This light was not seen until the nineteenth century when the Brethren were raised up in England. They emphasized the truth according to 2 Timothy 2:15, which speaks of cutting straight the word of the truth. In their study of the Word, they found out that the New Testament worship consists of the remembrance of the Lord and the worship of the Father. This is not like presenting offerings by killing bulls and sheep in the Old Testament. Rather, it is the believers coming to the Lord’s table and taking the Lord as everything to enjoy the Lord and thus remember Him. The true remembrance of the Lord is the enjoyment of the Lord. The more we enjoy Him, the more He is remembered. After we remember Him, we then praise the Father. This is the worship in the New Testament.
In the hymnal compiled by the Brethren, the first category in the table of contents is “Words of Praise.” The contents of the first hymnal prepared by Brother Nee consisted entirely of hymns translated from the Brethren’s hymnal, and the first category was also “Words of Praise.” Some of the hymns were for the praise of the Father and others to praise the Lord. When we compiled the hymnal that we are using today, we put these hymns into two categories: one is the worship of the Father, and the other is the praise of the Lord. The light concerning the worship of the Father was first seen by the Brethren over one hundred fifty years ago and was passed on to us. Therefore, in the churches we break the bread to remember the Lord, and then we worship the Father. This is the true worship of the Triune God in the New Testament.
It seems that there is not much speaking in the New Testament concerning the worship of the Father. For this reason, we would like to give a further word of fellowship.
The Bible reveals that God is one and yet three. This is a great revelation. God is unique, and His name is Jehovah. God is also three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Ever since the second century, this issue has been a focal point of debate. The church fathers and early Bible scholars focused their study of the Bible on the Triune God and the person of Christ. They had different explanations and different views. The views of orthodox Bible scholars were more or less the same, but they could not come to a precise conclusion.
These debates continued for two centuries. In A.D. 325, when the Roman Empire ruled a vast territory and the Lord’s gospel had spread over the entire Mediterranean region, the Emperor, Constantine the Great, felt that he had to resolve these doctrinal matters among Christians so that people of different ethnic backgrounds within the Empire could get along in complete harmony. Therefore, he ordered the main bishops to gather in Nicaea for a council in which he served as the chairman and exerted his political influence on all the parties. The conclusions of the council became the Nicene Creed. This creed is still taken as the fundamental belief in Catholicism and Protestantism.
The Nicene Creed speaks mainly of the person of Christ and the Triune God. We cannot say that the wording of the creed is not appropriate; however, its view is not as thorough, detailed, or complete as the Bible, because the Bible does not reveal the person of Christ and the Triune God by a set of articles but rather in a way that dispenses God into us as enjoyment. Therefore, the tone of the Bible is very sweet. For example, Isaiah 9:6 says, “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; /...And His name will be called /... Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.” When these points, however, are written as articles in the creed, the complete, thorough, and sweet taste is altogether lost. As a result, man’s understanding also fell short.
When the Brethren were raised up in the nineteenth century, they declared that they did not want any creed but the Bible, because the creeds had replaced the Bible. After the Brethren, other Christian groups made similar declarations. Sixty years ago we also declared that we care only for the Bible, not the creeds. Since that time we have made an effort to study the person of Christ and the Triune God. In the initial period, I was very close to Brother Watchman Nee; you can say that we fought shoulder to shoulder in these matters. Hence, I know his beliefs, that is, what he believed concerning the person of Christ and the Triune God, and I agree fully with him. I inherited his view and have continued to study these issues until today. As a result, my study has become more thorough and detailed.
In 1949 I began the publishing work in Taipei; during that early period The Ministry of the Word magazine was the main publication. In 1960 I went to America and began to publish books in English in 1963. There are now a large number of publications, including the Life-study of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. According to my estimation, during the past twenty-two years in America, I published more than three thousand messages, among which are the twelve hundred Life-study messages, comprising about one hundred twenty thousand pages, as well as about twenty thousand more pages in other books. The main topic of these books concerns the person of Christ and the Triune God. Around 1983 I came to the conclusion that the revelation in the Bible concerning the Triune God has two aspects, the essential aspect and the economical aspect. In other words, there is an essential aspect of the Trinity and an economical aspect of the Trinity.