I will start by saying that any idea of “partner”, “wife” or “son” as portrayed in the Quran must be put aside, for the discussion’s sake, and words must be understood in the Christian sense, while using human language, but not confining it to its physical meaning.
In the Name of The Father and the Son:
Son:
Son is a metaphorical word. It denotes the relationship between Father and Jesus, or Father and His Word.
In the Arabic language, we say the daughter of lip, which is a metaphore that stands for “word”. .“ما نبس ببنت شفة” [maa nabasa bibinti shafah].
in the same way a word cannot be a physical daughter of a lip but is called as such because it comes from/proceeds/begotten by the lip, likewise, the word Son means the Word, the Logos begotten by the Father.
So if a Muslim is intrested in starting to understand, he must think of the word Son in its correct meaning as Word/Logos/Wisdom and which has nothing to do with marriage/sex/women.
What does it mean that the Word is eternally begotten?
The relationship between the Father and His Word is an eternal relationship since there was no time when the Father was Wordless. In this sense, the Father eternally begets His Word. In other words, the Word/Wisdom of the Father always existed with the Father.
So if a Muslim is intrested in starting to understand, he must think of the word ternally begotten in its correct meaning = that always existed , and which has nothing to do with marriage/sex/women.
In the name of the Father, His Word and:
The Holy Spirit: is God’s Holy Spirit, the Spirit that creates, teaches, give consolation, empowers all people ecc. In the OT and NT, it has nothing to do with a creature but existed before creation just as His Wisdom. The Quran uses the word “sakina”, which comes from the Hebew Shekhinah, a word used to identify the Holy Spirit in the Bible, and which explained in the Talmud as the Divine Emmanence.
So we pray in the name of the Father (Allah), His Word and His Spirit.
Why do we say they are distinct but not seperate?
not seperate because we cannot seperate the Father from His Word or His Spirit.
they are distinct because the Father is the Font which begets His Word and from whom the Spirit proceeds. In this sense of position they are distinct when in essence they are One because the Word and Spirit of God are uncreated and eternal, the essence of God.
Another point must be explained, which is the Incarnation because Muslims often confuse the Incarnation with the Trinity.
The Incarnation is when the eternal and uncreated and divine Word/Logos/Wisdom took a human flesh ,through Mary, without a biological father. Islam agrees that Jesus has no biological father, but the reason is unknown and usually the answer is " because Allah wanted so". In Christianity things have a meaning since God does not act randomly.
In other words, the eternal and uncreated and divine Word/Logos of the Father took an additional human nature, not ceizing to be divine, nor becoming a human in appearance, but 100% divine Word and 100% human flesh.
Another similar concept in Islam is the belief that the Quran is the uncreated and eternal Speech of Allah, not Allah in position yet not different in essence.
Christians have no problem discussing the Trinity, which isn’t about the number 3 but rather about the Oness of God, the Tri-Unity of the Father, His Word and His spirit; on the contrary, we have to discuss what God revealed throughout the OT and NT…we won’t be submitters to God if we reject to believe/explain what He wants us to know and we won’t be Jesus’ followers if we reject to believe in that which He revealed to His church through His apostles.
A Muslim who tells us God is not the Trinity is a Muslim telling us God does not have Word/Wisdom and Spirit, that is, Wordless and Spiritness whereas most Islamic arguments to refute the Trinity center on Jesus’ humanity, a misunderstanding i dealt with above
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