THESE THREE ARE ONE

1 John 5:7 – For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one.

My study of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and historical revival led me to the works of Jonathan Edwards. His academic reputation and his embrace of the outpouring of the Spirit stopped me in my tracks a number of years ago. Edwards’ teaching gave me a connection with historic revival and a Protestant theology. I am grateful for all that I have learned from studying his works. One of the most important lessons that came from Edwards was his understanding of the trinity. He saw the trinity in a way I had never considered. He believed that Jesus is the understanding or Word of the Father expressed in a person. He further believed that the Holy Spirit was the love of the Father and the Son expressed in a distinct person. To me this was a life changing revelation. C.S. Lewis had a similar belief about the trinity and expressed his thoughts in his book Mere Christianity. Here is what Lewis said.

“And that, by the way, is perhaps the most important difference between Christianity and all other religions; that in Christianity God is not a static thing… but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance. The union between the Father and Son is such a live concrete thing that this union itself is also a Person. I know this is almost inconceivable but look at it thus. You know that among human beings, when they get together in a family, or a club, or a trade union, people talk about the “spirit” of that family, or club, or trade union. They talk about its “spirit” because the individual members, when they are together, do really develop particular ways of talking and behaving, which they would not have if they were apart. It is as if a sort of communal personality came into existence. Of course, it is not a real person; it is only rather like a person. But that is just one of the differences between God and us. What grows out of the joint life of the Father and Son is a real Person, is in fact the Third of the three Persons who are God. This third Person is called, in technical language, the Holy Ghost or the “spirit” of God.”

Thinking of God in this way has an amazing impact on our understanding of how God communicates Himself to us. If Jesus is the Word of the Father then Jesus is the Father’s own expression or description of Himself. When we look at Christ we see the Father. In a similar way the Holy Spirit is the actual love of the Father and the Son expressed in a person. When we touch the Holy Spirit we are touching the infinite love of God.