Trying to Understand the Trinity (Bonus): The Trinity is (NOT) like _____________

Trying to Understand the Trinity

Start with What Scripture Reveals

Before considering illustrations, it helps to remember the three biblical truths we’ve established throughout this series:

1. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three distinct persons.
2. Each person is fully God.
3. There is only one God.

Quick Answer

There really isn’t a perfect created analogy for the Trinity.

Water, eggs, apples, shamrocks, and a person filling three different roles can each illustrate one small aspect of the doctrine. But each eventually breaks down because nothing in creation exists exactly as God exists.

Some illustrations accidentally make Father, Son, and Holy Spirit into three roles played by one person. Others make each person only one-third of God.

Neither accurately represents historic Christian belief.

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Pop Quiz: Which Best Describes the Trinity?

Before we look at some common illustrations, let’s see if you can identify the biblical doctrine.

Which statement best describes the Trinity?

Options A and B may initially sound like reasonable ways of making sense of the Trinity.

But both erase the real distinction Scripture reveals between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

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Why Are Trinity Analogies So Difficult?

I understand the temptation to find the perfect illustration.

I see the Trinity in Scripture. I believe God has revealed Himself as one God who eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

But then my mind naturally asks:

“What is that like?”

We want something concrete.

Something we can hold.

Something we can draw on a whiteboard or explain to a child.

Christians have been trying to find ways to communicate the mystery of the Trinity for centuries.

But there is a basic problem with every analogy:

Eventually, every analogy breaks.

Some break more quickly than others.

And some break in ways that accidentally reproduce ideas the church rejected long ago because they fail to account for everything Scripture says about God.

Let’s look at several of the most common examples.

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Is the Trinity Like a Man Who Is a Father, Son, and Husband?

You’ve probably heard this one.

Imagine a man named John.

John is a son to his parents.

He is a husband to his wife.

And he is a father to his children.

One man. Three roles.

At first, that sounds promising.

The problem is that John is still only one person.

“Father,” “son,” and “husband” merely describe different relationships or roles belonging to that one person.

That is not what Christians mean when we say God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This illustration therefore points us toward an ancient misunderstanding known as modalism.

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What Is Modalism?

Modalism teaches that God is one divine person who reveals Himself in different modes, manifestations, or roles.

A common modern version sounds something like this:

But that is not the Trinity.

As we explored in Part 1: Three Distinct Persons , Scripture does not portray Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as successive roles played by one person.

The Father loves the Son before creation (John 17:24).

The Son speaks to the Father (John 17).

The Father sends the Spirit (John 14:26).

The Son sends the Spirit (John 16:7).

These are real relationships between distinct persons.

All three eternally exist as the one God.

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Is the Trinity Like Water, Ice, and Steam?

This may be the most popular Trinity illustration of all.

Water can exist as:

• solid ice,
• liquid water, and
• water vapor or steam.

All three are H₂O.

So, the illustration goes, perhaps God is similar: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three forms of the same divine substance.

But once again, we have a problem.

When the illustration is used as water changing from ice to liquid to vapor, H₂O is moving from one state or mode to another.

That sounds much more like modalism than the Trinity.

Scripture does not describe one divine person switching forms.

And Jesus’ baptism makes that especially clear.

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Why Does Jesus’ Baptism Cause Problems for Modalism?

Matthew 3:13–17 provides one of the clearest biblical pictures of the distinction between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

At Jesus’ baptism:

• The Son comes up from the water.
• The Holy Spirit descends upon Him like a dove.
• The Father speaks from heaven about His beloved Son.

All three are present in the same scene.

This is why neither the “three roles” illustration nor the common ice-water-steam illustration adequately represents the biblical doctrine.

The distinction within God is not merely a distinction of roles.

It is a distinction of persons.

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Is the Trinity Like a Three-Leaf Clover?

Another famous illustration compares the Trinity to a three-leaf clover or shamrock.

The illustration is traditionally associated with St. Patrick, although whether Patrick himself actually used the shamrock to explain the Trinity is uncertain.

The idea is simple:

One clover has three leaves.

Therefore, one God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

This illustration does preserve a sense of “three and one,” but it creates a different problem.

Pick one leaf off the clover.

Is that single leaf the entire three-leaf clover?

No.

It is only part of the clover.

That is where the shamrock illustration breaks down.

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What About an Egg or an Apple?

The egg and apple illustrations run into essentially the same problem as the clover.

An egg has:

• a shell,
• a white, and
• a yolk.

An apple can be divided into:

• skin,
• flesh, and
• core.

Three parts. One object.

Again, it initially sounds useful.

But the eggshell is not itself the whole egg.

The yolk is not the whole egg.

The apple peel is not the whole apple.

Each is only one part of the whole.

That is not how the Bible describes Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As we explored in Part 2: Each Person Is Fully God , Scripture identifies each person as fully divine.

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What Is Partialism?

The problem illustrated by the clover, egg, and apple is often described as partialism.

Partialism treats Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as though each person were only a portion or component of God.

Put all three together and you finally have the complete God.

But historic Christian theology does not teach:

Instead:

Yet, as we explored in Part 3: There Is One God , this does not give us three Gods.

There is one undivided divine Being eternally existing as three distinct persons.

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So How Should We Explain the Trinity?

If water doesn’t work, the clover doesn’t work, the egg doesn’t work, and the father-son-husband illustration doesn’t work, what should we use?

Here’s my suggestion:

Start with Scripture instead of an analogy.

Teach the three truths the Bible reveals:

Then stop where Scripture stops.

We don’t have to find something in creation that perfectly explains how those truths fit together.

There may not be anything.

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How Can We Explain the Trinity to Children?

This may be where the temptation to use an object lesson is strongest.

We naturally want to make difficult truths concrete for children.

But children can often handle more mystery than we give them credit for.

You don’t have to hand them an egg or freeze a cup of water.

You can simply say something like:

Then show them the Bible.

Read or summarize Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3:13–17 and ask:

• Who is being baptized?
• Who comes down like a dove?
• Who speaks from heaven?

You don’t have to explain everything about God’s nature for a child to begin learning what God has revealed about Himself.

That’s not avoiding the question.

It’s recognizing the difference between knowing something truly and understanding something exhaustively.

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Heart Check

There is something humbling about admitting that we cannot reduce God to an object lesson.

We like explanations we can master.

But God is not an object for us to master.

He is the infinite Creator who has graciously made Himself known.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to understand the Trinity better.

That’s part of why this entire series exists.

But eventually our study should lead beyond explanation to worship.

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Key Takeaway

And if you’ve used one of these illustrations before, I wouldn’t lose sleep over it.

I have too.

Teaching complicated truths means that sometimes our illustrations don’t work nearly as well as we thought they did.

We learn. We adjust. And we keep pointing people back to Scripture.

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Explore the Complete Trinity Series

Keep Studying

These passages are especially helpful for seeing the three truths behind the doctrine of the Trinity:

• Deuteronomy 6:4–5 — there is one God.
• Isaiah 45:5–6 — the LORD declares that there is no other God.
• Matthew 3:13–17 — Father, Son, and Spirit appear distinctly at Jesus’ baptism.
• Matthew 28:18–20 — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are named together.
• John 1:1–18 — the Word is distinguished from God and identified as God.
• John 14–17 — Father, Son, and Spirit repeatedly relate to one another.
• John 20:28 — Thomas addresses the risen Jesus as Lord and God.
• Acts 5:1–4 — lying to the Holy Spirit is described as lying to God.
• 2 Corinthians 13:14 — Father, Son, and Spirit appear together in Paul’s closing blessing.

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