Board index ‹ The Trinity

[jimwalton]

The Trinity is one of those mind-boggling conundrums that sounds suspiciously like a contradiction: 1 God, but 3. Hm. Already it sounds like a work-around, doesn't it? It's very difficult to explain outside of the biblical texts. The Bible says God is both 3 and 1 at the same time, but not in the same sense, and hence not technically a contradiction. God is 3 persons, but one essence. It would be a contradiction to say he has three natures in one nature, or three persons in one person. It's different to say he is three persons in one nature. But, genuinely, though that's helpful, it's not ultimately helpful. It's so, well, philosophical and theological.

We do have a few things in our world that sort of come close to the same thing, and, though they help, they are still not quite there. We know that light is both a particle and a wave, and yet we don't consider that a contradiction. How can it be both when it's all light? Well, there you go. It's at least an attempt. It has also been suggested that God is like one to the third power: 1x1x1=1. God is not 1+1+1=3, which is polytheism. A family is many persons, but 1 entity. Yeah, that's close but doesn't really get at the Trinity either. A marriage is 2 people who are one. Same closeness, same deficiency.

Though it sounds like a bit of a cop-out, it's not at all out of good taste to say that our knowledge of spiritual beings and spiritual realities is quite limited. I don't want to be guilty, however, of saying that "It's a mystery; accept it by faith (to some people meaning ‘Close your mind and be stupid about it’)." We at least know how such things work. To me the closest I can come to understanding it is myself: I am a body, but I'm also a mind that is separate from it, but not separate at all. I seem to have a soul that's even different from my mind. And yet I am clearly one, and all of these "persons" in me are all me. People even claim to have "out of body" experiences. (I haven't had any of those. I've just had some days when I've had "out of my mind" experiences...) Clearly I am a plurality while at the same time being a singularity. I am more than just a mind, more than just a body, more than just a soul, and yet, hey, it's just me. All of those are the one me.