TITLE: My View of the Trinity March 12, 2015 By Lloyd Faulds 03/12/15 |
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Over the years I have heard several explanations of the trinity. One such explanation of the Trinity describes it as like the three forms of water. God the Father is like ice. Jesus is like water. The Holy Spirit is like steam. This might be OK if you could have all three existing at the same time in the same place.
Another explanation I have heard describes the Trinity as being like an egg. God the father is like the yoke. Jesus is the white of the egg. And the Holy Spirit would be the outer shell.
I have, in the past, described the trinity as being like a coin. God the Father is the heads. Jesus is the tails. The Holy Spirit is the outer edge of the coin. Try removing one without effecting the others. Even if you cut a coin in half, you still have a top, bottom, and an edge.
But I think a better explanation of the Trinity is given in the Bible. Gen 1:26-27 says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
God the Father is the brain. Jesus is the body. And the Holy Spirit is the emotions of God. Let me explain how I see this.
Several years ago, I was witnessing to a co-worker. The subject of the Trinity came up. This co-worker was taught that Jehovah was the only God. Jesus was only a created being through which God Jehovah created the world and then sent to die on the cross for our sins. At one point during our conversation, this co-worker asked me, “So, when Jesus prayed, who did He pray to – himself?”
At the time, I did not have a good answer. Now I believe I do. The answer to that question is “yes. He was praying to Himself.” Let me explain.
Pretend we are having this conversation at a restaurant. We are sitting at a table. On this table is a candle, salt and pepper shaker, the container with the sugar packets, etc. As we are sitting there, waiting for our coffee to arrive, I ask you to close your eyes and hold out your hand. You tentatively do so. Now, with your eyes closed and your hand outstretched, I slowly slide the candle under your hand. It will not be long before you jerk your hand away and open your eyes to see what is going on.
I may ask you something like, “How did your hand get in that position?” The answer would be that your brain told your arm and hand to move to that position. So your brain communicated with your hand and told it what to do. I then ask, “Why did you jerk your hand away?” Your response would be, “Because it was hot.” Now how did your brain know that your hand was about to get burnt? Your hand sent stimuli to your brain telling it that it needed to move that hand quickly or be burnt. Then your brain told your hand and arm to move back away from the flame.
Our brains are all the time sending stimuli to our bodies telling our bodies what to do. Our bodies, in return, send stimuli back to our brain through our five senses. This lets our brains know what is going on around us. I believe this is a picture of what Jesus was doing when He prayed to the Father.
Our bodies cannot function without our brains. This is why Jesus said in John 5:19, “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” And in John 5:30, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” Jesus acted on the stimuli sent to Him from the Father. This is why Jesus said in John 14:28, “...my father is greater than I.” The entire 14th chapter of John is explaining this relationship between Jesus and the Father. Jesus is in the Father, and the Father is in Jesus.
We are to have this same kind of relationship with the Father. We are the body of Christ. We pray to the Father just as Jesus did. This does not mean that God does not know what is going on around us if we don't pray to Him. He is all knowing. He knows everything, even if we don't pray to Him, but He wants and desires this fellowship with us just like He had with Jesus.
So God the Father is the brain. Jesus is the body. That leaves us with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the emotions of God. Gal 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” These are the emotions of God. Maybe “emotions” is not the correct word. Maybe the outward manifestation of the character of God would be better.
When I think of the Holy Spirit and try to compare Him to a part of our being, I keep returning to Him being like our sub conscience. There is a conscious part of our being that controls our bodies and tells it what to do. But there is also an unconscious part that also controls our bodies. We don't have to physically think about breathing. We just do it. Our hearts beat automatically along with our digestive system and other parts of our bodies.
The main difference between how our bodies function and how God functions is that we have a single consciousness where each part of God has its own consciousness each working as one. This is how Jesus could say, “I and my Father [and the HolySpirit] are one.” (John 10:30)
God is one just as our bodies are one. Our beings are composed of a will, a physical body, and emotions, or a body, soul, and spirit. These all form together to make us one single individual. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all together form a single complete God. In other words, a body, soul, and spirit of God, in whose image we were created.
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