But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). They are unified in one divine being. So, the egg analogy doesnt work after all. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. 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). This analogy denies the unity of the God-head. 1:8-12; 1 Pet. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. 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. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. The unseen Father is in Christs mind. 5And there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. Another analogy that Tim remembers, being Irish Catholic, is the analogy of the shamrock with its three parts. 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. We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. 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.) Therefore it behoves us to know what He has revealed (including the Trinity), and to lovingly worship Him accordingly. Yeah its definitely a hard thing to understand, let alone explain to little ones ! Water can be frozen and is called ice. This is the Christmas paradox. Lost will be burned up. copyright 2009 by H.D. Yet, the trinity is mysterious. One thing that Ive found helpful is using the Trinity to illustrate truths we know about God. The analogy breaks down because I can simultaneously be a father, husband, and son to any one person. As a result, this analogy actually teaches modalism. Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). (Which I just found out is in error). Space Analogy God is like space. Common, yes. Depth isnt the same thing as height and height isnt the same thing as width, yet all three together are what comprise space. One cannot remove the Holy Spirit and still have the God as taught in the Bible. is not). If you only had an apple core, you wouldnt pack it in your lunch. The egg white represents Gods Spirit. Each character of the trinity has in one another (cf. 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). To the other major monotheistic faiths (Islam and Judaism), it is rank heresyTrinitarianism is therefore definitional to Christianity. This is not an exhaustive list: For further reading on the Trinity, I would recommend James Whites The Forgotten Trinity, Wayne Grudems Systematic Theology and online articles by CARM.org. When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. 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. So cool that God imparted that song in your mind and heart before you even wrote this blog post! In other words, this view denies Gods oneness. 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. We can touch the cord, but not the power it is insulating. and Holy Spirit are only parts of God (egg and sun). Thankfully he isnt a cage-stage Calvinist about it all. Analogies often fall short. Further, his dialectic is guided by the particular consideration of what true love is: a trinity of lover, beloved and the love that binds . Jesus is in the form of the Holy Spirit. 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. I never thought about it in that way some of these examples Ive never heard of. 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* These three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - exist together in complete unity, with no separation, as one divine being. 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. Dont you know Jesus? Take a moment and give it a try. But the Bible is CLEAR in its teaching. John introduces us to the Trinity in John 1:1- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God. Jesus, the Word, was present in Genesis 1. 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. Water can be ice and steam, yet they are the same element. 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). A good example would be an electrical cord. The God of the Bible is one God. There is one GOD in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), 2. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. Cool it down, and itll eventually freeze into a solid. Yet there is still only one God we serve. The Trinity are three distinct persons who exist apart from each other. This is because the H20 is changing forms in representing each person. 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. Thanks, Ann! Arianism is named after the heretic Arius. But common sense is intuition based on day-to-day experience. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, constructed between 1800 and 1804, is the first Anglican cathedral to have been built outside the British Isles. Dont grieve the Holy Spirit out of you. Unfortunately, most of them actually give us the wrong idea about what the Trinity is. This is just as bad as the Water analogy and leads to the same error. The trinity is an essential doctrine to the Christian faith. This analogy denies the unity of the God-head. 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. 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. Three Gods or one? We worship one God who exists in three persons. Each one is fully God. As John 1:18 says, Jesus is "the only begotten God, in the bosom of [God] the Father.". 3. Unfortunately, an analogy from the limited realm of creation may not be sufficient in explaining Gods nature. Further, we can label each of the sides. These things are referred to as the Economic Trinity. Among the most popular analogies for the Trinity, two in particular stand out; and most of the others resemble one of them. The Egg Analogy God is like an egg. We find it in all four Gospels. Yet the orthodox view is that each person of the Trinity is fully divine. Intercession: The Son intercedes as our High Priest before the Father. To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. Many of us would use analogies to explain the Trinity. Just like an egg, none of the parts are co-equal, nor are all of the parts necessary for the egg to exist. Born in England in 1961, Benjamin Waterhouse Benjamin Waterhouse has been the organist of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity since 2000. But they are one God. Instead, each person is co-equal, co-powerful and co-eternal. I do not have the time or space to exhaustively demonstrate in scripture these truths, but the Biblical witness teaches these three truths consistently about God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each called Jehovah (or Spirit of Jehovah), given divine attributes, and are distinguished from one another. He has not yet revealed some mysteries (what did Jesus do in His childhood, when will He return, what does the word Selah mean in the Old Testament- and so many more.). No analogy is perfect, but we want to be careful of using wrong ones that may confuse people. Well the issue is, the water analogy is akin to the heresy of Modalism. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father., 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. It may not appear to agree with common sense. Explaining the Holy Trinity. 1. The trinity is like this man. 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. Though I find the video to be hilarious and often . 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. show me your glory. 1 Corinthians 8:6: Yet for us there is but one God.. 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. This error denies something central to God that makes Him God. Each one is fully 100% God. in which all 3 persons may act or speak as one. 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. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). As a result, this analogy can easily lead to tritheism in which there are three different gods which might share some like substance. Heat it up, and it turns to vapor. Because God is utterly unique, all comparisons will fail at some point. TO AVOID HERESIES, LET US LIVE BY WHAT HAS BEEN REVEALED TO US: 1. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three different parts or components of God, but the . He was with God in the beginning. When we view the egg in its entirety we have the Biblical Trinity, One that is Three. The problem with this analogy is it denies the unity of the God-head. There have been many attempts to explain the Trinity the relationship between God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. This analogy is still not perfect because each of the aspect cannot stand as egg like each of the persons in the trinity can stand as God. Lord of all, we bow before thee. Have you wondered what is God like? It is so important that to deny the trinity is to deny Christianity. The idea that the Trinity can be compared to a shamrock is largely attributed to St. Patrick. The problem with this analogy is that no one molecule of H2O can actually exist as solid, liquid, and gas at the same time. Often these analogies explicitly teach heresy. God does not play three roles.. 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 cares for his creation and his people. 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). It does not imply Jesus was created if you emphasize that the Sun existed from eternity past. 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. There is only one egg with three different parts. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). 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). And we know that because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly blessed and exalted each other for all eternity. The Holy Spirit is the shell, Jesus is the egg white, and the Father is the egg yolk. But having lots 6 Bible Study Tools To Help You Dive Deeper. Here are four. There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. Arianism denies the deity of each person in the trinity. . John 17). Son and Holy Ghost are each fully God. If youve been involved in ministries for children or young people, questions about the Trinity have most likely come up. God is one. Unfortunately, Arianism is still around and can found within the Jehovah's Witnesses teachings. We all want to experience the good life. Each side is co-equal with the others, yet, each side is necessary. Jesus isn't a demigod or partially god. In the second instance, the truth of Gods Trinity reveals a further aspect of Gods love for His people. Each of the divine persons is GOD WHOLE AND ENTIRE, and there is one God. God does not morph from one person to another, nor does God exist as three separate beings. This analogy sounds pretty good, but it is fatally flawed in that is describes the Son and Spirit as creations of the Father. The egg analogy fails because it denies that each person of the Trinity is of the same eternal essence. It is the Central Mystery of our Christian faith. He is one God in three persons, all at the same time. Both are one. . Finally, I would suggest that the mere fact that we cannot understand the full depth of the Trinity (even with our myriad of analogies) has implications. 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. Let's use an egg to explain the Holy Trinity! 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*. God controls that light. A person distinguishes himself from others by saying me, mine, you, yours, etc. A being is the whole nature or essence of something. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). Now God can be in you by His Spirit! And we know that because Hes been experiencing perfect love within Himself forever. 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 whats one good way to explain what the Trinity is? 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. For the Trinity, instead of using the formula 1+1+1, we use 1x1x1. 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 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. The shell, while important, is no longer needed. God does not just change forms but exists as three persons in unity. 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. - well, sort of. If you say, "Jesus Christ" then you MAY BE incorrect. Now, as youve probably guessed, this analogy also breaks down. . I know in the past Ive used analogies that werent the best (more on those later.) Proof texting is when we cite a bunch of bible verses to support a theological stance. 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/. We can admit it is a mystery and accept that our incomplete knowledge cannot fully comprehend it. The three-leaf clover analogy is OK. God is like H2O in that the Bible may refer to a specific person of the Trinity but that person is still God. Try starting your explanation with a simple definition and then ask for further questions: No one can completely know or understand God. The Holy Spirit is Christs spirit in us guiding us into all truth. 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. The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. In the same way, there is a God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. Jesus then becomes a created being and thus less than fully God. One popular and simple illustration of the Trinity is the egg. Jesus is the Holy Spirit. Modalism is a heresy because it denies the distinction of God. ANALOGY OF CHARACTERS. An essential factor lacking from those concepts is the relational quality of God. I have the good one. Christians believe, then, that only one God exists but this God exists as a unity of three persons: a Trinity. God is NOT like H2O in that He does not need the right pressure and temperature to exist as three persons. 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).
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