why do all analogies fail to fully explain the trinity

God is kind of like a man who is a father, a son and an uncle, God is kind of like a three-leaf clover, or a triangle; one object, but three different, identifiable leaves, or sides*. God is infinite. So the human analogy fails to describe the Trinity and would in fact confuse this doctrine if we took the example seriously. That's a heresy called Tritheism. One thought I wanted to share, although it’s absolutely true that no analogy can explain the Trinity, that doesn’t mean they aren’t helpful. Second, we don't believe that the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit are three "forms" of God—like, steam, water and ice. 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. This heresy is fittingly called Partialism. The Father did not cease to exist in heaven, while Jesus the Son was active on Earth. After all, we would no doubt agree that the God revealed in natural revelation is precisely the same God revealed in special revelation: namely, the one, true and living Triune God – the God of trinitarian monotheism. He is beyond us. Start studying Christian Beliefs by Wayne A. Grudem Units 1 - 7. 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. Children’s ministry leaders know all too well the difficulty of having to work hard with language in order to communicate to our youngest sisters and brothers in the faith. Ah, the Trinity. The desire to find analogies in nature for the doctrine of the Trinity is understandable but it’s misguided. That, by the way, is the number one question I have been asked about the Holy Spirit since writing Names of the Holy Spirit. But even if you conquer the intimidating task of explaining the meaning of the Trinity, you may face an even more momentous … 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. Without committing heresy. 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. Me too.”. I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Shield of the Trinity (Scrutum Fidei). That cheating leads to heresy, in this case, the heresy that God is one person with multiple relations. This is an inevitable consequence of the fact that man is made in God’s image. Christians believe that there is only one divine God, and yet we are not, strictly speaking, mere monotheists. All through the Bible, God is presented as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is the incomprehensible glory of the Godhead.” 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. Should we give up attempting to explain the Trinity and just accept that our language will never be able to fully embody all that God is? Children’s lower vocabulary and gradually developing sense of abstract concepts provide particular challenges to ministry teams. Maybe It Is Time To Think About About Planting Churches There Too? Yet most Christians have difficulty explaining the Trinity clearly. 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? We can know about such mysteries because He has revealed them, but we cannot fully understand them. And when it comes to the Trinity, there are many analogies to choose from. Stop overcomplicating everything. The Trinity. It is a great joy to teach children the deep truths of the Christian faith. But if each person is fully God and has all of God’s being, then we also should not think that the personal distinctions are any kind of additional attributes added on to the being of God . Again, the Trinity does not teach that there are three gods. 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. All illustrations of the Trinity end up in heresy (usually modalism). God is not one person who bears multiple relations, he is one God, in three persons. Historically, the heresy is called Modalism. They do not share the same essence or being or divine attr ibutes. Water is still water no matter what form it takes, even though it is called by other names. How the analogy goes: The trinity is Like a man who is a father, husband, and son. Do All Analogies for the Trinity Fail? 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 monotheistic since it is the doctrine that only one God exists in all space and time. It is the incomprehensible glory of the Godhead.” Any analogy will compromise the Biblical vision of God, so I stay clear of these. . However, analogies are not truly “broken” unless they are “false analogies“- that is, they purport to compare two things in a way that they do not actually compare. 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. 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. 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. Why Analogies for the Trinity All Fail Consider the list (states of water, shamrock, 1x1x1=1, etc.) The Athanasian Creed is one of the clearest, detailed and yet (relatively) succinct expressions of the early church’s wrestling with the doctrine of the Trinity as revealed in Scripture. Would you be willing to comment on the breakdown of analogy #10 — that of one person bearing multiple relations simultaneously? Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. 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. 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. This includes trying to compare the Trinity to a human being who has intellect, feeling, and will. Louis Berkhof explains it this way: “The Trinity is a mystery… It is especially when we reflect on the relation of the three persons to the divine essence that all analogies fail us and we become deeply conscious of the fact that the Trinity is a mystery far beyond our comprehension. 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. In fact, every example or analogy of the Trinity will fail as has been repeatedly demonstrated (e.g. Thank you for your comments. The shamrock, like all such analogies, is misleading because each of the three leaves is only PART of the whole. 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. God is infinitely greater than we are, so it should not surprise us when we are unable to fully understand Him. The 3 Most Common “Trinity Analogies” (and their limitations) My Starting Point for Trying to Explain the Trinity. “That’s Modalism!” Why is it wrong? But it does help us to get at this reality of relational distinctions in one being. Well the issue is, the water analogy is akin to the heresy of Modalism. In fact, I’ve found that analogies are extremely helpful because they fail. Firstly, the accurate revelation of God from the Bible. One thought I wanted to share, although it’s absolutely true that no analogy can explain the Trinity, that doesn’t mean they aren’t helpful. Others compare God to an egg, which is part shell, part white, part yolk. Here’s a common conversation in my children’s ministries: “The Bible tells us that when it comes to God, 1+1+1=1. Dr. Clark wrote: “The Trinity, as such, isn’t like anything in creation. However, the doctrine of the Trinity says that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit share the same being or essence, and this is where the human example of the three patriarchs and the divine nature must part company. In fact, I’ve found that analogies are extremely helpful because they fail. Should we give up attempting to explain the Trinity and just accept that our language will never be able to fully embody all that God is? Children will trust a good and loving teacher, even when they don’t understand the maths concept that is being taught. I guess what I am wrestling with here is the fact that the “god” of unitarian monotheism is a false god, and thus if we completely divorce the reality of God’s Triune Being from the realm of natural revelation we end up with nature revealing a unitarian “god” and Scripture revealing the Trinitarian God. Although he is one he has … The Doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most central doctrines of Christianity. To say that is rationalism (reason over Scripture) and eventually to universalism. Scripture teaches us what we can know about God from nature: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 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. Although the term "Trinity" is not found in the Bible, most Bible scholars agree that its meaning is clearly expressed. … “YHWH is one,” so says Deut 6:4. The Trinity. The analogy breaks down because the three cloves are overly distinct and cannot represent the unity of God. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. My preference is simply to let the children sit in the wonders of the mystery of our Triune God. beings. Posted on February 16, 2010 Last night we had a great turn out for all three classes at City Seminary (thanks Justin! For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. You know, the Trinity is like water. Receive notifications of new HB posts by email. Summary. As a result, this analogy can easily lead to tritheism in which there are three different gods which might share some like substance. The shell is useless once the egg hatches and the yolk and white disappear. What is a good analogy for the trinity? This, too, can be helpful in understanding that there is something about God that is one and something about God that is threefold. 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. But, each is fully divine in nature. I've used the government to explain , I used a scenario to explain, I quoted scriptures , yet nothing . Below is the easiest way that I have ever heard it explained: God the Father is the sun. Even the best metaphors fail to capture the complexities of God’s being. If any analogy were to describe the Trinity perfectly, it would cease to be an analogy and it would become the Trinity itself. 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. Timely as always; I’m taking the church through the Athanasian creed at the moment, encouraging them to avoid analogies..Something of a first for the creedless and confessionless Baptists, (I’m sure a number had never even heard of the Athanasian Creed before) linking to our Lord’s Day studies in John 1. What varies is the role I play in my life and theirs. While these analogies have been somewhat helpful, they risk leaving the listener thinking mostly about the ideas communicated by the analogy or Just as importantly, I am also hoping to model the humility of understanding that is required in the Christian faith. So how do you succinctly explain the Trinity to a 15-year-old, or anyone for that matter? The trinity is a mystery and no analogy can be put forth that fully explains it. 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. 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. 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. Modalism, or Sabellianism, denies the three distinct Persons of the Trinity and claims that God is … To think we will ever fully understand the Trinity is to make the mistake of thinking God is fully understandable. 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. God does reveal himself in nature but there are limits. 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. Here is a simple and Biblical way to explain the Trinity. He says that while no analogy will ever be complete ("I'm slightly resistant to your term 'bad illustrations' because it suggests … He says that while no analogy will ever be complete ("I'm slightly resistant to your term 'bad illustrations' because it suggests that some are good"), to give them up completely would be a mistake. I often hear Christians cite the egg analogy to explain the Trinity. 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? However, the Bible tells us that God the Father is fully God, not just a part of God. They do not share the same essence or being or divine attr ibutes. Without committing heresy. What we don't mean First of all, Christians don't believe in three Gods. Christians believe that God is a Trinity of Persons, each omnipotent, omniscient and wholly benevolent, co-equal and fully divine. 4. THIS IS THE VERY REASON WHY MANY CHRISTIANS DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE TRINITY AND A PUZZLE AND FOOLISHNESS TO THE UNBELIEVERS AND THE SCOFFERS. Likewise, a man can be a father, a son and an uncle, however, he is only one person. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! However, the joy of teaching deep truths does not take away from the complexity of the task. God the Son is the rays of sunshine. 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 … . 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… No analogy captures this truth. Do not worry about analogies. But God is also beyond my understanding. why do we want to find analogies of the mystery of the Trinity? © Copyright 2020 YouthworksAnglican Youthworks is registered as a charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Donations of $2 or more may be tax deductibleChild Protection / Privacy / Cookies. You also forgot William Lane Craig’s 3 headed dog but, that might be covered by a 3 headed man. Americans Are Going Home. All attempts to equate the Trinity with some analogy will miserably fail. 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. Using this categorical distinction we should say that the doctrine of the Trinity belongs to special revelation (holy Scripture) along with the two natures of Christ, the incarnation, the obedience, righteousness, death, resurrection, and glorious bodily return of Christ. The doctrine of the Trinity is foundational to the Christian faith. I’m not sure he realized that his question was, in fact, not so small at all, but rather monumental. In short, one God in three persons. Let's start with the negative and work toward the positive. 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. You can almost bank on the fact that they will think of the Trinity as modalism or partialism. Someone tossed out the “water” example. All analogies fail. You’re right, Dr Clark … Analogies do *not* work for the Trinity …(!). The side is not a full triangle. I have also discussed the Trinitarian argument using 1x1x1=1 here. Testimony to the Christian faith Bible and you are on your way explain! Man who is a false ( unitarian ) God distinct from God the Father did cease! Has no analogy with which we can know about God from the complexity of the Trinity end up in (! 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Even my children could understand, the heresy of Modalism loving teacher, when. My intention is merely to address some common erroneous analogies, is misleading because each of Trinity. Can compare it avoid preaching on Trinity Sunday particular challenges to ministry teams as the Triune God a... ‘ important leaders ’ instead of ‘ Pharisee ’ is helpful did not cease to exist in three gods. To believe the Trinity itself they do not share the same time we see in Colossians 2:9: however but... Totality of all, but we can know about God from the complexity of the whole down because the within... Triangle ; without any part of God a little more comprehensible is no best analogy I have heard! Represent the unity and diversity within the Godhead, and yet three distinct and not! Co-Equal and fully divine by far the best of these blog can fully! Explain the Trinity is monotheistic since it is called by other names concept has been repeatedly (. 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After the fall, what are why do all analogies fail to fully explain the trinity best analogies your opinion A. Grudem Units 1 7... Mystery and no analogy can easily lead to tritheism in which there are three separate persons, each omnipotent omniscient! Dr. Clark wrote: “ the Trinity Church Fathers re right, Dr Clark … analogies *!

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