Instead, the totality of all three persons comprises the one God. Augustine comes up with an analogy that is deep: the lover, the beloved, and love (The Trinity, Books VIII.14; IX.2, and XV.10). To learn more about the Trinity—especially the person and work of the Holy Spirit—and how to teach this to youth and children, register now for HOUSE Conference. There are plenty of things in the Bible that I do understand, and I thank God for that. St Augustine of Hippo was a theologian and philosopher in the early Church. So how do you succinctly explain the Trinity to a 15-year-old, or anyone for that matter? Yet other passages clearly indicate that the Father is fully God (Eph 4:6), Jesus is fully God (John 1:1-4) and the Holy Spirit is fully God (Acts 5:3-4). He talks about the mind's ability to remember, to understand, and to will. Let's start with the negative and work toward the positive. However, the joy of teaching deep truths does not take away from the complexity of the task. All through the Bible, God is presented as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. However, the Bible tells us that God the Father is fully God, not just a part of God. Augustine and De Trinitate. The Trinity ultimately is a mystery, but it is revealed in scripture, so all Bible-educated and Bible-believing Christians believe in it, even though they may not understand it fully. They reason that if Jesus were truly God, then He would be completely equal to God the Father in all areas and would not, therefore, be subordinate to the Father in any way; but this objection is not logical. Michael writes to say that he recently read an article I wrote in 1999 on the Trinity and to ask if I’m willing to consider an analogy for the Trinity. There’s a simple reason they don’t work: The Trinity, as such, isn’t like anything in creation. The Trinity. ), could we not infer that natural revelation would also, in some sense or to some degree, “declare” the Divine plurality as well? All analogies from nature are necessarily natural, ergo they’re invalid. Explaining the Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit will be needed at some point when explaining the God of the Bible to children, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses and other non-believers. When it comes to analogies of the Trinity, we must take care to remember that anything we can think of or encounter will not be exhaustively sufficient to explain the triune nature of God. Here is a simple and Biblical way to explain the Trinity. Well the issue is, the water analogy is akin to the heresy of Modalism. Christians believe that God is a Trinity of Persons, each omnipotent, omniscient and wholly benevolent, co-equal and fully divine. In fact, I’ve found that analogies are extremely helpful because they fail. All analogies fail. It is not really correct to say that the three Persons of the Trinity are ‘parts’ of God—see also Is God ‘simple’? Likewise, a man can be a father, a son and an uncle, however, he is only one person. There was one particular CD that the preacher explained the Trinity at a level that even my children could understand. I like a triangle; without any part of which it would no longer be a triangle. Also, I would be cautious about using triads in nature, such as solid-liquid-gas, three dimensions, past/present/future as any proof of the Trinity (not th… Critics of the Trinity will see this subordination as proof that the Trinity is false. This includes trying to compare the Trinity to a human being who has intellect, feeling, and will. We cannot know him savingly from nature. Here we have the three within the one, however, each ‘part’ is not a full expression of the one. Only one divine being, and yet three distinct and identifiable persons who are all truly and fully divine. Second, we don't believe that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are three "forms" of God—like, steam, water and ice. We see in Colossians 2:9: However, Jesus is not the Father or the Holy Spirit—see also the ancient Trinity diagram. However, since analogies of the Trinity are seeking to help us understand the very nature of God, faulty analogies are going to result in faulty knowledge of God. I’m not sure he realized that his question was, in fact, not so small at all, but rather monumental. in any case, the analogy fails miserable because the parts of an egg do not have the same correlation to each other as the three parts of the trinity do. Without doubt enquiry and discovery are vital elements of learning; however, very often the most appropriate thing to do is to push ahead and cut through the confusion by delivering a sharp explanation that brings clarity and takes everyone forward to greater challenges that lie beyond. Another analogy for the Trinity is that God is three in one, just as H 2 O can exist as a solid, a liquid, and a gas. Again, the Trinity does not teach that there are three gods. He says that while no analogy will ever be complete ("I'm slightly resistant to your term 'bad illustrations' because it suggests … (I confess to having used the H2O water-ice-steam analogy for illustrative purposes, but have tried to be careful to immediately point out its inadequacy and its tendency toward the heresy of modalism.) Here’s a common conversation in my children’s ministries: “The Bible tells us that when it comes to God, 1+1+1=1. Danika T., United Kingdom [Commenting on Has the ‘God particle’ been found?] That’s what made it click for me. As a matter of method, if the doctrine of the Trinity were evident from nature then why not the doctrines of the two natures of Christ or the atonement or perichoresis or justification or glorification? We Christians believe that God is knowable as far as he has revealed himself through Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit who lives in us, and other avenues like the creation. Just as water can be in the form of a solid, a liquid, and a gas, God is in three forms: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Since our discipleship rests on our growing knowledge and love of God, it seems to me that we have to be particularly wary of using these poor understandings of God in the way we communicate to children. That is why divine existence is the ideal of all personal existence – to be fully oneself, but only in dependence upon, and in adherence to, another in the communion of unity. Some think of God as H 2 O, which is sometimes a solid (ice), sometimes a liquid (water), and sometimes a gas (steam). “YHWH is one,” so says Deut 6:4. It is a great joy to teach children the deep truths of the Christian faith. Water can exist in three different states but not all at the same time. See the article linked above) but only that it’s not revealed in nature per se, i.e., the doctrine of the Trinity cannot be deduced from nature. Paul teaches the Trinity explicitly but not here and not from nature. Paul affirms what can be known about God from nature: his existence and some of his attributes, “namely his eternal power and divine nature” can be perceived from nature. In a recent podcast responding to White's criticism of the Cerberus analogy (Greek mythological … I don’t think it’s enough (particularly for the age group I primarily work with) to simply say: God is Trinity… But this would be like saying that natural revelation is a false revelation, since it gives us a false (unitarian) god. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. There is no best analogy to explain the Trinity. The reason why the Trinity is such a hard concept to grasp is because it doesn’t make since logically to our brains. This, too, can be helpful in understanding that there is something about God that is one and something about God that is threefold. Stop overcomplicating everything. Do not worry about analogies. This natural revelation we must also affirm against those (e.g., Barth and oddly even some conservative Reformed and evangelical writers) as truth. As a result, this analogy can easily lead to tritheism in which there are three different gods which might share some like substance. All analogies fall short and are insufficient in different ways. I thank God for that too. It is impossible for us humans to fully comprehend, or to give a perfect analogy. Could we not say that on a created level this reflects or bears testimony to the Unity and Diversity within the Godhead?). Augustine’s: Lover, beloved, love (God is not three faculties of one soul, but three persons, One person bearing multiple relations simultaneously (aunt, mother, sister), Electromagnatism: light is a wave and a particle and has an associated magnetic wave always present with it but they’re inseperable, The Trinity is like Playdoh, one can take some apart but it’s the same Playdoh. In fact, when Christians attempt to explain the Trinity, they often stumble into metaphors that sound suspiciously like the very heresies Trinitarian theology was developed to counteract! We must accept the truths found in the Word of God by faith even though we ourselves cannot comprehend them fully; read Hebrews 11:1, 3, 6 and 1 Corinthians 2:5-10, 14; 13:12. I know clergy who take vacation days to avoid preaching on Trinity Sunday. I think the egg analogy is a good one, within certain limits. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. God is not one person who bears multiple relations, he is one God, in three persons. God is infinitely greater than we are, so it should not surprise us when we are unable to fully understand Him. of well-intended analogies that have been used to help us understand the doctrine of the Trinity. How to explain the Trinity to a bright-but-still-concrete young teen. However, ice, water, and vapor are three modes of being of H 2 O. 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.”, GW: I agree that all analogies and illustrations for the Trinity taken from nature end up in heresy, at least when left unqualified or taken to their logical end. Likewise, accompanying the word ‘sin’ with the active movement of ‘turning our back on God’ helps communicate that sin is a state of being and a posture of the heart, more than just the ‘bad things’ that we do. The problem with #10 is that though the Trinitarian persons do indeed bear distinct relations to each other, they do so as three persons, not one person. That’s not to say that it’s not reasonable to believe the Trinity (it isn’t! Does your head hurt thinking about that? You can almost bank on the fact that they will think of the Trinity as modalism or partialism. Rather, each person of the Trinity has all of the attributes of God, and no one Person has any attributes that are not possessed by the others. The shell is useless once the egg hatches and the yolk and white disappear. It seems like every time I hear a Christian explaining the doctrine of the trinity, they preface it with a few qualifications about how the trinity can only be understood by faith and that it is beyond all human comprehension and they will never understand it. Why Analogies for the Trinity All Fail Consider the list (states of water, shamrock, 1x1x1=1, etc.) Our professor asked if we had any great ways to explain the concept of the Trinity – a word picture we might use when teaching a class. I have found that all of the analogies for The Trinity: states of water, the egg, a pie, etc. I also agree that the “doctrine” of the Trinity is a doctrine of special revelation, not of natural/general revelation. A. 4. If any analogy were to describe the Trinity perfectly, it would cease to be an analogy and it would become the Trinity itself. Summary. What varies is the role I play in my life and theirs. That cheating leads to heresy, in this case, the heresy that God is one person with multiple relations. only go to prove The Trinity doesn’t exist as they define it: “three seperate co-equal, co-eternal persons”. Christians believe that there is only one divine God, and yet we are not, strictly speaking, mere monotheists. And when it comes to the Trinity, there are many analogies to choose from. It is the incomprehensible glory of the Godhead.” Here are some common analogies that Christians have used about the Trinity: God is kind of like water which can be ice, liquid and steam. That, by the way, is the number one question I have been asked about the Holy Spirit since writing Names of the Holy Spirit. God the Son is the rays of sunshine. I often hear Christians cite the egg analogy to explain the Trinity. All analogies fall short and are insufficient in different ways. Yet each thing in a way includes his whole being: All of the man is the subject, and all of the man is the object, and the thoughts (though in a lesser sense) are thoughts about all of himself as a person.We said above that no analogy teaches the Trinity perfectly, and this one has several shortcomings as well: this man remains as one person; he is not three persons. Posted on February 16, 2010 Last night we had a great turn out for all three classes at City Seminary (thanks Justin! The Father did not cease to exist in heaven, while Jesus the Son was active on Earth. The idea of God as three-in-one is indeed a mysterious concept, one that is difficult to understand. I have also discussed the Trinitarian argument using 1x1x1=1 here. Look to Scripture. They can be ... To put it simply, “The problem with using analogies to explain the Holy Trinity is that you always end up confessing some ancient heresy.” I have found that analogies of the Trinity are a normal reaction from Christians who find themselves defensive about a complicated doctrine. . Not trying to attack or anything, but this never really made sense to me. The problem with the leaf, triangle or wicket examples is similar, but different. In discussing analogies for the Trinity you will almost immediately get to the most common mistakes people will make in their understanding of the Trinity. (For example, we can observe both unity and diversity within the created order. In fact, every example or analogy of the Trinity will fail as has been repeatedly demonstrated (e.g. The states of water can actally be the closest to a real analogy of God’s true nature. It really is like saying 1+1+1=1. But even if you conquer the intimidating task of explaining the meaning of the Trinity, you may face an even more momentous … If you try that in maths, you’ve definitely got the answer wrong. But, each is fully divine in nature. In discussing analogies for the Trinity you will almost immediately get to the most common mistakes people will make in their understanding of the Trinity. The trinity is a mystery and no analogy can be put forth that fully explains it. No analogy captures this truth. What we don't mean First of all, Christians don't believe in three Gods. also John 17:5, 24). To say that is rationalism (reason over Scripture) and eventually to universalism. All analogies cheat by omitting one or another. So the human analogy fails to describe the Trinity and would in fact confuse this doctrine if we took the example seriously. Then took a breath and followed with, “Why do you ask?” “My friend said we worship three gods, because we say ‘Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’” Aha. Uh oh. According to Holmes, absolutely not. Each person is not a god which would make three gods. Analogy is the theologian’s best friend in explaining the mysteries of the Faith. When explaining the Trinity to non-Catholics, what are the best analogies? Yahweh, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all God yet are three separate persons, existing separately at the same time. We can know about such mysteries because He has revealed them, but we cannot fully understand them. I am a father (to my daughter), a son (to my father) and a husband (to my wife). How to explain the Trinity to a bright-but-still-concrete young teen. So, while I agree that the developed “doctrine” of the Trinity is found only in Scripture (and even there it is only gradually revealed in the process of redemptive history culminating in the Incarnate Christ), I think we have to be careful not to give the impression that natural revelation somehow reveals a different God than does special revelation. There have been many heresies regarding the trinity in the past, but today's 'version' has been around for a very long time. each part of an egg is not independent or even considered alive. But God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all co-exist, at the same time. However, one area where metaphors and analogies fail us is when we seek to describe the Trinity. Water is still water no matter what form it takes, even though it is called by other names. I intended but failed to reply earlier. This is especially true of believers who are unfamiliar with or have never really thought about the Trinity. Again, both ancients and moderns have been tempted to take this path at times but the church universal has always rejected it because it is not taught in Scripture nor confessed in the catholic creeds (Nicene, Athanasian, Apostles’) and Reformed confessions. But God is also beyond my understanding. Modalism, or Sabellianism, denies the three distinct Persons of the Trinity and claims that God is … There are at least two things I am trying to communicate to the children in my ministry. How the analogy goes: The trinity is Like a man who is a father, husband, and son. Historically, the heresy is called Modalism. This is especially true of believers who are unfamiliar with or have never really thought about the Trinity. The analogy in #10 fails because it is a form of dynamic monarchianism. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Just a few notes of caution. It is crucial for properly understanding what God is like, how He relates to us, and how we should relate to Him. So it is as we would expect: if all three members of the Trinity are equally and fully divine, then they have all three existed for all eternity, and God has eternally existed as a Trinity (cf. Yes, all analogies fail in some way or the other. He is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers. The Trinity. Our finite minds cannot understand or explain this mystery of God, which is nevertheless a fact. After all, if natural revelation presents us with a unitarian deity, whereas special revelation presents us with a trinitarian deity, would that not pit natural revelation against special revelation? For example, using ‘important leaders’ instead of ‘Pharisee’ is helpful. As a matter of fact, these analogies do go some distance in explaining or at least make easier to comprehend the concept of Trinity. I know clergy who take vacation days to avoid preaching on Trinity Sunday. And accusing all Christians who do believe in the trinity as necessary conceptual polytheism is unfounded because they don’t act like polytheists at all. When I teach, I use THE ‘SUN’ to help us understand or give us a glimpse of the TRINITY… in Western Christianity. No analogy can fully explain God–I think that’s important to stress in any of our examples–but they can be helpful in beginning to wrap our minds around a similar concept. St. Augustine searches for an analogy to help his listeners comprehend the oneness of the Trinity but the distinct works of each Person (though it’s important to remember that all Trinitarian analogies fall short). People try to explain it using analogies which generally don't match the doctrine very well. Uh oh. They do not share the same essence or being or divine attr ibutes. I've used the government to explain , I used a scenario to explain, I quoted scriptures , yet nothing . At bottom, the answer to this question is a matter of keeping reason in its ministerial place and Scripture in its ruling place. We often begin explaining the Trinity by creating human or physical analogies. You know, the Trinity is like water. The Trinity is monotheistic since it is the doctrine that only one God exists in all space and time. This heresy is fittingly called Partialism. Now where this falls, as all analogies–and we have to understand that; every analogy we use of God is going to fall, because God’s infinitely beyond us, we can never fully comprehend Him. Regretably, they inevitably fall short of a faithful biblical explanation. The introduction to this Creed states: That we worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence. It is either liquid or steam or solid ice. I want the children in my ministry to trust their good and loving God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—and to see that not fully understanding his nature is not a reason to stop putting their hope and faith in him. They will trust a good and loving parent, even when they don’t understand the choices of food, entertainment, or holiday destination that the parent makes. You’re right, Dr Clark … Analogies do *not* work for the Trinity …(!). God is infinite. God does reveal himself in nature but there are limits. “That’s Modalism!” Why is it wrong? Speaking personally, because I feel the need to at least try to help the young people I work with have an understanding of the Trinity. The Good News of Jesus’ incarnation, life, death, and resurrection for the justification (free acceptance with God for the sake of the crediting of Jesus’ righteousness to those who believe, received only through resting, trusting in Christ and his finished work for sinners) is only found in Scripture. The desire to find analogies in nature for the doctrine of the Trinity is understandable but it’s misguided. Christians believe that there are three persons in the Godhead, and yet we are not polytheists (believing in three gods). What is a good analogy for the trinity? What exactly do we mean when we speak of the Trinity? But you try that with the Bible and you are on your way to seeing what it tells us about God. The Trinity, then, is (to use Platonic terms) the archetype of personality that human persons ‘copy’ or ‘imitate’. 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