What is the focus of all the 22 epistles in the New Testament? Have you ever considered that there’s something deeper in the Epistles, like an underlying structure, a focus?
I personally haven’t, to be honest, but by enjoying the morning revival on, The Focus of the Lord’s Recovery, especially week two, I have been so impressed with this…
The focus of the Epistles in the New Testament is not doctrines, teachings, Christianity, working for God, outward practices, etc – the focus of the Epistles is the Divine Trinity for the Divine Dispensing!
The focus of the Epistles is the Divine Trinity
We take many things for granted, and especially when we come to the Bible we take many verses, phrases, terms, names – for granted! We think we know what they mean and what they refer to, but unless we do a deeper study under the Lord’s enlightening, we can miss out a lot.
There are many verses in all the Epistles that show us that the Apostles/writers of the Epistles blessed the readers/recipients with the Triune God in His Divine Trinity for their enjoyment!
Below I tried to compile a list of verses speaking of the Divine Trinity for the Divine Dispensing.
- “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. For while we were yet weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:5-6). Here Paul could have just said that God gave us His love, but he wanted to impress us that Christ the Son died for us, the Spirit has been given to us, and through the Spirit, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts. Here we see the entire Divine Trinity is dispensing!
- “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” (Rom. 8:9). This utterance indicates that the indwelling Spirit of life is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit of the entire Triune God (John 4:24, 2 Cor. 3:17; Rom. 8:11). In this verse, we see that the Father (of Him), the Son (of Christ), and the Spirit are for the divine dispensing into our being!
- “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” (Rom. 8:11). God the Father is “the One who raised Jesus from the dead”, God the Son is “Christ”, and God the Spirit is “the Spirit who indwells you” – all these three are not objective, outside of us, but they operate in us to give us life, to life our entire being!
- “That I might be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 15:16). Paul’s ministry was in the Triune God and unto/for the Triune God – He was a minister of Christ Jesus (the Son), a laboring priest of the gospel of God (the Father), offering the Gentiles who are sanctified in the Holy Spirit.
- “But there are distinctions of gifts, but the same Spirit; And there are distinctions of ministries, yet the same Lord; And there are distinctions of operations, but the same God, who operates all things in all.” (1 Cor. 12:4-6). In relation to the building up of the Body of Christ, the Spirit gives the gifts, the Lord gives the ministries, and God the Father has many operations! What a wonderful coordination in the Divine Trinity for the divine dispensing for the building up of the Body of Christ!
- “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14). Paul didn’t just say, God be with you, saints! – he blessed the saints with the enjoyment of God the Son, with the love of God the Father as the source, and with much fellowship of God the Spirit as the transmission of the Father’s love and the Son’s grace. It is obvious that the Triune God here is for the divine dispensing into the believers.
- “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!” (Gal. 4:6). “Verses 4-6 of this chapter speak of the Triune God’s producing of many sons for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. God the Father sent forth God the Son to redeem us from the law that we might receive the sonship. He also sent forth God the Spirit to impart His life into us that we might become His sons in reality.” (note 1). The Triune God is being dispensed in His Divine Trinity into us to make us His sons!
The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity in Ephesians
- Ephesians chapter 1 unveils how God the Father chose and predestinated the members in eternity, God the Son redeemed them, and God the Spirit sealed them as a pledge, thus imparting Himself into His believers for the formation of the church, which is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (vv. 3-14, 17-23).
- Ephesians Chapter 2 shows us that in the Divine Trinity all the believers, both Jewish and Gentile, have access unto God the Father, through God the Son, in God the Spirit (v. 18).
- In Ephesians chapter 3 the apostle prays that God the Father would grant the believers to be strengthened through God the Spirit into their inner man so that Christ, God the Son, may make His home in their hearts, that they may be filled unto all the fullness of God (vv. 16-19).
- Ephesians Chapter 4 portrays how the processed God as the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father is mingled with the Body of Christ so that all the members of the Body may experience the Divine Trinity (vv. 4-6).
- Ephesians Chapter 5 exhorts the believers to praise the Lord, God the Son, with the songs of God the Spirit, and give thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, to God the Father (vv. 19-20).
- Ephesians Chapter 6 instructs us to fight the spiritual warfare by being empowered in the Lord, God the Son, putting on the whole armor of God the Father, and wielding the sword of the Spirit (vv. 10-11, 17).
The Triune God is for the Divine Dispensing!
- “But we ought to thank God always concerning you, brothers beloved of the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thes. 2:13). “God loved us (v. 16), chose us from the beginning, and called us through the gospel (v. 14). He chose us unto His salvation, which is by the sanctification of the Spirit, and He called us to the obtaining of the Lord’s glory. Now He is taking us on with eternal comfort and good hope in grace.” (note one)
- “But when the kindness and the love to man of our Savior God appeared, … through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 3:4-6). The love of God has been poured out into our hearts richly through Christ (the Redeemer and Savior) to impart to us all the riches of Christ as an eternal portion for us to enjoy (see note 1 in v. 6).
- “But you, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, Keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 20-21). “The entire Blessed Trinity is employed and enjoyed by the believers in their praying in the Holy Spirit, keeping themselves in the love of God, and awaiting the mercy of our Lord unto eternal life.” (see note 1 in v. 21).
- “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:4-5). The Father is “He who is and who was and who is coming”, the Spirit is the seven Spirits before God’s throne, and Jesus Christ is the Faithful Witness and the Ruler (see note 3 in v. 4)! All three, even in the last book of the Bible, are for the divine dispensing into man to produce the churches as the local expressions of the Body of Christ!
It is evident – the dispensing of the divine Trinity!
There are so many other verses in the Epistles that speak of the Divine Trinity being dispensed into the believers to be everything to them for the building up of the Body of Christ. If you find any other verses, please leave a comment below – I would love to know them and enjoy them more!
The divine revelation of the trinity of the Godhead in the holy Word, from Genesis to 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 participate in, experience, enjoy, and possess the processed Triune God now and for eternity for God to have the reality of the Body of Christ, His corporate expression (see note 1 in 2 Cor. 13:14, last paragraph)!
[sharing inspired from many verses in the Bible with their footnotes in the Recovery Version, as mentioned in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Focus of the Lord’s Recovery, week 2.]
