One needs to assume 1 = 1 = 1 for that equation to work. That is, they are identical in all respects.
If they were so in the case of the trinity, then why did Jesus pray to God? Being identical would imply that the inherent properties of each entity is identical to the other. There is nothing one of the entities could have possessed, which the other didn’t, which was remedied through one of the entities praying to the other. Each one would have been identical intimately to such an extent, that praying is meaningless.
Why? (do you assume that?)
Oneness has to do with nature/essence...When we speak of threeness, we are talking about self-distinctions within the Godhead. Put another way, we believe in one What and three Who's.
If they were so in the case of the trinity, then why did Jesus pray to God? Being identical would imply that the inherent properties of each entity is identical to the other.
Even human speaking - wise, Jesus says a man and wife are "no longer two" -- but one. (read matthew 19) They are intimately one; they are joined together as one. They are both human (the what). Identity-wise, they share the same last name, yet are two Persons.
So are you willing to grant Jesus' premise that they are no longer 2 yet 1, but you refuse to grant a divine oneness that consists of 3? Cannot the divine be more intimately one than a mere husband and wife?
And then, for those who go radically solo in describing God, that winds up being a bare oneness --a non-social oneness of God -- a non-corporate oneness of God; and that would mean that before any angels or people were created that God was alone. Was He?
How could God be love if there was no social oneness for love to be exchanged?
God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit communicated before anyone was; love was exchanged before anyone was; so it's no surprise Jesus prayed to the Father...yet one more string in an eternal one of communication.
Don’t let your assumptions lead you into a corner.
Don’t let your assumptions lead you into a corner.
Like I am going out on a limb and ASSUME that you either believe Jesus was NOT GOD, or else the Fathe, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three SEPARATE gods.