holy trinity egg analogy

But if modalism is true, and the Trinity really is like water, then the story of Jesus (the Son) praying to the Father as recorded in the Bible seems like an awfully strange masquerade. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John14:2, 3). 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17, 2:9; Heb. In one of his sermons, he wrestled with the passage in Scripture recounting Jesus' Baptism. God has revealed some mysteries from the Old Testament in the New Testament (the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the coming of the Messiah, salvation by grace through faith, etc.) Answer (1 of 25): Cynics assert that the idea of the Holy Trinity is a logical impossibility. History, lifestyle, family, music, theology, scripture, literature, the saints, church history, parenting, politics, prayer, the pope, and more. If the Sun existed from eternity past then so were the light rays from the Sun. One sits on the throne looking like Sardine and Jasper stone. What is H2O? The word trinity is not in the Scriptures, but is a word used to describe the three in one God revealed in the Bible. The Trinity is not 1 + 1 + 1 but more like 1 x 1 x 1. They have a common purpose in making harmonious music, but each note is its own separate entity. When we see them as three individual spirits, (God is one Spirit John 4:24), then that is the blasphemy of polytheism which is the worship of more than one God. This is because the H20 is changing forms in representing each person. This analogy is an invalid comparison to the Trinity and is a heresy called PARTIALISM. - well, sort of. That is why Moses said. An analogy illustrates that in a similar way, one shamrock can have three leaves on it, and the trinity has three persons that comprise one God. God is Great, I always try to figure out how to explain it to my Sunday school kids and they get confused which i get, how would you explain it to them? But the Trinity is our belief as Christians that God is one being who exists in three Persons- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. Your email address will not be published. Here's a look at six explanations for why so many people truly believe 3 Ways to Experience The Good Life in Jesus. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:13). Therefore, there is one God, who is eternally present in three persons. But Hes God too, right? We believe in only one true God in all existence, in all places, at all times. This analogy actually teaches the heresy of modalism. The Father hears their intercessory prayers. The scientific analogy that will be provided in a few moments is truly inadequate to describe the Holy Trinity. Love your blogs! 1A) Dave is a son of Graham and Lois Armstrong. One popular and simple illustration of the Trinity is the egg. None of the 3 are less divine than the others. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not three different parts or components of God, but the . Revelation 4:3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. That would not be had God be three persons. It does not represent 3 persons existing simultaneously. If you looked at a single cloverleaf, you wouldnt call it a shamrock. The Trinity is pretty weird: the Father (or Mother), Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are in some sense distinct from one another, but are all unified in another sense. (Which I just found out is in error). If you only had an apple core, you wouldnt pack it in your lunch. Hi Im not a theologian and I dont disagree with what you say but when you state that we know the persons of the Trinity have perfectly loved for eternity etc how do we know? Jesus is the Holy Spirit that saves us. I go to prepare a place for you. THE TRUTH IS: The Father, Son, and Spirit are three different persons who are all equally one God. Now were going to look at how some people often misunderstand the Trinity. John introduces us to the Trinity in John 1:1- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Word was God. Jesus, the Word, was present in Genesis 1. In Biblical Trinitarianism we can never have one without the other because they are one Spirit; each is the totality of the other which means we cannot have the Holy Spirit without the Father and the Son, We will come (into the believer through the Holy Spirit, John 14:23), and we cannot have the Son without The Father whose Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father (Matthew 10:20). [4] The goal of an analogy is to draw out similarities between it and its referent in illuminating ways, not to define the referent itself. This was first used by Patrick of Ireland (yes there really was a Patrick of Ireland and he was a great guy), around 400 A.D. 2. Lord of all, we bow before thee. But in the Godhead, each Person is fully and completely God unto Himself (even as they are all one God). Likewise we cannot have the Father or His Spirit without the Son I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by Me- John 14:6. The egg (or apple) fails in that the shell, white, and yolk are parts of the egg, not the egg in themselves, just as the skin, flesh, and seeds of the apple are parts of it, not the apple itself. So, I shot down a lot of images that seems to be pretty helpful. But we cannot do that (assuming we can) with God. Some think of God as H 2 O, which is sometimes a solid (ice), sometimes a liquid (water), and sometimes a gas (steam). He was with God in the beginning. If you say, "Jesus Christ" then you MAY BE incorrect. The egg analogy fails because it denies that each person of the Trinity is of the same eternal essence. It became real to me because I have experienced His love, grace, guidance, redemption, conviction of sin, and fellowship that comes from Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There are many mysteries to our faith. Some who deny the Trinity claim 1+1+1=3, and therefore claim we worship three Gods. The watermelon has a skin, pulp and seeds; the egg is shell, yolk and egg white. How so? God is not made up of 3 'parts' like the 3 parts of the egg. Its a very common explanation within the church to try to explain how God, who clearly exhorts His followers to preserve His supreme oneness (Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4), could also be identified with Jesus (Titus chapter 2 verse 13), and the Holy Spirit (Acts chapter 5 verses 3-4). Pingback: 3 Reasons Why Jesus Humanity Really Matters Her & Hymn, Pingback: 3 Reasons Why Jesus' Humanity Really Matters, Pingback: How Jesus Teaches Us To Be Human Her & Hymn. The trinity is an essential doctrine to the Christian faith. The mystery is in the how this is accomplished; something we will finally understand in heaven. 1. Yet others have thought that H20 (water) shows us the Trinity since H20 can be three things: solid (ice), liquid (running water) and vapor (steam). The Father sends the Son, and both the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit. Our limited intellects are unable to comprehend its reality, yet, our Scriptures and scholarly Tradition makes it known to us. As a result the water molecule must change forms. In an attempt to explain the Trinity, there are some bad examples people use, and some better ones. A, distinguishes himself from others by saying me, mine, you, yours, etc. A. is the whole nature or essence of something. Water has three states: solid, liquid, and gas. Jonathon serves as a lay pastor at Gospel Life Church in New Braunfels, TX and currently works as the IT Manager for a non-profit ministry. However, many of our faithful, and even priests, attempted to simplify the Mystery of the Trinity and made it easier to understand by using MODELS AND ANALOGIES, giving birth to modern-day heresies/fallacies about the Trinity. THE DISTINCTION AND UNITY of the Trinity is not for us to fully understand because it is a supernatural mystery. These attributes are: omnipotence (all-powerful), omniscience (all-knowing), and omnipresence (exists in all places). Despite its potential obscurity, Trinity Sunday is a great occasion for me to revisit an old article on the Trinity. There are two basic ways that people misunderstand the Trinity: 1. Its downright hard to understand. Not just for explaining it to others, but to bolster our own faith and see how each One works in our lives. The Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God. Modalism denies the distinction of person in the trinity. Also, the egg is made up of three distinct and unalike parts. How would you explain the Trinity if someone asked you right now? Three Gods or one? It is the Central Mystery of our Christian faith. To return to my Life Group anecdote, after our discussion I asked why does it even matter?. Many of these analogies have the best of intentions, but God cannot be described in a way we can fully comprehend or rationalize. Jesus, visually seen, judges all, not the Unseen Father. Admittedly, the idea of three distinct persons/expressions that are each fully God is part of the mystery. God does not morph from one person to another, nor does God exist as three separate beings. Discover the richness of the old yet living 2,000-year-old religion which built the West. According to modalism, God does not actually exist in three persons. The problem with this analogy is that it also leads to the heresy of MODALISM. There would be three thrones. Sadly, theres something "rotten" about this egg analogy. The meme above discourages the use of analogies in explaining the Trinity. But its all the same person, operating in three roles or functions. As a result, this analogy can easily lead to tritheism in which there are three different gods which might share some like substance. La da dee dee dum dum (I couldnt remember the in-between parts). The problem with this analogy is that it would imply that there is only one Divine Person, who eventually multiplied Himself. The Unseen Father would have been put into Satans prison. 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. Devils see that Spirit as a tempestuious fire. The Holy Spirit is like the heat that the sun produces, unseen yet powerful and effective in making the sun felt. Unfortunately, there is a problem with this view of the Trinity. Although he is one man who is simultaneously a husband, a father, and a student, he would consider it Modalism to suggest that this is a good Trinitarian analogy. And we know that because Hes been experiencing perfect love within Himself forever. All Scripture is taken from the NIV version unless otherwise specified, Author Ignace Franz, translated by Clarence A. Walworth. Here are a few common illustrations: The Egg- One egg has three parts: shell, whites, and yolk. Through the brokenness of the Shell, His Son, the Spirit white pours out into our beings through our faith in what was done and believers are joined with the yolk, for it is by One Spirit we have access to God the Father (Ephesians 2:18). It does not imply Jesus was created if you emphasize that the Sun existed from eternity past. Space Analogy God is like space. Jesus then becomes a created being and thus less than fully God. This little child cannot look at one without experiencing a profound sense of wonderment and awe. ), The Son Phil. Water Analogy God is like water, or H2O, which can exist in 3 forms. Ontological means the nature or essence of something. Yet the orthodox view is that each person of the Trinity is fully divine. Unfortunately, no analogy is perfect. Therefore it behoves us to know what He has revealed (including the Trinity), and to lovingly worship Him accordingly. The Trinity is distinct in their roles and individuality, but united in their attributes of love, mercy, holiness, knowledge, etc. In other words, one stuffness. However, He exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The angel answered (Mary), The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High (referring to the Father, italics mine) will overshadow you. Yet, these persons are not separate from one another. The Trinity is not 1 + 1 + 1 butmore like 1 x 1 x 1.You can throw away one part of an egg (e.g., shell) and still have essentially an egg. She would explode!" Some have used examples such as water, watermelons and eggs; the principle behind those illustrations is that even though each thing is one, it is also three. Each person is fully the one God, but is also distinct. The visual form of God seperated from Jesus on the cross. This is a worse analogy than the egg because it is more analogous to the heretical doctrine of Modalism/Oneness than for the Trinity. We can always rebut these claims with another equation: 1 x 1 x 1=1. This is the Christmas paradox. All these make up one egg just as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit make up one God. The Father is fully God; Jesus is fully God and the Holy Spirit is fully God. Often these analogies explicitly teach heresy. Required fields are marked *. HO may act as water, steam, or ice, but it is still HO. He wondered how it was possible that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit could be inseparable, while, in . At the Cathedral, we recognize that there are responsibilities that come with . There have been many attempts to explain the Trinity the relationship between God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The idea that the Trinity can be compared to a shamrock is largely attributed to St. Patrick. However, it breaks down on the level of equality: No one keeps or eats the shell of an egg. Similarly, people have used the example of the apple in the same way- skin, flesh, and seeds. I never thought about it in that way some of these examples Ive never heard of. The problem with this analogy is that it teaches that God has three components: The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Analogies for the Trinity exist to explain the unexplainable. For example, we know that God didnt create humanity because He bored or lonely. How can God be Three in One? Do you know why I keep saying God is like an egg (or H2O) but God is not like an egg (or H2O)? The word Trinity comes from the Latin word trinitas which means tri-unity. And let us once more come to illustrations. Analogies of the Trinity. Here are a few of the many verses giving evidence of the Trinity in the Bible: Genesis 1:1&2- In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. The Holy Spirit was an active participant in the creative process. No analogy is perfect, but we want to be careful of using wrong ones that may confuse people. Sure enough, one member answered Well Ive heard that the Trinity is like water: water can be liquid, gas (steam), or solid (ice), but its still the same water. The Trinity is not 1 + 1 + 1 but more like 1 x 1 x 1. The Holy Spirit prays for us. In Jesus is the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 2:9). A good follow up verse to help explain is the baptism of Jesus. The word God in this sense is defined as a single being, having all divine attributes. The three distinct notes come together to make one beautiful sound. The past is not the present and the present is not the future, yet all three together is what we call time. Only the Son became incarnate, took on flesh. To the other major monotheistic faiths (Islam and Judaism), it is rank heresyTrinitarianism is therefore definitional to Christianity. A certain YouTube page created a famous video titled "St. Patrick's Bad Analogies" (which can be found here), in which the historic St. Patrick meets charming villagers who deride him based on the analogies which he uses in the process of explaining the Holy Trinity. (Describing God as LOVE is my favorite way of understanding the Trinity. But, when it's heated, it turns into a gas (steam) and, when it's frozen, it turns into a solid (ice). The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. The idea of God as three-in-one is indeed a mysterious concept, one that is difficult to understand. When we see them as three individual spirits, (God is one Spirit John 4:24), then that is the blasphemy of polytheism which is the worship of more than one God. Let's use an egg to explain the Holy Trinity! Rather, He created us in order to bless us. He has been a member of the Royal Australian Air Force since 2007, and is now training to be an Air Force Chaplain. If the sun exists, there is also day; if nothing of this be manifest, it is impossible that the sun should be there. This is a bad analogy because it fails at the truth that all three persons comprise the fullness of God. Therefore, in this context, God is the what and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the who. In part one, we looked at what the Bible has to say about the Trinity. Thankfully he isnt a cage-stage Calvinist about it all. Holy Trinity, the downtown Greek Orthodox church that was partially destroyed by fire 11 years ago, was a special place for 57-year-old Georgiou. We have the creeds for just that reason. I and My Father are One (John 10:30). Somewhere in the recesses of my mind lived the doctrinal truth about the Trinity. This is not an exhaustive list: For further reading on the Trinity, I would recommend James Whites The Forgotten Trinity, Wayne Grudems Systematic Theology and online articles by CARM.org. ANALOGY OF CHARACTERS. The above picture is a famous work of art by Andrei Rubilev, the great medieval Russian painter of Orthodox icons and frescos. If all you had were an eggshell, you wouldnt have a very exciting breakfast. Common, yes. The beautiful depth of Gods eternal Triune nature is a sublime reality which should bring an end to our attempts to cognitively master Him. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength (1 Corinthians 1:25). I and My Father are One (John 10:30). I believe that the best way to talk about the Trinity is to simply say that God is one God, who eternally exists in three Persons. He has not yet revealed some mysteries (what did Jesus do in His childhood, when will He return, what does the word Selah mean in the Old Testament- and so many more.). , 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you., For further reading on the Trinity, I would recommend James Whites, Lastly, below is a helpful graphical chart explaining the doctrine of the Trinity I found from the Christian blog by Tim Challies. See the depths of Catholicism for yourself! This analogy explains that the Father is like the sun. The teaching of the trinity is clearly taught in Scripture and must be preserved as such. He is one God who expresses Himself in three modesFather, Son, and Spirit. Water can be ice and steam, yet they are the same element. They suggest that only one God exists but this God transforms or morphs into each of the different persons. It is not existing as 3 different parts (persons) at the same time.

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