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[Gomer Pyle]

If Jesus and Yahweh are the same individual, then how can there be a Holy Trinity?

[jimwalton]

The doctrine of the Trinity says that the Godhead (Father, Son, and Spirit) are one essence but three persons. The word "individual" just gets us into trouble and isn't definitive enough to use in this context. In the Bible, the Trinity distinguishes between the *principle* of divine action and the *subject* of divine action. The principle of all divine action is the one undivided divine essence, but the subject of divine action is either Father, Son, or Holy Spirit. The Father can send the Son according to his power, and the Son can be incarnated according to his nature without dividing the divine essence.

Jesus' nature—his substance—is the same as that of God the Father. They are not separate individuals. Jesus is God's revelation of Himself incarnated in human flesh. Maybe think of it this way (an analogy written by Sheldon Vanauken [but remember that all analogies fail if pressed too hard]): Suppose I write a book, and I put myself in it. The character "me" says what I would say and does what I would do. It's ME in the book. He's exactly as I am. Now, is the character in the book different from the me outside of the book? Of course he is. But is it me? Of course it is. He's all me, but he's all a separate character. I can easily be both the author and a character without compromising either.

If you're into science, in quantum mechanics there is a principle called superposition, where subatomic particles are able to exist in two states at once. This again may be a kind of analogy, if that helps.

For another potential scientific "validation" of such possibilities, in 2017 a group of quantum scientists (University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai) successfully teleported a photon from earth to a satellite in orbit. It's called quantum entanglement. As far as our discussion here, quantum entanglement means that the two quantum objects share a wave function and share the same identity, even when separated. What happens to one happens to the other—whoever it exists. They are more than identical twins, the article said, "the two are one and the same." Apparently, according to the article, when they interact with matter on Earth they lose certain aspects of entanglement, but in the vacuum of space, they can extend infinitely (eternally). It's just interesting.