Gracious Lord, Thy name I AM is

Are there three Gods in the universe? If you say yes, that is heresy because both the Old Testament and the New Testament clearly say that God is uniquely one; there is only one God. In Steward Robb's letter to the writer of The New Cults, he said that, as St. Augustine observed, there are not three infinite I AMs. I AM is the name of Jehovah; one of the names of the Lord Jesus is I AM. The first stanza of Hymns, #78 says, "Gracious Lord, Thy name 'I AM' is, / Precious name, how rich and full 'tis, / All-inclusive, faithful too 'tis— / All we need, Thou art!" St. Augustine was a great theologian; he said that there were not three I AMs. It cannot be said that the Father is an I AM, the Son is another I AM, and the Spirit is yet another I AM; if so, there would be three I AMs, that is, three Gods. In the Bible, there is only one I AM, only one God, yet this God is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This is the mathematics of the Bible: three is one, and one is three.

The first line of the second stanza of hymn #61 in Chinese (Hymns, #78 in English) says, "Thou the Son, the Father in Thee." The first part of the third stanza of hymn #8 in Chinese (Hymns, #11 in English) says, "The Father in the Son has come, / The Son the Spirit is." These two stanzas are based on the clear words of Isaiah 9:6 and 2 Corinthians 3:17 and on the guidance of our senior brother. How can this be disputed?

Our knowledge and experience of the Lord should not be merely doctrinal. For example, both Hymns, #78 and #510 speak of various items of the riches of Christ, but if we commit these items only to our memory, we are increasing only our mental knowledge, not our experience of Christ. Christ can never be experienced in our mind through doctrines. We must touch the Spirit in our spirit and allow the word of God, the living word of God, to enlighten us. This is the way to genuinely touch the riches of Christ. We need to know the riches of Christ in reality. Every real experience of Christ depends on touching the Spirit in our spirit, not on doctrines.