THE INNER FLOWING OF THE TRIUNE GOD
FOR THE CHURCH LIFE
Life is God Himself flowing out in Christ as the Spirit. He flows Himself into us as our life. Life is God Himself in His Divine Trinity dispensing Himself into us in the person of the Father as the source, in the person of the Son as the course, and in the person of the Spirit as the flow. This is the way that He imparts and distributes Himself into us. To believe in the Lord Jesus is not just to be redeemed and forgiven. To believe in the Lord Jesus is to receive the Lord Jesus into you. He can come into you because today He is the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
All that the Father is and has is in the Son. The Lord Jesus said, "All that the Father has is Mine" (John 16:15a). He is the embodiment of the Father. God the Son put on human nature and was identified with us in incarnation. He was then crucified and resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. In His ascension He obtained all the authority in heaven and on earth. He also obtained the highest name, the kingdom, the lordship, the kingship, and the headship over all things. He attained to the highest peak of the whole universe. He is far above all as the transcendent One above everything. All that the Father has is in Him, and in Him everything has been accomplished, obtained, and attained. Now all of this is in the all-inclusive Spirit.
Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. Second Corinthians 3:6 says that the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Verse 17 says that the Lord is the Spirit. In J. N. Darby’s translation of the New Testament, he puts verses 7 through 16 of 2 Corinthians 3 in parentheses. This means that verse 17 is actually a direct continuation of verse 6. Therefore, Christ the Lord is the Spirit who gives life.
It is impossible for us to fully define the mystery of the Divine Trinity. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." It seems that the Word and God are two because the Word was with God, but the Word was God. Are They two or one? The first half of 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that the Lord is the Spirit, but the second half speaks of the Spirit of the Lord. Are They two or one? This is a mystery. We cannot fully understand the mystery of the Triune God, but we can receive Him and enjoy Him. Day by day we eat many things that we do not understand. But we can still receive them and enjoy them. The Father in the Son as the Spirit flows into us as life for us to enjoy.
In John 14:6 the Lord said that He is the life and that no one can come to the Father except through Him. A number of Christians can quote this verse, but they do not pay adequate attention to the following verses. Verses 7 through 9 say, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and henceforth you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been 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?"
Philip asked the Lord to show him the Father and then he would be satisfied. Then the Lord showed him that He was one with the Father and even was the Father, because when you saw Him, you saw the Father. The Lord went on to say, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works" (v. 10). When the Lord spoke, the Father was working. Isaiah 9:6 says that a son is given to us, but His name is called Eternal Father. All of this means that the Lord Jesus is not only the Son of God but also the Father.
(The Experience of Christ as Life for the Building Up of the Church, Chapter 3, by Witness Lee)
