The Teleological Argument

Trinitarian Argument

Tripartite Division at All Levels of Reality from Minute to Megascopic

The Trinitarian Argument is another in the class of theistic arguments that is properly called teleological because it uses design evident in the structure of the universe as evidence that God exists. The particular evidence that this argument marshals to support its conclusion is a pattern that pervades the natural physical world: namely, tripartite division serving as reflection of a Triune Creator.

Design scheme of the physical universe

time	past
	present
	future
space	first dimension
	second dimension
	third dimension
content	force	gravitational
		electromagnetic
		strong nuclear
	mass-energy	matter	proton	three quarks
			neutron	three quarks
			electron
		antimatter	antiproton	three quarks
			antineutron	three quarks
			positron
		light	ultraviolet and beyond
			visible	brightness
				hue	primary	red
						green
						blue
					secondary	yellow
						cyan
						magenta
					gray scale	white
						black
						gray
				saturation
			infrared and beyond
	motion	position	x
			y
			z
		velocity	Δx/t
			Δy/t
			Δz/t
		acceleration	Δvx/t
			Δvy/t
			Δvz/t

There are of course many other subatomic particles besides the three named, but the proton, neutron, and electron are perfectly resistant to spontaneous decay so long as they contribute to the structure of an atom belonging to the family of stable isotopes. Also, they are capable of forming units of stationary mass that can serve as building blocks of larger structures, so we may view them as the basic substance of the universe.

There is also the weak nuclear force, but it is involved only in decay processes. Within an undisturbed atom belonging to the family of stable isotopes, it does not come into play. "While the other forces hold things together, the weak force plays a greater role in things falling apart, or decaying."¹

Unlike the more familiar theistic arguments, the Trinitarian was never, so far as I know, put forward by the great medieval theologians, such as Aquinas. The reason is obvious. It breaks observable reality down into some categories unknown before the rise of modern science.

Wood's Analysis

One of the first presentations of this argument appeared in Nathan R. Wood's fascinating, elegantly written book The Secret of the Universe, first published in 1932.² If anyone knows of an earlier presentation of the argument, I would appreciate receiving this information.

The following presents Wood's view of the universe:

Divisions

time	past
	present
	future
space	first dimension
	second dimension
	third dimension
matter	energy
	motion
	phenomena

Wood does not go beyond two columns of subdivisions; that is, he sees reality compounded of three parts, each part also with three parts. In the first division, he places time, space, and matter. By "matter," he means everything that the universe contains—a term he presumably chose because he was thinking that matter (more precisely, mass-energy) is the full manifestation of a material universe. In Wood's outlook, matter is therefore very similar to what I have called content. So far, his analysis and mine are basically identical. They are also the same in their treatment of time and space—their agreement underlining what is obvious. Time is past, present, and future. Space is up-down, left-right, in-out. But in their treatment of content, the two analyses choose very different perspectives. Wood says that content embraces energy, motion, and phenomena. By energy, he means the ultimate cause of everything that happens in the universe. By motion, he means everything that happens. By phenomena, he is referring to how motion is perceived by a human observer. In my contrasting analysis, no doubt influenced by the first law of motion, F = ma, I have divided content into force, mass-energy, and motion.

Wood argues that two of his four divisions—specifically, time and matter—not only show the Creator as triune, but also in their subdivisions mirror the individual persons of the Trinity.

Let us consider matter first.

1. In the Godhead, the Father is the person who is the source of all. Therefore, energy serves to picture Him.
2. The Son embodies the Father and carries out the Father's will, just as motion embodies energy and transforms potential into action.
3. The Spirit reveals the Son to man, just as phenomena inform a human observer about what is happening.

Now let us consider time.

1. The source of every moment in time is actually, as Wood ingeniously argues, the future. The present moment never existed before now except in the future, and after now it will slide into the past. Therefore, the future pictures the Father, who is the source of all.
2. The present embodies the future, in the sense that it brings to light what was formerly unseen. It therefore pictures the Son, who makes the Father manifest.
3. Yet the present is meaningless to time-bound creatures such as man unless their perception is anchored in prior events. The past therefore pictures the Spirit—the One who is the source of all human understanding.

Fuller Consideration of How Persons of the Trinity Are Reflected in Creation

I do not agree with Wood's understanding of time. Let me offer a different analysis.

Time

any category of phenomena				time
division	corresponding person of Trinity	His attributes	physical parallels	counterpart in physical universe	proof of parallels
first	Father	source of reality	essential to existence of other divisions and creates their potential	future	Everything that has happened and will happen conforms to an eternal plan designed to channel all events toward certain goals not yet realized. Therefore, the future in this sense is the basis of all that will ever exist. Moreover, if there were no future, the progression necessary for past and present would be impossible.
second	Son	provides full expression of the source	converts entire potential reality to full actual reality	past	The past embraces every outworking so far of destiny into actuality.
third	Holy Spirit	reveals God and His works to the human mind	gives the human mind a window to see the world	present	The present is man's window onto all that has already come to pass. Not only does it show him what exists now, but also, by giving him a view of records or remains, shows him what has existed before.

In place of "matter," our analysis offers a similar category that we have labeled "content." The reason we have taken a different track is that the three categories belonging to content allow further threefold subdivisions, making the tripartite structure of the universe even more dramatically obvious. But do the three categories of content picture individual members of the Trinity? Yes, they do.

Content

any category of phenomena				content
division	corresponding person of Trinity	His attributes	physical parallels	counterpart in physical universe	proof of parallels
first	Father	source of reality	essential to existence of other divisions and creates their potential	mass-energy	There is nothing observably real in the physical universe apart from its mass-energy.
second	Son	provides full expression of the source	converts entire potential reality to full actual reality.	forces	Without forces, the mass-energy of the universe would be random and chaotic.
third	Holy Spirit	reveals God and His works to the human mind	gives the human mind a window to see the world	motion	Apart from motion, nothing in the universe would be detectable by a human observer. To be noticed, any content must either travel to his senses, or he must travel to bring it within range of his senses.

Wood finds no deeper meaning in the three dimensions of space. Do they, like time and content, also represent persons of the Godhead? I will venture an affirmative answer, as follows:

Space

any category of phenomena				space
division	corresponding person of Trinity	His attributes	physical parallels	counterpart in physical universe	proof of parallels
first	Father	source of reality	essential to existence of other divisions and creates their potential	first dimension	The other dimensions require one-dimensional extension of the physical universe.
second	Son	provides full expression of the source	converts entire potential reality to full actual reality	third dimension	Nothing exists in the universe outside three-dimensional space.
third	Holy Spirit	reveals God and His works to the human mind	gives the human mind a window to see the world	second dimension	Because of his smallness in the whole scheme of things, man can see the world around him only by looking at flat pictures imprinted on the retina or on film. He attains three-dimensional perception only by combining different flat pictures at angles penetrating the third dimension.

In physical reality overall, Wood finds no reflection of the three divine persons, even though this reality, when viewed as a supreme abstraction, is clearly the sum of three components: space, content, and time. We will show next that these components in fact display the three persons of the Trinity. Indeed, the most fundamental threefold division of God's creative work is perhaps the most revealing.

Physical universe

any category of phenomena				physical universe
division	corresponding person of Trinity	His attributes	physical parallels	counterpart in physical universe	proof of parallels
first	Father	source of reality	essential to existence of other divisions and creates their potential	space	Without space, there could be neither content or time, because neither belongs to nothingness.
second	Son	provides full expression of the source	converts entire potential reality to full actual reality.	content	The full content of space from its beginnings until its demise amounts to the whole physical universe.
third	Holy Spirit	reveals God and His works to the human mind	gives the human mind a window to see the world	time	The whole scheme of reality is beyond human comprehension unless it is mapped as a progression over time.

Divisions of Content

In our first table, we showed that content comprises three categories: force, mass-energy, and motion. All three appear to have a different purpose than the other categories we have so far considered. Each shows a fundamental unity in three divisions standing in contrast to a fourth division.

Forces. The gravitational, electromagnetic, and strong nuclear forces are alike in helping to maintain an orderly universe. As we noted earlier, yet another force also exists, known as the weak nuclear. Whereas the other three are constructive, it is destructive. Whereas the other three are fundamentally strong, it is weak by comparison. An implication that seems inescapable is that whereas the constructive forces picture the Trinity, the weak force pictures Satan.

Mass-energy. In the three divisions here, we readily see reflections of the three divine persons. Matter and antimatter are Father and Son. The Son is a mirror image of the Father. If a particle of matter is charged, the corresponding particle of antimatter is oppositely charged. But with respect to every other physical property, they are exactly the same, just as the Son is equal to the Father. We tend to think that when equal particles of matter and antimatter meet, they destroy each other. But it is more accurate to say that they fuse and transmute into radiant energy, the third member of this category. The lesson is that all three kinds of mass-energy share the same essence, just as all three persons of the Trinity share a divine essence. Yet to emphasize that the Holy Spirit is the giver of all spiritual knowledge, the division of mass-energy that stands in His place—radiant energy—includes light, and light, of course, enables man to see, just as the Spirit enables man to understand spiritual truth.

Is there a fourth category of mass-energy? Yes, a dark void, or nothingness. It is the presence of darkness in place of light and emptiness in place of everything. The three divisions of mass-energy contain whole physical reality. They embrace all substance, energy, and life. They stand in contrast to nothingness, which is unreality neither observable nor verifiable. As in other categories, the three main divisions represent the Trinity. In this case, the fourth division has a different meaning. Unbelievers imagine that nothingness was the actual creator of everything. Therefore, it pictures all the false deities that mankind has invented. Its contrast with true reality is an appropriate, indeed sarcastic, comment on false religion.

Motion. Although position, velocity, and acceleration suffice to give a full description of any motion in progress, all three are impossible to measure except with reference to an observer. At every moment in time, his position (or the position of some standard of reference defined by a group of observers) must be regarded as the origin of a tridimensional coordinate system. Although the three divisions of motion do not appear to reflect individual persons of the Trinity, together they stand in contrast to the observer, who is man. Whereas God is unchangeable, man is always on the road of life. For him, depending on the leanings of his heart, he is either near to God or distant from Him. He is either approaching Him in love or moving away from HIm in rebellion. He is either hastening ever faster to do right, or plunging ever faster into sin.