passages, where God, tinder the character of our " Creator" or " Maker" is spoken of in the plural number'1.
We must not however suppose that there are three Gods : there certainly is but One God ; and His unity is as clear as his existence : and this is intentionally marked in the very verse following our text; where the expressions, " uts" and " our" are turned into "he" and "his:" — " God created man in his own image ; in the image of God created he him."
Here, then, we may see an early intimation of the Trinity in Unity ; a doctrine which pervades the whole Bible, and is the very corner-stone of our holy religion. And it is deserv- ing of particular notice, that, in our dedication to our Creator at our baptism, we are expressly required to acknowledge this mysterious doctrine, being " baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost e."]
The text informs us further respecting, II. The state in which we were created —
There was some " likeness " to God even in the nature of man. " God is a spirit/' who thinks, and wills, and acts. Man also has a spirit, distinct from his body, or from the mere animal life : he has a thinking, willing substance, which acts upon matter by the mere exercise of its own volitions, except when the material substance on which it operates is bereft of its proper faculties, or impeded in the use of them. But the image of God in which man was formed, is, properly, two-fold :
1. Intellectual — [" God is a God of knowledge." He has a perfect dis- cernment of every thing in the whole creation. Such, too, was Adam in his first formation. Before he had had any opportunity to make observations on the beasts of the field and the birds of the air, he gave names to every one of them, suited to their several natures, and distinctive of their proper characters. But it was not merely in things natural that Adam was so well instructed : he doubtless had just views of God, his nature and perfections : he had also a thorough knowledge of himself, of his duties, his interests, his happi- ness. There was no one thing which could conduce either to his felicity or usefulness, which was not made known to him, as far as he needed to be instructed in it. As God is light
d See Job xxxv. 10. Isaiah liv. 5. Eccl. xii. 1. These are all plural in the original.
e Matt, xxviii. 19.
b2
4 GENESIS, I. 26. [l.
without any mixture or shade of darkness f, so was Adam, in reference to all those things at least which he was at all concerned to know.]
2. Moral- [Holincss is no less characteristic of the Deity than wis- dom. He loves every thing that is good, and infinitely abhors every thing that is evil. Every one of His perfections is holy. In this respect, also, did man bear a resemblance to his Maker. " God made him upright6." As he had a view of the commandment in all its breadth, so had he a confor- mity to it in all his dispositions and actions. He felt no reluctance in obeying it : his will was in perfect unison with the will of his Maker. All the inferior appetites were in habitual subjection to his reason, which also was in subjec- tion to the commands of God. We are told respecting the Lord Jesus Christ, that he was " the image of Godh," "the image of the invisible God1," "the express image of his person V What the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, was upon earth, that was man in Paradise — " holy, harmless, unde- filed1."
That man's resemblance to his Maker did indeed consist in these two things, is manifest ; because our renewal after the divine image is expressly said to be in knowledge111, and in true holiness". Well, therefore, does the Apostle say of man, that "he is the image and glory of God0."]