In the New Testament we see firstly the unique Christ. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers, he asked them in a rebuking tone, “Has Christ been divided?” (1 Cor. 1:13). Of course He has not. Christ is unique. His redemptive work is unique. The issue of His death and resurrection is also unique. This unique issue is the church, which is also unique.
The church is the one Body of Christ. This Body’s expression, wherever it may be, is also unique; this refers to the local church. Both the universal and the local church are unique. Even the way to carry out the churches is also unique. In the four Gospels not much is indicated of this, but in the Acts there is the unique way for the churches to be carried out. From chapters one through twenty-eight, one way is singled out. That way is by the Spirit. What is the Spirit? It is the pneumatic Christ. The way began from Jerusalem and then went on to Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, other cities, and Rome.
The Epistles show us the unique focus of God’s economy. What is this unique focus? Forty or fifty years ago this focus was not as complete, as crystal clear, to me as it is today. You may say that Christ is the unique focus of God’s economy. But, brothers, if you think back over all the trainings we have had on the Epistles, you should have an impression. The focus of God’s economy is not merely Christ. Of course, it depends on how you define the term Christ.
Colossians 2:9 says, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” In one of our hymns we say, “The fullness of God dwells in Thee” (Hymns, # 501, verse 2), but Colossians 2:9 says “the fullness of the Godhead,” not the fullness of God. Godhead means God Himself. The Godhead is triune. That the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ really denotes that the divine Trinity is dwelling in Christ in full. The fullness of the Trinity dwells in Him bodily.
Fullness, in New Testament usage, means more than riches. John 1:16 doesn’t say, “Of His riches we all received”; it says, “Of His fullness we all received.” Ephesians 1:23 doesn’t say that the church is the riches of Christ; it says it is His fullness. In fact, it says that the church is “the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” The church is not only the fullness of Christ; it is also the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19). Fullness is greater than riches. You may have riches without having fullness. The fullness is the riches in full expression. When the riches are expressed in full, that expression is the fullness. I can illustrate it for you with a cup. A cup may hold a lot of water, but there is not the fullness of the water until the water overflows the brim. When this happens, there is not only the riches but also the fullness.
The expression in Colossians 2:9, the fullness of the Godhead, is a strong one, telling us that the fullness of the Trinity dwells in this One bodily. If we say that Christ is the focus of the New Testament, then, our understanding of Christ must include the realization that in this One is the fullness of the Trinity. It is such a Christ that is the focus of the New Testament.
Why is the Trinity not clearly revealed in the Bible until after the Lord’s resurrection? In Matthew 28:19, while He was charging His own to go and disciple the nations, He added in clear words, “baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Before Christ’s resurrection, the Trinity was not fully revealed to God’s people.
John 7:39 says, “The Spirit was not yet.” The Spirit was not yet because Jesus at that time had not yet been glorified, resurrected. Something concerning the second of the Trinity was not yet accomplished, not yet glorified. Jesus, the second of the Trinity, was not yet resurrected, glorified. For Him to be glorified was for Him to bring His humanity, His part of the old creation, into resurrection. When He became flesh, He took humanity upon Him. That flesh, that humanity, was of the old creation and remained such until it was brought through death and into resurrection. When that part of His being which was of the old creation was brought into resurrection, Jesus was glorified. Until this glorification was accomplished, the second of the Trinity had not finished the process which He should go through. The process was not fully accomplished until His resurrection.
Let us come back to John 7:39. Because Jesus was not yet glorified, the Spirit was not yet. As the process of the second was not yet accomplished, so neither was that of the third. With Christ’s resurrection, the process of both the second and the third was fully accomplished; thus, after His resurrection He could reveal the Trinity in full by speaking of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
If we go on from Matthew to the Epistles, we can see that the entire book of Ephesians is composed with the Trinity as its basic structure; every chapter, from one through six, is constructed in this way. (See note 141 on 2 Corinthians 13:14, Recovery Version, regarding the Trinity as revealed throughout the Bible.) Second Corinthians 13:14 also indicates the Trinity when it says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Consider also the Trinity unveiled in the first few verses of Revelation. The entire Bible gives us a complete revelation of the divine Trinity. This revelation is the focus of the Epistles. Even Revelation is an epistle, written to the seven churches. The divine Trinity, then, is the focus of the Epistles.