The Triune God: A Testimony of Our Belief and Experience

The Christian Research Institute has published a booklet entitled, “Witness Lee and the Local Church.” Because this booklet is filled with falsehoods, misrepresentations, and slanderous accusations, it behooves us to issue a reply that the Christian public might know the truth. In the words of the Apostle Paul, we must “put off the lie” and “speak every man truth with his neighbor” (Eph. 4:25). The purpose of this pamphlet is to refute the charge that we are in error concerning the doctrine of God and to give a positive testimony regarding our belief in and experience of the Triune God. As the reader shall see, we in the churches are absolutely for the whole truth of the biblical revelation of God and for the genuine experience of the reality of God. We stand uncompromisingly for the truth and we testify unashamedly of our experience. We do not adulterate the Word of God, but by the manifestation of the truth commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God (2 Cor. 4:2).

The Accusations Stated

Firstly, we must state clearly the accusations made in this booklet against us. This tract says that we are modalists. Modalism in the second and third centuries passed through several changes and then reached its clearest expression with Sabellius. Sabellius taught that God was not at the same time Father and Son, and that the revelation of the Son ends with the ascension. The permanence and coexistence of the Father, Son, and Spirit were denied by modalism. According to the modalistic concept of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Spirit are not equally and eternally co-existent, but are merely three successive manifestations of the divine Being or three temporary modes of His activity. In this booklet it is stated, “The doctrine taught by the Local Church on the Holy Trinity is known generally in church history as monarchianistic modalism.” Later in the same paragraph it says that the doctrine of the Trinity taught in the Local Church “comes under the general category of what is known theologically as ‘Sabellianism’ or ‘modalism’, which identifies the Person of the Father with the Person of the Son.” Charging us with being modalists, this booklet implies that we view God as “one individual Person who projects Himself in three distinct modes or aspects of His Being.” We are accused of destroying the “concept of the eternally distinct persons” and of identifying the Person of the Father with the Person of the Son. Accusing us of being some type of Sabellians, this booklet says that for us “many passages of scriptures become meaningless” and “no longer mean what they say.” As verses which this tract claims will cause us “some problems,” it cites Matthew 3:17 and 26:39; Luke 23:34; and John 17:4. It goes so far as to suggest that we make the Lord’s plea, “Father, forgive them,” a “hollow sham,” and His prayer in Gethsemane, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt,” an “illusion.” In essence, the booklet accuses us of holding a concept of God “quite different from the Bibical [sic] Trinity,” saying that the “Local Church doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not bibical [sic], not good according to Bibical [sic] standards and should be avoided at all costs.”

The Accusations Refuted By The Pure Word Of God

While this tract abounds with philosophical language in leveling its accusations, we would rather use the language of the Scriptures in refuting its false charges. Let us now turn to the pure Word of God, which we believe in its entirety without reservation, and see whether the accusations and insinuations made against us are in fact truthful.

According to this booklet, we are modalists because we allegedly identify the Person of the Father with the Person of the Son. This accusation is made against us because we believe Isaiah 9:6. This verse says, “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, The mighty God, The everlasting Father [or the Father of Eternity, Heb.], The Prince of Peace.” Our approach to the Scriptures is to believe whatever they say. We believe without question every aspect of the revelation of the Triune God contained in the Scriptures. Isaiah 9:6 is a case in point. Without attempting to reconcile this verse with other portions of Scripture, without trying to force it into a man-made system of theological thought, and without indulging in vain interpretations of its meaning, we simply believe that Isaiah 9:6 means what it says. The child born unto us is called the Mighty God and the Son given unto us is called the Everlasting Father. Here we see two lines. One line says that the child is the Mighty God, and the other line says that the Son is the Everlasting Father. If you believe the first line, then you must believe the second. We declare boldly that we believe both lines. To say that the Son is the Father is according to the pure Word of God. This is not our interpretation; it is our quotation. Those who don’t believe that Isaiah 9:6 means what it says are the ones who find the need to interpret this verse in their desperate attempt to force it to fit in with their theological system. Although Isaiah 9:6 may not fit in well with man’s religious traditions, it is the pure, unadulterated Word of God and it must be received as such. We take this verse in all simplicity as an aspect of the truth of God’s revelation. We do not twist it to match a preconceived mental framework; neither do we use it to construct a theological system. We simply receive it, believe it, and proclaim it.

Our critics make the fatal mistake of assuming that if, according to Isaiah 9:6, we believe that the child is the Mighty God and that the Son is the Everlasting Father, then we must not believe those portions of the Word which clearly reveal that the Father, Son, and Spirit exist at the same time. Such a conclusion is illogical, absurd, and unwarranted. We believe all that the Bible says about God. We accept without partiality every aspect of the divine revelation of the Triune God in the Scriptures. Consider Matthew 3:16-17: “He [the Son] saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I [the Father] am well pleased.” We do not for a moment believe, as this tract insinuates, that Jesus imitated His Father’s voice or the Spirit’s appearance. This critical writing implies that to us these Scriptures “no longer mean what they say” and “become subject to an unwarranted presupposition.” Precisely the opposite is the case. We believe just as much as, or even more than, our critics do that Matthew 3:16-17 means what it says. Actually, we do not believe less than our critics do; we believe more. We believe all that the Bible says just the way the Bible says it. We fully believe Luke 23:34: “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Although the modalists may have difficulty with this verse, making it a “hollow sham,” we have no difficulty at all. Like all other genuine Christians, we believe that it means what it says. This is also true for Matthew 26:39 and John 17:4. In fact, the same is true for many other verses, such as John 1:1-2, where the Son is with the Father, and John 17:5, where the Son shares the glory with the Father. Therefore, contrary to the charges against us, these verses have not “become meaningless to us. With a pure conscience, we testify that we believe that these verses mean what they say. Of this fact God can bear witness for us. Therefore, as those who believe in the pure Word of God, we strongly reject any association with modalism.

Let us consider some other portions of the Word. Recall that modalism denies the permanence and co-existence of the Father, Son, and Spirit. But John 14:16-17, which we, of course, believe, says, “I [the Son] will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth.” Here, we see that the Father, Son, and Spirit exist at the same time. To say that the Son is the Father and the Spirit is not to say that the Father is no longer the Father and the Spirit is no longer the Spirit, just as to say that the child is the Mighty God and the Son is the Everlasting Father is not to say that the child is no longer the child and the Son is no longer the Son. The co-existence of the Father, Son, and Spirit is also definitely revealed in 2 Corinthians 13:14, which says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [the Son], and the love of God [the Father], and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”; and in Ephesians 3:14-17, which says, “I bow my knees unto the Father. . . that he would grant you… to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ [the Son] may dwell in your hearts.” We have no difficulty with any of these portions of the Word. The charge that, to us, they “no longer mean what they say” is a lie. We believe them to mean exactly what they say, and we approach them with no presuppositions whatsoever. Can our critics say as much when they read Isaiah 9:6, where we are told that the Son is called the Everlasting Father, and 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit”? Believing all that the Bible says regarding the Triune God, we place upon our critics the burden to prove to the Christian public that they themselves are as simple, thorough, and pure in this matter as we are. By the Lord’s mercy and grace, we are free from trying to systematize the Word of God. We do not approach it with the serpentine mind which asks, “Yea, hath God said?” (Gen. 3:1). We simply say, “Amen,” to every word, line, and page. It is not our responsibility to reconcile the statements in God’s Word or to systematize them. But it is our responsibility to believe what He has spoken and to act upon it.

This tract claims to be inductive in its approach to the Trinity. However, rather than beginning with the pure Word of God and accepting whatever it says without reservation, the authors begin with a manmade definition of the Trinity and then go to the Bible to substantiate it. It is not our intention to question the validity of the description of the Triune God presented in this booklet. We simply wish to point out that the authors begin with this definition, a mere human concept, and then turn to the Word of God for evidence to support what they already believe. Our approach to the Scriptures is quite different. We begin, not with man’s definitions and preconceived notions, but with the pure Word of God itself. We take the pure, unadulterated Word of God, neither subtracting anything from it nor adding anything to it. We should not only fear taking away from the Word, but also adding to it. As Proverbs 30:5-6 says, “Every word of God is pure … Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Let the pure Word of God speak for itself. Don’t mix it with your philosophy, theology, concept, opinion, and interpretation. These are some of the high things that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:4-5).

A Testimony Of Our Belief In And Experience Of The Triune God

Our Belief

We have pointed out repeatedly that we believe all that the Bible says about God. Let us now give a further testimony of our belief in the Triune God. According to the Scriptures, we believe that God is uniquely one, for 1 Corinthians 8:4 says, “There is none other God but one,” and Isaiah 45:5 says, ‘I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me.” According to the Scriptures, we also believe that God is triune. Isaiah 6:8 says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” and Genesis 1:26 says, “And God said, Let us make man in our image.” In these verses, and in many others which could be cited, ”I” is “Us.” According to Matthew 28:19, we believe that the one, unique, Triune God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We believe that all Three are God. The Father is God (1 Pet. 1:2), the Son is God (Heb. 1:8), and the Spirit is God (Acts 5:2-4). We believe that all Three are eternal. The Father is eternal (Isa. 9:6), the Son is eternal (Heb. 1:12), and the Spirit is eternal (Heb. 9:14). As we have already pointed out, we believe that all Three exist at the same time. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 we see “the same Spirit,” “the same Lord,” and “the same God.” According to these verses and the others we have cited, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all exist at the same time. On page one of “A Simple Presentation,” issued by the church in Anaheim and the ministry of Witness Lee and his co-workers, we state, “We believe that God is the only one Triune God–the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—co-existing equally from eternity to eternity.” Since we believe that all Three, the Father, Son, and Spirit, are eternal and co-existent, we cannot be fairly charged with being modalists. Rather, we are Bible-believing Christians who accept, without having to systematize anything, the whole revelation of God in the Scriptures. How unjust for our critics to say that the Triune God believed in and experienced by us in the churches is not the very God revealed in the Bible!

According to the unadulterated Word of God, we also believe that all Three, the Father, Son, and Spirit, are one. It is at this point that we probably believe more of the pure Word than our critics do. The Bible reveals that the Son is the Father (Isa. 9:6; John 14:8-11) and that the Son and the Father are one (John 10:30). We believe it. In the Greek, 1 Corinthians 15:45 says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” We believe it. We also believe 2 Corinthians 3:17 which, speaking of Christ, the Son, says, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” Why don’t our critics accept these verses like we do and proclaim them? Is it because they are more interested in defending man’s traditions than in testifying, at any cost, of the pure Word of the Lord? If so, then they are in danger of “making void” the Word of God by means of their tradition (Matt. 15:6). Are they more concerned with maintaining a system of human thought than with speaking the truth of God’s revelation? If so, then they are in danger of being ensnared in “systematized error” (Eph. 4:14, J. N. Darby, New Translation). Are they willing, in the sight of God, to “buy the truth, and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23)? If so, then they must pay the price.

According to Robert Govett, a meticulous and perceptive student of the Word, divine truth is twofold. In his article, “The Twofoldness of Divine Truth,” Govett says, “The twofoldness of truth as offered to our view in Holy Writ is one strong argument of its not being the work of man. It is the glory of man’s intellect to produce oneness” (p. 3). Regarding the two aspects of truth, Govett remarks, “It is not necessary to reconcile them before we are bound to receive and act upon the two. It is enough that the Word of God distinctly affirms them both” (p. 6). Govett also says, “Both, then are to be received whether we can reconcile them or no. Their claim on our reception is not that we can unite them, but that God has testified both” (p. 8). We may apply this principle to the revelation of the Triune God in the Scriptures. We believe both aspects of this revelation—that God is the Three being one and that He is the One being three. We invite those who have published this tract to prove that they equal us in this matter. Let us see who truly believes all that the Bible reveals about God.

Because we accept everything the Bible says regarding the Triune God, we are truly balanced in this matter, falling neither into the extreme of modalism on the one hand, nor into the extreme of tritheism (the belief in three Gods) on the other. Some of our critics place so much stress on the fact that God is one-in-three that they come close to the brink of tritheism. Although they may deny it vehemently, they have given us ground to say that they may unconsciously or unwittingly be tritheists. As we have pointed out, we in the churches accept without reservation both aspects of God’s revelation of Himself—that He is the Three being one and the One being three. We believe, as all real Christians do, that God is one-in-three. We also believe that, according to the pure Word of the Bible, God is three-in-one. At this point, it is well to quote a paragraph from page 29 of Concerning the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, by Witness Lee, a book which the authors completely ignored in their booklet:

The Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—has the aspect of being three-in-one and also the aspect of being one-in-three. As the three-in-one, He is “I”; as the one-in-three, He is “us.” From the aspect of the three-in-one, “the Word was God”; from the aspect of the one-in-three, “the Word was with God” (John 1:1). From the aspect of the three-in-one, “the Lord is the Spirit”; from the aspect of the one-in-three, it is “the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:17) From the aspect of the three-in-one, the Son and the Father are one (John 10:30; 14:7-11); from the aspect of the one-in-three, the Son is with the Father (John 1:1-2), the Son shares the glory with the Father (John 17:5), the Son is the beloved of the Father (John 17:24), the Son has become one with the Father (John 17:11, 21, 22), and the Son takes the same action with the Father (John 14:23).

Hallelujah for our wonderful Triune God! He is truly the three-in-one and the one-in-three. According to their writings, however, our critics believe the aspect of the one-in-three, but apparently they do not believe the aspect of the three-in-one.

What a glorious mystery is the Triune God! How mysterious it is that John 1:1 says that “the Word was with God” and that “the Word was God”; that 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “The Lord is that Spirit,” yet speaks of “the Spirit of the Lord”; that, referring to the Son, Hebrews 1:8-9 says, “The Son . . .O God . . . thy God”; and that the “one Spirit” (Eph. 4:4) of God is called “the seven Spirits” (Rev. 1:4; 4:5; 5:6). Although our finite mind cannot understand the mystery of the Triune God (if we think it can, we are proud and deceived), in simple faith we can receive the truth of His revelation, and we can open our whole being, spirit, soul, and body, to be filled and saturated with Him.

Our Experience

This brings us to the aspect of our experience of the Triune God. According to the Scriptures, the Father, Son, and Spirit are all in us for us to enjoy in our experience. The Father is in us (Eph. 4:6), the Son is in us (John 14:20; Col. 1:27; 2 Cor. 13:5), and the Spirit is in us (John 14:17). We in the churches do not stress doctrinal formulations but simple faith in God’s Word and personal experience of the Triune God Himself. We are not mainly concerned with understanding Him in our mind but with experiencing Him in our spirit. In brief, we are for truth and experience. The truth we believe is the reality we experience.

In his book, The Pentecostal Reality, Dr. J. Rodman Williams, President of Melodyland School of Theology, says, “The Scriptures nowhere suggest that to believe in God as Trinity, or Triune—or to ‘think God’ in such and such a manner (often leading to speculation and abstractness)—is really the important thing. The concern is that people be introduced into the reality of God as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is primarily a matter of the life to be lived, not a teaching or doctrine to be held” (p. 101). We fully agree with Dr. Williams in this matter. In the same book, Dr. Williams says, “The purpose of that part of the Great Commission, Go therefore… baptizing,’ is not to make learners out of people in regard to God, but to introduce them into life lived in the reality of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (p. 102). We heartily agree. In the church life we are not making learners out of people, but are immersing them into the reality of the Father, Son, and Spirit. Later, in this book, Dr. Williams, speaking of the early Christians, remarks, “For these disciples, clearly, a statement about God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was not dogma, nor was it an abstruse teaching that they had to accept for salvation. It was rather the reality of God wrought into their lives. It was not creed yet, or theology (such as ‘one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity’). It was that which precedes all significant theology: event, happening, experience” (p. 104). “Thus,” as Dr. Williams later continues, “what is vital in talking about the Holy Trinity is not that it is simply a doctrine to be embraced but a reality to be lived” (p. 105). We agree with Dr. Williams in emphasizing the experience of the Triune God. We can no longer be content with mere objective knowledge about God. We hunger and thirst for the reality of the Triune God to fill our whole being. As we exercise simple faith in the pure Word of God, we daily open ourselves to the Lord that we might truly experience Him.

Let us consider some verses which point to the experience of God. Matthew 28:19 speaks of “baptizing” people “into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Gk.). These words are no mere baptismal formula; they represent an actual union with the Triune God and the real experience of Him. How we enjoy being immersed into the very being of the Triune God Himself! He surely is “waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over” (Ezek. 47:5). We echo the words of Madame Guyon: “I am as nothing, and rejoice to be emptied, and lost, and swallowed up in Thee.” How wonderful, how marvelous, that man can be baptized into God Himself! Commenting on Matthew 28:19 in his Word Studies in the New Testament, M. R. Vincent says, “Baptizing into the name of the Holy Trinity implies a spiritual and mystical union with Him… The name… is the expression of the sum total of the divine Being.… It is the equivalent to His person.… When one is baptized into the name of the Trinity, he professes to acknowledge and appropriate God in all that He is and in all that He does for man. He recognizes and depends upon God the Father as his Creator and Preserver; receives Jesus Christ as his only Mediator and Redeemer, and his pattern of life; and confesses the Holy Spirit as his Sanctifier and Comforter.” We in the churches testify that we are not merely studying about the Triune God—we are appropriating Him ”in all that He is and in all that He does” for us.

We not only enjoy being in the Triune God; we also enjoy His dwelling in us. John 14:20 says, “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.’ What a tremendous word! In this word we see the experience of being in the Son and of the Son being in us. Don’t you long for the reality of this? In verse 23 of the same chapter the Lord Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” It is not a small thing for the Father and the Son to make their abode with us. How can you be content with mere doctrine when such an experience is available to you? First John 4:15 says, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.” What a glorious promise—to dwell in God and to have God dwell in us! We want the reality of this. Don’t you?

In Philippians 2:13 Paul says, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” We can testify that God is working in us according to His good pleasure, according to His desire to fulfill His purpose in this generation. No outward knowledge of the Bible can ever replace the reality of God working in us. In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul says, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” It wasn’t doctrine that transformed Paul from being a persecutor of the church (v. 6) into an ardent pursuer of Christ-it was experience. After that confrontation with Christ on the way to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9), Paul began to run after Christ that he might gain Him in all His reality. We, like Paul, are not seeking the outward knowledge about Christ, but the inward, personal, experiential knowledge of our wonderful Christ Himself.

We can also declare that 1 Thessalonians 5:23 is our daily testimony: “And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gk.). Here we see that the God of peace is sanctifying us wholly, that is, He is permeating our whole being with His very element. Will you allow the preoccupation with man’s doctrinal systems to rob you of your sanctification, to deprive you of the experience of having the holy element of God wrought into every fiber of your being? We won’t. We believe the truth as it is in Jesus (Eph. 4:21) and we will fight for it, but we won’t allow man’s systematized theologies to rob us of the reality of God.

In Hebrews 13:20-21, Paul says, “Now the God of peace … make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Here again we see that God is working in us, doing that which is pleasing in His sight. God’s working may not be pleasing to man, but it is pleasing to Him. We are here for God’s good pleasure (Eph. 1:5, 9). We care firstly for what we are in the eyes of God, not for what we are in the eyes of the world. The goal of God’s working in us is that He be expressed-glorified-through us. The corporate expression of God on earth—the church—is what pleases Him. You may know the Scriptures in letters, yet not have much of God’s working in you. You may be an ardent defender of the traditional theological systems, yet be saturated with self and not manifest God in your living. Don’t you long to fulfill your God-created purpose of expressing Him by living in the reality of His image? For this, we all need more experiences of God Himself.

Finally, Ephesians 3:19 declares, “And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.” Imagine—actually being filled with all the fullness of God! This is a matter of experience, the practical, inward experience of having the Triune God wrought into our being. This experience is beautifully expressed by the first stanza and the chorus of a hymn written by Witness Lee:

What mystery, the Father, Son, and Spirit,
In person three, in substance all are one.
How glorious, this God our being enters
To be our all, thru Spirit in the Son!

The Triune God has now become our all!
How wonderful! How glorious!
This Gift divine we never can exhaust!
How excellent! How marvelous!

We declare to the whole universe that we in the churches are for this. We want the wonderful Triune God to enter into us, permeate every fiber of our being, and fill us with all His fullness that we might glorify Him. “Unto him be glory in the church” (Eph. 3:21).

An Invitation