GOD BEING TRIUNE
If we desire to know the Bible and God’s economy, we must change our natural, human, religious, and moral concepts so that we may receive God’s revelation. In order to know the four great matters in the Bible, we must understand and be acquainted with the Scripture verses listed at the beginning of this chapter. Similarly, if we want to understand that God is triune, we need to be familiar with Luke 15, which gives the best illustration of this matter. That chapter consists of three sections concerning a shepherd, a woman, and a father. The shepherd signifies Christ, the Son, coming to find us. the woman signifies the Holy Spirit thoroughly illuminating us within. and the father signifies God the Father receiving us, fallen men, back to His house. We may say that in the entire New Testament Luke 15 is the chapter which most clearly unveils the mystery of the Divine Trinity, with a particular emphasis on the love of the Triune God toward sinners.
Now we come to the first Scripture passage concerning the four great matters in the Bible. Genesis 1:26-27 begins, “And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” The word for God here in Hebrew is Elohim. This word is plural in number, usually indicating three or more. In Hebrew there is the singular number, the dual number, and the plural number, while in English there is the singular number and the plural number. Elohim is in the plural number, usually referring to three or more. A brother named Newberry, who was in the Brethren Assembly, put out the Newberry Bible in which he added marks and notes to the King James Version. In this version, three lines were drawn next to the word God to indicate that the word is plural in number, referring to the Triune God. Because God is triune, He can say “Us” and “Our” when He is speaking to Himself. It is true that God is one, yet He can speak to Himself in one another because He is also three. There is only one God, but He has the aspect of being three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
THE DIVINE TRINITY IN THE CREATION
Before the creation of man, the Triune God, whom we also call the Divine Trinity, held a council of the Divine Trinity. We may say that there was a conversation within the Godhead before God created man. God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” To whom was He speaking when He said, “Let Us”? Could it be that He was speaking to the heavens and the earth, since Adam was not yet created at that time? By studying the context and pondering over the situation at that time, we can readily discover that it was God speaking to Himself and fellowshipping with Himself. Thus, based upon this, some Bible readers concluded that there was a council of the Godhead. For this reason we must realize that in preparation for the creation of man, God first held a council of the Godhead within Himself, in which the three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—of the Divine Trinity were all present.
(The Economy of God and the Mystery of the Transmission of the Divine Trinity, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
