Explaining The Trinity

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and host, Dr. Josh Philpot's topic of discussion is the Trinity. Dr. Philpot tells us that people outside Christianity know that Christians believe in one God yet, they also seem to know that we profess God as triune. Simply put, we confess God is three persons in one divine essence. This is the doctrine of the Trinity and it is foundational to Christianity. It is not an easy doctrine to understand and often difficult to explain even to believers. So why then would we want to explain the Trinity to unbelievers? We would do that because that's who God is. The doctrine of the Trinity is our human way of acknowledging what the Bible reveals to us about God. How then can we best explain the Trinity to those outside the faith, to non-Christians?

Dr. Caldwell says we will never do better than to just say what Scripture says. He confirms that even among believers the Trinity is hard to wrap our minds around. Many illustrations have been offered to help in understanding the Trinity. While some illustrations can be helpful, we need to recognize that no illustration is going to be perfect, and some are more dangerous than helpful. Dr. Caldwell explains that even as the Trinity is defined and explained in historic creeds and confessions, it is done so with very careful language. These creeds and confessions are human attempts to simply state what Scripture says and not be in conflict with it.

Seeking to Explain the Doctrine of the Trinity

However, he says, no matter who it is we are seeking to explain the Doctrine of Trinity to, we can never do better than what the Bible itself says. Because there is no single verse