Have you ever considered grabbing a thick, big, theology book? Maybe you have attempted it and stopped or perhaps you have thought you could never work your way through it. I want to give you 8 quick reasons to push past these thoughts and begin to dig in to that thick, big book.
Continue reading Theology… Why Bother? 8 Reasons
We grasp in vain for “easy” Trinity explanations. Most of the time our explanations fall short and our pictures… well, they are inaccurate representations of the glory of the Trinity!
True or False?
1.) The Trinity is like having different names for one person:
This is False
Some say: It is like a dad. He is a dad, a husband, and sometimes he is an employee at work. Different names for the one guy. Dad / Husband / Employee. Simple…. Right? Wrong….
This misses the glory of the Trinity. The Trinity is NOT 1 God with 3 roles. The Trinity is 1 God 3 persons and each of the 3 persons is fully God.
Lets try another True or False:
2.) The 3 leaf clover:
The Trinity is like a 3 leaf clover. 3 parts and yet it is 1 clover.
This is False.
Yes, the 3 leaves each make up the one clover, but each leaf is only part of the clover. The Trinity contains a greater glory! The Trinity is: each part of the God-head does not make up a separate part (leaf). Rather, each aspect – Father / Son / Holy Spirit is fully God! Each is fully God! Uhhhh WOW!
3.) The Trinity is like H20: Steam / Water / Ice True or false?
This is false.
This is false because H20 is not fully water, fully steam, or fully ice at the same time. Rather, each has its own properties and its own characteristics. Once again, the glory of the Trinity supersedes our attempts to contain it with our human analogies.
So, what analogy can we pull from? Well, actually the Bible does not give us an analogy. Maybe that is because any analogy diminishes the glory of the Trinity?!?.
Certainly, we see the Bible teach about God the Father (and we get what a father is) and Jesus is God’s Son (and we get that too). But, we fail to make the full connection. We might say: I am a father to my children and at the same time I am a son to my parents. But, even still, I am never a father to my parents or a son to my children.
There are other variations that shoot off of the above examples, but you get the idea.
1 God / 3 persons / Fully God = mystery!
No human analogy is going to match it. We strive in vain for a human illustration to match the glory of the Trinity. But, if there were an illustration that could rightly contain it….. the Trinity would take on a lesser glory!
Once again: 1 God – 3 persons – all are fully God.
Do you struggle with the mysteries found in God? While we want to wrestle with who God is, I would encourage you to glory in the mysteries of God. Those mysteries further reveal we are NOT God! There is a Creator and we are the created. He is without limits and we are limited.
How big is your Trinity? Is it big enough to wow you? Or have you reduced to your created minds ability to contain it?
Praise Him!
* Credit is given to Wayne Grudem and Bruce Ware on much of the above. While, the above is not a quote from either of them, none the less, they and others have formed much of my thoughts and examples given.
We so easily make God to be who we want Him to be. We like a God who is fashioned in our own image. Thankfully, we have the Word of God to adjust our thinking. To think rightly about who God is, is to think biblically. We don’t need to guess, nor do we need to make it up.
God’s Word was written to reveal God to us. It is God… on God. He makes Himself known so that we can know Him! Did you catch that? The Bible reveals God – we can know Him! As a Christian, I want to know God – but not just any ol’ image of God that I conjure up. I want to know Him AS HE IS! And He is: Father / Son / Holy Spirit.
One of the ways He makes Himself known is by the Trinity. The 3 in 1. Think about it: While the Trinity is beyond our ability to fully comprehend, the Trinity is also easy to comprehend. Meaning, we can easily grasp aspects of the Trinity. How helpful is the Trinity for us to begin to know God!
Father
Son
Holy Spirit
All the aspects of each begin to give us a picture of who God is.
Wayne Grudem defines the doctrine of the Trinity as:
God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.
Wayne Grudem Systematic Theology
What would we do without the Trinity?
It is the Trinity that helps us to know who God is, what He has done, and how He is involved in sinful man.
It is much more than knowing Trinity “facts”. Much more than knowing the Trinity factually, the Trinity is: Father – Son – Spirit. But we will get to that in future posts. For now, just consider how awesome it is that God reveals Himself as He does…. Trinity!
How Big is your Trinity?
Is the Trinity you hold to, the Trinity of the Bible? If it is NOT, then you are creating a god in YOUR image. YIKES!
Consider Today:
Do you hold to God – 3 in 1? Or do you minimize one aspect of the Godhead? Does your God have the Father? Does your God have the Son? Does your God have the Spirit? Consider the implications if your view of God is lacking in any of the 3 persons we have in God.
thanks for reading!