Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
.... If God really did have an economy, I don't think that the teachings and practices of a group that claims to have .. recovered such a thing, would be so offsetting, alarming and disturbing to other Christians.
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The novelty & shock value drew in the young ones & alarmed the more cautious ones. "Don't lay hands quickly on any new believer" is a good warning, and it speaks to what happened to many of us, myself included.
And yes, I'd argue that God does have an economy. Jesus also used the word that translated as "stewardship" and Paul told Timothy that right teachings would result in it.
But what is the practice of God's economy? Certainly not calling, which I've shown is the equivalent of: repent and believe; confess Jesus as Lord; be baptized; be saved; etc. It is what WL would call "the initiation of the mingling" where people are transferred from darkness to light. And yes, "It is not of works, it is all of grace".
While God's economy, which follows, can also be said to be a further demonstration of God's sovereign grace, and I believe it is, it involves more than calling. If you read Paul's epistles to the gentiles, he wanted some issue, some fruit, and not merely the fruit of yet more lips calling on the name (though that was involved as well).