[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!

Now days I seldom hear anyone in other Christian groups talk much about the importance of "Christ is you, the hope of glory." (Col 1:27) But if this not the New Covenant, then what is? And, of course, many might acknowledge that Christ is in the believer, but then approach the whole New Covenant in a largely outward, Old Covenant way of buckle-down performance, which is simply legalism.

Let me ask you, Sons to Glory! - Does your group have guest speakers, teachers from other other churches in your area or other unaffiliated people come and speak at your fellowship? The reason I ask is that it seems like you guys are a little isolated, and even a bit insulated, from the other Christian groups and influences in general, and from non Local Church sources specifically. I guess this shouldn't be too surprising, knowing that the group is a direct spin off of the Local Church of Witness Lee.

I guess I'm struggling a little with your attitude towards "other Christian groups". You say that you seldom hear anyone talk much about the importance of "Christ in you, the hope of glory". This seems a rather puzzling thing to say. This term "Christ in you, the hope of glory" is a direct quote from the apostle Paul in Colossians 1:27. So it's in the Bible. So any Christian teacher who is doing either a topical study or sequential study will be covering this wonderful and important aspect of the indwelling Christ, and depending upon the audience, place it in its proper context and give it the proper emphasis. The teacher may or may not use the same terminology as, or put such a great emphasis on a certain aspect as was done by Witness Lee, but so what? The New Testament contains 27 books, 260 chapters, containing about 138,000 words. God Word is God's Word. Any interpretations, including what is or is not emphasized, is subject to the frailty and fallibility of the teacher - even if they are claiming that their personal interpretations are "recovered truth". The days of the scripture writing apostles are over. We do not have the apostles John, Peter or Paul to expand and expound upon what has been written. And just as important, in my view, we do not have these men around to tell us what should or should not be emphasized.

So here's the main question: Are there Christian groups or speakers out there who emphasize the indwelling of Christ in our spirit - and that the Christian life is impossible to live apart from Him living in and through us?

In light of what I have written above, I think that your ostensibly rhetorical question is actually begging the question. It is circular, it assumes something that you could not possible know - to wit - that you know what is taught and emphasized by anything but a small fraction of Christian teachers, ministers and scholars. Witness Lee was constantly making this crucial error. Eventually, this kind of thinking lead Lee to make such absurd and asinine statements as "Judaism is satanic, Catholicism is demonic, and Protestantism is Christless". May God have mercy.
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