Quote:
Originally Posted by OBW
When I read that someone is teaching that the book of James is not God's instruction to us for our living, but is allowed in scripture as an example of the wrong way to live, all because of a presumption of not understanding "God's economy," then I have a problem with what it is that they are claiming "God's economy" to be.
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To me this was another example of "Early Lee -- Later Lee." When I first read, reread, and studied this book with the church in the mid-70's, these derogatory comments about the book of James were not included. Later on in the Life Study of James in ~1983, these comments about James being "
not clear about God's New Testament Economy" were used often. Then during the Crystalization Study of James, WL basically trashed the book.
So, as
OBW has voiced in his concerns in recent posts, the teaching and understanding of "God's Economy" has deteriorated over time. What is now understood as "God's Economy" is a far cry from the original book on the subject. This explains why different brothers in the Recovery have completely different views of what "God's Economy" refers to. Most brothers I knew took their understanding from the Greek texts in the Bible, and the original teaching by WL. Nowadays "God's Economy" has come to mean an exclusive view, focused singularly on the ministry of WL, and exclusive to the Recovery.