Friday

EXPERIENCING, ENJOYING, AND EXPRESSING CHRIST (3)
– WEEK 6

The Church in the Triune God

Related Verses
John 14:6-11 (6,10-11)
6 Jesus said to him, I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.
8 Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us.
9 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?
10 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.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves.

John 10:38
38 But if I do them, even if you do not believe Me, believe the works so that you may come to know and continue to know that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father.

Rom. 8:11
11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

1 Cor. 15:45b
45b ; the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

Related Reading
Certain of today’s fundamental Bible teachers are actually tritheistic, perhaps unconsciously. These teachers say not only that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct but also that They are separate. We can say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct, but not that They are separate. We cannot separate the Son from the Father, or the Father and the Son from the Spirit, because all three coexist and coinhere. In the Gospel of John the Son said that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (10:38; 14:10-11). Since the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son, how can They be separated? The Lord Jesus also said that He and the Father are one (John 10:30). This is further proof that the Father and the Son, although distinct, cannot be separated. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct but not separate, because they are three and yet one. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 31-32) 

Although the Father and the Son are one [John 10:30], 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?…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. 

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. (CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “The Revelation and Vision of God,” pp. 339-340) 

The Holy Scriptures…reveal that the Son is the Father [Isa. 9:6; John 14:7-11]. In these verses the Lord clearly revealed the mystery that He and the Father are one (10:30). He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him; when He speaks, it is the Father who works; when men see Him, they see the Father; when they know Him, they know the Father, because He is the Father. The Scriptures also reveal that the Son (the last Adam) became a life-giving Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” The last Adam, of course, is the incarnated Lord Jesus, and the life-giving Spirit, of course, is the Holy Spirit. There can never be another life-giving Spirit besides the Holy Spirit. The Lord was made flesh and became the last Adam, and later, after death and resurrection, He became the life-giving Spirit. (CWWL, 1993, vol. 2, “The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today,” pp. 56-57) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1986, vol. 3, “The Revelation and Vision of God,” ch. 2; CWWL, 1994–1997, vol. 2, “The Governing and Controlling Vision in the Bible,” ch. 3 

© Living Stream Ministry, 2021, used by permission