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 The Trinity (2)

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The Trinity

Alright, I'm so lost. This makes very little sense to me. God as three different persons who make one? Someone who knows what they're talking about PLEASE explain this and explain it like you're explaining it to an idiot.

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Well, you’re not really confused. You’re just right on target. And, you’ve recognized the mystery of the Trinity. And, the mystery of the Trinity is, that the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. The Spirit is the Spirit of Christ as well.

You have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you. You have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, and, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. God is the Creator, and yet, all things are made by Christ. And, yet, it was the Holy Spirit who moved over the face of the waters and brought creation into existence. You pray to God, and yet, you can pray to the Son of God, and you can also pray to the Spirit of God, and you have indications of that all throughout scripture.

You see particular responsibilities that members of the Trinity have, but, as far as the person is concerned, you cannot draw hard lines between them. We do know that God is the Creator, the Old Testament talks about that. He is the Creator. And, thus, He bears the name Father as the Source, as it were. But, we also know that nothing was made without Christ. That’s the way the gospel of John begins. “All things were made by Him and nothing was made that was not made by Him.” And so, we do understand that, while the Father was doing the creation, as identified in the Old Testament, He was not apart from the Son, nor was He apart from the Spirit.

You have, in the Trinity, an indivisible oneness, and yet, specifically, there are duties that members of the Trinity are stated to have been given. The Father, as we understand, is primarily viewed in scripture as The Creator and The Source of Life. The Son is primarily viewed as The Savior and The Redeemer, but God is also the Redeemer: “God our Redeemer”, the Old Testament says. And, so, I understand the confusion, but it’s not really confusion. It is simply an awakening, recognition of the mystery of the Trinity. God and Jesus are the same. God and the Holy Spirit are the same, and yet, they are distinctly three persons. Now, that is paradoxical, apparently, to us, that is contradictory, apparently to us, and that is inscrutable. You have one God, and that one God has always had three persons within the one God.

There are old heresies that say, “God is the Father”, then he changes his mask, and He becomes the Son, then He changes His mask and becomes the Holy Spirit. That’s heresy. God is one, and yet, three distinct persons. And, yet, we cannot distinguish them completely.

For example, God is portrayed in the Bible as Judge many, many times. God sits on a throne as the judge of the earth. And, yet, it tells us in the gospel of John that He has committed all judgment to the Son. At the end of human history, when the Son comes to glory with all of redeemed humanity, He gives us all, as it were, as a love gift to the Father who gave us all as a love gift to the Son.

You’re just awakening to the fact that this is an impossible reality to explain. But it’s no more impossible than infinity or eternity. Can you think of endless, something that’s endless? No. I mean, you can understand the concept, but you can’t fathom it in your mind. You can’t comprehend eternity. It’s a concept that’s beyond our capability as space/time creatures. Nor can we understand the nature of God as eternal and, as one, and yet three distinct persons.

So, what we say about that is, you can’t figure it out. You simply take it as it comes in scripture. And, clearly, there are three members of the Trinity. There is the Father, there’s the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Why is the son called the Son? For one primary reason, and that is because He bears the same nature as the Father. It is to make sure that we understand. It’s a concession to us as human beings because the Father didn’t create the Son. There never was a time when there was only a Father until He had a son, and there was never a mother. Those are simply terms to identify, and they did so for the Jewish mind, "shared nature." A son bears the nature of His Father. And, that is simply a way for God to establish that the nature of Jesus Christ is the same as the nature of God. When you’re in the Old Testament and there is a text or passages about God, when you see Him as Father in the Old Testament, you see Him as Father of the nation Israel because He brought the nation into existence. Or, you see Him as Father of mankind because He created mankind. But, when you come to the New Testament, God is identified as the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, not to indicate that God created Him, or brought Him into existence, like He did Israel and the human race, but to indicate that He is of the same nature. And, Jesus defined that very clearly when he said, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. I and the Father are one. I work and the Father works, and there’s no difference.” So you can read books on the Trinity. There’s some wonderful things that have been written on the Trinity. There are some big books and some little books that do their best with the Trinity, and at the end of the day, you know what happens? All you can do is take the passages about the Father, line ‘em up and explain ‘em. Take the passages about the Son, line ‘em up and explain ‘em. Take the passages about the Spirit, line ‘em up and explain ‘em. And, you find a lot of overlap because when one works, the other works, and it still will never explain the impossible mystery of how He can be one and three at the same time.

1 point

If there is a valid justification for the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, it is not derived from biblical text. However, if you want to understand the concept of a Trinity (regardless the source dogma) you have only to consider this:

The U.S. Federal government, comprised of three branches of authority: the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial, are the three branches of the Federal government. These three are one. Each complement one another, but individually, none constitute the whole of the Federal government. And as is the Federal government so too is the concept of the Holy Trinity.

Granted, the aforementioned analogy is less than perfect, but it will serve as a model whereby one can readily identify the principal parts of the dogma of the Trinity.

Notwithstanding, the next logical question (after identifying the core attributes of the Trinity) is: Is the doctrine of the Trinity biblical?

P.S. A short word of wisdom from the not unwise: It is quite astonishing to witness the light the Bible shines upon the doctrines of Jews and Christians alike. Bible commentaries as well!