The Trinity

Please listen to the Holy Spirit’s call:

Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

(Psalm 90:2 NIV)

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Now the earth was formless and empty,

darkness was over the surface of the deep,

and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (emphasis added).

(Genesis 1:1-3 NIV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

 and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made;

without him nothing was made that has been made.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,

the world did not recognize him (emphasis added).

(John 1:1-2; and verses 3 and 10 NIV)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard,

which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at

and our hands have touched – this we proclaim concerning the Word of Life.

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it,

and we proclaim to you the eternal life,

which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,

so that you also may have fellowship with us.

And our fellowship is with the Father

and with his Son, Jesus Christ (emphasis added).

(1John 1:1-3 NIV)

He was chosen before the creation of the world,
but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
Through him you believe in God,
who raised him from the dead and glorified him,
and so your faith and hope are in God.
(1Peter 1:20-21 NIV)

But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you all things and will remind you of everything

I have said to you (emphasis added).

(John 14:26 NIV)

Jesus said, ”Heaven and earth will pass away,

but my words will never pass away.”

(Luke 21:33 NIV)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

(Hebrews 13:8 NIV)

Like Judaism, Christianity is monotheistic.  God is one Lord.  We Christians believe the mystery that, although God is one God, He is also three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As you can see, God spoke creation into existence through his Son, the Living Word of Life: Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit was also present.  From its very start, the Bible proclaims the Holy Trinity, and the New Testament confirms and fulfills the old.

God is infinite, whereas the human mind is finite.  Consequently, it is often difficult for the human mind to comprehend God.  We become mired in logical fallacies:

·         If God is one, then how can He be three?

·         Either He is one, or He is three.  He cannot be both.

If God is truly God, if he is truly almighty and all powerful, doesn’t it stand to reason that He can transcend physical limitations and be one God in three persons?  Or, are we to be like “Caliban upon Setebos,” (Robert Browning) trying to understand what God is like in terms of our own limitations?

To make the things of God understandable to the people, Jesus often taught in parables.  He would say something like:

·         The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all that he had and bought the field. (Matthew 13:44 NIV)

·         No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.  People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers.  The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

(Luke 6:43-45 NIV)

There are things nature that are bear a similarity to the Trinity.  The Divinity students out there may point out that these similitudes are not exact representations, and that is true.  They do, however, give the finite human mind a way to pick up on the concept of the Trinity.

Chemically, water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen.  So are ice and water vapor.  All three are H₂O.  They are different, and yet they are all of the same composition.

We take an egg out of its carton, and we call it one egg.  When we break it apart, we see that the one egg has a yoke, a white and a shell.  They are all part of the same egg, but they perform different functions.

Atoms are composed of protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons have a positive electric charge, neutrons have no electric charge, and electrons have a negative electric charge.  Each serves a different purpose:

The number of protons in the nucleus defines to what chemical element
the atom belongs … The number of neutrons defines the isotope of the element.

The number of electrons influences the magnetic properties of an atom.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom

Remove any of the protons, neutrons or electrons, and you change the chemistry of the atom.  Working together, they determine the nature of the one atom.

Rational and logical arguments may support, or undermine, belief.  However, it requires a leap of faith to understand that we will not entirely “get it” until we meet Jesus face to face, and then to believe anyway:

For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

(1Corinthians 13:8-10 NIV)

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror;

then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully,

even as I am fully known.

(1 Corinthians 13:12)

Finally, believe now and be saved:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,

that whoever believes in him shall not perish

but have eternal life (alternate wording).

(John 3:16 NIV)