Excerpt from Ravi Zacharias and Norman Geisler of “Who Made God?”
How can God be three yet one? Isn’t this a contradiction? It would seem that God could be one and not three or three and not one. But He cannot be three and one at the same time. It would be a violation of the most fundamental law of thought namely the law of non-contradiction.
First of all, the Christian belief in Trinity of three persons in one God is not a contradiction. A contradiction occurs only when something is both A and non-A at the same time and in the same sense. God is both three and one at the same time but not in the same sense. He is three persons but one in essence. He is three persons but only one in nature.
It would be a contradiction to say that God had three natures in one nature or three persons in one person. But it is not a contradiction to claim that God has three persons in one nature. God is like a triangle. At the same time it has three corners and yet it is only one triangle. Each corner is not the same as the whole triangle. Or God is like one to the third power (13). 1 x 1 x 1 = 1. God is not 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, which is tritheism or polytheism. God is one God, manifested eternally and simultaneously in three distinct persons.
God is love (1 John 4:16). But to have love, there must be a lover (Father), a loved one (Son) and spirit of love (Holy Spirit). So, love itself is a tri-unity. Another illustration of the Trinity is that God is like my mind, ideas and words. There is a unity between them, yet they are distinct from each other.
Of course, the Trinity is a mystery. It goes beyond reason without going against reason. We can apprehend it but we cannot completely comprehend it. As someone wisely said, “If we try to understand God completely, we may lose our mind, but if we do not believe in the Trinity sincerely, we will lose our soul!”
Greetings Joshua Yong
On the subject of the Trinity,
I recommend this video:
The Human JesusTake a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you to reconsider "The Trinity"
Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor
Thank you so much and I know about the doctrine that do not agree on the Trinity. Of course, this little post of mine isn't deep in teaching this theology as it is not meant to be so, this is just a channel for me to teach and stimulate the young minds of my church on the Word of God and Bible truth.
As for the doctrine of the Trinity, it is a carefully studied and developed doctrine since the time of the Early Church. This doctrine is derived from the Bible after careful theological study of it. It is formed into a doctrine as the various theologians discovered that this truth is constantly mentioned in the Bible and could not deny this fact, rather than ignore it they studied about it and formed a doctrine of the Trinity.
Yes, we know that the word "Trinity" is not mentioned in the Bible but it does not mean it is not taught in the Bible. In fact, it is very much taught in the Bible throughout the New Testament. The Gospel of John itself give us many reasons to believe in the Trinity of God as somehow God is often mentioned in three persons of the same one God. This is also another reason why the Early Church and various theologians began their careful study on this truth as they cant ignore the truth of the Bible. The word "Trinity" is just a word chosen to refer to this truth taught in the Bible, it could be another word but still the same teaching.
I believe you have made a thorough study of the Trinity with an open mind and without fixed presumptions of it. If not, please do so and study this doctrine with the help from the book entitled "Christian Theology, 2nd Edition" by Millard J. Erickson. Read Part 3, Chapter 16 which touch the topic of Trinity. It is a great thorough theological book for those serious in studying Christian theology. I believe you may already know about this book.
I will watch the video and respect your stand on the Trinity but I will not reconsider my belief in the doctrine. Why? I can't deny the facts derived from the Bible which formed the Doctrine of the Trinity and to deny it is to deny my whole belief system. As you did with yours, I did not blindly believe in this doctrine but only after much study of it. Therefore, I will make my stand though I will also be open minded to study about doctrines which opposed my own belief. Why? I would not like to be narrow minded and fixed my belief only from one side of the coin...
At the end, let us live according to the Truth revealed to us and all things which we do not understand will be made clear to us in Heaven.
Philippians 3:13-16 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
God bless you brother.