Bible Question: Does anyone have an easy way to explain the trinity to someone who thinks it is 2 or 3 separate individuals? (Example: God is an individual man, Jesus is an individual man, and the Spirit is a spirit). I have a hard time trying to explain it to someone who thinks they are individual. dat |
Bible Answer: Hi dat, this is part of a Bible study that I presented one day, there might be something in there that could help your understanding. For sake of clarification lets say that God, as we know him, has certain characteristics, not all are listed, but these ten are listed for simple clarity; again, this is not a complete list but it's sufficient for the brief explanation. God is sovereignty, righteousness, justice, love, eternal life, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, immutability, and veracity. God is one in unity with all of these characteristics just mentioned. Whoever has All of these attributes is in fact God. It so happens that there are three separate personalities in existence, that have All of these attributes and for sake of accommodation, they are referred to in the Bible as, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. They have existed Together forever in eternity past and they will continue on forever into eternity future; the three personalities had no beginning, they always were and always will be. Anyone exhibiting All of the listed traits mentioned is God, it so happens that there are only three personalities in existence that posses (All) of these attributes. God is ONE IN ESSENCE but THREE IN PERSONALITIES. God decided in eternity past that one of the personalities, the one we call the Son, would take on the form of a man and be born into the human race, his name as a human, would be Jesus. When God the second person took on the form of a man it is referred to as the hypostatic union. (i.e.) Jesus is a one-of-a-kind being, 100 percent God and 100 percent man; he was the God man. He is different from the other two members of the God Head in that he is a man. He is different from mankind in that he is God. Even though Jesus was walking around on this Earth as a man, he was at the same time holding the Universe together by the power of his might as God. God didn't see fit to reveal everything to the humanity of Jesus at the time of his first coming; an example of this would be the exact day and hour when Christ would return to the Earth to be glorified in his saints at his second coming. (PAROUSIA) I hope this will settle a lot of the confusion about what is called the Trinity, which is not a word that is actually used in the Bible, but it is a term that has been coined to cover a fact of doctrine. Every technical subject uses a technical language. Have a nice day, CDBJ |