Scripture Reading: John 1:1-2, 4, 14, 29, 33, 51; 3:16; 4:14; 5:17-18; 10:30-33; 14:7-20; 15:1, 5, 26; 20:22, 28
Ⅰ
There are two views concerning Christ:
A
The physical view according to the synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—concerns Christ as a man.
B
The mystical view according to the Gospel of John concerns Christ as God.
Ⅱ
The intrinsic revelation of the Gospel of John is Christ as the processed Triune God; no other book in the Bible reveals the Triune God so much and so clearly and intrinsically as John—1:1-2; 5:17-18; 10:30-33; 14:9-11:
A
Christ as the eternal Word is God—1:1:
１
Thomas said to the resurrected Christ, "My Lord and my God!"—20:28.
２
Christ is God over all, and He is blessed forever—Rom. 9:5.
３
He is the complete God in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily—Col. 2:9.
B
According to Their essence, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one; thus, there is the aspect of the essential Trinity; the Son is the embodiment of the Father, and the Spirit is the reality of the Son—John 14:16-18:
１
A Son is given to us, yet His name is called the Eternal Father—Isa. 9:6.
２
The Son as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b.
３
The Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17) and the Lord Spirit (v. 18).
４
Such words in the Scriptures are strong evidence that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are essentially one.
Ⅲ
Christ as the all-inclusive One is the processed Triune God—John 1:1, 4, 29, 33, 51; 2:19; 3:14, 29; 4:14; 6:35; 8:28, 58; 9:5; 10:9, 11; 11:25; 14:6:
A
John 1 reveals the two sections of eternity; in between the two sections, on the bridge of time, Christ is revealed as God in five stages:
１
In eternity past He is revealed as the Word, the definition, explanation, and expression of the self-existing and ever-existing One, without beginning and without end, the God in creation—vv. 1-3.
２
The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us as the God in incarna-tion—v. 14.
３
In becoming the Lamb of God, He is revealed as the God in redemption—v. 29.
４
By being anointed with the Spirit as the dove, He is revealed as the God in transformation—v. 33.
５
As the ladder that joins earth to heaven, He is revealed as the God in building—v. 51.
６
These five stages of Christ show a progressive revelation of God as the "bache-lor" God, the incarnated God, the redeeming God, the indwelling God, and the incorporated God.
B
In John 3 God gave His only begotten Son to us for His dispensing—v. 16:
１
The Son is the embodiment of the Father; when the Father gave His Son to us, that was God giving Himself in His embodiment to us.
２
If we receive His Son, His embodiment, we receive eternal life; this indicates that eternal life is the Son, the embodiment of the Triune God; to receive eternal life is to receive the Son as the embodiment of the Triune God as a gift from Him.
３
God gives Himself to us in His Trinity; He gives Himself to us as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit; God is triune for the purpose of giving Himself to us.
４
The giving of God's only begotten Son to the world dispensed the divine life to men; God gave His Son to us not only that we may be saved through the Son but, even more, that He could dispense Himself into us; the giving of the Son of God to us is a matter of the divine dispensing.
C
In John 4 Christ gives the water that becomes a fountain that springs up into eternal life—v. 14:
１
This verse reveals the flowing God in His three stages: the Father as the fountain, the Son as the spring, and the Spirit as the flowing river; more-over, They all take the New Jerusalem as Their eternal goal.
２
Eternal life here refers to the totality of the divine life; the divine life has only one totality in the whole universe—the New Jerusalem.
３
The Greek preposition translated as "into" is rich in meaning; here it speaks of the destination; the eternal life is the destination of the flowing Triune God; the New Jerusalem is the totality of the divine, eternal life; thus, into eternal life means into the New Jerusalem.
４
The flowing Triune God is the key to John's Gospel and Revelation.
D
In John 15 Christ as the vine is the organism of the Triune God—15:1, 5, 26:
１
The revelation of God in chapter 15 is meaningful, profound, and all-inclusive; all that God the Father is and has is centralized and embodied in God the Son, and all of this is realized in God the Spirit—vv. 1, 26.
２
Now all of this has been wrought into us and will be expressed and testified through us; God the Father is the source and founder, God the Son is the center and manifestation, God the Spirit is the reality and realiza-tion, and the branches are the Body, the corporate expression—v. 5.
３
When we abide in the vine, the processed and consummated Triune God dispenses Himself into us, and we express His glory by bearing much fruit— v. 8.
４
The issue is a divine and human constitution of the processed and con-summated Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, conformed, and glorified elect as an organism of the processed and consummated Triune God—14:7-20.
E
In John 20 Christ in resurrection breathed into the disciples the Holy Spirit— v. 22:
１
In His resurrection Christ became the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17.
２
The Spirit as the pneumatic Christ is the processed and consummated Triune God.
３
To believe in the Son is to receive the Son (John 1:12); we receive the Son because through His death and resurrection the Son has become the Spirit— 1 Cor. 15:45b.
４
The receiving of the Son in John 1:12 and the receiving of the Spirit in 20:22 are not two receivings; to receive the Son is to receive the Spirit, because the Son today is the Spirit—2 Cor. 3:17.
５
When we receive the Son, we also receive the Father—1 John 2:23; John 10:30; 14:11.
６
Christ as the Word at the beginning of the Gospel of John has become the Spirit, the processed and consummated Triune God, at the end for the pur-pose of dispensing Himself into the believers for His expression and glori-fication—1:1, 4; 20:22.