Disciples, Apostles, and Saints!
The doctrine of the trinity isn’t complicated. God is one. God is three persons; most commonly known as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
It isn’t complicated, but it defies our expectations for nature. Most of us find this unsettling, if not confusing. Because things aren’t three and also one at the same time. At least, not in this way.
To make sense of it, we turn to images, metaphors, nature for guidance. But these don’t work because none of it fully embraces the root of the challenge. The Trinity is a kind of a paradox; it is two simultaneous, unending truths at once. God is three and one. Always and never not.
So the Trinity isn’t like water, the sun, or a leaf—metaphors we use to make sense of something confusing, but it isn’t! It is an unexplainable mystery which defies the limits, not only of our logic, but of our definitions. Our definitions limit God. God as Father limits God TO a father, for example. But this same limiting we use goes the other way. A monotheistic singular God is limited FROM being Father. In other words, we struggle because we don’t want to actually deal with the problem itself: us. Our language and the limits of our way of thinking.
Better than defining the nature of God, the church has offered images which explore the character of God. Images of connection and love, dancing and serving. And it is in these images for each person of the Trinity which help us far more to know and understand God.
With love,
Drew