For many Christians today, the Trinity is simply a matter of theology, not of experience. However, in the Bible the Trinity is not presented as a doctrine. There are verses which teach us concerning justification by faith, but there is not one verse teaching us about the Trinity in a doctrinal way. On the contrary, the Trinity is presented in the Scriptures with the emphasis related to our experience. For example, 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (lit.). What do we have here, the doctrine of the Trinity or the experience of the Trinity? Surely this verse speaks of the experience of the Triune God. Consider another example: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father...that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts...” (Eph. 3:14, 16-17). In these verses Paul refers to the Father, the Spirit, and Christ the Son. According to the context, this reference to the Triune God is altogether related to our experience. The same is true of the Lord’s word in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Once again, the Trinity is presented not as doctrine, but as an experience. Experientially, the believers are to be baptized into the Triune God. What blindness to say that the Trinity is merely for doctrine and not for experience!
In John 14 we have a deep and profound revelation of the Triune God. In response to Philip’s request to show the disciples the Father, the Lord Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v. 9). The Lord went on to ask, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” (v. 10). Later in this chapter the Lord said that He would ask the Father to give the disciples another Comforter, the Spirit of reality (vv. 16-17). But as a careful study of verses 17 and 18 discloses, the coming of the Spirit of reality is the coming of the Lord Jesus Himself. Thus, in John 14 we have the Father seen in the Son, and the Son realized as the Spirit. This is for our experience, not for mere doctrine. We may experience the Father by seeing the Son, and we may experience the Son by realizing the Spirit. How marvelous that we have the Triune God within us! As the Lord says in John 14:23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” To be loved by the Father and to have the Father and the Son make an abode with us is surely a matter of experience, not of doctrine. Therefore, it is absolutely right according to the Scriptures to speak of the Trinity in relation to our spiritual experience.
The followers of Confucius’ teachings may boast in their bright virtue, but we can boast that the Triune God dwells within us. We have the Father, the Son, and Spirit. Instead of trying to develop our bright virtue, we may experience the Triune God growing in us. In the words of Colossians 2:19, we may grow with the growth of God. We grow by the growth of God within us. We do not merely have something bright— we have the Triune God living and growing in us.
The One who is living and growing in us is the Spirit, the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. God is Spirit (John 4:24), and the Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Now we have the Spirit within us. Although the Triune God indwells us, we do not have the consciousness of three living within us, but of one. Our God is triune; He is three-one. How God can be both three and one is far beyond our understanding. But even though we cannot understand the Trinity, we can enjoy the Triune God living and growing within us. On the one hand, He is the Lord in the heavens, but, on the other hand, He is the Spirit dwelling in us.
In the light of the foregoing, let us now consider Paul’s word, “Walk by the Spirit” (Gal. 5:16). The Spirit by whom we are to walk is the very Triune God. Thus, to walk by the Spirit simply means to walk by the Triune God. It is possible for us to walk by the Triune God because we have been born of Him to be His sons with His life and nature. In fact, we have the Triune God Himself. Unbelievers, including the learned followers of Confucius, cannot walk by the Spirit because they do not have the Spirit within them. They may have a bright virtue to develop, but they do not have the Spirit by whom to walk. In contrast to those who follow the ethical teachings of Confucius, we should not seek to develop our bright virtue, but seek to walk by the Spirit. All those who are still trying to develop their bright virtue, their conscience, must realize that they are living only as God’s creatures, not as His sons. But we who have been regenerated of the Spirit of God are not just creatures of God—we have become sons of God. As God’s sons, we are not developing our bright virtue; we are walking according to our God, according to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.