in that while water can change into vapour or ice, Jesus cannot change into the Father or the Holy Spirit. I go to prepare a place for you. There are many mysteries to our faith. 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. It is still H20, but just different forms. Yet it appears to be almost entirely misunderstood within contemporary evangelical circles. Some people have suggested using an egg to explain how God can be both one and three. 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. Only the Son became incarnate, took on flesh. None of the 3 are less divine than the others. Heat it up, and it turns to vapor. The shortfall of this illustration, and others like it, is that God cannot be divided into "parts." One day, however, the image will be clear. There's a simple reason they don't work: The Trinity, as such, isn't like anything in creation. However, it breaks down on the level of equality: No one keeps or eats the shell of an egg. The Unseen Father is in Christs mind. Now that we know the doctrine of the trinity and its corresponding major heresies, now we are ready to look at some bad analogies for the trinity. He has the world and our individual lives within His supremely capable hands. You are an egg! The meme above discourages the use of analogies in explaining the Trinity. The military would like to have that power. The beautiful depth of Gods eternal Triune nature is a sublime reality which should bring an end to our attempts to cognitively master Him. 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. The egg analogy fails because it denies that each person of the Trinity is of the same eternal essence. Now God can be in you by His Spirit! Dr. Bruce Ware does an excellent job in his book Big Truths for Young Hearts. What portion is erroneous? The apple seed alone is not an apple. However, Christians through the ages believe in the Trinity because the truths it represents are taught in the Bible. Moreover, the yoke and the whites are no longer as they used to be. In the same way, water is all the same molecular structure, expressing itself in three different modes. Unfortunately, most of them actually give us the wrong idea about what the Trinity is. 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. These three Persons are all equally God and all equally Persons. 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). Few topics of discussion in the Christian faith are more confusing than the idea of the Trinity. This is the error of Arianism (not to be confused with Aryanism, which is also bad). 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. 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. Our God is three in one. When we separate them we can fall into the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual deities as one. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. RELATED: Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead? Tritheism denies the unity of the God-head by saying there is just three different gods. Discover the richness of the old yet living 2,000-year-old religion which built the West. Jesus, visually seen, judges all, not the Unseen Father. The problem with this analogy is it denies the unity of the God-head. I'm always interested in ways to encourage you, so feel free to contact me and let me know what areas interest you! ), The Son Phil. On a whim, I looked up the lyrics at a later time. But the Trinity is our belief as Christians that God is one being who exists in three Persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. Arianism clearly denies the deity of the three persons. 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. For example, triangles are not the kinds of things that are personal. Now God can be in you by His 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. This would make Jesus something less than fully God. 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 he is one he has different roles to different people. These are likewise erroneous or even heretical. You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. Do you know why I keep saying God is like an egg (or H2O) but God is not like an egg (or H2O)? The sun comprises the sun itself, its light and its heat. A, distinguishes himself from others by saying me, mine, you, yours, etc. A. is the whole nature or essence of something. Jesus isn't a demigod or partially god. The idea that the Trinity can be compared to a shamrock is largely attributed to St. Patrick. But common sense is intuition based on day-to-day experience. 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. Yet we do not have three gods but ONE God. Matthew 3:16-17- As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. 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. 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. For sure, our everyday experience does not include using our finite minds to understand the infinite! Required fields are marked *. The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. Its hard to explain! This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. 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. It only has 1 person acting in three different roles. Another wrong illustration is using ourselves: I am one person, but also a wife, mother, and writer. . The scientific analogy that will be provided in a few moments is truly inadequate to describe the Holy Trinity. H2O can exist in three forms: liquid, gas and solid. This analogy explains that the Father is like the sun. 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. 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). This is because the H20 is changing forms in representing each person. Love was not given to Jesus. Yet there is still only one God we serve. Studying the Trinity poses difficulty to us Catholics. Or water can be evaporated and called steam. We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. Modalism teaches that one God just changes forms or modes over the course of scripture. I and My Father are One (John 10:30). Father, Son, Holy Sprit : 3 persons, 1 great relationship, Copyright 2023 Fervr | Terms of Service. But this idea is central to the Christian faith. CafeLogos.orgThe Egg and i -A Simple Explanation of The Trinity There is only one egg with three different parts. In the same way is God being the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. An egg has a shell, white, and yolk, but these three are part of an egg or Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao but the same Philippines. - well, sort of. We can admit it is a mystery and accept that our incomplete knowledge cannot fully comprehend it. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the primary tenants of the Christian faith. 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). 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. Paul explains our finite understanding of beliefs like the Trinity as looking into a poor-quality mirror- a distorted image; dim and unclear. This is a worse analogy than the egg because it is more analogous to the heretical doctrine of Modalism/Oneness than for the Trinity. The Holy Spirit is like the heat that the sun produces, unseen yet powerful and effective in making the sun felt. In one egg you have the white, the yoke, and the shell composing one full egg. 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. But thats not how they understood it. Each of the divine persons is GOD WHOLE AND ENTIRE, and there is one God. 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). Through the brokenness of the Shell, His Son, the Spirit white pours out into our beings through our faith in what was done and believers are joined with the yolk, for it is by One Spirit we have access to God the Father (Ephesians 2:18). 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. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. If water is inadequate, there are a wide array of alternative analogies we can turn to in modern theological parlance. 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. Answer (1 of 25): Cynics assert that the idea of the Holy Trinity is a logical impossibility. They are three in one egg. But understanding the Trinity is important. The Church should not forget that these heresies still exist in the present day and is even being taught by some priests and catechists. I know in the past Ive used analogies that werent the best (more on those later.) Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. He began to play the organ as a chorister in England, before continuing his studies in Qubec and France. The Sun was created on the forth day. The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). Thus, the Father Himself is not God, nor is the Son, nor is the Holy Spirit, but combining the three, there is one God. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. 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. PART OF A WHOLE. If the Sun existed from eternity past then so were the light rays from the Sun. Time Analogy God is like time. Perhaps we must be content to admit that we cannot fully understand Gods nature in our finitude. We believe in only one true God in all existence, in all places, at all times. 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.). Yet, the trinity is mysterious. It is not important merely for the sake of tradition, or because the word itself is taught in the Bible (the word is not). Lost will be ashes under the feet of the righteous. God is not made up of 3 parts like the 3 parts of the egg. Here's a look at six explanations for why so many people truly believe 3 Ways to Experience The Good Life in Jesus. The Holy Trinity, one of the five Dogmas of the Church, is an extraordinary and unfathomable mystery. She would explode!" When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. The trinity is a mystery that cannot be fully comprehended. When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. Each PERSON is distinct from one another. Sending of another: The Father sends the Son, and both the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit. Christians believe, then, that only one God exists but this God exists as a unity of three persons: a Trinity. Analogies that we present would always be insufficient as none of them would equate to the incomprehensible beauty of God. 3 - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct persons. How would you explain the Trinity if someone asked you right now? Sure enough, one member answered Well Ive heard that the Trinity is like water: water can be liquid, gas (steam), or solid (ice), but its still the same water.