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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:1-3, 26-27; 3:22; 6:3; 11:6-8; 18:1-2; 16:10; 21:17-18; 22:11-12; 31:11-13; 48:15-16
The matter of the Divine Trinity has been taught and debated throughout the past nineteen centuries since the early church fathers. This controversy continues even today. I studied all the traditional teachings when I was young, but I eventually began to see certain points concerning the Divine Trinity that are directly according to the revelation of the pure Word of God. Because some of these points differ from the traditional teachings concerning the Trinity, my ministry related to these points has faced opposition. Some condemn us for teaching what we have seen plainly revealed in the Bible and even say that our teachings are heretical. Although we have published some booklets to refute such accusations, we have not completed a thorough study of the Divine Trinity in the holy Word. Our burden in this study is mainly positive — not to debate but to minister what the Lord has shown us.
We need to complete a thorough, exhaustive study of the Divine Trinity throughout the entire Bible. The best way is not to argue or fight concerning particular points but to come back to the Bible to study the matter. We need to study every verse in the Bible in which the Trinity is either directly indicated or indirectly implied. Because this kind of study of the Word is for our proper apprehension, there will not be many illustrations. Instead, in a precise and brief way we will see what the Bible actually says about the Trinity. For this kind of study we need to concentrate our entire being, exercising both our mind and our spirit. The conclusion of such a thorough and exhaustive study should be the standard by which we measure all other teachings, including those of the church fathers, councils, and creeds. In order to see where there are shortages, excesses, or errors, we should examine these teachings not by human thought nor by our understanding or our view but by a thorough and exhaustive study of the Bible.
Studying the creeds, councils, and teachings from the first six centuries of church history reveals that many of the great teachers became tritheistic. Tritheism is the wrong teaching that there are three Gods. Most of the early teachings concerning the Trinity may be classified into three main categories: conscious tritheism, implied tritheism, and subconscious tritheism. Conscious tritheism is clear tritheism. Included in this category is the great teacher Origen. Many of his teachings were good, but he made a great mistake by teaching that Christ was inferior to God the Father. Many others erred in a similar fashion. Nearly all the creeds, beginning with the Nicene Creed, come under the category of implied tritheism. The creeds do not directly say anything tritheistic, but they contain an implication of tritheism. The third category is subconscious tritheism. Subconsciously, or unconsciously, many teachings have the thought of God as three persons and therefore three Gods. These matters require much consideration, and the most fair and accurate way is by a thorough study of the Bible.
I believe that this study will be a great help not only to the Lord’s recovery but also to all the believers. The Lord’s recovery is a recovery of the truth. With Martin Luther the Lord recovered the truth concerning justification by faith. The crucial truth of the Divine Trinity has been debated for nineteen centuries. It is altogether worthwhile for us to spend our time and energy with a spirit of prayer to conduct a thorough and exhaustive study of the Divine Trinity as revealed in the holy Word. We intentionally use the phrase as revealed in the holy Word in a polemical spirit to imply that we care only for what the Bible says, and we recognize that what the Bible says may be different from traditional teachings. Nevertheless, our spirit is not to fight but to minister the truth to inoculate the saints against wrong teachings.
The Bible contains many explicit teachings, such as the apostle Paul’s teaching concerning justification in Romans 3 through 5. However, the Scriptures do not contain any direct teaching or doctrine concerning the Divine Trinity. Instead, the Trinity is only indicated throughout the Scriptures in many narrations of the divine and spiritual facts. For instance, Genesis 1:1, which says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” indicates the Trinity. Although this verse does not contain any teaching or doctrine of the Trinity, we will see that the narration of God’s creation definitely indicates that God is triune.
Through the past nineteen centuries many great scholars have considered the Trinity primarily as a teaching for us to know about God’s person, His Godhead. However, the fact that the Bible contains no doctrines concerning the Trinity indicates strongly that the Trinity does not exist for teaching but for God to work Himself into us so that we may partake of, experience, and enjoy Him. This is fully proven by Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14, which are the best verses concerning the Trinity in the Bible.
In Matthew 28:19 the Lord charged His disciples, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Although there is no teaching or doctrine concerning the Trinity here, there is a spiritual fact that those who preach the gospel should baptize the believing ones into the name of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are baptized into the Triune God so that we may participate in and enjoy Him. In Word Studies in the New Testament M. R. Vincent says, “Baptizing into the name of the Holy Trinity implies a spiritual and mystical union with him.” This shows that the Trinity is not for teaching.
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.” This verse speaks of the Trinity — Jesus Christ the Son, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit — but it does not teach us a doctrine concerning the Trinity. Instead, the way the Triune God is mentioned indicates that we need to enjoy the Triune God as love, grace, and fellowship. Love as the source corresponds to God the Father. Grace as the expression and the course corresponds to God the Son. Grace and love are transmitted into us through the reaching, the fellowship, of God the Spirit. This is the enjoyment of the Triune God as love, grace, and fellowship. This indicates that the Triune God is for our enjoyment.
Every direct or indirect mention, indication, or implication of the Trinity in the Bible is not for teaching but for our participation in the Triune God. God is triune not for teaching but for dispensing Himself into us that we may enjoy Him. This needs to be deeply impressed into us. Whenever we study a verse in the Bible concerning the Trinity, we should not be content to look for doctrinal teaching but must realize that this verse is for us to know how to participate in, enjoy, and experience the Triune God.
There are at least twelve instances in Genesis that indicate or imply the Trinity. The first is Genesis 1:1, which says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The subject of this verse, God, which is Elohim in Hebrew, is plural in number, but the predicate, created, is singular. Thus, Elohim is uni-plural, implying the Trinity. The plural subject, God, implies the three of the Godhead, and the singular predicate, created, implies the one God. The three of the Godhead worked as one to create.
God created the heavens and the earth in His trinity because He created the heavens and the earth for man (vv. 26-27). Zechariah 12:1 says, “Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” This verse reveals that God’s intention and goal in creating the heavens and the earth were to have a man with a spirit so that man may possess Him and enjoy Him and so that God may work Himself into man to fulfill His eternal plan. The first indication of the Trinity in the Bible, revealed in God’s creation of the heavens and earth, is for man to exist so that God may dispense Himself into man for man’s enjoyment and God’s expression.
Genesis 1:2-3 says, “The Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters. And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” Initially, we may not see that these verses also imply the Trinity. However, we must consider why the subject of verse 2 is the Spirit of God and not simply God as in verses 1 and 3. After verse 1 says, “God created,” verse 2 says, “The Spirit of God was brooding.” This implies the Trinity. God is not as simple as some think — He is triune. In a sense, the word triune, meaning “three-one,” is a complicated, puzzling word.
Verse 1 describes God’s original creation, and verses 2b and 3 describe His restoration and further creation after the judgment and corruption implied in verse 2a. God carried out His restoration and further creation by His Spirit and His speaking — His word. John 1:1-3 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...All things came into being through Him.” All things came into being, were created, through the Word. Hebrews 11:3 says, “The universe has been framed by the word of God.” The universe was framed, that is, created, by the word of God. Psalm 33:9 says, “He spoke, and it was.” This means that God’s speaking created. In Genesis 1:1 it was God who was creating, but in verses 2 and 3 it was the Spirit of God and God’s word who were creating. Here is the implication of the Divine Trinity — God, His Spirit, and His word. Revelation 19:13 says that Christ is called the Word of God.
The Divine Trinity being implied by God, His Spirit, and His word shows that the three of the Trinity are distinct but not separate. God’s Spirit is God’s breath (Job 33:4), and God’s word is God’s breathing (2 Tim. 3:16), which is by God’s breath — Spirit. Job 33:4 says, “The Spirit of God has made me, / And the breath of the Almighty has enlivened me.” In this verse we can see that the Spirit of God is the breath of the Almighty. Second Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” God, His Spirit, and His word are distinct, but they are inseparably related to one another. A man, his breath, and his speaking are three distinct things, but they cannot be separated from one another. It is impossible to speak if we do not breathe. Therefore, speaking is a kind of breathing. Thus, the implication of the Trinity in Genesis 1:1-3 with God, His Spirit, and His word establishes a basic principle concerning the Trinity — that the three are distinct but not separate.
God’s aspect of being singular yet plural is also shown in Genesis 1:26-27, which says, “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;...God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Elohim referred to Himself in verse 26 using Us and Our, but Moses referred to Elohim in verse 27 using His and He. The pronouns Us and Our are plural, but His and He are singular. Again, this reveals that God is uni-plural, triune. Furthermore, the Trinity is clearly indicated here directly for the creation of man in God’s image with the intention that man may express God by having God wrought into him. These points strongly confirm that the Trinity is for God to dispense Himself into us for our enjoyment and experience so that we may express Him.
Genesis 3:22 says, “Jehovah God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever.” In this verse Elohim again referred to Himself with the plural pronoun Us. This implication of the Trinity is in relation to man’s eating of the tree of life — to take God in as man’s life. This proves again that the Trinity is for man’s enjoyment of God.
Genesis 6:3 says, “Jehovah said, My Spirit will not strive with man forever.” At Noah’s time, because mankind became rotten, corrupted flesh, God had no way to go on with man. In a good sense, God gave up striving with man. However, Jehovah did not say, “I will not strive with man,” but, “My Spirit will not strive with man.” Here it is not merely Jehovah but the Spirit of Jehovah who would not strive with man. This refers to the Divine Trinity working on the fallen man. Again, we see that the Trinity is related to God’s work on man so that man may enjoy Him.
Genesis 11:6-8 says, “Jehovah said,...Let Us go down and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So Jehovah scattered them from there over the surface of all the earth.” God’s speaking to Himself with the pronoun Us in this passage was in relation to the confounding and scattering of mankind so that man might not be successful in frustrating God in the fulfillment of His purpose with man. This is also related to man’s partaking of God. Even though this instance is on the negative side, it still implies that the Trinity is for God’s dispensing into man so that man may enjoy Him.
Genesis 18:1-2 says, “Jehovah appeared to him [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre...And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and there were three men standing opposite him.” Verses 13, 14, and 22 clearly reveal that one of these three men was Jehovah and that the other two were angels (v. 22; 19:1). Jehovah appeared to Abraham before His incarnation (John 1:14) as a real man. Abraham prepared water for Him to wash His feet and served Him a meal, which He ate. We may ask if the Son of God became a man two thousand years ago or four thousand years ago, when Abraham lived. With us there is the element of time, but with God there is no element of time. For instance, the Lord Jesus was crucified about two thousand years ago, but Revelation 13:8 says, “The Lamb...was slain from the foundation of the world.” In the eyes of God Christ was crucified when the world came into being. This is God’s way of taking account of things.
Jehovah appeared to Abraham as a man in relation to the ancestry of Christ for fulfilling God’s purpose to redeem man and work Himself into man (Gen. 19:36-37; Ruth 1:4; 4:13, 21-22; Matt. 1:5-16). The Lord appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18 directly for the purpose of rescuing Lot out of Sodom (chs. 18—19). After Lot was rescued, he produced two sons by improper means. One of Lot’s sons was Moab, and Ruth was one of Moab’s descendants. Ruth married Boaz, who was the grandfather of David, and David was a great-grandfather of Christ. Thus, Christ came partly from the genealogy of Lot. The entire book of Genesis is a genealogy of Christ. The first few verses of Matthew 1 are an extract of Genesis. Genesis was written as a full record of Christ’s generation. Thus, when the Lord came to rescue Lot in Genesis 18, He was taking care of one of His ancestors. Here we see the Trinity in relation to the generation of Christ, to bring God into humanity.
Genesis 16:10 says, “The Angel of Jehovah said to her [Hagar], I will greatly multiply your seed.” Verses 7 and 9 also mention the Angel of Jehovah, and verses 11 and 13 show that the Angel of Jehovah turned out to be Jehovah Himself.
Genesis 21:17-18 says, “The Angel of God [Elohim] called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her...God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Rise up; lift up the boy...for I will make of him a great nation.” The Angel of God, who is the Angel of Jehovah, turned out to be God, Elohim. This implies the Trinity.
Genesis 22:11-12 says, “The Angel of Jehovah called to him from the heavens and said, Abraham...Now I know that you fear God [Elohim], since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Me at the end of these verses refers to God, to whom Isaac was offered (vv. 1-2). God’s reference to Himself not simply as Jehovah and God but also as the Angel of Jehovah and the Angel of God [Elohim] implies the Trinity. There was a need of the Trinity for God to work on man that man might participate in Him.
Genesis 31:11-13 says, “The Angel of God [Elohim] said to me in the dream, Jacob...I am the God [El] of Bethel.” The Angel of God turned out to be El, which is another form of Elohim. The speaker in this verse being the Angel of God instead of simply God implies that God deals with man as the Trinity. We need to learn to understand the Trinity according to the revelation of the Bible. God’s work on us so that we may partake of Him is done through the Trinity. God’s trinity is for His economy, the dispensing of Himself into man.
Genesis 48:15-16 says, “He [Israel] blessed Joseph and said, / The God [Elohim] before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, / The God [Elohim] who has shepherded me all my life to this day, / The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys.” The Angel in verse 16 is in apposition to the God in verse 15. Thus, the Angel is the very Elohim, the Triune God of the three generations — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Trinity is implied here because this portion concerns God’s shepherding of Jacob in order to preserve the race of Israel to bring forth Christ and work Himself into man so that man may participate in and enjoy God. The Trinity is always mentioned in relation to God’s economy. God’s being triune is for His economy. God’s trinity is not a matter of His essence but of His economy.
Genesis 16:10; 21:17-18; 22:11-12; 31:11-13; and 48:15-16 all indicate the Divine Trinity in relation, directly or indirectly, to the genealogy of Christ (Matt. 1:1-2). Hagar and her son Ishmael were indirectly related to Christ’s genealogy. Abraham and Jacob were directly related to the genealogy of Christ, who came to redeem man so that God could work Himself into man. This is all for God’s economy.
By studying the Trinity in Genesis, we can conclude that God’s trinity is for His economy, which is to dispense Himself into man so that man may enjoy Him and become His expression. In addition, according to the revelation in Genesis, there are two crucial points concerning the Trinity. First, the three of the Trinity are distinct but not separate. Second, in His essence God is one, but in His economy, His dispensing, God is three. God is essentially one and economically three.
