The Speciality, Generality, and Practicality of the Church Life

[aron]

Originally Posted by aron

What Jesus teaches is paramount. He is the Chosen Seed, the One without error. So what he says about God as revealed in the word should be examined carefully and repeatedly. That is our lodestone, "what we believe"..

I'd modify this: Jesus was subjective, self-oriented, using the Bible to teach about himself, and his role, v/v the Father.

Himself: "Was it not written that the Messiah must suffer, and die, and be raised to glory?" For him, to him, there was really no other subject but this. All others revolved around this momentous event: suffering, shame and death, then resurrection and glory.

And

"But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" ~Matt 26:54

And why should we hold to any other topic?

His relations v/v the Father: "I always do my Father's will"

And

"If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments [scripture] and remain in His love"

And

"Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."

It is all about Christ's obedience to the Father, even to death, and the Father's love raising him to glory. There really is no other subject. Every flower looks to this unique Sun. There is no other Light source. This is our commandment - to hold to this topic, resolutely, to the end.

"One Lord, one faith, one baptism." One confession and one hope.

Originally Posted by aron

Next is what his immediate witnesses said about him, that he suffered on our behalf, and rose to glory. Either it is delusion, or outright lie (fabrication), or truth, which validates all Jesus' teachings (scriptural interpretations).

Now look at other testimonies for corroborating quotes: "I [Christ] come to do thy [Father's] will; behold, in the scroll of the book [scripture] it is written concerning me" ~Heb 10:7,9; cf Psa 40:7,8

And

"Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." ~John 19:28

The only relevant topic at hand is Jesus Christ, as revealed in scripture. Not some manufactured "practicality of the church life".

Now, in this context, and only in it, consider what the Bible says about God. Take Psalm 147, for instance. "He calls each star by name, his understanding has no limit". Did Jesus believe this? He taught, "Not a sparrow falls from the sky but the Father doesn't know it. Every hair on your head is numbered." Seems like he was teaching on a parallel track.

But what we would say about God, even from the Bible, does not exist for us as ''das ding an sich", as "a-thing-in-itself", but only as how Jesus thought of it, and taught it. That only has meaning within his thought-world. And within no other. What Witness Lee taught, or thought, of itself, doesn't matter. (Or Calvin, or Luther, or...)