Each character of the trinity has in one another (cf. Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). The idea of God as three-in-one is indeed a mysterious concept, one that is difficult to understand. Here are eight bible characters that you might not know about, but should. One is a musical chord with three notes. TO AVOID HERESIES, LET US LIVE BY WHAT HAS BEEN REVEALED TO US: 1. Infinite thy vast domain, everlasting is thy reign.. The Bible teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. Yet God lovingly chose to create and eventually redeem us anyway (both thoroughly Trinitarian acts), at great cost to Himself. The military would like to have that power. However, Christians through the ages believe in the Trinity because the truths it represents are taught in the Bible. Haydn Lea is an Ordained Minister, and is currently serving as an Air Force Chaplain in Adelaide. Haydn Lea is an Associate Pastor in Queensland, and is currently studying his Master of Arts (Theology). As a doctrine (belief), the trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate and distinct persons united in one being- God. What portion of the analogy holds true with Church Teaching? There is what is called the 'triple point' the combination of pressure and temperature at which H2O can exist simultaneously in all three states: solid, liquid and gas. This is the Christmas paradox. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. I dont know how our majestic God feels about being compared to watermelons and eggs, but He is also a loving Father, and like any father, I believe God would seek to provide simple explanations so His little children can understand. There would be three thrones. And when the time comes when death is allowed to crack your shell in its final hour and your believing soul is released; the Spirit of God that holds you will carry you in His arms to your heavenly home because In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. The Holy Spirit and Son do not send the Father. It may not appear to agree with common sense. We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. How so? 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 Analogy - This claims to be a good representation of the Trinity because Eggs have three distinct parts: the shell, the yolk, and the whites. This analogy is an invalid comparison to the Trinity and is a heresy called PARTIALISM. The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. Although the water changes forms it is still H2O. Check out verse four: Holy Author, Holy Word, Holy Spirit, three we name thee; Still, one holy voice is heard; undivided God, we claim thee, and adoring bend the knee, while we own the mystery. . He began to play the organ as a chorister in England, before continuing his studies in Qubec and France. This view teaches that three separate beings exist. When we separate them we can fall into the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual deities as one. CafeLogos.orgThe Egg and i -A Simple Explanation of The Trinity Unfortunately, there is a problem with this view of the Trinity. God is not made up of 3 parts like the 3 parts of the egg. God is NOT like H2O in that He does not need the right pressure and temperature to exist as three persons. It is not existing as 3 different parts (persons) at the same time. The Holy Spirit is Christs spirit in us guiding us into all truth. So comparing God to water isnt really as helpful as it seems on the surface. The Sun was created on the forth day. The Holy Trinity, one of the five Dogmas of the Church, is an extraordinary and unfathomable mystery. We can admit it is a mystery and accept that our incomplete knowledge cannot fully comprehend it. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three different parts or components of God, but the . Yeah its definitely a hard thing to understand, let alone explain to little ones ! God controls that light. His ways are not my ways! Father, Son, Holy Sprit : 3 persons, 1 great relationship, Copyright 2023 Fervr | Terms of Service. When we see them as three individual spirits, (God is one Spirit John 4:24), then that is the blasphemy of polytheism which is the worship of more than one God. and Holy Spirit are only parts of God (egg and sun). The trinity is an essential doctrine to the Christian faith. It should bring us to realise that we truly are finite creatures standing before a sovereign, transcendent, divine mystery. So under modalism, God acts as the Father in the Old Testament, the son in the Gospels, and the Spirit in Acts and the Epistles. Each side is co-equal with the others, yet, each side is necessary. The trinity is a like a Three-Leaf Clover. Cool it down, and itll eventually freeze into a solid. In humans, our spirits are designed to operate with and be united to the soul which is the person of anyone and so it is with our Egg. My interview: https://www.readlotswritelot.com/wp/podcast/episode-21-john-k-adams/, More from Catholicism for the Modern World, https://www.readlotswritelot.com/wp/podcast/episode-21-john-k-adams/. This may be my favorite verse of them all. Water Analogy - God is like water, or H2O, which can exist in 3 forms. The three parts create a unified whole. They say that three separate beings exist 2. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. So whats one good way to explain what the Trinity is? When discussing God, especially in regards to his nature, being and persons, a simple statement to articulate the Trinity is: God is 1 what and 3 whos*. For example, an equilateral triangle (a triangle with three equal sides) has three sides. It is a miraculous invention, the egg. We find it in all four Gospels. Thus the Father is in Jesus " I and My Father are One" (John 10:30), "The Father is in Me" (John 14:10) God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself (II Corinthians 5:19). The Bible reveals that each person of the Trinity has unique roles, relationships, and functions which are distinct from one another. Blessings! Each Person in the Trinity (or the Godhead) is fully God and fully a Person. Your email address will not be published. This is just as bad as the Water analogy and leads to the same error. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John14:2, 3). While an egg has a yolk, a white and a shell to make up the whole, each part is only ever . Arianism clearly denies the deity of the three persons. For example, triangles are not the kinds of things that are personal. Examples of these different roles would be: The Incarnation: Only the Son became incarnate, took on flesh. 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? 3 - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct persons. 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. God does not just change forms but exists as three persons in unity. The Bible teaches three truths: 1 - there is one God. Yet the orthodox view is that each person of the Trinity is fully divine. Good and Bad Analogies of the Trinity - Answers . The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. There have been many attempts to explain the Trinity the relationship between God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. In this analogy, God is compared to a man. For them, a person is someone who could relate to another. Here are four. I can only shake my head when He does these things! RELATED: What Did Jesus Really Look Like? A certain YouTube page created a famous video titled "St. Patrick's Bad Analogies" (which can be found here), in which the historic St. Patrick meets charming villagers who deride him based on the analogies which he uses in the process of explaining the Holy Trinity. 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). This description that all persons are fully God is called the Ontological Trinity. The trinity is not a contradiction, but a paradox. 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. Intercession: The Son intercedes as our High Priest before the Father. God does not morph from one person to another, nor does God exist as three separate beings. Genesis 1:26- Let us make man in our image, in our likeness The plural us and our show more than one person was involved. His ways are higher than ours, but isnt that a comfort?! An egg is made up of shell, white and yolk. The meme above discourages the use of analogies in explaining the Trinity. If the sun exists, there is also day; if nothing of this be manifest, it is impossible that the sun should be there. Some people falsely claim the Trinity is a form of . We can think of it this way: the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. 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. The mystery is in the how this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. Learn how your comment data is processed. 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). Depth isnt the same thing as height and height isnt the same thing as width, yet all three together are what comprise space. Just as water changes forms so too is the trinity. The Gospel is theperson, work, and message of Jesus Christ that provides salvation to all repentant believers. This analogy seems to make a lot of sense, but it actually reinforces a fatal misconception about the Trinity called modalism. Modalism teaches that the trinity is not three distinct persons, but just different modes that God reveals himself to human beings. This analogy denies the unity of the God-head. Augustine's typical dialectic is to move from the exterior realities of creation to the interior reality of the human soul where he hoped to encounter God in the image of God, damaged as it is by the fall. RELATED: What Does The Bible Say About Ghosts? Each one is fully 100% God. Im giving God the credit for stirring this memory, and am extremely grateful. Jesus is the Holy Spirit. Modalism denies the distinction of person in the trinity. 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. . He has been relationally fulfilled within Himself since forever. When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. There is only one egg with three different parts. Common, yes. As a result, this analogy actually teaches modalism. For instance, we know that God is perfectly loving. The trinity is like this man. Discover the richness of the old yet living 2,000-year-old religion which built the West. He has the world and our individual lives within His supremely capable hands. The very definition of the heresy known as Modalism/Oneness is that there is one person existing in three different modes or manifestations. However, keep in mind that the one being who is God is a personal being. For example, I would say, "God is like an egg." In the Scripture we see "the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Col 1:9). A person distinguishes himself from others by saying me, mine, you, yours, etc. A being is the whole nature or essence of something. We also know that God didnt create humanity out of loneliness or boredom. The Trinity is foundational and at the heart of our Christian faith. In the first place, if we truly claim to love God, then surely we should endeavour to know Him. He also knows how to perfectly love us. Share your thoughts with us in the comments! He has been a member of the Royal Australian Air Force since 2007, and is now training to be an Air Force Chaplain. When we separate them we can fall into the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual deities as one. The three-leaf clover analogy is OK. If one of the persons were not there, then we would not have God. Ontological means the nature or essence of something. Another wrong illustration is using ourselves: I am one person, but also a wife, mother, and writer. This little child cannot look at one without experiencing a profound sense of wonderment and awe. If one of the sides were removed, then there would be no equilateral triangle. Water can be ice and steam, yet they are the same element. 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. We might call one side A, another side B, and the other C. So, there is a distinction between each of the sides, yet, all three are the same. Eggs are one, yet comprise yolk, shell and albumen. He explains why the doctrine of the Trinity is essential to the gospel even if it seems abstract or confusing, highlights why all analogies and metaphors are of limited value when thinking about the Godhead, and responds to the . He was with God in the beginning. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. You are an egg! God is one. But remember, it is much better to let Scripture teach the 3 points above which establish the doctrine of the Trinity than to rely on analogies. God is much bigger and much greater than we can understand, and to be honest, I'm ok with that. Each one is fully God. In other words, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have a unique and unbreakable unity, and their existence together is the being that is God. THE DISTINCTION AND UNITY of the Trinity is not for us to fully understand because it is a supernatural mystery. 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. 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. Each of the divine persons is GOD WHOLE AND ENTIRE, and there is one God. This would make Jesus something less than fully God. Jesus Person is joined to the Father by the Fathers Holy Spirit, because Gods Spirit is also Jesus Spirit - "But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. The Son was begotten by the Father IN ETERNITY, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. There have been many attempts to explain the Trinity the relationship between God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.