You are making me work I see, but that's ok, I want to be helpful. I scanned the internet and found some modalism quotes of your group, "The Father is in the Son, the Son is in the Spirit, and the Spirit is now in the Body. They are now four in one: the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the Body" (Lee, The Practical Expression of the Church, 43, LSM). And another person writes..."Does not 'I AM' imply one Person? If you believe 'I' is a singular, personal pronoun, you have to say yes. So the Bible says that God is one Person...So this leads us right back into Lee's model" (E.B. Will). There is lots more, but it's tiring try to find them. "There was nothing in the Father to bridge the gap between God and man. . . . But now He has become incarnate in human nature" (Lee, The Economy of God, 11..). My question is how can the Father be incarnate if He is not the Son?Quote:
Originally Posted by christianmomof3
Have you thought maybe that you are not a modalist, but the Recovery Version of Witness Lee is? Just a thought.
“Thus, the three Persons of the Trinity become the three successive steps in the process of God’s economy.” (Witness Lee, The Economy of God (Los Angeles: Stream), 1968, 10.) What you said modalism is the same thing as what Witness Lee says he believes. “Likewise, the Father, Son, and Spirit are not three Gods, but three stages of one God for us to possess and enjoy.” (Witness Lee, “Concerning the Triune God” (Los Angeles: Stream, no date, 31.)Quote:
That would be modalism - modalism says that God was the father, then the son, then the spirit, but not all at the same time.
"The Son is the Father, and the Son is also the Spirit" (Lee, “Concerning the Triune God,” 20).
The Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit. . . .21
Modalism teaches successive modalism or simultaneous modalism so it is wrong to say "threefold Person" ....22
The "Lord's Recovery" of your organization according to these words is clearly modalism. This is not believing in God being Triune as far as I know since God's 3 Persons are distinct and never overlap.Quote:
We believe that God is triune - three/one.
We see in Matthew 3:16-17 that the Father, Son and Spirit all exist at the same time - they coexist.
God's 3 Persons co-exist, but they are never the same Person.
I can't find in any of these verses where the Father is the Son or the Godhead is a Person. I also see the Son is the embodiment of the Triune God, that the Son is not the Father.Quote:
1 Cor. 8:4 ... there is no God but one and Matthew 28:19 go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit - these verses show us that the Triune God is a mystery.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God - this verse is one that shows us that God is triune eternally.
Col. 2:9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily - this verse shows us that the Son is the embodiment of the triune God.
John 4:24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness. 1 Cor 15:45...the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. - these verses show us that the Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. The Father, Son and Spirit are one in essence - in His life and being He is one - they coinhere with one another living within one another distinctly three yet never separated into three because in essence, life and being, God is one.
According to 1 Cor. 15.45, it is "life-giving spirit," not Spirit and God is a spirit (John 4.24), not "a Spirit" (KJV, ASV) as though there is more than one 3rd Person. This agrees with RSV, NASB, Darby, NIV, etc: "God is spirit..." In other words, God is the giver of eternal life and and the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are together the Trinity as a spirit. The Spirit is not the embodiment of the Godhead, Jesus is, since Jesus broke into creation bodily. Jesus is the ultimate consummation of the Godhead bodily, for it will be Jesus the Lamb and God in the center of the new city, not the Holy Spirit and the Lamb.
It sounds like you are a not a successive modalist, but are a simultaneous modalist. Witness Lee's words as far as I can tell given his quoted words is that he is a successive modalists.
Hope this helps: the fact that God's 3 Persons are of one substance, distinct but not separate, doesn't mean there is overlapping either successively or simultaneously.
