H2O and the Trinity

Good morning friends,

Have you ever wished, as a Christian, that you could better explain the Trinity? Or maybe you wanted to understand it better, just because.

I think most of us recognize the feeling. I know I do. The Trinity is notoriously hard to explain. It's difficult because it's a spiritual God-thing and we have no perfect physical comparison to say, "Look, the Trinity is like this."

Many times I've heard an analogy given for the Trinity and my truth-seeking mind has strongly protested that, "no, that one doesn’t work." This is serious, because if we use analogies that are logically flawed, we risk damaging the struggling faith of a sincere mind.

For example, you may have heard the erroneous egg illustration given. It goes like this: An egg has three parts. The yolk, the white and the shell. So it's three-in-one. Put each of the three parts together and it's like a trinity!

Except it is not.

A shell is not an egg and the white is not an egg and the yolk is not an egg. So this egg illustration cannot be used to explain the Trinity because the parts totally lose the completeness of the One when they are separate from each other. Just because we can neatly disassemble a thing into three parts does not make it a trinity!

Or maybe you have heard the also-misleading "Titles and Identities" explanation used. It goes like this: I am a son to my parents. I am a husband to my wife. I am a father to my children. So, this is what the Trinity is like. I am at the same time a son and a husband and a father. So I am three things with three identities but still one man.

The problem with this one is that the truth of these identities and titles are limited and narrow and totally relational based. I am only a son to two people–my parents. I am only a husband to one woman–my wife. I'm only a father to six–my children. So this illustration breaks down badly, too, since the identifying characteristics of the Trinity are always true for all of humanity and all of creation at all times and is never relationally limited nor conditionally narrowed.

I can imagine some of you saying, "So just what do you have that is better, Edwin?" And you do have a right to be skeptical. Because the disclaimer is, of course, that all physical comparisons struggle in some way when trying to illustrate a spiritual concept like the Trinity.

But, if you don't mind, I would like to share what I have found helpful for my own faith and understanding. And it does not contradict scripture nor logic although it certainly does not fully capture the richness of the Trinity either.

Dawn and I have used this to explain the Trinity to our children over the years and to some others and it seems helpful to them as well. So, I'll share it here and if it helps your faith, feel free to use it with your family and friends. If it does not work for you... maybe you can find a better one and share it with me. :)

Here is what I call "The H2O Analogy."

H2O in its liquid form could be likened to "God the Father." If we were from another planet and unfamiliar with water, as we'd see and experience water and ask what it is, someone would answer, "It's water." And it is, but scientifically it is more correct to say it is H2O in liquid form. Water is H2O. It's always H2O. All of it is H2O.

H2O in its solid form could be likened to Jesus, "God the Son," God incarnate - God in the flesh. Ice is a solid, tangible form of H2O. You can get your hands on it. It has a shape. It has a solid physical existence. It has more substance. It is firm to our touch. We call it ice, or, maybe, frozen water. But scientifically, ice is still H2O. It's exactly the same H2O as the water is and was. It is 100% H2O and all of it is H2O. No matter how you cut it or break it or even melt it, it will always be H2O. Even though, when melted, it will change again to its liquid form, it's still H2O.

H2O in its gaseous form could be likened to "God the Holy Spirit." Steam, water vapor... It's here, it's there, it's powerful, it's always moving, sometimes hard to see... hard to get ahold of, almost impossible to contain, but it's real. And, yes, it is 100% accurate to scientifically identify steam as H2O. It's all H2O, fully and completely and entirely.

All of these forms are H2O. It may be in its liquid form, it may be in its solid form, or it may be in its steam/vapor form... but it's always H2O. Water is H2O, Ice is H2O and Steam is H2O. Each entity is 100% H2O yet they are fully distinguishable and separate and different one from the other. They are truly three-in-one.

Isn't it amazing? Water is not ice, and ice is not steam, and steam is not water. Yet all are equally 100% still H2O just like each one of the Trinity is fully 100% God yet still distinct from each other. Each has its own separate and different properties of existence and expression and even unique powers and roles, but all three are unitedly and fully 100% God. Three-in-one. Three separate identities in specific ways, but all sharing a single identity as one God.

So for whatever it's worth to you, friends, this is my way of thinking through and hopefully better understanding what the Bible teaches about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Dawn and I have found it helpful with our faith and family. But remember, this is only one more analogy and it's not perfect.

Do not mistake it for the Trinity itself nor for the truth itself. And if it does not help you, drop my analogy, but keep the truth.

Blessings until next time!

Your Mennonite Christian farmer friend,

Edwin Shank

"Intensely striving to be... A follower of Jesus indeed... In whom there is no guile"

Then said Jesus unto them, "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."  - John 8:12