Concerning the Divine Trinity, we have seen the revelation of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in the Scriptures and the theological terms used throughout the ages. In this chapter we will go on to cover four crucial points concerning the Divine Trinity: the coexistence of the three, the coinherence of the three, the essential Trinity, and the economical Trinity.
Concerning the Divine Trinity, first of all, we must pay attention to the fact that the three of the Divine Trinity-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-are coexistent. In theological history there was a group of people called modalists who advocated that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were three modes of the unique God in the carrying out of redemption and that afterwards, fulfilling Their respective missions consecutively, They returned in succession to Their original unity. In other words, the modalists believed that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were one God, yet the manifestation of this one God was divided into three periods. In the Old Testament He decreed the law and manifested Himself as the Father; that was the period of the Father in which there was only the Father without the Son or the Spirit. Then in His incarnation He manifested Himself as the Son; that was the period of the Son, and the Father was over. Finally, in the inspiring of the apostles He manifested Himself as the Holy Spirit; that was the period of the Spirit, and the Son was over. In this teaching, it is the one and the same God who appeared in successive and temporary manifestations. Of course, the teaching of modalism is a great heresy. In America some mistakenly thought that we teach modalism and therefore condemned us as modalists. The fact is that we also condemn modalism.
Most readers of the Bible, including some who are among us, think that in the Old Testament the emphasis is on the work of God the Father; that in the four Gospels the emphasis is on the work of God the Son, the Lord Jesus; and that from Acts to Revelation the emphasis is on the work of God the Spirit, that is, the work of the Holy Spirit. We cannot say this is wrong because this is indeed what the record of the Bible shows. You can say that the period covered by the Old Testament is the period of the Father, the period covered by the four Gospels, which was a short period of a little over thirty years, is the period of the Son, and the period from the day of Pentecost to the Lord’s second coming is the period of the Spirit. However, unlike what modalism teaches, this is not to say that the Father existed only until the coming of the Son and that the Son existed only until the coming of the Spirit. The Bible strongly indicates that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are always coexistent.
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Immediately after this, the latter half of verse 2 says that “the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters.” This clearly shows us that God was there and the Spirit also was there. Then in verse 26, in the creation of man, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” The pronouns used here are Us and Our. By this we can see that it is not that only the Father was there and that the Son and the Spirit were not. Rather, the three-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit- existed there at the same time; this is why They used Us and Our to refer to Themselves.
Not only so, the Old Testament frequently says that the Spirit of Jehovah clothed someone or came upon someone (Judg. 6:34; 11:29); it also speaks about the operation, the work, of the Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2; 6:3; Job 33:4; Dan. 5:14). This shows us that the Spirit was always there in the Old Testament.
Furthermore, although the designations or names Christ, Jesus, and Jesus Christ are not mentioned in the Old Testament, a special title referring to the Lord Jesus is used, which is the Angel of Jehovah. In Exodus 3:2-20, three designations-the Angel of Jehovah, Jehovah, and God-are used interchangeably. This proves that the Angel of Jehovah is Jehovah and that Jehovah is God. Exodus 14:19 says that while Pharaoh and his chariots and horsemen were pursuing the children of Israel, “the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them.” This Angel of God is the Angel of Jehovah mentioned in chapter three. Exodus 23:20-21 says, “I am now sending an Angel before you...to bring you into the place which I have prepared....For My name is in Him.” The Angel mentioned in all these passages refers to the Lord Jesus. Then in Judges 13:15-21, the Angel of Jehovah appeared again. He was there speaking to Manoah. At the end Manoah asked what His name was, and He replied, “Why do you ask about My name, since it is wonderful?” This Angel of Jehovah is the Lord Jesus.
Hence, from the Old Testament we see that God is God the Father, the Angel of Jehovah is God the Son, and the Spirit of Jehovah or the Spirit of God is God the Spirit. The three- the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-existed at the same time in the Old Testament.
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