If we emphasize the unity of God, we picture in our mind, a lonely, mysterious God who, we think, may have created man and woman because he was lonely. Much as a widower might purchase a dog to overcome loneliness, God made man and woman to have a relationship with.
The truth could not be further from this thought. Our God who is one in essence, is nevertheless three in persons. Before time began, God dwelt in perfect community, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Tim Keller states it this way: “So we believe that the world was made not by a God who is an individual nor by an emanation of an impersonal force. But by a God who is a community of persons who have loved each other for all eternity. These three persons live for the honor and glory of the others.”
And D.A. Carson illuminates the relationship of the Trinity with this insight: “What we have is a picture of God whose love, even before the creation of anything, is other oriented…There has always been an other-orientation in the very nature of God.”
In other words, God is both a unity and diversity. The diversity of the persons live for the unity of the Godhead and are others oriented.
What does this have to do with the family? In 1 John 4:12 we read, ” No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God dwells in us.” John Stott comments on this verse, “In other words, the invisible God, who made himself visible in Christ, now makes himself visible in Christians, if we love one another. It is a breathtaking claim.”
A loving, unified family is a beautiful portrait of the unity and diversity of God. Just as God is diverse as Father, Son and Holy Spirit so a a family is diverse with husband, wife and children. And yet when that diversity is used to show honor to the different persons of the family and all are working for common goals, it portrays the invisible God to the world.
As fathers, mothers, and children, we have a high kingdom calling – to display the nature of God to the world! We walk it out as we both enjoy the diversity of the members who also live for the honor and glory of the others.
