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Scripture Reading: Matt. 3:16-17; Acts 2:32-33; Rom. 5:5-6; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; 5:5-6; Rom. 15:16; 2 Cor. 3:3; John 4:10; 1 John 5:6-9; Rev. 4:2—5:6; 1 Cor. 3:10-16; 1 Thes. 1:4-7
In this chapter we want to continue our fellowship concerning the portions in the New Testament revealing the Divine Trinity in the divine move and in our experience.
Matthew 3:16 and 17 reveal the Divine Trinity in His divine move. These verses show Jesus standing in the baptizing water, the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Jesus [the Son], and the Father speaking out of the heavens, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found delight.’’ The Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Christ can be considered as God’s anointing Him to be His Messiah to carry out His eternal purpose. This was an anointing to confirm God’s appointing of His Son to be the very Christ to come to carry out God’s economy. God’s appointing of Christ transpired before the foundation of the world. In eternity past God appointed the Son to be His Christ, His Messiah, to carry out what God planned to do for His eternal purpose. Then Christ was incarnated, and this incarnated One passed through human living on earth. When He was thirty years of age, He came out to be baptized by John. At this juncture God anointed Him with the consummation of the Triune God as the anointing oil.
In ancient times the kings and the priests needed to be anointed to take their offices. The anointing is the confirmation of the appointing. The appointed Christ was in the water under an open heaven and was anointed by the Triune God with the economical Spirit. By that time Jesus had already been born of the essential Spirit. Before the Spirit of God descended and came upon Him, the Lord Jesus was born of the Spirit (Luke 1:35), proving that He already had the Spirit of God within Him. That was for His birth. Now for His ministry the Spirit of God descended upon Him. This was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1; 42:1; and Psalm 45:7 to anoint the new King and introduce Him to His people. He was conceived with the essential Spirit for His birth in order for Him to be a God-man to exist on the earth. Thirty years later He was baptized by John. While He was standing in the waters of baptism, God came to anoint Him with the Holy Spirit as the economical Spirit to carry out God’s economy.
Acts 2:32 and 33 reveal [the Triune] God having raised up Jesus [the Son], Jesus having been exalted to the right hand of God [the Father], and Jesus having received the Holy Spirit from the Father. This portion of the Word shows us the Divine Trinity in His divine move for His New Testament economy after Christ’s ascension. The receiving of the Spirit by the Son from the Father was the beginning of the operation of God’s New Testament economy. Through this receiving, the work of God for His New Testament economy began.
Romans 5:5 and 6 show the love of God [God the Father] having been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit given to us and Christ [the Son] having died for the ungodly. The pouring out of God’s love was carried out through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us. God has given the Holy Spirit to us, and through this Holy Spirit God’s love has been poured out in our hearts. Furthermore, Christ [the Son] died for us, the ungodly. First, the Son died for us, the ungodly. Based upon this the Spirit was given to us, and through this Spirit given to us, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts. Now we enjoy the love of God through the Holy Spirit given to us on the foundation of the death of Christ for us, the ungodly.
Second Corinthians 1:21 and 22 reveal that [the Triune] God has attached us unto Christ [the Son] and anointed us. These verses also show God having sealed us and having given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. First, God anointed the Son in the Jordan River. Then the believers were anointed by God. Our being anointed is a continuation of the anointing of Jesus. Actually, God has only one anointing, and this anointing is the anointing of Christ. In His resurrection the personal Christ, the individual Christ, was expanded, extended, increased, into the corporate Christ. The personal Christ is just Jesus Christ as the Head. As the Head, He was anointed when He was thirty years of age. But after His resurrection this personal Christ was expanded, extended, increased, to be the Body of Christ, the corporate Christ. This corporate Christ includes Jesus Christ as the Head and all His members as the Body. The Head was anointed first, and the Body was anointed later, but these should not be considered as two anointings. Actually, they are two steps of the same anointing. Eventually, we must say that God has anointed “the Christ,’’ the corporate Christ, to carry out His New Testament economy. This corporate Christ includes both the Head and the Body.
The Lord Jesus, as the Head of this corporate Christ, was anointed at His baptism in the Jordan River. The Body of this corporate Christ was anointed on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. In the entire universe there is only one anointing, and the anointing of the corporate Christ took place in two stages. All the anointings in the Old Testament are types. Aaron was anointed by Moses, and David was anointed by Samuel. All the kings and priests were anointed. They are types pointing to the unique anointing. This unique anointing covered the corporate Christ as the Head and the Body. All the Jewish believers were anointed on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:5; 2:4), and all the Gentile believers were anointed in the house of Cornelius (10:44-47; 11:15-17). All of us believers were anointed to be the corporate Christ for the purpose of carrying out God’s New Testament economy. We are the partners of the individual Christ (Heb. 3:14a). We are partners with Christ in a divine corporation. This divine corporation is “Christ and the church, incorporated.’’ We are not employees in this corporation but partners with Christ. This is a great universal corporation to carry out God’s eternal purpose. As the corporate Christ, we are the partners of Christ, cooperating with Him to carry out God’s New Testament economy.
The Triune God has firmly attached us unto Christ. He has attached every member of the corporate Christ to the individual Christ. He has anointed us and has made us one with the Head. We have been attached to Christ by the organic connection through the anointing oil. The anointing oil is the consummated Spirit as the consummated Triune God. He is the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, sevenfold intensified, and processed Spirit. By such a Spirit we all have been attached unto Christ, the Head. We are the corporate Christ to carry out God’s great and universal will, to carry out God’s economy to build up the Body of Christ in an organic way.
For this purpose God has also sealed us and given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts. The anointing is the sealing. Since God has anointed us with Christ, He has also sealed us in Him. The pledge of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself as the pledge. Sealing is a mark that we are God’s inheritance, God’s possession, belonging to God. The pledge is a guarantee that God is our inheritance, or heritage, belonging to us. The Spirit within us is the pledge, the earnest, of God being our portion in Christ.
Paul wrote his second Epistle to the Corinthians based upon this revelation of the Triune God. The Father has anointed His sons and attached them to their big Brother, the firstborn Son of God. The firstborn Son is the Head of the corporate Christ, and the many sons are the Body of the corporate Christ. By God the Father’s anointing and attaching, He has made all His sons one with His Firstborn to be a corporate Body to carry out His eternal purpose. For His purpose the Father has sealed us and given us the sealing Spirit as an inward pledge to guarantee that God is our inheritance.
Second Corinthians 5:5 and 6 show [the Triune] God having wrought us for our transfiguration; the Spirit having been given to us as a pledge; and us, at home in the body, being abroad from the Lord [the Son]. The word wrought is a difficult word to define. God has wrought us for our transfiguration. The word wrought means “fashioned, shaped, prepared, or made fit.” God has wrought, fashioned, shaped, prepared, made us fit, for the very purpose that our mortal body might be swallowed up by His resurrection life. This will be our transfiguration. The word for wrought in the Chinese translation means to sow a seed into the soil and to water it that the seed may grow up to be a plant to blossom and to bear fruit. In order for the seed to fulfill its purpose of blossoming and bearing fruit, I have to work on it. First, I put it into the soil. Then I water it so that it can grow. This makes it prepared to be in a proper form so that it can carry out my purpose. In like manner God has wrought us for our transfiguration.
When we repented, believed in the Lord, and called upon His name, we were regenerated. The Triune God was put into us. From the moment we were regenerated, God began to fashion us, to work us. God wants to use us to fulfill His purpose. This is why we are still under God’s working, God’s fashioning, God’s shaping. We will be under God’s working until the day that we will be fully matured. The apostle Paul was eventually matured and ready to be transfigured. We need to allow God to work us until our mortal body is swallowed up by His resurrection life. God needs to work us, to prepare us, to fashion us, and to fit us for His purpose.
To work a piece of metal is to shape it by hammering it with tools. Then the metal is wrought. However, there is nothing organic about working a piece of metal. God’s working us is fully organic. To sow something is organic. Watering helps this organic seed to grow as it gains the increase of the inner life. A piece of iron can be shaped and formed, but that is not organic. God’s shaping us is organic by the growth in life. He shapes us by transforming us with the element of life. A piece of iron cannot be transformed. We can change its form, but that change is not transformation. Transformation is not merely an outward change but a change from within metabolically and organically. As the divine life grows and increases within us, we are transformed inwardly and organically. God is working us with Himself as the organic element added into our being that we may be transformed, not only in form but also in nature metabolically and organically. His divine life is added into our being, and His life element is changing us as it is increasing within us. Then we will be shaped, formed, and fitted so that we can be transfigured.
Different fruits have different kinds of shapes. An apple, a banana, and a coconut all have different shapes. The shapes of such fruits are not arrived at by outward regulation. We do not need to make a round box to shape an apple. Instead, as the life of the apple grows, it spontaneously becomes formed into its life shape. When we plant a seed and water it, the life within it grows. Eventually, the life’s growing shapes the fruit into a certain kind of appearance. Therefore, the shape, the form, comes into being, not by outward regulation, such as hammering, but by the inward growing with the life element. Each kind of fruit has its own shape according to the very essence of its element. Similarly, we have the divine life, and this divine life has its own shape.
In 2 Corinthians 5:5 and 6 Paul’s thought is that we were made in the image of God, and God has added Himself into our being as a growing element. Now God is working us so that we may grow. The growing of this divine life within us will shape us into a certain form that fits our coming transfiguration. The teaching of 2 Corinthians is altogether a shaping teaching, a forming teaching, a working teaching. God is working us to shape us, to form us, so that we may be fit for the upcoming transfiguration. Today we are here under His shaping, His working.
The entire book of 2 Corinthians is a “working book.’’ God is working us all day by day throughout our entire lives. He is working us in the same way that a farmer works a little plant day by day. Eventually, the plant blossoms and bears fruit. The Triune God has wrought us for our transfiguration. At our transfiguration our entire being will be saturated with Christ. God has given us the Spirit as the pledge, the earnest, the foretaste, the guarantee, of this wonderful and marvelous part of His complete salvation for us in Christ. The pledge guarantees us that we will be transfigured. We will be transfigured by resurrection life swallowing the death in our mortal body (1 Cor. 15:54). Actually, our new body will be our old body that has been transfigured with the divine element under the divine working.
Presently, we are at home in the body and abroad from the Lord, the Son, until the day when He returns and we are raptured to meet Him. Then we will all be home together with Him. Our home is the Triune God (Psa. 90:1). By the divine element of the Triune God, we have been regenerated. We are now growing day by day with this divine element. Eventually, this divine element, which is actually the Triune God Himself, will be our eternal dwelling place in our transfiguration.
In Romans 15:16 Paul says that he is a minister of Christ Jesus [the Son] to the Gentiles, ministering as a laboring priest of the gospel of [the Triune] God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit. Paul was a priest of the gospel of the Triune God, ministering Christ Jesus, the Son, to the Gentiles. Eventually, the result of his work was to offer the Gentiles to God as a sanctified entity through the Holy Spirit.
In 2 Corinthians 3:3 Paul tells the Corinthians that they are a letter of Christ [the Son], ministered by the apostles, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God [the Triune God]. Here again we can see the Divine Trinity in the divine move and in our experience. Eventually, the believers become a letter to communicate the Son, and this letter is written with the Spirit as the ink. This Spirit is the very element of the living God, the Triune God, for writing this letter that conveys Christ.
In John 4:10 the Lord Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’’ In this verse we see the gift of God [God the Father] and the Son as the Giver of the living water [the Spirit]. Even in such a short verse we can see the three of the Divine Trinity. The Father is the Possessor of the gift, the Son is the Giver of the gift, and the Spirit is the gift. The entire New Testament speaks concerning the Divine Trinity with different expressions and from different angles.
In 1 John 5:6-9 we are told that the Spirit, as the reality, testifies (v. 6) that the testimony of God [the Father] is greater than the testimony of men (v. 9a) and that God has testified concerning His Son (v. 9b). All three of the Divine Trinity are involved in this testifying. The Spirit testifies, His testifying is the Father’s testimony, and the Father’s testimony is concerning the Son.
Revelation 4:2—5:6 is a record of a universal scene. In this scene there is God [the Triune God] sitting on the throne (4:2), the seven Spirits of God and the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne of God (v. 5), and the Lamb standing in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and elders (5:6). The throne of the Triune God is the center. In front of this throne are seven burning lamps, which are the seven Spirits of God. In the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders is a Lamb standing. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are moving in this scene to carry out the eternal economy of the Triune God. His economy was a mystery. No one in the universe was qualified to open this mystery except the slain Lamb. He has the qualifications and the standing to open the scroll, to open the mystery of the universe, the mystery of God’s economy.
In 1 Corinthians 3:10-16 Paul speaks of the grace of God [the Triune God] given to him (v. 10), the foundation laid being [the Son] Jesus Christ (v. 11), and the Spirit of God dwelling in us as the temple of God (v. 16). This portion of the Word describes how the church comes into being and how the church exists. It shows the move of the Divine Trinity to have the church for His corporate expression.
In 1 Thessalonians 1:4-7 Paul tells the believers that they are beloved of God [the Father], that the gospel came to them in power and in the Holy Spirit and with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that they became imitators of the Lord [the Son]. After we have received the gospel in the power of the Spirit and with the joy of the Spirit, we become imitators of the Lord. This portion shows the activity of the Divine Trinity in the service of the gospel.
All the portions in the New Testament that we have pointed out should give us a clear view that the New Testament is fully composed of and structured with the Divine Trinity. The Bible presents us a picture of the move of the Divine Trinity for the accomplishment of His economy that we might be wrought to fit His economy.
