Defending the Trinity

I wonder if it will always be true that the defenders of the doctrine of the Trinity will need to defend against beliefs that are not part of the doctrine as much as beliefs that are. Examples:

1. "Three 'persons' means three individual beings."

2. "The members of the Godhead are distinct and separate."

3. "Trinitarians believe in 3 gods."

4. "If Jesus was God, how could God die?"

And the list goes on.

"Persons" is not a reference to "beings", but more at "personas". Perhaps "characters" would be a better word? Maybe "roles"? Anyway, the doctrine does not allow for a separation of the three. It allows for distinction without separation. (As an example of how something can be distinct without being separate, a hand consists of a palm and five fingers. These parts are distinct, but not separate.) It demands one essence. Since there is only one essence, the Trinity is not tritheism, a triad, or 3 gods in any way, shape, or form.

And Jesus was not solely God - He was God and Man. God didn't die on the cross - the Son of Man did. If the human part of Jesus is ignored entirely, there will never be the inkling of comprehension of the doctrine of the Trinity. Remember, there two types of heresies in the early Church on the nature of Christ. One set out to diminish His deity. The other set out to remove His humanity. Both are heretical. The doctrine of the Trinity demands both that He was God and that He was Man.

I found this interesting quote from Jonathan Edwards describing the Trinity.

"And this I suppose to be that blessed Trinity that we read of in the Holy Scriptures. The Father is the deity subsisting in the prime, unoriginated and most absolute manner, or the deity in its direct existence. The Son is the deity generated by God's understanding, or having an idea of Himself and subsisting in that idea. The Holy Ghost is the deity subsisting in act, or the divine essence flowing out and breathed forth in God's infinite love to and delight in Himself. And I believe the whole Divine essence does truly and distinctly subsist both in the Divine idea and Divine love, and that each of them are properly distinct persons." (Jonathan Edwards, "An Essay on the Trinity," in Treatise on Grace and Other Posthumously Published Writings, ed. Paul Helm, Cambridge: James Clarke, 1971, 118.)

That really sums it up nicely.