Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
Depends on what he meant by "cannot" and by "confused" and by "separated."
But that point is off-topic. Please stop harping on it or explain why it's important and what you are getting at.
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Off topic?
Why this is the point! It is only off topic to you because your definitions are different that WL's. You opened this conversation using this very point explaining to audience that this is a good example of the "bad Lee". You then went on to explain what Lee meant implying that He taught the Body was brought into the Godhead when he did no such thing. You used as a proof point this statement from Lee:
"Ultimately, the church is a group of people who are in union with the Triune God and are mingled with the Triune God. The Triune God and the church are four-in-one. Because the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all one with the Body of Christ, we may say that the Triune God is now the “four-in-one God.” These four are the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the Body. The Three of the Divine Trinity cannot be confused or separated, and the four-in-one also cannot be separated or confused." [emphasis added]
What this statement shows very clearly by its construct is that he did not teach what you say he did as he further explains what he meant by both the "Triune God" and the "four-in-one God" bold above in blue.
"The Three of the Divine Trinity cannot be confused or separated,..."
This means that Witness Lee holds the precise orthodox view of the eternal Trinity. They cannot be confused in that there are three, the Father, Son, and Spirit and they cannot be separated, that is, they co-exist, are co-equal, and nothing can come between the three in the Godhead eternity to eternity.
"....and the four-in-one also cannot be separated or confused."
This means that this Divine Trinity when He becomes one with His believers through the divine life forms a great corporate divine-human entity which Lee terms the "
four-in-one" blended together by God Himself.
Your mis-understanding is that when WL makes the second half of the statement that he negates the first part of the statement. The argument you make is that God is always God in the Godhead. So based on that you object and overwrite the first part of statement with the second half. However, WL obviously holds a different than you. In his view both parts of the statement are absolutely true: The Godhead never changes from eternity to eternity and furthermore there is a divine-human incorporation that God has created (which the Bible refers to as the new creation, the Body of Christ, the Church, etc.).
Because in your view. as expressed in the base note, a reference to God must always include the Godhead then you filter WL's statements that way and Lee becomes a "bad Lee" because again in your view there is no room for a different view and so Lee must be teaching that the Body of Christ is incorporated into the Godhead. Which he did not.
His statement shows very clearly that he believed both parts of the statement to be very true precisely because he holds onto the first part unambiguously, that is, the Godhead cannot be confused or separated.