[Jay]

Originally Posted by ACuriousFellow

Lee’s concept of “eating” God’s word always irked me. His use of Jeremiah’s heartfelt declaration to the Lord to justify his concept of “pray-reading” is disheartening, for it leaves out a crucial aspect of this metaphor of “eating,” which is the fact that in order to truly “eat’ God’s word, we must “do” God’s word.

Jeremiah 15:15-17
15 LORD, you understand; remember me and care for me. Avenge me on my persecutors. You are long-suffering—do not take me away; think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. 16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, LORD God Almighty. 17 I never sat in the company of revelers, never made merry with them; I sat alone because your hand was on me and you had filled me with indignation.

Jeremiah speaks of when the word of God came to him. This is exactly what we see in the first chapter of his book. “The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5). Jeremiah initially shows apprehension at such a word, but the Lord insists. “‘Alas, Sovereign LORD,’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’ But the LORD said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 1:6-8). We can see that Jeremiah immediately proves that he “ate” God’s word by showing that he was keeping God’s word and doing what God asked of him. As our Lord Jesus declared, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34). In James we also see the importance of keeping God’s word rather than just hearing it: “My dear brothers and sisters, take not of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it — not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it — they will be blessed in what they do.” (James 1:19-25).

The scriptural concept of “eating” can never be divorced from “doing,” yet somehow Lee has conjured up this doctrine of pray-reading which is effectively just a doctrine of verbal phylacteries (Matthew 23:1-12). There is indeed precedent for praying over the scriptures, but Lee’s specific formula for “pray-reading” and for “eating” God’s word is no better than the vain and repetitive actions that Jesus warned against.

John 6:57 He who eats me, he also shall live because of me
Matthew 4:4 Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is God breathed
John 4:24 God is spirit, and he who worships him must worship in spirit and truthfulness
John 1:1 In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God
John 1:14 And the word became flesh and tabernacle among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father), full of grace and reality
Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground Jehovah God caused to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, as well as the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil


These verses all talk about spiritual eating. The Bible is a spiritual book, God himself is spirit (John 4:24), the Bible is actually God himself (John 1:1). If God is the word, then surely the Bible is good for eating (John 6:57). It's not only biblical to say this, it's literally what God wants from us. He wants to be assimilated into our being so that we express him. Otherwise what are we saved for? Simply for our own ticket to heaven? That's not the scope of what the Bible says. From Genesis chapter 2, directly after creating man he put man in the garden in front of the two trees with the idea that man would eat him. This is the major running theme throughout the entire Bible, and it's how God accomplishes his goal. The Bible is one big book of eating, from the beginning to the end. If you don't think so I'd encourage you to read your Bible more often

Modern Christianity loves to say God's goal is to do things, and to accomplish works. This is a common trope in mainstream Christianity. But actually God didn't tell Adam and Eve to do much. They only had to upkeep the garden. But his central goal for them was focused around their eating. "God cares more for what we are than what we do." -Watchman Nee. God cares for the quality of his craftsmanship. What better material to build with than with himself

But with that said, yes there's more to the Christian life than eating. And works are something that is talked about a lot in the Bible. I went into detail about this on another thread regarding the oneness of the body. Someone said that he experienced oneness in the works. I contend that without the spirit the works are something of the soul. Whether it's the soul or the spirit matters (Hebrews 4:12)

Lee says in the footnotes for Hebrews 4:12-

According to the Bible, man is a tripartite being — spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes. 5:23). Here, in this verse, are the joints and marrow — which are parts of the body — and the soul and spirit.

The foregoing verses describe the children of Israel as falling away from entering into the rest of the good land. With them there were three places:
1) Egypt, from which they were delivered;
2) the wilderness, in which they wandered;
3) Canaan, into which they entered. Their history in these three places signifies the three stages of their participation in God's full salvation.
This is a type of us, the New Testament believers, in our participation in the full salvation of God. In the first stage we receive Christ and are redeemed and delivered from the world. In the second stage we become wanderers in following the Lord; our wandering always takes place in our soul. In the third stage we partake of and enjoy Christ in a full way; this is experienced in our spirit. When we pursue the pleasures of material and sinful things, we are in the world, typified by Egypt. When we wander in our soul, we are in the wilderness. When we enjoy Christ in our spirit, we are in Canaan. When the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, they were always murmuring, reasoning, and chiding. This surely took place in their soul, not in their spirit. But Caleb and Joshua believed in the word of God, obeyed the Lord, and pressed toward the goal. This surely took place not in their soul but in their spirit. At that time the receivers of this book, the Hebrew believers, were wondering what they should do with their old Hebrew religion. This wondering in their mind was a wandering in their soul, not an experience of Christ in their spirit. So the writer of this book said that the word of God, i.e., what was quoted from the Old Testament, could pierce into their wondering like a sharp two-edged sword and divide their soul from their spirit. As the marrow is concealed deep in the joints, so the spirit is deep in the soul. The dividing of the marrow from the joints requires mainly the breaking of the joints. In the same principle, the dividing of the spirit from the soul requires the breaking of the soul. The Hebrew believers' soul, with its wondering mind, its doubting concerning God's way of salvation, and its considering of its own interests, had to be broken by the living, operative, and piercing word of God that their spirit might be divided from their soul.

Our soul is our very self (Matt. 16:25; cf. Luke 9:25). In following the Lord we must deny our soul, our very self (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23). Our spirit is the deepest part of our being, a spiritual organ with which we contact God (John 4:24; Rom. 1:9). It is in our spirit that we are regenerated (John 3:6). It is in our spirit that the Holy Spirit dwells and works (Rom. 8:16). It is in our spirit that we enjoy Christ and His grace (2 Tim. 4:22; Gal. 6:18). Hence, the writer of this book advised the Hebrew believers not to stagger in the wandering of their soul, which soul they had to deny, but to press on into their spirit to partake of and enjoy the heavenly Christ that they might participate in the kingdom rest of His reign in the millennium. If they staggered in the wandering of their soul, they would miss God's goal and suffer the loss of the full enjoyment of Christ and the kingdom rest.

In this complex footnote we see how intricate our being is, and how closely related to God's plan the faculties of our being is. We see that the soul life is asked of us to deny (Matthew 16:24) and we see the spirit is the focal point of the Christian life (Romans chapter 8). All of these clues are indicators of what God wants- EATING. God wants us to eat of him as the spirit and to exercise our spirit. The works come out of this practice

Now, as I said on the other thread I believe that the local churches are short in the works department. I believe this is a shortage or a lack that they have for whatever reason. But we can't contend with their theology on eating of Christ as the spirit. To do so would be to contend with the Bible itself. It may be that in fact they themselves are short on eating and enjoying the Lord and this is why they lack in works. But the error of modern Christianity is to focus only on works and totally ignore eating Christ as the spirit. This is a defunct situation. Dead works like Thyatira. However many in the local churches exhibit the condition of Laodicea. They have the knowledge but they've lost the first love. They are in a stagnant condition with no works. Both scenarios are wrong. Christ was balanced in both life and his humanity that exhibited love and care for people through his works of healing, helping, loving, etc. This is short in the local churches from my experience. But we can't say that the Bible is not a book of eating, and we can't say that eating isn't the central theme of God's plan