Search
Scripture Reading: John 1:1; 17:24b; 1 Pet. 1:20; Heb. 9:14; Acts 2:23; Eph. 1:3-4; Gen. 1:1-2, 26-27; Col. 1:15; John 1:14; Gal. 4:4; Matt. 1:20; John 8:29; 16:32b; 14:10; Luke 4:1; Matt. 12:28; 1 John 1:7; Acts 20:28; 2:32; 10:40-41; Rom. 8:11; Acts 1:11; 1 Pet. 3:22; Phil. 2:9; Titus 3:4-6; Col. 1:12-13; 1 Tim. 1:15; John 3:5; Eph. 4:6; Gal. 2:20; John 14:17; 2 Cor. 13:14; Jude 20-21; 1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:16; Acts 9:31; Eph. 4:4; Rev. 21:3, 9, 23; 1-2, 22:17
In this book we want to fellowship concerning the crucial matter of our experience and growth in the divine life. As believers in Christ, we have such a marvelous, wonderful, excellent life, the uncreated life of God Himself, the eternal life. But we do not have much experience of this life, nor do we have the adequate growth in this divine life. If we are going to experience and grow in the divine life, we must be those who are living in and with the Divine Trinity.
Even when we go to visit people, our burden is to bring the Triune God to them and share with them the Triune God. In Matthew 28:19 the Lord charged us to go and disciple all the nations by baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the very person of the Divine Trinity. This is the purpose, the goal, and the aim of our going out to visit people. We want to impart our Triune God as grace and reality for salvation into the people we reach and bring the people we reach into the reality of the Triune God.
We all need a vision concerning the experience of the Triune God as our life. The Triune God in His trinity is for us to experience as our life so that we may grow in this life. The Divine Trinity is absolutely wrapped up with the divine life. Actually, the divine life is the Divine Trinity. Apart from the Divine Trinity, there is no divine life. The divine life is a person, a three-one person. We must pay our full attention to the experience of the Divine Trinity as our life. Life is the Triune God.
The book of Ephesians reveals the church, and the church revealed in Ephesians is composed of and expresses the Triune God. The entire divine revelation in the book of Ephesians is constructed with and composed of the Divine Trinity (see the sixth paragraph of footnote 1 on 2 Corinthians 13:14, Recovery Version). We need to see a vision that governs and directs us. It is not sufficient for us to have mere doctrinal knowledge. We all need to see a divine vision concerning the Divine Trinity, in and with whom we need to live. In this chapter we want to see the vision concerning the Divine Trinity in eternity without beginning, in creation, in incarnation, in the living and work in Jesus’ humanity, in His crucifixion, in His resurrection, in His ascension, in His salvation, in the Christian life, in the church life, and in eternity without ending.
Without the Divine Trinity there would not be eternity. The Divine Trinity is the composition of eternity. Eternity is the Triune God. Eternity comes out of and goes along with the eternal God. John 1:1 uses the phrase in the beginning. In the beginning the Word [the Son] was with [the Triune] God. The beginning in this verse refers to eternity past. In eternity was the eternal Word, the eternal Son of God, and this Word was with God. The Greek word for with in John 1:1 is pros, and here this word is a preposition of motion, implying living, acting, in union and communion with. This preposition implies fellowship. The Word not only was with God in eternity but also was fellowshipping and moving together with God. This shows us that in eternity past the Trinity was there in a very active way. God in John 1:1 refers to the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
John 17:24b says that the Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world. This was before time began. In eternity the Father loved the Son. The loving One and the loved One are two yet one and are one yet two.
In eternity without beginning, Christ [the Son] was foreordained by [the Triune] God (1 Pet. 1:20 and footnote, Recovery Version). He was prepared by God to be His redeeming Lamb (John 1:29) before the foundation of the world.
The Spirit was also in eternity without beginning. Hebrews 9:14 speaks of the eternal Spirit. The eternal Spirit is of eternity, without any limit of time. He is the Spirit of all the ages. In eternity past when the Father and the Son were fellowshipping, when the Father loved the Son, and when the Son was foreordained by the Triune God, the Spirit was also there because He is the eternal Spirit, the Spirit of the ages.
Acts 2:23 says that Christ was delivered up by the determined counsel of [the Triune] God (see footnote 1 on verse 23, Recovery Version). Among the three of the Godhead, there was a council, and by this council a determined counsel was made. The Wuest translation of the New Testament says that Christ was delivered up by the counsel of God “in the council held by the Trinity.” The determined counsel was made by the Triune God, who had held a divine council. The three-one God made a decision that the Son had to become a man and be crucified on the cross. The crucifixion of Christ was a fulfillment of God’s determined counsel in eternity without beginning.
The Father of our Lord [the Son] chose us in Christ [the Son] before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:3-4). The Father chose us, but He did it in Christ, the Son. He did not choose us directly. God the Father chose us in Christ as the element, the sphere, and the channel. Thus, in eternity past the Triune God was there fellowshipping, loving, foreordaining, working, and choosing.
Genesis 1:1 reveals that [the Triune] God created the universe. The Hebrew word for God in this verse, Elohim, is plural in number. The subject God is plural, and the predicate created is singular. The plural God created the heavens and the earth. The three of the Godhead were creating; then Genesis 1:2 mentions the Spirit of God. It says that the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters. The Triune God’s Spirit was brooding upon the surface of the waters just like a hen brooding over its eggs.
The Triune God can also be seen in the creation of man. God said, “Let Us make man in Our [the Triune God’s] image” (v. 26); so “God created man in His own [His Son’s] image” (v. 27). God’s own image is the Son’s image. This is proved by Colossians 1:15, which tells us that Christ is the image of the invisible Triune God. Hebrews 1:3 says that the Son is the impress, the express image, of God’s substance. Thus, we can see that the Divine Trinity was working in creation.
The creation by God was for the old creation, but the incarnation is for the new creation. John 1:14 reveals that [the Triune] God became incarnated. The entire God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — was involved in the incarnation. This is also proved by other verses in the New Testament. Galatians 4:4 says, “God [the Father] sent forth His Son, born of a woman.” God the Father took part in the incarnation. It was the Son’s incarnation, but the Father sent the Son. In John 8:29 the Lord Jesus said, “He who sent Me is with Me.” The Father sent the Son, and the Son said that the One who sent Him was with Him. Thus, the Son’s incarnation is also the Father’s incarnation. After sending the Son, the Father did not remain in the heavens. When the Son came in the womb of Mary, the Father was with the Son.
Matthew 1:20 says, “That which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus was begotten in Mary, and Jesus was of the Holy Spirit. These main verses show that the incarnation was not only of the Son but also of the Father and of the Spirit. All three of the Divine Trinity were incarnated. The birth of Jesus was with the Triune God. He was the complete God and the perfect man, the Triune God-man. He was the Triune God incarnated, the God who is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The incarnation was the incarnation of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The very Savior in whom we believe and whom we have received is the wonderful Triune God-man.
The Triune God was in Jesus’ living and work while He was on the earth. In John 8:29 the Lord Jesus said, “He [the Father] who sent Me [the Son] is with Me [the Son].” In the Son’s living and work, the Father was with Him (16:32b). When the Son spoke, the Father did His works in the Son (14:10). Luke 4:1 tells us that Jesus [the Son], full of the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit. He was with the Father and full of the Spirit. In His living and in His work, the Spirit was with Him as well as the Father. Matthew 12:28 says that the Son cast out demons by the Spirit. The Son did not cast out demons without the Spirit, and He did not speak without the Father. When He spoke, the Father did His works. When He cast out demons, He did it by the Holy Spirit. The Divine Trinity was wrapped up with the living and work of Jesus while He was on this earth.
The Divine Trinity can also be seen in the crucifixion of Jesus. First John 1:7 and Acts 20:28 show that the blood of Jesus [the Son] is considered as the blood of God [including the Father and the Son]. How could the very God have had blood? He had blood because He was mingled with a man. In God as the divine One alone, there is no blood. But in the man with whom He mingled Himself, there is blood. This God-man is one entity with two natures. In the divine nature there is no blood, but in the human nature there is blood; so the blood of Jesus is considered as the blood of God. Acts 20:28 says that God obtained the church “through His own blood,” and 1 John 1:7 refers to the blood of Jesus, the Son of God. When Jesus died on the cross, God died there. One line from a famous hymn by Charles Wesley says, “Amazing love! how can it be / That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?” (Hymns, #296). Charles Wesley was strong to point out that his God died for him. Jesus, the God-man, died on the cross for all of us.
Hebrews 9:14 says that Christ offered Himself through the eternal Spirit. Jesus, in Himself alone, could not accomplish His crucifixion. To die on the cross as an offering to God, the Son needed the Spirit. Jesus did not die on the cross alone and separate from the Spirit. The Spirit was one with the Son. The Son died on the cross with the Father and by the Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit were all involved in the Son’s crucifixion. The death of Christ was not only the death of the man Jesus but also the death of the Son with the Father and by the Spirit. Because Christ offered Himself through the eternal Spirit, His death is eternally effective. Our co-crucifixion with Christ on the cross (Gal. 2:20) is realized in the eternal Spirit who indwells us.
Acts 2:32 says, “This Jesus [the Son] God [including the Father and the Spirit] has raised up.” The dead Jesus was raised up by God. Acts 10:40 and 41 show us that, on the one hand, God [including the Father and the Spirit] raised this One [the Son] on the third day; on the other hand, He [the Son] rose from the dead. Regarding the Lord as a man, the New Testament tells us that God raised Him from the dead; considering Him as God, it tells us that He Himself rose from the dead. Romans 8:11 refers to “the Spirit of the One [the Triune God] who raised Jesus [the Son] from the dead.” The One who raised Jesus did the raising by the Spirit. These verses show us that the Divine Trinity was involved in the resurrection.
The Divine Trinity can also be seen in the Son’s ascension. According to Acts 1:11 and 1 Peter 3:22, Jesus Christ [the Son] went into heaven. In His ascension “[the Triune] God highly exalted Him [the Son]” (Phil. 2:9).
Our Savior God [the Triune God] saved us, through the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ [the Son] our Savior (Titus 3:4-6). According to Colossians 1:12-13, the Father delivered us. First Timothy 1:15 says that Christ Jesus [the Son] came into the world to save sinners. John 3:5 says that unless one is born of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Thus, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all participated in our salvation.
In the Christian life the believers possess the Divine Trinity and should live in and with the Divine Trinity. The Father is in the believers (Eph. 4:6), the Son lives in the believers (Gal. 2:20), and the Spirit abides in the believers (John 14:17). In 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [the Son] and the love of God [the Father] and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Then Jude tells us that we should be those who, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep ourselves in the love of God [the Father], awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Son] (vv. 20-21).
The revelation of the Divine Trinity in 2 Corinthians 13:14 and Jude 20-21 match each other. In both portions there is the love of God [the Father]. The mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Son] in Jude matches the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Son] in 2 Corinthians. In the Lord Jesus is grace, and when grace is extended to us and reaches us, it is mercy. Finally, praying in the Holy Spirit in Jude matches the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in 2 Corinthians. Praying is a kind of fellowship.
We need to see the portions of the Word that reveal the Divine Trinity in the church life. First Corinthians 12:28 reveals that [the Triune] God has placed some in the church: “first apostles, second prophets, third teachers...administrations.” Ephesians 4:16 says that out from Christ the Head [the Son] all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love. Acts 20:28 says that the Holy Spirit placed overseers in the church, and 9:31 says that the church went on in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. Finally, Ephesians 4:4 says, “One Body and one Spirit.” The Spirit is the reality of the Body of Christ. Hence, if there were no Spirit, there would be no Body of Christ, no church. The reality of the Body of Christ is the Spirit whom we have received, experienced, and enjoyed in many aspects, and the reality of the church life is the very Spirit in whom we live and according to whom we walk.
The vision of the Divine Trinity in eternity without ending can be seen in the last two chapters of the book of Revelation. Revelation 21 shows that the New Jerusalem as the tabernacle of [the Triune] God will be with men (v. 3); the tabernacle of God will be the wife of the Lamb [the Son] (v. 9); and [the Triune] God will be the light, and the Lamb [the Son] will be the lamp of the city (v. 23). Revelation 22 says that the Spirit will be with the bride (v. 17) and that out of the throne of [the Triune] God and of the Lamb [the Son] will proceed the river of water of life [the Spirit] with the tree of life [the Son] producing twelve fruits (vv. 1-2).
The Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — was in eternity without beginning, in creation, in incarnation, in the living and work in Jesus’ humanity, in His crucifixion, in His resurrection, and in His ascension. He is also in His salvation, in the Christian life, in the church life, and in eternity without ending. In order for us to live in and with the Divine Trinity, we need to have a vision concerning the Divine Trinity. If we have the Son, we have the Spirit and the Father. If we worship the Father, we also worship the Son and the Spirit because the three are one. We need to live in and with the Divine Trinity, having Him as the very substance and element of our living.
