How to Explain and Understand the Trinity
We have just celebrated Trinity Sunday and now it is the season of Trinity. So this is the season when people ask questions about the Trinity, or say they don’t understand it, or that they don’t believe it.
To help answer these questions here are some tips to help understand and explain the Trinity.
Avoid numbers. Especially the numbers One and Three.
Don’t use analogies. There are no analogies for God.
Avoid using the word “Trinity” unless you want to produce something big like the Athanasian Creed.
Start with Jesus who is the only one who truly knows God and who can reveal him to us.
For example Hebrews 1.1-3
Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.
Look at what Father Son and Holy Spirit do.
For example Galatians 4.4-7.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.
God the Father sends his Son who redeems us by his death. His death allows us to be adopted by the Father because we belong to Jesus. As part of this adoption God sends the Spirit of the Son into our hearts, so that we know we too are children and can talk to God as our Father.
Look at the way Father Son and Holy Spirit relate.
For example John 14.7-11Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.
And John 15.26. ‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.
Jesus thinks Philip should have recognised the Father in Jesus – because his words were the words of the Father and his deeds were the deeds of the Father. The unity of Father and Son is described as the Father being in Jesus and Jesus being in the Father. The Spirit is also said to come from the Father and be sent by Jesus.
We may find these statements challenging. But is better to listen to what the scriptures say and let our minds reflect on them.
Look at how the Father Son and Holy Spirit relate to us.
For example John 14.18-25
‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, ‘Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’ 23 Jesus answered him, ‘Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
The Father and Son will make their home in us by being in us – presumably by the presence of the Holy Spirit.
All of that will help us know God better. God is not a puzzle to be solved but a Father to be loved because we have been included in his Son and have his Spirit dwelling in us.
Dale Appleby
