According to the basic principle, we all need to understand that the Son never did anything apart from the Father (John 5:19). Therefore, when the Son as the last Adam was going through the process of becoming the life-giving Spirit, He did not leave the Father on the throne and go through that process by Himself without the Father. Such a concept would be heretical. It is a basic principle that the three have never been separated. From eternity past through time into eternity future the three always coexist and coinhere. They have never been separated in any situation. In this principle, when the Bible says that the Son as the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit, it was the Son with the Father who became such a Spirit. Furthermore, this means that the Father within the Son became such a Spirit when the Son became the life-giving Spirit. These words may sound very new to you. This is the first time I have ever used these sentences, and I say these things with much consideration. To make such a statement is not a small thing, and I have been quite cautious in the past. However, after more than fifty years of study, after at least thirty years of consideration concerning how much I should release, I have the boldness at this point to say that when the Son as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit, He did so in humanity with the Father. Therefore, the life-giving Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God in His relationship with us.
We need to see that the divine title, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, was revealed in a way that was for our experience, not for doctrine. Therefore, it is in His relationship with us that the life-giving Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. Such a divine title was revealed in the Lord’s word concerning the way to baptize people into the Trinity: “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). This divine title is revealed in a way that is for our experience, not in a way of doctrine for us to study. We are not learning the Triune God, but experiencing Him. I would make a strong declaration that we cannot understand the Triune God, but we thank the Lord that we are all qualified to experience Him.
You may think it sounds quite strange to say that we cannot understand the Triune God, but we can experience Him. However, no one would claim to understand the food we eat every day, not even the doctors or the dietitians. Who understands an egg, a glass of milk, or a slice of bread? Even the experts in nutrition have a certain understanding at one time and a very different concept at another time as a result of further studies. If we cannot understand the food we eat to nourish our bodies, how can we expect to understand the Triune God who is life to us, the One who is the bread of life to us (John 6:35), and the One who said, “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:57)? We may not know, and we cannot understand, but we can eat, and we can enjoy. I enjoy the Triune God every day. I do not say that I understand Him, but I certainly enjoy Him.
There are two mysteries in the Triune Godhead which no one can explain. The distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is one mystery which no one can define or explain. The oneness among the three is the second mystery; otherwise, there could not be one God. The three are one; three denotes distinction, and one denotes the oneness. No matter how much you study this matter or how much you get into the research of the theological writings, the issue of your study of this matter will consummate in these two mysteries, the mystery of the distinction of the three, and the mystery of the oneness of the Godhead among the three. It is impossible for any human mentality to understand these two mysteries or to explain them. I have tried over and over, but there is no way. I have been doing this work for more than thirty years, but all I can tell you is that there are these two points, these two mysteries—the distinction and the oneness.
While we say that the Lord is the Father and that He is also the Spirit, we cannot annul the distinction between them. To do so would be heretical. From the black and white in the pages of the Bible, you can tell that there is a distinction between the three. Even the way of expression denotes some distinction. The Lord Jesus said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in Me” (John 14:10). It sounds like They are one, but there is a distinction. If there were no distinction, the Lord Jesus would not have made such a statement, nor would He have used the divine title, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in Matthew 28:19. No one can explain the fact that there are three expressions and that these expressions denote a distinction. Nevertheless, the best Bible teachers all agree that these three are only one name. In Matthew 28:19 the Lord Jesus used the name in the singular, “Baptizing them into the name.” This name indicates the oneness.
We cannot explain the fact that there is a distinction and there is the oneness, but we can experience the Trinity day by day. When we enjoy the Lord, we enjoy the Father, and we enjoy the Spirit. When we say, “O Lord,” the Spirit is here, and the Father is here also. By this you can see in principle that when the Lord Jesus as the Son in His humanity, the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit, He did so with the Father. Therefore, when the Son passed through His human death and entered into resurrection to become the life-giving Spirit, He did it with the Father. It was not the case that the Son alone became the life-giving Spirit without the Father; rather, it was the Son with the Father who passed through the process to become the life-giving Spirit. In resurrection the Son with the Father became the life-giving Spirit, the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. Now, when you touch the life-giving Spirit, you touch also the Son and the Father.
It was when the apostle John touched the matter of the anointing that he said that if you deny that Jesus is the Christ, you deny both the Son and the Father; everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also (1 John 2:20, 22-23). If we spend time in these verses and get into the depths of the truth here, we could realize that Jesus, Christ, the Son, and the Father are all the ingredients of the all-inclusive anointing in 1 John 2.
We may use an all-inclusive health drink as an illustration of the anointing in 1 John 2. In one drink there may be milk, fruit, protein, and perhaps some vitamins and other ingredients. When you take one sip of this drink, you have all of the ingredients that are in it. In a similar way, when you touch the all-inclusive anointing in 1 John 2, you touch Jesus, you touch Christ, you touch the Son, you touch the Father, and you even touch the eternal life (1 John 2:25). These five elements of the divine anointing are clearly mentioned in this chapter—Jesus, Christ, the Son, the Father, and the eternal life. They can be compared to five spices or five ingredients for the compounding of such an all-inclusive anointing. By the anointing of the all-inclusive, compound Spirit, who is the composition of the Divine Trinity, we know and enjoy the Father, the Son, and the Spirit as our life and life supply.