Question from a reader
I guess if one calls her blog "Ask a Lutheran" then one should expect to be asked questions from time to time. *smile* Most of the time the questions are from Sara, (lol) but yesterday I received a question by email from Mick in Afghanistan. It's a really good question and I'd like to share it with you:
Hello.... Greetings from Afghanistan! Lovely people....dreadful place. I found you on the Web. I'm a British Royal Marine "stationed" here - actually we move around a lot - with a question about the nature of the Trinity. I've noticed that many Muslims think that the Christian concept of the Trinity is polytheistic in nature. Three separate Gods in one as it were. And, frankly, I've always been a bit mystified about it myself...three Persons but One God...the nature of that Divine relationship, etc. I asked a Catholic priest (a nice if humourless fellow) and he said that it was simple: there is only one divine nature. Ummm, yes, I understand, I think....but then...well, it's getting all mixed up in me empty head. If you can shed any light on the matter it would be appreciated. Thanks!
Mick
I checked the FAQ section on the LCMS website (a great resource by the way) where a similar question had been posed. The response was as follows:
A. In response, let me first emphasize that we human beings, with our limited power of reason (which is also corrupted by sin), cannot understand or fathom the mystery of the divine Trinity. What we know about God He has revealed to us, which we must accept on faith. One of our official Lutheran confessional documents succinctly summarizes the doctrine of the Trinity as follows: There is one divine essence, which is called and which is truly God, and...there are three persons in the one divine essence, equal in power and alike eternal: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. All three are one divine essence, eternal, without division, without end, of infinite power, wisdom, and goodness, one creator and preserver of all things visible and invisible." (Augsburg Confession I, 1-3)
All human analogies break down at some point, but the Trinity is often compared to water, an "essence" that is liquid, solid, and gas at the same time. But again, illustrations of this kind cannot probe the mystery of God. He can only be believed in, not fully understood.
I hope that's helpful to you Mick. Beth, you live among Muslims - want to chime in here? Anybody else have any thoughts?
6 comments:
I don't have an answer as to why or how it is so but, as you know, Anita, I just discovered the Athanasian Creed, which spells out that it IS so. Part of it reads like this,
"And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and
Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the
substance. For there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and
another of the Holy Spirit."
not to imply that any creed is my authority, but I believe it sums up what is laid out in Scripture.
Great timing for me on this post. My son has been asking a lot of questions about the Trinity and how Jesus was God's son, but was God at the same time.
Hey girl!! Sounds like the Lord has been using you! Awesome!!
Hope that the snow slows a bit so you all aren't having to dig/blow so much snow!!
Take care!
Love,
Lisa
Yes, I have a good Muslim friend, and definitely this is confusing to her....she thinks I am polytheistic, which is abhorrent to her! (And I can see why that thought is...)
The Trinity is confusing enough to those who have been raised in Christianity to comprehend. I think that the answer you linked to is good, however.
A couple of weeks ago I was at the car wash (gotta love car washes where they serve you tea) and there was a little book on the coffee table in the ladies' waiting room called "Let the Bible Speak" or something to that effect. I picked it up and it was written by a Muslim who had studied (so he said) the Bible extensively while in prison and was writing this book to disprove what it teaches and point out all its fallacies. Like many groups of Islam that publish "proof" of the errors in the Bible, he left out many things in all his quotes from the Bible. They do tend to leave out anything (which is a lot) that would prove what they're trying to disprove. He picked out Scripture that he thought would disprove the Trinity, but had to leave out much of it and come up with some pretty fancy explanations to do so.
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