Analogies that do not work
First off, I want to say there are many analogies that Christian’s have used for centuries and are limited and often misrepresent the doctrine of the trinity. One I have heard is “I am a father also a son and a husband, yet I am one person. This is like God he is one person with three roles.” But this is not an accurate explanation of the trinity at all because it is one person with three roles. God is one being that exists in three people. God is three different distant persons that all exist at the same time.
In this analogy if someone asked how the Father sent his son there would be no good justification because it is saying that God is one person with different roles. I cannot say in my role as a father that I am sending myself in the role of the son to go and do something this would not make any logical sense.
Water analogy is a very popular one, water can be liquid, solid, and gas yet it is one substance. This too fails in the same way, the last argument does, water cannot be liquid, solid, and gas all at the same time so it is one person with three different roles not one being with three different persons. God exists as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all at the same time he does not switch from one to the other.
The egg analogy is one of the worst ones I can think of, it claims God is like an egg it has the yoke the egg white and the eggshell. This limits each person in the trinity to be one third God. The Father is not just one third God he is fully God, etc. This limits who God is and is biblically inaccurate.
How do I explain the trinity in a logical way that makes sense?
Recently I watched a video of Nabeel Qureshi a former Muslim who converted to Christianity explain it in a way that just blew my mind!
He started out by giving the definition of the trinity; One being God; existing in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is not a contradiction it would be if someone said God is one person existing as three persons, but this is not what is being said.
So, what is the difference between a being and a person?
A being is “that quality that makes you what you are” and a person is “the quality that makes you who you are.” In other words, I am a human being, that is what I am, but who I am is different, who I am is Caleb Beyer. So, you are a human being but a different person than me, is this a contradiction? There are 8 billion people on earth and all of them are the same being. So, if the trinity is a contradiction then humanity itself is a contradiction.
Now many people will bring that Jesus says “the father is greater than I’ in John, so how could Jesus be God and yet say that God is greater than himself? Well, this comes down to role. I can easily say that the president is greater than I. Because he is the most powerful man in the world people are interviewing him every day… The president is greater than me in terms of role but not in essence. We are both human beings but have different roles.
So, when Jesus says “The father is greater than I” he is speaking in terms of his role not his essence the Father is greater because he was in heaven with all his power and Jesus was humbled to becoming a human. But they are still both God in there being and are equal in essence. Also, some people after this will go sarcastically “so you’re telling me that 1+1+1=1?” but you can answer back that no I’m telling you that 1x1x1=1!
Real life story
This is the best explanation for the trinity I have ever heard. I hope whoever reads this will be able to use it out on the battlefield! The day I first heard this explanation I started praying that I would be able to explain it to someone. Then one day I went out to ice cream with a group of friends and the guy at the cashier asked one of us what are shirts meant (because we were all wearing the same shirts because we had just come from a VBS) then he told the person he was talking to that he was Muslim and they started to have a conversation.
Soon I jumped into the conversation and soon it became just me and him going back and forth on various topics. Then I did something I don’t think most people would do. I started praying that he would bring up the trinity. Seconds later his next topic of interest was the trinity! Then I explained it to him like I just explained it in this article. We talked with this Muslim for over an hour and there were people who stopped and just listened for a couple minutes to our conversation.
At the end of it all I came to realize some really big things! I had been praying for years to be able to have a conversation with a Muslim. I had been praying to have a chance to explain the trinity.
And the craziest thing was we were going to go to ice cream the day before, and the day we went to ice cream was the only day our team were our matching shirts and that is how the conversation got started! I remember at first when the conversation was started with the Muslim I didn’t really care I just stood there and hoped we could get going soon but God still wanted me there.
So, I slowly went up and the conversation really impacted my faith and I was encouraged so much by my team after and it felt like the spot light was on me and at first I didn’t even want a part in it. God used me when I felt like I should have been benched yet he put me in and used me for the biggest part of the game! God can use you even when you don’t feel ready or you feel like you don’t deserve to be used by him!
How do I explain the trinity in a logical way that makes sense?
I Recently watched a video of Nabeel Qureshi, a former Muslim who converted to Christianity, and he explained it in a way that just blew my mind!
He started out by giving the definition of the trinity; One being, God, existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is not a contradiction, it would be if someone said God is one person existing as three persons, but this is not what is being said.
So, what is the difference between a being and a person?
A being is “that quality that makes you what you are” and a person is “the quality that makes you who you are.” In other words, I am a human being, that is what I am, but who I am is different. I am Caleb Beyer. So, you are a human being but a different person than me, is that a contradiction?
Now many people will bring up that Jesus said “the father is greater than I’ in John, so how could Jesus be God and yet say that God is greater than himself? Well, this comes down to role. I can easily say that the president is greater than I. Because he is the most powerful man in the world, people are interviewing him every day… The president is greater than me in terms of role, but not in essence. We are both human beings but have different roles.
So, when Jesus says “The father is greater than I” he is speaking in terms of his role, not his essence. The Father is greater because he was in heaven with all his power and Jesus was humbled to becoming a human. But they are still both God in there being and are equal in essence. Also, some people after this will go sarcastically “so you’re telling me that 1+1+1=1?” but you can answer back that no I’m telling you that 1x1x1=1!
This is the best explanation for the trinity I have ever heard. I hope whoever reads this will be able to use it out on the battlefield! The day I first heard this explanation I started praying that I would be able to explain it to someone. Then one day I went out to ice cream with a group of friends and the guy at the cashier asked one of us what our shirts meant (because we were all wearing the same shirts because we had just come from a VBS). Then he told the person he was talking to that he was Muslim, and they started to have a conversation.
Soon jumped into the conversation, and it quickly became just me and him going back and forth on various topics. Then I did something I don’t think most people would do. I started praying that he would bring up the trinity. Seconds later his next topic of interest was the trinity! Then I explained it to him like I just explained it in this article. We talked with this Muslim for over an hour and there were people who stopped and just listened for a couple minutes to our conversation.
At the end of it all I came to realize some really big things! I had been praying for years to be able to have a conversation with a Muslim. I had been praying to have a chance to explain the trinity.
And the craziest thing was we were going to go to ice cream the day before, and the day we went to ice cream was the only day our team were our matching shirts and that is how the conversation got started! I remember at first when the conversation was started with the Muslim I didn’t really care, I just stood there and hoped we could get going soon but God still wanted me there.
So, I slowly went up and the conversation really impacted my faith. I was encouraged so much by my team after and it felt like the spotlight was on me even though at first, I didn’t even want a part in it. God used me when I felt like I should have been benched, yet he put me in and used me for the biggest part of the game! God can use you even when you don’t feel ready or you feel like you don’t deserve to be used by him!