These three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - exist together in complete unity, with no separation, as one divine being. Jesus is the Holy Spirit that saves us. But thats not how they understood it. In scripture we see explicit trinitarian references, especially at Jesus' baptism where the Father speaks, the Spirit descends, and the Son is in the water. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. 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). For instance at the baptism of Christ, the Father, Son and Spirit are all distinctly present and interacting (Matthew chapter 3 verses 16-17). In this episode, Fred Sanders discusses what it really means to say that God is a Trinitythree persons in one God. The trinity is a mystery that cannot be fully comprehended. 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. Yeah its definitely a hard thing to understand, let alone explain to little ones ! I remember asking my Life Group last year, How have you heard the Trinity explained? I braced myself for the inevitable reply. As John 1:18 says, Jesus is "the only begotten God, in the bosom of [God] the Father.". This is one of the reasons we say that "God is LOVE". Sending of another: The Father sends the Son, and both the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit. But understanding the Trinity is important. Matthew 3:16-17- As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Its impossible to be an Orthodox Christian without professing belief in the Triune nature of God. To the other major monotheistic faiths (Islam and Judaism), it is rank heresyTrinitarianism is therefore definitional to Christianity. Your email address will not be published. Its all one person, simply functioning in three different roles. The Holy Spirit is Christs spirit in us guiding us into all truth. 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. In one egg you have the white, the yoke, and the shell composing one full egg. Answer (1 of 25): Cynics assert that the idea of the Holy Trinity is a logical impossibility. The shortfall of this illustration, and others like it, is that God cannot be divided into "parts." He is one God who expresses Himself in three modesFather, Son, and Spirit. 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. Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. 3 - The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct persons. The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). Water Analogy God is like water, or H2O, which can exist in 3 forms. I can only shake my head when He does these things! document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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. So God performs 3 different roles/relationships but 1 God. And we know that because Hes been experiencing perfect love within Himself forever. He cares for his creation and his people. Do you know why I keep saying God is like an egg (or H2O) but God is not like an egg (or H2O)? The idea that the Trinity can be compared to a shamrock is largely attributed to St. Patrick. The problem with this analogy is that it also leads to the heresy of MODALISM. Tritheism denies that there is only one God. 3. But this view, too, wont do. 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. Part 2. 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. But God is the eternal Light, which has neither had a beginning, nor shall ever fail. If the Sun existed from eternity past then so were the light rays from the Sun. The egg analogy is very simple but it is OK to show something as simple as an egg can be one and yet three. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind lived the doctrinal truth about the Trinity. God Himself explains why some things are still a mystery: For as heaven is higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:9) Our human minds can never understand all of who God is and how He thinks and acts. H2O can exist as a solid, a liquid and a gas but they are all still H2O. Therefore the eternal brightness shines forth before Him, and co-exists with Him, in that, existing without a beginning, and always begotten, He always shines before Him; and He is that Wisdom which says, I was that wherein He delighted, and I was daily His delight before His face at all times.. The Unseen Father and Father that is seen existed at the same time. The Holy Spirit and Son do not send the Father. However, Christians through the ages believe in the Trinity because the truths it represents are taught in the Bible. 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. 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.) Here are a few common illustrations: The Egg- One egg has three parts: shell, whites, and yolk. He is married to Shamsa Lea, is the father of Amira, and loves running, boxing and studying history and theology. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9) Have you wondered what is God like? Well the issue is, the water analogy is akin to the heresy of Modalism. Thankfully he isnt a cage-stage Calvinist about it all. This is a quick way to describe the doctrine of the Trinity namely, God is 1 being (the, is Gods nature, essence, being) and 3 whos (the, being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). So "son" = "Dave". Shively, This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). But theres one problem: the water analogy is not the biblical picture of God. Similarly, in our aquatic analogy, water can appear in three different modes, depending on the environment, but the three are not co-existing. God is infinitely greater than we are; therefore, we should not expect to be able to fully understand Him. Trinity is like a Shamrock (or an Apple or an Egg). Each Person in the Trinity (or the Godhead) is fully God and fully a Person. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. TO AVOID HERESIES, LET US LIVE BY WHAT HAS BEEN REVEALED TO US: 1. 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. But the Father is not the Son or the Spirit. 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? Many of these analogies have the best of intentions, but God cannot be described in a way we can fully comprehend or rationalize. We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. The Son was begotten by the Father IN ETERNITY, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The visual form of God seperated from Jesus on the cross. To the other major monotheistic faiths (Islam and Judaism), it is rank heresyTrinitarianism is therefore definitional to Christianity. RELATED: Did Jesus Really Rise From The Dead? THE TRUTH IS: From the very beginning, the Blessed Trinity Father, Son, and Spirit was there. The trinity is like this man. Its hard to explain! The trinity is Like a man who is a father, husband, and son. In some ways, it resembles the tritheism view (Misunderstanding 2). When discussing God, especially in regards to his nature, being and persons, a simple statement to articulate the Trinity is: God is 1, *. Each one is fully God. All of the above Bad Analogies would perhaps do more harm than good if used in explaining the Trinity. The Holy Trinity, one of the five Dogmas of the Church, is an extraordinary and unfathomable mystery. Further, his dialectic is guided by the particular consideration of what true love is: a trinity of lover, beloved and the love that binds . God created us for community, since God is communal and we were created in His image. Time exists as 3 things: past, present, and future. I write to see memory and language wrestle with reality. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. He has the world and our individual lives within His supremely capable hands. Space consists of three things: height, width, and depth. The Son "proceeds" from the Father, and the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son.". In the Scripture we see "the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Col 1:9). and Holy Spirit are only parts of God (egg and sun). Arius was condemned by the council of Nicea in 325 AD. They have a common purpose in making harmonious music, but each note is its own separate entity. It leads to the heresy of MODALISM which teaches that God switches to different modes. Jesus, visually seen, judges all, not the Unseen Father. 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.. Therefore, we would rightly say, within the Ontological Trinity, there is no variation or distinction made. Haydn describes himself as a five-point Calvinist, but he recognises that many faithful Christians disagree. The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. Moreover, the yoke and the whites are no longer as they used to be. There would be three thrones. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). In contrast to the Ontological Trinity, there is the Economic Trinity. That fire keeps devils away from the saved. The three-leaf clover analogy is OK. These attributes are: omnipotence (all-powerful), omniscience (all-knowing), and omnipresence (exists in all places). This analogy actually teaches the heresy of modalism. Which ones have you heard? If one of the sides were removed, then there would be no equilateral triangle. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. However, keep in mind that the one being. When they used the word person, they didnt mean it in the same way that we do today. Or what? 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.). While an egg has a yolk, a white and a shell to make up the whole, each part is only ever . THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Spirit are three different persons who are all equally one God. This is a bad analogy because it fails at the truth that all three persons comprise the fullness of God. If one of the persons were not there, then we would not have God. And the reason we know that is because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly loved each other for all eternity. The Trinity is foundational and at the heart of our Christian faith. Therefore it behoves us to know what He has revealed (including the Trinity), and to lovingly worship Him accordingly. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). Did I leave out any analogies? The watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. This is a bad analogy because it fails at the truth that all three persons comprise the fullness of God. The idea that the Trinity can be compared to a shamrock is largely attributed to St. Patrick. This is a general rule when we study this Mystery using our human weakness since it is absolutely impossible for our human minds to comprehend the Divine. An egg is made up of shell, white and yolk. The mystery is in the how this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. 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. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three different parts or components of God, but the . God is Great, I always try to figure out how to explain it to my Sunday school kids and they get confused which i get, how would you explain it to them? 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. John 17). The problem with this analogy is that it denies the distinction of persons in the God-head. His ways are not my ways! Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). The Egg Analogy God is like an egg. These images fall short, because these components arent enough to be considered a whole on their own. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. Yet, the trinity is mysterious. This little child cannot look at one without experiencing a profound sense of wonderment and awe. 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*. In an attempt to explain the Trinity, there are some bad examples people use, and some better ones. One day, however, the image will be clear. The Egg- One egg has three parts: shell, whites, and yolk . The egg shell is the image of the yolk and the white. There are some analogies that come close. Stars were made on the forth day. 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. Yet, as we view the pages of the Bible, we see that God is a personal and relational God. This is a quick way to describe the doctrine of the Trinity namely, God is 1 being (the what is Gods nature, essence, being) and 3 whos (the whos being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). 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). ), The Son Phil. Lost will be burned up. That helps explain the concept quite well- the oneness, unity of God with the distinct three persons of God- Father, Son, and Spirit. How so? This analogy denies the unity of the God-head. 1:8-12; 1 Pet. 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). Your email address will not be published. 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. Analogies often fall short. Or have you ever tried to teach kids about the Trinity? Dont you know Jesus? This analogy actually falls prey to the same error of modalism. Starting with the three biblical affirmations, ask your kids to show you how these examples support or deny what the bible teaches about the Trinity. A person distinguishes himself from others by saying me, mine, you, yours, etc. A being is the whole nature or essence of something. 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). Perhaps we must be content to admit that we cannot fully understand Gods nature in our finitude. The mystery is in the "how" this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Is He Jesus side-kick? The shell, while important, is no longer needed. 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. Jonathon serves as a lay pastor at Gospel Life Church in New Braunfels, TX and currently works as the IT Manager for a non-profit ministry. It should bring us to realise that we truly are finite creatures standing before a sovereign, transcendent, divine mystery. Therefore, there is one God, who is eternally present in three persons. 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. See the depths of Catholicism for yourself! In using analogies, we need to acknowledge the demerits and limitations of the said analogy. This is perhaps the most common analogy for the Trinity. God is NOT like H2O in that He does not need the right pressure and temperature to exist as three persons. This error denies something central to God that makes Him God. The Spirit white is connected to Jesus Person I will come to you (John 14:18) and the Fathers Person, We will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23). The meme above discourages the use of analogies in explaining the Trinity. The beautiful depth of Gods eternal Triune nature is a sublime reality which should bring an end to our attempts to cognitively master Him. These three Persons are all equally God and all equally Persons. Each character of the trinity has in one another (cf. 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.). Now were going to look at how some people often misunderstand the Trinity. The Unseen Father is in Christs mind. He began to play the organ as a chorister in England, before continuing his studies in Qubec and France. ANALOGY OF CHARACTERS. The Son is not the Father or the Spirit. He has one essenceone substance. Thus, the Father Himself is not God, nor is the Son, nor is the Holy Spirit, but combining the three, there is one God. For sure, our everyday experience does not include using our finite minds to understand the infinite! 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. As a doctrine (belief), the trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate and distinct persons united in one being- God. Yet there is still only one God we serve. 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. And then theres Jesus, Gods son. When we separate them we can fall into the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual deities as one. For example, we know that God didnt create humanity because He bored or lonely. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him to equip Him for His ministry. 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. Water is water, but exists in three different forms: liquid, frozen, or steam. The military would end up destroying themselves. But Hes God too, right? It can also be a liquid and called water. The Unseen Father would have been put into Satans prison. 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. I go to prepare a place for you. 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17, 2:9; Heb. The three parts create a unified whole. So, in God, there are three distinct persons. The Trinity is one of the most foundational doctrines of Christianity. Often these analogies explicitly teach heresy. The word God in this sense is defined as a single being, having all divine attributes. If water is inadequate, there are a wide array of alternative analogies we can turn to in modern theological parlance. But the Bible is CLEAR in its teaching. 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. But, when it's heated, it turns into a gas (steam) and, when it's frozen, it turns into a solid (ice). Well, the egg analogy, when applied to God, suggests that only one being exists but this being exists in three different parts. Jesus was standing in the Jordan River, His Father speaks from heaven above, and the Holy Spirit descends upon Him as a dove. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. A good example would be an electrical cord. Dr. Bruce Ware does an excellent job in his book Big Truths for Young Hearts. To help you out, here is a comical and silly video that teaches about these bad analogies. Why is it wrong? The problem with this analogy is that it teaches that God has three components: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. When we speak of someone as being a "person", we often mean an individual who is separate from other people, or we simply mean a human being. It may not appear to agree with common sense. The egg shell is the image of the yolk and the white. 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. And whos the Holy Spirit? Notice the distinction between persons and being. We can say that the first is egg the shell, the second is egg the albumen and the third is egg the yoke. Father, Son, Holy Sprit : 3 persons, 1 great relationship, Copyright 2023 Fervr | Terms of Service. Jesus isn't a demigod or partially god. we worship one God in trinity and the trinity in unity,neither blending their personsnor dividing their essence. Arianism clearly denies the deity of the three persons. Bach, and has released two previous CDs, one . I dont believe that God wishes us to be confused about the Three that are so apparent throughout the Old and New Testaments. Cool it down, and itll eventually freeze into a solid. The Spirit white is connected to Jesus Person I will come to you (John 14:18) and the Fathers Person, We will come to him and make our abode with him (John 14:23). One is a musical chord with three notes. Blessings! 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. Light comes from God. Youre right, theyre all good but not perfect because only God IS perfect. 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. If God has existed for all eternity in a perfectly loving Triune relationship, then it shows He is completely self-sufficient and requires no further relationship in order to complete or satisfy Himself. You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. In reality, I change my role depending on who I am interacting with.
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Tiffany Ring Box Blue Or Black, Articles H