The purpose of God in His economy is to work Himself, in His Divine Trinity, into His chosen ones. This God who has a plan, an economy, wants to do only one thing, that is, to work Himself into His chosen ones through all the processes and procedures which He went through in His Divine Trinity. The entire Bible reveals that God wants to work Himself into His chosen ones by passing through various processes in His Divine Trinity.
Christians read Ephesians chapter one and accept what it says. At the outset, this chapter says that God chose us before the foundation of the world and then He predestinated us. When I was with the Brethren in my youth, I heard their proper teaching and obtained a clear knowledge as well concerning God’s selection and predestination. Yet I never heard them tell me what the purpose of God’s selection and predestination was. They only said that God chose us and predestinated us that we may receive an inheritance. And the inheritance which they spoke of, according to my understanding, is a heavenly blessing in the future, which may be a very pleasant dwelling place. This corresponds with the traditional concept of the Chinese, which is that the children shall receive some material things from their father as an inheritance. Thus, the impression that I had from listening to the messages in the Brethren church was that God chose us and predestinated us that we may enjoy the eternal blessing and receive an inheritance. However, they did not see that the same chapter clearly speaks of the purpose of God’s predestination, saying that it is “unto sonship” (v. 5).
The Brethren also taught about sonship, but the sonship they taught is not by birth but by adoption. What they meant is that we are not genuine sons of God but adopted sons of God; hence, we have obtained sonship through God’s adoption. However, we must see that the phrase predestinating us unto sonship is included in the outline above as: “To work Himself, in His Divine Trinity, into His chosen ones.” How can God cause us to have sonship? He has to work Himself into us. How does He carry this out? It is through His Divine Trinity. Hence, Ephesians chapter one begins by telling us how God works Himself into us through His Divine Trinity that we may obtain sonship (vv. 3-14).
If we carefully study Romans 8 and Galatians 4 again, we will see that God’s enabling us to receive sonship is not a simple matter. First, God the Father had to send His beloved Son to accomplish redemption for us that we may be qualified to receive sonship (Rom. 8:3; Gal. 4:4-5). Next, God the Father also sent the Spirit of sonship into our heart that we may cry, “Abba, Father!” (v. 6), and that in this Spirit we may live out the reality of the sonship. Sonship in Ephesians 1:5 implies the Triune God’s working Himself into us. How can we be qualified to be sons of God unless the Triune God works Himself into us? Do not think that God has merely adopted some of us, who were captives of sins, to be His sons by capturing us out of Satan’s hand and cleansing us with His precious blood. No, God has begotten us (John 1:13; 1 John 5:1) that we may be His children; this implies that the Triune God has wrought Himself into us.
We know it is very spontaneous for us who are children to call our own parents “father” and “mother” because we are born of them, but it is not so spontaneous to call our parents-in-law “father” and “mother” because we do not have a life relationship with them. When our parents begot us, they wrought themselves into us; that is, they passed on their life and nature to us. We are Chinese not by adoption but by birth because our ancestors were Chinese. Likewise, we must have the assurance that we are the real sons of God in life because we are born of Him with His life; thus, we have a life relationship with Him. Since we are not adopted sons, it is normal and sweet when we call God, “Father.” We must realize that the central move of God in His economy revealed in the Bible is that God wants to work Himself into us, His chosen ones, through His Divine Trinity.
In order to work Himself into His chosen ones, God must be the Spirit. Moreover, the ultimate consummation and manifestation of the Triune God must also be the Spirit. The Divine Trinity has been processed. God the Father is the source of the Divine Trinity (John 13:3; 1 Cor. 6:19). God the Son is the embodiment of the processed Triune God (Col. 2:9); He passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension and eventually became the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God. All that the Divine Trinity has is consummated in the Spirit-the processed, compounded, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, sevenfold intensified, and ultimately consummated Spirit.
The Bible says that God is Spirit (John 4:24); moreover, the ultimate manifestation of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). God can come into us because He is Spirit. On the other hand, He had to create us with a spirit. God is not only Spirit in His Divine Trinity but also ultimately became the Spirit. He created us also with a spirit so that He as God who is Spirit may come into us human beings with a spirit, so that the two spirits-our spirit and His Spirit-may be joined as one spirit.
There are three places in the New Testament that mention both the Spirit of God and our human spirit. The first place is John 3:6: “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” This shows the Spirit begetting the spirit. The second place is John 4:24: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness.” This speaks about the spirit worshipping the Spirit. The third place is Romans 8:16: “The Spirit Himself witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” This is the Spirit with the spirit. The Spirit begets the spirit, the spirit worships the Spirit, and the Spirit witnesses with the spirit. We have a human spirit within us. When our human spirit is regenerated by the Holy Spirit, we can worship God as Spirit with our regenerated spirit. Moreover, the two spirits witness as one spirit.
This is the way God works Himself into us. In His Divine Trinity, in His ultimate consummation, God reaches us and comes into us as the Spirit. Not only the Spirit comes, but the Son and the Father also come. Furthermore, when He comes, He does not come into our body of blood and flesh, into our internal organs, such as the stomach. Neither does He come into our mind, emotion, or will. Instead, He comes into our spirit, which is the innermost part, the center, the most sincere part of our being, to be joined with us. Eventually, these two spirits are joined and mingled as one. Hence, 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” This is the primary matter in God’s economy. At this point, God has wrought Himself into His chosen ones in His Divine Trinity.
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