Hymn: 7

Scripture Reading:

Isa. 9:6 For a child is born to us, A son is given to us; And the government Is upon His shoulder; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

1 Cor. 15:45b The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

Matt. 3:16-17 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 like a dove and coming upon Him. And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.

 

I. The two main aspects of the Divine Trinity:

A. The essential Trinity refers to the essence of the Triune God for His existence.

B. The economical Trinity refer to His plan for His move.

C. In the essential Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist and coinhere at the same time and in the same way with no succession. There is no first, second, or third.

D. In God’s plan, in God’s administrative arrangement, in God’s economy, the Father takes the first step, the Son takes the second step, and the Spirit takes the third step. The Father planned, the Son accomplished, and the Spirit applies what the Son accomplished according to the Father’s plan. This is a successive procedure or a succession in God’s economy to carry out His eternal purpose.

II. The aspect of the essential Trinity—the Son being the embodiment of the Father and the Spirit being the reality of the Son—Col. 2:9; John 14:16-18:

A. A son is given to us, yet His name is called the eternal Father—Isa. 9:6.

B. The Son as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b.

C. The Lord is the Spirit and the Lord Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17-18.

D. Such words in the Scripture are strong evidence that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are essentially one.

III. The aspect of the economical Trinity-the Father is the Originator, making the divine economy; then the Son accomplishes the divine economy made by the Father; and the Spirit applies to God’s elect what the Son has accomplished—Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4b; John 5:19; 8:28; 16:13; 10:30; 17:21, 23.

A. The Father spoke in heaven concerning the Son, the Son stood in the water on the earth, and the Spirit soared as the dove in the air—Matt. 3:16-17.

B. The Father chose the believers before the foundation of the world in eternity past, the Son redeemed them in time, and the Spirit seals them after they believe in the Son—Eph. 1:4, 6-7, 13.

C. Words like these in the Scripture are strong evidence that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are economically three. Thus, God’s elect participate in what the Triune God ahs done and enjoy Their work with Themselves for their satisfaction.

 

References: Elders Training, book 3, chapter 7; Crystallization-study of The Gospel of John, chapter 3.

 

Excerpts from the Ministry:

THE ESSENTIAL TRINITY AND THE ECONOMICAL TRINITY

The two main aspects concerning the divine Trinity are essential Trinity and the economical Trinity. In the essential Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit coexist and coinhere at the same time and in the same way with no succession. There is no first, second, or third. However, In God’s plan, in God’s administrative arrangement, in God’s economy, the Father takes the first step, the Son takes the second step, and the Spirit takes the third step. The Father planned, the Son accomplished, and the Spirit applies what the Son accomplished according to the Father’s plan. This is a successive procedure or a succession in God’s economy to carry out His eternal purpose. The essential Trinity refers to the essence of the Triune God for His existence; the economical Trinity refers to His plan for His move. There is the need of the existence of the divine Trinity, and there is also the need of the plan of the divine Trinity.

In essence, the three of the Godhead exist equally at the same time and coinhere equally at the same time from eternity to eternity.

The Father’s Plan, the Son’s Accomplishment, and the Spirit’s Application

God, the Triune God, has a purpose, so He made a plan. He made an administrative arrangement to carry out His purpose, so He has an economy. In this economy the three of the Godhead are in succession. This is economical, not essential. Furthermore, to carry out the plan there is the need of much work. The Father accomplished the first step of the plan, of the economy. He worked in choosing us and in predestinating us. The work of selection and the work of predestination were done by the Father, not by the Son or by the Spirit. We must be careful, though, to realize that the Father did the selection and the predestinating in the Son and with the Spirit. If we say that the Father chose us and selected us alone, we jeopardize the coinherence and the coexistence of the divine Trinity. The coinherence and the coexistence of the Triune God are from eternity to eternity.

After the plan was made, there was the need for the Son to come to carry out the plan. The Son came to be incarnated, to be flesh, to be a man. He came to live a human life for thirty-three and a half years, to die an all-inclusive death, and to resurrect from the dead. The Son came to do all the works, but He did not do these works alone. He did them with the Father and by the Spirit. The Son came to do His all-inclusive redemptive work, which includes incarnation, human living, death, and resurrection, with the Father and by the Spirit. If the Son had come by Himself alone, this again would have jeopardized the coexistence and the coinherence, the essence, of the divine Trinity.

After the accomplishment there was the need and there still is the need of application. In this third step of application more fine works are needed. In the first step the Father had only to make a plan. In the second step, the Son had to accomplish the plan with much work. The Spirit’s application in the third step needs a great deal of continuous work. We need the Spirit to lead us and to guide us not only day by day but also minute by minute in all the details of our daily life. The Spirit needs to be applied in your talk to your wife and even in your attitude. We can see how fine and how detailed is the work to carryout this application. The Spirit is doing this application work not alone by Himself, but as the Son with the Father. Otherwise, this application would also jeopardize the divine existence of the Trinity.

In the work of the Father’s plan we can say that the Father did the works in the Son and with the Spirit, but we cannot say that the Son did that work with the Father and by the Spirit. Neither can we say that the Spirit did the works of the plan as the Son, with the Father. Also, in the second step of God’s economy, the step of accomplishment, the Son did all the works. We cannot say the Father did the accomplishing work with the Son and by the Spirit. Neither can we say that the Spirit accomplished the Father’s plan as the Son, with the Father. We can only say that the Son did all the works to accomplish the Father’s plan with the Father and by the Spirit. Also, we cannot say that the Father became flesh and that the Father lived on this earth in the flesh. Furthermore, we cannot say that the Father went to the cross and died for our redemption, and we cannot say the blood shed on the cross is the blood of Jesus the Father. We must day that the blood was shed by Jesus the Son God (1 John 1:7). We can neither say that the Father died on the cross nor can we say that the Father resurrected from the dead.

In the third step of God’s economy, the step of the Spirit, all the works were surely done by the Spirit. In the third step, however, the Son became the Spirit. Therefore, whatever kind of work is done by the Spirit is the work done by the Son as the Spirit. In the third step, all the works are done by the Spirit as the Son with the Father. We cannot say, though, that all the works in the third step are done by the Father with the Son through the Spirit. We need a sober mind to see this. In the third step all the works are done by the Spirit as the Son with the Father. We can also say that all the works in the third step are done by the Son as the Spirit with the Father because after the second step was accomplished, the Son as the Accomplisher, with the Father, became the Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God in His economy. Every work that is done by the Spirit is done by the Son as the Spirit with the Father. (Elders Training, book 3, pp.68-71)

THE ASPECT OF THE ESSENTIAL TRINITY

According to Their essence, the three are one; thus, there is the aspect of the essential Trinity. The Son is the embodiment of the Father (Col. 2:9), and the Spirit is the reality of the Son (John 14:16-18).

The Son Being Called the Father

A son is given to us, yet His name is called the eternal Father (Isa. 9:6).

The Son Becoming the Life-giving Spirit

The Son as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). He was incarnated to be the flesh. He was the last Adam. That means that after Him, there would be no flesh. He was the ending, the closing, the concluding, of the flesh. This One in resurrection became the life-giving Spirit. Thus, this One, the Son, is the Father and eventually He is the Spirit. In 1934 Brother Nee gave a conference on the all-inclusive Christ. He said that Christ, the all-inclusive One, is the centrality and universality of God. He is the Son, yet He is the Father. He is the Son, yet He is the life-giving Spirit. Thus, He is the centrality and universality of the Triune God.

The Lord Being the Spirit

The Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17) and the Lord Spirit (v. 18). The Lord Spirit is a compound divine title like the Father God. He is both the Lord and the Spirit. They two are one in Him.

The Evidence That the Father, the Son, and the Spirit Are Essentially One

Such words in the Scripture are strong evidence that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are essentially one.

THE ASPECT OF THE ECONOMICAL TRINITY

When we speak of the Triune God according t His economy, we are speaking of Him according to His moving and acting, not His essence. According to the economy, the three are three; thus, there is the aspect of the economical Trinity. The Father is the Originator, making the divine economy (Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4b); then the Son accomplishes the divine economy made by the Father (John 5:19; 8:28); and the Spirit applies to God’s elect what the Son has accomplished (16:13). These are steps of one complete move. God the Father planned to do something; the Son accomplished the plan; the Spirit applies to us what the Son has accomplished. They are still one in harmony in the economical Trinity (10:30; 17:21, 23).

The Father in Heaven, the Son on the Earth, and the Spirit in the Air

The Father spoke in heaven concerning the Son, the Son stood in the water on the earth, and the Spirit soared as the dove in the air (Matt. 3:16-17). The three of the Trinity here are in three locations. Christ the Son, after His baptism, was standing in the water, and the Father said, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.” Then the Spirit as a dove soaring in the air descended upon Him. The Father as the source must be n heaven, the Son in His incarnation as the course must be on the earth, and the Spirit as the flow must be soaring in the air.

This is different from the view of the Triune God in John 14. In John 10:30 the Lord said, “I and the Father are one.” He did not say, “I am one with the Father.” We can say that we are one with one another. But the Lord Jesus and the Father, They two, are one. In John there is the mystical view that the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. No doubt, They are also in the Spirit and the Spirit is in them. This is essential.

The Father Choosing, the Son Redeeming, and the Spirit Sealing

The Father chose the believers before the foundation of the world in eternity past, the Son redeemed them in time, and the Spirit seals them after they believe in the Son (Eph. 1:4; 6-7, 13).

The Evidence That the Father, the Son, and the Spirit Are Economically Three

Words like these in the Scripture are strong evidence that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are economically three. Thus, God’s elect participate in what the Triune God ahs done and enjoy Their work with Themselves for their satisfaction. By God acting economically, we can participate in what He is and what He ahs worked out for our pleasure and satisfaction. (Crystallization-study of the Gospel of John, pp.37-39)

 

Questions:

1. What are the two main aspects of the Divine Trinity?

2. Briefly describe the essential aspect of the Divine Trinity.

3. Briefly describe the economical aspect of the Divine Trinity.