We need to be those who are holding to the faithful word, which is according to the teaching of the apostles; we need to speak the healthy teaching of God’s economy for the building up of the church and stay away from different teachings.
What is the teaching of the apostles? It is the entire teaching of the New Testament, it is God’s speaking in the Son to His New Testament people.
In the Old Testament, God spoke in many ways, in many portions, and through many people; He inspired many to speak for God in the Old Testament, and He spoke in many ways and through many people.
In the New Testament, however, since the Lord Jesus came, God speaks to us only in one way: in the Son, in Christ; actually, God’s speaking is Christ Himself, for Christ is the Word of God.
When He was on earth, God had a full way to speak in Christ and through Christ, and this One as the Word of God defined God, explained God, expressed God, and manifested God.
What about now, when the Lord Jesus is no longer physically with us and among us, how does God speak today?
According to Matt. 28, before the Lord was ascended, He told His disciples and go and disciple all the nations, teaching them all that He has told them.
So the Lord Jesus left a group of disciples, who are the apostles (the ones sent by Him with the commission of teaching the truth and preaching the gospel), to continue to speak what the Lord Jesus spoke.
Now the Lord Jesus continues to be God’s speaking as the Spirit; He as the Spirit is mingled with us, and He as the Spirit of reality is guiding us into all the reality of what He is.
In particular, the Lord speaks through the apostles, and the teaching of the apostles is the entire revelation of the New Testament; He spoke through Peter, John, and finally through Paul who completed the word of God.
The apostles didn’t teach from themselves or about themselves; they taught what they heard and received from Jesus Christ, and they spoke one thing: the eternal economy of God.
What the teaching of the apostles reveals is the unique, divine revelation of God’s New Testament economy from the incarnation of God in Christ to the consummation of the New Jerusalem, thus including the entire revelation in the New Testament.
If we as believers in Christ hold to the apostles teaching and do not add to it or take from it, we will be kept in one accord; if we remain in the teaching of the New Testament economy of God and speak it, we will speak the healthy word, we will give the healthy teaching, and we will hold to the faithful word, thus building up the church and not bringing in any division.
If we teach different teachings, if we emphasize things other than Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ, sooner or later division will come in.
Being Constituted with and Speaking the Healthy Teaching of God’s New Testament Economy to Supply and Inoculate others
In Titus 2:1 Paul reminded Timothy to speak the things which are fitting to the healthy teaching; this healthy teaching is always according to the truth (Titus 1:14) of the faith (v. 13).
It is the content of the apostles’ teaching, that is, it is the content of God’s New Testament economy. It is not the different teachings (1 Tim. 1:3); it is the healthy teaching which not only minister the life supply to the believers and heals the spiritual diseases but also brings the church into a sound condition with a good order.
When we hold to the apostles teaching, the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy, we ourselves will be healthy and sound, any spiritual diseases is healed, we are supplied with life, and the church is brought into a sound condition with good order.
Especially in this day and age, the age of the degradation of the church, when there’s so much disorder and decline in the church, there is much need for us to hold and speak the things which are fitting to the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy.
Paul wrote the books of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, to deal with the disorder and decline of the church, and in particular, he charged Titus not to deviate from the healthy teaching, which is the apostles’ teaching.
This word “healthy” points to something that is hygienic, something which can inoculate others against spiritual poison, and also to something that supplies them with life.
When we ourselves enjoy the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy, we are supplied and also inoculated against spiritual poison.
When we speak the things which are fitting to the healthy teaching, we inoculate others and also supply them with life.
We need to know the healthy teaching, be constituted with the healthy teaching, and speak the healthy teaching for the organic building up of the church as the Body of Christ.
When we speak the healthy teaching, we will not provoke any debates or arguments; if we pay adequate attention to feeding on the Lord, we will not care to argue – we will only feed on the Lord and minister the supply of life to others.
When we come together and are constituted with the teaching of the apostles, we will not debate or argue; rather, our meeting will be a feast, a place where we feed one another and present healthy “dishes” on the dining table for all the saints to eat.
The apostles learned from the Lord Jesus what to speak; their words are not what they want to say but rather, they are the words from the Lord, and what the Spirit of reality revealed to them, that’s what they spoke.
Paul said that he preached the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel (Eph. 3:8), and he wants to enlighten all to see the economy of God, God’s eternal economy.
This is what we should speak, teach, and preach – the healthy teaching of the New Testament economy of God.
May we be like the early believers continuing in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship (Acts 2:42) as the healthy words of the Lord Jesus (1 Tim. 6:3) to be nourished and inoculated ourselves and to nourish and inoculate others also.
All the teachings of the apostles are for God’s economy; these teachings are the healthy words of the Lord Jesus.
When we feed on these healthy teachings and speak them to others, we will supply life to them for their growth in life, and inoculation will be ministered to them against any spiritual poison.
Lord Jesus, we want to be constituted with and speak the things which are fitting to the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy. Save us from focusing on and teaching things that are not the healthy teaching. May we remain in the teaching of the apostles to be supplied with life and healed from any spiritual diseases. May we speak the healthy teaching in the meetings of the church so that the church would be brought into a sound condition with a good order. Amen, Lord, we give ourselves to You to remain in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles so that we may made healthy spiritually, being both inwardly supplied and inoculated against spiritual poison. We choose to speak the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy for others to be inoculated and supplied for their going on with the Lord to build up the church!
Holding to the Faithful Word of the Apostles Teaching and Not Allowing any Differing Teaching
The apostle Paul was very strong in 1 Tim. 1:3-4 when he wrote to Timothy, exhorting him to remain in Ephesus to charge certain ones not to teach different things other than God’s economy, which is in faith.
Here Paul emphatically charged and exhorted his co-worker that he would charge certain ones not to teach certain things.
It is very hard for some responsible brothers in the church not to allow certain ones to speak differing teachings in the meetings of the church; this is not an easy thing to do.
However, Paul was very strict in this respect, for he knew that this has serious consequences.
When an unhealthy and improper teaching is brought into the church, it will lead to the tearing down of the church; if we carelessly allow differing teachings to come into the church life, they will completely destroy the church life.
Even though these words were not easy to speak, Paul nonetheless spoke them, telling Timothy to charge certain ones not to teach different things, nor to give heed to myths and unending genealogies, which produce questions, rather than God’s economy, which is in faith.
These differing teachings are the teaching of myths and unending genealogies (1 Tim. 1:4) and also the law (vv. 7-8).
Differing teachings refer to teachings that are not in line with the economy of God (1 Tim. 6:3); they do not necessarily refer to heresies or heretics but differing teachings.
The disorder in the church is mainly due to the deviation from the apostles’ teaching; when we do not hold to and speak the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy, there is disorder and even division in the church.
When Paul wrote the second epistle to Timothy, the church had degraded to quite a considerable extent, for in 1:18 he said that all those who were in Asia turned away from him.
He was imprisoned in Rome when he wrote this epistle; geographically speaking and distance-wise, those who were in Asia were far away from him, but he said that they turned away from him.
This means that they turned away from his ministry, from his teaching; such a departure from the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy is the beginning of the decline and degradation of the church.
What we see in Revelation 1-3 is that the church in Ephesus had the works of the Nicolaitans, and then in Pergamos, we see the teaching of Balaam and the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
Degradation and decline come in when we leave the apostles teaching.
May we be those who avoid any differing teachings and concentrate on God’s economy concerning Christ and the church (1 Tim. 1:3-4; Eph. 3:9; 5:32).
May the Lord have mercy on us that we would not spend much time and energy to pay attention to the differing teachings; rather, may we discern these and stay close to the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy.
Actually, we simply need to focus on God’s economy concerning Christ and the church and focus on nothing else.
Today the main content of God’s economy is Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ; these two great mysteries are the great content of God’s New Testament economy.
May all the other teachings use this “testing stone” of God’s economy – if they are concerning Christ and the church, focusing on these two mysteries, then we can receive them, but if not, we need to reject them.
After we listen to a certain teaching, are we led to Christ Himself more, or are we drawn away from Christ?
After speaking something in the meeting, are we bringing others more into the enjoyment of Christ for the building up of the church, or do we raise up more questions?
We must avoid all the different teachings and concentrate on the divine economy concerning Christ and the church.
Lord Jesus, we want to focus on the healthy teaching of God’s New Testament economy, which is in faith, and forsake all the differing teachings. Save us from being in degradation or decline by focusing on the differing teachings. Save us from wasting our time by focusing on anything apart from the economy of God. We treasure Your economy, Lord, and we want to be supplied and inoculated by the healthy teaching of the apostles. Bring us back to the divine revelation in Your word and keep us in the faithful and healthy teaching of the apostles all the days of our life. Save us and save the church we are in from any deviation from the apostles’ teaching, which brings in disorder and division!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by the brothers for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Titus, msgs. 1-3 (by Witness Lee0, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Intrinsic and Organic Building up of the Church as the Body of Christ (2021 International Chinese-Speaking Conference), week 5, The Intrinsic Factor of the Winds of Teaching for Their Evil Purpose.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Thus we must relinquish doctrines of all kinds, / Only keep the faith that oneness we may find. / In the Lord the Spirit we are one indeed; / Just to keep this oneness is our only need. (Hymns #832)
– This outline of the healthy words, / In faith and love we’ll hold; / All different teaching, fruitless talk, / Reject with spirit bold. / Oh, healthful teaching, wholesome words: / The truth of godliness! / Oh, good deposit, common faith, / And life of holiness! (Hymns #1285)
– God’s intention in this universe is with humanity, / So the Lord became the Spirit just with man to mingled be. / We rejoice that we can all partake of His economy. / Yes, mingling is the way. (Hymns #1199)
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