We have seen the building of the church revealed to Peter and to Paul. Now we come to John. John’s ministry is a mending ministry. This mending ministry is greatly needed today because the church has been damaged. Because there are many “holes” in this heavenly net, there is the need of mending. However, this mending could never be carried out effectively only by teaching. The more we try to mend by teaching, the more holes we will make. Teachings never mend but only tear. Only life can mend. Therefore, John writes in his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word” (1:1), and “in Him was life” (v. 4). John’s mending ministry brings us back to the beginning. In the beginning, in Genesis, we see the tree of life (2:9), and in John’s ministry, in Revelation, we again see the tree of life (22:2).
What is needed in the churches today is life. We should care more for life than for teachings. If we care mainly for teachings, we will soon be divided. Allow me to illustrate the problem of caring mainly for teachings. In Christianity we received an orthodox, fundamental teaching concerning the Trinity according to the Nicene Creed, which was compiled at a council held about three hundred years after Christ. This creed says that we believe that our God is triune—He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is correct. However, Christianity’s traditional teaching concerning the Trinity has drugged people, causing them to unconsciously believe that there are three Gods. Most would not admit this, but unconsciously, deep within them, their concept is tritheistic. As a result, when we touch the teaching of the Trinity, it stirs up trouble with many Christians.
When the Lord raised us up in His recovery, He showed us through our experience of the Lord that we have not three Gods but one. The Lord began to show us that God’s being three persons is only one aspect of God; the other aspect is that God is one (Isa 45:5; 1 Tim. 2:5). The Trinity is three in one, or three-one. This is a divine mystery. It is impossible for us to exhaust the depths of the Divine Trinity with our human mentality. Trying to understand the Trinity with the human mentality is like trying to measure the ocean using a spoon. Christians may endlessly argue about whether God is three or one. We simply need to see that He is three in one. The Father, the Son and the Spirit are three, but They are not three Gods—They are one God.
We know that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God because in Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus speaks of “the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” In this verse the word name is singular. When I read this verse as a young believer, I was bothered, thinking that I had found a mistake. Grammatically and logically speaking, the word name in this verse should be plural. It seems that this verse should say “the names of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” I thought, “How can three persons have one name? Surely, either the translators or the printer made a mistake.” However, when I checked with several versions of the Greek text, I realized that there is no doubt that the word name is singular. Thus, this verse mentions three persons but one name. This name is the all-inclusive name of the Triune God. His name is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
In The Principles of Theology W. H. Griffith Thomas, the well-known writer of an exposition on Romans, says, “The term ‘Person’ is also sometimes objected to. Like all human language, it is liable to be accused of inadequacy and even positive error. It certainly must not be pressed too far, or it will lead to Tritheism.” This is exactly what has happened in Christianity—the term person has been pressed too far. Some teach that God the Father is one person, God the Son is another person, and God the Holy Spirit is another person. This kind of teaching causes many Christians to unconsciously believe that there are three Gods.
From the first century until today Christians have been divided by the teachings concerning the Trinity and Christology, the study of the Person of Christ. If we pay too much attention to this kind of teaching, we will be killed. In the Lord’s recovery we have been helped by the Lord not to be misled by the teaching that God is three separate persons. According to our own experience of the Lord, we know that there is only one God. Moreover, in the Bible we find two verses revealing that the Triune God whom we experience is one. First, there is Isaiah 9:6, which says, “A Son is given to us;... / And His name will be called... / Eternal Father.” This verse indicates that the Son is the Father, for if He were not the Father, He could not be called Eternal Father. The other verse is 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” The Lord in this verse is Christ, the Son of God (4:5). Regardless of whether we understand these two verses, we must receive them as the pure revelation of the Word of God.
Some dissenting ones have come to argue with me, saying that the Son cannot be the Father because in Mark 1:11 the Father spoke to the Son, and in John 17 the Son prayed to the Father. Sometimes I answer these ones by simply saying, “Brothers, I do not know a great deal, but before I answer you, please tell me how you understand Isaiah 9:6 and 2 Corinthian 3:17. These two verses are the pure revelation of the Word in clear, black and white letters. There is no need for us to guess their meaning or to interpret them. They state the simple facts that the Son is called the Father and that the Lord is the Spirit.” When I respond in this way, the dissenting ones cannot answer. Then I say, “Brothers, we should not argue about the teaching of this mystery. We simply need to take the pure revelation of the Word of God. We should not care for the traditional teaching of any creed or organization more than the pure revelation of the Word of God.”
Sometimes I tell these dissenting ones, “Brothers, doctrines only bring about many arguments. Let us stop the arguing. Ephesians 4:6 says that the Father is in us, Colossians 1:27 says that Christ the Son is in us, and John 14:17 says that the Spirit is in us. These three verses tell us that the Father is in us, the Son is in us, and the Spirit is in us. Do you believe this or not?” None would say no. All would say, “Yes, the Father is in us, the Son is in us, and the Spirit is in us.” Then I go on to ask, “According to your experience, how many are in you?” None would say that there are three separate persons in them. All would say that, according to their experience, there is only one in them. Thus, our experience testifies that the three of the Triune God are one.
When I was a young Christian, I became bothered because I did not know whom to address my prayers to—the Father, the Son, or the Spirit? I had been taught by the Brethren that we should never address our prayers to the Son but should always pray to the Father in the name of the Son through the Holy Spirit. After trying to pray this way for a period of time, I became confused. I was taught to pray to the heavenly Father, but according to my experience the Father was no longer the heavenly Father but the Father in me. Furthermore, when I prayed in this way, I did not know whether it was the Father, the Son, or the Spirit in me or where the other two were. When I prayed, I was always afraid of praying in the wrong way. Often I would spontaneously pray, “O Lord,” but then I would immediately repent and ask for forgiveness. Then I would begin again, praying, “O heavenly Father, I pray in the name of Your Son, the Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. Thank You, Father. O Lord.” Then I would again repent for praying to the Lord and try again. Therefore, I would not have a pleasant, sweet enjoyment in my prayer.
After trying to pray in this way for seven years, I was finally freed. Since then I have not been concerned with the doctrine of which one of the Trinity I should pray to. I simply pray, “O Lord Jesus! Thank You, Lord Jesus. I love You, Lord. O heavenly Father, You are so good and so gracious!” I cannot explain this kind of prayer doctrinally, but I know experientially that when I pray in this way, I have a sweet touch with the Lord. I am no longer bothered by dead doctrine. Our experience tells us that there is nothing wrong with praying in this way. We need to go back to the beginning, back to the tree of life. We should not care mainly to understand all the teachings and doctrines concerning the Trinity. The Triune God is far beyond our understanding. We simply cannot understand the mystery of the Divine Trinity.
To those who would say that the Father and the Son cannot be one because the Father spoke to the Son and the Son prayed to the Father in the Gospels, I would point out Zechariah 2:8-11, which says, “For thus says Jehovah of hosts, After the glory He has sent Me...For I am now waving My hand over them...and you will know that Jehovah of hosts has sent Me...For now I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst, declares Jehovah. And many nations will join themselves to Jehovah in that day and will become My people; and I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that Jehovah of hosts has sent Me to you.” The more we try to understand who the Sender is and who the sent One is in this verse, the more we will be confused. The speaker in verse 8, who is the sent One, is Jehovah of hosts, but in verses 9 and 11 He says, “Jehovah of hosts has sent Me.” Thus, Jehovah of hosts is both the Sender and the sent One. This means that the Sender is the sent One. Just as the same Lord is both the Sender and the sent One in Zechariah 2, the same Lord is the praying Son and the listening Father in John 17. This is all we can say, and this is all we can understand. It is a mystery.
The Lord’s recovery does not recognize any of the divisive grounds of the many denominations. This offends many people. In today’s Christianity the denominations consider one another to be wrong, yet they would not offend one another. In the Lord’s recovery, however, the Lord has enlightened us and opened our eyes to see that denominations are wrong. Regardless of what others say about us or do to us, we will never recognize any denomination. However, we recognize that all the believers in the denominations are our dear brothers. In 1957 some brothers from Copenhagen and from London came to visit us in Taiwan. Although these saints were our friends, they tried to condemn us, asking, “Why do you say that you are the church and that all the denominations are not the church? Are they not genuine Christian brothers?” Right away I answered them, “Dear brothers, you came from the Western world, where all the Protestant Christians condemn the Catholic Church as being devilish and demonic. Do you not know that even in the Catholic Church there are a good number of genuine Christians?” When I was in the Philippines, I met some dear believers who were in the Catholic Church. I went to see their service and heard some sisters praying there. I appreciated their prayers. I told our visitors from Europe, “You condemn the Catholic Church, but you know that there are genuine believers there. Simply because there are genuine believers there, would you say that the Catholic Church is the proper church?” The answer was, “Surely not!” I said that my answer to them was the same. We admit that there are many dear brothers and sisters in the denominations, but we can never say that the denominations are right. This stand greatly offends people.
The recovery was raised up by the Lord in China in 1922. After twelve years, in 1934, all the missionaries in China were offended. They said, “We have been called by the Lord. We gave up our country, our home, our family, and our position. We sacrificed everything to come to this country, and we have been laboring day and night. We have worn out the soles of our shoes, and we have gained a number of believers. Among them, only a few top ones genuinely love and seek the Lord. We love these ones—they are the source of our church. Now all these top ones have been proselytized by you. Of course your meetings are more living, higher, and richer than ours—you stole all our best ones. We raised up a poor flock, but you formed another flock and stole the best sheep.” We said, “Dear ones, we never stole anything. The ‘sheep’ are living, and they make their own decisions. Do not blame us. Rather, go to your sheep and ask them why they escaped from your fold. We did not steal them; they ran away from your fold. Now even if we tried to chase them away, they would say, ‘Even if you brothers would not take this way, we will still take this way.’” Many saints who have come into the Lord’s recovery from denominations can testify that no one stole them or proselytized them. Rather, they were attracted by the Lord in His recovery.
The main reason others accuse us of heresy and wrong doctrines is that they are upset because a number of their top members have left to come into the Lord’s recovery. Many denominations are truly full of wrong doctrines. Although no one says anything against their wrong doctrines, many say that we are heretical. Doctrinal disagreement is not the basic reason for this opposition; it is an excuse. The basic reason is that we offend many by standing on the unique ground of oneness. Our standing on the unique ground is a strong renunciation of all the divisive denominational grounds. Our standing on the unique ground spontaneously and unintentionally condemns all other grounds. We do not like to do this, but we have no other way to meet.
I hope that through this brief fellowship the whole situation may become clear to us all. We must look to the Lord that He would cover us, preserve us, and keep us from doctrinal disputation. We need to forget about any negative speaking or writing that comes to us. In the Lord’s recovery today we are not for doctrinal disputation but for the pure revelation of the Word of God, which brings us back to life for the building of the church to fulfill God’s purpose. We have no other way but this way, and the Lord has no other way but this way. This is the way of the Lord’s recovery, and this is the way that will bring Him back. We need to be faithful to this way.