The Trinity can be one of those subjects which Christians like to avoid. But if we claim to believe in a Trinitian God shouldn’t we be able to explain what that means?

Most people have heard the basic concept - God is 1 being but 3 persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God, but there is only one God. Atheists, agnostics and other religions like to say this is a contradiction, but is it?

A contradiction occurs when two statements cannot both be true at the same time. If I was to say God was 1 being and 3 beings that is a contradiction. If I was to say God is 1 person and 3 persons, that also is a contradiction. But neither of these describe the Trinity which is 1 being, but 3 persons. So the key here is understanding that person and being are not the same thing. Being is the what, and person is the ‘who’.

Let’s use humanity as an example. ‘What’ I am is a human. That is my being. But who I am is different - who I am is Becky. That is my person. So humans are one being and one person.

The nature of God however is different and that doesn’t make it wrong - One being - God. but three persons; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. There is no reason for this belief to make Christianity less credible - if anything it makes sense that God is unlike anything in creation for the creator will always be far more complex than its creation.

I’m Becky Gillespie from Thinking Matters and this has been your Thought for Today. For more reasons to believe visit www.thinkingmatters.org.nz