Quote:
Originally Posted by ZNPaaneah
According to Witness Lee
Suppose that you and others in the city where you live are fed up with Christianity, so you start to meet together separately in the Lord's name. You say, “We give up Christianity; we have had enough of the old system of religion; now we are just meeting by ourselves in the name of the Lord Jesus, assured according to Matthew 18:20 that we have His presence.” We would simply ask you, Is your meeting taking the stand with the true local church in your city? Or is your meeting some isolated thing, something without the church as a standing? If so, your meeting is divisive and not a proper meeting. Do not isolate Matthew 18:20—it must be understood by the context. Read the context, and you will see the right meaning of meeting in the name of the Lord. (How to Meet, Chapter 1, Section 2)
So then the question is this What is the "true local church in your city"?
How do you know what it is?
What does it mean to have a meeting that is "some isolated thing", "something without the church as a standing"?
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We have taken issue with this term "the true local church" because it is not in the New Testament. It appears to be exclusive, elitist, and bring in a basis for condemning all other Christian gatherings other than Witness Lee's.
However, to be fair to Witness Lee the term "sect" as a work of the flesh is used in the New Testament. This word is sometimes translated as "heresy" and "damnable heresy". So although the term "true church" isn't used, there is quite a lot of evidence of "counterfeit" gatherings referred to in the New Testament.
"Many Christians know that heresy refers to something negative, but not many know the real meaning of heresy. In these days, I have been burdened to put out a tract on the subject of the true meaning of heresy. If you consult a dictionary, you will discover that heresy is an anglicized Greek word—a Greek word brought over into the English language. Do you know what heresy is? To know what heresy is, we must go to the New Testament and understand the meaning and usage of this word in the Greek language. We cannot derive the meaning of the word heresy simply by studying a lexicon. We must know both the meaning of the Greek word and its usage in the New Testament. The Greek word hairesis is used nine times in the New Testament (Acts 5:17; 15:5; 24:5, 14; 26:5; 28:22; 1 Cor. 11:19; Gal. 5:20; 2 Pet. 2:1). The adjective form, hairetikos, is found in Titus 3:10. In most of the occurrences of the word hairesis the meaning is “sect.” For example, Acts 5:17 speaks of “the sect (hairesis) of the Sadducees.” In Acts 24:5 Paul was accused of being “a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.” Here, a small number from the Jewish religion followed Jesus to form another group which was considered by others as a sect. Paul uses the word hairesis strongly in Galatians 5:20, ranking heresy with works of the flesh, such as adultery, fornication, and witchcraft. Immediately before speaking of heresies, Paul mentions “hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions.” Hence, wrath, strife, seditions, and heresies are related to each other. First we have wrath, then strife, and after strife we have seditions. Following these are heresies. This means that if we strive and fight with others, the result will be divisions that issue in sects. Thus, in this verse, Darby translates hairesis as “schools of opinion.” To have a school of opinion means to hold an opinion that causes you to be separated and divided from others and to form into a sect." (Witness Lee, Young People's Training, Chapter 8, Section 4)
So this is a very, very high standard. Every single gathering of Christians has opinions and has a certain level of agreement on those opinions otherwise the gathering is completely unstable and will explode.
If that group develops enough their opinions will become a "school of opinions". They will publish, they will write, they will defend their ideas, etc. Some claim that they are exempt from this, but I have yet to see that in my life. I don't think the NT condemns this as it could fall under the "study to show yourself approved".
But when your teaching, your opinions, that your sect holds "causes you to be separated and divided from others" that is when it becomes a "damnable heresy".
Therefore I think the definition of the church in the NT is very clear that there is "one" church. This is because there is one Lord. There is one kingdom. There is one family of God. No teacher, no teaching, no person has a monopoly on this. The prerequisite to entering into this kingdom is to receive Jesus Christ by faith. You are not required to subscribe to any particular teaching, ministry or minister. There is one baptism that is our entrance into this kingdom.
The question therefore becomes whether Witness Lee was right in identifying all other Christian gatherings as being "heretical" (i.e. sectarian) and therefore "not the true church". Or was his teaching about the "true church" actually sectarian and divisive. I think it is undeniable that the Local Church is a "school of opinion" with their own publications, trainings, terminology, etc.