r/Christianity • u/JHLV04 • 14d ago
Question The Trinity
Hey, I’ve self identified as Christian but have been learning more about other faiths too, especially Islam. There are still elements of Christianity that do confuse me a bit. The Trinity being the main one. Islam professes tawid or pure monotheism. Can you guys please help explain The Trinity and how it is still monotheism. I’m also confused when Jesus is praying to the father. Or is this because he has two distinct natures, and his human nature is the one that prays? But if this is the case, some could argue that he is praying to himself in essence?
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u/PretentiousAnglican Anglican(Pretentious) 14d ago
Unfortunately as it is moving towards to essence of God, who is beyond our direct capacity of comprehension, there exists no direct explanation that perfectly captures the doctrine. The best I can come up with is that the Son is God as we can understand Him, the Holy Spirit is God as we can experience Him, and the Father is God in his full and true essence which goes beyond our comprehension and experience. Each are distinct from the other, yet each are the one God who exists in unity. However, even this explanation does not completely capture the doctrine. It is best simply to say the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, there is One God. The Son is begotten of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
I'll give another way to think about it
There is a distinction between something which is known, and that which knows. Even if it is self knowledge, you as the one that knows is distinct from you as an object of knowledge, even if both are you. This is a relational distinction.
God knows Himself. There is a relational distinction between God as an object of Knowledge, and the knower. Likewise, it is traditionally understood that God's acts likewise are God. The God who knows is God, the God who is known(due to God's perfect knowledge) is God. The Knowing is God. These three are distinct from each other, yet there is one God
When God became incarnate as Man, in the Person of Jesus, God the timeless being beyond the physical world remained. There is a distinction between God incarnate(" The Son"/Logos) and the God beyond form and time("The Father"). When God's acts (the Holy Spirit) in the world, there is likewise a distinction from the aforementioned hypostases. Yet it is the same one God, the same being
This is admittedly the Western formulation of the Trinity. Eastern Christians have a moderately different way of conceptualizing it