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Originally Posted by aron
There's a "dispensing" repeatedly shown in the NT, which Lee seemed to take pains to ignore. Perhaps because it conflicted with his version of "dispensing" in his proprietary "God's economy".
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I cite Didache as a window into "God's economy" because it's a well-attested first/second-century letter which is sub-titled "the teaching of the Twelve to the Nations". It's an early commentary on the apostles' teaching, as valid (or moreso) than a commentary supplied centuries later by Darby or Nee or Lee or Spurgeon or whomever.
Witness Lee properly stressed teaching God's economy which is in faith (1 Tim 1:4), but how do we know it is what he said it was? "The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit" and "The Spirit witnesses with out spirit"? Is that God's economy?
Didache says, "Let your alms sweat in your palm before you know who to give it to." When the apostles were in Jerusalem, it was simple: give your alms through the Twelve. "And they sold what they had and laid it at the apostles' feet" ~Acts 4:34,35, cf 2:45. And this continued with Paul: "They (the apostles) asked us to continue to remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do" ~Gal 2:10
The NT gives another window into "dispensing" and "which is by faith" than the one Witness Lee stressed. You know, masticating the processed Triune God and becoming God in life and nature.
Jesus taught, "When you give a feast, invite those who cannot repay you, and you'll be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous". Luke 14:12-14 This is the dispensing that Paul and Barnabas did in Acts 12, and the Twelve did in Acts 6.
Now look at Paul as he fulfills the Apostle's commission cited in Galatians 2. Romans 15:25 "Now, however,
I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people in Jerusalem. 27 They were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings. 28 So after I have completed this task and have made sure that they have received this contribution, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way"
So Paul is repeating the dispensing of Acts 12 and Acts 6.
1 Cor 15: 1 "Now about the collection for the Lord’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. 3 Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and
send them with your gift to Jerusalem."
Is alms-giving a "dead work" in the NT? Here's Paul in Acts 24:17 "After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings."
Here is Dorcas in Acts 9:36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor.
Here is Cornelius in Acts 10:3,4 About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God.
Perhaps that's closer to what Paul meant when he wrote to "teach God's economy, which is in faith". Certainly Witness Lee's explanation isn't the only possible one. We just passively accepted it as though it were. First he made us brain-dead by repetitive shouting, then he fed us his home-made theories. I think we should question them, and probe for alternatives.
Didache was written later, when the Twelve were not together in Jerusalem, so it might be harder for the [gentile] recipients scattered abroad to know to whom to give alms. Jerusalem may well have been in ruins by then. So the writer is saying, Hold your alms in your hands, look round, and God will show you how to participate in His economy.