Looking at the meaning of Trinity
Imagine you arrive at the scene of an accident and find a smashed car at the bottom of the cliff where you are standing. The car is green, and with very large wheels and tyres the sort youd only find on customised cars. At the cliff edge you see the green paint on many of the rocks, and the large distinctive tyre tracks leading over the edge of the cliff. The soil was disturbed, and rocks had fallen away. Directly below were the remains of the vehicle. Logically speaking the car had slipped over the cliff. Although you were not present and do not necessarily understand how it had happened, all the evidence (secondary factors) points to one logical conclusion: the car went over the cliff.
In this chapter we look at the Trinity. The term Trinity is not found in Scripture but speaks of a truth found throughout the Bible that there are three Persons co-existing in unity as one God. As with the illustration above, we shall look at secondary factors, which point us to a logical conclusion that God is a plurality of Persons in perfect unity as One. To attempt to understand everything about God is not possible, He being the supreme Creator. Yet to avoid issues just because they seem difficult is just as foolish.
In Gen.1:1 we read of God in the plural, yet who creates in the singular creating as one. Throughout the Old Testament Elohim occurs 2,312 times and the alternation of singulars and plurals of the Divine names effectively safeguards against interpreting Elohim as signifying a plurality of gods, and yet at the same time also safeguards against the denial of a plurality of persons within the Godhead.
Later in Deut.6:4 we read Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one (Shema Yisroel Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echad). The word that is used for one in this passage is not yachid speaking of absolute one-ness but echad speaking of a composite one like one football team and so forth.
In the New Testament we read of Jesus saying I and the Father are one (Jn.10:30), which led the Jews to want to kill Him, they recognising what He was saying that He was God. In Greek the word one is neuter (hen), not masculine (heis), which indicates that Jesus and God were one and the same in essence and power.
Shortly after the birth of Christianity we find people speaking of the word Person and saying that in the one God there are three persona, equal yet unique, being together the One True God. This may seem impossible to us but as we look at the meaning of Person things get a little clearer.
If you or I were locked in a prison cell it is obvious that we would not be able to escape after all we cannot walk through walls. Yet, even though we are trapped bodily our minds remain free. We could think of events that occurred in the past, create a future in our imagination or travel around the world, so to speak, in our thoughts and so on. The mental abilities within man are vast and wonderful each of us has millions of thoughts, millions of stories and millions of experiences. All of these are within us and so the term Person was used to speak of the place where I reside, the place where all that is me is contained. Where me resides there is self consciousness, with the capability of free thought and action this was termed full personality.
Personality cannot be measured in space or time, it can only be perceived in action, in relation with either the environment or other beings. Personality is clearly seen in the actions of the will, this being our capacity to make choices, commitments and decisions. Will is the outworking of who we are, our thoughts and beliefs. It is an expression of the choices made according to how we perceive others and see life.
In this day and age our whole being mentally, physically and spiritually is spoken of as being a Person. But this was not the original meaning of person. The original meaning of person did not contain the physical element., which confuses us today when we think of three persons yet one God. Three physical beings seen as persona are obviously not one God, yet when we realise that person does not contain the physical element, then things get a little clearer. God expressly prohibited man from making images of Him because the image then became God for us. In other words our thoughts made Him instead of letting Him speak for Himself. For example, one of the simple reasons that many in the Jewish nation rejected Jesus is because He did not fit the image they had made concerning the Messiah. Pictures of a three headed God, or three men as being God do not depict the Trinity since they fail to do justice to Gods revelation of Himself.
The Latin word persona was originally derived from a mask through which an actor spoke, the word person actually being two words: per meaning through and sono meaning to sound. The mask gave an indication as to where the actor behind the mask was and what he was like, and of the one he was meant to depict. For example a red mask could have been used to speak of an angry man and a black mask to speak of a murderer and death, and so forth. The mask was a personification of the unseen person within, so to speak. The word soon came to be applied to the character of the actor, rather than the mask, and eventually came to mean the inner being the thinking, rational, self conscious being the place where the sum total of a mans thinking and being were to be found. Our physical frames are often thought of as being the person in the sense that a mask was originally described as person yet this fails to show how the idea developed, and apart from this you do not need to have a physical body to reveal personality. For example a phone call or family videotape can directly communicate personality the body does not have to be physically present. Hence person speaks of that which does not belong to the realm of space or the region of the visible, as we have already said, instead speaking more of a spirituality in time. It is the true substance of being, in space and time, yet with a final destiny beyond what we now know.
As already stated, thinking of three persons yet one God is difficult for us since, when we look at a person, we see the whole person body included, and seeing a material person causes us to arrive at 1+1+1=3 when thinking of Trinity. Yet looking at things another way helps us to see things in a different perspective, after all 1x1x1=1.
We would not use a fishing net to catch sunlight , and in looking at persona we should remember that we are not dealing with something that can be visibly seen in itself, or, for example, held with our hands. This is why illustrations such as ice, water and steam being used to reveal three-as-oneness convey but a very weak picture of the reality. A slightly better attempt, though still clumsy, would be to say that air is made up of oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen.
God is Personal. He is a being whom we can encounter because He has chosen to reveal Himself to us in ways whereby we can understand who He is and what He is like. He is a perfect being and so much more than an object to be observed and so much more than our best and perfect thoughts.
We begin to realise that God is out there somewhere by looking at the design in the creation, yet we can only truly know Him because He has chosen to communicate with us, using the mediums of language and action to convey what He is like.
God is personal and for us: yet due to sin, we are far from Him. However God is a loving God who reaches out to us. Because of His grace mercy and compassion, we are able to encounter Him through His actions and words in such a way that we see and know the One who cannot otherwise be known. For instance, He presents us with images of Himself in the analogy of a human form. Just one example of this would be when God speaks of His arm reaching out to sustain man:
My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm (Isa.51:5)
We often think that such phrases as my arm are given to show that God is like us, yet this is not so. Firstly Scripture informs us that God is Spirit (Jn.4:24), and secondly, God uses human terminology to reveal what He is like, and in doing so shows that He is very different from us. For example, unlike humanity who often takes up weapons against others in indiscriminate and irrational ways, Gods arm brings about His perfect justice. The one who has every right to destroy rebellious man reaches forth His arm to help man instead. God always accomplishes what He sets out to do. He is far superior to us in every way and comparison is not really possible. And yet He graciously uses anthropomorphic language so that we might see and understand who He is. God is a living being, much more than a function or conglomerate of worldly ideas reaching upwards. He is the Holy One who stoops low in love, compassion and mercy, reaching out to those who deserve nothing and in giving Himself, giving everything.
In todays society we often see a person as a physical being who sees his fellow man as a potential competitor in life. Or he may see others as stepping stones no more than tools to be used and abused as one marches relentlessly on to some form of worldly success. One of our problems is that we dont look at much below the surface and therefore see person as little more than an isolated individual who is complete in him/herself. In the light of all this, our rationalistic thinking often sees the idea of three persons within the one God as totally impossible. Yet to be a true person speaks of having perfect outgoing relationships with those around us. God did not create us to compete with one another, compare ourselves with one another or use and abuse one another. We were created to inter-relate in deep and wonderful ways, whilst still retaining our individuality. The word person does not speak of that which is visible of itself or measurable but of that which is present nonetheless and is revealed in its relation to others.
The person of the eternal Son of God, for example, whilst having His own identity exists in inseparable union with the persons of the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Speaking of God we find three persons unique yet the same, giving out and receiving love, wrapped in absolute holiness. And so we begin to catch a glimpse of three in oneness. Lets remind ourselves of this again: God in absolute perfection. He does not need to lean upon or rely upon anything to make Him who He is. He is the great I AM and within the persons of the Trinity we find the binding essence of love not a fleeting feeling, but an active willing love, which gives out and receives. There is one God and that God is Triune: One God in three persons. None of them can possibly be the whole God, and none of them can be God except in union with the other two persons. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one, and only one God. None of them is God without the other two. Each of them, with the other two, is God.
Today we have people who are called schizophrenic because they display more than one personality. This has come about because of the fall away from God, along with unknown additional factors, and yet, in a strange way, this can help us as we look at person. Within the one God we have three persons, perfectly loving, perfectly communicating, distinct, yet also the same a powerful dynamic relationship characterised in love and holiness. The Father is the giver of unoriginated divine love, a pure source; the thinking, active, giving love of a transcendent father. The Incarnate Son is the receiver and communicator of this love the Word made flesh. He receives glory and power from the Father and empties Himself of it, whilst being continually filled, in giving out to others. He is the perfect mediator pure mediation, a thinking active person, and not just an object which something passes through. The Spirit is life given and life returning to God. He is a thinking, active person, not a supply of power, but a giver of Himself pointing to the work of the Son and the love of the Father and Son.
Therefore in the one God we see, through perfect relationship and intimacy (which is not at the expense of unity), three persons Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each characterised by their selflessness and yet so much more.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt.28:19)
In the above verse the word name is singular. In using this word Jesus indicates that there is one God, but three distinct persons within the Godhead the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Quoted from Christ or Mohammed The Bible or the Quran? by F.S.Copleston. (Updated and expanded by Jem Trehern) Published by Christian Focus Publications (2001)
