[OBW]

I note that among Nee's books on the church is The Orthodoxy of the Church. (Of course there was also The Normal Christian Church Life, Further Talks on the Church Life, Church Affairs, and The Assembly Life.) While there are surely things to be said about problems in the church, there is nothing in scripture that suggests that we need to have a right belief ("orthodoxy") about the church. We are told to believe and obey Christ. To believe in God.

It is interesting that the church simply is. It is the body of Christ. It is the assembly. It is the pillar and base of the truth.

And there is nothing that suggests that only certain versions of the church fit this criteria. Only the Calvinists (or Armenians). Only the Evangelicals. Or even only the Baptists. Or the Church of Christ. Or the "Local Churches."

And nothing says that the worst of the problems in Revelation 2 and 3 were not the church. Even the one we like to declare (based on Miller's version of reading the passage) to be the Roman Catholic Church (and the whore of Babylon if we listen to Lee).

Seems odd that the one about to be spewed out was really so nearly perfect according to "orthodoxy." They had all the right teachings. They were as orthodox as you can get.

Seems that orthodoxy is almost unimportant to God. Yes there is a requirement of belief. But it is in Christ, not the church. And it must be coupled with orthopraxy — with practice. It does take works to actually please God. We can do nothing to gain salvation. But doing nothing after that . . . well, you've seen it too often.