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I. The Triune God in His believers (Romans 8)
II. The enjoyment of the Triune God (2 Corinthians 13:14)
The Epistles were letters written by apostles to various people. Fourteen were written by Paul, two by Peter, three by John, and one each by James and Jude. The main thought of the Epistles is that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit who indwells our spirit. He is our life and everything necessary for the building up of the church, His Body. The apostles experienced and enjoyed the Triune God and His full salvation. The Triune God was not a doctrine (teaching) to them. He was their life and enjoyment in all their daily situations. What they wrote simply came out of these experiences. In this lesson and the next we will see that what they wrote is not for the study of theology, but to show us how God in His marvelous and mysterious trinity dispenses Himself into His chosen people. This dispensing has a goal, a result: that we would express the Triune God.
Romans 8 tells us that the Triune God is in us. Verses 9 through 11 say "the Spirit of God dwells in you"; "And if Christ is in you"; and "His Spirit Who indwells you." These verses tell us that the Spirit of God, Christ, and His Spirit dwell in us. The Spirit of God is just God Himself. His Spirit, of course, is the Holy Spirit. So God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are in us. But how many would you say are in you? You can only say, one! When you pray, do you sense three in you? Of course not. You pray to only one God and you sense only One Person in you. In word, there are three, but in experience, there is only one. We do not have confusion inside of us! We have the Triune God as the Spirit dwelling in us.
Because God is essentially one, we only sense one in us; but God is economically three because He wants to get into us. Although we have the Triune God inside of us, He is only in a small part of our being. His desire is to fill us completely, spirit and soul and body, and He accomplishes this by His dispensing. Day after day we need to experience God's dispensing of Himself into us. This is why in 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul 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 is the way the Triune God dispenses Himself into us.
The grace of the Lord is just the Lord Himself to be enjoyed by us. When we enjoy the Lord, we have grace. The love of God is God Himself. Love is the source of grace. Grace is out of love and grace is love expressed. The fellowship of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself. When the Spirit transmits to us the grace with love, we have the fellowship. However, the grace, love, and fellowship are not three separate matters. They are three aspects of one thing, just as the Lord, God, and the Spirit are not three separate Gods. When we experience one, we experience them all. The love of God is the source, the grace of the Lord is the course, and the fellowship of the Spirit brings the grace with the love into us. This transmission is for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Father is the source of our salvation, so Paul said, "the love of God." Christ the Son's coming is for the accomplishment of salvation and our full enjoyment of God, so he said, "the grace of the Lord." The Spirit whom Christ became is the transmission into us of all that the Father is and all that Christ has accomplished; thus Paul called this "the fellowship of the Holy Spirit." The whole Triune God is working in oneness to dispense His Being into us. Eventually, our spirit and soul and body will be saturated with Him. Hallelujah!
Second Corinthians 13:14, then, is strong proof that God is triune for our experience, not just for teaching. Paul did not just say, "The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you all." Yes, he mentioned the Trinity, but as grace, love, and fellowship. This is very experiential and shows God's dispensing. But how do we experience and enjoy His dispensing? And what should be the result? In the church, everyone is encouraged to read God's Word, pray, and call on His name. That is absolutely right; but you should always remember that God's dispensing is for producing His expression. Our reading, praying, and calling should affect our lives at home and at school. Our enjoyment is not just for ourselves; it is for God to be lived out of us.
What does it mean for God to be lived out and expressed through us? Consider righteousness, for example. God is righteous. He is absolutely right and honest in everything He does. What about us? In ourselves we are not righteous. Suppose you bought something at the store and by mistake the checker did not charge you enough money. Most young people today would never say anything. In fact, they would be so happy to have saved some money. But that is unrighteous. That is the expression of the Devil. You might say that it was the store's fault or that they charge too much anyway. Those excuses just show how much you love your money and how unrighteous you are. Actually, to keep that money is the same as stealing.
Suppose at that time you prayed: "Lord, I know I should say something, but I can't. Lord Jesus, I am not righteous but You are — I just turn to You." After praying like that do you think you could keep the extra money? No, you would pay the proper amount. That is the Triune God lived out of you as righteousness. In yourself you would just walk out of the store happily, but by turning to the Lord you allow Him to dispense Himself into you so you could pay the money. You take in more of the righteous God. The people in the world express unrighteousness, but because of experiencing God's dispensing you express God as righteousness.
God's goal is a group of people that are full of Him so they can express Him. The church should have the highest expression in the universe. We should express everything that God is. God is love; He loves even His enemies. God is forgiving; He forgives the worst sin. But we cannot even love our own brother or sister, nor can we forgive the smallest sin. So day by day we need to experience and enjoy the Triune God. We need to pray, call on His name, and read the Word so that He could dispense more of Himself into us so that we could express Him.
He is so wonderful. He is so experiential. He is so enjoyable. His goal is to make us His sons that we may be members of the Body of Christ to express Him. He can reach His goal through this type of enjoyment. It is so easy. Hallelujah for the dispensing of our Triune God! Praise the Lord for the goal of God's full salvation!
