Books on the Trinity?

[Play The Man]

Perhaps when I have some time I'll hit a theological dictionary. It is a complex topic.

Trying to understand this is not something that you can just "do".
You have to look at the way each part works and relates.
How many times is the trinity talked about in the Bible? Other than being baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
How many times are those "Characters" used together outside of that context?

First think on that and then compare what labels you have heard men put on the "trinity"

Then look at what Jesus himself said about the Holy Spirit, I believe it is in John 16 or 15 I cant recall right off hand. What does Jesus say that the Holy Spirit will do?

I have said before that they are all God and the ways that he relates to us or maybe a better word is interact, the way God interacts with us. If you try and understand all of this you will fail because God is to big for our tiny brains to figure out and we cant put him in a box to observe. I do believe in the Trinity but I get nervous when people start throwing the title around because everyone thinks they have it figured out and the others are wrong. I will go ahead and tell you that some people are going to disagree with me but they will not be able to disprove me with the word of God( the Bible). I know that you wanted more info and something in black and white but the reality is, it doesnt exist. I know there will be a debate with this so I will just have to wait and see what comes up next.

As far as good books on the subject, I cant recomend any that I have read because they are not as theologically soud as I would like and I WILL NOT put my name with anything that I cant stand behind wholehearted.

Playtheman said something about Johnathan Edwards', An Unpublished Essay On The Trinity, Edwards is as sound on things of the Bible as you will ever find in and genaration. Check that out.

You have in Genesis "Let Us make man in Our image". That can only be God since angels are not in the image of God. I would suggest you pick up a good systematic theology since it has a lot more things that may be helpful and you can look them up by topic. Ryrie has an excellent one called Basic Theology. Hodge's is considered one of the best as well as Berkhof. If you want you can PM me your address and I can send you one.

Old books are great (hat tip to play the man).

There's also chapter 5 from John MacArthur's The Truth War. Our pastor just borrowed my copy (which is a reversal, ). Otherwise I'd have a better reference for you. Chapter 5 is mostly about the issue of Arianism, if I have the -ism title correct, which had to do with the combined diety/human natures of Jesus. He goes in to explain how the Council of Nicea was convened to address this split in the church. In the longer scheme of the book, it's used as an example of how Arim's tactics at propogandizing his teaching (denying Christ's deity) are similar to the cheap logic and tactics we see today from the emergent church. There are other parts in the book that touch on trinity, but they're less direct. It's an easy read, as I'm a slow reader.

If you order from Amazon, be careful not to mistake the study guide for the regular book, unless you wanted it too.

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by Crisco

Can anyone recommend a book that better explains the trinity in detail?

Or perhaps a book, chapter and verse of the bible I should pay special attention too.

I'm looking to learn more about the trinity because I have difficulty explaining to others exactly how it works.

Or perhaps one of you would like to take a stab at it and help a brother out

The Trinity is a Mystery, it cant really be explained at all.

Any example we use to try and explain the trinity will always fall short of what the trinity is. We can apprehend the trinity but our human minds cannot comprehend the trinity. The use of water - Ice, Liquid, Vapor may seem like a good example to try and explain the trinity but it falls short in that those things exist in different stages but not at the same time separate and distinct of each other.

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by Maglorius

Any example we use to try and explain the trinity will always fall short of what the trinity is. We can apprehend the trinity but our human minds cannot comprehend the trinity. The use of water - Ice, Liquid, Vapor may seem like a good example to try and explain the trinity but it falls short in that those things exist in different stages but not at the same time separate and distinct of each other.

You know something I find Fascinating is the similarity between how certain parts of the Bible Describe some kind of Spiritual Entourage when GOD himself steps down onto Earth....and a lot of Hindu type Iconography.

Its in Ezekiel that it says that whenever GOD appears on Earth he is accompanied by some form of Angelic Host that almost carry him as if he were seated on a Sedan Chair, and these Creatures have multiples of what we would think were normal, I think they have about Four Faces, and it doesnt matter which direction you look at them from, they appear exactly the same. There is some High Form of Host, I think they are Thrones you know, but they have more then one Face...notice, not more then one head...but one head with many faces...I think that some of the Hindu iconography is possibly a form of missplaced worship towards these kinds of Host.

Now, what made me say this hear, was that its not just GOD that seems to hold impossible qualities, a lot of very high forms of Creation also seem to share a quality of a whole, subdivided into parts also.

Think about some of the monstrosities outlined in Revelation, again, those apear to be in the form of animals. I think there was a leopard made entirely of eyes of something in the throne room.

Originally Posted by Maglorius

Any example we use to try and explain the trinity will always fall short of what the trinity is. We can apprehend the trinity but our human minds cannot comprehend the trinity. The use of water - Ice, Liquid, Vapor may seem like a good example to try and explain the trinity but it falls short in that those things exist in different stages but not at the same time separate and distinct of each other.

thats partly why I use my example, since I am all three things at the same time, each part co exists as one whole, but at seperate in their functions, but can function together at the same time

but I do like the water example also

[Play The Man]

Originally Posted by warriorlion

thats partly why I use my example, since I am all three things at the same time, each part co exists as one whole, but at seperate in their functions, but can function together at the same time

but I do like the water example also

Warriorlion, please do a google search with the term "modalism" or "modalism water ice vapor".

[Tyburn]

Originally Posted by warriorlion

thats partly why I use my example, since I am all three things at the same time, each part co exists as one whole, but at seperate in their functions, but can function together at the same time

but I do like the water example also

HEY!!!!