But this view, too, wont do. If one of the sides were removed, then there would be no equilateral triangle. 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. You can also catch up with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok While each person is distinct, they are never separate from one another. This is the error of Arianism (not to be confused with Aryanism, which is also bad). 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. The angel answered (Mary), The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High (referring to the Father, italics mine) will overshadow you. I have the good one. CafeLogos.orgThe Egg and i -A Simple Explanation of The Trinity Modalism, or Sabellianism, denies the three distinct Persons of the Trinity and claims that God is one Person who appears in different modes at different timesin the Old Testament He appeared as the Father, in the Gospels He appeared as the Son, and from Pentecost onwards He appears as the Holy Spirit. I remember asking my Life Group last year, How have you heard the Trinity explained? I braced myself for the inevitable reply. This analogy seems to make a lot of sense, but it actually reinforces a fatal misconception about the Trinity called modalism. In reality, I change my role depending on who I am interacting with. The mystery is in the "how" this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. We believe that it is a revelation that comes from Christ Himself. Each one is fully God. 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. However, keep in mind that the one being. Unfortunately, most of them actually give us the wrong idea about what the Trinity is. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9) But thats not how they understood it. 2 - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each God. 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. Similarly, people have used the example of the apple in the same way- skin, flesh, and seeds. This was first used by Patrick of Ireland (yes there really was a Patrick of Ireland and he was a great guy), around 400 A.D. 2. This error denies something central to God that makes Him God. Memory, Understanding, and Will. We can admit it is a mystery and accept that our incomplete knowledge cannot fully comprehend it. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. Eggs are one, yet comprise yolk, shell and albumen. 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). The Son intercedes as our High Priest before the Father. If water is inadequate, there are a wide array of alternative analogies we can turn to in modern theological parlance. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this view of the Trinity. 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. Celebrating Easter Is About so Much More Than One Hour on Sunday. But common sense is intuition based on day-to-day experience. I dont believe that God wishes us to be confused about the Three that are so apparent throughout the Old and New Testaments. Here are eight bible characters that you might not know about, but should. For sure, our everyday experience does not include using our finite minds to understand the infinite! What is the Trinity? Light comes from God. According to modalism, God does not actually exist in three persons. Well the issue is, the water analogy is akin to the heresy of Modalism. 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. He has one essenceone substance. St. Augustine, one of the most important Fathers of the Church, wrote a great deal on the doctrine of the Trinity. 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. , 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you., For further reading on the Trinity, I would recommend James Whites, Lastly, below is a helpful graphical chart explaining the doctrine of the Trinity I found from the Christian blog by Tim Challies. For them, a person is someone who could relate to another. This analogy denies the unity of the God-head. There are three different cloves that represent the three different persons of the trinity. 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). There would be three thrones. As John 1:18 says, Jesus is "the only begotten God, in the bosom of [God] the Father.". This is one of the reasons we say that "God is LOVE". This is just as bad as the Water analogy and leads to the same error. FOR CENTURIES, the Church had fought against heresies on the Trinity. But its all the same person, operating in three roles or functions. The Trinity is not 1 + 1 + 1 butmore like 1 x 1 x 1.You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. But the Trinity is our belief as Christians that God is one being who exists in three Persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. What happens when an egg hatches? The idea of God as three-in-one is indeed a mysterious concept, one that is difficult to understand. The trinity is an essential doctrine to the Christian faith. The egg shell is the image of the yolk and the white. I go to prepare a place for you. The problem with this analogy is that it would imply that there is only one Divine Person, who eventually multiplied Himself. Yet the orthodox view is that each person of the Trinity is fully divine. As a doctrine (belief), the trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate and distinct persons united in one being- God. - well, sort of. The Holy Spirit and Son do not send the Father. Yet, as we view the pages of the Bible, we see that God is a personal and relational God. What we can understand and accept is that God exists eternally as one divine nature, substance, or essence, comprising three co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial personsthe Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. 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. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). Here many of the creeds help us in clearly articulating the trinity. If one of the persons were not there, then we would not have God. The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain. His ways are higher than ours, but isnt that a comfort?! His ways are not my ways! show me your glory. Therefore it behoves us to know what He has revealed (including the Trinity), and to lovingly worship Him accordingly. Now were going to look at how some people often misunderstand the Trinity. Does that make sense? Many of us would use analogies to explain the Trinity. Sending of another: The Father sends the Son, and both the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit. The Sun was created on the forth day. In one egg you have the white, the yoke, and the shell composing one full egg. On a whim, I looked up the lyrics at a later time. Although God is transcendent, sovereign, unapproachable light, He has condescended to reveal something of Himself to His creation. The problem with this analogy is that it teaches that God has three components: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, as youve probably guessed, this analogy also breaks down. Yet we do not have three gods but ONE God. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. If the sun exists, there is also day; if nothing of this be manifest, it is impossible that the sun should be there. Every kid in Sunday school thinks he knows all about God. One cannot remove the Holy Spirit and still have the God as taught in the Bible. When it comes to the Trinity, we tend to forget that an analogy is an "aptness of proportion" or a "resemblance of relations," not an identity of relations. In the same way, water is all the same molecular structure, expressing itself in three different modes. When we separate them we can fall into the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual deities as one. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three different parts or components of God, but the . There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. We can touch the cord, but not the power it is insulating. God is like H2Olike water. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. In the same way is God being the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. The Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God. The watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. In the first place, if we truly claim to love God, then surely we should endeavour to know Him. This is a quick way to describe the doctrine of the Trinity namely, God is 1 being (the what is Gods nature, essence, being) and 3 whos (the whos being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). An egg is made up of shell, white and yolk. Did I leave out any analogies? What makes it hard is that all of our analogies and metaphors fall short of capturing what the Trinity actually is. I think the illustration that represents the Trinity most accurately is the egg example. Many of these analogies have the best of intentions, but God cannot be described in a way we can fully comprehend or rationalize. The Bible teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. He wondered how it was possible that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit could be inseparable, while, in . At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on Him. This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. We believe in only one true God in all existence, in all places, at all times. They suggest that only one God exists but this God transforms or morphs into each of the different persons. Here's a look at six explanations for why so many people truly believe 3 Ways to Experience The Good Life in Jesus. And for a mere mortal to have dared invent it and be able t. The problem with this analogy is that no one molecule of H2O can actually exist as solid, liquid, and gas at the same time. The white of an egg is the connection between the yolk and the shell. Can you think of some Bible verses to back up your explanation? To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. For those, like myself, who are not from a highly-liturgical denomination, it may come as a surprise that June 11 was Trinity Sunday. Some who deny the Trinity claim 1+1+1=3, and therefore claim we worship three Gods. ORDER from Barnes and NobleAmazon.com or wherever fine books are soldISBN-13: 978-1978167643Return to Cafe Logos Homepage | Bite-Sized Bible Bites, The Egg and i -A Simple Explanation of The Trinity. 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. He completed a doctorate in 1990, looking at the question of harmonic rhythm in the organ music of J.S. There was no relational deficiency that prompted God to create us. Dont you know Jesus? The trinity is like this man. As a result the water molecule must change forms. But the Father is not the Son or the Spirit. 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. God controls that light. The Egg Analogy God is like an egg. TO AVOID HERESIES, LET US LIVE BY WHAT HAS BEEN REVEALED TO US: 1. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the primary tenants of the Christian faith. Modalism teaches that one God just changes forms or modes over the course of scripture. The unseen Father is in Christs mind. So, I shot down a lot of images that seems to be pretty helpful. There is only one egg with three different parts. We wont find the word Trinity in the Bible, but the concept is shown in many verses. It may not appear to agree with common sense. There have been many attempts to explain the Trinity the relationship between God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 1. 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. The Holy Spirit is the shell, Jesus is the egg white, and the Father is the egg yolk. The problem with this analogy is that it denies the distinction of persons in the God-head. He also knows how to perfectly love us. So God performs 3 different roles/relationships but 1 God. But based on what you know that Jesus is born so that He can save people from their wrongdoings, will you trust Him to forgive you. In other words, God may manifest Himself as the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. Only the Son became incarnate, took on flesh. God is one. 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. It is not existing as 3 different parts (persons) at the same time. A chicken egg consists of a shell, a yolk, and an egg white, yet it is altogether one egg. That is why Moses said. Although he is one he has different roles to different people. 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. Trinity is like a Shamrock (or an Apple or an Egg). 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. That is a holding pen for final judgment. Deuteronomy 6:4- Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. This verse is also the beginning of the Jewish Shema prayer; their confession of faith. Let's use an egg to explain the Holy Trinity! Jesus, visually seen, judges all, not the Unseen Father. 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 Trinity is not 1 + 1 + 1 but more like 1 x 1 x 1. In this episode, Fred Sanders discusses what it really means to say that God is a Trinitythree persons in one God. The word God in this sense is defined as a single being, having all divine attributes. He can even be all three at the same time. Therefore, we would rightly say, within the Ontological Trinity, there is no variation or distinction made. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:13). We came up with several practical implications of this doctrine. Each Person in the Trinity (or the Godhead) is fully God and fully a Person. It is not important merely for the sake of tradition, or because the word itself is taught in the Bible (the word is not). For the Trinity, instead of using the formula 1+1+1, we use 1x1x1. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. Thought of Tim Its amazing to think that everything will be so clear when we het to Heaven! 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. 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. 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! Yet, these persons are not separate from one another. The doctrine of the Trinity tells us that there's ONE GOD who is THREE distinct PERSONS existing as a community of self-giving and loving relationships with each other. However, many of our faithful, and even priests, attempted to simplify the Mystery of the Trinity and made it easier to understand by using MODELS AND ANALOGIES, giving birth to modern-day heresies/fallacies about the Trinity. Therefore, there is one God, who is eternally present in three persons. In this analogy, God is compared to a man. But theres one problem: the water analogy is not the biblical picture of God. H2O can exist in three forms: liquid, gas and solid. For example, triangles are not the kinds of things that are personal. 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. 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. For since light is always in existence, it is manifest that its brightness also exists, because light is perceived to exist from the fact that it shines, and it is impossible that light should not shine. Each person is fully the one God, but is also distinct. Shively, This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. And we know that because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly blessed and exalted each other for all eternity. 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. This may be my favorite verse of them all. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). Jesus is fully God. The teaching of the trinity is clearly taught in Scripture and must be preserved as such. You know, that bearded guy on the throne who looks something like Zeus, right? It is the Fathers desire to join His Spirit with all of us as well for He has said They shall be My sons and daughters (II Corinthians 6:18). Basic mathematics tells us that 1x1x1 = 1.. Since these bad analogies tend to lead to a heresy, we will examine the main three areas of heresy concerning the trinity. One of the more traditional analogies is to the states of water. we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,neither blending their personsnor dividing their essence. Sadly, theres something "rotten" about this egg analogy. Moreover, the yoke and the whites are no longer as they used to be. Son and Holy Ghost are each fully God. The past is not the present and the present is not the future, yet all three together is what we call time. Because Gods Person is unapproachable, the Spirit White acts as insulation, for we know that it is through the Holy Spirit that God can communicate, speak through and interact with mankind. 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). Ontological means the nature or essence of something. For example, we know that God didnt create humanity because He bored or lonely. I did read about the shamrock analogy! He taught that the son was at one point created by God the father. The Trinity is distinct in their roles and individuality, but united in their attributes of love, mercy, holiness, knowledge, etc. We can touch the cord, but not the power it is insulating. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). Jesus is in the form of the Holy Spirit. 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. 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. Yet we do not have three gods but ONE God. Perhaps we must be content to admit that we cannot fully understand Gods nature in our finitude. We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. So if all of these explanations are heretical, what is a good analogy? One sits on the throne looking like Sardine and Jasper stone. The Bible reveals that each person of the Trinity has unique roles, relationships, and functions which are distinct from one another. God is like an egg in that He is 3-in-1 God the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. And let us once more come to illustrations. It is a miraculous invention, the egg. 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). The analogy breaks down because the three cloves are overly distinct and cannot represent the unity of God. 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. What does that really mean? The problem here is it describes each part of the Trinity as 1/3 parts of the overall egg. Father, Son, and Spirit are each fully God (their own egg)- not fractions of one. Should Women Really Keep Silent in Church? When the Bible talks about God, it may be referring to Jesus Christ in a specific instance, the Holy Spirit in another and God the Father in a third occasion. You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. ), The Son Phil. 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. He is married to Shamsa Lea, is the father of Amira, and loves running, boxing and studying history and theology. Each one is fully 100% God. This description that all persons are fully God is called the Ontological Trinity. The trinity is not a contradiction, but a paradox. God does not just change forms but exists as three persons in unity. The Holy Spirit prays for us. The Latin word for trinity (trinitas) combines two words- unitas (unity) and trias (three). 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17, 2:9; Heb. And we know that because Hes been experiencing perfect love within Himself forever. Unfortunately, an analogy from the limited realm of creation may not be sufficient in explaining Gods nature. Armstrong. This analogy explains that the Father is like the sun. All three persons exist at the same moment in history. If you need to use an analogy, then use a good one. This is because the H20 is changing forms in representing each person. I think the analogy of the Sun works well. Here are a few of the many verses giving evidence of the Trinity in the Bible: Genesis 1:1&2- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The Holy Spirit was an active participant in the creative process. 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. In part one, we looked at what the Bible has to say about the Trinity. Truly, it is a Mystery. I bet I havent sung or heard this song in years! God is NOT like H2O in that He does not need the right pressure and temperature to exist as three persons. He is one God in three persons, all at the same time. 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. Water can be frozen and is called ice. Hello busy women! The idea that the Trinity can be compared to a shamrock is largely attributed to St. Patrick. The Bible teaches three truths: 1 - there is one God. At the Cathedral, we recognize that there are responsibilities that come with . Paul leaves the Corinthians with this blessing in 2 Corinthians 13:14- May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all..