Understanding meaning of Trinity

James A said:

Agree, the properties of divine nature are essential however, those properties that are relevant to the physical/human world are accidental. In fact, the physical properties must be accidental because divine properties and physical properties are mutually exclusive. E.g. an entity cannot be atemporal ( timeless) and temporal (time-bound) at the same time by definition. To be precise, a timeless person cannot even engage in a conversation because there is just one moment - eternal present - in the timeless world however, we know God not only have talked to us but also became one of us.

The Creed says Father, Son and, Holy Spirit are consubstantial, coeternal and, coequal. The three Persons have exactly the same nature so, the terms "unbegotten", "begotten" and, "procession" should not be understood literally. What they mean, in my opinion, is that the operations or functions of three Persons related to the physical world are different. E.g. Creation is one act but the Persons performed three different operations. Now that the physical attributes of God are accidental, having different functions in the physical world does not introduce contradiction.

All the Persons are at work always - even when Son manifested as pillar of fire and cloud before Israelites or when Son was a fetus or when He died; but Son and Son alone was crucified and He is the sole Mediator.

Sabellianism - Wikipedia

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again, you're asking we consider your definition against that of the Church. we won't. no offense, but I don't really care about your opinion on the matter.

Sabellianism isn't relevant.

while true, the Son alone was crucified and died, He didn't act alone.

James A said:

Adding to post #39

I believe there is another reason why the physical attributes must be contingent.

The degree of Gods interaction with the human world changed - "eye for an eye" changed to "show the other cheek" - and this is not considered God mutating because the physical attributes are contingent.

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that's not relevant to this discussion. we're not talking about created contingency.

If you have a candle that is lit, and then put two other unlit candles' wicks up to the flame and hold and keep them together, the result will be one flame lighting two others for a total of three flames, and yet there will be a single flame.

On another note, Scripture speaks of Christ being the Logos, or the Word (not "word" as in a piece of a sentence such as the individual words that I am typing, but "word" in the sense a discourse or conversation or conveying information, such as "Let me have a word with you"). It also speaks of the Holy Spirit, and "spirit" - in Hebrew, Greek, and the Latin source of the word "spirit" - means "breath" or "wind".

If someone has a thought, that thought is secret and both unknown and unknowable to anyone but the person with the though. If that person wants to convey that thought, he speaks. When someone hears the words that were spoken, that person then knows what the thought is. The thought itself is still unseen, intangible, invisible, etc, but by hearing the word you now know the thought.

And word does not simply go from one person's mind to another person's ears, but is carried on the power of a breath. You can feel the air move and you can feel it vibrate. And if you were to measure the vibrations, you would see a signal and wave form that would correspond to the information conveyed by the word. The information in the thought is the same information of the word, and that information in the air vibrations is the same information as the thought and the word.

That is not to say that God the Father is a thought, or God is "information" or that we can detect and measure the Divine Nature, nor that God is an actual physical flame or anything like that.

None of that is meant to try to explain God. Rather, if we can see that certain things can be three and one in the physical world, then we can at least come to terms with the fact that God is three and/in one, even if we can't wrap our minds around how that is so.

YioUio said:

I have hard time to understand what Trinity mean.
Is this same way that three men are different person but they have same human nature, so they are one in nature?

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Your on the right track. But I would substitute three men to the more intimate relation of the family.
Husband and wife when they merge become one flesh. Moreso in the mystical act of marriage ( coupled with procreation ). As Paul said; woman came forth from man and man through woman. Thus the merging into one flesh produces a third; the child. The Logos is begotten by God and the Holy Spirit is through both and all share an inseperable bond.
They are equal in dignity and essence but are ordered through a type of heirarchy.

to be clear, the Logos is begotten of the Father outside of time, and of Mary by the Spirit in time.