In Paul’s Epistles, and especially in the book of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Ephesians, we see that before the ages, that is, in eternity past, God had a desire and a pleasure. His desire and pleasure became His motive, which gave Him a purpose, a plan, and an arrangement in eternity. Paul called this purpose, plan, and arrangement God’s economy. God’s economy is to gain a group of people and to work Himself into them so that He can be their life and everything to them and can mingle Himself as one with them in their living. In this way, He lives within them, and they live out His glory. By this, He is expressed.
This expression is, on the one hand, individual and, on the other hand, corporate. Individually speaking, we the believers have God’s life to live God’s glorious living, that is, a living that lives out God Himself. Corporately speaking, when the saints come together, they live a living that glorifies God, which is the church life. This corporate expression is what God is really after.
In order to accomplish this economy, God must be triune. He is not merely God, but He is the Triune God-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We call this the Divine Trinity. The Father is the source; the Son is the expression, manifested among us; and the Spirit is the reaching to us and the entrance into us of the Triune God. The Father is in the Son, the Son becomes the Spirit, and the Spirit enters into us to be the reality of the Triune God. When the Spirit comes, the Son comes, and the Father also comes. Hence, the Spirit is the totality of the Divine Trinity and is also the ultimate consummation of the Divine Trinity. The Father is expressed in the Son. The Son is realized as the Spirit. The Spirit is the reality of the Triune God coming to us and entering into us to be our life. He is mingled with us and shares with us the same living.
In the New Testament, the first book that speaks expressly about this subject is the Gospel of John. At the very beginning, it tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1). One day, this Word became flesh, bringing with Him grace and reality in fullness (John 1:14). In addition, this Word is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). He is also the brass serpent that was lifted up and that destroyed Satan (John 3:14). He is even the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died. Through His death and resurrection, the divine life was released from within Him, and it entered into us, the believers, producing the many grains (John 12:24) that are ground into flour and made into a loaf. This loaf is the Body of Christ.
Furthermore, when He entered into resurrection, He changed His form from that of the flesh to that of the Spirit. First Corinthians 15:45 says that this Christ has become the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is also the Spirit of life described in Romans 8:2. This means that He is the Spirit and He is life as well. On the night of the resurrection, the Lord Jesus came into the midst of the disciples and appeared to them. He greeted them and breathed into them a holy breath, that they would receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:19-22). The Word who was God in the beginning has become flesh, passed through death, entered into resurrection, and become ultimately this holy breath, which is the Holy Spirit. Today, He is such a One in the universe. He is the holy breath, the Holy Spirit, the God who has entered into us to be our life. If we receive Him, we will be regenerated; that is, we will receive the life of God in addition to having our life in the flesh. He is our holy breath; we can breathe Him in. He is also the living water; we can drink Him in. He is the spiritual food in God’s word; we can eat Him. Moreover, we can abide in Him and can allow Him to abide in us. In this way, we will grow, we can bear the fruit of life, and out from us there will flow rivers of living water.
There is a hymn that says, “The Spirit begets the spirit, the spirit worships the Spirit, so that the Spirit fills me up. The Spirit becomes the word, bringing with Him the abundant life, flowing out of us as the rivers of living water.” This is the Gospel of John. God’s economy is very deep and profound; yet John used very simple words to explain these profound things. However, he did not touch the limit or the peak. Hence, in addition to him, there is Paul. Paul’s fourteen Epistles, found after the Gospel of John, speak of God’s economy. He told us in a rich and profound way how the Divine Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, passed through the many processes to come to us, to be with us, and even to enter into us to be our life. He lives in us so that we can become the means for Him to be lived out. When we come together, we are the church, living a life that glorifies God and expresses God.
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