My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

The traditional Arminian interpretation of this passage goes something like this:
• James is addressing brothers who are believers, children of God,
• James is saying a brother can wander from the truth (i.e. the faith),
• The brother after his wandering is called a sinner,
• The brother needs to be saved from death as a result of his wandering,
 Therefore, the brother become a sinner by his wandering and needed to be re-saved suggesting his faith was lost in his act of wandering.

There is no doubt that this passage presents interpretative difficulties for someone with the theological position that those who are saved will persevere without the ability to fall away from the faith. I will attempt to show that these two verses do not teach that a true believer can fall away. In doing so, it is necessary to highlight the teaching of the whole counsel of God regarding the perseverance of the redeemed. Once that foundation has been laid, an exposition of this text can be performed to show its continuity with the whole of Scripture’s teaching on this subject.

Perseverance in the Whole Counsel of Scripture

I desire to in every way at every moment to be faithful to the truth of God’s revealed Word. With that being said, I pray that I may never interpret any passage of scripture in an effort to uphold a theological position. Instead, I desire to always build my theology first on the truth of God’s word and place my allegiance His Word and not any doctrinal camp.

With that being said, I do believe that Scripture does teach that those who are truly redeemed will persevere throughout their life and are unable to fall away from the faith bought once for all for the saints. I want to briefly show from Scripture that the weight of Scripture does in fact teach that the children of God are unable to fall away from the faith.

Believers Persevere in the Faith:

• … because God, in love, hold us and prevents us from falling away

John 10:27-29: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
1 Peter 1:3-5: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Corinthians 1:7b-9: as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 8:35-39: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 6:39-40: And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
Hebrews 7:25: Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
Isaiah 46:4: Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.

• … because the God promises to finish what He starts in a believer

Philippians 1:6: And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Ecclesiastes 3:14: I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.
Romans 11:29: For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Jeremiah 32:40: I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.
Psalm 138:8: The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

This is only an overview of the Biblical teaching on the perseverance of those who come to faith in Christ Jesus. I hope it is clear from these verses that the love of God is shown to the Church when God protects us and prevents us from falling away from our faith. Jesus gives us such clear imagery that those for whom He died He will lose none of them (John 6:39-40). In fact, He says that He will hold the redeemed in hand to protect them from falling away (John 10:27-29). Additionally 1 Peter 1:3-5 tells us that our inheritance in Christ is imperishable and is kept in Heaven by God for us. It is therefore an act of God that maintains our faith which is completely apart from ourselves.

It should be stated that the belief in perseverance of the saints does not neglect the numerous calls to persevere and endure in the faith. As Nathan Pitchford says, “God’s preservation of the saints is not irrespective of their continuance in the faith”. There are numerous calls throughout Scripture for the Children of God to endure:
o 1 Corinthians 15:1-2
o Colossians 1:21-23
o Revelation 2:7, l0 , 11 , l7, 25 , 26; 3:5, 11, l2, 2l

Arminians commonly teach that the commands to endure and persevere suggest that there exists an act on the part of the believer that must be performed in order to endure in the faith and that in fact if one does not endure that their faith will be lost. I see such interpretations as narrow and out of context with the weight of Scripture. 2 Peter 1:10 tells us to “…be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” We are to endure in the faith as a sign of true enduring faith.

This is in line with 1 Peter 1:3-9 where Peter starts by telling us that our faith is imperishable and kept for us by God in heaven. He then follows by calling us to endure through trials. Even though Peter says that our faith cannot perish he still calls us to endure so our love for God may increase as we trust Him through trials and suffering. We are called to endure in the faith as an evidence of true faith. Our endurance to the end shows that we are truly of the redeemed. Consider that Jesus says that there will be false believers among us (Matthew 7:21-23) and that many will fall away (Matthew 24:10). We are encouraged to endure to show us that we are of God and belong to Him.

This brings us then to the passage from James chapter 5. It is important to understand that the Bible teaches that there will be people who are among the Church of God who are false believers who will died in false belief and will be only recognized as such at the day of judgment (Matthew 7:21-23). Additionally, there will be people among the Church who leave the faith before death (Matthew 24:10).

This is where it becomes increasingly important to see the context of Scripture in interpreting James 5. James 5 speaks of some people who are among the Brothers who wander from truth and must be snatched from death. While a superficial reading of this passage seems to suggest that a true brother in the faith has lost their faith to which they need to be restored, consider what John says about those among the brother who wander from the truth:

1 John 2:18-25 (emphasis added):
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us eternal life.

John tells us that there are people in the Church who will walk away from the faith. Those who are truly redeemed will continue in the faith and those who leave the faith simply show that they were never truly redeemed. He concludes this passage by says that those who have the Gospel abiding in their hearts will abide in God which leads to eternal life. It has already been shown that there are people who will be among the brother who leave. John simply tells us that the act of leaving shows that they were never truly a believer because those who are of Christ continue in the faith.

Based on the previous mentioned passages and the exposition by John on the nature of enduring faith, I cannot see James 5:19-20 teaching that the one who wanders ever being truly among the brother. The English Standard Version and New American Standard Bible translate James 5:19 by saying that the one who wanders in among the brother while the Kings James Versions says that it is one of the brethren who do error. I believe the ESV and NASB have correctly translated this passage to say that the one who strays is among the brethren and not necessarily one of the brethren. I base this assertion on the use of the Greek word en that is translated among. This work designates position (in place, time or state) that can be translated as by, with or in. In context of 1 John 2:19 we see that the simple act of being among brethren does not mean one is a brother themselves. Therefore, the one who strays in James 5:19 is among the brethren but his act of straying shows that he is not a true brother.

Consider also the relation to Paul’s command to confront a sexually immoral men in the Church and expel him from the Church for his wickidness in 1 Corinthians 5:1-12. Nathan Pitchford pointed out to me the parallels between this passage and our passage in James 5 in that this man was to be handed over to Satan so that:

“his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord”. In other words, he hoped by this public rebuke to bring him around to repentance, so that he might enter the Kingdom. Also, Hebrews has some similar passages, for example 10:23-27. There, intense and genuine church interaction is commanded because the day of Christ is approaching, and those who turn aside from the truth to willful sin will certainly receive condemnation. In sum, I would suggest that this sort of restorative ministry that James talks about is a blood-earnest and necessary thing to pursue, because, if someone doesn’t turn from the error of his ways, he will not be saved from death. Every true, regenerate believer will be brought to repentance, I believe, but the mutual support, and sometimes the rebuke of others in the Church is a necessary means of staying in the race. And those who turn aside and never come back show that they were never truly of us, as John describes elsewhere (I John 2:19).

The Greek used throughout this passage in many places seems to suggest that the one who is straying is not and never was one of the brethren. I am not skilled in Greek so at this time I will lean upon modern heroes of the faith who have skilled themselves in Greek studies. Consider the exposition of the Greek by John MaCarthur for the following parts of the passage (http://www.gty.org/Resources/Transcripts/59-34):

• Use of the word brethren/brothers

Let’s look at these two verses. He says, “Brethren,” he uses it many times in this epistle, many times over. He uses it to refer to those who are his brothers in the flesh, Jews. And he uses it to those who are his brothers in Christ, who name the name of Christ. The use of the word “brethren” is general then. You who are my brethren, in terms of our common heritage nationally, you who are my brethren in that you also name the name of Christ…but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t necessarily some within that term “brethren” who are not genuine. It doesn’t eliminate the reality that some of the brothers were only brothers outwardly and not at heart. And so we don’t need to assume that because he says “my brethren” he is therefore talking exclusively to Christians throughout the epistle.

I believe he is focusing here on those who are going to go out because they’re genuine and turn the hearts of those who are false around. And so he uses the word “my” brethren, and draws them in to an intimate…a more intimate circle. That stands first in a sentence only here and in chapter 2 verse 1 and in each case it indicates a sharp break in the thought. So I take it that there’s a sharp break in thought between verse 18 and verse 19, so do most of the translators, that’s why they make a paragraph at verse 19. There’s no connective link connecting the last two verses with the prior passage to make them one thought, so we assume that this is his final thought. It’s another thought. It’s not unrelated to the flow of thought, but it’s another thought. That is, he is not still speaking about the need for the elders of the church to be involved in praying for the weak and the weary Christians and those who have been persecuted for the faith, he’s not doing that any more.

He is now moving on to another group of people. He has spoken about how the weary and the weak are to come and the elders are to pray and the whole congregation is to uphold one another in prayer and care and compassion. And now he moves away from how the elders and the believers are to treat each other to how the believers are to treat those in their fellowship who fail the test of genuine faith. How do you deal with those who are showing up to be unbelievers in your fellowship? And I think another dividing line, notice verse 19, “My brethren, if any among you…” did you see that? Go back to verse 13 and see how it begins. Verse 13 begins like this, “Is anyone among you…?” And he talks about those who suffer and tells them to pray. Then he moves to another category, verse 14, “Is anyone among you weary?” And he talks about those who are weary and weak under persecution and distress and how the elders are to care for them. Now in verse 19, “If any among you…” introduces a third category and that’s the key phrase to let us know that he is dealing with a third category. In verse 13 it was the believer who suffers.

In verse 14, the believer who needs spiritual strength to be infused through the prayer of righteous men. And now in verse 19 the one who claimed to be a believer but departs and needs to be drawn back to true salvation by the rest of the fellowship. This person then emerges in James’ thought at the end of the list because really he’s the theme of the whole letter. The whole letter is a calling to those whose faith is less than genuine to come to true faith. “My brethren,” again is an all encompassing statement referring to the whole church…”if anyone among you shows that they weren’t genuine, strays from the truth…” now there’s the first evidence. That’s a possibility phrase in the Greek. It means it’s likely to happen.

• Use of the word “to stray”

The word “to stray” is planetes from which we get planet which was a wandering body. It means to reject, to go astray, to apostatize, to wander. The term is used in Scripture many many times to refer to physical wandering and many times to refer to spiritual drifting. And frequently it is used to refer to the condition of the unsaved. The unsaved are said to wander, or stray. And I don’t want to take the time to show you every indication of that but in Matthew 22 for example, 29, “Jesus answered and said to them, You are mistaken, not understanding the scriptures or the power of God.” And He uses that very same word. The condition of the unsaved…you don’t understand the Scripture, you don’t understand the power of God, you’ve strayed away, you’ve wandered away.

In Titus chapter 3 and verse 3, another verse, familiar one to us, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived…” and there is that same word, literally led astray, led off to wander away from reality and slave to lusts and pleasures and spending our life in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. And the word is used many times with reference to those in an unsaved condition. Now these are the people then who have claimed to believe for a while and then come to a place where they just wander away from the truth. They now reject the will of God. They act contrary to the will of God. They willfully rebel against the truth. They’re described throughout the epistle to the Hebrews. They are those who have heard everything but have a heart hardened against belief, mentioned in chapter 3…chapter 4. They’re like those in chapter 6 who having once been enlightened and tasting the heavenly gift turn their back and fall away and reject Christ. They’re like those in chapter 10 verse 29 who trample under their feet the blood of the covenant, counting it an unholy thing. These are the wanderers. Those who stray away.

By the way, the same Greek term is used in the Septuagint which is the Greek Old Testament, to refer to transgressions of the law, especially idolatry. It is so used in Isaiah 9:15, Jeremiah 23:17, Ezekiel 33:10, 34:4 and Proverbs 14:8…there it refers to one who transgresses God’s law and goes after idols. Now I’m saying all of this to let you know that this word is used frequently to refer to an unsaved person who has strayed away from God’s truth. Now what does it mean to stray from the truth? What does he mean when he says, “If any of you strays from the truth,”? Well, the truth is the gospel, the gospel truth. James in chapter 3 verse 14 talked about lying against the truth. In chapter 1 verse 18, he talked about the fact that we were brought forth by the Word of truth. And when James speaks of the truth he’s referring to the Word of God, the message of salvation primarily, or the gospel. That’s the word of truth. This is an aorist passive tense which seems to indicate the fact of straying without reference to the process. This is a person who has gone away from the truth. Then the first evidence of a false faith is departure from the gospel truth. What do you mean? They reject the gospel…they go away from the Word of God. They depart doctrinally.

And there’s a second thing. Would you notice also verse 20, it says, “Let him that he…let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way,” here’s the second characteristic, the second evidence. The first thing is the people who aren’t genuine wander away from the truth…the second thing is they get in to the error of their way. Now what does that mean? Error…it’s from the same verb form as wander, it’s a noun from the same root. It means basically they have gone in to error, they have gone into rejection. But the key to this concept is the phrase “his way.” “His way” simply means his own life style, his own pattern of living, his own path, his own kind of life…that’s the idea. So the first thing you look for is an errant theology, the second thing you look for is an errant life style. Those are the evidences.

• Use of the word “sinner”

Notice in verse 20 this person is called a sinner. Did you notice that? This person is called a sinner. You say, “Is that important?” It’s very important…very important. This term “sinner” is used, listen to this, only of the unregenerate. It is used in Scripture only of an unbeliever. In fact, it refers to a hardened unbeliever, one who openly defiantly disregards the law of God and ignores the standards of morality. It describes an openly bad person whose evil character is apparent to everybody, whose wickedness is common knowledge. In Genesis 13:13, the homosexual men of Sodom were called sinners. In Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked nor stand in the path of sinners.” Verse 5, “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.” It is a characterization word, it describes the character of a person who lives in sin. In Psalm 25 again, to show you some Old Testament usages, verse 8, “Good and upright is the Lord, therefore He instructs sinners in His way.” He gives the gospel to sinners, those who are bound in sin.

In Proverbs it’s used several times, I’m thinking of chapter 11 and verse 31, the writer says, “If the righteous will be rewarded in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner?” You come in to the New Testament, you find the word is always used with reference to those who are outside the Kingdom of God. Matthew 9 verse 13, “I desired compassion and not sacrifice, for I did not come to call the righteous, said Jesus, but…what?…sinners…sinners.” In Luke chapter 7 and verse 37 we find its usage again consistent. “Behold, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner, she was a sinner.” That means she was an evil woman of ill repute, the vilest of human kind from a moral perspective. Luke chapter 15 and verse 7, “I tell you in the same way there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” And I could go on with scripture after scripture…in to John 9 verses 16 and 24, Romans 5:8, and that wonderful verse says, “God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Galatians 2:17, 1 Timothy 1:9 and 15 Paul says, “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” And that’s how it is.

Sinners is always used to refer to those who are outside the kingdom, who are lost. It is a characterization word. In 1 John 3, to compare, verse 8 says, “The one who practices sin is of the devil,” that’s the same as the sinner. “For the devil has sinned from the beginning, no one…verse 9…who is born of God practices sin.” In other words, he’s not characterized by his sin, he’s characterized by his righteousness because God’s seed abides in him, he cannot sin because he is born of God and by this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. So John says essentially the same thing, a sinner cannot be a Christian. While a Christian may sin he’ll never be characterized as a sinner.

So I believe it’s clear that James has in mind here sinners. And those who have strayed from the truth and those who have chosen a life style of wickedness, having once identified with Christ, once identified with the church. And John says in 1 John 2:19, and this is so very important, he says these words, “They went out from us but they were not really of us for if they had been of us they would have remained with us, but they went out in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.” Names come into my head, just flooding my mind…people that I now believe never knew Christ and they deceived themselves perhaps and they deceived me. They’re gone. They’ve chosen to reject the truth and live a life style inconsistent with everything Jesus Christ desires. They’re lost. You know some of them as I do.

• Use of the word “soul”
Look again at what James says, “Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his…what?…soul.” We’re talking about a human soul here. The word psuche means the real person, the whole person. We’ll save that person. When God breathed into men the breath of life man became a living soul. That’s the whole person. That’s the real person that dwells in the mortal body. That’s the immortal person that we’re saving here. The soul…do you understand the threat? The soul is being threatened by what? Verse 20. Save his soul from what? Death…death. What death does James have in mind? Eternal death. Ezekiel 18:4 and 20 says, “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”

That doesn’t just mean physical death because all of us will die. It means eternal death, eternal death, death in hell, eternal judgment. Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is…what?…death.” Way back in Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 2, “Righteousness delivers from death.” What a great statement. “But where there’s no righteousness there is death.” Again in Proverbs 11:4 the same phrase is repeated. In Revelation, as John draws the New Testament to a close, chapter 21 verse 8, “For the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second…what?…death.” What is the first death? Physical death…the second death, eternal death.

• Use of the words “will save”

So, what is our goal? To convert…to convert. It’s used again in verse 20, look at it. “Let him know that he who converts a sinner, turning him from false faith to true faith…” Then another word “will save”, beautiful word, sozo, it’s the word, the commonest word in the New Testament for salvation, the basic New Testament word for salvation. It’s used five times in James and four times it refers to salvation…1:21, 2:14, 4:12 and here. In 5:15 we saw it used for restoring weak Christians but its dominant use is with those references to salvation. So, what is the goal? To convert, to save. There’s one other goal, to cover. What is the word cover? To cover a multitude of sins, to hide a multitude of sins. What does that mean? Forgiveness…forgiveness.

Back in Proverbs chapter 10 and verse 12 we get a helpful insight. Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all transgressions. It’s talking about forgiveness. So what is the goal? We want to convert people, turning them from sin in order that they may be saved and being saved their sins will be…what?…forgiven. We’re talking about evangelism, folks…evangelism. And “the multitude of sins” has reference not so much to describing the state of the sinner as describing the extent of the forgiveness that God in His grace forgives the multitude of sins. “Plenteous grace with Thee is found, grace to cover all my sins,” said Andrew Banar. And only the death of Christ can provide this covering. In Christ, says Ephesians 1:9, we’ve been forgiven all our sins…all our sins. Who is a pardoning God like You, the prophet Micah said. The psalmist said He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. Our sins are buried in the depths of the sea and He remembers them…what?…no more.

In light of this brief study, I can only conclude that the one who wanders in James 5:19-20 was never a brother and that his act of wandering showed this to be true. When considering both the whole counsel of God and the specific exposition of the Greek text, we can only conclude that those who are redeemed children of God will persevere in faith and that those who wander show themselves as unregenerate in need of being “saved from hell”.

Let’s finish by considering the implications of this study. James is calling us to do evangelism within the Church. He is telling us that there are people among us who claim to be regenerate but fall into sin and show that have both deceived themselves and other. Who should not conclude that everyone who professes faith possesses faith and we should therefore look for the fruit that comes from true faith (Luke 6:43-49). Where clear evidence of faith is lacking we should reach out to those among the brethren to “save their soul from death”.

And here I am, three weeks away from finishing my degree with a perfect 4.0 GPA and I get my first C on an exam. At this point, any hope of keeping that perfect performance record is lost and I find my heart overwhelmed with joy; not because the stress of maintaining that perfection is lost but because I am evidenced in my imperfection.

How fickle to base a measure of my power and wisdom as something so insignificant as a grade in college and I show my arrogance before God by holding to this past accomplishment as being of my own working and for my own glory. I know that I can endure the loss of all things as trivial as a grade in a class to the loss of my life because God is glorious and He is worthy of all that I have. He is glorious and worthy because I am imperfect and when I began to deceive myself that I am anything but wretched dry bones, he reminds me of my weakness and comforts me with His strength.

I praise God that He is good. I praise God that I can do nothing. I praise God that when I seek to boast in things that He gifts me with, His love shows me that I can do nothing apart from Him and that my joy both begins in Him and finds its consummation in knowing and serving Him alone.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Corinthians 10:31
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

1 Timothy 5:8
But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

2 Thessalonians 3:10-12
For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

Additional verses on the need to be diligent and avoid laziness are spoken of in the following proverbs:

Proverbs 12:24
Proverbs 20:4
Proverbs 21:5

I know exactly what I am looking for in a Bible. I wanted a cross-reference system in an ESV that was compact in size such that it could easily be carried around. Until recently, the closest version to these specifications was the ESV Classic Reference Bible that was contained the cross-reference system and an extensive concordance but was still quite large.

I am thrilled, though, that Crossway has recently release a Personal Size Reference Bible that includes both the reference system and is compact in size. The new Personal Size Reference Bible is a mediator in size between the previous Thinline ESV’s and the Compact ESV’s.

I recently ordered myself a copy of the Personal Size Reference Bible. I thought about writing an extensive review about the font, single column paragraph format, reference system, cover and other characteristics. In attempting to do so, though, I came across other who had already done such reviews. I will commend these reviews for your study and encourage you all to consider making this investment.

Overview Analysis: http://hoperoadblog.com/2008/04/…

In-Depth Analysis: http://jmarkbertrand.typepad.com/…

Before the start of the Fall quarter, we had trouble scheduling speakers for Real Life and I wrote out a talk for the first week. Luckily, we were able to schedule someone last minute and I never spoke but I still have my notes from that talk. The notes from that talk are below.

Welcome! Hello. My name is Perry Poteet. I am a fourth year biology major here at Wright State. I am also one of the leaders for Campus Crusade for Christ. How was your guy’s summer? How many people here are freshmen? Great! Thanks for coming, we are glad to have you and hope we can get to know many of you better. Some of you might be here because you heard we were going to be serving ice cream. Don’t worry, this is not a church and I am not a pastor. I will keep my talk short, 45 minutes or so.

Here at Real Life we are starting a ten week series on who Jesus is. Jesus is the most important figure in all of history. There have been more books written about Him, paintings painted for Him, and songs written for Him that any other figure in history. Our calendars are divided by his life (BC and AD). As such, there are an endless number of opinions on who Jesus is. We will be using these next few weeks to see what the Bible says about who Jesus is and what this means for your personally.

This first week, we will be looking at Jesus as the eternal God. I wanted to start out by looking at four verses that speak to the truth of Jesus as being the one and only eternal God. If you have a Bible you can follow along. If you don’t, you can follow along on the overhead.

John 1:1, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This is probably the verse most people think of when thinking of Biblical verses that speak of Jesus as God. Jesus is given many titles in the Bible; one of which is “the Word”. In fact, we will be looking at this more specifically week 7. John writes that the Word, Jesus, was eternally with God because Jesus is God. He goes on to define the Word as Jesus by saying that He came to earth in the form of a man who is Christ incarnate. So, the Bible says clearly that Jesus is God. I want to take a few more minutes to build a case that this is taught emphatically throughout the scriptures.

Let’s look at an additional verse that speaks of Jesus as being God a few chapters later in the Gospel of John:

John 20:27-28
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

Whenever someone is doubtful they are spoken of as being a “doubting Thomas”. Thomas was a disciple of Christ who was with Jesus throughout His entire earthly ministry. After Jesus was resurrected, Thomas was the only disciple who doubted that Jesus had been resurrected. Jesus came to Thomas and had Thomas feel the scars of his crucifixion to prove that He had been resurrected from the dead. Upon realizing the reality of Jesus’ resurrection, Thomas proclaimed Him as “My Lord and my God!” Jesus took this praise and didn’t rebuke Thomas for his proclamation. As one who never sinned, Jesus’ accepting of such praise showed Himself to be God.

So far we have looked at two verses that speak of Jesus as being eternal God but these are what other people say about Jesus. With the many opinions out there, it is only fair to allow Jesus to speak for Himself.

John 8:48, 52, 58
The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”

This is one of the most profound verses of the entire Bible. To understand its significance you need at least a little bit of background in the Bible. In the Old Testament God appeared to the prophet Moses in the form of a burning bush. God commanded Moses to free His people, Israel, from captivity in Egypt.

Moses, not knowing who he was speaking to, asked the voice from the bush who he should say sent Him. The response is recorded in the book of Exodus:

Exodus 3:13, 14
Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

The name “I AM” is the chief and most holy name of God. It translates as Yahweh (YHWH). This name was so holy the Jews of the Old Testament refused to write or speak it for fear of blaspheming God’s sacred name. When Jesus called Himself “I AM” He was calling Himself Yahweh, the eternal God. Why do you think the Jews wanted to stone Him to death? Claiming to be God was seen as blasphemy and was punishable by death. The Jews knew that Jesus was claiming to be God and tried to kill Him for it.

I hope you are convinced from the truth of scripture that Jesus is the eternal God. But what does this mean to you personally? If you walk away from here only with head knowledge that Jesus is God, you have not been benefited in any way. There are two things you must know to make the knowledge of Jesus as eternal God relevant to your life. First, every person in this room is a sinner and second, you are all going to die. Pleasant, huh? Let’s take a few minutes then to discuss these two points and why Jesus as God relates to these two points.

First, everyone in this room is going to die. It is the only assurance in this life. As if that wasn’t bleak enough, no one known when they will die. You could graduate from college, get married, have kids, a house and a career and a long life before you die or you could leave this meeting tonight and die in a car accident. Either way, you will die.

Second, sin effects what happens after we die. The Bible says that everyone “has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Additionally, the Bible says that “if we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). If we say we haven’t sinned then we are lying which is a sin which confirms what we were denying in the first place. Additionally, the Bible says that the punishment for sin is Hell. It has become unpopular to talk about Hell and that is frankly unfortunate. Imagine I knew that you were going to leave here and get into a fatal car accident but didn’t tell you because it was unloving to do so. How much more unloving would it be for me to not tell you?

As Christians, we believe that every person who is living in their sin is on a path to Hell, a place of eternal unending pain and torment. This is bad news! Luckily, there is also good news. Jesus has provided a way to escape our seemingly inevitable destination.

This is how knowing Jesus as God relates to you personally. The punishment for sin is death and death in sin leads to eternity in Hell. Jesus Christ is God! Meditate on what that means for a minute. As God, Jesus has existed before time and will continue to exist beyond. The Bible says that everything that was and ever will be created was created by Jesus and for Jesus. This God, humbled himself in a way we can never fathom. Picture Jesus enthroned in Heaven, lording over all the universe from the stars in distant galaxies to the thoughts of every man.

This God humbled Himself to take on the flesh of a human. He was born to a teenage girl in a poor back country barn. He lived a life of seclusion working a blue collar job of swinging a hammer in a carpentry shop. He began His earthly ministry at the age of thirty and went around healing the sick and teaching about Himself as the Messiah, the savior of sinners for three years. He lived a perfect life free from sin. He never committed any error or fault. The Bible says He was tempted in every way we are but never sinned, no adulterous thought, no disobedience to His parents, no fault in any way. He was killed by the religious leaders of His day for saying that He was God.

The good news is that when Jesus died his death freed us from our own death. When we die, we are guilty of our own sin. Jesus though never sinned. Jesus was crucified on a Roman cross and died as a sinless man. The Bible says because He never sinned that He did not have to pay the penalty for His own sin. Instead, the death of Christ as a perfect sinless sacrifice paid the debt owned for our own sin. Three days later Jesus rose from the dead. As eternal God, He rose from the grave and defeated death.

Guys, see this truth. As God, Jesus was able to live the perfect sinless life that we were unable to do ourselves. Jesus Christ is the eternal God. He knows every hair on your head, he knows the number of pieces on sand on the beach, He holds the universe in its place and He so loves you that that laid that aside to come to earth and die in your place. The Bible says that if you turn away from your sin, called repentance, you can be saved from your sin and eternal punishment in Hell. You must place your faith in Jesus as trust Him as your Lord and Savior. I don’t know what your sin is: alcohol, lying, sexual. Have you taken advantage of a girl? Stolen? Cheated? It doesn’t matter. Unless you turn from your sin and trust Jesus as your Savior in faith then you will remain in your sin which inevitably ends in Hell.

Jesus says that He is “the way, the truth, and the life”. I ask that tonight you turn from your sins and trust Jesus as your redeemer from your sins. He is the risen Lord who reigns in Heaven. He will be returning to judge the living and the dead. What will you say when you stand before Him in judgment? Will you say that you were a good person, that you did good things, that you refused to humble yourself before Him? To all of these responses the Bible says that Jesus will say “depart from me to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth”. In contrast, the Bible says that for those people who trust Him as Lord and savior Jesus will say “well done good and faithful servant, come into the joy of your master”. What will Jesus say to you on that day? We are dealing with matters of eternal consequence, do not allow time to pass on such serious matters.

I wrote out the notes for the second week of the study over the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Please read the previous article if you missed the first week before reading this article. Please contact me with any questions regarding the content.

Sermon on the Mount Study: Week Two

Overview – beatitudes define who a Christian is, the remainder of the Sermon on the Mount (SOTM) say what a Christian does. The rest of the content of the SOTM will set the parameters and expectations of how a Christian should conduct itself. The focus will primarily be on the issue of righteousness in the rest of chapter 5.

Vs. 13 – “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

Salt in the Old Testament functioned as:
• Purifying agent
• Sign of God’s Covenant
• Fertilizer
• Preservative

The most common interpretation of this passage asserts that we, as salt, are the preservative of this decaying world (see Philippians 2:14-15 where Paul describes our world as crooked and decaying). Consider the connection of why Jesus calls Christians both “salt” and “light” in the same passage. I would assert that we are salt and preserve this decaying world by functioning as “light”.

Vs. 14-16 – “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Again, we preserve this world by being light to it. Being light includes proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus which is a light to the world. Consider also how Christians serve in adoption of orphans, volunteering at soup kitchens, and other areas of service that non-Christians are not motivated to serve in. These actions also aid in the preservation of this decaying world.

Ultimately, we are to be light to this world by living as Jesus lived, by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus and by serving Jesus and obeying His commands because in the end Jesus is the true light of the world:

John 8:12
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Jesus is the true light of the world but also He also commands us as His disciples to be the light of the world. I would assert that we can only be effective light to the world by imitating and proclaiming Jesus, the true light.

Vs. 15 – “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.”

Just as lighting a lamp and putting it under a basket will ruin its ability to function as light, engaging and concealing sin will destroy our witness and hinder us from being light to the world. Effectively, living in sin will dim our light and we become little more than a lighted lamp placed under a basket:

Luke 11:33-36
“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

Any area of darkness (sin) in our lives will taint our light and destroy our witness. Flee to Jesus with repentance and confession of your sin so that you may experience the complete joy of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Only then can be joyful disciples of Jesus Christ and be salt and light to the world.

Vs. 17-20 – “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The Old Testament law was given as a guardian to convict us of sin, provide a moral compass and lead us to God. Ultimately, we will see that the law should make us aware of our unrighteousness and make us flee to God to receive the righteous that comes from faith, not adherence to the law through our own good deeds:

Galatians 3:24
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

People always try to justify themselves before God by doing good deeds. God though does not see our righteousness as sufficient because He calls us to be completely holy (Leviticus 11:44, 1 Peter 1:15). The law should show us that even at our best our adherence to the law is incomplete because we cannot adhere to all of the law all the time and we are therefore unrighteous before God.

The Gospel is that Jesus Christ fulfilled the demands of the law and brings what we never could, righteousness! This is a highly disputed text but in essence we see that Jesus fulfilled the demands of the law and in Him the law has passed away and He is righteous. The Gospel tells us that we don’t need to be righteous by our own good deeds but instead to trust in Jesus to receive His righteousness by grace through faith. The law is about righteousness. It shows us the demands of God to make us aware of our own unrighteousness and to make us rely on the righteousness of God:

Romans 10:3-4
For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Luke 16:14-17
“The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.”

This is a complex topic but understand that the law teaches us that we are unrighteous before God and can never inherit the blessing of the Kingdom of God in our unrighteous state. Jesus fulfilled the law and is the “end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4) so that we may be righteous before God. Our righteous comes not by good deeds and adherence to the law but instead by trusting in Jesus Christ in faith.

Verse 20 is integrally important to the remainder of the chapter. Jesus tells us that if we want to try and justify ourselves before God our righteousness must be greater than all human standards because the scribes and Pharisees are the essence of human “righteousness”. Consider the following verse that is similar to verse 20 but shows us that entrance into the Kingdom comes by faith in Jesus and not self-righteousness:

John 3:5
“Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

The remainder of the chapter will reference back to verse 20 where Jesus cites an Old Testament command of the law that people use to cite their own self-righteousness only to show them that it is not only outward acts that show adherence to the law but our thoughts, words and deeds that reflect the purity of the heart and our true unrighteous state before God. The remainder of the chapter is composed of six units where Jesus says “You have heard it said” and cites an OT law only to say “but I say to you” to show that we are truly unrighteous before God bringing us back to verse 20 to show us our state before God. This should make us rely on a savior who can be righteousness before God in our place.

Vs. 21-26 – “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

Verses 21-26 on murder and anger are the first of six units where Jesus re-defines the law by saying “you have heard it said… but I say to you”. Continue to remember the connection to verse 20 as we move on and remember our unrighteous state before God. All of these six units are to explain to us how great our righteous must be before we can even begin to claim to be righteous before God. This makes us realize our need for a redeemer who is Jesus Christ.

Verses 21-22 show us that we are not just called to just not do bad but instead that we should be holy in thought, word and deed. Our unrighteousness is shown by the nature of our hearts more so then our deeds because the deeds we commit simply reflect the nature of our heart:

Mark 7:14-22
And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

John tells us that to be angry with another is as good as murdering that person before the standards of God (1 John 3:15). We should not be satisfied with outward righteousness but instead seek complete righteousness to purify ourselves.

Matthew 18:7-9
“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

Verses 23-26 mirror back to Matthew 5:9 where Jesus uses peacemakers as one of the Beatitudes. Jesus says that to be a peacemaker is a characteristic of being one of His disciples. This is important because we are one body of believers and we should reflect a unity of the body that is the bride of Christ. We should reconcile ourselves to others because God has reconciled us to Himself by forgiving us which should lead us to forgive others:

Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

It is important to note that we should try to make peace with our brothers as much as it depends on us. We should reconcile ourselves to others if we have wronged others or if others have wronged us as much as it depends on us. We ultimately cannot control the actions or emotions of another:

Romans 12:18
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Note: This is the end of the study for week two. Points to remember:
• We always try to justify ourselves before God by our deeds
• Even at our best our deeds fall short of the demands of God
• Jesus was righteous where we were unrighteous
• We can be righteous before God through faith in Jesus Christ

If you don’t know Jesus, repent of your sin and desire to justify yourself before God. Trust in His righteousness and love and trust Him as your Lord and Savior. He is our righteousness and apart from Him we remain under the wrath of God. Love Him so that your righteousness may be greater then the scribes and Pharisees to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

I wrote out the notes for the second week of the study over the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Please contact me with any questions regarding the content.

Sermon on the Mount Study: Week One

Overview – This is the beginning of the study of the Sermon on the Mount (SOTM) that will cover the first 16 verses of chapter five of the book of Matthew. This sermon defines what a Christian is in the initial verses and uses the remainder of the sermon to define what a Christian does. Ultimately, the sermon is centered on the theme of righteousness. This first week of study will exclusively cover the a section of scripture called the beatitudes:

Vs. 1-11-Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Vs. 1-2 -Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

This sermon was given by Jesus directly to His disciples. At the end of the sermon we see that there was a crowd that also listened to the sermon (Matthew 7:28). The sermon is addressed directly to believers but is profitable for non-believers also. Jesus pronounces blessings on His disciples which should entice the listening non-believers to seek Jesus to know the experience of these blessings that come from faith. There are eight beatitudes which mean happiness or blessing.

The first beatitudes (vs. 3) and the last (vs. 10) mention a blessing and end by saying “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. Beatitudes two through seven (vs. 4-9) end by saying “for they shall…”. The picture is that Jesus is pronouncing upon His disciples the fact that they live in this tension that they currently live in the Kingdom that has been inaugurated by Jesus but will not be completed until He returns.

In essence, we currently experience some of the blessings of the kingdom but the fulfillment of these blessing will not come to completion until the kingdom is brought to an end with the return of Jesus. While we are blessed to be disciples of Jesus in this life the blessings are only a taste of the blessings we will experience in the Kingdom of Heaven. This framework is essential for understanding the whole of the Beatitudes. We will go through the beatitudes one at a time.

Vs. 3- “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Those people who are currently in the Kingdom of God are those who are poor in spirit. Isaiah tells us that to be poor in spirit is to be humble and tremble at God’s word.

Isaiah 66:2
All these things my hand has made,
and so all these things came to be,
declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.

It is the undeserving that are presently in the Kingdom because by grace we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ despite being poor in spirit with nothing to offer God on our own account. We should realize that we are in the Kingdom of God with all the associated blessings not because we are righteous before God but instead because we are unrighteous and God is most glorified when He redeems the unrighteous because it is those who are in need of redemption:

Luke 5:29-32
And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Vs. 4- “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

This is the first beatitude that pronounces a blessing that will not be fulfilled until Jesus returns and brings to completion His kingdom. Jesus tells us that when He returns all pain will end:

Revelations 21:4
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

The passage from the book of Revelations is a picture of the future when the Kingdom is completed and Jesus comforts His people and all of their mourning ends in His presence. This is comforting to us as disciples of Jesus because in this world we continually mourn, we are continually hurt and the pain of this passing world is unending. Jesus tells us that for those who love in through faith will no longer experience mourning or sadness. What an amazing encouragement to give hope when the weight of this world is too great to bear!

Vs. 5 – “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Jesus here is quoting from the book of Psalms

Psalm 37:11
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.

We are promised that the meek shall inherit the earth. The Psalmist explains this passage in that the meek will inherit the earth because they delight themselves in abundant peace. To inherit the earth we should delight ourselves in the peace we receive by faith in Jesus Christ. Again, this will occur in the future. The Bible tells us that we, as disciples of Jesus, will inherit the earth following the return of Jesus when the Kingdom comes to completion.

Revelation 21:1-3
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

We can look forward to the future day when we inherit the earth in our resurrected bodies on a resurrected earth. In the future we will have dominion over the new earth when we live in the presence of God eternally. This is our hope in the future that will be realized upon Jesus’ return for those who are meek before the Lord.

Vs. 6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

Righteousness is the essential message of the Sermon on the Mount. We will come back to this idea of righteousness over and over in the coming weeks. Jesus pronounces blessings on those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Our natural state is to seek to establish our own righteous:

Romans 10:3-4
For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Isaiah, though, says that any form of our own righteousness is defiled before God:

Isaiah 64:6
We have all become like one who is unclean,
 and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf,
 and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

Jesus pronounces blessings on those who desire and seek for righteousness outside themselves because they will find righteousness not from their own good deeds but instead from the righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus Christ:

Romans 3:21-25
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Philippians 3:8-9
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.

I am being detailed on this point because it is essential to the Gospel message and the remainder of the content of the Sermon on the Mount. Our righteousness is found in Jesus Christ, not in ourselves. We should abandon our efforts to seek our own righteousness apart from God. Instead, we should love Jesus and trust only in His righteousness that comes through faith alone divorced from our deeds and efforts that will always fall short of God’s demands for holiness. We as disciples of Jesus should hunger and thirst for His righteousness alone!

Vs. 7- Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.

At first glance, this passage appears to be teaching that we receive mercy from God if we receive mercy from others. We do NOT receive mercy for being merciful because we can do nothing to justify ourselves before God. Instead we should show mercy to others because God first showed mercy to us:

Matthew 18:33
And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’

To not show mercy on another is a distortion of the Gospel because God has showed mercy on us. We too then should show mercy on others that leads them to God to find the mercy He provides through the life, death and resurrection of His Son.

Vs. 8 – Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

We are called to be holy because our heavenly Father is Holy (1 Peter 1:15, Leviticus 11:44). To have a pure heart is itself a gift from God that is received through faith that allows us to see God when the Kingdom is brought to completion in the future:

1 Peter 1:22-23
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

Consider also that the state of our heart determines who we act. Sinful deeds are simply a reflection of an impure heart:

Matthew 15:18-20a
But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.

We should seek to have a pure heart because apart from a pure heart Jesus says that we can never see God. Remember, though, that a pure heart only comes from Jesus Christ as a gift received through faith. Faith in Jesus alone purifies us before God and allows us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Vs. 9- Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

We are called to be reconciled to other believers in Jesus Christ as much as it depends on us. This idea will be wrought out in greater detail later in the sermon by Jesus (vs. 23-26). IN summary though we should be one united body of believers and forgive others because God has forgiven us:

Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

It is important to note that we should try to make peace with our brothers as much as it depends on us. We should reconcile ourselves to others if we have wronged others or if others have wronged us as much as it depends on us. We ultimately cannot control the actions or emotions of another:

Romans 12:18
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

Think also of what James says that to be a peacemaker is to be one who receives righteousness from God:

James 3:18
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

Vs. 10-12 – “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Persecution is a major theme is throughout the Scriptures. In this life we will always be persecuted for loving Jesus and calling other people to repentance and faith in Jesus but we should not worry because our hope is not in this world:

1 Peter 3:14
But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,

It is encouraging to think that even when we struggle against the forces of this world, our hope and salvation is kept for us in Heaven by God. The trials (i.e. persecution) we experience is affirming and strengthening our faith. We should be encouraged to know that while our faith is being purified by trials that it is being kept by God so that we will not “fall away” or lose our faith because God is the one who gives us our faith and He is the one who guards it through trials:

1 Peter 1:3-7
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

In addition, we should rejoice when we are persecuted because it shows us that we belong to Jesus and that we will one day be glorified and see Him forever in paradise:

1 Peter 4:13-14
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

This is where we stopped at the end of the first week. What you should take away from this week is that we are blessed to be children of God through faith in Jesus. We should not be ignorant of the fact that while the blessings in this life are great, the blessings in the life to come are beyond imagination. We will continue to live in this tension of the Kingdom having been inaugurated but not completed until we die and/or Jesus returns. This should spur us on to share the Gospel continually so that we can see the Kingdom brought to completion because this will only happen once the Gospel has reached all the nations. In essence, if we desire the blessings of the Kingdom we should be willing to do what it takes to bring the Kingdom to its fulfillment:

Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

This is the third and final part of my article on the Local Church.

Divine Mingling

Divine mingling is a doctrine taught first by Watchman Nee and subsequently Witness Lee and is not commonly taught among members of the Local Church. Essentially, the doctrine of mingling states that the Holy Spirit who is eternally and fully divine enters into a believer and “mingles” with the spirit of believers so that the two become indistinguishable. In essence, the believer shares the divine nature and “whereby man becomes divine, possessing the very life, nature, and essence of God. Likewise, God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, are said to possess the very life, nature, and essence of mankind” [23].

The following quotations from Lee make clear his teachings on this issue:

Do you know what it means to be a real Christian? To be a real Christian simply means to be mingled with God, to be a God-man. It is not enough to be a good man; we have to be a God-man. A good man might be a man of the tree of knowledge, the result of which is death (Gen. 2:17). A God-man is a man of the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). In his spirit, God is mingled; in his heart, God is dwelling; in his soul-mind, emotion, and will-God is occupying. This is a real, normal Christian…We would realize that we are “peculiar,” “strange,” set apart from society because God is mingled with us. [24]

The eternal purpose of God is to mingle Himself with humanity. He is working toward this one thing today. This oneness is not simply a joining or uniting together; it is far more than this. It is a mingling together, a blending together, which is much deeper. It is a mingling of the divine nature with the human nature until they become one. The entire Scripture is concerned with this one basic and central matter, that of God mingling Himself with us….When God becomes our life, He will automatically be mingled with us. [25]

The issue of the Triune God entering into and mingling with us, the tripartite man, is that we become one with the Triune God (John 17:21a, 23a) and are one spirit with the Triune God (1 Cor. 6:17) as a hybrid entity of divinity and humanity blended together. Every saved person is a hybrid of divinity and humanity mingled together. The dual nature of this hybrid is the divine with the human. Though we are human beings, we have God within us. Since God and man have become one entity, we are the God-men. This hybrid entity of God mingled with man is just the Triune God who possesses divinity with humanity, mingled with the tripartite man, who possesses humanity with divinity (Rom. 8:6, 10-11). [26]

The incarnation of the Triune God brought God into man, and His resurrection brought man into God. Through this kind of traffic, a wonderful mingling takes place. Now, in His resurrection, God is mingled with man and man is mingled with God. Thus, man and God, God and man, are one. How wonderful this is! In this mingling, God made the believers of Christ sons of God. These sons of God are human and divine. God can say to His believers, “I am divine and human,” and His believers can reply, “Praise You, Lord. You are divine and human, and we are human and divine. [27]

Because of the indwelling Spirit in our spirit, we are joined to the Lord as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17). It is a wonder that our human spirit is mingled or joined with the divine Spirit into one! The two spirits have been merged into one spirit. The relationship between us and God has arrived at such a marvelous state that we and God are one in the spirit. [28]

What does it mean to be born of God? To be born of God means that the very life, nature, and essence of the divine Being comes into our being. This is wonderful! We all have the life, nature, and very divine essence born into us….Do you believe that when the divine nature comes into us it remains separated from our nature? In the past I have been opposed for teaching the mingling of God with man. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” We are one spirit with the Lord. To illustrate this matter of mingling, I have used the illustration of tea being mingled with water. If we put a tea bag into a glass of plain water, the tea is immediately mingled with the water. When the divine element enters into our being, it is mingled with us even more than the tea with the water! This divine Person is being mingled with our very nature. Whosoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God abides in God, and God abides in him. We have the divine life, nature, essence, and even the divine Person abiding in us. This is why we are now one spirit with Him. It is not so much that God is lowering Himself, but that He is uplifting us. We are the uplifted humanity. We are not a common being. We are being uplifted by regeneration, which is God coming into us. [29]

Some of the critics condemn the matter of the mingling of God with man. These critics lack knowledge. God and man are not only mingled, but even compounded. In Exodus 30 we have the olive oil compounded with the four spices. When tea is put into water, that is mingling. But when four spices are added to oil to produce an ointment, that is compounding. Compounding involves more than mingling. Compounding implies mingling, but mingling is not as thorough as compounding. Hallelujah, God has been compounded with humanity! [30].

For God to become man means He is a God-man. Like, for man to become God, it doesn’t mean that we leave our humanity. We are still human. We are both God and man. God was God first and man later, while we are man first and God later. The result of God becoming a man is that He enters into us, and yet continues to sit in heavens. The result of man becoming God is that we become completely like God. What the Lord Jesus was, likewise we will be.… [30b]

Lee gets more specific and says that Just as Jesus is eternal God who took on flesh, so too we as believers in Jesus become one with the Divine nature:

The real expression of Christ is the enlargement of Christ Himself. It is Christ as the manifestation of God mingled with us….Everyone of us has been saturated with the nature of Christ and built up together in Him. Christ is of two natures, the human and the divine, and we are the same: we are of the human nature, but covered with the divine. He is the God-man, and we are the God-men. He is the ark made of wood covered with gold, and we are the boards made of wood covered with gold. In number we are different, but in nature we are exactly the same. [31]

He (Jesus) possesses both the divine nature and the human nature. By believing in Him, we are born again and become His brothers. When we are born again, we receive the divine nature. Thus, He has both the divine nature and the human nature, and we have both the human nature and the divine nature. [32]

The leaders go so far to say that we, as believers, become God/Gods:

Sooner or later, you have to be made God…. All of God’s redeemed people will eventually become gods as the very God in life, in nature, and in appearance but not in the Godhead. [33]

Because we have been born of God, we have the life and nature of God, and in this sense we are God. [34]

Lets discuss this teaching and the natural implications it has. First, we must see that the Bible does teach that in one sense believers do become “partakers of the Divine nature” which is in conflict with our fleshly sin nature spoken of in 2 Peter 1:3-4 and 1 Corinthians 8:6. This is commonly called imparted righteousness whereby believers become receive the righteousness of Jesus, which serves as the basis for the believer’s sanctification [35].

Witness Lee and his followers confuse the idea of imparted righteousness with a distorted understanding of sanctification to give rise to their teaching on Divine mingling. We are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit transforming us sequentially into the image of God, not into God Himself:

2 Corinthians 3:18

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same imaged from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

We are glorified when Jesus returns and we receive our resurrected bodies (1 Corinthians 15:35-58, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:52) as the completion of our the sequence in Romans 8 that starts with God’s foreknowledge and ends in our glorification (Romans 8:28-30).

We are, in this life, being perfected to be made into the image of Christ through the work of the Spirit in our lives. Note that the Scriptures do not say that the Spirit makes us into God’s nature as Lee suggests. We will one day be glorified and receive resurrected bodies but we will eternally be distinct from God’s Divine nature. While sanctification and glorification are natural consequences of receiving faith they are do not imply the Divine mingling described by Lee and his followers.

Verses mentioned earlier as key verses for the doctrine of Divine mingling include 2 Peter 1:3-4 and 1 Corinthians 8:6. Note that Peter says that we participate in the Divine nature, not that we become the Divine nature. This is in accordance with the teachings of Paul about our sanctification without suggesting that we are in fact possessing the nature of God. Secondly, note from 2 Corinthians that Paul says that we live in Jesus. This has been taken to means that we posses Jesus’ nature but in fact it simply suggests that we reside in Jesus and was created both by and for Jesus (Colossians 1:16, John 1:3).

In conclusion, we believe that there is one God who is jealous of His nature and name. We should be careful to maintain the integrity of God’s nature and the truth of how we are sanctified and glorified without confusing the possession of God’s Divine nature. We should love God and not assume for ourselves something so sacred that is not taught in God’s revelation.

Their Attitude toward other Churches:

Watchman Nee, Witness Lee and the Local Church are most commonly known for their anti-denominational sentiments. In fact, Watchman Nee was heavily influenced by the Plymouth Brethren Church that was founded by John Nelson Darby which is known for its teachings against denominations [36]. The Local Church views itself as the “Lord’s Recovery” that is recovering the current Church for its state of corruption. They claim that the recovery began in the reformation and is coming to completion through their ministry. Read what the Local Church has to say about this recovery:

The word ‘recover’ means to obtain again something that has been lost, or to return something to a normal condition. ‘Recovery’ means the restoration or return to a normal condition after a damage or a loss has been incurred. To say that God is recovering certain matters means that in the course of church history they have been lost, misused, or corrupted and that God is restoring them to their original state or condition. [37]

Because the church has become degraded through the many centuries of its history, it needs to be restored according to God’s original intention. Concerning the church, our vision is governed not by the present situation nor by traditional practice, but by God’s original intention and by His unchanging standard as revealed in His Word. We regard the New Testament revelation of the church not merely as a historical antecedent, but as the norm for church practice in the present day. [38]

The local church believes that this recovery began in the Reformation, continued through the Plymouth Brethren and not is being heralded by the Local Church through the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee:

God’s recovery did not begin in the twentieth century. Although it is difficult to fix an exact date for its beginning, it is convenient to set it at the time of the Reformation. The recovery has gone through several stages since the Reformation, passing through the partial recovery of the church life in Bohemia under the leadership of Zinzendorf, moving on to the unveiling of the many precious Bible truths through the Plymouth Brethren, and then going on to the genuine experience of the inner life. Now it has reached its present stage with the establishment of genuine local churches as the expression of the Body of Christ. [39].

The Local Church now teaches that all denominations have deviated from Biblical truth. They have even produced their own translation of the Bible called The Recovery Version that is saturated with the commentary of Witness Lee expounding his theology regarding these and previously mentioned issues (many pages in their Bible have only a few verses with the remainder of the text on the page containing Lee’s commentary) [40].

When asked directly whether Lee thought that other Church’s have access to salvation through Jesus Christ, Lee often would speak vaguely to sound as if he did not teach negatively against other bodies:

We stand on the genuine unity of the Body of Christ. We are not sectarian, nor denominational, nor nondenominational, nor interdenominational. [41]

Unfortunately, when we read the Writings of Lee it become clearly evident that he believes and openly teaches that all Churches outside of the Local Church are of Satan and not in fellowship with God:

Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, as well as Judaism, all…[have] become an organization of Satan as his tool to damage God’s economy. [42]

Christianity is not focused on the divine economy but is a human religion saturated with demonic and satanic things. [43]

We must stay away from the practice of the deformed and degraded Christianity and come back to the divine revelation for the Lord’s recovery…. The traditional way of [church] meeting…builds up something satanic and demonic. [44]

Christianity is just the expression of dead religion… [45]

This teaching, by extension, leads to the understanding that no other Christian Churches have access to salvation through Jesus Christ. Such churches (i.e. all churches besides the Local Church) do not truly worship God; therefore, the only way to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is through the Local Church:

The only way to follow the Lord absolutely is to go the way of the local church. [46]

The Lord is not building His church in Christendom, which is composed of the apostate Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations. This prophecy [in Matthew 16:18, where Jesus said He would “build My church”] is being fulfilled through the Lord’s recovery, in which the building of the genuine church is being accomplished. [47]

The reformed church, though recovered to the Lord’s word to some extent, has denied the Lord’s name by denominating herself, taking many other names, such as Lutheran, Wesleyan, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc. The recovered church not only has returned in a full way to the Lord’s word but also has abandoned all names other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ. The recovered church belongs to the Lord absolutely, having nothing to do with any denominations (any names). To deviate from the Lord’s word is apostasy, and to denominate the church by taking any name other than the Lord’s is spiritual fornication…. the church in the Lord’s recovery has the revelation and presence of the Lord and expresses the Lord in a living way, full of light and with the riches of life. [48]

I do not believe that we can classify the Local Church as a cult based solely on their beliefs regarding anti-denominational teachings. None the less, they have gone wayward by again distorting the Gospel and claiming that one must both believe in Jesus AND be in the right church to be truly saved. There are many other bodies of believers have have negative sentiments towards other denominations (commonly, Baptists) but the Local Church deviates further to say that all denominations have gone astray from the Gospel.

Let me say quickly that there are many denominations that teach and behave as if they have forgotten the truth of the Gospel and commonly engage and encourage acts in direct defiance of Scripture. Furthermore, I do believe in absolute truth. The Local Church gets confused, though, in that absolute truth resides in Jesus Christ (John 14:6) and not in the teachings on men (Mark 7:6-13) or one Church. While denominations can go astray into the hands of Satan, the worth of a body of believers congregated in a Church body is measured by their reliance on their faith, hope, and love in Jesus and their commitment to maintain the integrity of the truth of the Bible; not by the teachings of men who claim they shed a special light of truth onto the Word of God.

The Local Church teaches that every city should have only one Church named after that city in accordance with the model revealed in the New Testament (i.e. the Church at Corinth, the Church and Ephesus, etc…). They fail to recognize the expanse of the Gospel and great number of believers in the body of Christ today as the Gospel has saturated the nations. It is a noble goal indeed to see a unified body of Christ. Unfortunately, there will always be theological differences that we must make distinctions on for the integrity of the truth of Scripture. We are united by our love for Jesus and our faith in His life, death and resurrection. The universal Church as the Bride of Christ is defined by this issue, not the building we meet in on Sundays or the teachers we affiliates ourselves with.

Purgatory:

The final doctrine we will be examining will be Watchman Nee’s teachings regarding an intermediate state whereby an unrepentant person will go to hell for a period until he is given the opportunity to repent at another time. This resembles in a form the Roman Catholic’s teachings regarding purgatory but is more heavily rooted in Nee’s dispensational theology. Nee believed and taught that during the 1,000 year millennial kingdom that people who had once been condemned to hell for being unrepentant will be given the opportunity to repent and turn to Jesus in faith to enter into Heaven:

If a person has become a Christian but his hands or feet sin all the time, he will suffer the punishment of the eternal fire in the kingdom of the heavens. He will not suffer this punishment eternally, but will suffer it only in the age of the kingdom (Meaning the 1000 year Millennial Kingdom). [49]

If a Christian has any unrepented of and unconfessed sins, which are not forgiven, he will suffer the Gehenna of fire. In the coming age, there is still the possibility of forgiveness, but one cannot come out until he pays the last quadrans and clears up everything with his brother. [50]

I mention this final doctrine of Nee’s and the Local Church because it is in direct violation of what scripture teaches about the nature of a mans soul. The writer of Hebrew’s teaches that man is “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). The Bible says that we are given this life to repent of sin trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and then comes the judgement. This is important because God is both just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:26). Never does God say that this justice extends into a time when dead, unrepentant sinners will be given the chance to repentance.

[I would note quickly that Nee’s teaching on this intermediate state (i.e. purgatory) is not in itself sufficient to classify the Local Church as a cult. This teaching comes as a natural consequence of Nee’s dispensational theology that is commonly taught in many evangelical, usually Baptist, circles. The commonality of this teaching, though, does not justify its error. For a good article on the unbiblical nature of the teaching of purgatory, see C.A.R.M. [51].

Misc. Doctrines and Actions:

In addition to the above mentioned unbiblical doctrines, there are many other teachings and actions of the Local Church that are, at best, peculiar. The following doctrines and actions have not been heavily researched and are mentioned simply for further independent study:

(1) Litigation – The Local Church is famous for entering into litigation against anyone who writes anything against them or accuses them of unorthodox teachings. Lee and the Local Church has brought litigation against Neil T. Duddy for writing the God-Men which provided a critical overview of the Local Church’s controversial teachings. The Local Church has also brought litigation against Harvest House Publishers including specific authors claiming that their label of the Local Church as a cult was libel and defamatory [52].

The Local Church has a history of using the courts to quench anyone who disagrees with their teachings. This is, at best, curious and should raise concern over why the Local Church feels it necessary to prevent any disagreement with their teachings from being openly discussed.

(2) Recovery Version and Exclusive Literature – The Local Church has produced its own translation of the Bible and encourages all of its members to exclusively read this translation. The Recovery Version has contains extensive footnotes written by Lee that often occupy the majority of the text on a given page. The extensive footnotes allow for the interjection of Lee’s theology to exclusively influence a person’s understanding of a text.

The encouragement of the exclusive use of one translation sounds eerily similar to methods used by other cults such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons that only allow one translation to be used by their members. Read what Lee has to say to people who are new to the Local Church from a one-month daily devotion booklet for new converts:

First, a Christian needs a proper version of the Bible to progress in his Christian life. Therefore, you need to purchase a Recovery Version. This version is the best translation of the New Testament available today. It is up-to-date and easy to read. It has an outline to help you obtain an overview of what you are reading. It contains footnotes to explain some of the hard-to-understand truths. It also has references to help you locate verses that corresponds to the verses you are reading for your study [53].

In addition to the Recovery Version, Lee and the Local Church only recommend their followers to read their writings and to not invest time in read other theologians, apologists and/or Christian writers:

I do not feel burdened to charge the saints to go home and study beyond what is in the truth lessons, but all the elders should promote the reading of the Recovery Version (the Local Church New Testament), the gold bar, in the homes plus all the Life-studies (Bible commentaries) and other publications by the Living Stream Ministry. These will be their library books. Besides attending the meetings to learn the truth, they should read these spiritual publications every day.” [54]

My burden is that we must take good care of the young ones among us. Do not bring them into peril so that they will be occupied with the wrong things. We have a pure system of publications which comprise all the main things of the divine, spiritual, and heavenly things. These publications are very adequate for all the young saints among us to have a good foundation laid and a strong standing established. Then they could go on, not to learn more things from the old books, but to check the old books and get themselves confirmed. For us to bring the young ones into the old books without consideration is a peril and a risk. It is not safe. What you young ones can use as reference books, however, are the dictionaries, lexicons, and concordances ….These are the only things which I would recommend for you young ones to use-the lexicons, the dictionaries of languages, and the concordances of the Bible. [55]

We do not need to control the saints, and even more we do not need to stop them from reading what they want. As leaders in the Lord’s recovery, however, we should conduct the saints the right way….The publications which can help and serve the Lord’s recovery in carrying out His New Testament economy for the fulfillment of His heart’s desire, I still would say, are the Life-studies and the Recovery Version with the notes. Since this is the case, why would we not wisely conduct the church toward this way? For example, if someone asks us the best way to drive to Phoenix, we should conduct him to the straightest way. [56]

While Lee and the Local Church does not officially forbid their followers to read outside source they present the idea that truth does not exist outside of their publishing companies. The reading of outside material, while not forbidden, is highly discouraged. We must ask ourselves why they control what their members read and what their intention is in doing so.

Conclusion:

This short essay has attempted to point out many of the doctrinal errors believed and taught by Watchman Nee, Witness Lee and their followers composing the body of the Local Church. The primary goal of the article was to bring to attention many of the teachings of the Local Church that distort the Gospel and are in direct conflict with Biblical truths. Where appropriate, counter-arguments were provided or other resources for further reading were suggested.

There are a great many biblical scholars and apologists who have conducted more extensive research into this topic. I would commend to you the work of Jim Moran who has provided the most thorough investigation into the heretical nature of the teachings and actions of the Local Church. Unfortunately, after his death the Local Church seized the rights to all of his writings and web-sites [57] but his writings can now be accessed through web archives [58]. For further reading, the work done by the two apologetic organizations, The Bereans and Apologetics Index, are extensive and profitable for research [59]. All of these sources and more can be found in the useful resources section at the end of the article.

I have seen personally seen the effects of the Local Church’s deceptive methods of bringing young sincere believers into their midst and failing to be open about their more controversial, unorthodox teachings until members become too heavily involved to easily leave. These same tactics are commonly used among other cults of Christianity (i.e. Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc…).

To all members of the Local Church and/or anyone currently involved in any branch of the Local Church (Living Stream Ministry, Bibles for America, Life and Truth, Christians on Campus, etc…) please make every effort to investigate what you are being taught and whether it is in accordance with the truths of Scripture. It is my prayer that many people may come to realize that they have been deceived and will come into the light and flee the darkness (Luke 11:33-36). May the Lord be glorified and honored to this end, AMEN!

End Notes:

[23]http://web.archive.org/web/20030108115905/www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~dazuma/lcinfo/lotm/mingling.html

[24] Witness Lee, The Four Major Steps of Christ (LSM: 1969) 7. Originally printed in The Stream magazine (LSM: Dec. 1964) 3.

[25] Witness Lee, The Divine Stream (LSM: 1976) 8. Originally printed in The Stream magazine (LSM: Aug. 1963) 2.

[26] Witness Lee, A Thorough View of the Body of Christ (LSM: 1990) 28.

[27] Witness Lee, The Triune God to be Life to the Tripartite Man (LSM: 1990) 51-52.

[28] Witness Lee, Living In and With the Divine Trinity (LSM: 1990) 110.

[29] Witness Lee, The Stream magazine (LSM: Feb. 1977) 9-10.

[30] Witness Lee, The Spirit and the Body, 2nd ed. (LSM: 1989) 29.

[30b] The Economy, October 1994, Issue No. 29.

[31] Witness Lee, The All-Inclusive Christ, 5th ed. (LSM: 1989) 103.

[32] Witness Lee, The Spirit and the Body 58, parenthetical note added.

[33] Witness Lee, The Practical Points Concerning Blending, fifth printing, 2001 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1994), p. 46.

[34] Ron Kangas, “Becoming God,” Affirmation & Critique (October 2002), p. 20. This entire issue of Affirmation & Critique can also be accessed online at http://www.affcrit.com/archives/ac_02_02.html.

[35] http://www.theopedia.com/Imparted_righteousness

[36] http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/loca.html
[37] The Co-workers in the Lord’s Recovery. “The Beliefs and Practices of the Local Churches” (1978). Http://www.contendingforthefaith.com/summary/booklets/beliefs.html.

[38] Ibid

[39] Ibid

[40] http://www.recoveryversion.org/

[41] www.thebereans.net/arm-wlee.shtml

[42] The New Testament Recovery Version, note 95, third printing, 2001 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1991), p. 1247.

[43] Witness Lee, The God–Ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1987), p. 29.

[44] Witness Lee, The God–Ordained Way to Practice the New Testament Economy (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1987), p. 35.

[45] Witness Lee, Christ Versus Religion, fifth printing, 1999 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1971), p. 184

[46] Witness Lee, The Practical Expression of the Church, fourth printing, 2001 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1970), p. 89.

[47] The New Testament Recovery Version, note 184, third printing, 2001 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1991), p. 99.

[48] The New Testament Recovery Version, note 83, third printing, 2001 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1991), p. 1256.

[49] Nee, Watchman. The Gospel of God, Volume III. Cited from http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/lc.html.

[50] Ibid

[51] http://www.carm.org/catholic/purgatory.htm

[52] http://www.apologeticsindex.org/l40.html#legal

[53] “The Way To Begin A Normal Christian Living,” 6.

[54] Lee, Witness, “The Life-Pulse of the Lord’s Present Move”, Elders’ Training, Book #8 (LSM: 1986) 83. Parenthetical notes added as quoted by Moran, Jim in Local Church Publications, p. 1.

[55] “The Practice of the Lord’s Recovery”, Elders’ Training, Book #4 (LSM: 1985), 15-16.

[56] Ibid., 26.

[57] http://www.apologeticsindex.org/l40.html#consumeralert

[58] http://web.archive.org/web/20030207113510/www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~dazuma/lcinfo/

[59] ;

Useful Resources:

http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/lc.html

http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/loca.html

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/l40.html

http://www.thebereans.net/prof-cor.shtml

http://web.archive.org/web/20030207113510/www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~dazuma/lcinfo/

This short essay is the second of three parts of the issue of doctrines of the Local Church stemming from the writings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee that deviate from Biblical orthodoxy.

Confusion of the Nature of God as Triune

The doctrinal error that the Local Church is most well known for is its distortion of the historic, biblical doctrine of the Trinity. The Local Church has been very deceptive on this issue. On my campus, members of the Local Church hand out flyers with their statement of faith that seems to affirm the Biblical view of one God expressed in three Persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, the more you look into their writings it becomes clear that they intentionally confuse the nature of God. We will look into some direct quotes from Local Church publications and then compare this to the Biblical view of God’s Triune expression.

Witness Lee and the Local Church has often been accused of advocating the hertical doctrine of modalism. By definition, a modalist is one who affirms:

God is one person who has revealed himself in three forms or modes…According to Modalism, during the incarnation, Jesus was simply God acting in one mode or role, and the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was God acting in a different mode. Thus, God never exists as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at the same time, he can only manifest himself as one person at any specific time. Modalism thus denies the basic distinctiveness and coexistence of the three persons of the Trinity. [2]

To call Witness Lee and the Local Church adherents’ modalist is not completely accurate since Witness Lee often claimed that the three Persons of the Godhead did exist simultaneously. The deviation from orthodoxy arises when in that Witness Lee often wrote that the three Person’s of the Godhead were not distinct in relation and role to one another. This is in clear opposition to the Biblically derived view of God being one God expressed in three Persons differing in their redemtive historical roles and relation to one another. We will look at a number of quotations that clearly outline the Local Church’s pseudo-modalistic view on God’s Triune nature. Many of such qutations can be found on some of the Local Church’s main publication [3]:

…the entire Godhead, the Triune God, became flesh. [4]

This is in clear defiance of Biblical truth. The scripture says that Jesus was the Word and that the Word was the one who became flesh (John 1:1-14). During Jesus’ incarnation Jesus He prayed to the Father (Matthew 6:9) and was led by the Holy Spirit (Mark 1:12, Matthew 4:16).

The Father was expressed among men in the Son, and the Son became the Spirit to come into men. The Father is in the Son, and the Son became the Spirit. [5]

Jesus spoke of Himself as both one with the Father (John 10:30) but expresses his distinction from the Father (John 15:24).

…the Lord Christ is the Spirit and the Spirit is the Lord Christ…. [6]

As was said before, during Jesus’ incarnation He was led by the Spirit (Isaiah 11:1-2) and said that after His resurrection that He would send the Spirit as a distinct separate Person of the one God (John 14:25-26, John 15:26b, Acts 2:33) and that the Spirit submits to Jesus and Glorifies Jesus through His ministry of indwelling believers (John 16:12-14).

The Father is not only the Father, but is also the Son. [7]

…the Lord Jesus who is the Son is also the Eternal Father. [8]

In one sense the Father and Son do share the same Divine nature (John 1:1, John 10:30) but Jesus’ ministry of submitting to the Father by doing His will (John 14:31, John 8:23, 28-29, John 4:31-34) and Jesus’ praying to the Father (Matthew 26:49) indicate the difference in the Peron’s of the Father and Son in both role and relation throughout redemptive history.

…God the Father is also the Spirit (John 4:24). Hence, all three Persons of the Godhead are the Spirit. [9]

Jesus says that the Father gives the Spirit to the Son, Jesus, to send into the world to indwell believers following the resurrection. Jesus, though, said that the Father sends the Spirit through the work of the Son (John 14:25-26, Acts 2:33). Witness Lee and the Local Church distort passages such as John 4:24 which speaks of the Deity of the Spirit as indicating an non-distinction in the Person’s of the Godhead.

I have provided a series of quotations from Local Church quotations that make clear their confusion of the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity. I have also provided a brief argument against these assertions. Below I will list a series of additional quotations that further clarify their teachings on the Trinity as heretical without further counter-argument as that is not the intention of this article and the counter-argument is remarkably similar:

In the heavens, where man cannot see Him, God is the Father; when He is expressed among men, He is the Son; and when He comes into men, He is the Spirit. The Father was expressed among men in the Son, and the Son became the Spirit to come into men. The Father is in the Son, and the Son became the Spirit—the three are just one God. [9b]

A passage we read earlier says that we no longer know Christ after the flesh. Now if what we believe in is merely an outward religion then we will need a Holy Land, a Mecca, or a Rome to be our center, for us to go for worship and service. But what we believe in is a Christ inside of us. We know that He is both the God in heaven, as well as the Lord in us. Not only is He the very Creator, He was also the Christ that put on the flesh. And now He is in us as the Holy Spirit. The Christ in the flesh is over! Now the Christ in the Spirit lives forever in us [10]

Now God has accomplished everything in Christ. He died and was resurrected, and has been transformed into the Holy Spirit; He is now ready to come into you. [11]

He is all in all. He is God, the Creator, the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and also the proper man. He is the reality of all divine attributes and of all human virtues. The hinge of all the aspects of this all-inclusive Christ is the living Spirit. We have no choice except to tell our fellow Christians that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the living Spirit. Undoubtedly, He is the Lamb of God and the Redeemer, but these are simply two aspects of this all-inclusive One. Christ, the all-inclusive One, is everything. The Bible even describes Him with the term “all in all” (Col. 3:11). Christ is the reality of every positive thing. He is light, life, righteousness, holiness, redemption, salvation, and everything. In our experience, He is the life-giving Spirit indwelling our human spirit. Because we proclaim this, we are accused of being heretical. Our critics say that we teach heresy in telling people that Christ, the Son, is the Father as well as the Spirit. Today, many Christians do not believe that Christ is not only the Son, but also the Father and the Spirit. [12]

The Spirit is also the consummation of the processed Triune God (Matt. 28:19b). God’s Trinity was perfect, but it needed to be consummated. The divine Trinity was consummated through His incarnation, death, and resurrection. In resurrection, the divine Trinity was consummated in the Spirit. Thus the Spirit is the consummation of the divine Trinity. In other words, the processed Spirit is the consummated Triune God. A raw fish is not consummated, but a cooked fish is consummated. [13]

I would like to conclude this section by defining the Biblical view of God’s triune nature. Bruce Ware, professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in his book Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance defines God’s triune nature as:

There is one and only one God, eternally existing and fully expressed in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each member of the Godhead is fully God, each is eternally God, and each is fully God – not three gods but three Persons of the one Godhead. Each person is equal in essence as each possesses fully the identically same, eternal divine nature, yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of the one undivided divine nature. [14]

Historic Christianity has recognized the Trinity to be one God expressed in three Person’s; all of whom share the same Divine nature but differ in roles and relationship. For a brief but Biblically accurate defense of the historic doctrine of God as Triune in opposition to the Local Church’s pseudo-modalistic teachings, Bruce Ware’s book Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance [15] is commended to you to study and investigate the truth of what the Bible says regarding this issue.

In conclusion of this section, Christians throughout history have taken God’s Triune nature very seriously. We believe God has revealed Himself to us as Triune in the form of one God in three distinct Person’s in the Scriptures. We should take the utmost care to get this our understanding and teaching of God’s nature accurate because God takes His name and nature very seriously. It is understood that this is one of the most complex theological topics one can study. This side of eternity we will never understand how one God can express Himself in three distinct Persons differing in roles and inter-relationships. None the less, we should be eager to confirm God’s revelation despite our lack of understanding to worship and glorify the God revealed to us in the Scriptures.

Easy Believism

The Local Church teaches what has been termed “easy believism”. Essentially, this is a distortion of the Gospel which confuses Acts 2:21 and asserts that to be saved a person can be saved by “calling on the name of the Lord” by literally saying “Lord, Lord, Lord” three times in succession. Read the writings on Witness Lee on this issue:

We have seen that to reach the unbelievers, no preaching is necessary. If we help them say “O Lord” three times, they will be saved. If they open the window, the air will get in. All they have to do is to open their mouths and say, “O Lord, O Lord.” Even if they have no intention of believing, still they will be caught! Regardless of whether they have the intention or not, as long as they open the window, the air will get in. It is not a matter of teaching; it is a matter of touching the seven Spirits of God. [16]

A member of the Local Church tells the story of a man in China who would ride around the city saying “O Lord Jesus” out loud all day trying to get people to imitate Him and repeat “O Lord Jesus” three times to be saved without ever telling them about Jesus [17]. Witness Lee and the Local Church make such a dangerous mistake with such a poor interpretation of Scripture.

To call on the name of the Lord means to repent of one’s sins and turn to Jesus Christ in faith to have one’s sins forgiven and be bathed in the righteousness on Jesus. Paul says that we call on the name of the Lord by believing in Him as Lord which comes from repentance and confession of the mouth of Jesus as Lord:

Romans 10:9-10

…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart there is believing unto righteousness, and with the mouth there is the confession unto salvation.

Furthermore, Paul goes on to say that a person cannot call on the name of the Lord unless they hear the message of who Jesus Christ is and what He did which is the Gospel by which we are saved:

Romans 10:13,14

for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

We cannot call on the name of the Lord unless we believe and we cannot believe from simply saying the Lord’s name. We must hear the message of the Gospel and place our hope, faith, trust and belief in the person of Jesus Christ to be saved, not simply says a few words in succession. Jesus even goes so far as to rebuke people who say His name who do not know Him as Lord and Savior:

Luke 6:46

Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say?

Why is the issue of easy believism so important? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all that we have to save lost sinners. The Apostle Paul says that He counts all things as loss compared to the Surpassing worth of knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:8-11). The Gospel is the only agent we have in witnessing to this lost world. To lay aside the preaching of the Gospel and replace it with simple superficial proclamations is a distortion of everything we have and believe as Christians. Even more, Jesus rebuked the people who did such things. Let us strive to be honest to the Gospel and the revelation of Scripture.

Baptismal Regeneration

Baptismal regeneration is a doctrine that teaches that a person’s must be baptized to be saved. This view states that even if a person were to receive the Gospel gladly but not be baptized that they would be dead in their sins and remain under the wrath of God. This is a doctrine that originated in the Roman Catholic Church in the Council of Trent and was confirmed by Vatican II [18]. The doctrine now is most commonly taught by the Church of Christ. Protestant’s have historically defied this doctrine as a distortion of the Gospel and therefore, heretical.

Witness Lee was quoted as affirming that baptism is essential for salvation:

Formerly, when we were leading people to salvation, we first considered them as seeking friends. After hearing the gospel and believing and receiving the Lord, they had to successfully pass through an interview concerning baptism. It was only after they had passed the interview that they could be baptized and saved. Now we have changed. As long as a person believes, he can be baptized immediately, and he is regenerated and saved. Furthermore, the Bible says, ‘He who believes and is baptized shall be saved’ (Mark 16:16). It does not say that one is baptized after he is saved. Baptism is not carried out after a person is saved; baptism is part of the process of being saved. It is not that one believes and is saved and therefore should be baptized. Rather, it is that one believes and is baptized and therefore is saved. We must be clear concerning this matter.[19]

Baptism is a testimony before men. All believers should be baptized in order to be saved not only before God, but also before men. The Lord Jesus said: ‘He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.’ Mark 16:16. Through baptism, God transfers us from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God. For this reason, the Lord Jesus said: ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a man is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.’ (John 3:5). [20]

Baptism is an ordinance that signifies our death to our sinful selves before coming to faith and our resurrection to a new creation in Christ just as Christ died and rose (Colossians 2:12). It is interesting that Witness Lee mentions Mark 16:16 in his argument that a person must be baptized to be saved. A more careful reading of the text says that a person is only condemned (not saved) if he does not believe. This leads us to say that a person is saved then by believing and that baptism is a sign of salvation from belief and not a component of salvation.

When the Apostle Paul defines the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-1-5 and Romans 3:22-26 he mentions the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but never mentions the need for baptism to be saved. The Bible says many times that to be saved a person must believe in the Gospel to be saved but does not mention that baptism is essential to be saved (Cor 1:21; Jn 3:16,18,36,5:24; Acts 10:43,13:38-39,16:3; Rom 1:16,3:28; 4:24, 5:1; I Cor 15:1-4; Eph 2:8,9). In fact, Paul makes the distinction to say that his ministry was to preach the Gospel and not to baptize (1 Corinthians 1:17) and that he was glad that he did not baptize many people in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:14-16). Evidently, he did not see baptism as essential for the salvation of the Corinthians.

In one instance the Bible says that those who are believe and are baptized are saved (Mark16:16). When this verse is laid alongside the pile of verses that speak of believing in the Gospel alone to receive salvation without any mention of baptism, it leads us to believe that of course those who believe and baptized are saved. If you believe you are saved which leads a person to be baptized as a proclamation of their faith.

It is essential to get the Gospel right because it is the means by which we are saved and we can save others. There are many great resources on the Biblical Gospel [21]. For a more elaborate defense of salvation by faith alone against the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, see C.H. Spurgeon’s thesis on this topic [22]. We should strive to ensure that the Gospel we teach and live by is in accordance with the truth of Scripture and avoid the heretical teachings that add to this Gospel because the Apostle Paul says that such people are cursed by God (Galatians 1:9)

End Notes:

[1] http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/loca.html

[2] http://www.theopedia.com/Modalism

[3]http://www.triunegod.org/quotes/index.html;http://www.contendingforthefaith.org/summary/booklets/revelation.html; and http://www.contendingforthefaith.org/summary/booklets/triune.html.

[4] Witness Lee. God’s New Testament Economy, fifth printing, 2002 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1986), p. 230 (emphasis added).

[5] Ibid., p. 9 (emphasis added).

[6] The New Testament Recovery Version, note 1811, third printing, 2001 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1991), p. 775.

[7] Witness Lee. The Economy of God, seventh printing, 1997 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1968), p. 47.

[8] Witness Lee. Concerning the Triune God, third edition, 1994 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1973), p. 19.

[9] Ibid., p. 14.

[10] Nee, Watchman. “The Normal Christian Faith,” (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Church Book Room, 1977), 213.

[11] Nee, Watchman. “The Normal Christian Faith,” (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Church Book Room, 1977), 224.

[12] Lee, Witness. Organism of the Triune God in the Organic Union of His Divine Trinity, (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1988), p. 40.

[13] Lee, Witness. Organism of the Triune God in the Organic Union of His Divine Trinity, (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1988), p. 24.

[14] Ware, Bruce. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance (Crossway Publishing, 2005), p. 43.

[15] Ware, Bruce. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance (Crossway Publishing, 2005).

[16] Witness Lee, Stream Magazine, Vlll: l, Feb l, 1970, 6.

[17] http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/lc.html

[18] http://cnview.com/on_line_resources/baptismal_regeneration.htm

[19] Lee, Witness, “The Up-to-Date Presentation of the Go-Ordained Way and the Signs Concerning the Coming of Christ ,” (Living Stream Ministry, 1991), 11 as quoted by Jim Moran in http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~dazuma/lcinfo/lotm/sal.html.

[20] The Local Church, “The Mystery of Human Life,” (Living Stream Ministry, 1986), p. 16. See an online version of it in http://www.geocities.com/churchintug/mhl.html.

[21] Sproul, R.C. Getting the Gospel Right. (Bayer Books, 2003).

[22] Spurgeon, C.H. Spurgeon’s most famous sermon refuting the theory of baptismal regeneration (Pilgrim Publications, 1975).

I am preparing a multi-part article to raise awarness of the unorthodox teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and by extension the Local Church. The first post will be an intoduction and preface to the article followed by two three-part investigations into curious doctrines of the Local Church.

Deviations from Biblical Orthodoxy:

Concern Over the Teachings of the Local Church

Preface:

I was first introduced to the Local Church as a student in college. I had recently gotten involved with Campus Crusade for Christ when I learned about began to hear about another student organization on campus that many people warned me about. I eventually learned that the organization was a branch of the Local Church. As I became more familiar with their teachings and activities I began to become concerned about both what they teach.

After extensive reading, I have come to the conclusion that the Local Church qualifies as a cult of Christianity. This means that the organization claims to be under the banner of biblical orthodoxy but intentionally distorts essential truths revealed in the Bible. I have had the opportunity to speak with both leaders and members of the Local Church and have been convicted of the need to provide a concise outline of the deviations from biblical orthodoxy found in the teachings of the Local Church.

This brief article assumes a basic background understanding of Biblical doctrine. As such, it will present areas where the Local Church deviates from Biblical truths without providing the counter-argument for Biblical truth. Where appropriate, resources will be suggested for a Biblical argument for the truth behind the deviations from orthodoxy that will be presented or a few verses will be cited to suggest the error in their teaching.

Note: The intention of this article is not about maliciously attacking the teachings or members of the Local Church or its founders Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. Instead, the intention is to shed light on their errors where appropriate in a loving manner to lead people to the truth of the Bible that they may rejoice in the truth of God’s perfect revelation.

Introduction and Background:

The Local Church is a group that goes by many names. Most commonly called the Local Church, they are also referred to as the Little Flock, the Lord’s Recovery and on college campuses they go by Life and Truth and/or Christians on Campus. The Local Church has an affliated publishing company called Living Streams Ministry that publishes their own translation of the Bible called the Recovery Version and the writing of Witness Lee. Ironically, members of the Local Church deny affiliation with any of these names. Members suggest that they are simply members of God’s universal church and that to apply a name to them is unbiblical. Instead, each congregation calls itself by the name of the city in which it is stationed claiming that they are following the Old Testament model [1]. For simplicity sake though they will be spoken of as the Local Church.

The Local Church was founded by Watchman Nee whose Chinese birth name is Ni Shutsu. Nee started the organization in China which eventually spread East and into the United States and Canada through the influence of his successor, Witness Lee, in the 1950s and 1960s, respectively. Nee was heavily influenced by the Plymouth Brethren Church that was founded by John Nelson Darby. This influence gave rise to Nee’s strong criticism of denominations as an unnecessary division of the Church. The Local Church was founded and continues to expand claiming itself to be the “Lord’s Recovery” that will re-unify the Church in the Old Testament model of single congregations in a locality [1].

The teaching of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee are foundational to the Local Church. While members of the Local Church cite the Bible as their ultimate authority, they often pray and read exclusively the commentary of Witness Lee. Many apologetic organizations have raised red flags over the years regarding the teachings of primarily Witness Lee. Unfortunately, many Christians remain uninformed about this organization and are deceived because the Local Church has a tradition of multiple litigations and suing anyone who speaks against their teachings. This has resulted in a fear to raise awareness of their deviations of Biblical orthodoxy.

The goal of this article is to raise awareness about issues that go unspoken out of fear and to bring to light the darkness in this ministry. As such, this article will discuss six issues of doctrinal confusion including (1) the nature as God as triune, (2) baptismal regeneration, (3) divine mingling (4) easy believism, (5) their attitude toward other Churches and (6) purgatory. The ultimate goal is to liberate honest, sincere adherents to such teachings to the truth of Scripture. May the Lord bless this endeavor so that He is honored and the truth of His revelation in upheld, AMEN!