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Originally Posted by Trapped
The healthy teaching that produces God's economy is the gospel. That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. That Jesus died on the cross for you and for me. That our debt has been paid.
This is what the Bible says about God's economy. Teach the genuine gospel and God's economy, the end of which is love, will be produced.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Zezima
So then, what is gods economy since it can be produced?
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Remember that Paul was a disciple of Jesus, whose central teaching was to give to those who could not repay you in this age. Remember the parable of the Samaritan? They were talking about love to one's neighbour. Jesus gave a demonstration by parable, of a man who gave with no thought of return. He gave because of love. And he gave to a nearby stranger, who would never repay him.
But where do we see Paul echo this? My "crucial verse" (ha-ha) is found in Galatians at the climax of the council in Jerusalem, where the leaders of the mission there invest Paul with the outreach to the nations, "Only they said to remember the poor" (2:10). What did Paul say? Did he clap his hands on his ears and say, "No, that's not God's economy!"? No, he said he was eager to do that very thing! Imagine that! Why? Maybe because it was God's economy.
Furthermore, Paul goes into two whole chapters of 2 Corinthians (8 and 9) telling them, "It's better to give than to receive" and "he who gathered much had no excess, who gathered little had no lack."
We love not in word but in deed. By sharing. In this we fulfill the royal law, to love one another, says James. Which of you, having food or clothes sends your brother away naked and hungry? No, we share. (2:8,15,16). The one "work" James consistently stresses is generosity toward those who lack.
Now of course this is an idea, a theory, a reading, or interpretation. But so is that of WL, and I argue that this is more well-grounded in scripture, and departs less from the text, than WL's version. Where does Paul teach intensification? Nowhere. If so, why did WL say that it was part of God's economy that Paul wanted Timothy to remain behind in Ephesus and produce? Clearly he's straining to put together concepts that are not together in the text.
But "remember the poor" is heavily cited in scriptural text from Proverbs and Psalms and Leviticus right up through the gospels and epistles. And look at Acts: Paul returns to Jerusalem with "alms for my nation" in 24:17. Nothing about mastication or dispensing or enjoyment. (Actually, the
RecV translates Paul and Barnabas' alms-giving in Acts 12:25 as 'dispensing'!) Or Zacchaeus - "Behold, the half of my goods I give to the poor". What did Jesus reply? "Now the kingdom of God is come to this house".
It's a fairly consistent line in the scriptural narrative, right up through the gospels. And Paul is remaining firmly in this line.