I mentioned in another thread that I had been explaining the concept of the triune Godhead in another forum recently. Since some people in this forum also seem to be having some difficulty understanding the concept or why it is important, I thought I would post some of my notes so far, which I am eventually going to work into a series of articles for my column. It is far from a trivial subject, since Jesus said that "this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (John 17:3).
A lot of people these days have a problem comprehending the Trinity. But they are not alone. The Bible very plainly says some very hard things, that boggled the mind of the very Apostles! Even Peter said they were difficult to fully understand, and Paul said they were a mystery. Understanding the concept was a gradual process, which it took the early church a number of years to fully grasp. As C.S. Lewis relates in "Mere Christianity",
"And that is how Theology started. People already knew about God in a vague way. Then came a man who claimed to be God; and yet he was not the sort of man you could dismiss as a lunatic. He made them believe Him. They met Him again after they had seen Him killed. And then, after they had been formed into a little society or community, they found God somehow inside them as well: directing them, making them able to do things they could not do before. And when they worked it all out they found that they had rrived at the Christian definition of the three-personal God."
Scripture says that God the Father is God. It also very plainly says that Jesus is God. It says they are somehow one (in essence, not just in purpose), yet it says that they are somehow separate and distinct. And it says that the Holy Spirit is God. Jesus (the Word) was with God (the Father) in the beginning (Genesis 1:1), yet he somehow also WAS God (John 1:1). Jesus, who was God, yet also prayed to God in the garden. It is a mystery that is difficult for us mortal men to comprehend, yet God himself said that his ways were not our ways, they were far above ours, so why are we surprised?
Scripture shows the Son sharing God's eternal essence, yet placing himself in a subordinate position (Philippians 2). We need to take all of scripture into account in order to get a complete picture of
just what God is like, or else we end up getting confused. Modalists such as Oneness Pentecostals take the view that God just wears different hats, sometimes he's the Father, sometimes the Son. The Mormons recognize that the three Persons of the Trinity were separate and distinct, but they err by believing that they therefore are three separate gods. The Jehovah's Witnesses accept the truth that there is only one God, but err by concluding that Jesus therefore could not be God.
I have attached a drawing I present when I teach classes on the subject, to show exactly what the Bible has to say about the nature of God, showing that each Person of the Godhead is called God in
scripture, but is separate from the other two.
This diagram is very helpful in visualizing a being which is really superdimensional and superpersonal as well as supernatural and therefore quite beyond our comprehension, but that he has revealed himself to us in Christ and in his creation.
An understanding of Philippians 2 is key to an understanding of the biblical concept of a triune Godhead. Phil. 2:5-11 reads,
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Now lets break it down point by point. The first point is this: Christ Jesus, being in very nature God. It doesn't get any plainer than that. This point is reinforced at the end of said passage when a quote regarding worship of Jehovah God is attributed to Christ.
Second point: "Did not consider equality with God something to be grasped." What does this mean? The Jehovah's Witnesses would have you believe that Jesus did not seek after being God, because he wasn't. But the preceding point destroys that theory completely. The word "grasped" here could better be translated, "held on to" or "clung to," meaning that in His humility, He (the very God of the universe) didn't consider his Godhood as something to be held on to. That's powerful. That's the ultimate in humility.
"... but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." God said that he is as far above us as the heavens are above the earth. Imagine wishing to communicate with slugs. In order to do that, the best way would be if you could actually become one. This is essentially what Jesus did.
"And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!" Becoming a man isn't humiliation enough! He had to submit to the arch-enemy of man: death itself!
"Therefore God exalted him to the highest place ..." This does not negate the truine formula. Usually in the NT when it speaks of God, it means God the Father. The Father exalted the Son to the ... highest place? The place reserved for God alone? Surely you can't tell me that you believe that Jesus was elevated to a place higher than God!
"... and gave him the name that is above every name ..." There is only one name that is above every name: YHWH! (Notice it doesn't say every other name, which the JWs try to insert here.)
"... that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." A quote from Isaiah 22:23 "I am God and there is no other ... to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear ..." but here Paul says that Jesus is the God who will be worshipped, giving glory to God the Father. Not two separate Gods, one God, two separate Persons of this super-personal Being mentioned here (as elsewhere in Scripture).
God has even revealed his triune nature in his creation. Now some of you have heard the example of the egg, which has a yolk, white and shell yet it is one egg. Personally, I think that is a rather bad example.
The very nature of the fabric of space-time itself is triune in nature. Space exists (for us) in three dimensions: forward/back (x), left/right (y) and up/down (z). Yet none of these dimensions exists without the other two. You may move along the X axis, yet you still must express your position with relation to the other two axes. Time also exists as a truine entity: Past, Present and Future. The Past is separate from the Present which is separate from the Future, yet none really makes sense without reference to or knowledge of the other two.
Space is also filled with electromagnetic force. This takes three forms, matter, energy and plasma, which Einstein has shown are merely three different states of the same stuff. Matter can take the property of a solid, a liquid or a gas. Yet it is still matter. (Water, the most unique of all forms of matter, can actually exist in all three states simultaneously under the proper conditions, in what is known as the Universal Triple Point). Light, also (and this is important since we are told that God is light), is known to exhibit properties of particles, of waves and of quantum flux (c=pwh).
Human beings, according to Scripture, are also truine beings. We have a body, a soul and a spirit, which are all separate, yet who can remove one from the other without it making any sense, or tell where one leaves off and the next begins? Is it any wonder that the Scripture tells us we are made in God's image? Indeed, we are fearfully and wonderfully made!
-- Anonymous, January 01, 2001
Answers
First....I want to point out that we are not a "triune" being (i.e.,
body, soul, and spirit). That is a Greek designation.....not a
Scriptural one. We simply are "body and spirit."
Secondly, I think we err...as did the early church when we begin to
try to explain anything about the nature of God, including the
trinity, in definitive terms.
In fact....that is the reason for much of the schism in the early
church when it came to explaining how Jesus was both fully God....and
yet....fully man. Thus began almost 300 years of arguing over such
words as "homoouseon"...vs. "homo..this or that"....(I can't remember
that stuff off the top of my head.)
Finally, at the Council of Nicea in 325 they did what I believe was
the best thing they could have done. In simple terms they said
this..."No longer will we try to explain it.....we simply AFFIRM
it"...(i.e., the full divinity and humanity of Jesus).
I've always used this little statement with people who had trouble
grasping this VERY SCRIPTURAL teaching....."If we could fully explain
God.....what would that make us??"
Exactly....it would make us God.
Personally....I have no use for a God that I can fully explain.
-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001
John....
I fully concur that we should speak out against those who deny it.
I simply suggest that we can AFFIRM....without....fully explaining.
The exact position of the Council of Nicea.
-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001
Any human analogy of the "Godhead".....will fall far short of reality.
Hebrews 11...."Without faith...it is impossible to please God."
-- Anonymous, January 05, 2001
John....
You have got to be kidding me!!! If I didn't know better....I would
really be confused with that last one.
More proof that the Council of Nicea was right..."Affirm...not
explain."
-- Anonymous, February 07, 2001
The analogy I personally like best is also from the nature of
human beings, but it is a different analogy than you mention.
Scripture tells us that we are made up of body, soul, and spirit, but
would non-believers recognise that particular division? I don't know.
But human beings are triune in another sense as well, and one
which almost everyone would accept.
We all recognise that we have bodies, minds, and emotions. And while
we recognise that all three parts co-exist in one person, they can
also operate independently, to some extent. I may sometimes recognise
something logically, but still find it hard to accept, because of
emotional factors. My mind and my emotions may want to do something,
but my body may fail to co-operate. I also dream things that my body
is not involved in. Etc.
Dorothy L. Sayers, author of the "Lord Peter Wimsey" mysteries, also
had an interesting analogy for the trinity which was drawn from the
creative process. I think it was in the compilation "The Mind of the
Maker", but can't remember right now which of the particular essays it
was in.
Anyway, thanks for the collection of diagrams, explanations, Scripture
references, and analogies you have provided.
-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001
This has probably already been mentioned. Isn't the term Godhead a
better term (Scriptual) than Trinity?
-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001
First, James, I agree with you, and I usually use the term triune
Godhead, although most people are familiar with the word Trinity.
Second, Danny I disagree with you, I think it can be shown in
Scripture that the Spirit and Soul are separate. But that's another
argument for another time. And I fully agree with you about
understanding the concept; heck, even I don't fully understand it,
but I accept it because that is what God's Word says. I also feel
called to speak out against those who deny Jesus divinity, or try to
make him one of many gods, or other such blasphemous notions.
And Ben, I like your thoughts too ;)
-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001
Thanks Brother John I appreciate you.
-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001
Regarding the book I mentioned -- "The Mind of the Maker" by Dorothy L
Sayers -- I was confusing it with another book I have by Miss Sayers
which is a collection of theological essays. "The Mind of the Maker"
is all on the theme of the "trinity" (or "threefold Godhead" or
whatever term you choose to use to describe it). It's a good book,
but may not make much sense unless you are involved in the creative
process yourself and have personally experienced what she describes.
-- Anonymous, January 02, 2001
I think there is a confusion here over the words we use in talking
about this. I fully agree that it is impossible to really
"understand" the "Trinity" -- and I usually try to avoid the WORD
"Trinity" too, but sometimes it is convenient shorthand for a CONCEPT
that I think is Scriptural. Therefore, anyone who claims that he does
"understand" or that he can "explain" how it IS, is extremely
arrogant.
However, those who seek to deny the deity of Christ usually try to
undermine mere "affirmations" of the truth that God can be both "one"
and "three" by ridiculing or claiming the impossibility of such a
thing.
Among the Filipinos we work with here, we face not only the Jehovah's
Witnesses, but also the Iglesia Ni Kristo (literally, "Church of
Christ"), an indigenous Filipino cult, which, while keeping the name
of Christ, denies His deity. All such groups that I have dealt with
seem to focus on two things: the Bible calls Jesus a "man", and a man
cannot be God, therefore Jesus was not God; and it is impossible for
three things to be one thing, therefore we are either teaching three
gods or Jesus cannot be God.
When I use analogies like the one I proposed or the others that have
been mentioned here, it is not to say that this is the way that God
IS, but to show that such a thing is NOT impossible, since there are a
variety of OTHER things that are ALSO "one" and yet "three."
-- Anonymous, January 03, 2001
Exactly so, Benjamin; and sometimes we are forced to also show from
Scripture how such things could possibly be.
-- Anonymous, January 04, 2001
Another analogy:
An earthly king is understood to have soverign authority even if he is
not using it at the moment.
When a command is given, that authority is expressed.
When the command is heard and the subjects submit to it and
obey, that authority has an effect on those subject to it.
In a very rough way, the soverign authority, the word of that power,
and the application of that word of power to the creation; describes
some of the ways the three persons of God are mentioned in the Bible.
We are His creation. If we experience God at work, all three persons
are involved.
-- Anonymous, January 07, 2001
One plus one IS two.
-- Anonymous, January 16, 2001
The mystery of the holy trinity is as every other mystery contained
in the bible, not. It should not be so difficult to understand that
each person, Father and Son, share the same will. In other words they
share the same goals and each having a physical form, but not needing
to be physicaly present to subject their will. This is The Holy
Spirit, The Spirit of the Father that is shared with the Son. The
problem that people have is they fail to recognize that Jesus, was
here to do the will of the Father, thus as all of us are he willingly
was subject to his fathers spirit because it is the spirit of truth,
love , and life, at the same time, he was one with his fathers
spirit, and thus he was the Christ, he carries the power , and spirit
of God(because it is the fathers will for it to be so).
-- Anonymous, January 28, 2001
Here's some simple logic that a friend of mine came up with:
If "a" represents Jesus and "b" represents the Holy Spirit, and "a"
and "b" are coequals (John 14.16-18): and "c" represents God, and "b"
and "c" are coequals (Acts 5.3-4); then "a" (Jesus) or "b" (the Holy
Ghost) is equal to "c," God (John 1.1 & 14; 10.30; 12.45; 14.9-11;
17.11b, 21; Acts 7.59; Colossians 2.8-9; 1 Timothy 3.16; Titus 1.3;
2.13; 3.4; 2 Peter 3.10-12; 1 John 5.7). For they are One in unity
and Godhead, but Three regarding functionality.
-- Anonymous, February 07, 2001
First, I would have to agree the trinity can’t really be explained.
Second, trying to explain The God using His creations and physical
matter/energy is not possible.
Example, God is not bound by time. He can be past, present, future at
any or all at once.
And, water cannot exist in three states unless there are three
molecules – more than one. One molecule can only exist as gas, liquid
or a solid – not all three at the same time. (I first heard the water
analogy from my Presbyterian preacher)
Space also has anti-matter, and it’s theorized something (because of
it’s effect on other things) - some form of energy not defined – is
causing space to expand not contract as previously thought. So there
is something more than “space” that space is expanding into.
And I would have to agree with the above statement, we are made
of “soul” and spirit.
(curious: on one thread I read the soul and spirit are the same, yet
on this one their different? Why the difference?)
On another note, how can “God” as angel be explained in the trinity?
And, John, a (squared) + b (squared) = c (squared), grin
-- Anonymous, May 31, 2001
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