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Scripture Reading: John 14:16-20; 15:26; 16:13; 1 John 5:6; 1 Cor. 15:45b; John 7:39; Matt. 28:19b; Phil. 1:19; Rev. 22:17; Rom. 8:17b
The study of the Divine Trinity and the Person of Christ began in the second century. This study led to many endless debates and arguments. In this chapter I have no intention to lead you into these debates. Rather, I want to point out to you the vital place that the Spirit of reality has in our relationship with God.
According to the Bible, God is uniquely one (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:6), yet He is also the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19b). This is difficult for the human mind to reconcile or explain, but this is the revelation in the Bible. Any attempt to reconcile these two aspects will result only in confusion. We should simply say that God is one and He is also three. He is the unique God, and He is the Father, Son, and Spirit. The three of the Divine Trinity are distinct but not separate. They are distinctly three, yet they are also one.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist with one another (3:16-17; Eph. 3:14-17), and They also coinhere. To coexist means to exist together at the same time. To understand the coexistence of the three of the Divine Trinity is not difficult, but to understand how the three of the Divine Trinity coinhere is very difficult. To coinhere means that the three of the Divine Trinity exist within one another, abide in each other (John 14:10-11; 17:21). The three of the Divine Trinity from eternity past have been and still are coexisting and coinhering with one another.
One day the second of the Divine Trinity, the Son, came to be a man through incarnation. He came from the Father, with the Father, and in the Father’s name (8:29; 16:28a, 32b; 10:25). His coming with the Father was also by the Spirit (Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:35; 4:1). This shows the coexistence of the three of the Divine Trinity in the incarnation. In John 14 the Son said that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him and that the words He spoke were not His own words but the Father’s words (vv. 10, 24). This chapter also reveals that the Spirit of reality comes as the Son with the Father (vv. 16-20, 23, 26). This indicates the coinherence of the three of the Divine Trinity. The Son lives in the Father, and the Father lives in the Son; the Son’s speaking is the Father’s work.
Another portion of the Word that reveals the coinherence of the Divine Trinity is Isaiah 9:6. In this verse the Son is called the Eternal Father. The child born, who is also the Son given, is called the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, and the Prince of Peace. The child who is the only begotten Son (John 3:16) is called the Mighty God. The Son who is given is called the Eternal Father. Although we cannot fully understand these portions of the Word, we have to accept the clear word of the Scriptures.
The three of the Divine Trinity are distinctly three and yet one. The Father is distinct from the Son, the Son is distinct from the Spirit, and the Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son. Yet the Son is the Father (Isa. 9:6; John 14:9-10), and the Son is also the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). The Son became flesh (John 1:1, 14) and was called the last Adam. This last Adam through death and resurrection became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The Son given is called the Eternal Father, and after His death and resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, the Son is both the Father and the Spirit.
In church history certain terms were invented in order to describe the relationship between the three of the Divine Trinity. The term essential Trinity describes the oneness that exists among the three of the Divine Trinity. The term economical Trinity describes the distinction between the three of the Divine Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are absolutely one in essence. This is the essential Trinity. But in God’s economy to carry out His purpose of dispensing Himself into His chosen people, He is three. This is the economical Trinity. In His economy the Divine Trinity is distinctly the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father planned, the Son redeemed through His vicarious death, and the Spirit seals the redeemed ones (Eph. 1:4-14).
After the resurrection of Christ, the Spirit of God, the third of the Divine Trinity, has become the life-giving Spirit as the aggregate of the Divine Trinity, the consummated, compound Spirit of the processed Triune God, even the consummation of the processed God (1 Cor. 15:45b; John 7:39; Matt. 28:19b; Phil. 1:19b; Rev. 22:17). The life-giving Spirit is too great. He is the aggregate, the totality, of the Divine Trinity. The aggregate of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the life-giving Spirit. He is the consummated, compound Spirit of the processed Triune God.
The life-giving Spirit as the compound Spirit is composed of a number of elements compounded together. This compound Spirit is typified by the compound ointment in Exodus 30:23-25. A hin of olive oil, which was the base of the ointment, was compounded together with the spices of myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. The oil typifies the Holy Spirit, and the four spices typify Christ’s humanity and divinity with His death and resurrection. The life-giving Spirit includes many elements, just as many modern medicines are compounded with different elements in order to heal certain illnesses. The life-giving Spirit has been compounded with the Holy Spirit as the base and with the humanity, divinity, death, and resurrection of Christ as the elements.
Today the Holy Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, is the consummation of the processed Triune God. If we would experience God today as the consummated God, we have to experience the Spirit. Day by day, morning until evening, our Christian life, our Christian walk, and our Christian experience are all a matter of enjoying the consummation of the processed Triune God, who is the life-giving Spirit. From the day that I saw this, my whole Christian life was revolutionized.
In Genesis 1 the Divine Trinity is indicated (vv. 1, 26), but the Bible does not give a clear word concerning the Trinity until the resurrection is consummated. In resurrection the Triune God was fully processed. As the consummated Triune God, He is available for people to be baptized into Him (Matt. 28:19). As the life-giving Spirit, He is also the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19). Today the Spirit of Christ is the bountiful supply of the divine-human person of Christ, the cross of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. Eventually, the Bible closes with a declaration from the consummation of the processed Triune God, the Spirit, and from the perfection of the transformed tripartite man, the bride (Rev. 22:17). The consummated Triune God and the perfected tripartite man are married. They become the unique couple in the universe.
The consummated Spirit of the processed Triune God is the reality of the processed Triune God. The phrase consummated Spirit indicates that some processes have taken place. The processes that the Triune God passed through include incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. Before incarnation He was only divine, not human. Through incarnation He became both human and divine. He was further processed through human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Through all these processes the Triune God was consummated. Today the consummated Spirit is the reality of the processed Triune God. If we want to have God or Christ, we must have the Spirit. God and Christ are mere terms to us if we do not have the Spirit. Without the Spirit, Jesus would be merely a historical person to us. The reality of Christ and of God is the Spirit. For this reason John 14:17 calls the Spirit “the Spirit of reality.”
The Spirit as the aggregate of the Divine Trinity is the reality of Christ (vv. 16-20).
The consummated Spirit as the compound Spirit compounded with Christ’s person and death is the reality of the death of Christ (Rom. 8:13b). If you do not have the Spirit, you do not have the reality of the death of Christ. The death of Christ is fully unveiled in Romans 6, and the Spirit of Christ is unveiled in Romans 8. It is in the Spirit of Christ that you find the death of Christ. Brother Nee once said that you can never experience Romans 6 without the experience of the Spirit in Romans 8. The life-giving Spirit is the reality of the death of Christ.
The consummated Spirit as the compound Spirit compounded with Christ’s person and resurrection is the reality of the resurrection of Christ. Today’s modern antibiotics contain elements which kill certain germs and supply certain nutrients. The Spirit today is like an all-inclusive dose. The Spirit is the reality of God, the reality of Christ, the reality of Christ’s death, and the reality of Christ’s resurrection. The reality of God, Christ, and the death and resurrection of Christ is the Spirit. This Spirit is the compound Spirit, the consummated Spirit as the aggregate of the processed Triune God, the reality of the processed Triune God.
