Subject: Introducing the English Standard Version |
Bible Note: Dear Darcy -- "Is every week-end this relaxing on here?" .... Thank goodness, I don't know, because most week-ends I have better sense than to stay glued to this forum :-) .... Definition of the Trinity? .... That's a hard one. We really can't compare the Triunity of God with anything that He created, and since He created all that is, where does that leave us? Well, it leaves us in the same fix as the Psalmist who asked in awe and wonder, "Who in the heavens can be compared to the Lord, who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the Lord?" [Psalm 89:6]. God Himself in Isaiah 46:5 asked the question, "To whom will you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me, that we should be alike?" God, the Triune God, is transcendent: He is above and independent of the material universe. There is nothing within our limited perception to which we can compare God. Consequently any attempt to set up an analogy of the Trinity to anything we know of in our finite sphere of knowledge and awareness always falls short of the mark and is abysmally inadequate and incomplete. Accordingly, I long since abandoned any effort to construct an illustration or an analogy to explain the Triunity or Trinity. Instead, I have used a fairly brief definition that I gleaned from the glossary in the back of the Believer's Study Bible (now renamed Baptist Study Bible) published by Thomas Nelson. It is as follows: "Triunity (Trinity). The distinctive and essential Christian doctrine that there is one God in three Persons. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. There is a distinction between the Persons so that the Father is not the Son, the Father is not the Spirit, and the Son is not the Spirit. Each is a Person. The Holy Spirit is not to be envisioned as a mere force or influence." ..... I hope this will be of some benefit to you, Darcy, and I hope that our gentle friend, the Truthfinder, has been standing by in the wing, peeping in, and soaking up this good doctrine on the Trinity also. --Hank |