The Holy Trinity

I love puzzles. Crosswords, sudoku, logic, and math puzzles are examples. I love packing our travel luggage and the peripheral items that will accompany us on a trip into the back end of the minivan in just the right way so everything will fit and nothing will fly around if we have to make a sudden stop. I love to take something apart to see how it works and then put it all back together usually without a manual with how-to instructions, and often times with success.

So, I come to the puzzle presented in the sermon this past Trinity Sunday, May 30 - how can God be one-in-three and three-in-one all at the same time? The answer to this question is fundamental to our understanding of the power of God yet it is difficult to approach using logic. In many ways it is a mystery we must accept on faith and we choose to do so because the presence of God in three aspects is taught to us through so many verses in the Bible. Here are a few:

Matthew 28:19 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…”

Luke 3:22 – “And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him (Jesus) in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.””

2 Corinthians 13:14 – “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

These verses point the way, but for me, a person who comprehends best by seeing a visual representation, the picture above brings into clearer focus what I have come to believe.

God is Three. God is One. How? I will never be able to answer this question empirically but I know it to be true through what I can feel in my everyday life. Hallelujah!

Bob Linderman