THE SCRIPTURES VERSUS LIFE
Your need is to turn on the switch, not study. “You search the Scriptures,” the Lord Jesus told the religious Jews, “and you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). They spent time studying and searching the Scriptures from Genesis to Malachi, but they would not come to the One who could give them life. You may study the books on electricity, but if you do not want to turn on the switch, what is the use?
I have no understanding of how electricity works, but I turn on the switch, and the lights go on at once. I enjoy the brightness so much that I do not want to turn the lights off. Let them keep shining! I can also turn on the switch and get air-conditioning in the summer and heat when the temperature is cold. Heat, cooling, and lights all depend on my using the switch.
If you study the Bible every day without touching the switch, what is the use? Your spirit must touch the Lord the Spirit. These two spirits must mingle as one. The Triune God has passed through a long process to become the life-giving Spirit dwelling in your spirit. Do you really believe 1 Corinthians 6:17, “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit”? I know you believe John 3:16. You must also believe 1 Corinthians 6:17! If you are one spirit with the Lord, you have the switch. Open your spirit. Do not exercise your mind. Whether you are young or old, sister or brother—whoever you are, if you turn on the switch, you enjoy the light. If the switch is off, you may be an elder or a worker and be in darkness and death.
The Spirit within us needs to be activated. Then it becomes life. We have already seen in the previous messages that our life is the life that results from two lives grafted into one, and that our spirit is the spirit that issues from two spirits mingled as one. In this message we want to consider how this spirit moves and acts.
THE TRIUNE GOD IN ROMANS 8
The Spirit that we are referring to is the Spirit; that is, it is the Triune God who has been processed and become the life-giving Spirit. This Triune God, as our title says, saturates the tripartite man. Look at Romans 8:9, and you will see the reference to the Triune God. “But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.” Notice that God, Christ, and the Spirit are all mentioned here. Yet this verse is not making a doctrinal statement; it is dealing with our experience. Contrary to the way Christianity presents it, the Trinity is not a doctrine for us to subscribe to. We need God to be triune in order that we may experience Him. God, Christ, and the Spirit are all in our experience.
Erroneous Concepts of the Trinity
The traditional explanation of the Trinity is grossly inadequate and borders on tritheism. When the Spirit of God is joined with us, God is not left behind, nor does Christ remain on the throne. This is the impression Christianity gives. They think of the Father as one Person, sending the Son, another Person, to accomplish redemption, after which the Son sends the Spirit, yet another Person. The Spirit, in traditional thinking, comes into the believers, while the Father and Son are left on the throne. When believers pray, they are taught to bow before the Father and pray in the name of the Son. To split the Godhead into these separate Persons is not the revelation of the Bible, but the doctrine of the Nicene Creed.
When I was in Rome, I saw two paintings in the Vatican. One was of an old, bearded man sitting down, with a young son standing at his side, and a dove flying overhead. This picture, we were told, represented the three Persons in the Trinity. There was another painting right next to it, similar to it, with an old man sitting, a young man standing, and a dove flying above; however, this one also had a young woman standing there. Here were four persons, with Mary included! Should we not battle against such teachings until there is no place for them?
(Life Messages, Vol. 2 (#42-75), Chapter 19, by Witness Lee)
