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In this universe God is the center. He is the Head, the first, the preeminent One in all things. Man is the center of all God’s creation. Furthermore, there is a special relationship between God and man. Indeed, man was created by God for a certain divine, eternal purpose. Moreover, God created the old creation, and He also created another creation, the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15). Thus, in the foregoing brief word we have mentioned four things: God as the center of the universe, man as the center of the creatures, the special relationship between God and man, and God creating not only an old creation but also a new creation. These four things taken together form the subject of the chapters in this book, that is, the relationship of God with man in God’s new creation. This subject is great and profound, but we will present it in a brief and simple way.
In considering this subject, first we need to see what God is, or, to express this in another way, what kind of God Christians serve. Throughout human history religion has always been in existence. Whether in ancient times or modern times, among civilized people or barbarians, the human race has always had some form of religion. The purpose of religion is to teach people to serve God in a certain way. Indeed, history shows us that there have been many different gods that have been served and worshipped by the human race. Nevertheless, we know that there is only one true God and that all the others are false gods (1 Cor. 8:4). As far as the true God is concerned, there are three different kinds of worshippers. First, there are the Jews, the Hebrews, who worship the only true God, the Creator of the universe. Even though many Jews today are opposed to the Lord Jesus, they still worship the God of their fathers, the true God, the Creator of the universe. Second, there are the Muslims, who also worship the true God, the Creator of the universe, the same God that the Jews worship. The third class of people is the Christians, who also serve the only true God. However, can we say that the God of the Christians is exactly the same as the God whom the Jews and Muslims worship? On the one hand, the God whom we worship is the same, but on the other hand, there is a big difference. If we see this difference, it will help us to understand in a full way the relationship of God with man in His new creation.
John 4:24 begins, “God is Spirit.” The first thing we need to know is that God is not physical or material; He is a Spirit. No one among the human race can understand this brief word in a full way. The God whom we serve and whom the Scriptures reveal is a Spirit.
Matthew 28:19 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.” The word name in this verse is singular, yet three persons are mentioned. It is a mystery that these three persons have only one name.
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 mentions three persons—God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit—and three things—love, grace, and fellowship. In this verse the love is of God, the grace is of Christ, and the fellowship is of the Holy Spirit. Love is the source; within God there is love, and God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). When love is expressed, it is grace (John 1:17-18), and this grace, with the love that is its source, reaches us through the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit communes with us, He brings grace with love to us. Therefore, love is the source, grace is the expression, and fellowship is the transmission. These are not three separate matters but three aspects of the same one thing.
We may illustrate this as follows: If I love a certain brother, this love is something within my heart. I might express this love to him by buying him a Bible. This would be grace, the expression of my love. However, this grace can reach him only through the post office mailman. Hence, there is love within as the source, grace without as the expression, and the fellowship, as the transportation, the transmission. Love, grace, and fellowship are one, even as God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are one. God is the source, Christ is the expression, and the Holy Spirit is the transmission that reaches us.
The first part of Genesis 1:26 says, “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” In this verse it is one God who speaks, yet the pronouns Us and Our used in reference to God are plural. Then verse 27 says, “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him.” Whereas in verse 26 the pronouns are plural, in verse 27 they are singular. Is God plural or singular? With God, the substance, the essence, is one, but the persons are three. This indicates that God is triune; He is the Triune God. He is one substance, one essence, but with three distinct persons.
Isaiah 9:6 says, “For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.” This verse reveals that a child will be called Mighty God, and a Son will be called Eternal Father. Therefore, the child is God, and the Son is the Father. The child in this verse is the one who was born in Bethlehem in a manger; that little child, that babe, was the Mighty God. The Son in this verse is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. We should not think that the Son of God is someone apart from the Father. Seemingly, a son and his father are two separate persons, but in the case of the Lord Jesus, who is the Son of the Father, He and the Father are two, yet He and the Father are also one. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Although He is the Son, His name is called Eternal Father, because He is the eternal Father. This proves that the Son and the Father are one. We should never think that Christ and God are separate, because Christ is God (Rom. 9:5) and God is Christ (Titus 2:13).
John 14:8 says, “Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.” In this verse Philip seemed to be saying, “You are the Son. For three years we have observed You. We are very familiar with You, but we have never seen the Father. Where is the Father? Show us the Father. If we see the Father, we will be satisfied because we are longing to see Him.” Then verses 9 through 11 continue, “Jesus said to him, Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” These verses reveal that the Son is one with the Father and that the Son is the Father. Therefore, we should not consider that the Son and the Father are two separate persons. Although They co-exist and are distinct, the Son and the Father are still one and are inseparable, for according to verses 10 and 11, the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son.
Second Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” According to this verse the Lord, that is, Christ (4:5), the Son of God, is the Spirit. On the one hand, Christ, the Son, is the Father; on the other hand, Christ, the Lord, is the Spirit. Hence, the Son is the Father, and the Son is also the Spirit. The three of the Trinity are not three Gods but one God who is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We should not consider the Holy Spirit as someone separate from the Lord Christ. The Holy Spirit and Christ are not two different persons. Nevertheless, many Christians hold the concept that the Holy Spirit is someone other than the Lord Christ. However, we need to realize that the Holy Spirit is the Lord Christ, because 2 Corinthians 3:17 says clearly that the Lord, that is, Christ, is the Spirit.
Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 15:45 offers further confirmation to this fact: “So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul’; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Adam was a living soul; in contrast, Christ, the last Adam, became a life-giving Spirit in His resurrection. No doubt this life-giving Spirit is the Spirit of God, the unique Spirit who gives life (John 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6). Because of these two verses, 2 Corinthians 3:17 and 1 Corinthians 15:45, we know definitely that Christ the Lord is the Holy Spirit.
In the foregoing verses we have seen that the Son is the Father and that the Son, who is the Lord Christ, is the Spirit. We need to recognize that although the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three in person, They are one in essence. Although They are three in Their “offices,” They are one in Their existence, for there is only one God, not three Gods (8:6a; 1 Tim. 2:5a).
Now we must see that in addition to being the Triune God, our God is a God who is mingled with man. John 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh; that is, God was incarnated to be a man. Then, Matthew 1:23 tells us that this man would be called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” In incarnation God and man are one; they are mingled together. According to 1 Timothy 3:16, this is a great mystery, which is God manifested in the flesh.
Christ is God, and Christ is also man. We have seen that Christ was born to be a human child, a man-child, yet He is called Mighty God. Therefore, God is not only God; He is now also a man. The Jews, the Hebrews, do not worship a God who is mingled with man, because they consider that Jesus Christ was merely a man and was not God. The difference between the God whom Christians worship and the God whom the Jews serve is that in the case of the Jews, God is merely God Himself without being mingled with man. However, our God today is a God who is mingled with man. For this reason 1 John 4:1-2 tells us to prove whether the spirits are of God by asking them to confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. We need to confess that God today, the God in whom we believe and whom we serve and worship, is a God who is mingled with man. In Him there is not only the essence of God but also the essence, the substance, of man.
We should not think that Christ was incarnated as a man only for a period of thirty-three and a half years, that when He died on the cross, He put off the flesh, and that He is now in heaven as God without humanity. Christ is indeed in heaven today (Mark 16:19; 1 Pet. 3:21-22), but He is not there only as God without the human nature. Rather, He is in heaven as God mingled with man. The word of Stephen in Acts 7:56 proves this: “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” Today Christ in heaven is still the Son of Man; He is still God mingled with man.
The God whom we serve is very different from the God whom the Jews serve. They serve the only God, the Creator, without anything of the human nature mingled with Him. We, in contrast, serve the same only true God, the Creator of the universe, yet our God also has the human nature mingled with Him. Now, the true and only God is mingled with the human nature. On the one hand, He is absolutely divine; on the other hand, He is human. Perhaps you have never praised the Lord in this way: “Lord, I praise You that I am human, and You are human too. I am a man, and You also are a man. You are the same as I am.” We need to know our God as a God who has mingled Himself with our nature. As God’s children who are born of Him, we can praise the Lord in another way as well. We may tell him, “Lord, You are divine. I praise You that I also have the divine life. I am human, and You are human also. You are divine, and I also have the divine life.” May we all be impressed with the fact that God today is a God who is mingled with the human nature.
Moreover, we should not think that the Holy Spirit today is only the Spirit of God with no involvement with the human nature. As an illustration, we may use a cup of plain water, which, after tea is added to it, becomes “tea-water.” Although it is still water, it is not merely water but water with something added. Today God is still God, but He is God with the human nature added to Him. Before His incarnation He was God only, just like plain water. Now He is still God, but He is God mingled with humanity. The Spirit of God before the Lord Jesus was incarnated as a man may be compared to plain water. He was merely the Spirit of God with the divine nature alone. But after the Lord was incarnated, and after He passed through crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, the Holy Spirit came down as a Spirit who includes not only the nature of God but also the nature of man. In the Old Testament, when the Holy Spirit came down upon a person, He was merely the Spirit of God with the divine nature. Now, in the New Testament time the Spirit enters into us and descends upon us not only with the divine nature but also with the human nature.
We see this also in Acts 16:6-7, which says, “They passed through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.” The Spirit of Jesus mentioned in this passage is different from the Spirit of God in the Old Testament, because the name Jesus implies God with man. “The Spirit of God” was a title commonly used for the Spirit in the Old Testament, but “the Spirit of Jesus” is a title for the Spirit in the New Testament. Jesus is not only God; He is even more a man. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit of God is the Spirit of Jesus, who is a man. Therefore, the Spirit of God today includes not only the divine nature but also the human nature. This matter has been hidden and almost lost in Christianity. Many Christians today do not realize that the Holy Spirit whom we have received is not only a Spirit of the divine nature but also a Spirit of the human nature.
Through the preaching of the gospel an unbeliever may be very much moved by the Holy Spirit and decide to receive the Lord Jesus. Let us consider who this Lord Jesus is whom he will receive. He is not only God, nor merely the Triune God, but the Triune God who includes man, the Triune God-man, the Triune God mingled with man. In other words, this unbeliever will receive the Triune God and also a man. When he receives the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit will enter into him. This Holy Spirit includes not only the divine nature but also the human nature. Even before this unbeliever receives Him, the Savior, the Lord Jesus, has been mingled with man already. Therefore, he receives not only the Triune God but also a man, a man with the Triune God, and the Triune God in a man. Furthermore, the Spirit who enters into him is not only the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of man, a Spirit with whom there is both the divine nature and the human nature. This matter is neglected among Christians today.
We would emphasize the fact that the God whom we worship is the Triune God mingled with man. Today He is not only God; He is also man, the God-man. Moreover, His Spirit today is not only the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of man. Within His Spirit there is the divine nature, and there is also the human nature. He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of divinity and of humanity as well. This is the God whom we serve, and this is the Spirit whom we have received.
