From my personal experience, many Non-christians as well as Christians have challenges understanding the concept of Trinity. The notion of 3 equalling 1 is too much against what we learn in math as well as daily logic. 

I recently had the honor to listen to abbot Nikodemus Schnabel from Jerusalem. He confirmed my impression by stating that there is nothing more challenging in the inter-religious dialog than talking about Trinity. Jews, Muslims and Christians all agree that there is just one God. Therefore, representatives of the other two religions wonder why Christians make it so complex of splitting God even further into Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In my view, Abbot Nikodemus Schnabel explained it quite well. He asked two fundamental questions that Trinity helps answering: 

  • Why would a perfect, static and singular God burden himself with a creation? Through the heavenly Father, through Jesus who was here on earth with us and showed us the way back to paradise, as well as through the universal Holy Spirit that can be part of every human that invites it in, our Christian God is in itself dynamic, communication and dialogue. The reason why our God burdens himself with the reality of his creation is love. Through love, that is only true love if it is shared and gifted to someone else, our loving God strives towards the YOU. This is the reason why God Father longed for the creation, the creation of his Son and the creation of mankind in his image, that through the Holy Spirit can become one with God.
  • Why does God endure our world and us imperfect humans that fight, sin, kill, hate and make each other’s lives miserable? True love needs freedom. Forced love, where the other has no choice than to love back, is valueless. In western society, marriage is only valid if both parties in full freedom say ‘Yes’ to one another. God does the same. We, created in his image and open to accept God through the Holy Spirit, are free to say ‘Yes’ to him. Giving us freedom means that God accepts the risks of us saying ‘No’ and the risk of humans turning evil.

How can 3 equal 1?

Three equalling one is against maths, however there are some analogies that make it a bit easier to understand. For example, in the 5th century the Irish Saint Patrick used clover / shamrock to illustrate the 3 separate parts or personalities that together form God.1 I think this is a very good illustration and moreover, sometimes the cover leaves have a heart shape and we read in the Bible that God is love.

It is important to mention and to be aware, that the concept of Trinity is often explained wrongly. Modalism, also called Sabellianism, falsely explains God as being a unique being taking different shapes and forms at different times. For example God showing himself in the shape of Father during the creation / old testament, Jesus in the new testament and the Holy Spirit thereafter.2 Modalism very much contradicts the Bible where different parts of God are addressed multiple times. For example, when Jesus dies on the cross he addresses his Father directly or in the following passage during his baptism where all three appear as distinct persons: 

and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.

Luke 3:22

To sum it up, we have one loving God that just like clover consists of 3 distinct parts or personalities and thus God is in itself dynamic and wants to give love to others and also to you. God grants free will and lets us choose our own paths and hopes that we find the way to him.

1 Saint Patrick the shamrock and the Trinity; 07272024; https://thecatholicspirit.com/commentary/hotdish/saint-patrick-the-shamrock-and-the-trinity/  

2 Modalism; 07272024; https://www.theopedia.com/modalism