We see the distinct actions of each Person of the Trinity at work in creation. God the Father, the initiator, is the fountain and wellspring of all things. God the Son, the Word, is the wisdom, counsel, and order of all things. God the Spirit hovers or broods over His creation, bringing the environment together and forming it as the Father wills.
“God did not need the creation to fulfill Himself, or to satisfy some need for love and fellowship. Creation is purely gratuitous, an act of love.*” It overflows from the mutual love, submission, and self-giving shared by the three Persons of the Trinity. He shapes creation as a master craftsman pleased with His work. Weaving another layer into the creation account the psalmist sings,
Give thanks … to him who by understanding made the heavens,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
Give thanks … to him who spread out the earth above the waters,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
Give thanks … to him who made the great lights,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
the sun to rule over the day,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
Speaking of the Trinity, and specifically the distinction in the Trinity means speaking about relationship; Father to Son, Son to Father, Spirit to Son to Father. That relationship is also extended to the creation. “If God is Father, and God is Son, then what is humanity? Humanity is the Daughter.**” The prophet says, “Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!” “The daughter-imagery in the Bible is wonderfully comforting, for it means that God will love us and protect us with the same kind of ferocious love that a good father has for his daughter.**”
On another level, God is Father, the Son is Husband, the Spirit is matchmaker, and we are the Bride. We see this pictured in Genesis 2. Just as God, as a craftsman who delights in His work, formed and displayed His creation for His enjoyment, He formed and presented Eve as a bride perfectly suited for Adam, the son of God, for him to delight in and enjoy. The Husband says, “She is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!” Eve is the mother of all living. She embodies the creation, humanity, the church. Through marriage, the two become one flesh.
Jesus prayed for all who would believe, “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.” This is the invitation of the Creator to the creation to enter into the perfect love and community that the members of the Trinity share with one another. Paul says that this is the purpose of God from before the foundation of the world, “which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
