The problem with this analogy is that no one molecule of H2O can actually exist as solid, liquid, and gas at the same time. For those, like myself, who are not from a highly-liturgical denomination, it may come as a surprise that June 11 was Trinity Sunday. - well, sort of. How so? If youre interested into diving deeper into the topic of the Trinity, here are some valuable resources that could help. Water at room temperature is liquid. But this idea is central to the Christian faith. Like modalism, the "three beings" view was rejected by the early church. Jesus then becomes a created being and thus less than fully God. We wont find the word Trinity in the Bible, but the concept is shown in many verses. And let us once more come to illustrations. They say that three separate beings exist 2. This little child cannot look at one without experiencing a profound sense of wonderment and awe. Explaining the Holy Trinity Using Analogies - Militant Thomist Arianism denies the deity of each person in the trinity. The Trinity is established by 3 Biblical truths, . Dont grieve the Holy Spirit out of you. This is just as bad as the Water analogy and leads to the same error. 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. What is H2O? Part 2. Here many of the creeds help us in clearly articulating the trinity. Im giving God the credit for stirring this memory, and am extremely grateful. When we separate them we can fall into the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual deities as one. They are unified in one divine being. The problem with this analogy is that it denies the distinction of persons in the God-head. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). The 3 Most Common "Trinity Analogies" (and their limitations) The three most common go-to analogies for explaining the Trinity are water, an egg, and the sun. Montreal was home to two Trinity churches built in 1865 He wondered how it was possible that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit could be inseparable, while, in . They have a common purpose in making harmonious music, but each note is its own separate entity. To help you out, here is a comical and silly video that teaches about these bad analogies. These two analogies are the "water" analogy and the "egg" analogy. It is the Fathers desire to join His Spirit with all of us as well for He has said They shall be My sons and daughters (II Corinthians 6:18). One is a musical chord with three notes. What is the best analogy of the Holy Trinity? - Quora Jesus isn't a demigod or partially god. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. In using analogies, we need to acknowledge the demerits and limitations of the said analogy. So whats one good way to explain what the Trinity is? If then the sun were eternal, the day would never end; but now, for such is not really the state of the case, the day begins with the beginning of the sun, and ends with its ending. HO may act as water, steam, or ice, but it is still HO. These are likewise erroneous or even heretical. 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). Now were going to look at how some people often misunderstand the Trinity. Why Analogies And Illustrations Of The Trinity Fail In contrast to the Ontological Trinity, there is the Economic Trinity. The military would like to have that power. So under modalism, God acts as the Father in the Old Testament, the son in the Gospels, and the Spirit in Acts and the Epistles. The Church should not forget that these heresies still exist in the present day and is even being taught by some priests and catechists. So, the egg analogy doesnt work after all. Good and Bad Analogies of the Trinity - Answers . The three parts create a unified whole. The Gospel is theperson, work, and message of Jesus Christ that provides salvation to all repentant believers. You know, that bearded guy on the throne who looks something like Zeus, right? The above picture is a famous work of art by Andrei Rubilev, the great medieval Russian painter of Orthodox icons and frescos. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9) Light comes from God. 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. Surely this is a better understanding of the water analogy! 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. That is why Moses said. But it cant be that way with God. Examples of these different roles would be: The Incarnation: Only the Son became incarnate, took on flesh. This is why Jesus said, He who has seen Me, has seen the Father (John 14:9). Time Analogy God is like time. copyright 2009 by H.D. Adorn your liturgical vestments with classic images from the Monastery Icons collection. To put it simply, "The problem with using analogies to explain the Holy Trinity is that you always end up confessing some ancient heresy." . It taught there is one nature in God, and that there are two processions, three persons, and four relations that constitute the Blessed Trinity. The Biblical Principle Of Baptism By Fire, The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything, 3 Reasons Why Jesus Humanity Really Matters Her & Hymn, 3 Reasons Why Jesus' Humanity Really Matters, How Jesus Teaches Us To Be Human Her & Hymn. When we separate them we can fall into the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual deities as one. This error denies something central to God that makes Him God. He taught that the son was at one point created by God the father. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. These things are referred to as the Economic Trinity. What happens when an egg hatches? At the Cathedral, we recognize that there are responsibilities that come with . 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). Son and Holy Ghost are each fully God. For the Trinity, instead of using the formula 1+1+1, we use 1x1x1. A man might be a father to his children, a husband to his wife, and son to his parents. So, I shot down a lot of images that seems to be pretty helpful. The Son was begotten by the Father IN ETERNITY, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. Infinite thy vast domain, everlasting is thy reign.. The mystery is in the how this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. Stars were made on the froth day. In this analogy, God is compared to a man. 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 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? They are three in one egg. 1B) This son of Graham and Lois Armstrong is Dave. But understanding the Trinity is important. We recommend you adhere these emblems to your vestments by mounting on the material with fabric glue and then stitching them . 1:8-12; 1 Pet. Space consists of three things: height, width, and depth. And for a mere mortal to have dared invent it and be able t. This is the error of Arianism (not to be confused with Aryanism, which is also bad). Similarly, in our aquatic analogy, water can appear in three different modes, depending on the environment, but the three are not co-existing. The Trinity is Like an Egg How the analogy goes: The Trinity is like an egg. The God of the Bible is one God. Many of us would use analogies to explain the Trinity. God Is Like An Egg - vtaide.com All Rights Reserved. God does not just change forms but exists as three persons in unity. God is like an egg - VTAide Indeed, how can an infinite God be contained in a finite human womb! St. Augustine, one of the most important Fathers of the Church, wrote a great deal on the doctrine of the Trinity. The Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God. Yet we do not have three gods but ONE God. The Trinity are three distinct persons who exist apart from each other. Now, as youve probably guessed, this analogy also breaks down. in which all 3 persons may act or speak as one. But having lots 6 Bible Study Tools To Help You Dive Deeper. In the first place, if we truly claim to love God, then surely we should endeavour to know Him. 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. I bet I havent sung or heard this song in years! Likewise we cannot have the Father or His Spirit without the Son I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by Me- John 14:6. 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. The Latin word for trinity (trinitas) combines two words- unitas (unity) and trias (three). To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. Understanding 1 Corinthians 14:34-35. 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. 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. I remember asking my Life Group last year, How have you heard the Trinity explained? I braced myself for the inevitable reply. Analogies of the Trinity. 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. From time to time, Doctors of the Church used analogies, but with care. In one of his sermons, he wrestled with the passage in Scripture recounting Jesus' Baptism. I do not have the time or space to exhaustively demonstrate in scripture these truths, but the Biblical witness teaches these three truths consistently about God. This is a bad analogy because it fails at the truth that all three persons comprise the fullness of God. 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. Dr. Bruce Ware does an excellent job in his book Big Truths for Young Hearts. We came up with several practical implications of this doctrine. The wonders and ways of God may not be apparent or fully known at present, but we can still marvel at His supremacy and worship Him in wonder- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! 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. If the Sun existed from eternity past then so were the light rays from the Sun. Well the issue is, the water analogy is akin to the heresy of Modalism. However, keep in mind that the one being. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. Jesus is the Holy Spirit that saves us. 1A) Dave is a son of Graham and Lois Armstrong. 3:15; John 17:1-4, The Holy Spirit Acts 5:3-4; John 14:16-17, 26; John 16:7-13. 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. Analogies for the Trinity exist to explain the unexplainable. The best analogy for the Trinity (hold your stones) - The Project on The Trinity is one of the most foundational doctrines of Christianity. This is the one I used long ago when trying to explain the Trinity to a group of 1st-5th graders. But Hes God too, right? 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. God is like an egg in that He is 3-in-1 God the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the primary tenants of the Christian faith. When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. show me your glory. Let's use an egg to explain the Holy Trinity! My prayer is to infuse God's character into your everyday lives with short ( 4-5") devotions and Bible Studies every Monday morning. 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. When we separate them and view them as individual deities, that is the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual gods as one. The watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. Memory, Understanding, and Will. It should bring us to realise that we truly are finite creatures standing before a sovereign, transcendent, divine mystery. In other words, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have a unique and unbreakable unity, and their existence together is the being that is God. 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. The Egg- One egg has three parts: shell, whites, and yolk . Although the water changes forms it is still H2O. 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. But the Trinity is our belief as Christians that God is one being who exists in three Persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. In part one, we looked at what the Bible has to say about the Trinity. So while its tough to make sense of the Trinity, the Trinity actually helps us make sense of so many things we believe. Matthew 3:16-17- As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. 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. He explains why the doctrine of the Trinity is essential to the gospel even if it seems abstract or confusing, highlights why all analogies and metaphors are of limited value when thinking about the Godhead, and responds to the . This analogy denies the unity of the God-head. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Spirit are three different persons who are all equally one God. The Cathedral - The Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Quebec, Canada We define a person as one having a will and who is distinguishable from another person. If the sun exists, there is also day; if nothing of this be manifest, it is impossible that the sun should be there. This analogy sounds pretty good, but it is fatally flawed in that is describes the Son and Spirit as creations of the Father. The problem with this analogy is that an egg yoke is of a very different substance than a shell. But they are one God. Water has three states: solid, liquid, and gas. 4 Bad Analogies for the Trinity Justin Deeter I and My Father are One (John 10:30). He cares for his creation and his people. 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. The teaching of the trinity is clearly taught in Scripture and must be preserved as such. 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 unity or oneness of God is also found in the Bible. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9) Jesus is fully God. The shortfall of this illustration, and others like it, is that God cannot be divided into "parts." Should Women Really Keep Silent in Church? There are many mysteries to our faith. The Son intercedes as our High Priest before the Father. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this view of the Trinity. If you say, "water" then you are incorrect. There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. Seven Simple Facts About the Trinity - biblequery.org copyright 2009 by H.D. Truly, it is a Mystery. Some people think that H2O cannot exist in all three states simultaneously but that is not true. The Holy Trinity: Egg Analogy The Holy Trinity is GOD in three divine persons GOD the FATHER GOD the HOLY SPIRIT GOD the SON But together they makeup and are still ONE GOD Like how an egg is made up of three things but is still ONE EGG. 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. The Egg Analogy God is like an egg. Each Person in the Trinity (or the Godhead) is fully God and fully a Person. Only the Son became incarnate, took on flesh. . Deuteronomy 6:4- Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. This verse is also the beginning of the Jewish Shema prayer; their confession of faith. Dont become discouraged if you cant answer the question to your liking. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. Eggs are one, yet comprise yolk, shell and albumen. 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). We all want to experience the good life. Water can exist in liquid at room temperature. Being the brightness of the eternal Light, He Himself also is absolutely eternal. There are three different cloves that represent the three different persons of the trinity. Jesus loves us so much that he did not obliterate people who died, with power that set stars in the universe. Three persons is false. 1 Corinthians 8:6: Yet for us there is but one God.. How to Explain the Trinity to Children | Free Printable Common, yes. God is one. Each of the divine persons is GOD WHOLE AND ENTIRE, and there is one God. It may not appear to agree with common sense. In one egg you have the white, the yoke, and the shell composing one full egg. The egg white represents Gods Spirit. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. The Trinity is a tri-unity, a unity of Three, - God the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. So, in God, there are three distinct persons. He differs from the Father, but was and still is God. When discussing God, especially in regards to his nature, being and persons, a simple statement to articulate the Trinity is: God is 1, *. - well, sort of. In the same way is God being the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. When we look at the egg as an example of the Trinity, we must view it in its entirety. Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. The Son "proceeds" from the Father, and the Holy Spirit "proceeds from the Father and the Son.". Jesus, visually seen, judges all, not the Unseen Father. Analogies often fall short. Answer (1 of 25): Cynics assert that the idea of the Holy Trinity is a logical impossibility. The Holy Trinity: Egg Analogy by Sharmaine Pagtakhan - Prezi Yet God lovingly chose to create and eventually redeem us anyway (both thoroughly Trinitarian acts), at great cost to Himself. Trinity is like a Shamrock (or an Apple or an Egg). He also knows how to perfectly love us. 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). Each separate being is co-equal, co-powerful and co-eternal. So cool that God imparted that song in your mind and heart before you even wrote this blog post! What is the Trinity? They suggest that only one God exists but this God transforms or morphs into each of the different persons. It's impossible to be an Orthodox Christian without professing belief in the Triune nature of God. 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. Homily for The Solemnity of Holy Trinity The yolk represents Gods Person, His Being, and His Holiness which generates Light that no man can approach (I Timothy 6:16). Water can be ice and steam, yet they are the same element. How would you explain the Trinity if someone asked you right now? The scientific analogy that will be provided in a few moments is truly inadequate to describe the Holy Trinity. The trinity is like this man. The trinity is not a contradiction, but a paradox. 3. The word God in this sense is defined as a single being, having all divine attributes. Love your blogs! When we separate them and view them as individual deities, that is the error of tritheism, which is the worship of three individual gods as one. And then theres Jesus, Gods son. You can also catch up with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok His motto was that "There was a time when the son did not exist". Admittedly, the idea of three distinct persons/expressions that are each fully God is part of the mystery. Copyright 2023 Christian Today. In other words, one stuffness. However, He exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The water analogy of the Trinity follows this line of reasoning: water can be a solid (ice/frozen water), liquid, and gas (water vapor), and yet all three forms are still water (H 2 O), and likewise, God manifests Himself in 3 different ways in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Born in England in 1961, Benjamin Waterhouse Benjamin Waterhouse has been the organist of the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity since 2000. Or, we can quote Daniel Webster; a strong Christian- I do not pretend fully to understand the arithmetic of heaven now. . But God is the eternal Light, which has neither had a beginning, nor shall ever fail. We can always rebut these claims with another equation: 1 x 1 x 1=1. 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.
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