Some people in Catholicism and Protestantism conclude that in the picture of the Lord’s baptism in Matthew 3, there are obviously three Gods in three different places—the Son is standing in the water, the Spirit is descending upon the Son from the air, and the Father is speaking downward from heaven. However, I hope we all can see that although Matthew 3 definitely says that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are in three different places, John 10 says that the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father (v. 38). This verse reveals that They are in one another mutually. Here it is not a matter of location but a matter of existence. This is the way to study the Bible. We must interpret the Bible with the Bible and not solely according to our natural logic.

Perhaps some will ask, “Then, does the Bible contradict itself? Why does Matthew 3 say that there is One in heaven, One in the air, and One in the water, yet John indicates that the three are in one another?” Every matter in the universe has two sides. For example, although the front of my head has seven “holes” and the back has none, this is not a contradiction. Nothing can exist without two sides; even a sheet of paper has its front and its back. Do not try to reconcile the two sides; just look for the facts and acknowledge the facts. Only the blind guides of the blind argue irrationally, grasping one side while forgetting the other.

Then, what is the fact here? The fact is “the Triune God.” This term is sufficiently clear in expression. The Triune God is not composed of three Gods; the Triune God is uniquely one but has the aspect of being three. The Triune God does not refer to His persons; it refers to the substance of His being. It is not an explanation of His persons but an explanation of the substance of what He is. God is uniquely [413] one, but in substance He is three; thus, He is triune. For this reason the Bible not only reveals that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit coinhere; it further reveals that the Son is the Father (Isa. 9:6), that the Son became the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45), and that the Son is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). This is the divine fact, the divine truth.

The Mystery of the Divine Trinity in Matthew 28

By the end of the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, the Triune God had already successfully passed through incarnation, lived a human life, finished His work on the earth, died on the cross, and risen from death, thereby accomplishing redemption. At this time He came back in resurrection; that is, He came back in the success of having passed through various processes. Resurrection is the declaration of His having been processed successfully. It was in such a declaration of success that He came back to His disciples. The Gospel of John tells us that He came into the midst of the disciples and breathed into them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (20:22). After breathing Himself into the disciples in this way, He stayed with them for forty days. At the end of these forty days He spoke to them, saying “Go!” But how would they go? They would go with Him because He had breathed Himself into them. Originally, He was the God of creation, but now He had been incarnated, passed through human living, death, and resurrection, accomplished redemption, became the Spirit, and breathed Himself into them. As a result, now they would go with Him. But what would they do? They would go to baptize the nations not into water but into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, that is, into the processed Triune God. Here the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the processed Triune God.

Before the resurrection of Christ, “the Father, the Son, and the Spirit” had never been mentioned as one name. However, after the resurrection of Christ, as the processed Triune God, He told the disciples to go and baptize all the nations into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In eternity past God determined to create, to become flesh, to pass through human living, to be crucified, and to resurrect. This is His economy. Then, after He made His economy, He began to work. First He entered into time as the Creator and created the heavens and the earth. Then He entered into His creature—He was incarnated and born as a man, lived among men for thirty years, and in the last three and a half years accomplished [414] the great work of redemption among men. Following this, He was resurrected to declare victory, to declare that His work had been done. This is the initial accomplishment of God’s eternal economy.

Then He mass-reproduced Himself. First, He sent His disciples to preach the gospel to people so that they might see that they were sinful and were far away from God and that they needed to repent, turn to God, and receive God. Then, when someone believed, the disciples would baptize that one into the Triune God. Such a one would immediately become a part of the reproduction of the processed Triune God, a part of the multiplication, increase, duplication, and surplus of the Triune God. This is the revelation concerning the mystery of the Divine Trinity in Matthew 28.

THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTERY 
IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

On the one hand, the Gospel of Matthew speaks about the gospel of the kingdom, Christ being the King, and the reality, appearance, and manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, telling us that if we live in this reality today, it will be our reward in the future. On the other hand, Matthew tells us about the Triune God being processed. It reveals that He entered into a virgin’s womb and was born as a man to be Jehovah our Savior, God with us. Then He went through death and resurrection and eventually sent His disciples to “go,” bringing Him with them, to transmit and dispense Him into all the nations. Whoever would believe into and receive such a transmitting and dispensing One would be baptized into the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In this way they would become the reproduction, duplication, multiplication, and increase of the Triune God. This is the mystery of the Divine Trinity revealed in the Gospel of Matthew.