John 1:1 says, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” By the clause, “the Word was with God,” we understand that the Word and God are two, for the Word was with God. But “the Word was God” indicates that the Word and God are one, for the Word was God. Are They one or two? They are both. This is a mystery.
Second Corinthians 3:17 says that “the Lord is the Spirit.” Here the Lord and the Spirit are one, for the Lord is the Spirit. Then, in the same verse, it speaks of “the Spirit of the Lord.” This indicates that They are two. Are the Lord and the Spirit one or two? It is a mystery.
Notice how, in Hebrews 1:8-9, the Son is addressed as God, then God is referred to as His God: “But of the Son, ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever....therefore God, Your God, has anointed You....’” How can you explain this? Can you say, “O God, Your God”? This is also a mystery.
Finally, in Revelation 1:4, 4:5, and 5:6 we read that the one Spirit (Eph. 4:4) of God is called “the seven Spirits.” Here again is a mystery. Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, we must learn to simply take the pure Word.
We know what the Bible says concerning our Triune God, and we believe it. We pray for those who oppose us that God may grant them to see the truth according to the pure Word. I say, once again, that the arguments and disputations concerning this matter of the Trinity are endless, for the Trinity is a mystery. It is impossible for anyone to explain it thoroughly or adequately. The Triune God cannot be fully comprehended as a doctrinal matter by our limited mentality. The Triune God is for our experience and enjoyment. God as a Trinity is for His economy, that is, for the dispensing of Himself into us to be our life and our everything. This is why we have spent so much time to point out that the Father is in the Son and that the Son is now the life-giving Spirit, indwelling our spirit to be our life and our everything for our enjoyment. If it were not for the matter of experience, we would not care to talk about it very much. However, since the attacks have come, we have had to make what we experience clear to people.
J. Oswald Sanders in his book Spiritual Maturity (published by Moody Press), page 144, says, “William Barclay comments: Paul seems to identify the Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit. We must remember that Paul was not writing theology; he was setting down experience. And it is the experience of the Christian life that the work of the Spirit and the work of the Risen Lord are one and the same. The strength, the light, the guidance we receive come alike from the Spirit and from the Risen Lord. It does not matter how we express it so long as we experience it.” Thus, the Triune God is not for terminology or for teaching. The Triune God is for our experience and enjoyment.
by Witness Lee
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