“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Cor 13:14, NKJV)
The mystery of the trinity – One God manifesting as Three – is truly difficult to understand. Usually the image of the egg is used to describe the concept to children. An egg, they say, consists of a shell, an egg white and a yolk, all combining to form what we know as an egg. But this means that every part of the egg is completely different – you could never make a meringue with egg shells. This image can thus not be considered a very accurate one for the Trinity-analogy.
A more correct image for the analogy would perhaps be that of the old-fashioned wardrobe with three mirrors, a large one above the set of drawers with two smaller ones flanking it. When you stand in front of the mirror you see three separate people, one in each mirror. But this does not mean that there are three people, you obviously being only one person. God manifests as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.
If we remember that God is an eternal God, who bore Christ from within Himself (as we explained in the previous teaching) it is simple to see that the Holy Spirit is at once both the Spirit of God (Gen 1:2) and the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet 1:11).
As a person is made alive through his spirit, not able to exist without it, so the Spirit of God is what makes God alive (1 Cor 2:11). God cannot exist without it. The Holy Spirit cannot be separated from God or Christ. In this way Paul uses the terms “Spirit of God” and “Spirit of Christ” interchangeably for the same Spirit (=the Holy Spirit) in Rom 9.
Another limited, yet useful image in explaining the concept of the Trinity is that of water, which can take three forms – fluid, steam or ice. All three are in essence the same substance, the substance manifesting itself differently in each case.
The images used in explaining this are accurate because they cannot be separated, although they can clearly be discerned as examples. God as Three-in-one differs from this in not being a fixed item, like a wardrobe, or water. He cannot be pinned down in only one locus. He can simultaneously be God in heaven, Christ on earth and the descending Holy Spirit, as indeed happened at the baptism of Christ “And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”” On account of this unity of the Three believers are baptized in the Name (take note of the singular) of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matt 28:19).
- Sela: Try to explain the concept of the Trinity to a child.
- Read: 1 Chr 12; Jer 38; Philemon 1
- Memorise: Philemon 1:21
- For a deeper understanding: Read chapter 11 in John MacArhur’s book – God in the manger.
