Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
In his first epistle to the Corinthians Paul was in crisis mode and made his point briefly, but his second letter allowed expansion, and in chapter 8 he did...
By contrast, where's the chapter that Paul wrote on masticating the Processed and Consummated Triune God to become God in life and nature.
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Correction: it's not one but two consecutive chapters in 2 Corinthians. In chapter 7, Paul remarked on the reception of the Corinthian church to his first epistle, via Titus, who'd delivered it, and had reported back to Paul. "What zeal, what repentance!" See, e.g., 2 Cor 7:7
Chapter 8 then starts off with a stated expectation, of the hoped-for effect of the repentance and zeal. Paul mentions the generosity of the Macedonians for "the Lord's people" (v4) and then adds, "see that you also excel in this grace of giving"(v7). Then follows the verses cited earlier, that "for you Christ became poor" (v9) on "one who gathered much had no excess" (v15), and "show these men (Titus et al) proof of your love" (v24). Then chapter 9 continues this theme of giving unabated, for 14 more verses.
So I ask again, where's any section of Paul's writing comparable to this, that lays out the "economy of God" as portrayed by Witness Lee? DCP has some explaining to do.
Add to that, what about Paul "hurrying to be in Jerusalem for the Pentecost" in Acts 20:16? He had the gifts from the gentile churches that he'd mentioned variously in his epistles, that he publicly said in Acts 24:17 were "alms for my nation". The symbolism of that's quite pregnant. "All the nations shall gather and pay tribute for the king" a la Psalm 72:10, 11, and Psalm 102:21, 22.
As I said, Paul took the gospel out of Jerusalem, and the pillars of the church said, "remember the poor", and Paul said that he was eager to do so (Gal 2:10), and now Paul had came back to the city, with the remembrance of the gentile churches for the poor of Jerusalem. This was the race that Paul ran, to proclaim the faith to the ends of the earth, then to tie them back to the source. Look at Ephesians 2 in this light. "You gentiles were once without hope, alienated from Israel, but now you have been brought near, and the two (gentile and Jew) are made one in Christ". This was Paul's mission.
The collection for the poor of Jerusalem was not incidental, to be ignored, as the first few chapters of Acts and Jesus' "give and it shall be given" and "store up treasure in heaven". No, it's all the same story. Faith makes us love, and love makes us generous. Caring is not lip service but action, sharing. And Paul was right in the middle of it, and preaching this "economy of God" to every church.
Anyway I propose this reading of "God's economy" as an alternative to Witness Lee's. I don't say it's the only possible reading, but to me it presents a compelling alternative to the WL version, which I find overly broad, speculative and make-shift. Paul never even read the Apocalypse, so how can the "seven-fold intensified Spirit" be part of this "God's economy"? You're left with the notion that nobody but WL truly understood God's economy - not even Paul. And this manufactured 'vision' goes back to the title WL gave WN in his hagiography: "Seer of the Divine Revelation". WL as WN's spiritual heir also had that gift and title, and could "see the divine revelation" even when Paul could not.