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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:1-2, 26; Matt. 3:16-17; John 14:9-10; 2 Cor. 3:17; John 8:16; Matt. 27:46
Concerning the Divine Trinity, we have seen the revelation of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in the Scriptures and the theological terms used throughout the ages. In this chapter we will go on to cover four crucial points concerning the Divine Trinity: the coexistence of the three, the coinherence of the three, the essential Trinity, and the economical Trinity.
Concerning the Divine Trinity, first of all, we must pay attention to the fact that the three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are coexistent. In theological history there was a group of people called modalists who advocated that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were three modes of the unique God in the carrying out of redemption and that afterward, fulfilling Their respective missions consecutively, They returned in succession to Their original unity. In other words, the modalists believed that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were one God, yet the manifestation of this one God was divided into three periods. In the Old Testament He decreed the law and manifested Himself as the Father; that was the period of the Father in which there was only the Father without the Son or the Spirit. Then in His incarnation He manifested Himself as the Son; that was the period of the Son, and the Father was over. Finally, in the inspiring of the apostles He manifested Himself as the Holy Spirit; that was the period of the Spirit, and the Son was over. In this teaching, it is the one and the same God who appeared in successive and temporary manifestations. Of course, the teaching of modalism is a great heresy. In America some mistakenly thought that we teach modalism and therefore condemned us as modalists. The fact is that we also condemn modalism.
Most readers of the Bible, including some who are among us, think that in the Old Testament the emphasis is on the work of God the Father; that in the four Gospels the emphasis is on the work of God the Son, the Lord Jesus; and that from Acts to Revelation the emphasis is on the work of God the Spirit, that is, the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot say that this is wrong, because this is indeed what the record of the Bible shows. You can say that the period covered by the Old Testament is the period of the Father, the period covered by the four Gospels, which was a short period of a little over thirty years, is the period of the Son, and the period from the day of Pentecost to the Lord’s second coming is the period of the Spirit. However, unlike what modalism teaches, this is not to say that the Father existed only until the coming of the Son and that the Son existed only until the coming of the Spirit. The Bible strongly indicates that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are always coexistent.
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Immediately after this, the latter half of verse 2 says that “the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters.” This clearly shows us that God was there and the Spirit also was there. Then in verse 26, in the creation of man, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” The pronouns used here are Us and Our. By this we can see that it is not that only the Father was there and that the Son and the Spirit were not. Rather, the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit— existed there at the same time; this is why They used Us and Our to refer to Themselves.
Not only so, the Old Testament frequently says that the Spirit of Jehovah clothed someone or came upon someone (Judg. 6:34; 11:29); it also speaks about the operation, the work, of the Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2; 6:3; Job 33:4; Dan. 5:14). This shows us that the Spirit was always there in the Old Testament.
Furthermore, although the designations, or names, Christ, Jesus, and Jesus Christ are not mentioned in the Old Testament, a special title referring to the Lord Jesus is used, which is the Angel of Jehovah. In Exodus 3:2-20 three designations—the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah, and God— are used interchangeably. This proves that the Angel of Jehovah is Jehovah and that Jehovah is God. Exodus 14:19 says that while Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen were pursuing the children of Israel, “the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them.” This Angel of God is the Angel of Jehovah mentioned in chapter 3. Exodus 23:20-21 says, “I am now sending an Angel before you...to bring you into the place which I have prepared...For My name is in Him.” The Angel mentioned in all these passages refers to the Lord Jesus. Then in Judges 13:15-21 the Angel of Jehovah appeared again. He was there speaking to Manoah. At the end Manoah asked what His name was, and He replied, “Why do you ask about My name, since it is wonderful?” (v. 18). This Angel of Jehovah is the Lord Jesus.
Hence, from the Old Testament we see that God is God the Father, the Angel of Jehovah is God the Son, and the Spirit of Jehovah or the Spirit of God is God the Spirit. The three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—existed at the same time in the Old Testament.
Although the Gospels are concerned mainly with the Lord Jesus and take Him as the center and the subject, in these books the Father, the Son, and the Spirit still coexisted. The clearest picture is seen in the baptism of the Lord Jesus. When He came out of the water, the Father spoke to Him from the heavens while the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove (Matt. 3:16-17). In this situation the One who spoke from the heavens was the Father; the One who descended like a dove was the Spirit; and the Lord Jesus, who stood in the water, was the Son. This picture clearly shows us that in the incarnation, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit existed at the same time. This also proves that the teaching which says that when the Son came, the Father was over; when the Son was there, the Spirit was not there; and when the Spirit came, the Son was over, is altogether without any basis and is therefore a great heresy.
Then in the Epistles, from Acts to Revelation, many times the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are mentioned at the same time. For example, 2 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.” All three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are here. Every chapter of Ephesians shows us the fact of the coexistence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The most obvious passage is 3:14-17, which says, “I bow my knees unto the Father,...that He would grant you,...to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” Here, Paul bowed his knees unto the Father, that He would grant the believers to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into their inner man, that the Son, Christ, may make His home in their hearts. The Father is here, the Spirit is here, and Christ is here; the three are coexistent. Then in the last book, Revelation, the opening word in the first chapter says, “From Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth” (vv. 4-5). The One who is, who was, and who is coming is the Father; the seven Spirits before the throne of the Father are the Spirit; and Jesus Christ is the Son. Therefore, the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are mentioned at the same time; this proves that They are coexistent.
Hence, from the Old Testament to the Gospels, the Epistles, and Revelation there is a strong revelation that the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—exist at the same time.
The three of the Divine Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—exist at the same time; and Their coexistence is from eternity to eternity, being equally without beginning and without ending. The Father is eternal; this can be proven by Isaiah 9:6, which refers to the Father as “Eternal Father.” The Son is also eternal. Concerning the Son, Hebrews 1:12 says, “You are the same, and Your years will not fail”; Hebrews 7:3 also says that He had “neither beginning of days nor end of life,” indicating that He is eternal. Moreover, the Spirit is eternal; Hebrews 9:14 mentions “the eternal Spirit.” Hence, the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—all are eternal.
Concerning this point, we must know that in church history there existed another heretical sect, the Arians. To be eternal means to be without beginning or ending, to be complete and perfect, and to be infinite and boundless. Yet the Arians maintained that although Christ is the Son of God, He was not God in eternity but became God at a certain time. The Jehovah’s Witnesses belong to this sect, which originated with Arius of the fourth century. Based upon Colossians 1:15b, which says, “Who [the Son of the Father’s love] is...the Firstborn of all creation,” Arius advocated that since Christ is a creature, He does not have the same essence (Gk. ousia) as God, and that although the universe and all things were created through Him (Heb. 1:2; John 1:3), His existence is not eternal but had a beginning. Therefore, Arius taught that since Christ is a creature, He cannot be equal with the Father. In other words, Arius asserted that although the Son was in eternity, He was not there in the beginning; rather, He was created by God at a certain point in eternity to be the Firstborn of all creation. This kind of teaching is a great heresy.
It is true that we believe the Son is the Firstborn of all creation, but our belief is not according to the teaching of Arius but according to the pure revelation of the Bible. The Bible says that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation not according to His divinity but according to His humanity. According to His divinity, He is the eternal God, the Creator; however, since He became flesh and put on a body of flesh and blood, He also possesses humanity. Hence, in the aspect of His being a man, He has humanity and is a creature.
In the Council of Nicaea, convened in A.D. 325, Arianism was condemned as a heresy. This is why up to the present almost no one dares to teach that Christ is a creature. Nevertheless, in church history, still there were some who properly taught that Christ is both the Creator and the Firstborn of all creation. Such ones include Robert Govett and his student D. M. Panton in the beginning of the twentieth century; based upon Colossians 1:15b, they clearly said that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. This is according to the revelation of the Scriptures. If you do not believe this, you fall into the heresy of the Docetists, referred to in 1 John 4, who did not believe that Christ came in the flesh (vv. 1-3). The Docetists advocated that Jesus was not a real man but simply appeared to be; to them He was merely a phantasm. They asserted that the body of the Lord Jesus was not a real body but was merely a phantom. This is altogether a heresy; such a heresy undermines not only the incarnation of the Lord Jesus but also His redemption and resurrection.
We firmly believe that the Lord Jesus became a creature through incarnation. Perhaps some would say that since the Lord Jesus was incarnated two thousand years ago and Adam was created six thousand years ago, and since there were other created beings before Adam, the Lord Jesus could not have been the Firstborn of all creation. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Bible readers acknowledge that heavens and earth here do not merely refer to the heavens and the earth per se, but they refer to all the heavenly things and all the things on the earth, all the things that belong to the realms of the heavens and the earth, included among which are the angels, the living things on the earth, and even Satan, since he was the top archangel before the fall (cf. Ezek. 28:13-15). According to man’s view, Satan may be considered the first of the creation, because in the Bible he is addressed as “Daystar, son of the dawn” (Isa. 14:12), indicating that he was created at the beginning of the creation of the universe. But this is not God’s view. According to God’s eternal view, Christ is the Firstborn of all creation.
I have the basis to say this. Revelation 13:8 says that Christ is “the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.” Concerning the crucifixion of Christ, however, the prophecy in Daniel 9:25-26 clearly says, “From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the time of Messiah the Prince will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks...And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah will be cut off.” The Messiah, referring to the Lord Jesus, was cut off at the fullness of the sixty-ninth week of the seventy weeks. History tells us that the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem occurred in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king (Neh. 1:1; 2:1-8). After seven weeks and sixty-two weeks, that is, four hundred eighty-three years, that was exactly the year of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. Thus, according to man’s viewpoint, Christ was crucified less than two thousand years ago; how then could Revelation say that Christ was slain from the foundation of the world? This is God’s view. According to this principle, we can understand that in eternity past the three of the Godhead held a council, in which it was decided that the second—the Son—of the Divine Trinity would come to be incarnated as a creature. From that time on, in God’s eternal view, God the Son had become a creature, even the Firstborn of all creation.
Not only the Triune God as a mystery is difficult to understand and impossible to comprehend, but even incarnation is a mystery that is hard for people to understand. According to man’s view, the Lord Jesus did not become flesh until two thousand years ago. Yet Genesis 18 says that when Jehovah came with two angels to visit Abraham, He had a physical body. Abraham brought water to wash His feet and prepared a rich meal for Him. Nearly all orthodox Bible scholars acknowledge that the Jehovah there is the Christ in the New Testament (John 8:56-58). As early as the time of Abraham, Christ had already appeared in a bodily form. This is truly difficult to explain or comprehend. However, according to God’s view, the Firstborn of all creation is Christ. This is why He also became the instrument, the means, through which all creation came into being (John 1:3; Col. 1:16).
In summary, the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are from eternity to eternity, being equally eternal, without beginning and without ending, and existing at the same time.
The three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—not only coexist but also coinhere. The term coinhere applied to the Triune God means that the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—exist within one another.
First of all, this is based upon the word spoken by the Lord Jesus in the Gospels. In John 14:7 the Lord said to the disciples, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.” Then Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us” (v. 8). The Lord answered 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?” (vv. 9-10). We simply cannot understand the Lord’s answer. How can one person be in another person and the other person also be in the one person? Let me illustrate. We often say that the husband and wife are one; this is correct. However, we cannot say that the husband is in the wife and that the wife is in the husband. Yet the oneness of the Son and the Father (10:30) is that the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. This is truly beyond the comprehension of our human mind.
Besides John 14:10, the same utterance can be found in 14:20; 10:38; and 17:21, 23. These five verses all refer to the fact that the Son and the Father exist within one another at the same time. These verses are crucial to our understanding of the mystery of the Divine Trinity’s being three and also one. However, these verses mention only the Father and the Son; the matter concerning the Spirit is even more profound. We can say in a general way that the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are coinherent, but the relationship between the Father and the Son is different from the relationship between the Son and the Spirit. The relationship between the Father and the Son is that the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. However, we cannot find one verse in the entire Bible that says the Spirit is in the Son or the Son is in the Spirit. What the Bible says is that the Son became the Spirit. Hence, 1 Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit”; moreover, 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that “the Lord is the Spirit.”
Today among Christians there exists an erroneous traditional saying that Christ is in the Holy Spirit, that is, that the Son is in the Spirit. We must be careful; otherwise, we will make the same mistake. For example, the last two lines of the second stanza of Hymns, #501 says, “In flesh Thou hast redemption wrought; / As Spirit, oneness with me sought.” The line cannot be written as, “In flesh Thou hast redemption wrought; / In Spirit, oneness with me sought.” We must discern the difference between the two. I do not mean to say that it is definitely wrong to say that “the Son is in the Spirit.” Such a statement, however, is certainly not in the Bible. What the Bible says is that “the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” and that “the Lord is the Spirit.” Bible expositors are puzzled about the matter of the Son’s being the Spirit. Many of them do not dare to say that Christ is the Spirit. To avoid being troubled or condemned, they have coined the term the pneumatic Christ. Nevertheless, is not the pneumatic Christ simply the Spirit?
The work we do for the Lord is to transmit Christ to others for their enjoyment. However, they must know who Christ is before they can enjoy Him. Therefore, when we speak about the enjoyment of Christ, we must tell people who Christ is; we must also tell them clearly the way to enjoy Christ. This involves the Divine Trinity. In brief, we can say that the Father and the Son are one because the Lord Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). However, although the Father and the Son are one, between Them there is still a distinction of “I” and “the Father.” We must not disregard this point, because if we do, we would become modalists. Modalism advocates that God, who is one, has three manifestations in three different periods and that the three manifestations do not exist within each other at the same time. The Scriptures show us, however, that the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—not only exist at the same time but also exist in one another. Therefore, the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are one; They are one God. However, this one God is also three; He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Since this is the case, when are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit one, and when are They three? Bible students throughout the centuries have done a great deal of research on this point; we also have expended much effort in studying this matter. Nevertheless, no one has been able to determine when the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three, when They are one, and when They are both three and one. According to what the Bible tells us, we can say only that God is one, yet He has the aspect of being three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. These three are distinct but inseparable. Furthermore, these three exist within one another: the first is in the second and the second is in the first, and the second, the Son, and the third, the Spirit, are one and the same (2 Cor. 3:17). Hence, if the Father, the Son, and the Spirit only exist at the same time, They may still be separated; however, because They also exist within one another, They are inseparable. This is why God is triune; He is the Triune God.
Brothers and sisters, by presenting these matters before you, I hope that you will be able to understand the intricacies of the Trinity. You must know and be clear about these main points. Continuing what the saints saw in the previous centuries, we have seen this much so far. The Divine Trinity is a mystery in the universe; this mystery is not for us to engage in theological debates but for us to enjoy in our practical experience.
The third crucial point concerning the Divine Trinity is the essential Trinity. The Divine Trinity is absolutely one in His element and existence; His essence is absolute. Essence denotes nature; this is with respect to the Divine Trinity Himself. Today there is a group of Christians who do not see that the Divine Trinity has the essential aspect and the economical aspect. They confuse these two aspects and therefore bring about disputes. Because I have been stressing in America that the Triune God is one and that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one, they interpreted my teaching out of context and thus condemned me for advocating modalism like Sabellius. They said that when the Lord Jesus was standing in the water after His baptism, the Father spoke from the heavens, while the Spirit was soaring in the air like a dove; at that time, all three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—were present, but They were in three different places. Hence, they concluded that the three of the Divine Trinity are not only distinct but also separate. Thus, they questioned our saying that the three are one. When I heard this kind of word in my youth, I thought it was quite reasonable. However, I found out gradually from my study of the Bible that in a certain aspect this reasoning is right, but it is not right in every aspect. Actually, as far as essence is concerned, there is nothing wrong with our teaching.
The Gospel of Matthew not only has chapter 3 but also has chapter 28. It is true that Matthew 3 has a picture showing that after His baptism the Lord Jesus was on the earth, the Father was in the heavens, and the Spirit was in the sky. However, the Gospel of Matthew tells us from the beginning that God was first begotten into Mary through the conception of the Holy Spirit and then born as Jesus (1:18, 20-21). From that time on, you can say that Jesus was born of the Spirit; you can also say that He was born of the virgin Mary. This is because this wonderful One is a God-man, possessing both divinity and humanity. He has humanity and He also has divinity; He has divinity and He also has humanity. According to His divinity, He was born of the Holy Spirit; according to His humanity, He was born of a human virgin. Therefore, the Holy Spirit was not only in Him, but even more, the Holy Spirit became the essence of His being.
Then we would ask: In Matthew 3, after the baptism of the Lord Jesus while the Holy Spirit was outside of Him like a dove in the air, did the Lord Jesus have the Holy Spirit within Him? Without a doubt, the Lord Jesus had the Holy Spirit within Him. Not only so, His very essence was the Holy Spirit. Then are there two Holy Spirits, one being inside the Lord Jesus as His essence and another being outside, in the air, to descend upon Him? No, there is only one Holy Spirit. On the one hand, the Holy Spirit was in the Lord Jesus as His essence for His existence; this is the essential aspect. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit descended upon the Lord Jesus at the time of His baptism as the economical Spirit to be His power for His ministry; this is the economical aspect.
Among Christians there is also the concept that when the Lord Jesus came down from heaven because of His love for us, He left the Father on the throne in heaven, and He alone became flesh to be on the earth to suffer on our behalf; therefore, when He was suffering on the earth, the Father was far away in heaven. John 8:16, 29, and 16:32, however, strongly indicate that the Lord Jesus was never alone when He was on the earth; instead, the Father was always with Him. Furthermore, in 6:46; 7:29; 16:27; 17:8; and 15:26, five verses that refer to the Lord Jesus’ coming from the Father, the Greek word for from is para, which means “from with.” This means that the Lord came not only from the Father but also with the Father. When He came from the Father, He brought the Father with Him.
Hence, when the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He came with the Father, and the Father was with Him. Thus, we would go on and ask, After His baptism, when He came out of the water and stood there, why did the Father speak from the heavens? Had the Father not already come with Him? Was not the Father always with Him? Then why is it that the Father was also in the heavens? Here we must see the two aspects concerning the Divine Trinity: the essential aspect and the economical aspect. According to the essential aspect, from the time that the Lord Jesus entered Mary’s womb, He came not only from the Father but also with the Father. According to the economical aspect, at His baptism the Father was still in the heavens.
While the Lord Jesus was being crucified, was the Father also there? Many fundamentalists do not dare to answer this question.
As early as the first century there rose up a heretical teacher, Cerinthus, who was a Syrian of Jewish descent. His heresy was a mixture of Judaism, Gnosticism, and Christianity. He separated the creator of the world from God and represented that creator as a subordinate power. He taught adoptionism, saying that Jesus was merely God’s adopted Son and had become the Son of God by being exalted to a status that was not His by birth; thus, he denied that Jesus had been conceived by the Spirit. In his heresy he separated the earthly man Jesus, regarded as the son of Joseph and Mary, from the heavenly Christ and taught that after Jesus was baptized, Christ as a dove descended upon Him, and then He announced the unknown Father and did miracles. Furthermore, Cerinthus taught that at the end of His ministry Christ departed from Jesus, and Jesus suffered death on the cross and rose from the dead, while Christ remained separate as a spiritual being. Finally, he also taught that Christ will rejoin the man Jesus at the coming of the Messianic kingdom of glory.
Cerinthus advocated that the One who was baptized and who died was Jesus, and the One who descended upon Him to be with Him was Christ. Christ was upon Jesus for only three and a half years to be His power and authority, which enabled Him to perform miracles and wonders, to cast out demons and heal the sick, and to have spiritual wisdom. Then when Jesus went to the cross, Christ departed from Him. This is why Jesus prayed on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46). This kind of teaching is a great heresy.
It is true that when the Lord Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. And when He was crucified on the cross, at a certain time during those six hours, the Holy Spirit did depart from Him; that is why He prayed, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (vv. 45-46). However, the descending and departing Spirit was not of the essential aspect but of the economical aspect. Economically, the Holy Spirit came and went, descended and departed; essentially, the Holy Spirit never left the Lord Jesus from beginning to end but remained always as His essence.
Furthermore, it was not the Son alone who was born in the manger; rather, it was the Father accompanying the Son and being with the Son. In the same principle, the Son was not crucified alone on the cross, but the Father even accompanied the Son and was with the Son in the crucifixion. Therefore, the blood that was shed on the cross can be called “His [God’s] own blood” through which the church was obtained (Acts 20:28). Furthermore, 1 John 1:7 says, “The blood of Jesus His [God’s] Son cleanses us from every sin.” This blood is not only the blood of Jesus but also the blood of God’s Son. Therefore, Charles Wesley wrote in a hymn, saying, “Amazing love! how can it be / That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?” (Hymns, #296). This means that not only did Jesus as a man die on the cross for us, but God also went through death in the man Jesus. Most fundamentalists dare not speak about this because they are afraid of being involved with heresy. However, the revelation of the Bible is clear: essentially, the Father participated in the Lord’s birth, sufferings, and death; economically, when the Lord was baptized, the Father was in the heavens, and when the Lord was crucified, the Father left Him. The Bible indeed reveals these two aspects.
Concerning the Divine Trinity, there are two aspects: the essential aspect and the economical aspect. The term economy means “arrangement,” “plan,” “administration,” “management”; hence, it denotes moves, works, and doings. All the Lord’s moves, works, and doings belong to the economical aspect. Let us take incarnation as an example. The Bible does not say that the Lord Jesus became flesh or that the Son of God became flesh; it says that God became flesh. John 1 says that in the beginning was the Word, that the Word was God, and that the Word who was God became flesh (vv. 1, 14). First Timothy 3:15 mentions God, and then verse 16 goes on to say, “And confessedly, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh.” This shows us that the One who was manifested in the flesh is God. Hence, the Lord Jesus is God who became flesh; all the experiences of the Lord on the earth were God’s experiences in Him. This is the essential aspect. However, in the economical aspect, when the Lord Jesus was baptized, the Father spoke to Him from the heavens; when He was crucified, the Father left Him. This is the economical aspect, the aspect of doings.
John 14, 15, and 16 are the most mysterious as well as the most explicit chapters concerning the Divine Trinity. In these chapters the Lord spoke a clear message, saying, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father;...I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (14:9-10). But in chapter 17 He lifted up His eyes to heaven and prayed, “Father,...” (v. 1). Since he who has seen Him has seen the Father, and since He and the Father are one (10:30), He did not need to pray to the Father but could do whatever He wanted. Then why did He still pray to the Father? Furthermore, since the Father was in Him, why did He have to go such a long distance by lifting up His eyes to heaven instead of taking the shorter route by looking within Himself? Therefore, here we can see that there are two aspects concerning the Divine Trinity. The Son is in the Father, and the Father is in the Son; this is the essential aspect. The Son, who was on the earth, lifted up His eyes to heaven and prayed to the Father; this is the economical aspect. If you do not see these two aspects but instead hold on stubbornly to one aspect only, then you do not have a complete knowledge of the truth concerning the Divine Trinity.
Brothers and sisters, concerning the Divine Trinity, we should not debate blindly like the blind men feeling the elephant. Rather, we should have the knowledge of these two aspects, the essential aspect and the economical aspect. Thus, when we read the Bible, we will be able to see the complete revelation concerning the Divine Trinity, and we will also be able to see that the Bible is consistent, without any contradiction, in its revelation concerning the Divine Trinity.
