THE SPIRIT BEING THE CONSUMMATION OF THE TRIUNE GOD
After the revelation of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—the Spirit comes to apply. We need to see that the application of God’s economy is altogether by the Spirit, the last One of the Divine Trinity. Never consider that the Spirit is of no importance, thinking that as the last One among the three, He is not the “head” but the “tail.” It is not so! Among the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, there is no difference between the first and the last. The Spirit as the last One of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is the consummation. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. God is not three; He is one yet three. With whom is the consummation of the three? It is not with the Father, who is the initiation; it is neither with the Son, who is the course. The consummation of the Triune God is with the Spirit. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God.
In the New Testament, from Matthew through Revelation, whenever something concerning God’s relationship with man is mentioned, the Spirit is also mentioned. The source is the Father, the course is the Son, and the consummation is the Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. Then why is it that before the resurrection of Christ the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit was not revealed? It is because the economy of God was not yet accomplished. Before Christ’s resurrection, the economy of God was merely a plan; it was not yet accomplished. After Christ came and accomplished God’s economy through His death and resurrection, it was time for the application; therefore, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are mentioned. The plan is the commencement, the accomplishment is the process, and the application is the consummation. The consummation is with whom? Not with the Father, nor with the Son, but with the Spirit. This does not mean, however, that since the consummation is with the Spirit, it has nothing to do with the Son or the Father. Because the Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the realization of the Son, the Spirit as the consummation includes the Son as well as the Father. In mathematics, 25 plus 15 plus 30 equals 70; 70 as the sum includes 25, 15, and 30. Likewise, the consummating Spirit includes the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all consummated in the Spirit.
THE CONSUMMATION OF THE SPIRIT
We need to take a deeper look at the consummated Spirit. This is the main point that I want to fellowship in this message. Genesis 1 refers to the Spirit of God, but that was not the consummated Spirit; the Spirit of Jehovah and the Holy Spirit were not the consummated Spirit either. It was after the resurrection of Christ that the consummated Spirit of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were revealed. This Spirit is different from the Spirit of God in Genesis, the Spirit of Jehovah in the Old Testament, and the Holy Spirit in Matthew 1. This Spirit is the consummated Spirit. God’s economy has been accomplished, and now it needs to be applied. The application is with the consummated Spirit—not merely the aggregate Spirit but the ultimately consummated Spirit.
Now we want to see how the consummated Spirit was completed by being processed. First, we must see that the Spirit of God in Genesis 1 did not have humanity, neither did the Spirit of Jehovah nor the Holy Spirit in Matthew 1. The Holy Spirit in Matthew 1 only brought divinity into humanity, but humanity had not yet entered into divinity. Hence, the Holy Spirit did not have the human element.
Very few people in Christianity today have seen that God possesses humanity. Most people consider that this kind of teaching can lead to heresy. They reason that since God is God, how could He possess humanity? However, we have seen that this is a tremendous revelation in the Bible. From the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Jehovah in the Old Testament to the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the New Testament, God was merely God, and there was no humanity in divinity. Then how was humanity wrought into divinity? This required God to first become a man to bring divinity into humanity and to be joined with humanity. He Himself became a man and lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years during which time He fully and clearly expressed God by the Holy Spirit. After He fully expressed God, He went to the cross and ended the old creation through His death (Col. 1:15, 20; Rom. 6:6). Then He was raised from the dead, and in His resurrection He fully brought forth the new creation. In this resurrection He first sanctified, uplifted, His humanity and brought it into divinity; thus, He was begotten to be the firstborn Son of God. At the same time, through His resurrection all the God-chosen people of the old creation were regenerated (1 Pet. 1:3); moreover, He became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b).
Christ’s becoming the life-giving Spirit is a tremendous “becoming.” The Spirit of God became the consummated Spirit by passing through the processes of incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection. He first put on humanity and then in His resurrection brought humanity into divinity; out of this came the life-giving Spirit. This life-giving Spirit went through all these processes. Without the processes of incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection, the Spirit of God would have remained merely the Spirit of God without any change. The Spirit of God became the life-giving Spirit by passing through the various processes with the various elements added. Therefore, the word became involves a great deal. I hope that in the Lord’s recovery all these revelations can be released clearly.
Very few in Christianity today have seen this matter; rather, some do not fully believe in what 1 Corinthians 15:45b says: “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” This, however, is a word in the Bible which we have to believe. Thank the Lord that He has clearly revealed all these points, one by one, to us all these years. Today the life-giving Spirit is the consummated Spirit. Hence, John 7:39 says that the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified in resurrection. Obviously the Holy Spirit was there, and the Spirit of God also was there in Genesis 1, so how could it be that the Spirit was not yet? This is because at that time there was only the old creation without the new creation yet, for Christ was not yet resurrected. Then, at the commencement of the new creation in the resurrection of Christ, the Spirit came into being. That which was originally the Spirit of God has become the Spirit in the resurrection of Christ. This is referred to in 2 Corinthians 3:17: “The Lord is the Spirit.” The Spirit, who is revealed to us in 2 Corinthians 3, is carrying out the work of transformation in the believers. We are being transformed because we have the Lord as the Spirit within us. This is why 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that we are being transformed into the same image as the Lord, even as from the Lord Spirit.
(A General Outline of God's Economy and the Proper Living of a God-Man, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee)
