In other words, this view denies Gods oneness. (It is also why the Jews had an issue with Jesus calling Himself God.). 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. In one egg you have the white, the yoke, and the shell composing one full egg. What does that really mean? Thanks, Ann! Matthew 3:16-17- As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. The Trinity is not 1 + 1 + 1 but more like 1 x 1 x 1. Which ones have you heard? Before I even began writing this post, I had an unusual song stuck in my head Holy God, we praise thy name. 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. There are, however, some that work better than others. Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. Each Person in the Trinity (or the Godhead) is fully God and fully a Person. Each PERSON is distinct from one another. Here are eight bible characters that you might not know about, but should. HO may act as water, steam, or ice, but it is still HO. 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. Have you wondered what is God like? This is a bad analogy because it fails at the truth that all three persons comprise the fullness of God. Now God can be in you by His Spirit! Three persons is false. The egg shell is the image of the yolk and the white. The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). Haydn describes himself as a five-point Calvinist, but he recognises that many faithful Christians disagree. When they used the word person, they didnt mean it in the same way that we do today. It does not represent 3 persons existing simultaneously. This analogy denies the distinction of the God-head. Wow! No analogy is perfect, but we want to be careful of using wrong ones that may confuse people. Water is water, but exists in three different forms: liquid, frozen, or steam. This is a bad analogy because it fails at the truth that all three persons comprise the fullness of God. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). Just as water changes forms so too is the trinity. So if all of these explanations are heretical, what is a good analogy? 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. It is not important merely for the sake of tradition, or because the word itself is taught in the Bible (the word is not). We can say that the first is egg the shell, the second is egg the albumen and the third is egg the yoke. Though I find the video to be hilarious and often . They have a common purpose in making harmonious music, but each note is its own separate entity. Furthermore, this trinity is related to a shamrock, an apple, or an egg. PART OF A WHOLE. The Trinity is not real in my life because of superior knowledge or insight. But God is the eternal Light, which has neither had a beginning, nor shall ever fail. . and Holy Spirit are only parts of God (egg and sun). Shively Yet God lovingly chose to create and eventually redeem us anyway (both thoroughly Trinitarian acts), at great cost to Himself. 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. A man might be a father to his children, a husband to his wife, and son to his parents. The Trinity is Like an Egg How the analogy goes: The Trinity is like an egg. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. Stars were made on the forth day. The military would end up destroying themselves. The Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God. These are likewise erroneous or even heretical. Water can exist in liquid at room temperature. Devils see that Spirit as a tempestuious fire. That is why Moses said. All Rights Reserved. Bach, and has released two previous CDs, one . 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). Some think of God as H 2 O, which is sometimes a solid (ice), sometimes a liquid (water), and sometimes a gas (steam). Truly, it is a Mystery. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three different parts or components of God, but the . The shell, while important, is no longer needed. The Son intercedes as our High Priest before the Father. Instead, each person is co-equal, co-powerful and co-eternal. This error denies something central to God that makes Him God. They that dont have the Holy Spirit in them will talk like the Adversary. 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. There have been many attempts to explain the Trinity the relationship between God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Or water can be evaporated and called steam. The egg analogy is very simple but it is OK to show something as simple as an egg can be one and yet three. Not just for explaining it to others, but to bolster our own faith and see how each One works in our lives. It taught there is one nature in God, and that there are two processions, three persons, and four relations that constitute the Blessed Trinity. One day, however, the image will be clear. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each called Jehovah (or Spirit of Jehovah), given divine attributes, and are distinguished from one another. 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. is not). 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. Each separate being is co-equal, co-powerful and co-eternal. Tritheism denies that there is only one God. However, Christians through the ages believe in the Trinity because the truths it represents are taught in the Bible. The Holy Spirit is the shell, Jesus is the egg white, and the Father is the egg yolk. The egg white represents Gods Spirit. Our God is three in one. At times God is Father, or Son, or Holy Spirit. How can God be Three in One? 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. The Trinity is established by 3 Biblical truths, . You can also catch up with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok So God performs 3 different roles/relationships but 1 God. I and My Father are One (John 10:30). So cool that God imparted that song in your mind and heart before you even wrote this blog post! We can always rebut these claims with another equation: 1 x 1 x 1=1. But if they give us a warped idea of what they are trying to explain, they arent helpful illustrations. However, Christians through the ages believe in the Trinity because the truths it represents are taught in the Bible. The mystery is in the how this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. The egg white represents Gods Spirit. 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! The Son was begotten by the Father IN ETERNITY, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This analogy actually teaches the heresy of tritheism. Water can be frozen and is called ice. He began to play the organ as a chorister in England, before continuing his studies in Qubec and France. Share your thoughts with us in the comments! One of the more traditional analogies is to the states of water. Just like an egg, none of the parts are co-equal, nor are all of the parts necessary for the egg to exist. If you say, "Jesus Christ" then you MAY BE incorrect. The Church should not forget that these heresies still exist in the present day and is even being taught by some priests and catechists. If you need to use an analogy, then use a good one. Yet we do not have three gods but ONE God. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Unfortunately, Arianism is still around and can found within the Jehovah's Witnesses teachings. But if modalism is true, and the Trinity really is like water, then the story of Jesus (the Son) praying to the Father as recorded in the Bible seems like an awfully strange masquerade. The Unseen Father would have been put into Satans prison. 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. In reality, I change my role depending on who I am interacting with. This analogy actually falls prey to the same error of modalism. 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. For example, an equilateral triangle (a triangle with three equal sides) has three sides. Each one is fully God. Intercession: The Son intercedes as our High Priest before the Father. I go to prepare a place for you. Dont become discouraged if you cant answer the question to your liking. The Trinity is not 1 + 1 + 1 but more like 1 x 1 x 1. One cannot remove the Holy Spirit and still have the God as taught in the Bible. Further, his dialectic is guided by the particular consideration of what true love is: a trinity of lover, beloved and the love that binds . Analogies often fall short. One thing that Ive found helpful is using the Trinity to illustrate truths we know about God. An analogy illustrates that in a similar way, one shamrock can have three leaves on it, and the trinity has three persons that comprise 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). The trinity is like water. And then theres Jesus, Gods son. Being the brightness of the eternal Light, He Himself also is absolutely eternal. 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. 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 Trinity, one of the five Dogmas of the Church, is an extraordinary and unfathomable mystery. Christians believe, then, that only one God exists but this God exists as a unity of three persons: a Trinity. God is like H2O in that the Bible may refer to a specific person of the Trinity but that person is still God. I think the illustration that represents the Trinity most accurately is the egg example. Further, we can label each of the sides. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. Analogies of the Trinity. 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17, 2:9; Heb. 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. Yeah its definitely a hard thing to understand, let alone explain to little ones ! Since these bad analogies tend to lead to a heresy, we will examine the main three areas of heresy concerning the trinity. Jesus, visually seen, judges all, not the Unseen Father. The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). Yet others have thought that H20 (water) shows us the Trinity since H20 can be three things: solid (ice), liquid (running water) and vapor (steam). It leads to the heresy of MODALISM which teaches that God switches to different modes. I did read about the shamrock analogy! The three distinct notes come together to make one beautiful sound. Here many of the creeds help us in clearly articulating the trinity. This is the one I used long ago when trying to explain the Trinity to a group of 1st-5th graders. Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. There would be three thrones. But it cant be that way with God. Discover the richness of the old yet living 2,000-year-old religion which built the West. This is just as bad as the Water analogy and leads to the same error. What portion of the analogy holds true with Church Teaching? Water Analogy God is like water, or H2O, which can exist in 3 forms. Our limited intellects are unable to comprehend its reality, yet, our Scriptures and scholarly Tradition makes it known to us. Jesus is fully God. - well, sort of. If the sun exists, there is also day; if nothing of this be manifest, it is impossible that the sun should be there. Time exists as 3 things: past, present, and future. we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,neither blending their personsnor dividing their essence. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, constructed between 1800 and 1804, is the first Anglican cathedral to have been built outside the British Isles. Space Analogy God is like space. An essential factor lacking from those concepts is the relational quality of God. 3 - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct persons. None of the 3 are less divine than the others. For example, we know that God didnt create humanity because He bored or lonely. Afterall, we can get rid of a few of its parts - for instance the shell - and still scramble an egg. As a result the water molecule must change forms. Similarly, in our aquatic analogy, water can appear in three different modes, depending on the environment, but the three are not co-existing. The trinity is not a contradiction, but a paradox. The Trinity is one of the most foundational doctrines of Christianity. The meme above discourages the use of analogies in explaining the Trinity. Let's use an egg to explain the Holy Trinity! Like modalism, the "three beings" view was rejected by the early church. Well the issue is, the water analogy is akin to the heresy of Modalism. If the Sun existed from eternity past then so were the light rays from the Sun. They are three in one egg. 5And there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. As a result, this analogy can easily lead to tritheism in which there are three different gods which might share some like substance. 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. ), The Son Phil. It may not appear to agree with common sense. There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. God is not made up of 3 'parts' like the 3 parts of the egg. 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). , 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. In this episode, Fred Sanders discusses what it really means to say that God is a Trinitythree persons in one God. The white of an egg is the connection between the yolk and the shell. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). The Latin word for trinity (trinitas) combines two words- unitas (unity) and trias (three). Should Women Really Keep Silent in Church? Arius was condemned by the council of Nicea in 325 AD. 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. In other words, one stuffness. However, He exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Its downright hard to understand. This means there is a sense in which all 3 persons may act or speak as one. Each person is fully God (Phil 2; Acts 5:3-4). Among the most popular analogies for the Trinity, two in particular stand out; and most of the others resemble one of them. To the other major monotheistic faiths (Islam and Judaism), it is rank heresyTrinitarianism is therefore definitional to Christianity. Lost will be burned up. The shortfall of this illustration, and others like it, is that God cannot be divided into "parts." What is wrong with what I said? God controls that light. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). 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 word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. So, the egg analogy doesnt work after all. It can also be a liquid and called water. See the depths of Catholicism for yourself! The Son "proceeds" from the Father, and the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son.". We believe that it is a revelation that comes from Christ Himself. Few topics of discussion in the Christian faith are more confusing than the idea of the Trinity. How can we explain what it means to have three persons in one being? The idea of God as three-in-one is indeed a mysterious concept, one that is difficult to understand. As a doctrine (belief), the trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate and distinct persons united in one being- God. So, I shot down a lot of images that seems to be pretty helpful. 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. Yet there is only one God. 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. 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). There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. That helps explain the concept quite well- the oneness, unity of God with the distinct three persons of God- Father, Son, and Spirit. copyright 2009 by H.D. And the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. If youre interested into diving deeper into the topic of the Trinity, here are some valuable resources that could help. In part one, we looked at what the Bible has to say about the Trinity. The Trinity is distinct in their roles and individuality, but united in their attributes of love, mercy, holiness, knowledge, etc. 2. When we view the egg in its entirety we have the Biblical Trinity, One that is Three. Armstrong. Tritheism denies the unity of the God-head by saying there is just three different gods. 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? Here's a look at six explanations for why so many people truly believe 3 Ways to Experience The Good Life in Jesus. Dont grieve the Holy Spirit out of you. God is much bigger and much greater than we can understand, and to be honest, I'm ok with that. The watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. TO AVOID HERESIES, LET US LIVE BY WHAT HAS BEEN REVEALED TO US: 1. He can even be all three at the same time. He completed a doctorate in 1990, looking at the question of harmonic rhythm in the organ music of J.S. 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). Perhaps we must be content to admit that we cannot fully understand Gods nature in our finitude. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind lived the doctrinal truth about the Trinity. Both are one. God is NOT like H2O in that He does not need the right pressure and temperature to exist as three persons. But common sense is intuition based on day-to-day experience. 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. Here are four. Light comes from God. 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. 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 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 visual form of God seperated from Jesus on the cross. 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. Rather, He created us in order to bless us. The 3 Most Common "Trinity Analogies" (and their limitations) The three most common go-to analogies for explaining the Trinity are water, an egg, and the sun. When discussing God, especially in regards to his nature, being and persons, a simple statement to articulate the Trinity is: God is 1, *. The Father Matthew 27:45-46 (usually there is no argument that the Father is not God, since every place Jesus speaks to God, he is addressing the Father. How do we make sense of the Trinity? One popular and simple illustration of the Trinity is the egg. 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. 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 youve been involved in ministries for children or young people, questions about the Trinity have most likely come up. In the same way, water is all the same molecular structure, expressing itself in three different modes. The Unseen Father is in Christs mind. Although he is one he has different roles to different people. Moreover, the yoke and the whites are no longer as they used to be. Here are 8 Bible Characters Who Should Be More Famous. This analogy seems to make a lot of sense, but it actually reinforces a fatal misconception about the Trinity called modalism. 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. . The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain. Although God is transcendent, sovereign, unapproachable light, He has condescended to reveal something of Himself to His creation. This is perhaps the most common analogy for the Trinity. John 17). His ways are higher than ours, but isnt that a comfort?! 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.
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