In the previous chapters we saw the revelation concerning the Divine Trinity. In order to understand the matter of the Trinity, on the negative side, we must see the fifteen shortages of the creeds. The Bible has no shortage; rather, it is full in contents. The creeds, however, are very inadequate. This is why after the formulation of the creeds, people throughout the ages were always adding items to them. However, despite the additions, the creeds are still inadequate. I hope that you would exert much effort to study, enter into, understand, and remember the fifteen items which I listed so that you may be able to apply them when the occasion arises. This is an assignment for you.
On the positive side, we also need to see the all-inclusiveness of Christ. Colossians 2:16-17 says, “In eating and in drinking or in respect of a feast or of a new moon or of the Sabbath, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body is of Christ.” Food, drink, feast, new moon, and Sabbath are not persons but things, which are just shadows; but the real body is Christ. This means that Christ is our real food, real drink, real feast, real new moon, and real Sabbath. Furthermore, Ephesians 1:22-23 says, “The church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.” This indicates that Christ is so inclusive that no human words can describe Him in full; He is all-inclusive.
More than twenty years ago when I first went to America to speak about these truths, there were opposers who slandered me, accusing me of being a pantheist. They said that I am from the Far East, where most of the people believe in pantheism. This really shows the ignorance of the opposing ones. If they had truly been enlightened, they would be able to see that the Lord Jesus is One who is so inclusive, extensive, and unlimited.
Some theologians, failing to see the inclusiveness of Christ, are just like the blind feeling the elephant, touching only a particular part. Yet they would cling to it, engage in unending arguments about it, and use it to condemn others. This is exactly what happened to me in America. On the one hand, they rely too much on the creeds as a basis, not realizing that the creeds are short in many aspects and therefore are not qualified to serve as a standard or basis. On the other hand, they lack the view of Christ’s inclusiveness and therefore become very shallow and shortsighted. For example, based on Colossians 1:15b we say that Christ is the Firstborn of all creation. Our critics then say that we teach Arianism. Yet they have not seen that Christ is not only a creature but also the Firstborn of all creatures-He is the man among all men. The Bible does not speak about Christ’s being a man in a brief and simple way. Rather, it says that Christ was a man in form, in likeness, and in fashion and that He also was in the likeness of the flesh of sin. All these descriptions are very particular.
In the past few years a certain theologian published a study Bible based on the King James Version. For John 1:14, he wrote a note on “the Word was made flesh,” saying that the Lord Jesus joined Himself to sinless humanity in His incarnation. This is because the general human concept is that when the Lord Jesus became flesh, it could not be that He became a flesh of sin. However, since the author of that study Bible is a Doctor of Divinity, after carefully studying the context, he must have felt that his statement had no standing ground. Therefore, in the revised edition he said that the Lord Jesus joined Himself to sinful humanity in His incarnation. Hence, if theologians hastily decide on doctrinal matters without a full view of Christ’s all-inclusiveness, they will make big mistakes.
According to the type or figure, the Lord Jesus died on the cross in the likeness of the flesh of sin. When He was crucified, on the one hand, He was in the form of a lamb because He was the Lamb of God (1:29); on the other hand, He was in the form of the bronze serpent, having the form of the serpent but without the serpent’s poison. He said that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so He, the Son of Man in the flesh, would be lifted up (3:14). This means that He Himself acknowledged and implicitly told us that the bronze serpent in the Old Testament was a type, a figure, of Himself. In the Bible, records such as these are too numerous to recount.
In Revelation 5, the apostle John wept much when he saw that no one in the universe was able to open the mystery of God’s economy. Then one of the angels said to him, “Do not weep; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so that He may open the scroll and its seven seals.” What the angel introduced was a Lion, yet what John saw was a Lamb (vv. 1-7). Is Christ a Lion or a Lamb? We can only say that He is a Lion-Lamb. Christ is not only a Lion-Lamb but also a Stone-Lamb. This is based upon the fact that in Revelation the Lamb has seven eyes, yet in Zechariah chapters three and four the seven eyes are upon a stone. From these verses we can see that the Lord Jesus is not so simple.
I am giving you these illustrations to let you know that to understand the truth concerning the Divine Trinity you need to see the inadequacy of the creeds and the inclusiveness of Christ. There are two major items with eighteen points concerning Christ’s inclusiveness. The major items are His divinity and His humanity. If you study these two aspects thoroughly, you will be able not only to avoid theological errors but also to enter into the enjoyment of the riches of Christ. You will be able to see and experience that Christ is the Triune God. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, yet He is three-one. He is definitely one, yet in the oneness there is still a distinction, but no separation. You can say that the Father is distinct from the Son, the Son is distinct from the Spirit, and the Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son. Their distinctions, however, are in oneness. This is where the mystery lies. Once your eyes are enlightened to know the inclusiveness of Christ, only then can you see that the three in the divine Godhead are distinct, yet They are always one. They are one God, not three Gods.
We can say that the all-inclusive Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God. When we see Him, we see the Triune God. The Spirit is the ultimate consummation, the ultimate manifestation, of the processed Triune God. Therefore, when we have the Spirit, we have the Triune God-not just the simple Triune God, but the processed Triune God. Today the Christ whom we enjoy is such a One. When you have a real knowledge of the inclusiveness of Christ, it will help you to enjoy Him.
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