The Son is in the Father:
"At that day you will know that I am in My Father,
and you in Me, and I in you." (John 14:20).
"No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in
the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." (John 1:18).
The Holy Spirit is in the Son:
"Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness..."
(Luke 4:1).
"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul
delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles."
(Isaiah 42:1).
"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch
shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD." (Isaiah 11:1-2).
"The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed
Me to preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable
year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who
mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD,
that He may be glorified." (Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18-19).
"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give
the Spirit by measure." (John 3:34).
"The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through
Jesus Christ - He is Lord of all - that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout
all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and
healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. "
(Acts 10:36-38).
Some readers understand the above passages as referring to the anointing of Jesus' humanity
with the Holy Spirit, though none is so limited by the text. They understand
this anointing as inviting the Holy Spirit into a temple no longer polluted,
but cleansed and renovated by the incarnation. To show the mutual indwelling
of Son and Holy Spirit, these readers may prefer a reference from Old Covenant
times. Such is, for instance, 1 Peter 1:10-11, where the Holy Spirit
is called "the Spirit of Christ": "Of this salvation the
prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace
that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ
who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the
glories that would follow." The Spirit which inspired the prophets is called "the
Spirit of Christ" both by virtue of proceeding through Him and also by virtue of their mutual
indwelling: "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
(Revelation 19:10).
|
An old word picture of circumincession is the image of three lamps: three
wicks suspended in one reservoir of oil...burning with three flames but shining with one indivisible,
interpenetrating light. "Let me resort here to examples from what we perceive and from what is
familiar. In a house the light from all the lamps is completely interpenetrating, yet each is clearly
distinct. There is distinction in unity and there is unity in distinction. When there are many
lamps in a house there is nevertheless a single undifferentiated light and from all of them comes
the one undivided brightness. I do not think that anyone would mark off the light of one lamp
from another in the atmosphere which contains them all, nor could one light be seen separately from
the others since all of them are completely mingled while being at the same time quite distinctive."
