Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
James uses the term "the twelve tribes", an Old Testament term, but his use does not indicate that he himself is still in the OT mindset. Instead, it indicates he has a burden to "turn back those who have wandered from the truth" which is what he says in chapter 5. This isn't an inference or assumption, James makes it very clear that he does not consider himself to of "the twelve tribes" rather he considers himself to be a bondservant of God and of Jesus Christ...
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Many of you are slanderous towards Witness Lee with much bias and discrimination without much knowledge.
It is a historical fact that the great theologian and reformer Martin Luther was one of the first to despise James, not Witness Lee.
Martin Luther wrote of James:
In a word St. John’s Gospel and his first epistle, St. Paul’s epistles, especially Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians, and St. Peter’s first epistle are the books that show you Christ and teach you all that is necessary and salvation for you to know, even if you were never to see or hear any other book or doctrine. Therefore St. James’ epistle is really an epistle of straw, compared to these others, for it has nothing of the nature of the gospel about it. (LW 35:362)
Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon (notably, he perceived them to go against certain Protestant doctrines such as sola gratia and sola fide), but this was not generally accepted among his followers. However, these books are ordered last in the German-language Luther Bible to this day.[5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther%27s_canon
Luther inserted the word "alone" in Romans 3:28 to his German translation to support his doctrine of "faith alone".
For this reason Luther may be subject to this warning:
Revelation 22:18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll.
We are just as much at mercy to the whims of men's doctrines and deceits outside of the Recovery as in it. Every Bible version we read has been tainted by men. To leave Lee's doctrines is merely to replace him with someone else's, even unconsciously as we read the Word of God biased by the doctrines of men.
Now consider that Lee, unlike Luther and the Lutherans, respected James and tried to understand it much more than any of them.
In fact Lee's life study of James is quite good and gives it far more attention that most Protestant denominations care to give it.
So I think you are all very unfair and biased to try and pin a claim of "rejection of James" onto Witness Lee. This is not the case at all, or no worse than that done by Protestants in general.