The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the primary tenants of the Christian faith. When you encounter a person or group who denies the Trinity, it is merely a matter of walking through these 3 points, to see where they diverge from Biblical teaching. There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. True, we humans are image bearers but nothing in creation serves as an analogy for the Trinity because the Trinity is a doctrine of special (biblical) revelation not nature or reason. What is wrong with what I said? When we speak of someone as being a "person", we often mean an individual who is separate from other people, or we simply mean a human being. THE DISTINCTION AND UNITY of the Trinity is not for us to fully understand because it is a supernatural mystery. Similarly, in our aquatic analogy, water can appear in three different modes, depending on the environment, but the three are not co-existing. His being is somewhat of a mystery to us. How Helpful Are Analogies of the Trinity? - Kuyperian Commentary His motto was that "There was a time when the son did not exist". And the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. In other words, God may manifest Himself as the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The problem with this analogy is that it denies the distinction of persons in the God-head. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three different parts or components of God, but the three are all equally one God. The Trinity is established by 3 Biblical truths, . Cool it down, and itll eventually freeze into a solid. The problem with this analogy is that no one molecule of H2O can actually exist as solid, liquid, and gas at the same time. What portion is erroneous? is not). This analogy explains that the Father is like the sun. One day, however, the image will be clear. If we separate them we still may have God the Egg yolk, God the Holy Spirit Egg white and God the Son, the Egg shell/image, three individual parts of an Egg, but they cannot be a Trinity, or tri-unity unless they are unified and are seen as one Egg, so to speak. RELATED: Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead? Haydn describes himself as a five-point Calvinist, but he recognises that many faithful Christians disagree. But you cannot be broken when your faith is in Jesus, for the Spirit of the Son that lives in us and gives us the voice through which we cry Abba, Father, (Galatians 4:6,) this Spirit of the Father that dwells within you is there to strengthen, protect and guard your person. God controls that light. 2. He also knows how to perfectly love us. God is like an egg in that He is 3-in-1 God the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. Its a very common explanation within the church to try to explain how God, who clearly exhorts His followers to preserve His supreme oneness (Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4), could also be identified with Jesus (Titus chapter 2 verse 13), and the Holy Spirit (Acts chapter 5 verses 3-4). The egg (or apple) fails in that the shell, white, and yolk are parts of the egg, not the egg in themselves, just as the skin, flesh, and seeds of the apple are parts of it, not the apple itself. Relationship Analogy (Husband/Son/Father) God is like a person with different relationships just as a man can be a Dad, but also someones Son, and also someones Husband. Tritheism denies that there is only one God. Scripture however, doesnt depict God this way. And we know that because Hes been experiencing perfect love within Himself forever. This is just as bad as the Water analogy and leads to the same error. Eggs are one, yet comprise yolk, shell and albumen. To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. The Gospel is theperson, work, and message of Jesus Christ that provides salvation to all repentant believers. The trinity is Like a man who is a father, husband, and son. I do not have the time or space to exhaustively demonstrate in scripture these truths, but the Biblical witness teaches these three truths consistently about God. In other words, this view denies Gods oneness. In Biblical Trinitarianism we can never have one without the other because they are one Spirit; each is the totality of the other which means we cannot have the Holy Spirit without the Father and the Son, We will come (into the believer through the Holy Spirit, John 14:23), and we cannot have the Son without The Father whose Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father (Matthew 10:20). If you say, "water" then you are incorrect. The Holy Spirit is the shell, Jesus is the egg white, and the Father is the egg yolk. CafeLogos.orgThe Egg and i -A Simple Explanation of The Trinity But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. Yet the orthodox view is that each person of the Trinity is fully divine. The Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God. He is one God in three persons, all at the same time. The Egg Analogy God is like an egg. They all exist as fully God, with none of them lacking in any attribute or aspect that defines God. Your email address will not be published. But Jesus makes it clear in John 10:30- I and the Father are One. The Greek word for one means one thing, not one person. They are united in their essence (spirit, nature) but not identical persons. The Holy Spirit and Son do not send the Father. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,, , Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. There is one GOD in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), 2. He is married to Shamsa Lea, is the father of Amira, and loves boxing and studying Theology. Starting with the three biblical affirmations, ask your kids to show you how these examples support or deny what the bible teaches about the Trinity. MULTIPLICATION ANALOGY. An explanation that is so common, and seemingly does elucidate how something can simultaneously be three and onecan it really be that bad? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Shively, This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. But theres one problem: the water analogy is not the biblical picture of God. My name is AnnMarie and I'm so glad you're here! Likewise we cannot have the Father or His Spirit without the Son I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by Me- John 14:6. In this analogy, God is compared to a man. In part one, we looked at what the Bible has to say about the Trinity. Explaining the Trinity | Catholic Answers There was no relational deficiency that prompted God to create us. Jesus Person is the image of Gods Person (Hebrews 1:3), and the Invisible Spirit of the Father that is in Him - God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (II Corinthians 5:19). The following verses attest to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19). These attributes are: omnipotence (all-powerful), omniscience (all-knowing), and omnipresence (exists in all places). FOR CENTURIES, the Church had fought against heresies on the Trinity. The watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. A single molecule cannot simultaneously exist in three different states. Finally, I would suggest that the mere fact that we cannot understand the full depth of the Trinity (even with our myriad of analogies) has implications. The Bible teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. The problem with this analogy is that it also leads to the heresy of MODALISM. This means there is a sense in which all 3 persons may act or speak as one. But the Bible is CLEAR in its teaching. As a doctrine (belief), the trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate and distinct persons united in one being- God. You know, that bearded guy on the throne who looks something like Zeus, right? A Note on Trinitarian Analogies | Place for Truth - Alliance of It leads to the heresy of MODALISM which teaches that God switches to different modes. Our limited intellects are unable to comprehend its reality, yet, our Scriptures and scholarly Tradition makes it known to us. Basic mathematics tells us that 1x1x1 = 1.. This is because the H20 is changing forms in representing each person. As a result the water molecule must change forms. Under Arianism Jesus is less than fully God. Similarly, light and heat are simply creations of the sun, yet it is the heresy of Arianism to claim that the Son or Spirit are mere creations of the Father. Son and Holy Ghost are each fully God. These hand embroidered emblems are made with metallic gold-plated thread with silver content, printed on canvas. This description that all persons are fully God is called the Ontological Trinity. HO may act as water, steam, or ice, but it is still HO. And let us once more come to illustrations. Trinity is like a Shamrock (or an Apple or an Egg). Some have used examples such as water, watermelons and eggs; the principle behind those illustrations is that even though each thing is one, it is also three. God does not just change forms but exists as three persons in unity. Each one is fully God. The water analogy of the Trinity follows this line of reasoning: water can be a solid (ice/frozen water), liquid, and gas (water vapor), and yet all three forms are still water (H 2 O), and likewise, God manifests Himself in 3 different ways in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Analogies that we present would always be insufficient as none of them would equate to the incomprehensible beauty of God. The Holy Spirit is Christs spirit in us guiding us into all truth. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. Or what? We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. So "son" = "Dave". In the second instance, the truth of Gods Trinity reveals a further aspect of Gods love for His people. In trying to describe what they saw in the pages of the Bible, the early church decided to use the word person to describe the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit prays for us. For sure, our everyday experience does not include using our finite minds to understand the infinite! A chicken egg consists of a shell, a yolk, and an egg white, yet it is altogether one egg. Love was not given to Jesus. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. But common sense is intuition based on day-to-day experience. The more I reflect on Easter, the more Ive realized how much its become a consumeristic holidayeven Did Jesus really rise from the dead? For example, we know that God didnt create humanity because He bored or lonely. How do we make sense of the Trinity? Arianism is named after the heretic Arius. In order to accomplish this union with God and man, He allowed His Shell to be broken with the weight of our sins to cleanse our souls so His holiness can approach, for God cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1:13). This is a general rule when we study this Mystery using our human weakness since it is absolutely impossible for our human minds to comprehend the Divine. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)One of my Sunday School students said, "How could Jesus (God) enter Mary's stomach (womb) and be born? The military would end up destroying themselves. The past is not the present and the present is not the future, yet all three together is what we call time. Because God is utterly unique, all comparisons will fail at some point. H2O can exist in three forms: liquid, gas and solid. In the same way, water is all the same molecular structure, expressing itself in three different modes. Depth isnt the same thing as height and height isnt the same thing as width, yet all three together are what comprise space. One thing that Ive found helpful is using the Trinity to illustrate truths we know about God. Jesus loves us so much that he did not obliterate people who died, with power that set stars in the universe. And whos the Holy Spirit? Genisis 1:17, KJV. These are likewise erroneous or even heretical. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God (Phil 2; Acts 5:3-4). For the Trinity, instead of using the formula 1+1+1, we use 1x1x1. When we separate them and view them as individual deities, that is the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual gods as one. . - well, sort of. This is the one I used long ago when trying to explain the Trinity to a group of 1st-5th graders. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each called Jehovah (or Spirit of Jehovah), given divine attributes, and, (usually there is no argument that the Father is not God, since every place Jesus speaks to God, he is addressing the Father.). The teaching of the trinity is clearly taught in Scripture and must be preserved as such. None of the 3 are less divine than the others. The Holy Trinity Easy as One, Two, Three | by John K Adams And the reason we know that is because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly loved each other for all eternity. Church Adornments & Worship: Vestment Emblems - Monastery Icons Hello busy women! The Trinity Guarding The Gospel Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). For them, a person is someone who could relate to another. RELATED: What Did Jesus Really Look Like? Is He Jesus side-kick? Unfortunately, Arianism is still around and can found within the Jehovah's Witnesses teachings. The trinity is not a contradiction, but a paradox. The egg shell is the image of the yolk and the white. Every kid in Sunday school thinks he knows all about God. It can also be a liquid and called water. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. God is NOT like H2O in that He does not need the right pressure and temperature to exist as three persons. What is the Trinity? Living Theologically Proof texting is when we cite a bunch of bible verses to support a theological stance. The Son is like the light rays that visibly reveal the sun, as Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). Modalism denies the distinction of person in the trinity. The best analogy for the Trinity (hold your stones) - The Project on Can you think of some Bible verses to back up your explanation? There's a simple reason they don't work: The Trinity, as such, isn't like anything in creation. So while its tough to make sense of the Trinity, the Trinity actually helps us make sense of so many things we believe. I know in the past Ive used analogies that werent the best (more on those later.) When we tend to make an analogy about the trinity we are forced to diminish one of the three trinitarian truths in order to make the analogy work. The egg example, while not perfect or complete by any means, will still give us a basic understanding of the primary principle of Biblical Trinitarianism. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. God Is Like An Egg - vtaide.com In some ways, it resembles the tritheism view (Misunderstanding 2). THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really DISTINCT from one another: He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son. (CCC 254), 3. For instance, we know that God is perfectly loving. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this view of the Trinity. When discussing God, especially in regards to his nature, being and persons, a simple statement to articulate the Trinity is: God is 1, *. Haydn Lea is an Ordained Minister, and is currently serving as an Air Force Chaplain in Adelaide. The Trinity are three distinct persons who exist apart from each other. The Holy Trinity, one of the five Dogmas of the Church, is an extraordinary and unfathomable mystery. In the same way, at one moment God is the Father, but at different times God morphs or transforms into the Son or Holy Spirit. All three persons exist at the same moment in history. Or have you ever tried to teach kids about the Trinity? Each one is fully 100% God. This is a place to find encouragement and hope from God's Word as you move through your busy life. 2 - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each God. If you're looking to dive deeper into God's word, here are 6 kinds of bible study tools and resources 9 Influential Female Leaders in the New Testament. Revelation 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. That would not be had God be three persons. It is so important that to deny the trinity is to deny Christianity. We wont find the word Trinity in the Bible, but the concept is shown in many verses. The analogy explains that in the same way that one shamrock can have three leaves on it, the Trinity has three Persons that constitute one God. Theyve transformed. So much of what we know about what God does is wrapped up in who He is. I dont believe that God wishes us to be confused about the Three that are so apparent throughout the Old and New Testaments. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). My intention is merely to address some common erroneous analogies, including water. Further, we can label each of the sides. God Himself explains why some things are still a mystery: For as heaven is higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9) Our human minds can never understand all of who God is and how He thinks and acts. If the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate beings, then its not really clear how someone can say that God is one or that only one God exists. But this idea is central to the Christian faith. . Devils see that Spirit as a tempestuious fire. - well, sort of. He got married there in 1965, and his four . How can we ever explain our Most High, exalted, powerful, uncontainable, and most glorious God? But if they give us a warped idea of what they are trying to explain, they arent helpful illustrations. . So God performs 3 different roles/relationships but 1 God. The divine persons are really DISTINCT from one another, and not merely different roles of God at different times. But the Trinity is our belief as Christians that God is one being who exists in three Persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. The Biblical Principle Of Baptism By Fire, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything, 3 Reasons Why Jesus Humanity Really Matters Her & Hymn, 3 Reasons Why Jesus' Humanity Really Matters, How Jesus Teaches Us To Be Human Her & Hymn. Yet there is only one God. Tritheism denies the unity of the God-head by saying there is just three different gods. In contrast to the Ontological Trinity, there is the Economic Trinity. So if all of these explanations are heretical, what is a good analogy? This view, also known as "modalism", was rejected by the early church. And in our efforts to grasp it, weve come up with a number of analogies. While it captures the idea that God is one, it doesnt do such a good job of showing how God is three and one at the same time. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). A good example would be an electrical cord. This view teaches that three separate beings exist. Have you wondered what is God like? So, the egg analogy doesnt work after all. Modalism is a heresy because it denies the distinction of God. For example, I would say, "God is like an egg." Hi Im not a theologian and I dont disagree with what you say but when you state that we know the persons of the Trinity have perfectly loved for eternity etc how do we know? If you only had an apple core, you wouldnt pack it in your lunch. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind lived the doctrinal truth about the Trinity. At the Cathedral, we recognize that there are responsibilities that come with . The Church should not forget that these heresies still exist in the present day and is even being taught by some priests and catechists. The Trinity is not 1 + 1 + 1 but more like 1 x 1 x 1. Our God is three in one. It is a miraculous invention, the egg. If water is inadequate, there are a wide array of alternative analogies we can turn to in modern theological parlance. 4 Bad Ways to Explain the Trinity (and 1 Good One) Humans as we are, we cannot fully understand how the three divine Persons, though really distinct from one another, are one and the same God.
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