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Scripture Reading: John 7:38-39; 14:16-17, 23, 26; 15:26; 16:14-15; 20:22; Rom. 8:9-11
The first two verses of the Gospel of John mention God, but they do not mention the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in clear words. Then in the following chapters the mystery of the Father is gradually disclosed. The Father is really a mystery. Why is God called the Father? Whose Father is He? If you say that He is the Father of the Son, this brings in a deeper mystery. In chapters 14, 15, and 16 the Father is mentioned again and again. The Son is also mentioned (14:13), and the Son said that He would pray to the Father, asking the Father to give the disciples another Comforter, the Spirit of reality. So the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all are mysterious.
The Lord talked to His disciples in John 14:16-20, indicating that the Comforter who would come was just Himself in another form. In verse 17 the Lord said that the Spirit of reality abides with them and shall be in them. Then in verse 18 He said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” This indicates that when the Comforter comes, it is the coming of the Son. In verse 17 He said that the Spirit of reality shall be in them, and in verse 20 He said, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” According to these verses, it would seem that there are two in us, the Spirit of reality and the Lord Jesus Himself. But according to our experience, there are not two but one.
John 14:17 tells us that the Spirit is in us. Verse 20 tells us that Christ the Son is in us, and verse 23 tells us that both the Son and the Father will come to us and make an abode with us. Ephesians 4:6 says that there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” So the Spirit is in us, the Son is in us, and the Father also is in us. Then how many are in us, three or one? The wisest way to answer is that the Triune God is in us. Triune simply means “three-one.” Of course, in our human mathematics we do not have such a number. We have three, and we have one, but we do not have three-one. But in the divine mathematics there is such a number. We do not have three in us; we have three-one in us.
This same principle can be found in the book of Revelation. There the Spirit of God who, no doubt, is the one unique Spirit of God, is called the seven Spirits (1:4; 3:1). Is God’s Spirit one or seven? You have to answer that God’s Spirit is seven-one. Of course, we do not understand such divine mathematics. If we understood, we would be God. Our God is three-one, and His Spirit is seven-one.
The very God upon whom the entire universe is focused is not a single God; He is triune. Both the Old and New Testaments use plural pronouns in referring to the Triune God. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Here the plural pronouns Us and Our are used. Then in John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said, “We will come to him and make an abode with him.” Who are the “We”? The Father and the Son. So our God is triune. The entire universe is focused on God, and He is triune — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
Some Christian teachers, in their teaching concerning the Trinity, separate the Father from the Son, and they separate both the Father and the Son from the Spirit. In their teaching they say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three persons, not only distinct but also separate. Many Christians realize the Trinity in this way: the Father is sitting on the throne in heaven, and the Son is sitting at the Father’s right hand. So both the Father and the Son are in heaven, and the Spirit has come down to the earth. This means that in their concept one-third of the Godhead is on the earth, and two-thirds of the Godhead are in heaven. I am afraid that you also may still have this kind of concept. This wrong teaching is a leavened truth. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit — the Triune God — is a truth in the Bible, but it has been leavened. Leaven is added to wheat flour to make the bread soft and edible. In like manner, leaven has been added to the truth in the Bible to make it easier to understand and to take. Do not hold the concept that the Trinity of the Godhead could be divided into three separate persons. This is leaven. Although God is triune, He is one. The Father is not separate from the Son or from the Spirit. The Spirit is not separate from the Son or from the Father. The three have never been separated. The three coexist and coinhere all the time. When one is here, all three are here. When one is in heaven, all are in heaven. The three are always one. There is no separation. This is a mystery as revealed in the Scriptures for dispensing the Triune God into us.
Suppose the Bible only revealed God as the unique God, God the Creator, not the Triune God. If there were no Father and no Son and no Spirit, how could God dispense Himself into us? For God to dispense Himself into us is not a small thing, nor is it so simple. We are fallen, and we have the problems of sin, the world, and Satan. How could these things be taken away? There was the need of someone to condemn sin, to judge the world, and to cast out Satan. In the divine dispensing, this Someone is the Son. The Son was sent by the Father to condemn sin, to judge the world, and to cast out Satan through His death on the cross. In order to die on the cross, He needed to put on humanity. How could God without blood and flesh be crucified on the cross to shed blood for the forgiveness of sins? It would be impossible. So the Son had to put on blood and flesh so that He could go to the cross and die in a physical way (Heb. 2:14). He put on humanity so that He could shed human blood to wash away our sins. He judged the world, and He cast out Satan (John 12:31).
Furthermore, if God were only God, how could He enter into us? In order to enter into us, God must be the life-giving Spirit. The Spirit is the holy breath for us to take in (20:22).
These illustrations may help us to realize that the matter of the Triune God is not merely for teaching but is for dispensing. Doctrinally, we may not fully understand the Triune God, but in experience we can testify that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are in us. This is for experience on our side, and this is for dispensing on His side.
The Father is the source, the Initiator; the Son is the expression, the Accomplisher; and the Spirit is the entering in, the Applier (14:17). The Father sent the Son (8:29), and the Son came with the Father (16:32). The Son sent the Spirit (v. 7), and the Spirit came from with the Father (15:26) in the name of the Son (14:26). By this you can see that the Father by Himself cannot reach us, nor can the Son by Himself enter into us. The Father is unapproachable (1 Tim. 6:16), but the Son came to tabernacle among us (John 1:14). But still He was not able to enter into us, because He was blood and flesh. As a man with a physical body, He was able to be among His disciples but not within them. So He told His disciples that He had to die and to be raised up. By His death and resurrection His form was changed from a physical form into a spiritual form. He became the pneumatic Christ who was able to enter into His disciples (20:22). This is the reaching of the Triune God.
When the Triune God reaches His redeemed people, He is the Spirit. For example, with electricity there is both the power plant and the installation in your house. Just to have the power plant is not practical. It is only when the power is installed into your house that the electricity becomes practical in your daily life. You are a building, and God is the source, the power plant, in the heavens. The Spirit, the reaching of the Triune God, has been installed into your being. When the Spirit enters into your being, He does not leave the Father and the Son far away in the heavens. That is a wrong concept. When the Spirit comes into you, He comes with both the Son and the Father. If you have the Spirit, you have the Son. If you have the Son, you also have the Father. You have all three. In the Father you taste love, in the Son you enjoy grace, and in the Spirit you participate in the communion, the fellowship, the flow, of the divine life. Love is the source, grace is the enjoyment, and the Spirit is the communion (2 Cor. 13:14). This is the dispensing of the Triune God.
When I was young, I taught people that to be a Christian is, first, to fear God. You must have a holy fear toward God. Second, you must love the Lord Jesus. Third, you must endeavor to improve yourself to be good — a good husband, a good wife, a good child, a good father, a good mother, a good neighbor, a good student, and so forth. But now I want to tell you that a Christian is one who lives a life of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. A Christian is not one who lives a life of good behavior. A Christian is one who lives a life of the Triune God. Today the very reaching of this Triune God into you is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). He is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). When the Spirit comes, He comes in the Son’s name, and He comes with the Son and with the Father. So when you have this reaching Spirit, you have the Son. And when the Son comes to you, He comes in the name of the Father, and He comes with the Father. When you have the Son, you have the Father. Now you have all three living in you as one to be your life, your life supply, and your everything. As a Christian, you do not need to take care of good behavior. Forget about that. You have to thoroughly and absolutely take care of the Triune God within you. He is so real.
When you call “Lord Jesus,” do you not have a deep sensation of comfort, of light, of happiness, of peace, of consolation, and of so many pleasant feelings? If you were to call on Abraham Lincoln or George Washington, nothing would happen. But when you call, “Lord Jesus! I love You!” you have the deep sensation that He loves you also and that He is living in you. This is not a superstition; this is a fact. The Spirit is the reality of the Triune God. When this reaching Spirit is in you, the entire God is in you.
A bona fide Christian is simply one who lives a life of this reality, a life of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. To live a life of the Triune God simply means to be one with the Triune God. As He moves, you move. As He speaks, you speak. As He stays, you stay. It is not a matter of ethics or of trying to overcome sin and the world. You just need to take care of Him. You just live a life of the Triune God. If you live such a life, the world will be judged, the devil will flee, and all sinful things will be overcome. The Triune God will become your life, your living, your victory, your holiness, your righteousness, your love, your life, and your light. This is a bona fide Christian with the divine ethics, much higher than the human ethics. You need to live a life of the Triune God. The Spirit is the entering in and the Applier of the Triune God. Our God is not only the source and not only the expression but also the entering in. He has entered into our being.
The Spirit is another Paraclete (John 14:16). Paraclete is the anglicized form of the Greek word paracletos. This is a very inclusive word. It means one who serves you, who is called to your side to help you in everything. It also denotes one who is taking care of your case like an attorney, or who intercedes for you like an intercessor. It also denotes a kind of patron. Further, it denotes consoling and comforting, which is why it is rendered “Comforter.”
The Spirit, the third of the Trinity, is the total consummation of the Triune God. He is not just one-third of the Godhead; He is the totality of the Godhead. Such a One is your Helper, Patron, Counselor, and Comforter who takes care of your needs in your daily life. The same word is used concerning the Lord Jesus in 1 John 2:1, where it is translated “Advocate.” These are not two; these are one. As our Advocate, He is with the Father, and as our Paraclete, He is within us. We have such a One within us taking care of all our need. If we need a helper, He is such a Helper. If we need an attorney, He is such an Attorney. If we need someone to pray for us, He is such an Intercessor. This is the Paraclete. The first part of the word para is a prefix that means “alongside” or “along with.” Someone is alongside of us, along with us, all the time. He is like a nurse taking care of a sick person. He is like an attorney taking care of our case in the heavenly court. He is everything to us.
The Spirit is given by the Father in answering the Son’s request (John 14:16). Even now I cannot fully understand this point. The Son requested the Father to give the Spirit. This one act involved the three of the Godhead. The second requested the first to give the third. What is this? I do not know, but I do know that the three of the Godhead are working together to give us the Spirit, as revealed in John 14:16.
The Spirit was sent by the Father in the Son’s name (v. 26). John 14:26 is not easy to interpret. Does it mean that the Father does something in the Son’s name? Or does it mean that the Spirit is sent in the Son’s name? Regardless of which way we interpret it, the result is the same. Whether the Father sent the Spirit in the Son’s name, or whether the Father sent the Spirit and the Spirit came in the Son’s name, the coming is the same. This indicates that the three have never been separated. When one moves, the other two are with the one. One is sent, and the other two join the coming. When the Son comes, He comes in the Father’s name, and He comes as the Father. When the Spirit is sent, He is sent in the Son’s name. This means that He is sent as the Son. So the Son comes as the Father, and the Spirit is sent as the Son. This simply means that the three are one. You cannot separate Them. The first sent the second, and the second comes in the name of the first as the first; then the second sent the third, and the third comes in the name of the second. This is marvelous! Among the three there is a definite distinction, but there is no separation at all.
The Spirit proceeds from with the Father (15:26). The Spirit does not come by Himself alone. He comes from the Father, and He comes with the Father. In other words, His coming brings the Father with Him. So when He comes, the Father comes also. The two, He and the Father, are one.
The Spirit receives all that is of the Son (16:14-15). Whatever the Son is and has, has been disclosed, passed on, to the Spirit. The Spirit then discloses everything that He has received to us. So actually, He is the transfiguration of the Son. Whatever the Father has is the Son’s, making the Son the very embodiment of the Father (Col. 2:9). Whatever the Son has, has been passed on to the Spirit, making the Spirit the transfiguration of the Son. So the Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son.
Many Christians today would not use these two terms: embodiment and transfiguration. Instead, they would use the word representative. They would say that the Holy Spirit within us is the representative of Christ who is in heaven. This word representative is leaven; it leavens the truth. In the Triune God there is no representation, but there is the embodiment and the transfiguration. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is transfigured into the Spirit. There is no thought of representation. The Son does not represent the Father, nor does the Spirit represent the Son. No. The Son embodies the Father, and the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son. Representation would indicate that the Father is separate from the Son. This would also indicate that the Son is separate from the Spirit. This would indicate a separation between the three, between the One who represents and the One who is represented. But embodiment indicates union, oneness, and identification. In principle, transfiguration does the same thing.
Most of the truths in the Bible have been leavened. This is a subtlety of the enemy. He has leavened the truths, depriving them of their riches and weight. This is why we need the recovery. The Lord wants to recover all the leavened truths. Do not use the word representative, and do not bring in the thought of representation concerning the Triune God. We should use the words embodied and transfigured, or embodiment and transfiguration.
The Spirit abides with the Son and the Father in the believers (John 14:17, 23; Rom. 8:9-11). In Romans 8:9-11 three divine titles are used interchangeably: the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ. This indicates that Christ is the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God. These three divine titles are used interchangeably to describe the dispensing of the Trinity into our three parts to mingle Himself fully with our being. The Trinity is mingled with our three parts. This is really wonderful! This is the abiding of the Triune God in His ultimate consummation, which is the life-giving Spirit.
Why must we spend so much time on this? It is because the leavened truth still remains in our concept. This leavening element is universally common among Christians. Christians have a subconscious understanding that the three of the Trinity are divided and separated. They think that today they have only the Holy Spirit in them and therefore do not have the Father and do not have the Son. This is why in our study of the holy Word concerning the Trinity we have picked up point after point to give us a clear view that first, the Son comes in the Father’s name, and the Spirit is sent in the Son’s name; and second, that the Son comes with the Father, and the Spirit comes with the Father and the Son. These two points prove that the Triune God is uniquely one. Although the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, are distinct, They are one, inseparable, indivisible, and undivided. When we have one, we have all three.
But the Father never comes first. The One who comes first is always the Spirit. When you have the Spirit, the Son is with you; when you have the Son, you also have the Father. First John 2:23 says, “He who confesses the Son has the Father also.” So when you have the Son, you have both the Son and the Father. Because the Son comes as the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17), He is the pneumatic Christ.
This is what the New Testament calls eternal life (1 John 5:20). Eternal life is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, who come to us in the ultimate consummation of the Triune God — the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. This Triune God is the reality of eternal life. When we Christians say that we should grow in life, we mean that we should grow with the element and essence of the Triune God. When we say life, we mean the Triune God. We do not mean something apart from the Triune God. Life in our Christian experience is just the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Life is the Triune God, and this life is within us. What a wonder! What a blessing! The Triune God is within us as our life.
Before the death and resurrection of Christ, the Spirit was not yet (John 7:39), because Christ had not completed the process that He had to go through. He had been incarnated, but He had not yet passed through death and entered into resurrection. One day He went into death, passed through death, and entered into resurrection, and then He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). John 7:39 says that the Spirit was not yet. This means that the process for the Spirit of God to be the life-giving Spirit was not completed, because Jesus was not yet glorified; that is, He had not yet gone through death into resurrection. But after He went through death and entered into resurrection, He was glorified, and the process for the bringing forth of the life-giving Spirit was completed.
After His resurrection He disclosed the title of the Trinity clearly to the disciples. In Matthew 28:19, after His resurrection and in His resurrection, He came back to His disciples and charged them to disciple the nations and baptize the believing ones into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Not until He had passed through all the necessary processes was the Divine Trinity, as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, clearly revealed in the Scriptures. After and in His resurrection, man can be baptized into the fully processed Trinity so that he may have an organic union with the dispensing Triune God. Now we, the believing and baptized people, are one with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We participate in the Triune God and enjoy His dispensing of Himself into us.
The Spirit of the resurrected Christ comes to testify concerning the Son and to glorify Him (John 15:26; 16:14). As the transfiguration of the Son, He makes the Son real in the believers’ experience. This is to testify concerning the Son. Without the Spirit, the Son would be objective to the believers and could not be subjective to them in their experiences of Him.
When the Spirit discloses what the Son is to the believers and makes Him real to them in their life, the Son is glorified. By this the Son becomes the believers’ life within and their expression without. This is to glorify the Son.
Eventually, this Spirit will fill up the believers and overflow from within them as rivers of living water in many aspects of their Christian life (7:38-39). This is for the believers in Christ to experience and enjoy the Triune God to the uttermost. This is the ultimate consummation of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into God’s chosen people.
