I have come across various viewpoints, but they
mostly fall into two camps:
1.
Jesus IS NOT identical to God but is part of the
Godhead in the way that a human son is part of his father. They share
genes plus physical, emotional and mental characteristics, but they think and
act independently.
2.
Jesus IS God, i.e. he is fully one and
the same ‘being’ as God and the reason there are separate names is to
distinguish the part of God the father who remained in Heaven while his alter
ego Jesus the Son was on earth. In this case, it appears that God decided
to split himself into two different 'beings' by begetting a son. He can thereby
appear in two places at once and his two personas can act autonomously to each
other, but remain the same entity.
Another
analogy for the first scenario could be a band
comprising a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer. The word ‘band’ is a singular item
grammatically although in this case it’s also a trio. We think of it as one
thing, however its constituent members
are separate independent beings. The
band members each make a different sound, but to make music, they have to
be in harmony with each other and keep to the same rhythm and
timing.
It's
much harder to find an earthly analogy/metaphor for the second scenario,
especially bearing in mind Jesus allegedly existed before the universe was
created. Conjoined twins later separated doesn’t work as there are two
distinct individuals involved with that. Nor does genetic cloning fit as the
offspring is not ‘as one’ with the parent, he/she is merely identical
genetically. I'd be interested to know if anyone has any suggestions that
are not sci-fi or mythology.)
In either scenario, people tend to only focus on
Jesus but what about the third part of the Trinity, the Holy
Spirit? Is it simply God’s consciousness, his brain and thoughts and
wishes, or is he/she/it a separate but closely linked entity which God controls
and sends to do his bidding?
If the former, why not just make the godhead a
duality, why a trinity? If the latter, why not give the Holy Spirit a personal name?
Or
could it be that humans invented God and later added the idea of ‘three in one’
following other earlier myths, traditions and superstitions? Trinity appears to
imbue the deity with greater majesty, power and mysticism and the concept is
great PR - “buy one, get two free”!
