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.
We need to see that the God who is dispensing Himself into us is triune. Do you realize that the Triune God is in you? According to the New Testament, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all in us (Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:27; John 14:17). Although the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all in us, in our experience we sense that there is just One in us. This One who dwells in us is the Triune God.
Martin Luther warns us not to approach the matter of the divine Trinity by reasoning:
We should live in this simplicity and not venture forth on this deep and tremendously vast sea of dispute about such questions. For this article [the Trinity] is very slippery, first because of its subtlety, then also because of our weakness. It is, therefore, complete folly and a most perilous undertaking to wish to search into these things more subtly. For if we could do this, we would not need the Scriptures for a guide. No, neither would this Teacher and King be necessary for us. Moreover, those who neglect the Scriptures and approach such questions with confidence in their own mental power are the teachers of God, not His pupils....If reason disturbs you here and questions arise like...Are there, then, two gods? answer: There is only one God, and still there is the Father and the Son. How is this possible? Respond with humility: I do not know....
I surely cannot explain the divine Trinity adequately. I only present the facts from the New Testament concerning this great truth so that you all may be impressed with this divine fact that the Triune God is dispensing Himself into our being in His trinity. Do not exercise your mentality too much to explore it. Rather, exercise your spirit to experience and enjoy the marvelous dispensing of the Triune God as the Father, Son, and Spirit.
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