Triune Being

by Michael Pearl
(I do not endorse anything by Michael Pearl! You are best to avoid all his work altogether! Trying to find anything remotely good like this post is like trying to find a gold nugget in a manure pile. Unless you're a mature, wise, discerning Christian, do not go near his work! It is frequently legalistic and heretical.)

All creation bears the stamp of its Creator. Both the physical and the metaphysical world demonstrate an inherent design and therefore reveal a common designer. The similarity of design suggests a purpose and confirms that nothing came about arbitrarily.

The nature of God is the pattern for all that is created, material and non-material alike. The Bible represents the one God as a triune being. This is a strange concept that one is three and three are one until we see this very enigma represented in the creation, which creation, as we have said reflects the nature of the Creator. Creation is so thoroughly stamped with God’s triune likeness that the apostle Paul was able to tell us that the Godhead is clearly visible through natural creation.

The atom, once thought to be the smallest part of any substance, is three parts: protons, neutrons, and electrons. But now it is known that the protons and neutrons at the center of the atom are composed of three quarks each. And according to the most current model, scientists are puzzled as to why there are just three generations of leptons and quarks, no more or less.

Time is threefold: past, present, and future. Our world has three kingdoms: animal, vegetable, and mineral. Life on planet earth is divided into three main branches: bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. The sun, a symbol of God, emits alpha, beta, and gamma rays. There are three basic elements in soil, causing a plant to grow: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potash. There are three primary colours (pigment) from which all other colours are derived: red, yellow, and blue.

Like our triune Creator, we are a triune being: body, soul, and spirit. The body consists of flesh, bone, and blood. The flesh has three layers of skin: the Epidermis, the Dermis, and the Subcutaneous tissue. Our blood solids consist of three main cells: platelets, red cells, and white cells. Our non-material self (the soul) is mind, will, and emotions. In the emotions, we can love, hate, or be indifferent. Human capability is thought, word, and deed. Logical thought, the activity of the mind, demands a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

All this reflects the image of God who is revealed to us as a triune, singular being: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Within the Godhead are the Lover, the Loved, and the Spirit of Love. God is a personal soul manifesting mind, will, and emotions—the same “yesterday, today, and forever.”

As God’s persons are three, His attributes are three: omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. All creation is designed after the “likeness” of those attributes. Based on God’s nature, space is three-dimensional: height, width, and depth. As each dimension is separate and distinct, yet each exists within the other, and all three dimensions are essential to the concept of space, so God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, distinctly different, inseparable, and in combination comprising the one infinite God. God is not three parts or three different manifestations. He is one essence, composed of three interdependent persons, each essential to the whole and each containing and expressing the whole of the Godhead.

Space, created after the infinity of God, is the physical expression to His infinite omnipresence (being everywhere). Infinity is conceptually present in the combined three dimensions. Each dimension unendingly projects toward infinity, and together the three dimensions project into infinity in every conceivable direction, just as do the infinite attributes of God.

• The likeness of God’s omnipresence is reflected in our own soul, as seen in our ability to move about within three-dimensional space.
• The likeness of God’s omniscience (knows everything) is reflected in our gift of knowing and our ability to increase in knowledge.
• The likeness of God’s omnipotence (all-powerful) is reflected in our inherent ability to exercise creative power within our own environment.

The three attributes of the soul (mind, will, and emotions) are also interdependent. Like unto the triune nature of its mentor, the existence of any single soulish attribute implies and necessitates the others. One cannot rightly conceive of mind without will. A mind without a will could not think an original thought, or change thoughts, or even maintain continuity of thought. It is also inconceivable that a man could entertain an idea, value it, will it to come to pass and not feel in accordance to its advancement. Feelings (emotions) are an inevitable result of valuing something—which is the mind choosing. To negate the concept of either the mind, the will, or the emotions would render the other two attributes inconceivable. They exist as one concept—soul.

The history of man is a chronicle of his struggle to know (an image and likeness of omniscience), to go (an image and likeness of omnipresence), and to do (an image and likeness of omnipotence). Unquestionably, God’s triune attributes continue to be reflected in all of creation.