Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
here is a section from page 80 "Elder's training, book 9"
"The New Testament leadership in the Gospels was a person. That person was the Lord Jesus Himself. But from Acts to Revelation, the unique New Testament leadership became the teaching of the apostles. Thus, neither Peter nor Paul controlled any church, but their teaching controlled. We can see this in 1 Timothy where Paul exhorted Timothy to remain in Ephesus in order that he might charge certain ones not to teach different things other than the economy of God (1:3-4). Different teachings are teachings which are different from the apostles' teaching concerning God's economy. This teaching is the unique leadership."
In this section Jesus, the subject, gets 2 quick sentences and the bulk of the attention goes to "teaching". Notice how easily Witness Lee turned the focus away from the leadership example of Jesus Christ.
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I think what Witness Lee said in above quote is partly true but the apostles' teachings only play a part in the NT leadership.
There isn't a NT leadership in the Gospels and then a different one after that. The Gospels were all written at different times. John was one of the last books written. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body the church and it's Leader. And one of the main ways he leads us is through our conscience.
During the time of the early church there were also the apostles and their teachings. And these apostles had apostolic authority and provided in-person leadership to the church and their teachings were also authoritative. Today what we have left are some of their teachings in writing which is part of the NT. And we also have some of the teachings of Jesus Christ in writing and his example.
So today 2000 years later we have the Lord Jesus Christ who is alive and well and able to lead
His church and we have the NT which includes His teachings and the apostles' teachings. This is where spiritual authority resides.
What the LC systems has done is equate Witness Lee's teachings with the apostles' teachings. If you listen carefully to them and watch their practice that is what it amounts to. And when Witness Lee was alive they thought he was the apostle with apostolic authority. So him in-person and his teachings were authoritative. And now that he is dead his teachings are equal to the NT or higher in status for all intent and purposes. That is why they could have a big division over which is the correct and official exegesis of Witness Lee's teachings i.e. BB/LSM or Titus Chu?
Nothing to do with the NT. Let's have a fight over the interpretation of Witness Lee's teachings!