Search
Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; Rev. 1:4; Isa. 9:6; Heb. 1:3; Col. 1:15; Rev. 5:6
We have covered three crucial points concerning the Divine Trinity. Now we come to the fourth point—the creeds, which have been highly regarded by the church through the ages for nearly two thousand years. A creed is a rule of faith. When the contents of man’s belief are enumerated and set forth in writing, article by article, these articles of faith are called a creed. Due to man’s inadequate knowledge, the creeds all have some deviations and defects. The outline above shows us one heresy found in the creeds and fifteen items lacking in the creeds.
Today’s degraded and deformed Christianity puts the cart before the horse, so to speak, by taking the creeds instead of the entire body of biblical truths as the standard. This is a grave mistake. Although the creeds are good, they are incomplete and even considerably incomplete. In 1828 the Brethren were raised up by the Lord. After discovering the inadequacy of the creeds, they declared that they wanted no creed but the Bible. The incompleteness of the creeds is primarily due to the inadequate knowledge concerning the Divine Trinity. Following the Brethren, those in the Baptist denomination also declared, “No creed but the Bible.” Then another group, the so-called Church of Christ, also made the same declaration. The fourth group of people to make such a declaration are those who are in the Lord’s recovery. Sixty years ago when we were raised up in China, we also declared, “We do not care for the creeds; we care only for the Bible.”
Concerning the doctrine of the Divine Trinity, there have been mainly three major schools through the centuries. The first school is the doctrine of the Trinity, which regards the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as the Triune God; this is based upon the pure revelation of the Scriptures. The second school is tritheism, which regards the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as three persons respectively with each One being a God; hence, the three are three Gods. The third school is modalism, the doctrine of God being one, which advocates that there is one God with three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—in three different stages. Both modalism and tritheism stress only one side of the truth; hence, both are heretical. The true balanced teaching is the doctrine of the Trinity with the correct teaching concerning God’s being uniquely one and yet distinctly three.
After I went to America, I began to release the truth concerning the Trinity according to the knowledge of the truth that we have obtained from the Bible. As a result, this stirred up great opposition. Over two hundred sixty publications, including periodicals and newspapers, were used by the opposing ones to attack me. We have been fighting for this truth since 1970. Eventually, the opposing parties were subdued because the truth is the truth, and the more it is debated, the clearer it becomes. I have spent decades paying attention to this point. In reading every chapter and even every verse of the Bible, I would always pay attention to the matter of the Divine Trinity. Hence, I can say that we have studied every aspect of the Trinity revealed in the Bible. The most important study is in the Gospel of John and in Revelation. These two books reveal the mystery of the Divine Trinity in a very thorough manner.
Now we will briefly cover the five creeds.
According to church history, the earliest creed is the Apostles’ Creed. This creed originated with a group of church fathers, who were all Bible scholars, in the beginning of the second century shortly after the passing away of the apostles. Based upon the apostles’ teachings, they made a thorough study of the truth concerning the Triune God in the Bible in order to give a definition to the Divine Trinity. They were serious and accurate in their study, and the items they set forth may be considered quite deep, thorough, and detailed. The only shortcoming is the incompleteness of the contents. They should not be blamed for this because although the truth concerning the Divine Trinity has been revealed in the sixty-six books of the Bible in a way that is both mysterious and thorough, the items are scattered here and there; hence, it is not very easy to have an exhaustive study.
Next, in the age of the church fathers, seven books of the New Testament had yet to be publicly recognized as authoritative. These books were Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, and Revelation. Although these seven books were widely read, there were still arguments concerning whether they could be counted as authoritative among the sacred writings and thus worthy of permanent recognition. It was not until A.D. 397 at the Council of Carthage in North Africa that these seven books were affirmed and recognized as a part of the New Testament.
Concerning the process of the formal recognition of the books of the Bible, the Old Testament canonization began at the time of Ezra and took more than four hundred years before it was finally completed at the beginning of the New Testament age. Then the New Testament canonization took another four hundred years for its completion. Therefore, it took almost eight hundred years for the canon of the entire Bible to be finalized. Today those who fear God, know God, and know the Bible all acknowledge that this recognition was undoubtedly of God’s sovereignty. The apostles passed away before the completion of the New Testament canon. In the second century it was not easy for the first group of church fathers to give a complete definition of the Divine Trinity. Although they knew the Bible, they were still short of seven books in their hands. Nevertheless, they still produced the best piece of work. According to my study and research, all the items they set forth are accurate, penetrating, and thorough.
The main contents of the Apostles’ Creed are as follows: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord...I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.” The Apostles’ Creed declares that we believe “in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into Hades; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.”
Although the Apostles’ Creed was written in a simple way, it implies the considerable thoroughness of the research done by the church fathers and the great depth of their study of the Word. Following the Apostles’ Creed is the Nicene Creed, which was instituted in the Council of Nicaea assembled by Constantine the Great in A.D. 325. In those days Christianity already had a great influence in the regions around the Mediterranean Sea, which were under the control of the Roman Empire. However, the church leaders were in discord due to disputes concerning the truth; hence, there were divisions among them. At that time, although the Roman Empire ruled over the surrounding regions of the Mediterranean Sea, it was difficult to achieve unity due to the differences in nationalities, languages, and customs. During the reign of Constantine the Great, with his ambition and power he had the intention to rule over the Roman Empire to the extent of achieving unity not only politically but also religiously. He believed that the unity within the territories of the Roman Empire hinged on the unity of the Christians because of their influential power within the empire. If the Christians could not be one, then there could not be oneness among the people of the Roman Empire. For this reason he issued an edict to convene the Council of Nicaea. With himself acting as the moderator, he assembled all the bishops, the interpreters of the Bible, who were within the Roman Empire with the expectation of resolving the disputes regarding the truth.
In the assembly the bishops were urged by Constantine to present their opinions, and decisions were made based upon the Apostles’ Creed. Eventually, the so-called Nicene Creed was instituted, and its main contents are as follows: “I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of all things, both visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ...And in the Holy Ghost.” The Nicene Creed asserts that we believe “in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only begotten, that is of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made, both those in heaven and those on earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate, was made Man, suffered, and rose the third day, ascended into heaven, is coming to judge the quick and dead.”
We can see that the shortcoming of the Apostles’ Creed was not corrected in the Nicene Creed. Furthermore, although the Nicene Creed contains no heresy and is actually not bad, it is still incomplete in its contents, since there were seven books that had not yet been authenticated as authoritative.
After the making of the Nicene Creed, it was recognized by the “catholic church,” the predecessor of the Roman Catholic Church. Both the so-called catholic church and the Roman Catholic Church considered themselves as the unified and universal church; hence, it is called the “Catholic Church.” To this day the Roman Catholic Church still calls herself officially the “Catholic Church.” Why is the Roman Catholic Church also called the “Church of the Lord of Heaven” among the Chinese? This is because when the Western missionaries came to China, they gave a great deal of consideration to the translation of the word God. They believed that the Chinese word Shen for God is ambiguous and thus cannot express the original meaning, so they decided to render God as T’ien Chu, the “Lord of heaven.” Later, based upon this, people began to call the Roman Catholic Church T’ien Chu Chiao, the “Church of the Lord of Heaven.” In my youth I saw T’ien Chu T’ang, the “hall of the Lord of Heaven,” written on their place of worship; this proves that they also accepted this designation. However, they are not happy to be called the Romish Church.
After the Council of Nicaea, the Roman Empire was gradually divided politically into the Eastern Empire and the Western Empire. The capital of the Western Empire was the city of Rome; the capital of the Eastern Empire was Constantinople, situated at the border of Europe and Asia, and is called Istanbul today. It was built up by Constantine as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. After the division of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church was also divided into the Eastern Orthodox Church and the western Roman Catholic Church. Besides the political factor, the division was also caused by a strong controversy involving the Divine Trinity. Apparently, the reason for division was that the Eastern Orthodox Church would not recognize the authority of the pope of the Roman Catholic Church; actually, the intrinsic reason was a theological dispute. The Eastern Orthodox Church would not admit that they teach tritheism, yet according to the grounds of their arguments, they were actually teaching tritheism. The Roman Catholic Church is superior, in a sense, in that they believe in the Triune God.
In A.D. 381, fifty-six years after the Nicene Council, those who used the Nicene Creed felt that its statements were oversimplified, not being detailed enough. Therefore, they revised its contents, added some new items to it, and called it “A Revision of the Nicene Creed.” The main contents of this creed are as follows: “I believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ...And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, and Giver of life; who proceedeth from the Father; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets. And I believe in the one holy catholic and apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.”
The revised Nicene Creed declared that we believe “in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.”
However, even though this revised creed is richer than the earlier Nicene Creed in contents and likewise contains no error or heresy, it is still incomplete in that seven books of the New Testament had yet to be recognized.
In A.D. 397, in the third general Council, held at Carthage in North Africa, the final seven books of the New Testament were officially recognized. In A.D. 451 the emperor of Rome convoked the fourth general Council of Chalcedonia. Chalcedonia and Constantinople were sister cities separated only by a strait. In this Council the contents of the Nicene Creed were greatly increased to make the original Creed more exhaustive. The result was a new creed called “The Chalcedonian Confession of Faith”; its contents are as follows: “Following the holy fathers, we unanimously teach one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, complete as to his Godhead, and complete as to his manhood; truly God, and truly man, of a reasonable [rational] soul and human flesh subsisting; consubstantial with the Father as to his Godhead, and consubstantial also with us as to his manhood; like unto us in all things, yet without sin; as to his Godhead begotten of the Father before all worlds, but as to his manhood, in these last days born, for us men and for our salvation, of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, known in (of) two natures, without confusion, without conversion, without severance, and without division; the distinction of the natures being in no wise abolished by their union, but the peculiarity of each nature being maintained, and both concurring in one person and hypostasis. We confess not a Son divided and sundered into two persons, but one and the same Son, and Only-begotten, and God-Logos, our Lord Jesus Christ, even as the prophets had before proclaimed concerning him, and he himself hath taught us, and the symbol of the fathers hath handed down to us.”
However, the expansion of the contents brought in a great heresy. Concerning the origin of the Lord Jesus Christ, the adopters of this creed stated that “as to his manhood, in these last days born, for us men and for our salvation, of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God.” This means that they considered Mary “the Mother of God”; this is truly a great heresy.
Now we come to the fifth creed, the Athanasian Creed. This creed was attributed to Athanasius, though it was not written by him. Athanasius was an attendant of the Nicene Council who served as an assistant (comparable to today’s secretary) to one of the bishops who participated in the Council. He became famous, however, for speaking out against the teachings of the great heretic Arius. Arius erroneously taught that Christ was not the eternal God but an extraordinary, noble man who was later deified by God. Furthermore, Arius also had a wrong understanding of Colossians 1:15 and maintained that Christ is not the Creator since He is the Firstborn of all creation. This is a great heresy. Hence, in that council Arius encountered severe oppositions and thenceforth was condemned and exiled abroad. Because Athanasius was the most powerful antagonist of the Arians, some considered the creed adopted by the Nicene Council as his writing.
From then on, the creed was revised and expanded again and again until A.D. 553, when a creed that was richer and more exhaustive than the previous ones was produced. This creed was called “The Athanasian Creed,” and its contents are as follows:
Now we come to the heresy in the creeds—the Mother of God (Theotokos). Earlier, we said that this heresy was recorded in the Chalcedonian Confession of Faith adopted in A.D. 451. In Greek, Theo means “God,” and tokos means “bearer”; hence, Theotokos is rendered “the Mother of God.” This is a great heresy, for how can the eternal God have a finite human being of flesh as His “Mother”? Perhaps some may argue that the mention of “the Mother of God” is related to Christ’s humanity. Yes, according to His humanity, He had a mother, but we cannot say that this mother is “the Mother of God.”
Theological studies throughout the ages concluded, based upon the Bible, that our Lord Jesus is indeed the complete God who came in the flesh to become a perfect man. His divinity is complete and His humanity is perfect. As God, He possesses divinity; as a man, He possesses humanity. According to His humanity, Mary was His mother; but we cannot say that Mary is His mother in His divinity. We can only say that Mary was the mother of the man Jesus; we cannot say that Mary is the Mother of God in His divinity.
The Lord Jesus is God, not a partial God but the complete God. He is neither just one part of the Triune God nor just one-third of God. He is God (Rom. 9:5), not only God the Son but the complete God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (cf. Isa. 9:6; John 14:9; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17). Furthermore, the Lord Jesus is also a perfect man. Just as man has a spirit, He also has a spirit (John 11:33); just as man has a soul, He also has a soul (Matt. 26:38); just as man has a body, He also has a body (John 2:21). Since He has humanity, it was necessary that He have a mother for the human birth. Hence, Mary was His mother in His humanity but not His mother in His divinity. Therefore, we cannot call Mary “the Mother of God.”
This heresy led to a great dispute in the Roman Catholic Church concerning the matter of whether Mary had “original sin.” This dispute lasted over fourteen hundred years. Then in the 1850s it was officially determined by the pope that Mary did not have original sin. This is a great heresy. This point has become a strong factor of our refusal to accept the creeds. We admit that the major part of the creeds is right, yet they contain such a great heresy in the statement, recorded in plain words, concerning “the Mother of God.”
Besides the heresy about “the Mother of God,” there are no other gross errors in the creeds; in fact, many of the items in the creeds are quite accurate. Nevertheless, all the creeds, besides containing some errors, are incomplete. Hence, they cannot be our rules of faith but can serve only as references. For over fifty to sixty years I myself have directly received a great deal from the Bible by finding out the truths, item by item, contained in it. By the spring of 1983, what I found was nearly complete. Then when I spent time to refer to the creeds, I discovered that many items in the creeds are similar to what we have seen, yet I also found out that the creeds are short of many items. In the following paragraphs I will enumerate and briefly discuss fifteen items that are missing in the creeds. I hope that you will be able to understand and enter into them and even apply and speak them.
First Corinthians 15:45b says that “the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” The omission of this point is the greatest defect of the creeds. The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus is the Word who was in the beginning and that the Word became flesh; in the flesh He is the last Adam. In God’s eyes the Lord Jesus is the last man and, as such, He concludes the Adamic race. Through His death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. This is a very great matter. Today after having read through the Bible and having some amount of experience, we have this conclusion: this life-giving Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
Second Corinthians 3:17 says that “the Lord is the Spirit.” The creeds have neglected this point. The proponents of tritheism say that “the Lord” here is actually God, who is generally referred to as the Lord. However, if we read 2 Corinthians 1 through 4, we must admit that “the Lord” mentioned in 3:17 is the Lord who died and resurrected and who has been made both Lord and Christ. The sentence “the Lord is the Spirit” was written as a continuation of “the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” Now the Lord, who died, resurrected, and ascended to heaven, is the Spirit. This point was not mentioned in any of the creeds. Yet in the New Testament, in particular in the Epistles written by Paul, it is thoroughly disclosed (Rom. 8:16, 23, 26-27; Gal. 3:2, 5, 14; 6:8).
The third shortcoming of the creeds is that they do not mention the seven Spirits. Revelation 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; and 5:6 all mention the seven Spirits. We cannot blame the Nicene Creed for not referring to the seven Spirits, since the book of Revelation had yet to be recognized at that time. However, after the recognition of Revelation in A.D. 397, the point concerning the seven Spirits was not added to either the Chalcedonian Confession of Faith or the Athanasian Creed. This indicates either that the people at that time did not see it or that they did not value or understand it and therefore did not dare to touch it or speak about it. However, this is a matter of great significance because it is mentioned in the last book of the Bible as a conclusion. In this conclusion the Spirit of God has become the seven Spirits.
Isaiah 9:6 says, “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us;... / And His name will be called... / Mighty God, / Eternal Father.” The orthodox Bible expositors all acknowledge that the child here refers to the Lord Jesus, whose name would be called Mighty God, and that the Son, of course, refers to the second of the Divine Trinity, yet His name would be called Eternal Father. This item is of great importance in settling the truth concerning the Divine Trinity, yet it is also omitted from the creeds.
In the text of five verses in John, the Lord Jesus repeatedly said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (14:10, 20; 10:38; 17:21, 23). This shows that the Son coinheres with the Father. In John 8:29 the Lord said, “He who sent Me is with Me.” Also, Luke 4:1 says “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit.” These verses prove that when the Son was living on the earth, the Father and the Spirit were with Him; the three were coinherent and not separated. This item, which is crucial to the truth concerning the Divine Trinity, is only implied but not clearly mentioned in the creeds.
Hebrews 1:3 says that the Lord Jesus is “the effulgence of His [God’s] glory and the impress of His substance.” Colossians 1:15a and 2 Corinthians 4:4 both say that Christ, the Son of God’s love, is the image of God. Since the Son is the image of God, how can we say that the image of God is one person and the Father is another person? Are your image and you one or two? Can you say that a certain brother’s face and the brother himself are two? The Lord is the Spirit, the Son is called Eternal Father, and the Son is the image of the Father—all these truths are extremely important, yet they are lacking in the creeds.
In Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10 and in Revelation 5:6 we can see that the stone and the Lamb both refer to the Lord Jesus and that the seven eyes upon the stone and of the Lamb refer to the seven Spirits of God; hence, the Spirit is the eyes of the Son.
The proponents of tritheism assert that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three persons, each One standing alone. The Bible, however, says that the Son is the image of the Father and that the Spirit is the eyes of the Son. This is too marvelous. It is true that the image and the person are distinct, but they cannot be separated; likewise, the eyes and the person are distinct but inseparable. The image is for expression, and the eyes are for transmission. The Son as the image of the Father expresses the Father; whereas the Spirit as the eyes of this “image” transmits the Son. Hence, the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are distinct, just as a person himself, his image, and his eyes are distinctly three. Yet the three are one and cannot be divided. This is where the mystery of the Triune God lies.
The Angel of Jehovah mentioned in Exodus and Judges is the Son (Exo. 3:2-15; 14:19; 23:20-21; Judg. 13:15-21). We say this because in Revelation the Lord Jesus is referred to as “another Angel” (7:2; 8:3; 10:1; 18:1). If we carefully study Exodus 3, we will discover that the Angel of Jehovah who appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of the thornbush is Jehovah, the self-existing and ever-existing One (v. 14). Self-existing and ever-existing means “I AM WHO I AM.” As such, He is the One “who is and who was and who is coming” (Rev. 1:4), the One who is self-existing, ever-existing, immeasurable, and without beginning or ending. In Matthew 1 this Jehovah became Jesus. Jesus means “Jehovah the Savior,” or “the salvation of Jehovah.” This is why we say that the Son is Jehovah, the self-existing and ever-existing One. Exodus 3:6 goes on to say that Jehovah God is “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The Hebrew word for God here is Elohim, the Triune God. Therefore, this proves that the Son is also Elohim, the Triune God. This matter is not mentioned in the creeds.
In Zechariah 2:8-11 we see that the Lord Jesus is the One who was sent by Jehovah, and He is also Jehovah who sent Him. This portion of the Word was spoken by “Jehovah of hosts” (v. 8). Yet in this portion Jehovah of hosts said, “Jehovah of hosts has sent Me” (vv. 9, 11). This is to say that it is Jehovah of hosts who sent Jehovah of hosts. Furthermore, according to the original text, the pronoun My in verse 11 may also be rendered His, and the pronoun I may also be rendered He. This means that “I” am “He” and “He” is “I.” He is the sent One and the Sender. Hence, the sent One and the Sender are one. The tritheists believe that there are three Gods because they have not seen this point.
It is recorded in Matthew 3:16 that when the Lord Jesus came out of the water after His baptism, the Spirit of God descended like a dove and came upon Him. Essentially, the Lord Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit and therefore already had the Spirit within Him. Yet it says here that the Spirit of God descended upon Him; this refers to the economical aspect. Furthermore, it is recorded in Matthew 27:46 that when the Lord Jesus was being crucified, He cried out with a loud voice, saying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Essentially, the Father was always with the Lord, not only while He was moving on the earth but even while He was being crucified. Therefore, the Bible says that the blood shed by the Lord Jesus on the cross is the blood of God’s Son (1 John 1:7), and it is also God’s own blood (Acts 20:28). The record in Matthew 27 concerning God’s forsaking the Lord Jesus refers to the economical aspect. The creeds are also short in this matter.
The Son is the only begotten Son of the Father and the firstborn Son of God. Since the Son is the only begotten Son, He should not have any brothers; how then can He be also the firstborn Son? The Lord Jesus was the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:18; 1 John 4:9), but in His incarnation He partook of man’s blood and flesh. The human nature and human flesh that He put on to become the Son of Man did not have divinity. Hence, in His incarnation, according to His divinity He was the only begotten Son of God, but according to His humanity He was the Son of Man and not the Son of God. Then He passed through death. When He died on the cross, His flesh died, but His Spirit as His divinity was made alive, enlivened, with new power of life (1 Pet. 3:18), and even His flesh, which had been put to death, was also made alive and resurrected, thereby bringing His humanity into divinity. Hence, His resurrection was a birth to Him in His humanity. On the day of resurrection God said to Him, “This day have I begotten You” (Acts 13:33).
His incarnation was a birth; that was divinity putting on humanity. His resurrection was another birth; that was humanity putting on divinity. When He was crucified, not only He died, but all those who were chosen by God and who believe in Him died with Him in His death. Likewise, when He was resurrected, not only He was resurrected, but all those who have been chosen by God and who believe in Him were resurrected with Him in His resurrection, that is, were begotten with Him as sons of God (cf. 1 Pet. 1:3). In this way He obtained many brothers and became the firstborn Son.
Therefore, on the morning of His resurrection the Lord Jesus could say to Mary, “Go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God” (John 20:17). Previously, as the only begotten Son He did not have brothers; in the morning of His resurrection, He had brothers because He had become the firstborn Son. One of the results of His resurrection is that His Father became the Father of the believers. Thus, the Son became the Firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:29).
We must see clearly that as the only begotten Son the Son has divinity but does not have humanity, and that as the firstborn Son of God the Son has not only divinity but also humanity. The creeds are also short of this item.
According to the humanity of the Son, the Bible says that He is a creature. Colossians 1:15b says the Son of God’s love is “the Firstborn of all creation.” Our critics have made a big mistake because they think that we speak about this matter according to the teaching of the Arians. In the book entitled Concerning the Person of Christ we have clearly said, “According to the complete revelation of the Bible, Christ is both the Creator and the creature, because He is God and He is man—He is God who creates; He is also man who is created...When Christ became a creature, He did not lose His eternal, uncreated nature—He remains the Creator. In like manner, when He became man, He did not lose His divine nature—He is still God.”
Moreover, if we do not confess that Christ is a creature, this is equivalent to not confessing that Christ is God who “became flesh” (John 1:14) and “partook” of “blood and flesh” (Heb. 2:14) to become a “man” (1 Tim. 2:5). Then we would become Docetists (cf. 1 John 4:3, footnote 1, Recovery Version). The Docetists believed that Christ has only divinity and does not have humanity, that His human body was not a real body but was merely a phantom. As referred to in 1 John 4:2-3, they did not confess that Christ came in the flesh.
Over thirty years ago, a so-called co-worker told me that Christ in heaven today is not a man. What he meant is that the Lord lost His human nature immediately after His resurrection and is therefore no longer a man. But Acts 7 says that Stephen, before he was stoned to death, saw the Lord Jesus still standing as the Son of Man at the right hand of God (v. 56). In Revelation 1 the apostle John saw that the Lord Jesus, who is walking in the midst of the golden lampstands, is like the Son of Man (v. 13). In Matthew 26, when the high priest interrogated the Lord Jesus, saying, “Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God” (v. 63), the Lord replied, “You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven” (v. 64). This indicates that the Lord will still be the Son of Man at His coming back. Furthermore, John 1:51 proves that, in eternity, this Jesus will still be the Son of Man, on whom the angels of God will be ascending and descending. Hence, the Lord Jesus not only put on human nature when He became flesh, but He also died, resurrected, and ascended with His humanity, and He will have His humanity even in His coming back and unto eternity.
Some may ask, “Was it not only two thousand years ago that Christ became flesh? Why then does the Bible say that He is the Firstborn of all creation?” We need to consider this question not according to man’s calculation but according to God’s calculation. For example, according to man’s calculation, the first man is Adam and the second man is Cain. However, the Bible says that the first man is Adam and the second man is Christ (1 Cor. 15:45-47); this is God’s calculation.
Furthermore, Genesis 18:1 says that Jehovah appeared to Abraham, and then it says that Abraham saw three men coming. Among the three men, one was Jehovah. At Abraham’s time Jehovah had not yet become flesh, yet He appeared to Abraham in the form of man. Abraham not only fetched water for Him to wash His feet (v. 4) but also served Him a meal (v. 8). That One was Christ with a human body, not a phantom. Therefore, in John 8 the Lord Jesus said, “Abraham exulted that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced...Before Abraham came into being, I am” (vv. 56, 58). The creeds are also short of this point.
First John 1:7 says, “The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.” The name Jesus denotes the Lord’s humanity, which was needed for the shedding of the redeeming blood. The title His Son denotes the Lord’s divinity, which is needed for the eternal efficacy of the redeeming blood. Hence, Acts 20:28 says that the church was obtained by God “through His own blood.”
Colossians 2:2 says that Christ is the mystery of God. Then verse 9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” This means that the fullness of the entire Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—dwells in Christ as One who has a human body. Before Christ’s incarnation the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Him as the eternal Word (John 1:1), but not bodily. From the time that Christ became incarnate, clothed with a human body, the fullness of the Godhead began to dwell in Him in a bodily way; and in His glorified body (Phil. 3:21) now and forever it dwells.
The last item that the creeds are short of is the matter of Christ, the Son, being the embodiment of the fullness of the divinity of the entire Triune God. Hence, it is neither secure nor accurate enough to take only the creeds as the standard.
When we put together all these items that are omitted in the creeds, we can see that the Divine Trinity is indeed a mystery. The more we study the matter of the Trinity, the more we have to admit that the Trinity is truly mysterious and incomprehensible. This is why Martin Luther said that if you try to understand the matter concerning the Triune God, you will be the teacher of God. In this matter we all must say, “I have not yet come to know as I ought to know” (cf. 1 Cor. 8:2). If you say that you know, then you are the teacher of God. Because the items concerning the Triune God are too mysterious, after we have thoroughly studied them, we have to humbly bow our heads in worship, saying, “Lord, how we thank You that in all these years You have released all these mysteries concerning the Divine Trinity in order that we may know how to enjoy You.” If we are only for doctrinal study, we cannot adequately explain even an ordinary fish, let alone the Triune God. The Triune God is too mysterious. In conclusion, He is the Triune God; He has the aspect of being three, yet He is still one.
Recently, a group of people in America declared that they will go back to the Councils. This means that they believe that all issues must be decided according to the resolutions of the Councils and not according to the Bible. However, the resolutions of the Councils are simply the creeds; therefore, their intention is to go back to the creeds that are seriously short. For this reason there is an undercurrent hidden here today, and there is also a warfare. If you desire to serve the Lord full time for a long time, you must have the fundamental knowledge concerning this matter. What I have given you is just a sketch to show you that our knowledge of God is altogether scriptural and that most Christians’ knowledge of God is mostly according to the creeds and is therefore inadequate. Even to this day they still recite the creeds during their worship in their worshipping places. The basis of their belief is the creeds instead of the Bible. However, the foundation of our faith is not the creeds. Rather, we study the Bible daily. This is our faith and our practice.
