Scripture Reading: Acts 2:42; Matt. 28:19-20; Heb. 2:3; John 16:12-15; Col. 1:25-28; Rev. 22:18-19; Heb. 1:2; Gal. 1:6-9; 1 Tim. 1:3-8; Col. 2:4, 8, 16-18, 20-23; 2 Pet. 3:15-16; 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 John 1:1-3, 7; Phil. 2:1; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:3-4a; 1 Cor. 5:9-13; 2 John 7, 9-11; Rom. 16:17; Titus 3:10
In the recent turmoil the first item that was damaged by the dissenting ones is the New Testament ministry. The second item of the spiritual things that was damaged is the teaching of the apostles. Along with this item, the matter of the apostles’ fellowship was also misapplied and evilly interpreted by the dissenting ones.
In the New Testament the term the teaching of the apostles is used first in Acts 2:42.
The apostles’ teaching consists of, first, the teachings of the Lord Jesus in the four Gospels. In Matthew 28:19-20 the Lord charged the earlier disciples to teach the new believers all the things that He had commanded them in the four Gospels. Thus, it is clear that the teaching of the apostles includes the teachings of the Lord Jesus in the four Gospels.
The teaching of the apostles also includes the teachings of the apostles in the book of Acts (Heb. 2:3). Hebrews 1:1-2a says, “God...has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son.” Here it says that in the last days God speaks in the Son, that is, in the person of the Son. From this we can realize that even the speaking of the apostles in Acts is God’s speaking in the Son.
Surely the Lord’s speaking in the four Gospels was God’s speaking. However, we may think that it is wrong to say that the apostles’ speaking in Acts also was God’s speaking. According to Hebrews 1:2, today God speaks in the Son. In the Greek text there is no article before the word Son. Hence, the verse says, literally, that God speaks “in Son.” In his New Translation J. N. Darby renders this portion “in [the person of the] Son.”
The entire New Testament economy of God is operated not in the person of the Father but in the person of the Son through the person of the Spirit. Because all the apostles are the sons of God in the firstborn Son of God, their speaking for God is also God’s speaking in the person of the Son. The firstborn Son of God and the many sons of God are considered as one in the person of the Son. Hence, all the speakings by the apostles are God’s speaking.
The teaching of the apostles also includes the teachings of the apostles in the Epistles, from Romans through Revelation (John 16:12-15; Col. 1:25-28; Rev. 22:18-19). Revelation should be considered not merely as a book but actually as a long epistle, within which are seven epistles (2:1—3:22). The New Testament has twenty-seven books. The first five are the four Gospels and Acts. The remainder of the books of the New Testament are the twenty-two Epistles from Romans through Revelation. All these Epistles are the apostles’ writings. They are the divine speaking concerning God’s mysteries in His economy.
In John 16:12, after the Lord had spoken to His disciples up to a certain point, He said to them, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” Here the Lord meant that the disciples could not then enter into what He wanted to tell them, because they had not yet received the Spirit. They needed to wait until the Spirit of reality came. In verses 13 through 15 the Lord continued, “When He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality; for He will not speak from Himself, but what He hears He will speak; and He will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will declare it to you. All that the Father has is Mine; for this reason I have said that He receives of Mine and will declare it to you.” Here the Lord told His disciples that when the Spirit of reality came, He would unveil to them all the things that the Lord would attain to and obtain. The Lord was going to attain to and obtain many things, but He could not tell the disciples, because they could not enter into these things; that is, they could not bear them. They needed to wait until the Spirit of reality came.
This word in John 16 was spoken by the Lord on the night of His betrayal. Immediately after that, He was arrested, judged, and crucified. After three days He resurrected, and in the evening of the third day He came back to the disciples in the form of the Spirit (20:19-22). At that time He was the pneumatic Christ. It was then that He breathed Himself into His disciples (v. 22).
After forty days the Lord Jesus ascended to the heavens openly and officially (Acts 1:9). Prior to that time Peter had often spoken quickly and foolishly (Matt. 16:21-23; 17:24-27; 26:31-35), but immediately after the Lord’s ascension, Peter’s speaking changed. In Acts 1—2 Peter could expound the Psalms concerning Christ (2:25-31) and concerning Judas (1:15-20), and his interpretation was wonderful. Before Christ’s resurrection Peter was merely Peter, without the Spirit of reality, but after Christ’s ascension Peter became another person. He became an excellent teacher of the Bible.
Later, Paul was raised up. Peter wrote only two Epistles, and these were written late. Paul, however, wrote fourteen Epistles. The first few — Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans — were written considerably earlier than Peter’s. In Colossians, one of Paul’s later Epistles, Paul says clearly that he had received a commission from God to complete the word of God’s revelation concerning God’s mystery in His economy (1:25-26). That mystery, which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (v. 27), is centered on Christ’s indwelling.
Finally, at the end of Revelation, John the apostle says, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this scroll; and if anyone takes away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city, which are written in this scroll” (22:18-19). According to John’s word here, after the writing of Revelation no one can add anything to or subtract anything from the divine revelation. Hence, according to Paul’s word in Colossians 1:25 and John’s word in Revelation 22:18-19, we know that after these two writers the entire divine revelation was complete; no one can add anything or take away anything. Thus, it is very logical to conclude that all the Epistles written by the apostles are also God’s speaking in the person of the Son. Hence, we need to consider all the words in the entire New Testament, from the first word of Matthew to the last word of Revelation, as God’s speaking through the different mouths and different hands of the apostles. This is the apostles’ teaching.
All the above teachings are God’s speaking in the Son at the last of these days (Heb. 1:2), which should be universally taught everywhere in every church in the same way (1 Cor. 4:17; 7:17).
However, we need to be careful because in the universe not only God speaks, but another one, Satan, who is competing with God, also speaks. Therefore, we must know what is excluded from the teaching of the apostles as God’s speaking.
The teaching of Judaism should be excluded from the teaching of the apostles in the New Testament (Gal. 1:6-9; 1 Tim. 1:3-8). The speaking of God in the Old Testament concerning the law is good, but we should not include this speaking in the New Testament. Eventually, the teaching of the law became an “ism” — Judaism. In the Old Testament Moses spoke very much concerning the law, but in the Epistles of the New Testament the teaching of the law is prohibited.
The teaching of Gnosticism also should be excluded from the teaching of the apostles (Col. 2:4, 8). Gnosticism was a mixture of Jewish, Oriental, and Greek philosophies. The Gnostics attempted to bring their philosophy into the church and mix it with the teachings of the New Testament. Thus, Gnosticism became a mixture of three elements: Judaism, Christian teaching, and heathen philosophy. It is very strongly prohibited and condemned by the apostles.
The teaching of asceticism is included in Gnosticism. In the New Testament the teaching of asceticism also is prohibited (Col. 2:16-18, 20-23). These three “isms” — Judaism, Gnosticism, and asceticism — are very strongly excluded by the apostles in their writings.
The teaching of the apostles in the New Testament is holy and divine, as the Old Testament is (2 Pet. 3:15-16). The Old Testament was considered by God as holy and divine, and God charged His people in the Old Testament not to speak His word in a wrong way (Deut. 18:20). God’s people were to consider His speaking in the Old Testament as the holy word, the divine speaking, and God’s oracle.
After Paul wrote his fourteen Epistles, Peter in his second Epistle charged the churches to regard Paul’s writings as the holy and divine writings of God, just as the Old Testament writings are. In 3:15-16 Peter says that Paul’s writing is full of wisdom and that some twist Paul’s writings, “as also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.” Here Peter appreciated Paul’s writings, saying that they are equivalent to “the rest of the Scriptures.”
For Peter to make such a commendation of Paul’s writings is not a small thing, for it was he who was rebuked to his face by Paul regarding the New Testament faith (Gal. 2:11-21). It is difficult to find one Christian who would appreciate someone who has rebuked him. For this reason many saints have learned to be “wise” in not rebuking others for their mistakes. Including the elders, very few in the church life today speak the truth concerning others’ mistakes. Thus, many things in the recovery are still in darkness because no one dares to rebuke anyone. In contrast, Peter and Paul were very frank and strict.
Paul became an apostle after Peter did. Peter was a top apostle while Paul was still Saul, persecuting the saints and blaspheming Jesus. Later, Paul was saved and was brought by Barnabas to fellowship with the apostles at Jerusalem (Acts 9:27). Shortly after that, Peter received a vision from the heavens three times, in which a great sheet full of unclean animals descended from heaven, and the Lord charged him, “Rise up, Peter; slay and eat!” (10:9-16). Peter responded, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common and unclean.” Then the Lord said to him, “The things that God has cleansed, do not make common.” The meaning of this vision was that at that time God annulled the Old Testament regulation prohibiting His people from contacting the Gentiles. Based on this vision, Peter began to have contact with the Gentiles. First, Peter went to Cornelius, a Roman centurion of an Italian cohort, to preach the gospel to him and his relatives and intimate friends, all of whom were Gentiles (vv. 17-48). Then in Galatians 2 Peter was eating with the Gentile believers in Antioch. But when some came from Jerusalem, from James, Peter shrank back and separated himself, fearing those of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews and also Barnabas joined him in his hypocrisy (vv. 12-13). Paul saw this and rebuked Peter to his face in front of all the disciples (v. 14). When I read this, I was very concerned for Peter. I thought that from that time onward Peter would never be happy with Paul. But in my early days of reading the Bible I found out that in 2 Peter 3:15-16 Peter highly appreciated Paul’s writing, even charging the saints to regard Paul’s writing as holy and divine as the Old Testament.
From Peter’s word in 2 Peter 3:16 we can learn one lesson, that is, that God’s holy writing should not be twisted by anyone in any way. The Bible does need some expounding and some interpretation, but we must be careful when we expound the Word of God not to twist it.
Instead of twisting the Scriptures, we must unfold them rightly and straightly without distortion. In 2 Timothy 2:15 Paul charges Timothy to learn how to cut straight the word of God. In Greek the word for cutting straight is a word used in carpentry. When a carpenter cuts wood, he must cut it straight; otherwise, he will spoil the wood. To unfold the word is to cut the word. This is to expound the word, to interpret the word. We need to unfold the Word rightly and straightly, not twisting it or distorting it in any way.
Acts 2:42 mentions not only the teaching of the apostles but also the fellowship of the apostles. Any kind of teaching will bring in a certain kind of fellowship. The kind of fellowship we enter into corresponds to the kind of teaching we are under. Fellowship is always based on teaching.
The fellowship of the apostles is, first, the fellowship of the divine life between the apostles and the believers (1 John 1:1-3a). According to the New Testament, the fellowship of Christians is a divine matter. It is a matter of the divine life. Without life we cannot have any fellowship. It is impossible for a dog to fellowship with a bird. Because they have two different kinds of lives, the dog life and the bird life, they are in two different realms, two different kingdoms, the dog kingdom and the bird kingdom. The dog kingdom surely cannot fellowship with the bird kingdom. Likewise, a human being cannot fellowship with a dog, because they have different lives and are in different realms.
A kingdom is always based on life. Since we were born of Adam, we are in the human kingdom, the kingdom of mankind. But after being born of Adam, we were regenerated. Through regeneration we received the divine life and were transferred into the divine kingdom, the kingdom of God. This is why the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and again, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:3-6). The kingdom of God is of another life, the divine life. Unless we are born anew and thereby receive the divine life, we cannot see the kingdom of God, because we do not have the capacity. This requires the divine life.
The apostles’ teaching brings the divine life to us. When we receive the divine life through the apostles’ teaching, in that life we immediately have fellowship. Regardless of our race or nationality, as long as we are saved, when we come together there is spontaneously a fellowship among us. Our meeting together is very harmonious because we all have been brought into the divine life, and in the divine life we have fellowship.
In 1 John 1:1-3 the apostle John tells the believers that he brought in the fellowship through the divine life. Thus, between the apostles and the believers there is something that is called fellowship. Then the apostle says that this fellowship is not only a fellowship between the believers and the apostles but also a fellowship between the apostles and God (v. 3b).
The fellowship of the apostles is also the fellowship of the divine life between the believers among themselves in their spirit (vv. 2-3, 7; Phil. 2:1). Among the believers there is a wonderful thing called fellowship. This fellowship is carried on by the Spirit in the believers’ regenerated spirit. Hence, in Philippians 2:1 it is called “fellowship of [our] spirit.”
The fellowship of the apostles is also the fellowship of the Holy Spirit in all the believers. Second Corinthians 13:14 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” These three — love, grace, and fellowship — are not three separate things; rather, they are three aspects of one thing. The fellowship of the Spirit carries with it the grace of Christ, and within the grace of Christ is the love of God. Thus, these three items are just one divine gift as a portion to us, that is, the Triune God Himself in three aspects: in the Father as love, in the Son as grace, and in the Spirit as the fellowship, the application.
This fellowship is the fellowship of the Body of Christ in the oneness of the Spirit. Ephesians 4:3 tells us to be diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit, and then verse 4 follows immediately to say, “One Body and one Spirit.” These two verses indicate that the oneness of the Spirit is just the fellowship of the Body of Christ. This fellowship of the Body is in the oneness of the Spirit. If we do not have the oneness of the Spirit, we are not enjoying the fellowship of the Body.
According to the New Testament, there are four kinds of exclusions from the unique fellowship of the Body of Christ.
The believers who live in gross sins should be excluded from the unique fellowship of the Body of Christ. Some of the believers in Corinth not only committed gross sins occasionally but also lived in gross sins. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 the apostle teaches us to remove this kind of person from our midst. However, many Christians interpret the word remove as excommunicate. This is a mistake. The sense here is not to excommunicate but to remove. The removing here is not an excommunication but a form of quarantining, as is used to isolate those who are sick of a contagious disease (cf. 2 Cor. 2:1-8).
In his writing of 1 Corinthians 5:13 Paul quoted the word remove from the Septuagint. In Leviticus and Numbers God charged the Israelites to “remove” a leper from their fellowship that this one might be healed (Lev. 13:45-46). After his healing, such a one was to be brought back into the fellowship (ch. 14). The dealing here with a leper was a quarantining. This, not excommunication, is what is meant in 1 Corinthians 5:13 by the removal of one who is living in gross sin.
The heretics who go beyond and do not abide in the teaching of Christ, especially concerning Christ’s divine and human person, should be rejected from the fellowship of the Body of Christ (2 John 7, 9-11). In the apostles’ time there were two major heresies. One, the heresy of the Cerinthians, said that Christ was not God (1 John 2:22), and the other, the heresy of the Docetists, said that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh as a man (4:2-3). The Bible reveals clearly that Christ is a God-man. As a God-man, He has divinity, the divine nature, and He also has humanity, the human nature. According to the writings of John, at his time there were a number of antichrists who opposed the truth concerning Christ’s divine and human person. One group of antichrists did not believe that Christ was a human being, and the other group did not believe that Christ was a divine being. Thus, both Christ’s deity and Christ’s humanity were rejected.
The apostle John charges the saints and the churches to reject this kind of person. When this kind of person who has gone beyond the proper teaching of Christ and does not abide in it comes to us, we must reject him. According to 2 John 10, we should not receive him into our home and we should not even greet him, for if we greet him, we participate in his sin (v. 11). This is an exclusion from the fellowship among the saints in the Body of Christ.
The person who went beyond the teaching of Christ in the apostles’ time is like today’s modernists, who do not believe that Christ is God. They say that Christ is merely a good man. Furthermore, they do not believe that Christ’s death was for redemption. They say that Christ’s death was merely a suffering of martyrdom because of His teaching. In ancient times such persons were there already. This kind of person must be rejected by the church from the church’s fellowship.
Romans 16:17 charges us to turn away from those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching of the apostles. We must turn away from anyone who makes divisions and should not contact such persons to fellowship with them. This is another exclusion from the fellowship in the Body of Christ.
Some say that the apostle’s charge to deal with the divisive ones in Romans 16:17 should not be applied to the division-makers in the Lord’s recovery today. They say that Romans 16:17 refers to men who do not serve our Lord, but their own stomach, as mentioned in the next verse, and that the division-makers in the Lord’s recovery today are not this kind of person. But we need to realize that in Romans 16:17 the apostle condemns the action of making divisions, regardless of what kind of person makes the divisions. A brother may be very right in every regard as a Christian, but if he makes divisions in the church or among the churches, he should be condemned and quarantined as the apostle charged.
Titus 3:10 tells us to refuse a factious (sectarian) man who causes divisions by forming parties in the church according to his own opinion. In order to maintain the one fellowship of the apostles in the church, a factious, divisive person should be rejected, after a first and second admonition. This is done to stop intercourse with a contagiously divisive person for the church’s profit.
Some say that in Titus 3:10 a factious [sectarian] man should be translated “a man who teaches heresy” and that this expression does not refer to a divisive person. But in Greek this expression denotes a person who holds an opinion or a different doctrine that tends toward division. Thus, the English versions translate this as (1) “a factious man” — American Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, Marshall’s Interlinear Greek-English New Testament; (2) “a man who is factious” — Revised Standard Version, Amplified Bible; (3) “a heretical sectarian and cause of divisions” — Amplified Bible; (4) “a heretical person causing divisions” — Wuest; (5) “a sectarian” — W. J. Conybeare; (6) “a man who causes divisions” — R. F. Weymouth; (7) “a factious person” — James Moffatt; (8) “a sectarian man” — Concordant Literal New Testament, Berry’s Interlinear Greek-English New Testament; (9) “a factious person” — Berkeley Version; (10) “a heretical man, i.e., one given to ‘lift up’ opinions, sound or unsound, and an unstable, unsettled individual who wishes to form sects” — Young’s Translation; (11) “causing division by a party spirit, factious” — Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words; (12) “a divisive person” — New International Version. Most of the above translations are authorities.
In the New Testament we can find at least these four kinds of exclusions of Christians from the fellowship in the church, the Body of Christ.
As we pointed out earlier, in their rebellion the dissenting ones in the recovery today have damaged the matters of the teaching of the apostles and the fellowship of the apostles. The dissenters taught people that the apostles’ teaching includes only the portion of the New Testament up to the book of Acts. They said that the teaching in the Epistles after the Acts should not be considered the apostles’ teaching. Their intention in saying this is to put me aside because in my teachings I stress very much matters such as Christ as the mystery of God, the church as the mystery of Christ, God’s economy, etc., according to the Epistles. Today the dissenting ones do not like to touch these things. Whatever I teach, they want to put aside. Their aim is to poison the saints so that they will give up anything that Witness Lee teaches.
When we were raised up by the Lord in His recovery, we were in a situation of mixture. Nearly everything that we received from Christianity was a mixture. That was a very difficult situation. We spent a great deal of time to clear up all the different terms and complex items of the truth. In order to clear up the mixture, we spent many years to find the proper way to classify the different items of the truth in the Bible. Therefore, we need to regard the truths concerning the New Testament ministry, the teaching of the apostles, and the fellowship of the apostles presented in these two chapters as a treasure. We need to keep these matters and study them carefully.
We need to be aware that in the recovery today there is a sickness full of germs. Therefore, we all need to be on the alert and beware. The dissenting ones plan to remain in the recovery, and they are now desperate to take the opportunities and create openings in North America and in the Far East for them to work on those who, in their eyes, might be good for their poisoning work. Thus, we all need to be on the alert and pray against this. Such a turmoil in the recovery is not merely a human activity. Behind the scene of the human activity there is the invisible scene, where Satan, the subtle and evil one, is working out his evil scheme to damage the Lord’s recovery. We are not fighting against blood and flesh but against the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:12). Through His death on the cross Christ has destroyed the one who has the might of death, that is, the devil (Heb. 2:14). When we put our trust in the Lord and His work on the cross, Satan is defeated and Christ is Victor.
To avoid further damage by the present turmoil, we need to practice a strict quarantine over this contagious disease. Whenever any of the dissenting ones attempt to contact you, no matter in what way and in what polite or “spiritual” manner, you should keep the apostle’s teaching in Romans 16:17 and Titus 3:10 to turn away from him and reject him. Do not try to exhort or argue with such people or to find out what and how they really are. If you say anything to them, you will “swallow their bait,” and they will “hook” you. You are a gentleman, a sincere, honest Christian, and a humble follower of the Lord, but they are under the deceiving of the devil and unavoidably bear some of his poison. It is impossible to talk or argue with them without being contaminated by their poison. Instead of spending the time to meet with this kind of dissenting ones, we had better save our time to pray and get into the Word so that we may have some riches of Christ to minister to the saints.
To serve the Lord, to be one of the co-workers, the first requirement is faithfulness not only to the Lord but also to His recovery. We must regard the Lord’s recovery and not consider it as anyone’s personal work. Merely to be faithful to the Lord is not adequate. We must also be faithful to the Lord’s recovery. To show our faithfulness to the recovery, we must consider ourselves married to the recovery. We all need to get ourselves married to the Lord’s recovery. May the Lord have mercy on us all.
