Lately, I’ve
gotten into some deep, philosophical conversations about the Trinity. Many
people find it difficult to understand the whole idea of the Father, Son, and
the Holy Spirit being one, but also being separate at the same time. For
me, though, that idea has never been a problem. It’s actually quite simple for
me because there is one specific way I have always seen the Trinity.
The Trinity
is a Swiss army knife.
No, I’m not
saying the Trinity is something kept in the back pocket for emergencies and
only taken out to fix things (although, maybe there could be a deeper metaphor
there…but I digress). What I mean is that the Trinity and a Swiss army knife
have something in common.
Let’s start
by thinking about what exactly is a Swiss army knife. A Swiss army knife is made up of a knife, blades, and other helpful
tools. Each tool is an individual part. The knife is a knife. The blade is a
blade. The nail file is a nail file and the corkscrew is a corkscrew. If I see each
tool alone, I can still tell what tool is what tool and call it by its name. However,
when all of the tools are put together, I know what that is too: a Swiss army
knife.
Is it
getting clearer where I’m going with this?
Like the
Swiss army knife, the Trinity has individual parts. The Father is the Father,
the Son is the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. They each have
their own names. However, also like the Swiss army knife, when all of the parts
are put together, they become something else: the Trinity.
God is a
great being that humanity can just never fully understand. We can continue to
analyze Him, question Him, and dissect Him until our minds melt. Eventually, we
have to come to terms with the fact that there is only so much we can understand while we are
on this earth. I’ve accepted that.
Nevertheless, thankfully, there are
times when God does let us reach a point where we are comfortable with our own
understanding. My metaphor with the Trinity and Swiss army knife is an example.
I’m sure there is much more complexity to it, but I’m comfortable with the way
that I’ve come to understand the Trinity and I hope my metaphor can help others
understand as well.
Then again, the Trinity is a Swiss
army knife? That’s probably nowhere close to the reality of the Trinity! Oh
well, at least I tried.
