2. The Trinity

What is the Trinity?

The belief that God is made up of three different persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These are still all God, but are not each other. God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all at the same time

Why will humans never be able to truly understand the Trinity?

because we are not God

What is a way to explain the Trinity?

• Imagine a man called Alex.

• Alex is a father, a teacher and a husband.

• To his child he is “daddy”, to his students he is “Mr Lopez”, to his wife he is “sweetheart”

• All of these are all aspects of the same person, but all have different roles. One of these is not more or less Alex than the other, they are all Alex.

• In the same vein, God has three different names for the three different roles, father, son and holy spirit, but they are all equally God

What is the role of the Father?

creator of the universe

What is the role of the Son?

to spread the gospel on Earth and die for our sins

What is the role of the Holy Spirit?

encourages us to be moral and to follow the gospels set out by the Father and the Son

What is a Bible quote that could be used to explain the Trinity?

John 10:30: “I and the Father are one”

What does it mean to be immanent?

God being within/with us on Earth

What does it mean to be transcendent?

God is other/God is no longer physically on Earth with us

Was God immanent or transcendent during creation?

All three (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) are transcendent because the world is not existing. You cannot be immanent is the world does not exist

What is the Word in the context of the Trinity?

What God the Son was before being incarnating on Earth (“so the Word became Flesh, and dwelt among us”)

What is incarnation?

God the Son going from being the Word to being the Son, Jesus

Was God immanent or transcendent during incarnation?

God the Son is immanent (as Jesus) and in the world. The Father and Holy Spirit are still transcendent

Was God immanent or transcendent during ascension?

God the Son is transcendent as Jesus is leaving Earth to join God the Father (also transcendent) in Heaven

Was God immanent or transcendent during Pentecost?

10 days before after the ascension. The Holy Spirit becomes immanent to guide Christians now that we do not have Jesus. The Father and Son are transcendent and judging people in heaven