Each PERSON is distinct from one another. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). The early church labeled this view "tritheism". Furthermore, this trinity is related to a shamrock, an apple, or an egg. Holy Trinity, the downtown Greek Orthodox church that was partially destroyed by fire 11 years ago, was a special place for 57-year-old Georgiou. I know in the past Ive used analogies that werent the best (more on those later.) When we use analogies, we need to indicate these things so as to not lead to heresies, A Catholic and Filipino writer interested in theology, philosophy, liturgy, politics, and law. in that He is not made up of three parts one part () the Father, another part () Jesus Christ and a third part () the Holy Spirit. This little child cannot look at one without experiencing a profound sense of wonderment and awe. They are unified in one divine being. Wow! In the same way, there is a God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. The Holy Spirit prays for us. Theyve transformed. Do you know why I keep saying God is like an egg (or H2O) but God is not like an egg (or H2O)? There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. Haydn Lea is an Ordained Minister, and is currently serving as an Air Force Chaplain in Adelaide. But it cant be that way with God. PART OF A WHOLE. The beautiful depth of Gods eternal Triune nature is a sublime reality which should bring an end to our attempts to cognitively master Him. Unfortunately, no analogy is perfect. The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. Have you wondered what is God like? 5And there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. But in the Godhead, each Person is fully and completely God unto Himself (even as they are all one God). 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. It is so important that to deny the trinity is to deny Christianity. Shively, This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. Dont grieve the Holy Spirit out of you. The Holy Spirit is like the heat that the sun produces, unseen yet powerful and effective in making the sun felt. 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. History, lifestyle, family, music, theology, scripture, literature, the saints, church history, parenting, politics, prayer, the pope, and more. You can also catch up with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. 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. 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. His ways are higher than ours, but isnt that a comfort?! Tritheism denies that there is only one God. Scripture however, doesnt depict God this way. The three parts create a unified whole. ORDER from Barnes and NobleAmazon.com or wherever fine books are soldISBN-13: 978-1978167643Return to Cafe Logos Homepage | Bite-Sized Bible Bites. If you say, "Jesus Christ" then you MAY BE incorrect. Perhaps we must be content to admit that we cannot fully understand Gods nature in our finitude. Further, we can label each of the sides. La da dee dee dum dum (I couldnt remember the in-between parts). Analogies of the Trinity. 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. Afterall, we can get rid of a few of its parts - for instance the shell - and still scramble an egg. 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. So, the egg analogy doesnt work after all. Misunderstanding 1: The transforming trinity Water can be ice and steam, yet they are the same element. As a result, this analogy can easily lead to tritheism in which there are three different gods which might share some like substance. God does not just change forms but exists as three persons in unity. Unfortunately, an analogy from the limited realm of creation may not be sufficient in explaining Gods nature. Here are some of them: The problem with this is that it leads to the view that God is a Trinity simply because He relates differently to us at different times. I'm always interested in ways to encourage you, so feel free to contact me and let me know what areas interest you! I believe that the best way to talk about the Trinity is to simply say that God is one God, who eternally exists in three Persons. You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. The watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. in which all 3 persons may act or speak as one. For instance at the baptism of Christ, the Father, Son and Spirit are all distinctly present and interacting (Matthew chapter 3 verses 16-17). Should Women Really Keep Silent in Church? Jesus isn't a demigod or partially god. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. But Hes God too, right? 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. God is one. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. Not just for explaining it to others, but to bolster our own faith and see how each One works in our lives. One popular and simple illustration of the Trinity is the egg. The Gospel is theperson, work, and message of Jesus Christ that provides salvation to all repentant believers. Another wrong illustration is using ourselves: I am one person, but also a wife, mother, and writer. How can we explain what it means to have three persons in one being? St. Augustine, one of the most important Fathers of the Church, wrote a great deal on the doctrine of the Trinity. Or water can be evaporated and called steam. I can only shake my head when He does these things! For example, triangles are not the kinds of things that are personal. God controls that light. 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. ), The Son Phil. When we think about influential New Testament leaders, most names are male. In this analogy, God is compared to a man. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each called Jehovah (or Spirit of Jehovah), given divine attributes, and are distinguished from one another. This analogy actually teaches the heresy of modalism. God is infinitely greater than we are; therefore, we should not expect to be able to fully understand Him. Or, we can quote Daniel Webster; a strong Christian- I do not pretend fully to understand the arithmetic of heaven now. . In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9) Part 2. You are an egg! To the other major monotheistic faiths (Islam and Judaism), it is rank heresyTrinitarianism is therefore definitional to Christianity. It is not important merely for the sake of tradition, or because the word itself is taught in the Bible (. Analogies for the Trinity exist to explain the unexplainable. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. Before we look at a few bad analogies that many often use to try to illustrate the trinity, we need to first understand the doctrine itself. Modalism is a heresy because it denies the distinction of God. We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. 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. As a result, this analogy actually teaches modalism. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Water at room temperature is liquid. The God of the Bible is one God. The Son intercedes as our High Priest before the Father. Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. Revelation 4:3And 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. So, in God, there are three distinct persons. So if all of these explanations are heretical, what is a good analogy? The Holy Trinity, one of the five Dogmas of the Church, is an extraordinary and unfathomable mystery. In Arianism, the Son is not eternally equal with the Father, but was the Fathers first and best creation. 7But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christs gift., , according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure., , But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith; praying in the Holy Spirit; 21keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.. Jesus is fully God. That is heaven in a person. The Holy Spirit and Son do not send the Father. This analogy denies the unity of the God-head. Perhaps youve heard the analogy that the Trinity is like H2O (the molecular symbol for water). The military would end up destroying themselves. H2O is a combination of two particles (atoms) of hydrogen and one particle of oxygen and this compound can exist as water (liquid), ice (solid) and vapour (gas). I bet I havent sung or heard this song in years! She would explode!" He can even be all three at the same time. 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). Analogies that we present would always be insufficient as none of them would equate to the incomprehensible beauty of God. A single molecule cannot simultaneously exist in three different states. 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. 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. They suggest that only one God exists but this God transforms or morphs into each of the different persons. The sun comprises the sun itself, its light and its heat. An egg has a shell, white, and yolk, but these three are part of an egg or Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao but the same Philippines. I did read about the shamrock analogy! The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit also exist eternally and concurrently. Depth isnt the same thing as height and height isnt the same thing as width, yet all three together are what comprise space. This is a worse analogy than the egg because it is more analogous to the heretical doctrine of Modalism/Oneness than for the Trinity. Your email address will not be published. Notice the distinction between persons and being. I dont believe that God wishes us to be confused about the Three that are so apparent throughout the Old and New Testaments. Pingback: 3 Reasons Why Jesus Humanity Really Matters Her & Hymn, Pingback: 3 Reasons Why Jesus' Humanity Really Matters, Pingback: How Jesus Teaches Us To Be Human Her & Hymn. The Trinity is Like an Egg How the analogy goes: The Trinity is like an egg. Yet the orthodox view is that each person of the Trinity is fully divine. God does not play three roles.. 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. When we separate them we can fall into the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual deities as one. The visual form of God seperated from Jesus on the cross. Time exists as 3 things: past, present, and future. Our limited intellects are unable to comprehend its reality, yet, our Scriptures and scholarly Tradition makes it known to us. It is not existing as 3 different parts (persons) at the same time. You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. Yet God lovingly chose to create and eventually redeem us anyway (both thoroughly Trinitarian acts), at great cost to Himself. Im giving God the credit for stirring this memory, and am extremely grateful. 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). He has been relationally fulfilled within Himself since forever. God has revealed some mysteries from the Old Testament in the New Testament (the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the coming of the Messiah, salvation by grace through faith, etc.) As a doctrine (belief), the trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate and distinct persons united in one being- God. The trinity is not a contradiction, but a paradox. These things are referred to as the Economic Trinity. In this episode, Fred Sanders discusses what it really means to say that God is a Trinitythree persons in one God. And the reason we know that is because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly loved each other for all eternity. 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. The unity or oneness of God is also found in the Bible. In reality, I change my role depending on who I am interacting with. Here's a look at six explanations for why so many people truly believe 3 Ways to Experience The Good Life in Jesus. God is kind of like a man who is a father, a son and an uncle God is kind of like a three-leaf clover, or a triangle; one object, but three different, identifiable leaves, or sides* An explanation that is so common, and seemingly does elucidate how something can simultaneously be three and onecan it really be that bad?
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