Short answer
No. The example says one thing, water, can be ice, liquid and steam. So, they say, the Trinitarian God can be Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But water becomes ice or steam by turns, as it cools or heats. That pictures one being taking three forms at different times. The early Church condemned exactly that teaching as a heresy, called modalism. At one exact point, called the triple point, water can be all three at once. But then there are three portions of water, and each is only part of it. That makes each person only a part of God, and the creeds deny that too. If instead each portion is a whole water, there are three waters, and so three Gods. Other pictures, such as the egg, the shamrock and the sun, fail in the same ways. The Qur'an says: "Invent not similitudes for Allah". God (﷾) is One, and there is none like Him.
Full explanation
The example, and what the creed asks of it
Many Christians use water to explain the Trinity. Water can be solid ice, liquid water or steam, yet it is still water. In the same way, they say, the Trinitarian God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, yet one. But the Athanasian Creed sets two rules for any explanation. It must be "Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance". The three may not be merged into one, and the one may not be split into three.
“And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance [Essence]. For there is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost.”
One form at a time: an old heresy
Water is ice, liquid or steam by turns, as it cools or heats. So the picture is of one being taking three forms one after another. In the early 200s, Sabellius taught just that in Rome. He said Father, Son and Spirit are one person acting in different modes. The Church condemned it as a heresy. It also breaks the Gospels' own picture. Jesus prays to the Father and says "I ascend unto my Father". On this view, he would be speaking to himself.
The Modalists taught that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one Person acting in different modes, so that the Father suffered and died. In the West they were called Patripassians, in the East Sabellians, after Sabellius, who led them in Rome about 218. The Church condemned this teaching as heresy.
“Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.”
All three at once: three portions, or three waters
Some answer with the triple point. At 0.01 °C and one low pressure, ice, liquid and vapour exist together. That is true, but look at what it shows. There are three portions of water in one flask. The ice is not the vapour, and neither is all the water. No single drop is ice, liquid and vapour at once. Its molecules keep passing from one state to another. Now put the Trinity in its place. If each person is one portion, each is only part of God. The creed forbids "dividing the Substance". If each portion is a whole water of its own, there are three waters. That would be three Gods, but the creed says "they are not three Gods". So the triple point gives either three parts or three gods. The creed needs each person to be wholly divine, yet only one being, not three. No flask of water can show that.
At one exact temperature, 0.01 °C, and one low pressure, water can exist as ice, liquid water and vapour together. This is called its triple point. Until 2019 it was used to define the kelvin.
Explains that when two or more phases of a substance are in equilibrium, as at the triple point, the equilibrium is dynamic: molecules keep leaving each phase and entering another at equal rates, so the amount in each phase stays the same.
“And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance [Essence]. For there is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost.”
“So the Father is God: the Son is God: and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods: but one God.”
One flask of water at 0.01 °C
Ice, liquid and vapour exist together, at one exact temperature and pressure.
Ice
One portion of the water. Not the liquid, not the vapour, not all the water.
Liquid
Another portion. Not the ice, not the vapour, not all the water.
Vapour
A third portion. Not the ice, not the liquid, not all the water.
Each is only part of the water, and no single drop is all three at once.
| Question | Water at the triple point | What the creed says of the Trinitarian God |
|---|---|---|
| How many are there? | Three portions: ice, liquid, vapour | Three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit |
| Is each one the whole? | No. Each is only part of the water | Yes. Each person is fully God |
| Is the one thing all three at once? | No. Each drop is in one state at a time | Yes. The one divine being is all three persons |
| Do the three add up? | Yes. Together they make all the water | No. Not three Gods, and not three thirds of one |
Where the water says no, the creed says yes. The picture shows the opposite of what it is meant to show.
Other pictures Christians use
Christians use many other pictures, and each breaks a rule of the creed. An egg has a shell, a white and a yolk. A shamrock has three leaves, and a triangle three corners. But these are parts, and no part is the whole egg, plant or triangle. A man can be a father, a son and a husband. That is one person in three roles: modalism again. The sun gives out light and heat. But a ray of light is not the sun. So that picture shows two things that come from the Father, not two who are each divine. Some say 1 × 1 × 1 = 1. But the creed counts: the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God. Counting adds, and one and one and one make three.
“And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance [Essence]. For there is one Person of the Father: another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost.”
“So the Father is God: the Son is God: and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods: but one God.”
The Modalists taught that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one Person acting in different modes, so that the Father suffered and died. In the West they were called Patripassians, in the East Sabellians, after Sabellius, who led them in Rome about 218. The Church condemned this teaching as heresy.
| Picture | Three stay distinct | The one being stays undivided | Each is fully God |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water: ice, liquid, steam by turns | |||
| Water at the triple point | |||
| Egg: shell, white, yolk | |||
| Shamrock: three leaves | |||
| Triangle: three corners | |||
| A man: father, son, husband | |||
| The sun, its light, its heat | |||
| One mind: memory, understanding, love | |||
| What the creed requires |
- Keeps the rule
- Breaks it
- Only in part
No picture keeps all three rules. The creed asks for what nothing in creation can show.
Why every picture fails
The pictures do not fail because Christians choose them badly. The creed asks for two things at once. Each person must be fully divine, yet there must be only one divine being. It names the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, each as divine. Then it says: "And yet they are not three Gods: but one God." Even Augustine, who wrote fifteen books on the Trinity, said his best picture falls short. He compared it to memory, understanding and love in one mind. But those three belong to one person, and the Trinity is said to be three persons. No example can show it. The words themselves do not fit together.
“So the Father is God: the Son is God: and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods: but one God.”
Augustine compares the Trinity to memory, understanding and love in the human mind. He then says the image falls short: a man has these three but is one person, while in the Trinity there are three persons. The three in a man belong to one person; the three persons are one God.
None is like Him
The Qur'an says: "Invent not similitudes for Allah: for Allah knoweth, and ye know not." It says: "there is nothing whatever like unto Him". And it gives the simplest answer of all: "Say: He is Allah, the One and Only". This needs no water and no egg. It is what Jesus taught when he said the first commandment is "The Lord our God is one Lord".
“Invent not similitudes for Allah: for Allah knoweth, and ye know not.”
“(He is) the Creator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs among cattle: by this means does He multiply you: there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things).”
“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.”
“And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:”
Perspectives
A helpful picture
Some Christians say water, ice and steam is only a picture. It helps people grasp the Trinity, but it is not a full explanation.
It is only a picture to help people, not a proof.
Rebuttal
A picture that teaches a condemned heresy misleads the very people it is meant to help. A belief that every picture gets wrong may simply not be true.
At the triple point, water is ice, liquid and vapour at the same moment, like the three persons.
Rebuttal
At the triple point the three are three separate portions of water, each only part of the whole. That divides the substance, which the Athanasian Creed forbids.
God is like the sun, its light and its heat: three, yet one sun.
Rebuttal
Light and heat come from the sun, but neither is the sun. The picture shows two things sent out from the Father, not two who are each divine. The creed says each person is God.
One times one times one is one, so three can be one.
Rebuttal
The creed does not multiply. It counts: the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God. Counting three of anything gives three, so the creed has to add "And yet they are not three Gods".
The Islamic perspective
God (﷾) is One, with no partners and no parts, and nothing is like Him. He needs no pictures to be understood.
The Qur'an forbids inventing likenesses for Allah (﷾).
There is nothing whatever like unto Him.
Jesus taught that the first commandment is that the Lord our God (﷾) is one Lord.