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The Divine Family
When God, the Creator, formed the first man and woman, he decided to organize humanity in the form of a family.
“The family, which originates in the love of man and woman, ultimately derives from the mystery of God.” – Pope John Paul II
While there are many things in life we don’t understand, and this journey may not bring a full understanding of God as triune, the Bible is a good place to find insight into God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit and how they’re related.
The Christian tradition refers to this three-person God as the Trinity. So, how does this relate to human families?
The plural God said the creation was to carry an image and likeness reflecting a plural identity when God referred to “our image, our likeness.”
But all the way back to the people of Israel who followed God out of Egypt and into the desert for 40 years, they grew impatient about following a God they couldn’t see. Their Egyptian captors had gods that could be seen. Despite seeing the way God worked to free the Israelites (Exodus 7-11), the parting of the Red Sea (13-14), and the provision of food in the desert and water from a rock (16-17), they demanded to see God.
Due to this, they sinned against God while Moses went up the mountain to receive the Law from God and fashioned a god made in the image of a calf to go before them on their journey to the Promised Land. The people of Israel continued to rebel against God, and a whole generation of slaves were unable to cross over into the Promised Land because of their sin.
This pattern continued for hundreds of years until God provided a savior in his Son. The God of the Old Testament was invisible, but God became visible in the New Testament in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The third member of this family is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God was present at creation as the third agent in the beginning (Gen. 1:1-2).
The Trinity is a family of three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. While the Trinity may not look like human families with a father, mother, and children, it nevertheless forms a family in a divine way.
Questions for Reflection:
- In what ways do you think of the Trinity as a family?
- How does the Trinity shape your understanding of families today?
About this Plan
Learn from families throughout the Bible, such as the first family with Adam and Eve, Jesus' family, and even the family Timothy was raised in. While families may struggle, God's design for humanity was in the family. Read for practical principles you can apply to your family today.
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