The way the three members of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) work together is and forever will be a mystery. Even when we get to heaven, it will be a mystery and we'll never fully understand how these three persons are distinct in personhood, yet unified in substance. We will never fully know how they are three in one (not three and one).
The Bible never comprehensively explained how this 3 person-community of the Trinity fully works, and I don't think it attempts to explain it fully, because I think the Bible intentionally leaves some room for mystery (it is only our recent western minds that try to rationally fit God into a box that have treated the Bible like a science textbook, or financial tax auditing manual). I personally engage in the Bible with more of a mystical mindset now. I am not a relativist, or an extreme mystic in the sense where I think there's no absolute truth, or that we can't know anything about truth. I've just developed the view that I think we don't know nearly as much as we think we know about God. And my attitude towards this fact is actually positive. I have positive reactions towards this limited knowledge we have of God. I don't anguish at theological mystery. I delight in it. Just like how a character might delight in the "magical mystery" of the world of Middle Earth or Narnia instead of dreading it.
With that being said, I have one disclaimer to say before I continue with this parable of James Bond. It, just like any parable, is not meant to exhaustively explain the things of God, or in this case, the Trinity specifically. It is not meant to illustrate ALL there is to know about the workings of the community of the Trinity. There is still a ton (and this is an understatement) to know about the Trinity that falls outside this parable. Nevertheless, parables were used by Jesus to borrow phenomena from the physical world in his culture to explain the "spirit" (pardon the pun) or essence of things in the spiritual world. This parable will attempt to illustrate a bit about how the Trinity is three in one, one with three and how the three members work together in a unified manner yet remain distinct from each other at the same time. Once again, it is not meant to be exhaustive, I cannot stress that enough. This analogy, like all analogies, is not perfect and does have its flaws. Nevertheless, here it goes.
Okay. So ladies and gentlemen, the Trinity is like the BMW car chase scene in the James Bond movie "Tomorrow Never Dies".
(slight modifications will be made to the car chase scene to illustrate more biblical truths)
In the BMW car chase scene, James bond is the Father. Anything that "controls" the BMW (whether it be the phone, steering wheel, weapons switches etc.) is Jesus the Son. The system in the BMW that enables itself to respond towards any controlling apparatus (whether it be the phone, steering wheel, weapons switches etc.) is the Holy Spirit. The BMW is the child of God aka living disciple of Jesus.
We start with James Bond who represents the Father of the Trinity. The Father is the "instigator" of the Trinity. He originates the "will" of what the Trinity will do. Jesus obeys the Father by "completing the work" that the father wishes (John 17:4). Other references referring to Jesus doing "nothing on his own" by doing/speaking only what the Father tells him to do/speak are found in John 5:19 and John 8:28-29. So Jesus obeys commands that originate not from him, but from the Father (John 15:10). In this parable, Jesus is the BMW's controlling apparatus. When Jesus was physically on earth, he told his disciples what to do directly and they generally attempted to follow (although far from perfectly). He told them to love each other, be each other's servants/slaves, not to worry, to bless those who curse you etc. In this sense, Jesus was the "steering wheel" in the BMW that directly told the BMW what to do. Notice that James Bond (the Father) was still controlling the "steering wheel" (Jesus was relaying instructions to the car that came from the Father) that, in turn, controlled the BMW. The BMW imperfectly responded to the steering wheel's/controlling apparatus' commands, which perfectly responded to James Bond's commands because the problem was not with the steering wheel/controlling apparatus but with the imperfect/flawed/sinful response of the BMW to those commands. This illustrates John 17:6-8.
Then Jesus died, resurrected, and "sent his disciples the Holy Spirit" (John 16:7). Jesus is now "out of the car" physically, just like how James Bond is out of the car physically.
(Here is where the clip somewhat deviates from the analogy, because James Bond hops back in the car for a while during the car chase. But the point is that James Bond could have perfectly given the car instructions without any restraints, restrictions or difficulties outside the car [with the remote control phone] just as he could have "in the car" [with the steering wheel]. For the sake of the parable, just pretend he was outside the whole time)
Yet we see that when the steering wheel of the car was no longer in use, a remote "steering apparatus" still existed that could nevertheless be used to send driving instructions to the BMW. This remote control telephone that is the BMW's steering apparatus is Jesus, because Jesus in heaven is still obeying the Father, and directing the BMW (his disciples). How does this remote control telephone control the BMW? Technologically speaking, there has to be a "response machine" or "response system" that exists inside the BMW that responds to the remote control's "signals" which is the Holy Spirit. Without this, the BMW could not intelligently "pick up" the signals and understand driving instructions from James Bond. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 it says the Holy Spirit is actually "in" us.
I think at least some of what Jesus meant in John 16:5-6 is "I, the steering wheel, am leaving the BMW now. And it is for your good that I am leaving the BMW. Because when I leave, you'll have the response system (Holy Spirit) installed in you so that you can adequately respond to James Bond's (the Father's) commands relayed through me remotely that enables you to respond in a way that you couldn't on your own without the response system's (Holy Spirit) help." This is because Jesus is the "mediator" who "mediates" our interactive relationship with the Father (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 9:15)
This BMW inner response system has a role to "guide us". It does not "speak" or instruct on its own. It only instructs what it receives remotely (John 16:13) from the remote control steering apparatus (John 16:14-15).
In John 14:26, it says the Holy Spirit is like a "counselor" who teaches us and reminds us of what Jesus (the messenger/prophet of the Father's words) has said to us. But the Holy Spirit not only counsels us with wisdom, he also strengthens us with supernatural power that we wouldn't have on our own through the Father.
Using this analogy as a framework to understand Ephesians 3:16-17, we can see that James Bond will strengthen the BMW through the installed inner response system which enables it to respond to the signals given remotely from the remote control telephone. In this way, we can understand how "Christ can dwell in our hearts through faith", because although he's not with us physically, he is with us in a way, because he can direct the BMW with the exact amount of precision and skill remotely just as he could have if he were with us physically, and that is how he "dwells in us through faith" with love that "surpasses knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19 [we can't fully understand how the heck it works]). This is how we can understand how in a way, Jesus is not with us, but in a way, he totally is. Even though he is not physically with us, the "spirit" of him (pun intended) is in us, and therefore the "spirit" of him driving the BMW can be accessed anytime if we obey the promptings of "the Spirit". In this way, James bond is "with" the BMW and can have communion, fellowship, interactive relationship, as well as co-labour together with the BMW. The only way the BMW can screw itself over is if it "jams" the signals between the Spirit and the remote control, and/or if it sinfully disobeys the Spirit's guidance/convictions/callings/promptings. The sanctification process is a lifelong process of clearing the signals between the Spirit and the remote control, as well as obeying the guidance/convictions/callings/promptings of the Spirit.
Even though the BMW will be attacked by the enemy on all sides, it will be okay if it allows the inner response system to respond to the remote control telephone that responds to James Bond from a remote location. Although the BMW, will go through many attacks, trials, and tribulations, it can "take heart, because Jesus has overcome the world" (John 16:33).
And now, the clip
Notice how at the end of the clip, James Bond and the remote control telephone send the BMW and the inner response system into "the world".
"As you have sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." - John 17:18
