Message Three—The Triune God as Life Saturating the Tripartite Man
Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.
6b The mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
11 And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.
God Being Triune
Look at Romans 8:9, and you will see the reference to the Triune God: “You are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have 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 for our experience.
John 14 clearly says that the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son (vv. 10, 11). To see the Son is to see the Father. When the Son speaks, it is the Father who is working. The two are inseparable. The Bible goes on to say that the Son, after death and resurrection, became the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). The Son, in whom is the Father, has become the Spirit. Thus, the Triune God can come into the sinner. With the Spirit comes the Son; when the Son comes, the Father comes as well.
The term triune means “three in one.” From one side there are three; but from the other side They are one, because They cannot be separated.
Man Being Tripartite
Not only is God triune; man is tripartite. We human beings are spirit, soul, and body. We were created in this way so that we could be organically grafted to God and so that the two spirits, His and ours, could be joined together.
Romans 8:10 says, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.” When the Triune God enters into you, His divine life is dispensed into you and makes your spirit life. Your spirit is life. Here is a reference to your spirit.
Then verse 6 says, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.” The mind is the main part of the soul. Thus, the mind is sometimes used in the Bible to represent the soul. In verse 10 we saw that the spirit is life. Here in verse 6 the mind, representing the soul, is also life. When we set the mind on the spirit, the life and the spirit will be infused into our mind, making it also life.
Verse 11 mentions our mortal bodies: “If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.”
In just these few verses we have the tripartite man—spirit, soul, and body—and the Triune God.
The Divine Life Saturating Our Whole Being
For Him to become our life, He first enters our spirit, making it life. Then our soul is made life by the mind being set on the spirit. Last, our mortal bodies are made life. The divine life thus saturates our whole being.
Our relationship with God should reach to this extent. Our whole being must be saturated with Him. We should not be content with outwardly worshipping Him, loving Him, fearing Him, and doing things to please Him. This mysterious God has passed through a process: creation, incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. Now He has returned as the Spirit to enter all who believe in Him. Such is our God and our Savior.
He does not want us to worship Him from afar. He does not want us to stand in awe of Him. Nor does He want us to perform certain duties to please Him. What He wants is that we open the deepest part of our being to Him and call on His name. Then His Spirit comes into us, making our deadened spirit life. From there He spreads out. As we set our mind on the spirit, the soul too is saturated with Him. It also becomes life. From the soul, life spreads also to our mortal body. The resurrection life saturates it. When every part of us is saturated with this all-inclusive life-giving Spirit, we are in the union that God wants.
God has no use for the religious forms of worship. He does not want us to bow, kneel, or prostrate ourselves before Him. What He wants are those who have a contrite heart and will open themselves to Him, receiving Him as their life, light, power, and even their living. The worship He wants is this union. If we give Him the opportunity to be in union with us, this is worship. To allow Him to be joined with us is what pleases Him most.
The answer to all your shortcomings is to live out Christ. You must cease trying to love or to submit, to be gentle or to be meek. Admit that you are unable and stop trying. Simply live out Christ. Call on His name. This is not something for just the young people to do. The older sisters need to say, “O Lord Jesus!” too. The brothers, whatever their position in society, must also say, “O Lord Jesus!” You need Him. If your situation does not allow you to call on Him loudly, you can say His name softly over and over. You will feel different inside. Because He is the true and living God, when you call on His name, you touch the Spirit. The Spirit contains the person of the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the name, and the Spirit is the person. Keep breathing Him in, in this way.
The Spirit Saturating Our Whole Being Until Every Part Is Christ
God is Spirit and life. He has passed through a process and is now ready for us to receive Him. Praise the Lord that we have done so! His Spirit and ours are joined as one. Every moment we live in this Spirit. His divine life makes our spirit life. Then our soul becomes life by the spreading of His life, until finally our body is also life by His saturating of us. Here is what God wants: the Spirit saturating our whole being until every part is Christ. Morality and ethics cannot compare with this. When man lives himself, even the best of his living is only copper. When we live Christ, our living is gold, shining bright. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 1, “Life Messages, vol. 2,” ch. 60)
