But Jesus makes it clear in John 10:30- I and the Father are One. The Greek word for one means one thing, not one person. They are united in their essence (spirit, nature) but not identical persons. St. Augustine, one of the most important Fathers of the Church, wrote a great deal on the doctrine of the Trinity. Few if any have every tried to teach the heresy of Tritheism, but it needs to be mentioned anyway. I'm always interested in ways to encourage you, so feel free to contact me and let me know what areas interest you! The word trinity is not in the Scriptures, but is a word used to describe the three in one God revealed in the Bible. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. And in our efforts to grasp it, weve come up with a number of analogies. This is because the H20 is changing forms in representing each person. The problem with this analogy is that it would imply that there is only one Divine Person, who eventually multiplied Himself. [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. This analogy is an invalid comparison to the Trinity and is a heresy called PARTIALISM. He has the world and our individual lives within His supremely capable hands. 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. 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). There are three different cloves that represent the three different persons of the trinity. Some who deny the Trinity claim 1+1+1=3, and therefore claim we worship three Gods. For example, I would say, "God is like an egg." One day, however, the image will be clear. The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain. While an egg has a yolk, a white and a shell to make up the whole, each part is only ever . 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). An essential factor lacking from those concepts is the relational quality of God. We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. 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). 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). 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. 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. Misunderstanding 1: The transforming trinity It only has 1 person acting in three different roles. Jesus isn't a demigod or partially god. From time to time, Doctors of the Church used analogies, but with care. All Rights Reserved. 5And there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord. I did read about the shamrock analogy! Wow! In an attempt to explain the Trinity, there are some bad examples people use, and some better ones. The beautiful depth of Gods eternal Triune nature is a sublime reality which should bring an end to our attempts to cognitively master Him. The word God in this sense is defined as a single being, having all divine attributes. Our God is three in one. Here many of the creeds help us in clearly articulating the trinity. in which all 3 persons may act or speak as one. So, I shot down a lot of images that seems to be pretty helpful. The problem here is it describes each part of the Trinity as 1/3 parts of the overall egg. Father, Son, and Spirit are each fully God (their own egg)- not fractions of one. And the reason we know that is because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly loved each other for all eternity. The Bible teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is the shell, Jesus is the egg white, and the Father is the egg yolk. 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. The egg has a shell, the whites and a yoke. This is the one I used long ago when trying to explain the Trinity to a group of 1st-5th graders. He got married there in 1965, and his four . As John 1:18 says, Jesus is "the only begotten God, in the bosom of [God] the Father.". They all exist as fully God, with none of them lacking in any attribute or aspect that defines God. Each person is fully God (Phil 2; Acts 5:3-4). To become the people we were always created to be. God is not made up of 3 parts like the 3 parts of the egg. Another wrong illustration is using ourselves: I am one person, but also a wife, mother, and writer. Because God is utterly unique, all comparisons will fail at some point. If all you had were an eggshell, you wouldnt have a very exciting breakfast. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQLfgaUoQCw. Here are eight bible characters that you might not know about, but should. Light comes from God. You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. HO may act as water, steam, or ice, but it is still HO. The very definition of the heresy known as Modalism/Oneness is that there is one person existing in three different modes or manifestations. 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. Only the Son became incarnate, took on flesh. Water can be ice and steam, yet they are the same element. Matthew 3:16-17- As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. 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. ORDER from Barnes and NobleAmazon.com or wherever fine books are soldISBN-13: 978-1978167643Return to Cafe Logos Homepage | Bite-Sized Bible Bites. The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. It's impossible to be an Orthodox Christian without professing belief in the Triune nature of God. So "son" = "Dave". Genisis 1:17, KJV. Similarly, in our aquatic analogy, water can appear in three different modes, depending on the environment, but the three are not co-existing. And whos the Holy Spirit? He differs from the Father, but was and still is 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). So cool that God imparted that song in your mind and heart before you even wrote this blog post! A chicken egg consists of a shell, a yolk, and an egg white, yet it is altogether one egg. 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. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. PART OF A WHOLE. Let's use an egg to explain the Holy Trinity! Sending of another: The Father sends the Son, and both the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit. This is one of the reasons we say that "God is LOVE". Many of these analogies have the best of intentions, but God cannot be described in a way we can fully comprehend or rationalize. I think the illustration that represents the Trinity most accurately is the egg example. If you say, "water" then you are incorrect. . And we know that because the Persons of the Godhead have perfectly blessed and exalted each other for all eternity. None of the 3 are less divine than the others. He is one God in three persons, all at the same time. I know in the past Ive used analogies that werent the best (more on those later.) Dont become discouraged if you cant answer the question to your liking. 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. 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 watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. THE DISTINCTION AND UNITY of the Trinity is not for us to fully understand because it is a supernatural mystery. The egg analogy is very simple but it is OK to show something as simple as an egg can be one and yet three. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . But its all water. Each character of the trinity has in one another (cf. The Bible teaches three truths: 1 - there is one God. Thankfully he isnt a cage-stage Calvinist about it all. There is only one egg with three different parts. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the primary tenants of the Christian faith. God created us for community, since God is communal and we were created in His image. FOR CENTURIES, the Church had fought against heresies on the Trinity. This description that all persons are fully God is called the Ontological Trinity. We find it in all four Gospels. 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. The Egg and I - Part Two Adorn your liturgical vestments with classic images from the Monastery Icons collection. For example, we know that God didnt create humanity because He bored or lonely. To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. The Unseen Father is in Christs mind. To put it simply, "The problem with using analogies to explain the Holy Trinity is that you always end up confessing some ancient heresy." . 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. Just like an egg, none of the parts are co-equal, nor are all of the parts necessary for the egg to exist. To help you out, here is a comical and silly video that teaches about these bad analogies. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God.