the genealogy of Adam in the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God." And so clearly this conversation that is occurring in verse 26 is a conversation that is occurring within the Godhead.

Someone might say, "Well, what about the Great Shema of Deuteronomy chapter 6? Doesn't it plainly teach that there is only one God?" And let me read the Jewish Shema to you. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." And so indeed it does teach that there is one God, and no Bible-believing Christian would ever declare that there is more than one God.

We believe that the Bible teaches that there's one God manifested in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But the interesting thing about that Deuteronomy passage is this: the word that is used for one in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, is the Hebrew word echad. And the word echad means one, but it speaks of a compound unity.

There's another Hebrew word that God could have used there to describe Himself that would describe an absolute one, an indivisible one. And that is the word yachid. And if God had used the word yachid in Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, then all talk of the triunity of God would have been completely eliminated. But God purposely does not use the Hebrew word yachid, He uses the word echad to describe God.

It is also fascinating to realize back in Genesis 1:1, as we studied, that the Hebrew word that is used for God there is the word Elohim. It's fascinating because in the Hebrew language, the name for God in the singular is El. Elohim is a plural name for God. In the Hebrew language, whenever you want to make something plural, you add an 'im' to it. So you have a cherub, but when there's more than one cherub, they are the cherubim. When you have one seraph, it is seraph, but when you have multiple seraphs, you have seraphim.

And this is how the Hebrew language operates. And so it speaks of God here, of the fact that God is one and yet somehow plural. Additionally, it's very significant that although the name Elohim that is used is plural in its form, in all of the rest of Genesis chapter 1, it is constantly accompanied by verbs and adjectives that are in the singular.

For instance, in Genesis 1:1, the verb 'create' is singular. And this is the way it is all the way through the entire chapter. And so you have this combination of plural and singular together, and it is all intended to communicate two truths about God that seem contradictory, but are not. And that is that God is somehow plural and yet one.

And so in Genesis 1:1, God describes Himself as a plural one. In Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27, God records a conversation for us that involves multiple persons within the Godhead. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4, when God gives the Great Shema to the Jews in order to reinforce the fact that He is one, He's careful to use a word that speaks of a compound unity.

This is like a major wow related to the Bible in all of this, even back in Genesis 1:1. What God is doing here, and it is so important for us as Christians to understand that, beginning all the way back with the very first verse in the Bible, God begins to lay a foundation for what He knew He would continue to develop then in the remaining revelation of His Word, and that is that there is one God, but that He is triune, that He is made up of a triunity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You say, "Why spend the time on that? Shouldn't that be a part of the Sunday evening service? Aren't you supposed to just tell us on Sunday morning how wonderful we all are and how God is going to take care of us?" I hope God smites me before that is the preeminent thought that I have on a Sunday morning or a Sunday evening.

The fact of the matter is every single one of us as Christians needs to not only understand that this is the truth about God, but to understand the biblical foundation for it. Because if your view of the deity of Christ, the deity of the Holy Spirit, your belief in the Trinity has not been challenged yet, it means you're not sharing your faith with people. Because we live in a world, as most of us know, as Christians that rejects Christianity on the basis of our belief in the Trinity or the triunity of God, the deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This includes virtually all Jews. It certainly includes all practicing Muslims, all Jehovah's Witnesses, all Mormons. And then when they challenge us, we can be at a loss for words, even have our faith shaken related to it. But the evidence for the Trinity, Jesus' claim to be divine, to be one with the Father, it begins not only in the very first chapter of the Bible, but in the very first verse of the Bible.

Guest (Male): God made us in His image and reveals Himself to us that we might know Him and make Him known. We've only begun to mine this foundational passage in Genesis. We'll continue next time when Pastor Damian Kyle returns with more on According to the Scriptures.

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