Board index ‹ The Trinity

[Bizzy]

Christians, I assume, believe that God wants to be known. How, then, do you reconcile this with the concept of the Trinity?

Just a question I suppose has come to my attention. The concept of the Trinity is complex in its very nature, requesting a believer to think beyond their capability about their Lord and Creator. If God wants to be known, why limit us with an inability to fully fathom the Trinity, yet request it as a core tenet in faith?

[jimwalton]

The Trinity doesn't really require us to think beyond our capability.

First, God wants to be known, and so He actually comes to earth as Jesus so we can see him, touch him, listen to him talk, and observe how he acts. It's in perfect reconciliation with God wanting to make himself known (John 1.14; Heb. 1.1-4; 1 Jn. 1.1-3).

Second, the Trinity is understandable on several levels.

1. All physical reality has a dual nature. Mass and energy are in principle inter-convertible, through nuclear fission or fusion reactions. E = mc^2. We can, therefore, speak of the universe as a "space-light-time" universe. It is significant that this motion of light is famous for its mysterious and paradoxical complementarity. It has the characteristics of both waves and particles, and yet it definitely behaves as a wave motion under some conditions and as a particle motion under others. This duality applies both in radiations of electro-magnetic energy and in the atomic structure of matter, in which the orbiting electron likewise behaves both as a particle and as a wave. The two disciplines of modern physics known as quantum mechanics and wave mechanics have been developed from these two concepts.

2. Superposition. In quantum mechanics there is a principle called superposition, where subatomic particles are able to exist in two states at once.

3. Quantum Entanglement. As far as our discussion here, quantum entanglement means that two quantum objects share a wave function and share the same identity, even when separated. What happens to one happens to the other—wherever it exists.

4. Suppose I write a book about me. I am the main character in the book. The character in the book only says and does what I would say and do. That's me in the book, but at the same time the person in the book is a different person than the person who is the author. So in reality the "me" in the book and the "me" who is the writer of the book are separate persons, but we're the same essence. They're both me, but the two are distinct.

So if God wants to be known, why the Trinity? It expresses who God is: The God who is immanent, and the God who is transcendent. The God who is holy and the God who is "with us." How can he be both? The Trinity.

Also, Dr. Joe Boot writes, "If God is not the triune Lord revealed in Jesus Christ, then the doctrine of creation is rendered impossible, and man is part of a cosmic chain of being. This is because a monadic conception of God as some kind of singularity leaves us with the emptiness and void of non-personality as ultimate. If there is no plurality within God’s being, then there is no subject-object relationship, no particularity, only a blank unity. In such a view of God there can be no foundation for knowledge, love, morality, or ethics. Indeed, without an absolute personality, there is no diversity or distinction basic to reality at all; ultimate reality is a bare unity about which nothing may be said. This is why the Trinity is so important in tackling the philosophical problem of the one and the many. Moreover, because a denial of the Trinity leads to a denial of an absolute personality, we cannot speak coherently of the will of God. Only persons have a will. But if God has no will, then creation is not the free act of an absolute, personal God. Rather, the universe is the emanation of divine being, and what we call the universe is merely the extension of god, or, as some pagans would say, it is the body of god."

In other words, God wants to be known, and he has given us the capacity to fathom the Trinity. The Trinity is the only way there can be subject-object relationships, particularity, and personality in the universe.