A Better Illustration Of The Trinity

Perhaps you’ve heard attempts to explain the Trinity like I have. The egg illustration (shell, white, yolk) or water illustration (water, ice, steam) immediately come to my mind. The problem is, all these illustrations come up very short in explaining what Christians fully mean by the word “Trinity” when trying to explain God.

The Trinity is one of the doctrines of the church that is hardest for me to make sense of. I wrestle with it very often–even sometimes question its truthfulness. I think what it is trying to describe will always elude me to some degree. It’s not easily explained with rational arguments or illustrations.

That being said, today a thought came to me. Maybe the concept of the Trinity is harder to understand than it really needs to be. The Church is supposed to be a reflection of God. We are supposed to illustrate who He is to this world–it’s our main job. But what do we see instead, a Church that is fragmented. A church that is not One. Yet that’s what the Trinity tries to portray, three persons–all equally God as singular persons, but yet one God. What if the Church looked like that? Local churches (who do not need other bodies to fully be the church), yet not many churches, but One Church. Just like God himself.

Perhaps if the Church would do a better job of being one in unity, fellowship, resources, camaraderie, mission, outreaches, etc., then we could have something on earth that better reflects a Trinitarian God, and it might be a little easier to conceptualize God as Trinity.