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1. According to the teaching of God’s New Testament economy — John 14:25-26; 16:12-15; Acts 2:42; 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6:3; Col. 1:25.
2. Not to practice what is beyond the Scriptures’ teaching — 1 Cor. 4:6.
3. Teach what the apostle teaches — 2 Tim. 2:2, 15.
4. Be imitators of the apostle, who is the imitator of Christ — 1 Cor. 11:1.
The four items in chapter 4 should be followed by the four items listed above. We have seen in chapter 4 that all the churches should be identical. There is no excuse whatsoever for a church to be different in any positive thing or in any positive way from the other churches. Any kind of difference should be condemned. I have quoted many verses to prove to you and to confirm to you that the need of all the churches to be identical is the truth according to God’s New Testament economy. Based upon the four points that we covered in the last chapter, no excuse can be taken for any church to be different in the positive things from any other church. We all are local churches, yet we are still the one Body of the unique Christ. A body cannot have all its members different in life, in nature, or in color. There is no ground for anyone among us, especially in the Lord’s recovery, to say that any difference in the positive things among the churches can be justified.
All the churches should be identical, and all the churches should follow the apostles’ leading as indicated in the four points above. In the New Testament the Lord Jesus as the Head took the lead when He was on this earth. Through the four Gospels the Lord Jesus was the unique Leader. Peter was not the leader, nor was James or John. All of them took the Lord as the Leader. He was their one Lord, and they were all brothers. They did not call any others Lord; there was only one Lord among them. Even before the Lord’s ascension they called Him Lord. Jesus Himself even told the disciples that they only had one Lord, one Master, who is the unique Leader (Matt. 23:8-10). On the evening of the day of His resurrection the Lord breathed Himself into His believers, and after His ascension He poured Himself out upon all His believers. At this point who could be the leading one among the disciples? This is a great matter for us to consider. Peter declared to the Jews on the day of Pentecost “that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified” (Acts 2:36). Although the ascended Christ is the Lord of the believers, in practice there must be some kind of physical leading that people can see. Now that the Lord has ascended, this physical leading is not in the Lord Himself as an individual. After His ascension this leading is now in some members of His Body who can really represent Him. These representing members, according to the New Testament, are the apostles.
The Greek word for apostle is apostolos, which simply means “the one sent.” An apostle is a sent one, but merely by this definition we cannot have a proper understanding of who an apostle is, especially the apostle that all the believers need to recognize as their leader. In Acts the Lord’s work on this earth was in two sections. The first twelve chapters form one section, and the leader in this section was Peter. In the last sixteen chapters of Acts, from chapter 13 to chapter 28, is the second section of the Lord’s work. In this section of Acts, Paul was the leader. There were not two leaders. Barnabas and Paul traveled together, and eventually Paul became the leading one. In his Epistles Paul is so frank to tell us his standing as the leading one. The New Testament shows us that the Lord’s move on this earth was always with two leaders — the apostle Peter and the apostle Paul.
The apostles that all the saints have to follow are not merely the sent ones. There were many sent ones in the New Testament. In addition to Paul and Peter there were Philip the evangelist and John. Although John went out to visit the saints in Samaria with Peter (Acts 8:14), he surely was not the leader. Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, and a number of other apostles were with Paul. But among these apostles, only Paul was the leading one. What is the factor that decides who the leading one is in a certain period of time that all the believers have to follow? According to the Bible, there is only one factor — the leading one is the one who leads the Lord’s people according to the teaching of God’s New Testament economy.
The teaching of God’s New Testament economy is the teaching of the apostles. The teaching of the apostles denotes the entire revelation of God’s New Testament economy, and this entire revelation of God’s New Testament economy is something absolutely missed by most Christians. Some believe that “orthodox doctrine” is only the teachings that Jesus Christ gave to the twelve apostles while He was on this earth. This is a serious mistake. If this were the case, more than half of the New Testament would be cut off. Of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, fourteen Epistles were written by Paul, who was not one among the twelve apostles.
In John 16:12-15 the Lord told the disciples that He had many things to tell them that they could not bear then. The Spirit of reality would come and bring them into the realization of those things, declaring to them whatever He had received of the Lord. All that the Father is and has is embodied in the Son (Col. 2:9), and all that the Son is and has is received by the Spirit. Then the Spirit declares all that the Triune God is and has to us, the believers (John 16:14-15). This is the divine transmission of the Divine Trinity into our being. Stanza 3 of Hymns, #501 is composed according to John 16:15:
What the Father has is inherited by the Son, what the Son has is passed on to the Spirit, and this very Spirit enters into our spirit to be our reality so that He might become our experience. Peter and John were unable to apprehend what the Lord mentioned in John 16:12-15, so the Lord did not tell them these things in details. These few verses, however, have been developed in Paul’s fourteen Epistles. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Cor. 13:14) is an application of the fulfillment of the Lord’s word in John 16:14-15.
The teaching of God’s New Testament economy includes all the teachings that the Lord gave us in the four Gospels. Who understands Matthew 5—7? Who can tell you the real significance of John 14—16 with the Lord’s concluding prayer in John 17? Today people may claim that they are the apostles, but do they know these things? Many of the missionaries who went to China only told people that they were sinners and that Jesus loved them, so He died for their sins on the cross. They told people that if they did not believe in Jesus, they would die and go to hell, but if they did believe in Him, they would have a happy life and go to heaven. Is this God’s New Testament economy?
Suppose a certain person comes to you claiming that he is a sent one, an apostle. He may preach the gospel and somewhat know the New Testament, but what kind of New Testament does he know? If he does not know God’s New Testament economy, he will render a leading to you that is full of ignorance. A person who is ignorant of God’s New Testament economy cannot render the proper leading to the believers. For someone to take the lead does not depend upon who he is. It depends upon whether or not he has the full knowledge of the truth concerning God’s New Testament economy. Paul could not have rendered the believers the proper leading unless he had had the full knowledge of the mystery of the faith. In 1 Timothy 3:9 Paul even charges the deacons that they need to hold the mystery of the faith. If you are going to be an apostle, you should be above the deacons in your knowledge of the mystery of the faith. Whether or not you are an apostle as the leader in the Lord’s work does not depend upon who you are or upon your being sent. Thousands of missionaries have been sent to the mission field, but do you think that all of them were apostles taking the lead in the Lord’s work? Could they render the adequate leading to the believers?
To some extent even Peter was not up to the standard of the full knowledge of God’s New Testament economy. When Paul was raised up by the Lord, Peter was somewhat out-of-date. This was the reason that in Peter’s second Epistle he admitted that the one who came after him, Paul, knew much more than he did (3:16). Peter did not have as full a realization of John 16:14-15 regarding the transmission of the Divine Trinity as Paul did. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews in particular contain the marvelous and full revelation of God’s New Testament economy. Peter and John never use the term the Body of Christ. In John 15 there is the vine, which is very close to the Body of Christ. But John never uses the term the Body of Christ.
The apostles are those who can give us the teaching of God’s New Testament economy. After the day of Pentecost the believers continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42). The teaching of the apostles does not imply only the teachings of Peter and John at the time of Acts 2, because the Lord had more apostles to come. In Colossians 1:25 Paul tells us that he had a particular ministry to complete the word of God. This is a great matter. If I were to stand up to tell you that I was here completing the word of God, I should be condemned to the uttermost. The word of God has been completed by Paul plus John’s Revelation. It is at the end of John’s Revelation that the Lord Jesus declared that no one can add anything or take away anything from what has been written. The teaching of the apostles means the teaching of God’s New Testament economy, which includes what the Lord Jesus taught in the four Gospels, what Paul wrote in his fourteen Epistles, what John wrote as the book of Revelation, and all the other books of the New Testament.
How many Christian teachers know the reality of the kingdom of the heavens in Matthew 5—7? Who knows the significance of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in John 14—17? Who knows the revelation concerning God’s New Testament economy in Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews? If you do not know, I would propose that you study the Life-study messages covering them.
The apostles are the persons who have the adequate knowledge of God’s New Testament economy; otherwise, they could never render any adequate, proper leadership to God’s chosen followers. One older sister once told some younger ones that although Brother Nee was only two years older than me, I respected Brother Nee and obeyed him just like a son to a father. If I could be such an obeying person to Brother Watchman Nee, I could be such a person to everybody. But who are you for me to be a son to you?
T. Austin-Sparks had one of the top ministries during his time. I respected him to the uttermost and read his books more than fifty years ago. I told him personally how much help I had received from his book The Release of the Lord on John 12:24 and Luke 12:49-50. When he came to visit us in Taiwan, he was shocked that I had received the help from this book. Although I respected him to such an extent, when he came to visit us in Taiwan the second time, I stood up to him just like Paul stood up to Peter (Gal. 2:11-14). He was undermining the church ground and trying his best to take away our practice of the church life. I rose up to stand against this because it was not according to the truth. Again, the point is this — the apostle is the one who can render you the adequate, proper leadership according to the full knowledge of the teaching of God’s New Testament economy.
At the day of Pentecost Peter was qualified to tell people all the teachings that the Lord Jesus gave to them while He was on this earth. Peter was qualified to do this, and his leadership was prevailing for some time. But after that his leadership began to wane (Gal. 2:11-14). Then Paul was raised up to be the prevailing leader in the Lord’s move. In Paul’s Epistles we can see the great mystery concerning Christ and the church (Eph. 5:32). I do not believe that Peter understood the teaching of God’s New Testament economy to the extent that Paul did. Peter never even uses the term the Body of Christ.
We should believe that our God is living (1 Tim. 3:15). Since our God is living, He should be always moving. He is still moving today. Where is He moving? God’s moving is always by speaking. Without speaking, He does not move. We must ask ourselves where God’s speaking is. Is it in the Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, the Protestant denominations, the state churches, the private churches, or the free groups? Our God, who is living and moving, always moves by speaking. We have to admit that His present speaking is among us. His present speaking is not concerning the presbytery, baptism by immersion, tongue-speaking, gifts, healings, or evangelical movements. His speaking today is concerning God’s New Testament economy. I hope we can all be enlightened. I am forced to be bold to recommend myself so much to you all. I am forced to be a fool. The one who can be the leading one in the Lord’s move today is the one who knows God’s New Testament economy, the one who knows what God’s speaking is today.
Peter was surely the apostle as the leader of the Lord’s move on the day of Pentecost because he was a person who knew God’s speaking. He was even the mouth for God’s speaking. Whoever is the mouth for God’s speaking in his time is the leading one. Those to whom God is speaking are the leading apostles. Whatever they minister will be the proper leading for all the saints to follow. This definition is fair.
To be a person who can render the proper and adequate leadership to the believers according to the full knowledge of God’s New Testament economy is not a matter of competition. No one can compete with anyone else. It all depends upon His mercy and His compassion. Paul admits this in Romans 9:16. God gave Paul his portion in the Body of Christ, and no one could compete with him.
If we believe in the Lord’s sovereignty and that He is living, moving, and speaking, we have to honestly, humbly, and faithfully find out where God is speaking today. Whoever has God’s speaking concerning the entire teaching of God’s New Testament economy are the leading ones in His move.
These leading ones, though, cannot add anything to the teaching of God’s New Testament economy, as revealed in the Scriptures. This teaching was altogether completed by the end of the first century through two persons — Paul and John. God’s divine revelation as the word of God has been fully completed to the uttermost through Paul’s fourteen Epistles and John’s last writing, Revelation. It was in the book of Revelation that the Lord as the unique, divine Writer declared that no one can add anything or take away anything. As a result, the Bible is the completed word of God. No one like Joseph Smith can come to tell us that he has received something in addition to the Holy Bible. Today’s leading apostles should be the ones who know only the full contents of this divine New Testament economy. If you are going to be such a one, you must be filled with the full knowledge of the New Testament economy of God, and you also must be limited by the teaching of God’s New Testament economy. You cannot have anything else.
To say that there are two lines in the Lord’s recovery is to go beyond the teaching of the New Testament. In the teaching of God’s New Testament economy, there are not two lines. If you stress speaking in tongues above the central line of God’s New Testament economy, you are off. To stress speaking in tongues is not according to the teaching of the New Testament economy. In the New Testament, Paul, through whom the word was completed, did his best to restrict the speaking in tongues (in 1 Corinthians 14) and never promoted it. In the entire New Testament there are no verses encouraging the promoting of speaking in tongues. If you are promoting speaking in tongues, you go beyond the teaching of God’s New Testament economy. Then you will cause trouble. We must be restricted, limited, within the very realm of the unique teaching of God’s New Testament economy. Otherwise, whatever we do will cause some division. Restricting the speaking in tongues, as the apostle Paul did, is different from opposing or stopping the speaking in tongues. We did follow the apostle Paul to restrict the speaking in tongues, but we never opposed or stopped the proper and genuine speaking in tongues. If we did, we were beyond the teaching of the Scriptures.
Our preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus must be restricted within four things — the one accord, prayer, the Spirit, and the Word. To bring in any gimmick besides these four items is something beyond the teaching of God’s New Testament economy. Temporarily, what you do may seem very good and profitable, but for the long run it will produce troubles.
Baptism by immersion is scriptural, but to make this doctrinal point a basis upon which you build your church is beyond the teaching of God’s New Testament economy. The practice of the Baptist Church went beyond this teaching and produced a great denomination with many small divisions. The Baptists themselves are divided into different groups, such as the Southern Baptists and the American Baptists. The presbytery is also according to the Bible, but to make this the ground upon which you build the church is far beyond the teaching of God’s New Testament economy. For a church to set up schools or seminaries is also beyond this teaching. For the church to train the believers, however, is all right.
My point is that we should not bring any practice that is not in the Bible into the church life in a solid and definite way. This is something beyond the teaching of God’s New Testament economy, which will sooner or later cause trouble and bring in divisions. To emphasize any spiritual gift is beyond the teaching of the New Testament economy. Gifts are in the Bible, but we should not make them the emphasis of our teaching. The saints who say that there are two lines in the recovery do not know how risky it is to say this.
Paul says that the apostles did not do anything that was beyond what was written in the Bible (1 Cor. 4:6). The Corinthians were puffed up on behalf of one worker against the other. They said among other things that they were of Paul, which meant that they were proud and puffed up on behalf of Paul against Peter and Apollos. This is not according to the Scriptures’ teaching. Anything that goes beyond the teachings of the New Testament would damage and jeopardize a person’s leading. The apostle’s leading must always be according and limited to the Word of God.
In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul tells Timothy that he has to learn how to cut straight the word of the truth, how to teach the word properly. To cut straight the word means to unfold the word of God in its various parts rightly and straightly without distortion. Paul also told Timothy in 2:2 to commit to faithful men the things he had heard from Paul so that these faithful ones would be competent to teach others what Paul had been teaching. This is a charge to spread the apostle’s teaching.
In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ.” If anyone does not follow Christ according to the teaching of the New Testament economy, no one among us should follow him. A leading apostle should be one who has an adequate knowledge of the teaching of God’s New Testament economy and who follows Christ accordingly. When I was young in Christianity, I was taught to follow Jesus. We have to realize, however, who Jesus is. Jesus is the Triune God, who was incarnated to be a man, lived a human life on this earth, and died on the cross with seven statuses to accomplish an all-inclusive death for us. He was resurrected to be the Firstborn of God and the life-giving Spirit to release the divine life to impart Himself into us. He is now the ascended One in the heavens carrying out His heavenly ministry. To be an imitator of Christ is not that simple. To imitate Christ is not to use our human effort to be humble, nice, and gentle as He was. This is a mistaken following of Christ.
Whoever knows, teaches, and follows Christ in His incarnation, in His human living, in His death, in His resurrection, in His ascension, and in His heavenly ministry is the one we need to follow. If I follow this One, then you should follow me. If I am not teaching and following such a One, forget about me. It does not depend upon who I am; it only depends upon what I teach and whom I follow.
All the churches should be identical, and those who can render the leading to all the churches are the ones who have the adequate knowledge of the teaching of God’s New Testament economy and who would pass on these teachings to the whole earth. We follow the one who is teaching and following this all-inclusive, incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ, who is still ministering in the heavenlies for the carrying out of God’s New Testament economy. We have to follow such persons, and we have to take their leading. Their leading is the proper leading for all the churches.
