The mystery is in the "how" this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. 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. But they are one God. Shively, This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. In the same way is God being the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. But, when it's heated, it turns into a gas (steam) and, when it's frozen, it turns into a solid (ice). An egg is made up of shell, white and yolk. We find it in all four Gospels. Celebrating Easter Is About so Much More Than One Hour on Sunday. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each called Jehovah (or Spirit of Jehovah), given divine attributes, and are distinguished from one another. God is infinitely greater than we are; therefore, we should not expect to be able to fully understand Him. Blessings! The sun comprises the sun itself, its light and its heat. In contrast to the Ontological Trinity, there is the Economic Trinity. 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. This means there is a sense in which all 3 persons may act or speak as one. Though I find the video to be hilarious and often . The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. 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. For instance at the baptism of Christ, the Father, Son and Spirit are all distinctly present and interacting (Matthew chapter 3 verses 16-17). They are unified in one divine being. What makes it hard is that all of our analogies and metaphors fall short of capturing what the Trinity actually is. Few if any have every tried to teach the heresy of Tritheism, but it needs to be mentioned anyway. Space consists of three things: height, width, and depth. For example, I would say, "God is like an egg." Jesus, visually seen, judges all, not the Unseen Father. CafeLogos.orgThe Egg and i -A Simple Explanation of The Trinity Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. It is not important merely for the sake of tradition, or because the word itself is taught in the Bible (the word is not). This is a bad analogy because it fails at the truth that all three persons comprise the fullness of God. He cares for his creation and his people. As a doctrine (belief), the trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three separate and distinct persons united in one being- God. It is the Central Mystery of our Christian faith. For example, an equilateral triangle (a triangle with three equal sides) has three sides. It's impossible to be an Orthodox Christian without professing belief in the Triune nature of God. All Scripture is taken from the NIV version unless otherwise specified, Author Ignace Franz, translated by Clarence A. Walworth. These things are referred to as the Economic Trinity. Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature. (Lateran Council IV), 4. . In other words, one stuffness. However, He exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This may be my favorite verse of them all. The Holy Spirit is the shell, Jesus is the egg white, and the Father is the egg yolk. My prayer is to infuse God's character into your everyday lives with short ( 4-5") devotions and Bible Studies every Monday morning. The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, constructed between 1800 and 1804, is the first Anglican cathedral to have been built outside the British Isles. Further, his dialectic is guided by the particular consideration of what true love is: a trinity of lover, beloved and the love that binds . In the Scripture we see "the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (Col 1:9). I know in the past Ive used analogies that werent the best (more on those later.) When you encounter a person or group who denies the Trinity, it is merely a matter of walking through these 3 points, to see where they diverge from Biblical teaching. 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. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, this trinity is related to a shamrock, an apple, or an egg. 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. However, it breaks down on the level of equality: No one keeps or eats the shell of an egg. You are an egg! However, Christians through the ages believe in the Trinity because the truths it represents are taught in the Bible. I go to prepare a place for you. The Holy Spirit prays for us. 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 Trinity, one of the five Dogmas of the Church, is an extraordinary and unfathomable mystery. Here many of the creeds help us in clearly articulating the trinity. The word trinity is not in the Scriptures, but is a word used to describe the three in one God revealed in the Bible. Light comes from God. 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. Analogies that we present would always be insufficient as none of them would equate to the incomprehensible beauty of God. Therefore it behoves us to know what He has revealed (including the Trinity), and to lovingly worship Him accordingly. The military would end up destroying themselves. All of the above Bad Analogies would perhaps do more harm than good if used in explaining the Trinity. Now were going to look at how some people often misunderstand the Trinity. 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. 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. Each one is fully 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. Each side is co-equal with the others, yet, each side is necessary. But the Father is not the Son or the Spirit. Son and Holy Ghost are each fully God. But this idea is central to the Christian faith. 2. And then theres Jesus, Gods son. He wondered how it was possible that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit could be inseparable, while, in . There would be three thrones. Our limited intellects are unable to comprehend its reality, yet, our Scriptures and scholarly Tradition makes it known to us. God is not made up of 3 'parts' like the 3 parts of the egg. The military would like to have that power. To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. This would make Jesus something less than fully 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). If you say, "Jesus Christ" then you MAY BE incorrect. Can you think of some Bible verses to back up your explanation? It is a miraculous invention, the egg. At times God is Father, or Son, or Holy Spirit. In other words, God may manifest Himself as the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The unity or oneness of God is also found in the Bible. I go to prepare a place for you. Like modalism, the "three beings" view was rejected by the early church. The visual form of God seperated from Jesus on the cross. One popular and simple illustration of the Trinity is the egg. Copyright 2023 Christian Today. It is not existing as 3 different parts (persons) at the same time. Therefore, there is one God, who is eternally present in three persons. Do you know why I keep saying God is like an egg (or H2O) but God is not like an egg (or H2O)? So while its tough to make sense of the Trinity, the Trinity actually helps us make sense of so many things we believe. FOR CENTURIES, the Church had fought against heresies on the Trinity. Many of these analogies have the best of intentions, but God cannot be described in a way we can fully comprehend or rationalize. 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. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. copyright 2009 by H.D. Yet, these persons are not separate from one another. 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* 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. I remember asking my Life Group last year, How have you heard the Trinity explained? I braced myself for the inevitable reply. The Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God. Although God is transcendent, sovereign, unapproachable light, He has condescended to reveal something of Himself to His creation. That is heaven in a person. Ontological means the nature or essence of something. 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. A, distinguishes himself from others by saying me, mine, you, yours, etc. A. is the whole nature or essence of something. The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. As a result, this analogy can easily lead to tritheism in which there are three different gods which might share some like substance. If youre interested into diving deeper into the topic of the Trinity, here are some valuable resources that could help. But God is the eternal Light, which has neither had a beginning, nor shall ever fail. 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. 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. You are an egg! But its all the same person, operating in three roles or functions. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him to equip Him for His ministry. For the Trinity, instead of using the formula 1+1+1, we use 1x1x1. 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. The Trinity are three distinct persons who exist apart from each other. This book is now available in a published format for easy sharing and classroom use. His ways are not my ways! There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. The Trinity is foundational and at the heart of our Christian faith. This is the one I used long ago when trying to explain the Trinity to a group of 1st-5th graders. God is like an egg in that He is 3-in-1 God the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. The Unseen Father is in Christs mind. They suggest that only one God exists but this God transforms or morphs into each of the different persons. RELATED: What Does The Bible Say About Ghosts? Sending of another: The Father sends the Son, and both the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit. 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). Dont become discouraged if you cant answer the question to your liking. When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. Devils see that Spirit as a tempestuious fire. They are equally eternal, powerful, sovereign, and worthy of worship. Each Person in the Trinity (or the Godhead) is fully God and fully a Person. Analogies for the Trinity exist to explain the unexplainable. 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. Lastly, below is a helpful graphical chart explaining the doctrine of the Trinity I found from the Christian blog by Tim Challies found at Challies.com. 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? If water is inadequate, there are a wide array of alternative analogies we can turn to in modern theological parlance. Few topics of discussion in the Christian faith are more confusing than the idea of the Trinity. The Trinity is distinct in their roles and individuality, but united in their attributes of love, mercy, holiness, knowledge, etc. If you say, "water" then you are incorrect. Surely this is a better understanding of the water analogy! A good follow up verse to help explain is the baptism of Jesus. A single molecule cannot simultaneously exist in three different states. 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). Indeed, how can an infinite God be contained in a finite human womb! The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the primary tenants of the Christian faith. Let's use an egg to explain the Holy Trinity! ), The Son Phil. In part one, we looked at what the Bible has to say about the Trinity. Now if any man has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9). This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. The apple seed alone is not an apple. This description that all persons are fully God is called the Ontological Trinity. (Describing God as LOVE is my favorite way of understanding the Trinity. Christians believe, then, that only one God exists but this God exists as a unity of three persons: a Trinity. But theres one problem: the water analogy is not the biblical picture of God. One of the more traditional analogies is to the states of water. Jesus is the Holy Spirit that saves us. So, in God, there are three distinct persons. We Christians believe it on faith.