God’s Economy: recovered by Witness Lee, enjoyed by local churches

The Way of God’s Economy—the Dispensing of the Divine Trinity

Scriptural Basis

One of the portions of Scripture that most explicitly reveals the dispensing of the Triune God is 2 Corinthians 13:14:

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with you all. (emphases added)

This verse enumerates Jesus Christ the Son, God, and the Holy Spirit. It also mentions grace, love, and fellowship. Just as the three of the Trinity are not three separate Gods, so also grace, love, and fellowship are not three separate matters, but rather, three aspects of the same spiritual experience. An excellent explanation of this verse is found in a footnote in the Recovery Version of the New Testament.

The grace of the Lord is the Lord Himself as life to us for our enjoyment (John 1:17 and note 1; 1 Cor. 15:10 and note 1), the love of God is God Himself (1 John 4:8, 16) as the source of the grace of the Lord, and the fellowship of the Spirit is the Spirit Himself as the transmission of the grace of the Lord with the love of God for our participation. These are not three separate matters but three aspects of one thing, just as the Lord, God, and the Holy Spirit are not three separate Gods but three “hypostases…of the one same undivided and indivisible” God (Philip Schaff)….

The love of God is the source, since God is the origin; the grace of the Lord is the course of the love of God, since the Lord is the expression of God; and the fellowship of the Spirit is the impartation of the grace of the Lord with the love of God, since the Spirit is the transmission of the Lord with God, for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, with Their divine virtues….

This verse is strong proof that the trinity of the Godhead is not for the doctrinal understanding of systematic theology but for the dispensing of God Himself in His trinity into His chosen and redeemed people. In the Bible the Trinity is never revealed merely as a doctrine. It is always revealed or mentioned in regard to the relationship of God with His creatures, especially with man, who was created by Him, and more particularly with His chosen and redeemed people….

Thus, it is evident that the divine revelation of the trinity of the Godhead in the holy Word, from Genesis through Revelation, is not for theological study but for the apprehending of how God in His mysterious and marvelous trinity dispenses Himself into His chosen people, that we as His chosen and redeemed people may, as indicated in the apostle’s blessing to the Corinthian believers, participate in, experience, enjoy, and possess the processed Triune God now and for eternity. Amen. (809-811)