Little Red Book
"Bridging the world to God through the gospel of Jesus Christ"

2 • Lesson Five
 

B. Each part of the trinity is defined in the Scriptures
“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. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:26–27).

In the creation account of Genesis 1, God is referenced in the singular form in every instance except when it speaks of the creation of man. In that passage God specifically and forcefully refers to Himself in the plural form three times, once for each part of the trinity as we shall see.

God specifically stated “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). In the next verse, God returns to the singular form indicating that the plural and singular are both proper ways to refer to God. Furthermore, the text goes on to reemphasize that man was created in that image as a singular form (“in his own image”) and in the plural form (“in the image of God”).

In Genesis 2, the Bible gives more specific information on the creation of man in verse 7 where it states:

“And the LORD God formed man of the dust [physical body] of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life [the spirit]; and man became a living soul.”

As you can see, He formed him out of a physical material (dust) fit for the physical realm. He then breathed into man the breath of life. The Hebrew word from which breath is translated (ruah), is used consistently throughout the Old Testament to indicate both the Spirit of God and the spirit of man. In this passage we see that man’s spirit was not created, but rather given out of the Spirit of God. The combination of body and spirit then produced a soul. Thus we see that the image of God has a body like the Body of God, a soul like the Soul of God and a spirit that is of the Spirit of God.


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