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). As a doctrine (belief), the trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate and distinct persons united in one being- God. Analogies of the Trinity. 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. 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. . 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.. Lost will be burned up. But the Father is not the Son or the Spirit. The problem with this analogy is that it would imply that there is only one Divine Person, who eventually multiplied Himself. This analogy denies the distinction of the God-head. The above picture is a famous work of art by Andrei Rubilev, the great medieval Russian painter of Orthodox icons and frescos. The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). He is one God in three persons, all at the same time. 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. This analogy actually teaches the heresy of modalism. Part 2. There would be three thrones. Your email address will not be published. You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. Jesus is the Holy Spirit that saves us. All of the above Bad Analogies would perhaps do more harm than good if used in explaining the Trinity. 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. When we tend to make an analogy about the trinity we are forced to diminish one of the three trinitarian truths in order to make the analogy work. They have a common purpose in making harmonious music, but each note is its own separate entity. The Trinity is like an egg. TO AVOID HERESIES, LET US LIVE BY WHAT HAS BEEN REVEALED TO US: 1. These two analogies are the "water" analogy and the "egg" analogy. But its all the same person, operating in three roles or functions. According to modalism, God does not actually exist in three persons. So comparing God to water isnt really as helpful as it seems on the surface. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit also exist eternally and concurrently. Some think of God as H 2 O, which is sometimes a solid (ice), sometimes a liquid (water), and sometimes a gas (steam). Another wrong illustration is using ourselves: I am one person, but also a wife, mother, and writer. Both are one. Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. They are unified in one divine being. Trinity is like a Shamrock (or an Apple or an Egg). The trinity is not a contradiction, but a paradox. The Trinity is Like an Egg How the analogy goes: The Trinity is like an egg. This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. La da dee dee dum dum (I couldnt remember the in-between parts). This analogy is an invalid comparison to the Trinity and is a heresy called PARTIALISM. I did read about the shamrock analogy! Each person is fully the one God, but is also distinct. Yet we do not have three gods but ONE God. We believe in only one true God in all existence, in all places, at all times. Although the water changes forms it is still H2O. Jesus, visually seen, judges all, not the Unseen Father. The military would end up destroying themselves. One is a musical chord with three notes. The analogy breaks down because I can simultaneously be a father, husband, and son to any one person. . 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). A, distinguishes himself from others by saying me, mine, you, yours, etc. A. is the whole nature or essence of something. St. Augustine's Analogy for Understanding the Trinity 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. Yet, the trinity is mysterious. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Spirit are three different persons who are all equally one God. 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. This view, also known as "modalism", was rejected by the early church. The Unseen Father and Father that is seen existed at the same time. One sits on the throne looking like Sardine and Jasper stone. 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. 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. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). 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. Many of us would use analogies to explain the Trinity. 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. Under Arianism Jesus is less than fully God. The unity or oneness of God is also found in the Bible. It should bring us to realise that we truly are finite creatures standing before a sovereign, transcendent, divine mystery. 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. If you only had an apple core, you wouldnt pack it in your lunch. So, I shot down a lot of images that seems to be pretty helpful. The more I reflect on Easter, the more Ive realized how much its become a consumeristic holidayeven Did Jesus really rise from the dead? The egg white represents Gods Spirit. A chicken egg consists of a shell, a yolk, and an egg white, yet it is altogether one egg. 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. One popular and simple illustration of the Trinity is the egg. If you say, "water" then you are incorrect. Space Analogy God is like space. As a result the water molecule must change forms. God is like H2Olike water. In other words, this view denies Gods oneness. Furthermore, this trinity is related to a shamrock, an apple, or an egg. The mystery is in the how this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. A good example would be an electrical cord. 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). And for a mere mortal to have dared invent it and be able t. The problem with this analogy is that it also leads to the heresy of MODALISM. . 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. This analogy sounds pretty good, but it is fatally flawed in that is describes the Son and Spirit as creations of the Father. ANALOGY OF CHARACTERS. Now were going to look at how some people often misunderstand the Trinity. These three Persons are all equally God and all equally Persons. The Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. God is not made up of 3 'parts' like the 3 parts of the egg. So, part of understanding the Trinity is realizing that God is personal and relational. Father, Son, Holy Sprit : 3 persons, 1 great relationship, Copyright 2023 Fervr | Terms of Service. It is the Central Mystery of our Christian faith. Son and Holy Ghost are each fully God. What portion of the analogy holds true with Church Teaching? (It is also why the Jews had an issue with Jesus calling Himself God.). Somewhere in the recesses of my mind lived the doctrinal truth about the 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. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. When discussing God, especially in regards to his nature, being and persons, a simple statement to articulate the Trinity is: God is 1, *. Dont you know Jesus? He cares for his creation and his people. God is not made up of 3 parts like the 3 parts of the egg. So when God created us and revealed Himself to us, what He did was to invite us into the perfect goodness He has always known within Himself. 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. What is wrong with what I said? God controls that light. Its hard to explain! Cool it down, and itll eventually freeze into a solid. I never thought about it in that way some of these examples Ive never heard of. The egg has a shell, the whites and a yoke. Analogies that we present would always be insufficient as none of them would equate to the incomprehensible beauty of God. There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. 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. We can say that the first is egg the shell, the second is egg the albumen and the third is egg the yoke. How to Explain the Holy Trinity to a Child: 3 Important Teaching Tips They've always led to error and have been rejected by the church. Modalism denies the distinction of person in the trinity. Try starting your explanation with a simple definition and then ask for further questions: No one can completely know or understand God. (Describing God as LOVE is my favorite way of understanding the Trinity. The Egg and I - Part Two 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. The egg analogy is very simple but it is OK to show something as simple as an egg can be one and yet three. He began to play the organ as a chorister in England, before continuing his studies in Qubec and France. The Trinity is one of the most foundational doctrines of Christianity. 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). 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. I dont believe that God wishes us to be confused about the Three that are so apparent throughout the Old and New Testaments. Before moving on I should note that providing a full theological explanation of Trinitarian doctrine is well beyond the scope of what I can do here. 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? What is H2O? 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. You are an egg! Despite its potential obscurity, Trinity Sunday is a great occasion for me to revisit an old article on the Trinity. At times God is Father, or Son, or Holy Spirit. It is not important merely for the sake of tradition, or because the word itself is taught in the Bible (. Stars were made on the forth day. Required fields are marked *. To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. 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. Although God is transcendent, sovereign, unapproachable light, He has condescended to reveal something of Himself to His creation. Christians believe, then, that only one God exists but this God exists as a unity of three persons: a Trinity. The Unseen Father is in Christs mind. If the sun exists, there is also day; if nothing of this be manifest, it is impossible that the sun should be there. The military would like to have that power. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9) However, Christians through the ages believe in the Trinity because the truths it represents are taught in the Bible. 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. One day, however, the image will be clear. But Hes God too, right? Perhaps youve heard the analogy that the Trinity is like H2O (the molecular symbol for water). He got married there in 1965, and his four . This view teaches that three separate beings exist. 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. They say that three separate beings exist 2. Analogies often fall short. According to the first, just as water takes three forms (liquid, vapor, and ice), so too God takes the form of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So "son" = "Dave". The Trinity Guarding The Gospel It is a miraculous invention, the egg. Learn how your comment data is processed. Why is it wrong? We can always rebut these claims with another equation: 1 x 1 x 1=1. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each called Jehovah (or Spirit of Jehovah), given divine attributes, and, (usually there is no argument that the Father is not God, since every place Jesus speaks to God, he is addressing the Father.). Each person is fully God (Phil 2; Acts 5:3-4). 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. Trinity Analogies that End Up as Heresies - Medium Stars were made on the froth day. Each one is fully God. The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. Our words should dissipate and be replaced instead with an awestruck adoration and wonder, as we realise the only appropriate response is to fall to our knees and humbly worship the one truly perfect, unified divine essence, comprising three diverse, co-equal and co-eternal divine persons. 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. The unseen Father is in Christs mind. He taught that the son was at one point created by God the father. Hi Im not a theologian and I dont disagree with what you say but when you state that we know the persons of the Trinity have perfectly loved for eternity etc how do we know? Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. Blessings! copyright 2009 by H.D. As a result, this analogy actually teaches modalism. 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17, 2:9; Heb. These are likewise erroneous or even heretical. 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). They say that three separate beings exist, 2. Time Analogy God is like time. Shively, This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. The Trinity is foundational and at the heart of our Christian faith. Did I leave out any analogies? Because God is utterly unique, all comparisons will fail at some point. He differs from the Father, but was and still is God. Or have you ever tried to teach kids about the Trinity? 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. Our God is three in one. And the reason we know that is because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly loved each other for all eternity. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. Jesus isn't a demigod or partially god. Do you know why I keep saying God is like an egg (or H2O) but God is not like an egg (or H2O)? Heat it up, and it turns to vapor. Genesis 1:26- Let us make man in our image, in our likeness The plural us and our show more than one person was involved. He has been a member of the Royal Australian Air Force since 2007, and is now training to be an Air Force Chaplain. It is still important that we have some understanding of the concept, however. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. I think the illustration that represents the Trinity most accurately is the egg example. To the other major monotheistic faiths (Islam and Judaism), it is rank heresyTrinitarianism is therefore definitional to Christianity. 2 - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each God. 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 little child cannot look at one without experiencing a profound sense of wonderment and awe. The Holy Trinity - A Scientific Analogy - The Fra Angelico Institute Here are a few common illustrations: The Egg- One egg has three parts: shell, whites, and yolk. When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. 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.) PDF UNDERSTANDING THE TRINITY - Andrew M. Bailey This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. The early church labeled this view "tritheism". 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. I remember asking my Life Group last year, How have you heard the Trinity explained? I braced myself for the inevitable reply. and Holy Spirit are only parts of God (egg and sun). When they used the word person, they didnt mean it in the same way that we do today. Sadly, theres something "rotten" about this egg analogy. So much of what we know about what God does is wrapped up in who He is. Arius was condemned by the council of Nicea in 325 AD. The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). Every kid in Sunday school thinks he knows all about God. Believing in the above 3 points leads all Christians to acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity. Perhaps we must be content to admit that we cannot fully understand Gods nature in our finitude. I think the illustration that represents the Trinity most accurately is the egg example. I dont believe that God wishes us to be confused about the Three that are so apparent throughout the Old and New Testaments. 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. Montreal was home to two Trinity churches built in 1865 How Helpful Are Analogies of the Trinity? - Kuyperian Commentary 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. In using analogies, we need to acknowledge the demerits and limitations of the said analogy. Studying the Trinity poses difficulty to us Catholics. These three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - exist together in complete unity, with no separation, as one divine being. That is heaven in a person. There would be three thrones. Celebrating Easter Is About so Much More Than One Hour on Sunday. RELATED: Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead? 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. In this analogy, God is compared to a man. The Trinity for Kids - Part 2 - Prepared to Answer For example, I would say, "God is like an egg." The Holy Spirit is the shell, Jesus is the egg white, and the Father is the egg yolk. 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. When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. What makes it hard is that all of our analogies and metaphors fall short of capturing what the Trinity actually is. He has the world and our individual lives within His supremely capable hands. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three different parts or components of God, but the . John 17). 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. Copyright 2023 Christian Today. Water can be frozen and is called ice. I think the analogy of the Sun works well. 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. Now God can be in you by His Spirit! Moreover, the yoke and the whites are no longer as they used to be. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). Tritheism denies that there is only one God. we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,neither blending their personsnor dividing their essence. Jesus loves us so much that he did not obliterate people who died, with power that set stars in the universe. He also knows how to perfectly love us. This analogy denies the unity of the God-head. There was no relational deficiency that prompted God to create us.