The Divine Dispensing Of The Divine Trinity

"Dispensing means to distribute. God dispenses Himself to you just as you may dispense food to your guests. Many readers of the Bible have realized that in the Gospel of John the Father is revealed, the Son is revealed, and the Spirit is revealed. But not many have realized that in the Gospel of John the Triune God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is revealed for the dispensing of Himself into us first as life, then as life supply, and then as everything."

This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the Thanksgiving weekend conference held in Washington, D.C., on November 24-27, 2022. The general subject of the conference was “The Divine Dispensing of the Divine Trinity for the Divine Economy.” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

This book, the first serious analysis of the doctrine of the Trinity for many years, presents a defense against the conservative treatment of the Trinity as an impenetrable "mystery," and against the radical position that the doctrine is incoherent and therefore unacceptable. Brown favors "the founding of a new discipline of philosophical theology (or the widening of the horizons of the philosophy of religion) to apply more widely the type of penetration of theology by philosophy" that he exemplifies in his treatment of the Trinity. He argues for belief in an interventionist God (theism rather than deism), and contends that biblical criticism and historical research do not imply the abandonment of Christian belief, since "the historical original" should not be equated with "theological truth." Although historical difficulties must prevent any literal acceptance of the Gospel accounts in toto, "the true Christ" can be disentangled from "the historical Jesus" by philosophical method. Wide-ranging in scope, rigorous and candid in argument, Brown's work will prove of interest to educated Christian laypersons and others beyond the boundaries of professional theology and philosophy of religion. Perhaps most provocative is Brown's assertion that the Resurrection must be accepted as a literally true visionary experience, and that anyone who accepts it must be prepared to take seriously other visionary experiences, for example, visions of the Virgin Mary, even if he rejects them in the end. "It is certainly an astonishing truth that God should be so interested in a being of such vastly inferior powers as man," says the author. "But that clearly must be the implication of the doctrine of the Trinity . . ." To have reached this conclusion by means of philosophical argument is to have taken a major step toward the "complete penetration of theology by philosophy" that Brown calls for.

The first three chapters [of this book] give a general discussion of four great matters in the Bible: the economy of God, the dispensing of God, the union of God with His believers, and the corporate expression of God. The subsequent chapters go on to explain the profound truths and the experience of life related to these four great matters according to the book of Ephesians, the Gospel of John, and the Gospel of Matthew. Following this, the book proceeds to offer guidance to all those who have a heart to serve the Lord full time concerning the building up of themselves in the matters of life, truth, character, learning languages, knowing the church, living a healthy life, and managing personal finances as living witnesses of the Lord, so that they may become useful vessels in the Lord's hands.

This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the Thanksgiving weekend conference webcast from Anaheim, California, on November 25-28, 2021. The general subject of the conference was “Living in and with the Divine Trinity.” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.