John 14:16-17 says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality.” In these two verses the Son says that He will pray to the Father that the Father may send the Spirit. Hence, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit exist together at the same time.
In Ephesians 3:14-17 Paul says that he will pray to the Father that He would grant us to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into our inner man, that Christ may make His home in our hearts. In this passage we have the Father, the Spirit, and Christ the Son. All three exist together at the same time. The Scriptures do not say that the Father existed for a period of time, then the Son came; and that after another period of time, the Son no longer exists but has been replaced by the Spirit. Not one verse says this. This portion of the Word shows that the Father hears the prayer, the Spirit strengthens the saints, and the Son—Christ—makes His home in our hearts. From this we can also see clearly that all Three coexist simultaneously.
Second 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.” Here it mentions the grace of Christ the Son, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. All Three exist together at the same time.
Therefore, we do not believe that the Father ceased to exist and was replaced by the Son, then after another period of time the Son was replaced by the Spirit. We believe that the Three—Father, Son, and Spirit—are eternal and co-existent.
The relationship among the Father, the Son, and the Spirit of the Trinity is not only that they simultaneously coexist, but, even more, that they indwell one another mutually. Coexistence means to exist together at the same time. Coinherence, as applied to the Trinity, means that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are in one another and thus exist together.
The Scriptures clearly indicate that when the Son comes, the Father comes with Him; similarly, when the Spirit comes, both the Son and the Father come with Him. Furthermore, when the Son comes, the Father does not come with Him outwardly; rather, the Father comes with Him inwardly and subjectively.
John 6:46 says, “Except Him who is from God, He has seen the Father.” The word “from” in the original language carries the sense of “from with.” The Son not only comes from the Father, but He comes from with the Father.
John 5:43 says, “I have come in the name of My Father.” The Son’s coming in the name of the Father equals the Father’s coming. This proves that when the Son comes, the Father comes.
John 14:10 says, “I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me.” This indicates that the Father does not come with the Son outwardly; rather, He comes in the Son.
Hence, the Son can testify saying, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
John 15:26 says, “But when the Comforter comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of reality who proceeds from the Father....” The second “from” is also “from with” in the sense of the Greek. When the Spirit comes, He also comes from with the Father.
John 14:26 says, “The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name.” The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, will be sent by the Father in the Son’s name. The Holy Spirit’s coming in the Son’s name equals the Son’s coming. This proves that when the Holy Spirit comes, the Son comes.
Furthermore, John 8:29 says, “He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone.” Luke 4:1 also says, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit....” These verses prove that when the Son is living on earth, both the Father and the Spirit are with Him; the Three are inseparable.
The Triune God has never been separated. When One moves, the other Two also move with Him. When One is sent, the other Two also come with Him. When the Son comes, He comes in the name of the Father; when He comes, the Father comes. When the Spirit is sent, He is sent in the name of the Son; His being sent is the Son’s being sent. Hence, the Son’s coming is the Father’s coming, and the Spirit’s being sent is the Son’s being sent. The Three—the Father, Son, and Spirit—are one. They cannot be separated for eternity.