Studying the Trinity poses difficulty to us Catholics. Paul explains our finite understanding of beliefs like the Trinity as looking into a poor-quality mirror- a distorted image; dim and unclear. The trinity is an essential doctrine to the Christian faith. 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). 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. Another analogy that Tim remembers, being Irish Catholic, is the analogy of the shamrock with its three parts. in that while water can change into vapour or ice, Jesus cannot change into the Father or the Holy Spirit. These things are referred to as the Economic Trinity. Although he is one man who is simultaneously a husband, a father, and a student, he would consider it Modalism to suggest that this is a good Trinitarian analogy. When discussing God, especially in regards to his nature, being and persons, a simple statement to articulate the Trinity is: God is 1, *. Water is water, but exists in three different forms: liquid, frozen, or steam. Water can be frozen and is called ice. The Unseen Father would have been put into Satans prison. As a result the water molecule must change forms. The Trinity is pretty weird: the Father (or Mother), Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are in some sense distinct from one another, but are all unified in another sense. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. Therefore it behoves us to know what He has revealed (including the Trinity), and to lovingly worship Him accordingly. It only has 1 person acting in three different roles. Modernizations of this analogy include that of an apple (with the peel, the flesh, and the core) or an egg (with its shell, yoke, and white). Each one is fully 100% God. Blessings! Yet we do not have three gods but ONE God. When we view the egg in its entirety we have the Biblical Trinity, One that is Three. I dont believe that God wishes us to be confused about the Three that are so apparent throughout the Old and New Testaments. A single molecule cannot simultaneously exist in three different states. God is much bigger than what we can understand yet He is close enough to us so that we can know some things about Him, though not completely and not everything. Tritheism denies the unity of the God-head by saying there is just three different gods. 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). And we know that because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly blessed and exalted each other for all eternity. Part 2. And a voice from heaven said, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. God the Father spoke from heaven and spoke of His Son, Jesus. If one of the sides were removed, then there would be no equilateral triangle. 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. So if all of these explanations are heretical, what is a good analogy? In one of his sermons, he wrestled with the passage in Scripture recounting Jesus' Baptism. Devils cannot grab ahold of them to cast them into Satans prison. Unfortunately, no analogy is perfect. God is Great, I always try to figure out how to explain it to my Sunday school kids and they get confused which i get, how would you explain it to them? These three Persons are all equally God and all equally Persons. Yeah its definitely a hard thing to understand, let alone explain to little ones ! It is not existing as 3 different parts (persons) at the same time. The Council's definitions concerning the Trinity are really as easy as one, two, three four. We Christians believe it on faith. The Trinity is like an egg. Trinity Egg Analogy . I and My Father are One (John 10:30). History, lifestyle, family, music, theology, scripture, literature, the saints, church history, parenting, politics, prayer, the pope, and more. The wonders and ways of God may not be apparent or fully known at present, but we can still marvel at His supremacy and worship Him in wonder- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! How can we explain what it means to have three persons in one being? A man might be a father to his children, a husband to his wife, and son to his parents. St. Augustine, one of the most important Fathers of the Church, wrote a great deal on the doctrine of the Trinity. We can admit it is a mystery and accept that our incomplete knowledge cannot fully comprehend it. The visual form of God seperated from Jesus on the cross. Yet, as we view the pages of the Bible, we see that God is a personal and relational God. You are an egg! When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. Well the issue is, the water analogy is akin to the heresy of Modalism. One popular and simple illustration of the Trinity is the egg. God is much bigger and much greater than we can understand, and to be honest, I'm ok with that. Should Women Really Keep Silent in Church? This view, also known as "modalism", was rejected by the early church. Thought of Tim Its amazing to think that everything will be so clear when we het to Heaven! Similarly, in our aquatic analogy, water can appear in three different modes, depending on the environment, but the three are not co-existing. The three-leaf clover analogy is OK. 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/. 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. Explaining the Holy Trinity. [4] The goal of an analogy is to draw out similarities between it and its referent in illuminating ways, not to define the referent itself. For example, triangles are not the kinds of things that are personal. 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. He cares for his creation and his people. Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. This analogy explains that the Father is like the sun. Haydn Lea is an Ordained Minister, and is currently serving as an Air Force Chaplain in Adelaide. The unity or oneness of God is also found in the Bible. The Bible reveals that each person of the Trinity has unique roles, relationships, and functions which are distinct from one another. Arius was condemned by the council of Nicea in 325 AD. A chicken egg consists of a shell, a yolk, and an egg white, yet it is altogether one egg. I go to prepare a place for you. 6And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons., , The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all., There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. RELATED: Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead? Jesus was standing in the Jordan River, His Father speaks from heaven above, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him as a dove. It is a miraculous invention, the egg. Martyn Iles Removed as Managing Director of Australian Christian Lobby by Board, Seven Types of Rest to Restore Your Body, Mind and Spirit, 8 witnesses testified against Hillsong founder Brian Houston in court case, wife Bobbie reveals, Why you feel guilty for not going to church, Samaritan's Purse sends 52-bed field hospital to Turkey. Jesus is the Holy Spirit that saves us. For example, an equilateral triangle (a triangle with three equal sides) has three sides. The Unseen Father is in Christs mind. These images fall short, because these components arent enough to be considered a whole on their own. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). He taught that the son was at one point created by God the father. Not just for explaining it to others, but to bolster our own faith and see how each One works in our lives. In the second instance, the truth of Gods Trinity reveals a further aspect of Gods love for His people. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. God does not morph from one person to another, nor does God exist as three separate beings. Who is God? Dont become discouraged if you cant answer the question to your liking. The God of the Bible is one God. 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). Misunderstanding 1: The transforming trinity These two analogies are the "water" analogy and the "egg" analogy. 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. An egg is made up of shell, white and yolk. The watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. The Spirit white is connected to Jesus Person I will come to you (John 14:18) and the Fathers Person, We will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23). However, Christians through the ages believe in the Trinity because the truths it represents are taught in the Bible. We came up with several practical implications of this doctrine. Copyright 2023 Christian Today. Water has three states: solid, liquid, and gas. Through the brokenness of the Shell, His Son, the Spirit white pours out into our beings through our faith in what was done and believers are joined with the yolk, for it is by One Spirit we have access to God the Father (Ephesians 2:18). Here are some common analogies that Christians have used about the Trinity: God is kind of like water which can be ice, liquid and steam. In other words, this view denies Gods oneness. But the Trinity is our belief as Christians that God is one being who exists in three Persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. The past is not the present and the present is not the future, yet all three together is what we call time. Like modalism, the "three beings" view was rejected by the early church. 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. The egg analogy fails because it denies that each person of the Trinity is of the same eternal essence. This error denies something central to God that makes Him God. They all exist as fully God, with none of them lacking in any attribute or aspect that defines God.
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