Why is God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?

I’m afraid that today the truth concerning the divine trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—is either overlooked as being something so profound that it’s only for theologians to understand, or, if addressed at all, is only taught to educate Bible students in the importance of accurate or orthodox theology. But this is a big missing!

God is Triune—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—to dispense Himself into us.

Nothing in the Bible is more crucial than God’s economy, that is, for the divine trinity to dispense Himself into us.

In this post we’ll consider how the focus of the New Testament Epistles is this divine dispensing. Then by application we’ll see how the trinity in the Scriptures is not just for theological study, but for the dispensing of divine trinity into God’s chosen, redeemed people for their experience and enjoyment of Him issuing in the testimony of the Triune God.

How can the divine trinity, the three-one God, dispense Himself into us?

The essential trinity is related to God’s existence.

Unfortunately, the common understanding of many goes no farther than a creed recognizing faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost (Spirit). However, such an expression of faith may only be something objective—recognizing that the Three of the Godhead are one God.

Yes, the Father, Son, and Spirit are all one God (Matt. 28:19; 1 Tim. 2:5, note 1). Yes, the Father, Son, and Spirit are all eternal—coexisting from eternity to eternity (Isa. 9:6; Heb. 7:3; 9:14 and notes). And yes, the Three are one, distinct—but never separate. Yet such an essential understanding of the trinity, though accurate and orthodox, may altogether miss the practical and subjective application of the trinity to our daily lives.

The economic trinity is for God’s dispensing.

So, it’s important for us to realize that there is another aspect of the trinity—the economic aspect. This aspect of the divine trinity reveals how the eternal Triune God—the Father, Son and Holy Spirit—carries out His plan to dispense Himself into man.

In His economy, the entire Triune God was embodied in Christ (Col. 2:9). He became flesh  to declare God to man and to offer Himself as God’s Lamb (John 1:1, 14, 18, 29). Then as the last Adam in the flesh, He crucified the old man, Adam and became a life-giving Spirit in resurrection (1 Cor. 15:45).  Now as the Spirit of Jesus Christ, He enters into us to be our bountiful supply for our constant, daily, moment-by-moment salvation (Phil. 1:19). This is how the apostles presented the trinity for our enjoyment. This is the kind of experience we need today in order to fulfill God’s eternal plan or economy.

The focus of the epistles is the divine trinity for the divine dispensing.

Since this topic is nearly inexhaustible, I’ll concentrate on one of the deepest epistles, Ephesians. Ephesians presents a view of how the church is produced and built up according to God’s heart’s desire. What’s amazing to me is to see that every chapter of this crucial book reveals the divine trinity for the divine dispensing:

Ephesians 1 reveals the three-fold blessing of the divine trinity issuing in the Body of Christ—the Father’s choosing and predestinating us, the Son’s redeeming us, and the Spirit’s sealing and pledging us are for the dispensing of the divine trinity into us for the formation of the church, the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:3-14, 17-23).

Ephesians 2 shows how all the believers, both Jews and Gentiles may enjoy the same access through Christ, the Son, in the Spirit, unto the Father (Eph. 2:18). It’s by applying such a practical access, by enjoying such a divine trinity that so many believers from different backgrounds could be one.

Ephesians 3 presents Paul’s prayer for the believers’ experience. He prayed that the Father would grant them to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into their inner man. This was so that Christ might make His home in their hearts through faith. The issue of such experience is the fullness of God, the corporate expression of the Triune God (Eph. 3:14-17, 21). We should make Paul’s prayer for the divine dispensing of the divine trinity our daily prayer for ourselves and the church.

Ephesians 4 shows how the one Spirit as the essence, the one Lord as the element, and one Father as the source of the Body are mingled with the one Body (Eph. 4:3-6). This is so that the believers, by enjoying such a dispensing of the divine trinity, can walk worthily of the Lord in keeping the oneness of the Body of Christ.

Ephesians 5 reveals how the believers may enjoy the divine dispensing, by praising the Lord, God the Son, with songs of God the Spirit, and giving thanks in the name of God the Son, to God the Father (Eph. 5:18-20).

Ephesians 6 charges the believers to fight the spiritual warfare by being empowered in the Lord, God the Son, putting on the whole armor of God the Father, and wielding the sword of God the Spirit (Eph. 6:10-11, 17). This is to enjoy the divine dispensing of the divine trinity in carrying out the church’s commission to deal with God’s enemy.

We need to live a life of ordinary days in the divine dispensing.

We shouldn’t expect a spectacular result from our Christian life but be satisfied with ordinary days in the divine dispensing. In our daily living we simply need to receive, experience, and enjoy the dispensing of the divine trinity in a normal and gradual way. It is by this little by little, day by day, and step by step dispensing of the Triune God into us that we grow up into Christ in all things,  the Body of Christ is built up, God’s enemy is defeated, and the bride of Christ is prepared for His soon return.

“Lord, thank you for showing us that You are triune—Father, Son and Holy Spirit for Your divine dispensing. Father, strengthen us daily with power through Your Spirit into our inner man so that Christ may make His home deep down in our hearts that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God. Lord, remind us to enjoy Your divine dispensing in all the ordinary things of our life—little by little, moment by moment, and day by day.”

This post was inspired by Message Two of the Thanksgiving Conference on The Focus of the Lord’s Recovery. You can read more about it by obtaining the Holy Word for Morning on this topic. You can also read more on this topic at: agodman.com.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14, and note 1). For an in depth appreciation of this topic, I also would encourage you to read the extensive footnote on this verse.