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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26-27; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14; Isa. 9:6; John 14:9; Eph. 4:6; John 1:1
The Spirit, we have said, is the ultimate expression of God. Such a statement touches the doctrine of the Trinity, one of the most mysterious doctrines in the Bible and one that has caused endless debate. The Bible reveals to us that God is three and yet also one. This is what the term triune means.
Yet we cannot liken the Trinity to three persons forming a corporation. God is not corporate. The many saints comprise one Body, but it is not consistent with the truth to say that the three persons of the Godhead form one body. For several years now we have tried to avoid using the word persons in referring to God. Three persons too easily conveys the thought of three Gods.
God is one. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament make this abundantly clear. Isaiah 45:5 says, “I am Jehovah and there is no one else; / Besides Me there is no God.” First Corinthians 8:4 says, “There is no God but one.” In the whole universe there is only the one true God, and this God is one, not divided into three.
There is another side, however, that the Bible presents. Notice how God speaks in Genesis 1:26: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Why does God here refer to Himself as plural? Verse 27 says, “God created man in His own image.” Here God is referred to as singular. Is God singular or plural? He is triune, both three and one. Verse 27 indicates that He is singular, but the number included in Us and Our is not clear until we come to Matthew 28:19. This verse says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This word was spoken to the disciples after the Lord was resurrected. This verse indicates to us that God is triune; notice, however, that name is singular. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three, but the name is one.
There are several other indications of the Trinity in the New Testament. 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.”
Ephesians shows that God is triune. In 3:14, 16, and 17 Paul says he bowed his knees to the Father, that we would be strengthened through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in our hearts. In 4:4-6 we have one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father of all. The Triune God can also be seen in Ephesians 1:11-13 and 2:18.
Because the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity contains both the aspect of one and the aspect of three, there have been disputes concerning it over centuries. Furthermore, the truth of the Bible cannot be comprehended by man’s limited mentality.
Suppose two blind men touch someone’s head. The first finds that there are seven openings in it. The second checks the head only from the back; he declares that it has no openings. They argue, accusing each other of lying. Who is right? Both are, because a head has both a front and a back. Neither of them has the complete picture; they are arguing out of blindness.
Theologians have treated the matter of the Trinity in much the same way. Some argue from the side of the oneness of God’s being. Others argue from the side of the three persons. This battle continues even today. Those who take an extreme view in favor of the side of one may fall into the heresy of modalism. Extremists on the side of the three are called tritheists. We must be careful not to overemphasize one side or the other, lest we fall into error.
Several years ago a brother in Hong Kong opposed my saying that Christ is the Spirit. One day he came to visit me at home, and we talked together about this. I asked him, “Brother, how many Gods do you believe in?” Without hesitation he replied, “Three. The Father is a God, the Son is a God, and the Spirit is a God.” Isn’t this unbelievable! Yet many Christians really believe in three Gods. They do not dare to express their belief openly, because it is contrary to the Scriptures, but in their way of thinking of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, They are three Gods. Part of the fault for this erroneous concept lies with the use of the term persons for the Godhead. Because of the limitations of language, we sometimes have to use this term, but if we overemphasize the concept of three persons, we may be led into tritheism.
Modalism is another heresy, resulting from taking an extreme position. Its leading exponent was Sabellius, who claimed that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were not eternally coexistent. In modalistic thinking, the three are merely three successive manifestations of the Divine Being or three temporary modes of His activity. Passages like Isaiah 9:6, where the Son is called the eternal Father, and John 14:9, where the Lord said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” are used to support modalism’s position.
Just as tritheism pushed the matter of the three persons too far and ended up with three Gods, so modalism pushed the oneness of the Godhead too far and taught that when the Son came, the Father was over, and when the Spirit came, the Son was over. We cannot accept this teaching.
The Scriptures clearly tell us that all three eternally coexist. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word is the Son. He was present in eternity with God the Father and was God. In John 17:5 the Lord prayed concerning the glory He had shared with the Father before the world was. Therefore, both the Father and the Son are coeternal. That the Spirit also is eternal is clear from Hebrews 9:14, where He is called “the eternal Spirit.” It was this Triune God who said in Genesis 1:26, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” All three were there before man’s creation.
Both tritheism and modalism have tried to explain the mystery of the Trinity and have gone too far. One went to the North Pole and the other to the South! According to what we understand of the Scriptures, we have taken a position in the middle.
Many of you are familiar with the Nicene Creed. Those who have tritheistic leanings (even though they would not admit that they do) for the most part subscribe to this creed. You need to be aware of the background from which the creed came. In A.D. 325 the Emperor Constantine convened a council at Nicaea to resolve the theological questions that were causing disputations. Constantine’s efforts were directed toward unifying the many diverse peoples and cultures that comprised the Roman Empire. The Council of Nicaea was part of this effort. After hearing the arguments presented at the Council by the various factions, Constantine, who was presiding, proposed the position to be taken. These beliefs were embodied in the Nicene Creed, which both Catholicism and most Protestant denominations endorse.
Strange to say, at the time when this pagan Emperor was decreeing what beliefs Christians should hold, there were seven books of the Bible that were not even officially recognized as canonical. Hebrews and Revelation were two of these. Not until A.D. 397 did a council in Carthage, North Africa, decide that these and five other books should also be considered as part of the Bible. Thus, the light from these books — like the seven Spirits, for example, which are only mentioned in Revelation — did not enter into the statement that the Council of Nicaea drew up about the Trinity.
The saints throughout the past centuries have been ignorant as to the human spirit and the Spirit of God as well. In the seventeenth century, when the King James Version was done, the translators considered the Spirit as a power, not as a person. Thus, in Romans 8, twice we find the term the Spirit itself (vv. 16, 26). It was in the last century that the Brethren realized this error and saw that the Spirit is a person, like the Father and the Son. Yet the Brethren did not pay much attention to the importance of the seven Spirits, nor did they have any idea that these Spirits are the ultimate expression of God.
From these glimpses into the past we can see that the revelation of the Bible is progressive. The same is true with regard to the recovery of the Bible. Martin Luther’s revelation was only to a certain point. Gradually, more and more has been uncovered and recovered. Our vision today is the most far-reaching, because we stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before. Edison is regarded as the father of electricity, but what we know today about electricity goes far beyond Edison’s knowledge. The recovery of the truth, like the advances in science, builds upon the past.
Martin Luther was focused on the early chapters of Romans and Galatians. Today we are at the beginning of Revelation. We are at least in chapter 1, for we as the local churches are the golden lampstands. If we were to discuss this with someone in the denominations, however, he would probably wonder what on earth we were talking about. Why are those in the denominations ignorant of the golden lampstands? It is because, for the most part, they are still in the first part of Romans.
The Jews believe the Bible, but their belief stops with Malachi. They know God as God and as Jehovah. In the New Testament we have Jesus Christ. The name Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior” or “Jehovah our salvation.” But the Jews reject Jesus Christ. Christians, however, all believe in God, Jehovah, and Jesus Christ; but when it comes to the Spirit, not all believe that the Holy Spirit is God. We believe that Christ is the Spirit; He is both Jehovah and the Spirit. We also believe in the seven Spirits, who are the ultimate expression of God. God is Jehovah. Jehovah is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Spirit. The Spirit is the seven Spirits.
Does your belief in God go only as far as Genesis? If so, perhaps you should meet with the Jews in the synagogue! If you believe that Jesus Christ is God but that He is not the Spirit, you are still in the Gospels. This is the extent of what many in the denominations believe about God. We in the church today, however, believe in the seven Spirits. We do not believe in only a portion of the Bible. We believe it from Genesis to Revelation.
I would encourage you to read the books we have written on the matter of the Triune God. These books have been written only after a thorough study of the Bible and also after much research into the historic teachings of the great scholars in Christianity. We have not lightly or arbitrarily taken a position on any truth. We do not incline toward the right or toward the left. We have avoided extremes. I believe the truth in our midst is most accurate and balanced. We recognize that in the Triune God there is the aspect of the three, yet we are not tritheists. We acknowledge that the Triune God has also the aspect of the one, yet we cannot accept modalism. Throughout the centuries orthodox Bible scholars have all recognized that God is three and also one, yet He is not three Gods, nor did He exist in three different modes. He is triune, three in one.
The seven Spirits, as we have said, are the ultimate expression of God, Jehovah, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit. These seven Spirits are being wrought into the church so that it becomes one with the Triune God. Thus, both the Triune God and the church are portrayed by a golden lampstand. The ultimate expression of both is the seven lamps.
These seven lamps shining from the lampstand symbolize the testimony of God. This testimony is God Himself. At the end of the Bible, when the Spirit and the bride together say, “Come!” (Rev. 22:17), the two have become one in reality.
