Of all the doctrines of Christianity, belief in the Trinity: three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - in one Godhead, is perhaps the most mysterious. It defies logical understanding: how can three persons make up one God? There is much confusion about this, even among Christians, who largely take it on faith without trying to fathom how it works. After all, "God works in mysterious ways", we say, or "how can we hope to understand an infinite God?" Indeed, this doctrine is not explicitly found in the Bible, as some like to argue. Yet the Bible makes it clear that the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit are each persons in their own right, and yet are each God. At the same time, the Bible is clear there is only one God. The early church therefore concluded that to reconcile these facts, God must consist of three identifiable persons - hence the Trinity.
At the very least, this doctrine is confusing and it is no wonder many Christians shy away from talking about it or trying to explain it. Of course, most other people just ignore it, or deny it as impossible religious mumbo-jumbo, not to be taken seriously. Other religions denounce this doctrine as a weak point of Christianity. In Islam, for example, the Christian Trinity is interpreted as three separate gods, and thus Christianity is denounced as polytheism. For a historical look at the concept and usage of the Trinity through time and across cultures, see: http://159.203.24.119/2018/12/29/meditation-triune-god-2/
Part of the Trinity mystery is that we tend to think of "persons" as human, and it makes no sense for three human persons to be one human being. But God is not human, of course, so maybe our anthropomorphising him is getting in the way of our understanding? Notwithstanding the apparent mystery and confusion, what if three-in-one was a common reality in the Universe? Threesomes and dividing single entities into thirds are built into many aspects of the world we understand and manage daily. The following are some examples of three-in-one concepts from various aspects of life as we know it. Some of these are trivial, or even contrived perhaps, but others are more serious.
Most twisted ropes, from ancient times, contain three identical strands, making up one rope. There is even a Bible reference for this: Ecclesiastes 4:12. Clearly each strand is separate from the others, yet there is but one single rope. In ancient Greece and Medieval times, it was understood that creation had three parts: the heavens, the Earth, and the underworld. These were distinct locations, yet all part of one creation.
In other mundane affairs, in many countries the government has three distinct parts - the executive branch (President), the legislature (Congress), and the judiciary (the courts) - but together they make up one government. In the courts of law there are three parts as well: prosecution, defence, and judge/jury. And our governments are often further divided into three levels: National, Provincial or State, and local or municipal, each with their own duties, authority and responsibilities.
On a more private level, most families have three parts: father, mother, children, making up a single family unit. Most personal of all, each of us may think of ourselves as having three parts - body, mind and spirit - yet we consider ourselves a unitary persons. Some people divide their lives temporally as youth, adulthood, and old age, making up a single lifetime, but that is somewhat arbitrary. Similarly (and trivially) a song or a story may be considered to have three parts: beginning, middle and end.
On the physical side, when we think of the Earth, we think of land, oceans/lakes, and atmosphere, making up one biosphere. This of course, reflects the three states of matter - solid, liquid and gas - making up most common things. For example, steam, rain and snow are distinct states, but all are the same H2O water. None of these examples is quite the same as the divine Trinity, but they do give some insight perhaps.
Deeper into physics, we find several three-in-one scenarios. Most matter is made up of atoms and each atom contains three distinct subatomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. Deeper still, each proton or neutron is made up of three quarks, which are different but inseparable under normal conditions. Furthermore, in the complete "standard model" of quantum physics, there are three levels of particles. All of normal matter is made up of particles in the first level, but the higher two levels - various high-energy bosons, mesons and quarks - have been identified experimentally.
One aspect of this is the neutrinos, those ghostly particles that can pass through the Earth without effect. They exist in three flavours: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos, and tau neutrinos. In this example, however, it turns out that each kind can turn into the other kinds as they travel through the universe - or the Earth. Another interesting connection to the number three is that the electric charge on an electron is exactly (to at least 12 decimal places) one-third, or two-thirds of the charge on a quark, depending on the type of quark. If that were not true, electrical insulators would be impossible.
There is also the most fundamental physical reality itself: the three dimensions of normal space. Height, depth and width are distinct as X, Y, and Z axes, set 90 degrees to each other, yet there is one 3D space. We can tell up-down from left-right, and north-south from east-west. These designators may change as your reference shifts, but there are always three dimensions.
Finally, delving into geometry and forms, there is the lowly triangle: three sides and three angles, but one figure or shape. The triangle is the epitome of three-in-one-ness; the simplest polygon, and maybe the most recognizable shape. In the design of structures, triangles are fundamental - the most stable shape that makes up towers, bridges, trusses, and other rigid constructions.
As you can see, there are many examples of three related but distinct things making up a single entity. Some of these are fundamental to how the Universe itself exists. So perhaps the Trinity is not so strange a doctrine after all. With so many similar concepts around us, a Trinity of divine persons making a single Godhead is perhaps not so mysterious?
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