Trinity Illustration

The traditional belief in God sees him as a Triune God. This means that God has revealed himself as three persons in one being. These persons can be distinguished in their work and nature; they cannot be separated in work and nature. -Dr. John Castelein.

This has been a helpful illustration for me when thinking about the Trinity. Here is why:

The orthodox understanding of the Trinity is that God has been revealed as three persons (hypostases) and one essence (ousia). This is illustrated in this drawing if we take the gold triangle to represent the Father, the blue as the Son, and the orange as the Spirit, we get an illustration of distinct "persons" with one "essence." See also that in the very middle of the drawing where the triangles converge we get a smaller triangle or "essence" if you will. Jesus says, "If you have seen me, then you have seen the Father." In keeping with the illustration Jesus says, "If you have seen my essence or come to know who I am, then you know the Father."

Each member of the Trinity is distinguished in their work. If we think about the creation of the world, all persons are said to have been involved, althought in different ways. The Father speaks, Jesus holds it together, and the Spirit is the life-breath of God which animates the creation. This is seen more clearly in the economy of salvation: God sends the Son, the Son is victorious, the Spirit applies the victory of Jesus to our lives. Each member of the Trinity can be distinguished in work, but are never seperated in their work. They each have their "hand" in the project.

I think this illustration is helpful, but like all other illustrations of the Trinity it leaves something to be desired. The trouble with illustrations is that none of them are really that good at describing the reality of God; who would have thought, right?

Most of our illustrations can "warm people up" to the reality of the Trinity, but usually end up illustrating something the early church rejected.

Even so, one of the most helpful tools in teaching someone about the Trinity is to show them why certain analogies don't work, even though the illustration may hint at the reality of the Trinity. This can help clarify for them what we are not saying so they can better grasp what we are saying.

For example, the illustration offered: one man fufilling three roles as father, son, and brother is similar to the water/ice/steam analogy of the Trinity, which is actually a really good illustration of Modalism. http://www.theopedia.com/Modalism

It can be helpful to get someone thinking about these realities by referring to these every day relationships and objects (egg, water, will/understanding/memory), and by pointing out the errors in these analogies, we can paint a clearer picture of what we mean by Trinity.