There we read that " God said, 'Let us make man in our image' . Hmmm. Below are several of the most popular ones. Here are the best childrens Bibles, sorted by age. 23:2324). This is something far removed from our human experience, where every different human "person" is a different being as well. For example, it says of Christ that in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). He realized Scripture alone is the only way we know about the Trinity (1 Cor. Everything in Christian theology and in the believer's life finally comes back to who God is: the divine nature, the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Understanding who the Holy Spirit is, the place He holds within the Holy Trinity and the role He plays in individual lives is vital to anyone exploring what it means to become a Christian and anyone trying to follow Jesus. 2:34; Heb. Therefore, it is often difficult to have a concrete definition of Person as we use it in regards to the Trinity. But Christianitys God is unique. The Trinity is the perfect loving community of three Persons. Jesus carried out these creative decrees (John 1:3; Col. 1:16). In other words, there is one God who exists as three distinct Persons. It is crucial for properly understanding what God is like, how He relates to us, and how we should relate to Him. The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain. 92:8) and third person (he, his, him) singular pronouns (1 Kings 18:39). Fortunately, the most popular analogy of the Trinity is the triangle. Thats where the confusion comes from. The Trinity confuses many people. So many things clamor to define you. The word "scripture " graphe The Trinity was present in the atonement at the cross. Gods essence is His being. "It has been said that there have been four centuries when the church's understanding of the person of Christ has been most under attack. There will always be some level of mystery to this, but when you talk about the being/nature/essence as God and the persons/expressions as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit I think we get at least a little bit closer to beginning to comprehend something we can never fully comprehend. 1. Every time the wordElohim(plural) is used throughout the Old Testament referring to the one, true God, it is used with a singular conjugation of the verb. In eternity past, before the beginning, God was alone. But analogies cannot entirely explain the mystery of God. The next time you (or I) are asked to explain the Trinity, you could start with a 1-sentence definition and then unpack that definition. The Trinity is more than just a vital doctrine. Before moving on tounderstandingthe idea of one Being existing in three Persons, I will point out that theBiblical idea of the Trinity goes all the way back to the first verse in the first chapter in the first book of the Bible. Look at what the Bible clearly shows: that there is one God ( Deuteronomy 6:4) that the Father is called God ( Ephesians 4:6 ), that Jesus (the Son) is called God ( Titus 2:13) and existed with God before creation ( John 1:1; 17:4) and the Holy Spirit is attributed . Learn how you can know God personally. How to Explain the Trinity to an Unbeliever The Village Church - Flower Mound 118K subscribers 36K views 5 years ago The Trinity is confusing even to most Christians, so we want to pull the. While admitting the lack of conformity among believers, we must never consider it a minor issue of doctrine. Explore answers to life's biggest questions. In this case, "immanent" means "the action remaining within an agent.". In order for something to be contradictory, it must violate the law of noncontradiction. Get the answers to frequently asked questions on Christian beliefs and practices. The triangle illustration is easy to understand, but an imperfect analogy because: Nonetheless, a triangle illustrates how there can be a three-ness and one-ness same time. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all fully God. The ancient church fathers at first simply acknowledged the Trinity without feeling the need to explain a theology of that understanding. They have eternally (John 17:5, 24) sought to glorify each other (Phil. Or what are the objective characteristics that all triangles share? It starts with a whisper. God the Holy Spirit is the warmth you feel from the sun. This explains how God can be both one and three. The problem with this is that it reflects a heresy called modalism. 2:1011; Heb. Now lets dig into these imperfect yet better than nothing representations of the Trinity for kids. Actually, March 17 commemorates St. Patrick's death, actually. passage also demonstrates Jesus' early declaration of the Trinity. 1:2), Jesus as God (Titus 2:13), and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4). 3:3; Heb. The doctrine or concept of the Trinity is central to most Christian denominations and faith groups, although not all. Here are three I found to be really helpful. Why not consider these truths and place your faith in Jesus (1 John 5:1)? 1:318; 1 Pet. Many non-Christians and new Christians often struggle with the idea of the Holy Trinity, where we break up God into the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 11:3336). Sproul cites as an example Dickens famous line, It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Obviously this is a contradiction if Dickens means that it was the best of times in the same way that it was the worst of times. At this stage, your head may be swimming with all this new information about God! We then turn to the most important strategies that have been developed by Christians to resolve this problem. This leads us to investigate more closely a very helpful definition of the Trinity which I mentioned earlier: God is one in essence, but three in Person. Instead, they are all identical in attributes. 12:28; Rom. You can't explain the Trinity to anyone who reasons because: 1) The Bible does not support it. The second point of clarification has to do with personhood. What does essence mean? A rumor is started, and it spreads like wildfire. To understand more fully what God is like is a way of honoring God. Explaining the Holy Trinity of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit will be needed at some point when presenting the God of the Bible to children, Muslims, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons and other non-Christians. using the shamrock or the three states of H 2 O to explain the . Faith is recognizing that we dont have all the answers and deciding that its okay to keep believing and growing. How is God different? Gods One-ness is his One divine essence, 3. The answer hinges on the differences in their unique roles. Most of them are less-than-helpful. They include: Now you have a basic understanding of the Trinity. At his death on the cross, sinless Jesus chose to substitute himself in our place (Heb. This is absolutely true. But dont get confused. The three-ness and one-ness are two different features. The Trinity confuses even adults, so when youre tasked (or inspired) to teach the Trinity to a child, teenager, or new believer, it can be overwhelming. 12:11), When the Holy Spirit speaks, he refers to himself in first person (Acts 13:2). In all transparency, I feel like I did a pretty mediocre job of explaining the Trinity to them in a way they could grasp. Further, we clearly should not think of God as consisting of anything other than divinity. We cannot entirelycomprehendan infinite God and these mysteries (Rom. Many other verses concurrently list the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Learn to develop your skills, desire and ability to join others on their spiritual journeys and take them closer to Jesus. 19:26). It is the revelation of who our Almighty Creator actually isnot just a god, but an infinite Being existing in eternity as three co-equal, infinite Persons, consubstantial yet distinct. Answer: Jesus came to lead us into relationship with the Father and that required the sacrifice of his own life because of our rebellion. Volunteer abroad this year on a short term global missions trip offered by one of the best, most-reliable Christian missions organizations in the world. As I said earlier, it means the same thing as being. Therefore each of the Persons into whose name we are to be baptized must be deity. Its not unusual for teenagers to give Jesus a bunch of loving characteristics and then put words like justice and vengeance on God the Fathers poster. Lets move on to Scriptural evidence for the Trinity. The Trinity. I might end with sharing a few analogies from nature. Third, Christians believe that the entire New Testament is inspired. These three-in-one are called "the Hindu triad" or the "Great Trinity" In the Hindu Puranas there is this passage: 'O ye three Lords! It is understandable that our finite minds cannot grasp an infinite God. Within Gods one, undivided being is an unfolding into three personal distinctions. However,barais the singular conjugation of the verb. Two biblical teachings confirm the doctrine of the Trinity: How is that possible? The Trinity is first of all important because God is important. How can God be both one and three? Rather, each person of the Trinity has all of the attributes of God, and no one Person has any attributes that are not possessed by the others. 8:2327), Resuscitates the dead (Matt. This post is full of Bible facts for kids that will spark the imagination, encourage lots of good questions, and even inspire some Bible reading. Yet he also proclaimed, there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live (1 Cor. When he has gone further in his "explanation" of the Trinity than many have gone, he admits, "I am far from asserting this as any . 1:18; Luke 1:2635). That is why understanding what the Trinity is and is not asserting. also 1:18). The word "trinity" cannot be found in the Bible, but the truth is that the three of them have been there together all the way along. The best way to teach the Trinity to ANYONE who is confused is with an object lesson. . After understanding the difference between essence and personhood, most objections evaporate! But it is possible to go deeper. That is why any discussion of the Trinity is based on Scripture (Ps. He is three in Person. Heres the problem (and why we shouldntstartwith these analogies):If these analogies are the only way someone thinks of the Trinity, it will lead to one of two errors. Reaching students and faculty in middle and high school. (Heavy sigh.) Because humankind is limited, God will always exceed our knowledge and understanding (Isa.

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