The Processed and Consummated Triune God

The Steps the Triune God Has Taken to Reach Man

Before Christ’s incarnation, the Son of God possessed only divinity. Through His incarnation He became flesh, thus acquiring the human element that was previously foreign to Him. He became a God-man, a complete mingling of divinity and humanity. Through the vehicle of Christ’s humanity, God became approachable. In the man Jesus, human beings could converse with God, be taught of God, dine with God, weep with God, and show affection to God. The great chasm of separation that once existed between the holy God and fallen man was bridged by the incarnation.

The disciples having become enamored of this wonderful Person, were grieved to hear of His impending death and departure. The Lord therefore explained to them the necessity of His death: “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). The Lord went on to encourage His disciples that the Comforter, the Spirit of reality, would guide them into all the divine reality (v.13). “All that the Father has is Mine,” the Lord continued; “ For this reason I have said that He [the Spirit of reality] receives of Mine and will declare it to you” (John 16:15).

The Lord pointed the disciples to the expediency of His own death, because His death promised not only the forgiveness of sin, but even more, the advent of the second Comforter. Actually, the second Comforter is the Lord Jesus Himself (John 14:18)–no longer in the flesh, but now as the Spirit of reality. In contrast to the physical Jesus who could only be with His disciples, the Spirit of reality could now dwell in His believers (John 14:17) and subjectively guide them into the reality of all that the Son is and has as well as all that the Father is in the Son. The Spirit of reality operates to inwardly convey to the believers the very Triune God including His essence, His nature, and all His accomplishments in Christ. In sum, the Triune God in Christ has passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection in order that He may, as the Spirit, be one with mankind by enlivening and indwelling them, and that they may fully share in all that God is and all that Christ has accomplished.

The Processed Triune God

The Consummated Spirit