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Chapter One
THE TRIUNE GOD IS A MYSTERY
DEUTERONOMY 4:
39 Know therefore this day, and lay it to thy heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else.
ISAIAH 45:
5 I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God.
ISAIAH 46:
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me;
1 TIMOTHY 2:
5 For there is one God and one Mediator of God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
51 Although God is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—He is still the one God, not three Gods, as mistakenly realized and believed by many Christians.
(Witness Lee, Footnotes, 1041)
1 TIMOTHY 1:
17 Now to the King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory unto the ages of the ages, Amen!
The Scriptures in many instances and in many ways tell us that God is uniquely one. Both in the Old Testament and in the New, there are many passages which declare this.
We select here just a few:
1 Corinthians 8:4 : “There is no God but one.”
Isaiah 45:5 : “I am Jehovah, and there is none else; besides me there is no God.” In verses 6,21, and 22; 46:9; and 44:6, 8 we also find the same words.
In these passages God repeatedly says, “There is no God beside me.” He does not say, “There is no God beside us” but, “There is no God beside me.” “Me” is singular, only one. These repeated declarations of God strongly prove that God is uniquely one.
Psalm 86:10: “Thou art God alone.” Here it does not say, “Ye are God alone,” but, “Thou art God alone.” This also proves that God is only one. It is “Thou,” not many, as would be signified by “Ye.”
That God is one is a clear and definite revelation of the Scriptures. But in Christianity, beside this orthodox teaching or interpretation, which is based on the clearly stated revelation of the Scriptures, some say that there are three Gods—the Father is one God, the Son is one God, and the Spirit also is one God, and these three become one corporate God. Individually speaking, say they, there are three Gods; corporately speaking there is one.
Others say that there are two Gods—the Father is one, and the Son also is one, but the Spirit is not, because the Father has His person and the Son also has His person, but the Spirit is only a power, a means, just like electricity, and has no person.
Such statements concerning the existence of three Gods or two Gods are contradictory to the fundamental revelation of the Scriptures; therefore, we should not accept them. We must stand absolutely on the scriptural revelation and believe that God is one.
(Witness Lee, Triune God, 5-6)
GOD IS UNIQUELY ONE
We must be governed by the revelation that God is uniquely one. The Bible tells us that God is one. However, because the first occurrence of the word God (Elohim) in the Bible (Gen. 1:1) is in the plural number, some people translate it as “Gods. “This is preposterous. It is appalling to speak of “Gods.” Psalm 86:10 says, “Thou art God alone.” It does not say, “Ye are God alone.” The pronoun is the second person singular, not the second person plural. The Hebrew word for God in this verse, Elohim, is in triple number. If you consult the markings in the Newberry Bible, you will find there an indication that “God” here is triple in number. Nevertheless, Psalm 86:10 does not say, “Thou art Gods.” It says, “Thou art God alone.” The word “alone” must control our thought. “Thou art God” (not Gods) “alone.”
Perhaps some will ask, “If you say that God is only one, how could God in Genesis 1: 26 refer to Himself as ‘Us’ and speak of ‘Our’ image? Is there one God or more than one? If you say that God is one, how can He refer to Himself using the pronouns ‘Us’ and ‘Our?’” My answer is that He is the Triune God and that the Trinity is a mystery. If you can understand the Trinity thoroughly and define it adequately, it is no longer a mystery. In the realm of mathematics or chemistry, things can be scientifically analyzed by the human mind. That is science, not mystery. If you can use your supposedly clever mind to understand the Triune God, He is no longer a mystery. Because none of us can understand the Trinity adequately, it remains a mystery. Do not ask me why. I do not know why. I can only say, “The Bible tells us so.” Do not argue; just take the pure Word of God.
In both the Old Testament and the New, we are told clearly and definitely that God is one. Isaiah 45:5 says, “I am the Lord…there is no God beside me.” Although the word for God here is also in triple number, this verse does not say, “There is no God beside us” it says, “There is no God beside me.” Therefore, in Ephesians 4:6 and 1Timothy 2:5 we find clearly stated the conclusion that there is one God. Do not get into the snare of thinking that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three Gods. First Corinthians 8:4 says, “There is none other God but one.” Hallelujah for one God! This is a basic and conclusive principle.
Why then do we believe that there is one God? Is this just our interpretation? We can all say, “I believe that God is uniquely one, for the Bible tells me so.”
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MATTHEW 3:
16 And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon Him;
17 And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I delight.
171 Or, This is My Son, the beloved. While the descending of the Spirit is the anointing of Christ, the speaking of the Father is a testimony to Him as the beloved Son. Here is a picture of the divine Trinity: the Son went up from the water, the Spirit descended upon the Son, and the Father spoke concerning the Son. This proves that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit exist simultaneously. This is for the accomplishment of God’s economy.
(Witness Lee, Footnotes, 20)
MATTHEW 28:
19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
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.
THE FATHER, THE SON, AND THE SPIRIT BEING THE ONE GOD
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God. First Peter 1:2 tells us that the Father is God; Hebrews 1:8 tells us that the Son is God; and Acts 5:3-4 tells us that the Spirit is God. If you read the Bible in a superficial way, you may believe that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three separate persons. But if you read even only the Gospel of John carefully, getting into the depth of the truth, you will see that the Son came in the Father’s name, He worked out the Father’s will, He worked the Father’s work with the Father and in the Father’s name, He spoke the Father’s word, and He sought the Father’s glory. If you touch the depth in the verses that cover these points, you will realize that the Son and the Father are one. You cannot separate them.
Likewise, the Spirit is not separate from the Son. From these two titles it seems They are two separate persons. But when you get into the depth of the details in the verses that cover this matter, you see that the Spirit comes in the name of the Son, He comes to testify concerning the Son, and He glorifies the Son. Furthermore, the Son has given everything He is and has to the Spirit. These points indicate that the Spirit and the Son are one. If the Spirit and the Son were not one, how could the Spirit come in the Son’s name? How could He come to reveal the Son? How could He come to glorify the Son? How could the Son give everything to Him? Eventually you have to admit They are one. This realization that the Son and the Father are one and that the Spirit and the Son are also one is according to the clear revelation in the Gospel of John.
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 139-140)
All these matters added together show you a crucial point: these Three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are the one God; They can never be separate. The Second comes in the name of the First and with the First, and the Third was sent by the First in the name of the Second and came with the First and the Second. And They all are coinherent, as the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son (John 14:10-11). They are mingled with one another. How could They be separated? The Three are one. The Third is the transfiguration of the Second, and the Second is the embodiment of the First. The Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the transfiguration of the Son. Such expressions actually mean that They are one. If the Son were not one with the Father, how could He be the Father’s embodiment? If the Spirit were not one with the Son, how could He be the Son’s transfiguration?
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 139)
The very God upon whom the entire universe is focused is not a single God; He is triune. Both the Old and New Testaments use plural pronouns in referring to the Triune God. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Here the plural pronouns, us and our, are used. Then in John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said, “We will come to him and make an abode with him.” Who are the We? The Father and the Son. So our God is triune. The entire universe is focused on God, and He is triune: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
Some Christian teachers, in their teaching concerning the Trinity, separate the Father from the Son, and they separate both the Father and the Son from the Spirit. In their teaching they say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three persons, not only distinct but also separate. Many Christians realize the Trinity in this way: the Father is sitting on the throne in heaven, and the Son is sitting on the Father’s right hand. So both the Father and the Son are in heaven, and the Spirit has come down to the earth. This means in their concept one-third of the Godhead is on the earth, and two-thirds of the Godhead are in heaven. I am afraid that you also may still have this kind of concept. This wrong teaching is a leavened truth. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit—the Triune God—is a truth in the Bible, but it has been leavened. Leaven is added to wheat flour to make the bread soft and edible. In like manner, leaven has been added to the truth in the Bible to make it easier to understand and to take. Don't hold the concept that the Trinity of the Godhead could be divided into three separate persons. This is leaven. Although God is triune, He is one. The Father is not separate from the Son, nor from the Spirit. The Spirit is not separate from the Son, nor from the Father. The Three have never been separated. The Three coexist and coinhere all the time. When One is here, all Three are here. When One is in heaven, all are in heaven. The Three are always one. There is no separation. This is a mystery as revealed in the Scriptures for dispensing the Triune God into us.
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 126-127)
Suppose the Bible only revealed God as the unique God, God the Creator, not the Triune God. If there were no Father and no Son and no Spirit, how could God dispense Himself into us? For God to dispense Himself into us is not a small thing, nor is it so simple. We are fallen, and we have the problems of sin, the world, and Satan. How could these things be taken away? There is the need of someone to condemn sin, to judge the world, and to cast out Satan. In the divine dispensing this someone is the Son. The Son was sent by the Father to condemn sin, to judge the world, and to cast out Satan through His death on the cross. In order to die on the cross, He needed to put on humanity. How could God without blood and flesh be crucified on the cross to shed blood for the forgiveness of sins? It would be impossible. So the Son had to put on blood and flesh so that He could go to the cross and die in a physical way (Heb. 2:14). He put on humanity so that He could shed human blood to wash away our sins. He judged the world and He cast out Satan (John 12:31).
Furthermore, if God were only God, how could He enter into us? In order to enter into us, God must be the life-giving Spirit. The Spirit is the holy breath for us to take in (John 20:22).
These illustrations may help you to realize that the matter of the Triune God is not merely for teaching, but is for dispensing. Doctrinally we may not fully understand the Triune God, but in experience we can testify that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are in us. This is for experience on our side, and this is for dispensing on His side.
(Witness Lee, Divine Trinity, 127-128)
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ISAIAH 9:
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
MATTHEW 28:
19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
JOHN 1:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 3with God, and the Word was God
2 He was in the beginning with God.
13 The Word is not separate from God. It is not that the Word is the Word, and God is God, and they are separate one from another. They two are one; hence, in the following clause it says that the Word was God.
(Witness Lee, Footnotes, 407)
2 CORINTHIANS 3:
17 And the Lord is the Spirit, and where the 4Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
174 The Spirit of the Lord is the Lord Himself, with Whom is freedom.
(Witness Lee, Footnotes, 830)
Do we have one God or three? We must say emphatically that we have one God. However, some Christians, understanding the Trinity according to their mental apprehension, have come to believe in three gods. A man once told me that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three gods. When I heard this, I said, “Please do not say this. That is really heresy. The Bible never tells us that there are three gods. The Bible always says that there is one God.” Our God is one (Deut. 6:4 ; Isa. 45:5 ; 1 Cor. 8:4). Why or how can this one God have three Persons? The term “Person” is not found in the Bible; it comes from man’s interpretation. Griffith Thomas, the writer of the best exposition on Romans, said in his book, Principles of Theology, “The term Person is also sometimes objected to. It certainly must not be pressed too far, or it will lead to Tritheism…While we are compelled to use terms like ‘substance’ and ‘Person,’ we are not to think of them as identical with what we understand as human substance and personality…The truth of the experience of the Trinity is not dependent upon theological terminology.” Griffith Thomas also said that our human language is inadequate to explain this divine mystery. We lack the language, the utterance, and the terms. We are short of the proper understanding of this divine mystery. What terms should we use? We do not know. No adequate terms are available. The Trinity is a mystery, and we have no vehicle, no means, to express it. When Philip asked the Lord Jesus to show him and the other disciples the Father, the Lord said, “Am I so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How is it that you say, Show us the Father?” (John 14:9)
(Witness Lee, LS of Genesis, 400-401)
I have been condemned for saying that the Lord Jesus is the Spirit. Although I do not like to argue or to answer, I would like to ask those dear brothers who condemn me how they interpret 2 Corinthians 3:17 which says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” Do not ask, “Then are the Lord and the Spirit one?” We do not have the skill nor the means to explain this adequately. Although we cannot explain it adequately, we do have a verse in the Bible which says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” Where do you put this verse? Will you cut it out of your Bible? I would also present to those brothers Isaiah 9:6 which says, “Unto us a son is given…and his name shall be called…The everlasting Father…” Is He the Son or the Father? Again, although we cannot explain this adequately, we do have this verse that says that the Son shall be called the Father. Second Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is now the Spirit, and Isaiah 9:6 says that the Son is called the Father. This is the mystery of the Trinity. We do have the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; yet the Son is called the Father, and the Son is the Spirit. They three are still one God.
We all know John 1: 1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” It is quite clear that the Word and God are distinct. However, the following clause of John 1:1 says, “and the Word was God.” This clause creates a problem. In the beginning was the Word of God, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Are they one or two? This is a mystery, the mystery of the Triune God.
Ephesians 4:6 says that the Father is in us, Colossians 1:27 says that Christ, the Son, is in us, and John 14:17 says that the Holy Spirit is in us. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all in us. Once I presented these verses to a certain person, asking him if he was clear about them and if he believed what they said. I asked him, “Do you believe all these facts - that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are in you?” When he said that he did, I asked him, “Tell me, how many are in you now?” He said, “One.” Then I said, “Haven't you admitted that the Bible tells us that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all are in you? How can you say that only one is in you?” He could not answer. The Bible does say that tile Father, the Son, and the Spirit, all three are in us. But, according to our experience, we have only one in us, whom we call either the Spirit or the Lord. This is the mystery of the Trinity of our God. He is the only one God, yet He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
(Witness Lee, LS of Genesis, 401-402)
THE MYSTERY OF THE TRIUNE GOD
In the New Testament there is another mystery, —the matter of the Triune God. God is one, yet He is triune. How can you define Him? When I was a young Christian, I tried to understand the trinity of God. But the more I tried, the more I could not understand. The Triune God is a mystery.
To say that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three persons of one God is just a kind of interpretation. This should not be pressed too far; otherwise it will lead to three Gods. Many Christian teachers do hold the concept that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three Gods, but they dare not to express this in words openly. Some say that the Father, who has a person, is one God, and the Son, who also has a person, is another God, but the Spirit, who does not have a person, is merely an influence, not another God. All these concepts with their interpretations are complicated and complicating. We should not get involved with them.
We cannot understand the mystery of the Triune God adequately. We can and should only believe the pure Word of God. Matthew 28:19 speaks of the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. There is one name for the Father, Son, and Spirit, because God is triune. Then 2 Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Christ, God, and the Spirit are the one Triune God. We cannot tell how God could be triune, but according to the Bible we do know that He is triune. We have to forget about the theological terminology, but take care of the pure Word of the Bible. How could one God be the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? It is a mystery. This is why His name is called, “Wonderful.”
(Witness Lee, Stream Magazine, Book 2, 1440-1441)
Because the doctrine of the Trinity has the aspects of both the one and the three to explain, the disputes concerning it have not been resolved even after all these centuries. Furthermore, the truth of the Bible cannot be comprehended by man’s limited mentality.
Suppose two blind men touch someone’s head. The first finds that there are seven openings in it. The second checks the head only from the back; he declares it has no openings. They argue, accusing each other of lying. Who is right? Both are, because a head has both a front and a back. Neither of them has the complete picture; they are arguing out of blindness.
(Witness Lee, Life Messages, 620)
Theologians have treated the matter of the Trinity in much the same way. Some argue from the side of the oneness of God’s being. Others argue from the side of the three Persons. This battle continues even today. Those who take an extreme view in favor of the side of one may fall into the heresy of modalism. Extremists on the side of the three are called tritheists. We must be careful not to overemphasize one side or the other, lest we fall into error.
(Witness Lee, Life Messages, 621)
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This matter of the Father, Son, and Spirit—the Trinity of the Godhead—is one which we cannot use our mind to comprehend. When the Lord was in the flesh, He told the disciples clearly that at that time He could not speak much with them, for they could not bear it; but when the Spirit of reality would come, He would lead them into all reality (Jn. 16:12,13). What He meant was that at that time He had not yet become the Spirit; so He could not come into them. He could only be outside of them. He had already told them much, and if He were able to tell them more, their mind would not be able to comprehend. But when He would rise from the dead and become the Spirit to enter into them, He would then be in them and bring them into all reality to enjoy the Triune God. We cannot therefore simply use our mind to understand the mystery of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The conclusion of mental analysis is certainly that the Father is one, the Son is one, and the Spirit also is one; thus, the Father, Son, and Spirit are three Gods! This is the reasoned judgment of your mind. But if you check with your own experience, you will declare that the Lord who dwells in you is surely one. According to your mental understanding there are three Gods, but according to your experience there is but one. Therefore, do not count on your mental understanding, but on your experience. If you follow your mental understanding you will be puzzled, but by your experience you are clear that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the three Persons of the one God.
(Witness Lee, Triune God, 9-10)
We know what the Bible says concerning our Triune God, and we believe it. We pray for those who oppose us that God may grant them to see the truth according to the pure Word. I say, once again, that the arguments and disputations concerning this matter of the Trinity are endless, for the Trinity is a mystery. It is impossible for anyone to explain it thoroughly or adequately. The Triune God cannot be fully comprehended as a doctrinal matter by our limited mentality. The Triune God is for our experience and enjoyment. God as a Trinity is for His economy, that is, for the dispensing of Himself into us to be our life and our everything. This is why we have spent so much time to point out that the Father is in the Son and that the Son is now the life-giving Spirit, indwelling our spirit to be our life and our everything for our enjoyment. If it were not for the matter of experience, we would not care to talk about it very much. However, since the attacks have come, we have had to make what we experience clear to people.
J. Oswald Sanders in his Spiritual Maturity (published by Moody Press), page 144, says: “William Barclay comments: Paul seems to identify the Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit. We must remember that Paul was not writing theology; he was setting down experience. And it is the experience of the Christian life that the work of the Spirit and the work of the Risen Lord are one and the same. The strength, the light, the guidance we receive come alike from the Spirit and from the Risen Lord. It does not matter how we express it so long as we experience it.” Thus, the Triune God is not for terminology or for teaching. The Triune God is for our experience and enjoyment.
(Witness Lee, Triune God, 20-21)
THE REASON FOR GOD’S BEING THREE-IN-ONE
Second Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship (Gk.) of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. 11 Here three things are mentioned: grace, love, and fellowship. Why is grace mentioned first? Because the emphasis of 2 Corinthians is on the grace of God. Chapter 12, verse 9, says, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Chapter 1, verse 12, says, “In the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world.” This book speaks of the grace of the Lord; therefore, when it reaches the end it mentions the grace of the Lord first, then the love of God, and lastly the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. This sets forth the reason why God is three-in-one: it is thus that He can dispense Himself into us, work Himself into us for us to enjoy, and be our all. The love of God, that is, the love of the Father, is the source. The grace of Christ, that is, the grace of the Son, is the flowing out of the love of the Father. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the flowing into us of the grace of the Son, together with the love of the Father, for us to enjoy. This can be proved by our experience. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit within us is the transmitting of the grace of the Son into us. And the grace of the Son within us is simply the practical tasting and enjoying of the love of the Father. The love of the Father is the source, the grace of the Son is the manifestation, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the transmission, transmitting the grace of the Son, with the love of the Father, into us. The result is that all three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—become our enjoyment. You have the fellowship of the Holy Spirit within you, and the more you live in this fellowship, the more you will have of the grace of Christ; then, the more you have of the grace of Christ, the more you will enjoy the love of God. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit brings the grace of Christ, and in the grace of Christ there is the love of God. Therefore, the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit are not three different things, but three stages of one thing for us to possess and enjoy. Likewise, the Father, Son, and Spirit are not three Gods, but three stages of one God for us to possess and enjoy. For example, ice becomes water, and water becomes vapor-one substance assumes three forms. When it reaches the vapor stage, it is available for us to breathe in. Thus, all that the Father has is in the Son, and all that the Son has is received by the Holy Spirit, who brings Him into us for us to enjoy (Jn. 16:14,15).
(Witness Lee, Triune God, pp. 29-31)
There are many illustrations which can be used to help explain and describe God in His Trinity. Not one of them, however, is adequate in itself to express this reality, since all of them must be drawn from the physical creation. Therefore, care should be taken when applying any illustration to explain the mystery of the Triune God.
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