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WITNESS LEE QUOTES
Chapter Nine
THE TRIUNE GOD AS REVEALED IN THE EPISTLES (1)
ROMANS 8:
9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.
10 And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you.
THE TRIUNE GOD IN ROMANS 8
The Spirit that we are referring to is the Spirit; that is, it is the Triune God who has been processed and become the life-giving Spirit. This Triune God, as our title says, saturates the tripartite man. Look at Romans 8:9, and you will see the reference to the Triune God. “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.” Notice that God, Christ, and the Spirit are all mentioned here. Yet this verse is not making a doctrinal statement; it is dealing with our experience. Contrary to the way Christianity presents it, the Trinity is not a doctrine for us to subscribe to. We need God to be triune in order that we may experience Him. God, Christ, and the Spirit are all in our experience.
(Witness Lee, Life Messages, Vol. 2, 164)
(1) Erroneous Concepts of the Trinity
The traditional explanation of the Trinity is grossly inadequate and borders on tritheism. When the Spirit of God is joined with us, God is not left behind, nor does Christ remain on the throne. This is the impression Christianity gives. They think of the Father as one Person, sending the Son, another Person, to accomplish redemption, after which the Son sends the Spirit, yet another Person. The Spirit, in traditional thinking, comes into the believers, while the Father and Son are left on the throne. When believers pray, they are taught to bow before the Father and pray in the name of the Son. To split the Godhead into these separate Persons is not the revelation of the Bible….
(2) Three in One
John 14 clearly says that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son (vv. 10, 11). To see the Son is to see the Father. When the Son speaks, it is the Father who is working. The Two are inseparable. The Bible goes on to say that the Son, after death and resurrection, became the Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45b). The Son, in whom is the Father, has become the Spirit. Thus, the Triune God can come into the sinner. With the Spirit comes the Son; when the Son comes, the Father comes as well.
The term triune means three in one. From one side there are three; but from the other side they are one, because they cannot be separated. Notice the three terms Paul uses in Romans 8:9 and 10. He says the Spirit of God dwells in you; that without the Spirit of Christ you are not of Him; that Christ is in you. Why does Paul use three terms to refer to the same One? It is because this One has three aspects: the aspects of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit.
(Witness Lee, Life Messages, Vol. 2, 164-166)
INTERCHANGEABLE TERMS
Paul uses the terms God, the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ interchangeably. He begins with God, goes on to the Spirit of God, and then proceeds to the Spirit of Christ. But instead of stopping here, in verse 10 Paul speaks of Christ, saying that Christ is in us. In the span of a few verses, four divine titles are interchangeably used: God, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ. These four terms denote one being, the Triune God Himself.
The Spirit of God is God Himself. Do not interpret this title to mean that the Spirit is something different from God. In the New Testament, phrases such as the love of God and the life of God mean that love and life are God Himself. In the same principle, the term the Spirit of God means that the Spirit is God. The same is true regarding the Spirit of Christ. This title means simply that the Spirit is Christ. According to the context, the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of God.
From the Spirit of Christ Paul proceeds to Christ. Thus, Paul takes us from God to Christ through the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. Paul’s thought goes from God to the Spirit of God, from the Spirit of God to the Spirit of Christ, and from the Spirit of Christ to Christ. Therefore, we have God, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, and Christ. However, these four terms all refer to the unique Triune God.
(Witness Lee, LS of Romans, 628-629)
CHRIST IN US
Verse 10 says that Christ is in us. The preposition “in” here is most remarkable. Christ, the wonderful One, is actually in us! In order for Christ to be in us, God must be the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God must be the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ must be Christ. If God were simply God Himself, He could not get into us. There are two reasons for this. The first is that God is divine, infinite, and almighty. However, we are human, and God cannot come into us without human mediation. Second, we are sinful and unclean. Because of the fall, every part of our being is defiled. It is impossible for a holy God to dwell in such sinful people. To bridge the gap between divinity and humanity, God had to become a man named Jesus. Jesus means Jehovah the Savior. As such a One, He died on the cross for our sins, shedding His blood to cleanse us from all defilement. Hallelujah, the infinite God became a finite man to die on the cross for us! This removed the barriers which hindered God from coming into man. Now in Christ the infinite, holy God can come into us. For this reason, in verse 10 Paul declares that Christ is in us.
It is significant that Paul does not say that God is in us, but that Christ is in us. The Spirit here joins God with Christ. The Spirit is both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. How profound and inexhaustible are all these terms!
(Witness Lee, LS of Romans, 629-630)
THE SPIRIT MAKING HOME IN US
Verse 11 says, “But if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He Who raised Christ Jesus from among the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit Who indwells you.” According to verse 10, Christ is in us. But according to verse 11, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in us; that is, His Spirit makes His home in us. In this verse we have the Triune God: He who raised Jesus from among the dead (the Father), Christ Jesus (the Son), and the Spirit. Here we see the Triune God dispensing Himself into us. Furthermore, He is making His home in us and even giving life to our mortal bodies. This is the full dispensation of the Triune God into our entire being.
(Witness Lee, LS of Romans, 630)
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2 CORINTHIANS 13:
14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
A THREEFOLD BLESSING
In 13:14 we have a threefold blessing: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” This threefold blessing involves the Triune God, for here we have the grace of Christ the Son, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
In the Old Testament we also have a threefold blessing, the blessing pronounced by the Levitical priesthood at the end of Numbers chapter six. In this threefold blessing the Triune God is implied. Numbers 6:24-26 says, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” First we have the blessing related to the Father. “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee.” Second, we have the blessing related to the Son: “The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee.” Third we have the blessing related to the Spirit: “The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” The Levitical priests surely treasured this blessing. However, it cannot be compared with the blessing in 2 Corinthians 13:14. What we have in Numbers 6:24-26 is a mere blessing, that is, a blessing without enjoyment. But in 13:14 what we have is not only a blessing; we have God in His Triune Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
(Witness Lee, LS of 2 Corinthians, 523)
THE TRIUNE GOD AS OUR UNIQUE BLESSING
To speak of the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is actually to say that the love is God, that the grace is Christ, and that the fellowship is the Holy Spirit. Thus, we have God the Father as love, we have God the Son as grace, and we have God the Spirit as fellowship. This means that we have the Triune God in a direct way as our enjoyment. What we have is not merely a blessing from Him or by Him.
In the New Testament the real blessing is the Triune God Himself. As we have pointed out, this blessing is threefold, a blessing of grace, love, and fellowship. With love as the source, grace as the course, and fellowship as the transmission, the Triune God reaches us to be our life, our life supply, and our enjoyment. Now in a practical way we can enjoy the Triune God all day long. This is our unique New Testament blessing.
THREE ASPECTS OF ONE THING
The grace of the Lord is the Lord Himself as life to us for our enjoyment (John 1:17; 1 Cor. 15:10), the love of God is God Himself (1 John 4:8, 16) as the source of the grace of the Lord, and the fellowship of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself as the transmission of the grace of the Lord with the love of God for our participation. These are not three separate matters, but three aspects of one thing, just as the Lord, God, and the Holy Spirit are not three separate Gods, but three “hypostases…of the one same undivided and indivisible” God (Philip Schaff). The love of God is the source, since God is the origin; the grace of the Lord is the course of the love of God, since the Lord is the expression of God; and the fellowship of the Spirit is the impartation of the grace of the Lord with the love of God, since the Spirit is the transmission of the Lord with God, for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with Their divine virtues. Here the grace of the Lord is mentioned first, because this book is on the grace of Christ (2 Cor. 1:12; 4:15; 6:1; 8:1, 9; 9:8, 14; 12:9). Such a divine attribute of three virtues—love, grace, and fellowship—and such a Triune God of the three divine hypostases—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—were needed by the distracted and confused, yet encouraged and restored, Corinthian believers. Hence, the apostle used all these divine and precious things in one sentence to conclude his lovely and dear Epistle.
(Witness Lee, LS of 2 Corinthians, 524-525)
THREE HYPOSTASES
In the preceding paragraph we twice used the word hypostases. This word requires further explanation. The singular form of the word is hypostasis. It is anglicized from the Greek. It is composed of two Greek words: hupo, a preposition that means under, and stasis, a word that means supports or stands forth. Hence, this word refers to a support under, a support beneath, that is, something underneath that supports. The Greek word hupostasis is used in 9:4 and 11:17. This word means the groundwork on which some superstructure is founded; hence, foundation, ground; thence, as in 9:4 and 11:17, confidence. If we have the proper groundwork or support underneath, we then can have confidence.
Some dictionaries associate the word hypostasis with the three Persons of the Trinity. This meaning of the word, given in certain dictionaries, is an interpretation. The word hypostasis does not mean person. But theologians have used it to refer to the three Persons of the Godhead, to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Actually, the Father, Son, and Spirit are three hypostases, that is, supporting substances of the Godhead. In other words, the Godhead is composed of the supporting substances of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This means that if these three hypostases were taken away, the Godhead would lose its substance.
Certain ancient teachers of the Bible used the word hypostases to refer to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Other theologians spoke of the three hypostases as denoting the three Persons of the Godhead. This use of the word person has led some into the error of tritheism, the doctrine that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three Gods. As we have pointed out a number of times, W. H. Griffith Thomas has said that we should not press the word person too far, lest we have the doctrine of tritheism. Thus, it is not entirely safe to use the word person in this way. Nevertheless, we may need to use it temporarily. For instance, we use it in one of our hymns (Hymns #608): “What mystery, the Father, Son, and Spirit, in Person three, in substance all are one.” But even if we use this term temporarily, we wish to make it emphatically clear that we have only one God, the unique God. Nevertheless, God is triune: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The term hypostases is an attempt to convey the truth of the three-one God.
(Witness Lee, LS of 2 Corinthians, 525-526)
THE TRIUNE GOD DISPENSING HIMSELF INTO MAN
Second Corinthians 13:14 is a strong proof that the trinity of the Godhead is not for the doctrinal understanding of systematic theology, but for the dispensing of God Himself in His trinity into His chosen and redeemed people. In the Bible the Trinity is never revealed merely as a doctrine. It is always revealed or mentioned in regard to the relationship of God with His creatures, especially with men created by Him, and even more with His chosen and redeemed people. The first divine title used in His divine revelation concerning His creation, Elohim in Hebrew, is plural in number (Gen. 1:1). This implies that He, as the Creator of the heavens and the earth for man, is triune. Concerning the creation of man in His own image, after His own likeness, He used the plural pronouns, “us” and “our,” referring to His trinity (Gen. 1:26) and implying that He would be one with man and express Himself through man in His trinity. Later, in Genesis 3:22 and 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8, He referred to Himself again and again as “us” concerning His relationship with man and His chosen people.
(Witness Lee, LS of 2 Corinthians, 526)
THE ENJOYMENT OF THE TRIUNE GOD
(1) Grace, Love and Fellowship
In 13:14 we see the enjoyment of the Triune God. In this verse Paul says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” The grace of the Lord is the Lord Himself as life to us for our enjoyment (John 1:17; 1 Cor. 15:10), the love of God is God Himself (1 John 4:8, 16) as the source of the grace of the Lord, and the fellowship of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself as the transmission of the grace of the Lord with the love of God for our participation.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are not three separate matters, but three aspects of one thing, just as the Lord, God, and the Holy Spirit are not three separate Gods, but three “hypostases…of the one same undivided and indivisible” God (Philip Schaff). The love of God is the source, since God is the origin; the grace of the Lord is the course of the love of God, since the Lord is the expression of God; and the fellowship of the Spirit is the impartation of the grace of the Lord with the love of God, since the Spirit is the transmission of the Lord with God, for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—with the divine virtues. In 13:14 the grace of the Lord is mentioned first because this book is on the grace of Christ (1:12; 4:15; 6:1; 8:1, 9; 9:8, 14; 12:9).
Such a divine attribute of three virtues—love, grace, and fellowship—and such a Triune God of the three divine hypostases—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are needed by the believers so that they may experience the divine dispensing of the divine Trinity. This verse is a strong proof that the trinity of the Godhead is not for the doctrinal understanding of systematic theology, but for the dispensing of God Himself in His trinity into His chosen and redeemed people.
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 399-400)
It is common in so-called Christian services for the minister to use 13:14 as a benediction at the close of a service. However, this verse speaks of our enjoyment of the Triune God. Do you enjoy the grace of Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit? In the divine dispensing of the divine Trinity, the grace of the Lord, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Spirit are for our experience and enjoyment.
We have pointed out that just as the love of God is God Himself, the grace of Christ is Christ Himself. The New Testament says, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). We can also say that Christ is grace and that the Holy Spirit is fellowship. If we did not have God, we could not have the enjoyment of love. If we did not have Christ, we could not have the enjoyment of grace. If we did not have the Spirit, we could not have the enjoyment of fellowship.
We also need to be impressed with the fact that in 13:14 love, grace, and fellowship are not three separate matters. Rather, they are three aspects of one thing. Love is the source, grace is the expression of the source, and fellowship is the transmission of the expression. Love as the source is expressed in grace, and this grace is transmitted into us by fellowship. The love of God is the source of the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Spirit is the transmission of the grace of Christ with the love of God. Therefore, love, grace and fellowship are all within us for our enjoyment.
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 400-401)
(2) A Simultaneous Enjoyment
We enjoy love, grace, and fellowship all at the same time. We should not think that first we enjoy love, then we enjoy grace, and finally we enjoy fellowship. While we enjoy the fellowship of the Spirit, we also have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God. Just as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not three Gods but three aspects or persons of the one God, so love, grace, and fellowship are three aspects of one thing. The Triune God is the Father full of love, the Son full of grace, and the Spirit full of fellowship.
We should not think that we successively enjoy the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Spirit. No, we enjoy the love of God, the grace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Spirit simultaneously.
Although we enjoy love, grace, and fellowship simultaneously, we may nevertheless point out that love is the source, grace is the course, and fellowship is the destination. Do you know what our destination is? It is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah, we enjoy the Triune God and His virtue in the three aspects of love, grace, and fellowship!
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 401)
STAYING WITH THE TRIUNE GOD THROUGH PRAYER
If we would enjoy the Triune God, we need to spend more time to pray. However, we should not pray in the sense of asking God for so many things; instead, we should pray in the sense of staying with God. We may say that God is a burning fire, and by prayer we should stay in Him as the fire and allow this fire to burn something of God Himself into our being.
If we stay with the Father through prayer, we shall experience not only the love of God but also the grace of Christ. We shall have the riches of the Lord’s grace for our enjoyment, and this grace will be abounding, enriching, and sufficient to us in our experience. This grace, in particular, will make us competent or sufficient in ministering and in dispensing Christ to others. This sufficiency comes from the abounding and enriching grace within us.
As we stay with the Father of love, enjoying the abounding grace of the Lord, we shall also be in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Actually, we shall be merged with the flowing Spirit. We shall have the sense deep within that something is flowing in us, even that the Holy Spirit is flowing in us. This is the enjoyment of the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, and this is also the dispensing of the Triune God into our being.
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 403-404)
Day by day, we need to spend more time with the Father as the source. We need to pray in order to stay at the source. Today this source is in our spirit. If we stay in our spirit with God the Father for a period of time, we shall experience the divine dispensing. While we are remaining with the Father as the source, we should not pray in a way that will distract us from Him. If we find that our prayer is distracting us, we should not continue to pray in that way. The kind of prayer we need is the prayer that keeps us with the Father as the source.
Likewise, we should not be distracted even by reading the Word. If we find that the reading of the Word becomes a distraction that takes us away from the Lord Himself, we need to turn to our spirit again and say, “Lord, I praise You. How good it is for me to be here with You!”
We should not pray to the Lord in a religious way. Instead, we should talk to Him in an intimate way, in the way we speak to those who are close to us. I encourage you to go to the Lord and talk to Him as to an intimate friend. When the Lord was with His disciples, as recorded in the four Gospels, there is no indication that they prayed to Him in a religious way. The disciples prayed to Him as if they were speaking to a friend. They did not offer any religious prayer or religious worship. We need this kind of prayer, the prayer that keeps us in the presence of the Lord.
Actually, instead of speaking of being in the Lord’s presence, I would rather say that we should be in oneness with the Lord. We are not simply in the presence of the Lord—we are in oneness with Him. Speaking to the Lord in an intimate way keeps us in this oneness.
If we daily practice speaking to the Lord in this way, the fragrance of the divine incense will permeate us, the ointment will anoint and seal us, the “ink” of the Spirit will saturate us, and the divine light will illuminate us. As
a result, we shall be thoroughly permeated with the Triune God. Then we shall enjoy the Father’s love, the Son’s
grace, and the Spirit’s fellowship. This is what we need today.
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 404-405)
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