Item number two continues by saying that the Son is one with the Father. He lives because of the Father. “Because” means “by.” He does not live by Himself; rather He lives by the Father. He works with the Father, speaking the Father’s word and doing the Father’s will. The Son’s words are the Father’s words, and the Son’s work is the Father’s work. It seems as if the Son has nothing of His own. The two do not have two speakings, but one speaking. The two do not have two works, but one work. And the two have only one will. The reason for this is because They are just one. Why then is there the distinction of two? Why is there the Father and the Son? This is very mysterious and is difficult to understand. All orthodox theologians agree that although the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three, They are one. But as to how one are the three, no one can draw the line. We can only receive the revelation of the Bible according to its literal text. Matthew 28:19 clearly says the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but the three have only one singular name. This shows us that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one. Although the Triune God has the distinction of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, still They cannot be separated; there is still one God. The Lord Jesus that we believe in is not only the Son, but is also the Father. Isaiah 9:6 says that a son is given unto us and that His name is called the everlasting Father. The reason for this is that the Father and the Son are one (John 10:30). John 5:43 says that the Son came in the name of the Father. It was the Son coming; but He came in the name of the Father. Who then came? Was it the Father or the Son? The answer is that the two are one. The Son’s coming was the Father’s coming. In our concept we always consider that the Son is in us, and that the Father is on the throne. But in reality both the Father and the Son are in us, and at the same time both are also on the throne. The Son and the Father can never be separated. The Son’s being in us is the Father’s being in us. The Father’s being on the throne is the Son’s being on the throne. They are not two separate persons, one here and the other there.
Item number three says that the fullness of the Godhead of the Triune God dwells in Him bodily. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and He came to earth to be a man of flesh. Hence, He is the embodiment of the Triune God. The Godhead is not just the Son, nor is it just the Father, nor just the Spirit. Rather, it is the Godhead of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Item four says that as far as God’s essence is concerned, the Spirit of God was in Him at the time of His conception to be His divine element for the existence of this God-man; but as far as God’s economy is concerned, when He was thirty years of age, the Spirit of God descended upon Him to be His power for the work of Christ, God’s anointed. When the Lord Jesus was born, the Spirit was already in Him as His essence. But when He was thirty years old the Spirit came upon Him again. I never could understand this point. He was born of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit was already in Him. Why then did the Spirit come upon Him again at the age of thirty? Not until the recent years when I studied the Bible again did I understand that there is the distinction between the essential and the economical aspects. Essentially speaking, the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of life was in Him for His existence; economically speaking, the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of power came upon Him for His work.
Item five says that He lived and moved according to the Spirit of God and also worked and fought by the Spirit of God. This means that at the birth of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit was in Him as His essence. At the age of thirty, when He came out to fulfill His ministry, the Holy Spirit came again, not as His essence within, but upon Him as power without, for the fulfillment of His ministry for the accomplishment of God’s economy. He had the Holy Spirit within Him as His life, and He had the Holy Spirit without as His power. In this way, He was able to live and move according to the Spirit of God. His daily life was full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Holy Spirit. At the same time He worked, fought, and defeated the Devil for God also by the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:18-19 says that He preached the gospel by the Holy Spirit. Matthew 12:28 says that He cast out demons by the Holy Spirit. As the omnipotent One, why did He have to work and fight by the Holy Spirit? This is because it is a matter of God’s economy. As far as His essence is concerned, He and the Holy Spirit are one. This omnipotent One is the Holy Spirit, for the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are but one God.