Although the Gospels are concerned mainly with the Lord Jesus and take Him as the center and the subject, in these books the Father, the Son, and the Spirit still coexisted. The clearest picture is seen in the baptism of the Lord Jesus. When He came out of the water, the Father spoke to Him from the heavens while the Spirit descended upon Him like a dove (Matt. 3:16-17). In this situation, the One who spoke from the heavens was the Father; the One who descended like a dove was the Spirit; and the Lord Jesus, who stood in the water, was the Son. This picture clearly shows us that in the incarnation, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit existed at the same time. This also proves that the teaching which says that when the Son came, the Father was over, when the Son was there, the Spirit was not there, and when the Spirit came, the Son was over, is altogether without any basis and is therefore a great heresy.
Then in the Epistles, from Acts to Revelation, many times the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are mentioned at the same time. 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.” All three-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-are here. Every chapter of Ephesians shows us the fact of the coexistence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The most obvious passage is 3:14-17, which says, “I bow my knees unto the Father,...that He would grant you,...to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” Here, Paul bowed his knees to the Father that He would grant the believers to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into their inner man, that the Son, Christ, may make His home in their hearts. The Father is here, the Spirit is here, and Christ is here; the three are coexistent. Then in the last book, Revelation, the opening word in the first chapter says, “Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth” (vv. 4-5). The One who was, who is, and who is coming is the Father; the seven Spirits before the throne of the Father are the Spirit; and Jesus Christ is the Son. Therefore, the three-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-are mentioned at the same time; this proves that They are coexistent.
Hence, from the Old Testament to the Gospels, the Epistles, and Revelation there is a strong revelation that the three-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-exist at the same time.
The three of the Divine Trinity-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-exist at the same time; and Their coexistence is from eternity to eternity, being equally without beginning and without ending. The Father is eternal; this can be proven by Isaiah 9:6, which refers to the Father as the “Eternal Father.” The Son is also eternal. Concerning the Son, Hebrews 1:12 says, “You are the same, and Your years will not fail”; Hebrews 7:3 also says that He had “neither beginning of days nor end of life,” indicating that He is eternal. Moreover, the Spirit is eternal; Hebrews 9:14 mentions “the eternal Spirit.” Hence, the three-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit-all are eternal.
Concerning this point, we must know that in church history there existed another heretical sect, the Arians. To be eternal means to be without beginning or ending, to be complete and perfect, and to be infinite and boundless. Yet the Arians maintained that although Christ is the Son of God, He was not God in eternity but became God at a certain time. The Jehovah’s Witnesses belong to this sect, which originated with Arius of the fourth century. Based upon Colossians 1:15b, which says, “Who [the Son of the Father’s love] is...the Firstborn of all creation,” Arius advocated that since Christ is a creature, He does not have the same essence (Gk. ousia) of God, and that although the universe and all things were created through Him (Heb. 1:2; John 1:3), His existence is not eternal but had a beginning. Therefore, Arius taught that since Christ is a creature, He cannot be equal with the Father. In other words, Arius asserted that although the Son was in eternity, He was not there in the beginning; rather, He was created by God at a certain point in eternity to be the Firstborn of all creation. This kind of teaching is a great heresy.
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