John 14 clearly says that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son (vv. 10, 11). To see the Son is to see the Father. When the Son speaks, it is the Father who is working. The Two are inseparable. The Bible goes on to say that the Son, after death and resurrection, became the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The Son, in whom is the Father, has become the Spirit. Thus, the Triune God can come into the sinner. With the Spirit comes the Son; when the Son comes, the Father comes as well.
The term triune means three in one. From one side there are three; but from the other side they are one, because they cannot be separated.
Notice the three terms Paul uses in Romans 8:9 and 10. He says the Spirit of God dwells in you; that without the Spirit of Christ you are not of Him; that Christ is in you. Why does Paul use three terms to refer to the same One? It is because this One has three aspects: the aspects of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit.
Not only is God triune; man is tripartite. We human beings are spirit, soul, and body. We were created in this way, so that we could be organically grafted to God, and so that the two spirits, His and ours, could be joined together.
In Romans 8:10 it says, “And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness.” When the Triune God enters into you, His divine life is dispensed into you and makes your spirit life. Your spirit is life. Here is a reference to your spirit.
Then verse 6 says, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” The mind is the main part of the soul. Thus the mind is sometimes used in the Bible to represent the soul. In verse 10 we saw that the spirit is life. Here in verse 6 the mind, representing the soul, is also life. When we set the mind on the spirit, the life and the spirit will be infused into our mind, making it also life.
Verse 11 mentions our mortal bodies. “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you.”
In just these few verses, then, we have the tripartite man-spirit, soul, and body-and the Triune God. It is only in these last few years, even since we did the Life-study of Romans, that I have seen the Triune God and the tripartite man in Romans 8. For Him to become our life, He first enters our spirit, making it life. Then our soul is made life by the mind being set on the spirit. Lastly, our mortal bodies are made life. The divine life thus saturates our whole being.
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