How does the Trinity, the 3 Parts of God, work and what do they do?

Through The Bible we learn that there is only one God, that He is a person, that He created us in His image, and that, above all else, He Loves us intensely. But, in the New Testament, we learn that Jesus, who is a man who walked among us on Earth, is also God and one with Him, and yet he also prays to Him. Furthermore, we also learn of the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us who is also God. The logical question is, “If there are three of them, how can they be One? And how can that work?”

The way to explain this is tricky, because we have many ways of describing this, but none of them can quite explain every feature of the Trinity... and that's just fine! God is immeasurable and unknowable by us, which is a feature of being omnipotent and infinite. We can, however, begin understanding Him, much like a child begins to learn advanced calculus by counting the blocks on the playroom floor.

The Person of God

The first way and perhaps the easiest way of thinking of God is in relation to being a person. God the Father is the Mind of God. The Mind holds the intellect, thoughts, plans, and even, as I believe, a very interesting sense of humor, and leads the other parts in everything. We know this best, because our minds direct everything we do and make every choice of what the rest of us do.

Jesus is the Body of God. He is the part that we can see and feel, and the part that goes out and does the work of the mind. This is significant as it was this part of God that was chosen to take on a human body, that His body may be connected to ours. We can think of this clearly when we tell our hands to do the work of our minds, like building a boat, hugging a child, or writing an article.

The Holy Spirit is the Heart and Spirit of God. He is the center of life and emotion of God. It is how we feel and communicate with God and Jesus. We have difficulty figuring out exactly how the Holy Spirit works much as we have difficulty figuring out how our own emotions work, even with our attempts of psychology and philosophy.

The Power of God

A shorter way to think of the Trinity is in terms of power and forces. God the Father is the Structure of the Power. It is the governing force and focuses them towards His plan. Jesus is the Action of the Power. He goes out to fulfill the plans of the Structure. The Holy Spirit is the Presence of the Power. It is the light and energy behind the others.

The Responsibilities of God

We might also think of the three parts of God in what they do. The Bible tells us in Revelation that they have many crowns which signify many responsibilities. We cannot know all of them, but we have been given some clues to what things each of Him do. God the Father is the one who orders and designs. Jesus is the one who goes out to serve and save and, some day, to conquer. The Holy Spirit is the one who teaches, empowers, and dwells within.

I am absolutely sure that all of these metaphors fall short in many ways, but I am also sure that all metaphors do, and that's OK. We are only human and cannot understand God any more than a toddler can understand the IRS tax code (most adults struggle with them for that matter). But these illustrations help us to begin to understand Him, and even trying to understand Him puts our minds on Him, where they belong.

Is it possible that God the Father does not directly intervene in the World?

In considering the Universe and how God chooses to run things in it, I came to a metaphor that helps me wrap my head around the immeasurable idea of where God is and what he is doing. We start by imagining that the world is a vast celestial cruise liner coasting through the extents of eternity. On board are all of the principal characters including ourselves, the angels, demons, Satan, Jesus, The holy Spirit, and God the Father; though we find that while God is always at work with us, God the Father does not step into our lives Directly.

We first look at ourselves and the interesting role we have on the ship. We are all, at first, mere passengers. At some point, when we accept Christ into our lives, we stand and take our places among the servants and crew of the ship, helping those around us in whatever capacity we can. Oddly, this cruise will ultimately be more about the crew then the passengers, so the more crew members the better.

Next are the Angels, who are the ship's technical crew. They are not seen by the passengers, and have orders and responsibilities we don't know or understand, but we know that the ship wouldn't function without them. We can imagine what they do around the ship: fix leaks, maintain the engine, and even work in the crew and passengers' cabins. While we may think of them, we must remember that they are always following the orders of the Captain, who should always be our main focus.

Long before the passengers came aboard, Satan was a first lieutenant to the Captain. In a bid to take the ship he led a mutiny along with members of the technical crew and lost. They were immediately expelled from Bridge, stripped of their ranks, and forced to dwell in the dark places of the ship. The captain has a Course for the ship, and a plan, even for them, so they were not tossed overboard... not yet.

And then, the best for last: God Himself, who takes on various vital roles on the ship. The closest part to us is Jesus, who is the one that walks among the passengers and crew. We can think of him as an ever-present Cruise Director, who works with the passengers, guiding them in day to day affairs, defends them from the stowaways (Satan and the demons), and initiates them - when they are willing - into to crew. His responsibilities are many and mysterious, but we also know he was a pivotal part of building the ship aswell as helping to run it.

The Holy Spirit is always hardest to explain and I am fairly certain that any metaphorical explanation will always fall far short. And even in this ship story it is hard to represent Him with all reverence. He may be a special intercom system between the Captain and the passengers and crew opening communication to all. He may be the fuel of the ship, and the food in the galley. He may even be a special itinerary that everyone receives, and are always aware of, but may or may not follow. None of these completely fit, but I think it is alright to leave it at that.

This all brings us, at last, to God the Father; The Captain. He is seated in the Captain's Chair on the Bridge. We know from the Bible that he is always there. He touches every life on the ship by directing the technical crew and the passenger crew through the Holy Spirit. He sends out the Cruise Director to prepare His crew to go on to the next phase of the Cruise. But, like a good captain, he never leaves His post at the Bridge, because it is necessary for Him to direct everything from there.

Just after the first two passengers came aboard, the mutineers helped to steer the ship into the iceberg of the First Sin. While the Captain was at His post, He sent the Cruise Director to take care of it. Unlike the Titanic, our Savior was able to mend the damage, and save the passengers from total destruction. Though the ship was changed, and could not run quite the same, the Captain remains to see the Cruise through to the end.

Why does He not directly intervene, even though he clearly directs all things? We cannot ever know how He thinks of things, or why He does things a certain way... But He did give us His Word and an imagination, and I do not believe it is irreverent to consider the possibilities. I might imagine that if He did directly take hold of anything, it would be like a man who built a car, but then pushed it down the road instead of driving it. In that line, I believe He built this world to enjoy it, and to enjoy us. So, how could He enjoy us, and our free will, if we were only puppets and He the puppet master?

No. Our Father God chose to be the Captain, with all of the responsibilities therein and does not directly intervene in our lives because His place of Authority, Responsibility, and Glory is at the Bridge. Yet, He also takes care of us through the use of his crew. He interacts and build a strong relationship with us through His one and only Cruise Director. He maintains communication and connection with use through the Holy Spirit. And He continuously guides us toward the Port of the Last Day, where the members of the crew will disembark, the mutineers will be dealt with, and the Ship will be remade in order to take us on to the next cruise, the one we were always meant for.