THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE

The Divine Trinity
Message One—The Triune God Carrying Out God’s Eternal Economy

Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9, 1 Tim. 1:4b; Matt. 3:16-17; 1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 13:14; John 14:10-11; Rev. 22:1

I. There are two basic divine titles for God in the Old Testament—Gen. 1:1; 2:4:

A. Elohim (Gen. 1:1) is used in relation to God’s creation, and its plurality implies the Divine Trinity, thus denoting the unique yet triune God.

B. Jehovah (Gen. 2:4) is used in God’s relationship with man, and it literally means “He that is who He is; therefore, the eternal I Am,” thus denoting the Triune God as the One who is not only eternally existing but also eternally being.

II. God is triune, three-one—Isa. 45:5; 1 Cor. 8:4; Matt. 28:19:

A. God is only one—Psa. 86:10; Isa. 45:5; 1 Cor. 8:4.

B. God has the aspect of three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—Matt. 28:19.

III. The three of the Divine Trinity are eternally coexistent—1 Pet. 1:2; Heb. 1:8, 12; Rom. 9:5; Eph. 3:14-17:

A. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all God—1 Pet. 1:2; Eph. 1:17; Heb. 1:8; John 1:11; Rom. 9:5; Acts 5:3-4.

B. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all eternal—Isa. 9:6; Heb. 1:12; 7:3; Heb. 9:14.

C. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist simultaneously from eternity to eternity—John 14:16-17; Eph. 3:14-17; 2 Cor. 13:14.

IV. The three of the Divine Trinity are eternally coinherent—John 14:10-11, Matt. 1:18, 20:

A. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit mutually indwell one another—John 14:10-11, 26; 15:26.

B. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist in Their coinherence, and are thus distinct but not separate—John 5:19, 43; 8:29; 16:32; Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20; Luke 4:1, 18a; Matt. 12:28.

V. The essential Trinity refers to the essence of the Triune God for His existence—John 14:16-18; Isa. 9:6; 1 Cor. 3:17-18:

A. The Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the reality of the Son— Col. 2:9; John 14:16-18.

B. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are essentially one, as evidenced by the following:

1. A Son is given to us, yet His name is called the eternal Father—Isa. 9:6.

2. The Son as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b.

3. The Lord is the Spirit and the Lord Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17-18.

VI. The economical Trinity refers to the plan of the Triune God for His move—Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9 John 5:19; 8:28:

A. The Father as the Originator makes the divine economy; the Son accomplishes the divine economy made by the Father; and the Spirit applies to God’s elect what the Son has accomplished—Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4b; John 5:19; 8:28; 16:13.

B. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are economically three; yet They are still one in harmony in the economical Trinity, as evidenced by the following—John 10:30; 17:21, 23:

1. The Father spoke in heaven concerning the Son, the Son stood in the water on the earth, and the Spirit soared as the dove in the air —Matt. 3:16-17.

2. The Father chose the believers before the foundation of the world, the Son redeemed them in time, and the Spirit sealed them after they believed in the Son—Eph. 1:4, 6- 7, 13.

VII. The Divine Trinity is for the dispensing of God into His chosen people—Rom. 8:29; 1 Pet. 1:3:

A. The Triune God’s eternal economy according to His heart’s desire is to make man the same as He is in life and nature but not in His Godhead, and thus to be enlarged and expanded in His expression.

B. This is accomplished by creating man in His image and after His likeness, becoming a man in His incarnation to partake of the human nature (Heb. 2:14a), living a human life to express His attributes through man’s virtues, dying an all-inclusive death, resurrecting to become the firstborn Son of God and the life-giving Spirit, dispensing Himself into His chosen people to regenerate them with Himself as their life for producing many sons, forming the churches with His many sons, and building up the Body of Christ with His brothers as the members to be the organism of the processed and consummated Triune God to consummate the New Jerusalem as His eternal enlargement and expression—Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 8:29; Acts 13:33; 1 Cor. 15:45; 1 Pet. 1:3.

C. To carry out His dispensing, God needs to be triune:

1. The Father as the origin is the fountain—Jer. 2:13.

2. The Son as the expression is the spring—John 4:14.

3. The Spirit as the transmission is the flow—the river—the reaching and the application of the Triune God—Rev. 22:1.

D. Second Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all,” showing that the Divine Trinity is not for the doctrinal understanding of systematic theology but for the dispensing of God Himself into His chosen people to accomplish His economy.

VIII. God in His Divine Trinity is an incorporation and He passed through all the processes to be incorporated with man to be an enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation, consummating the New Jerusalem— John 14: 10-11; Acts 2:23:

A. God in His Divine Trinity is an incorporation—John 14: 10-11.

B. The Triune God in eternity past held a council to make a decision that the second among Them had to become a man and pass through the processes of human living, death, and resurrection so that all the redeemed and regenerated believers of God would be incorporated into God’s incorporation to be an enlarged incorporation—Acts 2:23.

C. The processed and consummated Triune God and the redeemed and regenerated believers became an enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation in the resurrection of Christ (John 14:20), consummating the New Jerusalem as the corporate God-the enlargement, expansion, and expression of God—John 14:20.

 

Ministry Excerpts:

THE REASON GOD IS THREE-IN-ONE

Second Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship (Gk.) of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” Here three things are mentioned: grace, love, and fellowship. Why is grace mentioned first? Because the emphasis of 2 Corinthians is on the grace of God. Second Corinthians 12:9 says, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Chapter one, verse 12, says, “In the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world.” This book speaks of the grace of the Lord; therefore, when it reaches the end it mentions the grace of the Lord first, then the love of God, and lastly the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This sets forth the reason why God is three-in-one: it is thus that He can dispense Himself into us, work Himself into us for us to enjoy, and be our all. The love of God, that is, the love of the Father, is the source. The grace of Christ, that is, the grace of the Son, is the flowing out of the love of the Father. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the flowing into us of the grace of the Son, together with the love of the Father, for us to enjoy. This can be proved by our experience. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit within us is the transmitting of the grace of the Son into us. And the grace of the Son within us is simply the practical tasting and enjoying of the love of the Father.

The love of the Father is the source, the grace of the Son is the manifestation, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the transmission, transmitting the grace of the Son with the love of the Father into us. The result is that all three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—become our enjoyment. You have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit within you, and the more you live in this fellowship, the more you will have of the grace of Christ; then, the more you have of the grace of Christ, the more you will enjoy the love of God. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit brings the grace of Christ, and in the grace of Christ there is the love of God. Therefore, the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are not three different things, but three stages of one thing for us to possess and enjoy. Likewise, the Father, Son, and Spirit are not three Gods, but three stages of one God for us to possess and enjoy. For example, ice becomes water, and water becomes vapor—one substance assumes three forms. When it reaches the vapor stage, it is available for us to breathe in. Thus, all that the Father has is in the Son, and all that the Son has is received by the Holy Spirit, who brings Him into us for us to enjoy (John 16:14-15). (Concerning the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit)

The love of God is the source, since God is the origin; the grace of the Lord is the course of the love of God, since the Lord is the expression of God; and the fellowship of the Spirit is the impartation of the grace of the Lord with the love of God, since the Spirit is the transmission of the Lord with God, for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with Their divine virtues. Here the grace of the Lord is mentioned first because this book is on the grace of Christ (1:12; 4:15; 6:1; 8:1, 9; 9:8, 14; 12:9). Such a divine attribute of three virtues—love, grace, and fellowship—and such a Triune God of the three divine hypostases—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—were needed by the distracted and confused yet comforted and restored Corinthian believers. Hence, the apostle used all these divine and precious things in one sentence to conclude his lovely and dear Epistle.

FOR THE DISPENSING OF GOD HIMSELF IN HIS TRINITY
INTO HIS CHOSEN AND REDEEMED PEOPLE

This verse is strong proof that the trinity of the Godhead is not for the doctrinal understanding of systematic theology but for the dispensing of God Himself in His trinity into His chosen and redeemed people. In the Bible the Trinity is never revealed merely as a doctrine. It is always revealed or mentioned in regard to the relationship of God with His creatures, especially with man, who was created by Him, and more particularly with His chosen and redeemed people. The first divine title used in the divine revelation, Elohim in Hebrew, a title used in relation to God’s creation, is plural in number (Gen. 1:1), implying that God, as the Creator of the heavens and the earth for man, is triune. Concerning His creation of man in His own image, after His own likeness, He used the plural pronouns Us and Our, referring to His trinity (Gen. 1:26) and implying that He would be one with man and express Himself through man in His trinity. Later, in Gen. 3:22 and 11:7 and Isa. 6:8, He referred to Himself again and again as Us in regard to His relationship with man and with His chosen people.

In order to redeem fallen man that He might again have the position to be one with man, He became incarnated (John 1:1, 14) in the Son and through the Spirit (Luke 1:31-35) to be a man, and lived a human life on the earth, also in the Son (Luke 2:49) and by the Spirit (Luke 4:1; Matt. 12:28). At the beginning of the Son’s ministry on the earth, the Father anointed the Son with the Spirit (Matt. 3:16-17; Luke 4:18) in order that He might reach men and bring them back to Him. Just before He was crucified in the flesh and resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), He unveiled His mysterious trinity to His disciples in plain words (John 14—17), stating that the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son (John 14:9-11), that the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son (John 14:16-20), that the three, coexisting and coinhering simultaneously, are abiding with the believers for their enjoyment (John 14:23; 17:21-23), and that all that the Father has is the Son’s and all that the Son possesses is received by the Spirit to be declared to the believers (John 16:13-15). Such a Trinity is altogether related to the dispensing of the processed God into His believers (John 14:17, 20; 15:4-5) that they may be one in and with the Triune God (John 17:21-23).

THE DIVINE TRINITY IN THE ENTIRE BOOK OF EPHESIANS

2Co 13:141 [6] The entire divine revelation in the book of Ephesians concerning the producing, existing, growing, building up, and fighting of the church as the Body of Christ is composed of the divine economy, the dispensing of the Triune God into the members of the Body of Christ. Chapter 1 of Ephesians unveils that God the Father chose and predestinated these members in eternity (Eph. 1:4-5), that God the Son redeemed them (Eph. 1:6-12), and that God the Spirit, as a pledge, sealed them (Eph. 1:13-14), thus imparting Himself into His believers for the formation of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:18-23). Chapter 2 shows us that in the Divine Trinity all the believers, both Jewish and Gentile, have access unto God the Father, through God the Son, in God the Spirit (Eph. 2:18). This indicates that the three coexist and coinhere simultaneously, even after all the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. In ch. 3 the apostle prayed that God the Father would grant the believers to be strengthened through God the Spirit into their inner man, that Christ, God the Son, may make His home in their hearts, that is, occupy their entire being, that they may be filled unto all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:14-19). This is the climax of the believers’ experience of and participation in God in His trinity. Chapter 4 portrays how the processed God as the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father is mingled with the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:4-6) so that all the members of the Body may experience the Divine Trinity. Chapter 5 exhorts the believers to praise the Lord, God the Son, with the songs of God the Spirit, and give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, to God the Father (Eph. 5:19-20). This is to praise and thank the processed God in His divine trinity for our enjoyment of Him as the Triune God. Chapter 6 instructs us to fight the spiritual warfare by being empowered in the Lord, God the Son, putting on the whole armor of God the Father, and wielding the sword of God the Spirit (Eph. 6:10, 11, 17). This is the believers’ experience and enjoyment of the Triune God even in the spiritual warfare.

THE APOSTLE PETER IN HIS WRITING,
CONFIRMED THAT GOD IS TRIUNE FOR THE BELIEVERS’ ENJOYMENT

The apostle Peter, in his writing, confirmed that God is triune for the believers’ enjoyment, referring the believers to the election of God the Father, the sanctification of God the Spirit, and the redemption of Jesus Christ, God the Son, accomplished by His blood (1 Pet. 1:2). And John the apostle strengthened the revelation that the Divine Trinity is for the believers’ participation in the processed Triune God. In the book of Revelation he blessed the churches in different localities with grace and peace from God the Father, Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from God the Spirit, the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from God the Son, Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth (Rev. 1:4-5). John’s blessing given to the churches indicated also that the processed Triune God, in all He is as the eternal Father, in all He is able to do as the sevenfold intensified Spirit, and in all He has attained and obtained as the anointed Son, is for the believers’ enjoyment, that they may be His corporate testimony as the golden lampstands (Rev. 1:9, 11, 20).

Thus, it is evident that the divine revelation of the trinity of the Godhead in the holy Word, from Genesis through Revelation, is not for theological study but for the apprehending of how God in His mysterious and marvelous trinity dispenses Himself into His chosen people, that we as His chosen and redeemed people may, as indicated in the apostle’s blessing to the Corinthian believers, participate in, experience, enjoy, and possess the processed Triune God now and for eternity. Amen. (Holy Bible Recovery Version, 1 Cor. 13:14, footnote 1)

ESSENTIAL AND ECONOMICAL

Thus far, in our definition of the divine Trinity and of our experience of the divine Trinity, we have used two new words in our spiritual vocabulary: “essential” refers to the existence, to the being, and to the life for existence; “economical” refers to economy, work, and function. When we say the essential Trinity, we mean the divine Trinity in His existence, referring to His Being. When we say the economical Trinity, we mean the divine Trinity in His economy, referring to His move, work, and function. To experience the Triune God as our life for our spiritual being, spiritual existence, is essential. To experience the Triune God as power for our spiritual work and spiritual function, is economical. To feed on the Lord as food, to drink Him as water, and to breathe Him as air is essential because it is related to the inner life for our spiritual existence. To put on the Lord as our clothing, to be clothed with the outpoured Spirit as power from on high, is economical because it is related to the outward move and work. On the day of resurrection, the Lord breathed the Spirit of life into the disciples. That is essential. On the day of Pentecost, the Lord poured out the Spirit of power upon the disciples. This is economical. On the one hand, they received the Spirit of life into their being essentially, and on the other hand, they received the Spirit of power upon them economically. Eventually, they became persons of the all-inclusive Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God.

CLOTHED WITH POWER FROM ON HIGH

Even though these hundred and twenty had received the Lord as life essentially, they still had not been equipped and qualified to carry out God’s economy. They still needed to be clothed with power from on high (Luke 24:49). After we wake up in the morning, our eating of breakfast fills us with life essentially. Even though we have been filled with life essentially, we still are not qualified to come to the meeting to speak something for the Lord. We need to wash, comb our hair, and put on the proper clothing. Now we are not only constituted intrinsically, essentially, but we are also equipped economically. If a policeman did not have a uniform, no one would respect him or recognize him. When a person is driving his car and he sees a man with a police uniform, he becomes very careful in his driving. The uniform means a lot to the policeman because it represents the government for which he is working. It is his authority which qualifies him to carry out the administration of his state or government.

After the Lord had breathed Himself as the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit into the disciples on the evening of the day of His resurrection, the disciples were filled inwardly with the Spirit, but they still had not received their uniform. They did not have the proper clothing to carry out God’s administration, God’s economy. In Luke 24:49 the Lord told the disciples, “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you, stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” After their forty-day training, the hundred and twenty still needed the uniform, so the Lord charged them to wait in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. This power from on high was the outpoured Spirit who is the ascended, pneumatic Christ. This power from on high was the heavenly uniform to be put on God’s chosen and prepared people for their qualification to carry out God’s administration. (God’s New Testament Economy, ch. 7)