[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by YP0534

To my way of thinking, Paul often dropped little landmine nuggets of truth into a discourse which was only tangentially related to that particular gem.

Agreed. Good point. However, no major, essential teachings or doctrines should be based solely upon any of these landmines. And this is exactly what Witness Lee did time and time again. When this is done it leads to misinterpretation at the very least, and in some cases out-in-out heresy.

This is what Christian orthodoxy is all about. There are standards, there are boundaries, there are limits.

Let me give just one brief example that I hope will hit my point home.

All (or most?) Christians consider that Jesus was God and He was equal to the Father in substance, glory, power and holiness.
How then do we handle John 14:28...
"You heard that I said to you, 'I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I"

"Greater?" But I thought we orthodox Christians consider the three of the Trinity to be equal. Is this one of the landmines that YP is talking about, or should we interpret/understand this statement within the larger context of the orthodox understanding of the nature of the Trinity?

There is a myriad of examples of such "contradictions" throughout the New Testament, especially those which touch upon (or seemingly touch upon) the nature of the Trinity. If any teacher, or so-called apostle, who comes along is allowed to interpret (or reinterpret as it were) any given verse apart from the standards, boundaries and limit set, then all bets are off folks. Everything becomes a theological free-for-all.

There is always a larger context Paul is working within and sometimes things just seem kind of plopped inappropriately in the middle of something else...

Ok, agreed again. But this is EXACTLY why we need to rely upon wise, educated and spiritual persons to let us know what should be put within a larger context, and what might just be something to be considered "an exception to the rule". Witness Lee was no such person. As a matter of fact, in my observation over 30+ years, the Local Church has never produced such a person. Maybe they have but such a person has never been allowed to excersise their gift to teach/expound upon the Word of God in this manner. Very sad actually.