3. It is no mere linguistic curiosity that God says, “Let us make man in OUR image” (Genesis 1:26). The only time in Genesis where God refers to himself as “we” or “us” is when he is about to create male and female. This is a hint that the relationship between male and female is a reflection of the relationships within the Godhead itself—the Trinity. Gender relations tell us something of the relationships between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If God is tripersonal—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—it would take at least two people (with the potential for a loving, serving, honoring, glorifying-one-another relationship) to capture the full image of God. More significantly, it would take two people who performed different roles, as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have all taken different roles in the accomplishment of Creation and Redemption. See the Nicene Creed, which from the early years of Christianity has spelled out the differing roles that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit played in Creation and Redemption, while affirming their identical essence. Although all people, men and women, are bearers of God’s image, resembling him as his children, reflecting his glory, and representing him as stewards over nature, it requires the unique union of male and female within the one flesh of marriage to reflect the relationship of love within the triune God.