The Bible has two big sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament includes types and prophecies, both of which are concerned with God’s economy. The types are portraits of God’s economy; the prophecies refer to the economy of God to come, that is, the New Testament economy. None of the types of the Old Testament can be separated from God’s economy; it is even more so with the prophecies. The New Testament is the fulfillment of all the types and prophecies of the Old Testament. In the New Testament the economy of God is fulfilled and accomplished. Every book, every chapter, and every verse of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation, are concerned with God’s economy. This is the New Testament revelation which is also called the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42). Here apostles does not refer to all the apostles; it refers particularly to the few writers of the New Testament whose writings constitute the teaching of the apostles.
The teaching of the apostles that we speak of today is not our own teaching; it is the entire New Testament written by the apostles. The main components of the New Testament are the writings of John, Paul, and Peter; besides these, there are the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, James, and Jude. Matthew was one of the twelve apostles. The Gospel of Mark may also be called “the Gospel of Peter,” because Mark received his learning from Peter (cf. 1 Pet. 5:13). What he wrote originated from and belonged to Peter. Luke, who was an attendant physician to Paul (cf. Col. 4:14), wrote the Gospel of Luke based upon what he saw through Paul; hence, the Gospel of Luke may also be called “the Gospel of Paul.” Luke also wrote the Acts. Luke’s writings may be considered as belonging to Paul. Paul wrote all the fourteen Epistles from Romans to Hebrews. After Hebrews, we have the Epistle of James. Due to the lack of a clear view concerning God’s New Testament economy, James put undue emphasis on individual, practical Christian perfection. What he wrote may be considered a contrasting background. The Epistles of Peter follow the Epistle of James, and the Epistles of John follow the Epistles of Peter. After this, we have the Epistle of Jude with only one chapter, and its content is very close to what Peter wrote. Jude is followed by Revelation, which was written by John and is the last book of the New Testament. In reality, the teaching of the apostles mainly consists of the writings of John, Paul, and Peter. The teaching of the apostles is concluded in Revelation. Hence, at the end of Revelation, John says that nothing can be added to the book, nor can anything be taken away from the book (22:18-19). Nothing should be added or subtracted. The New Testament revelation is thus concluded. This is the revelation of the New Testament; this is also the teaching of the apostles.
The New Testament revelation, the teaching of the apostles, is concerned with God’s economy. According to 1 Timothy 1:3-4, we may say that God’s economy is the general term for God’s New Testament revelation. Paul said that he left Timothy in Ephesus in order that he might charge certain ones not to teach different things. According to the context, different teachings refer to teachings that are not in line with the economy of God. What certain ones taught, though somewhat based on the New Testament revelation, were genealogies and the law. These were different from God’s economy in faith. They should not have taught things outside of God’s economy. This shows us that God’s economy is the New Testament revelation, the teaching of the apostles. It is uniquely one, perfect, and complete. Nothing can be added to it or taken away from it. Today in the church we should teach only according to the New Testament revelation, which is the apostles’ teaching. Anything less than this is inadequate, and anything more than this is man’s teaching, not the words of God’s economy.
I repeat: The Old Testament speaks with types and prophecies of the things to come in the New Testament. The New Testament is a revelation composed of the speaking of the apostles. Among the apostles, John spoke a great deal, and what he spoke can be considered the beginning and the conclusion; Paul spoke even more, and his speaking may be considered the center and the framework; Peter also spoke, adding something as a supplement. This is the New Testament revelation, unveiled by the teaching of the apostles and composed of words concerning the economy of God. Anything we speak today—whatever it is—should come out of the apostles’ teaching and concern God’s economy. Beginning with Brother Nee to this day, we have thoroughly covered the economy of God in its entirety and in completeness. We have studied every verse and touched every item from Matthew 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. Thank God that, under His sovereign grace, all these things have been printed.
The words released through Brother Nee’s ministry were very rich, but according to my knowledge, many of the notes of his speaking were not printed in books. For this reason, I have a deep regret. When I was with him in mainland China, we had a great deal of fellowship, and all of it was concerning the revelation in the holy Word. Therefore, I am very clear about Brother Nee’s knowledge of the Bible. At that time, he used the term “plan” instead of “economy.” He clearly pointed out to me the eternal plan, the eternal economy, of God in the Bible.
Brother Nee indeed had a unique view of the Bible. I thank the Lord for putting me at his side for eighteen years that I might learn much from him. Every time I heard his speaking, the light came and my understanding was opened. For example, at the end of 1933, the beginning of my entry into the Lord’s work, Brother Nee prepared to have a conference in January of the next year on Christ as the centrality and universality of God, that is, concerning Christ being all and in all, the all-inclusive One. One afternoon when I went to his home, he asked me where I was in my reading of the Word. I told him that I was in Acts and Colossians. He said, “Very good. These two books are related.” This word puzzled me because I could not see how these two books were related. Brother Nee explained to me that Acts shows us how Jesus ascended to heaven and was made Christ by God (2:36). Yet only a sketch of this Christ is given in Acts; the details are explained by Paul. Among the fourteen Epistles of Paul, only a short book, the book of Colossians, is occupied specifically with Christ’s fullness, riches, and all-inclusiveness. Hence, Colossians is connected to Acts. Brother Nee’s word on that day really opened my eyes. Today Christians may know that Acts 2 refers to the death and resurrection of Jesus and His being made Christ by God, but they lack the understanding of the all-inclusiveness of Christ unveiled in Paul’s Epistles.
All these precious revelations in the Word were given to us by God, but regretfully, they were not printed in books at Brother Nee’s time. Consequently, in 1974 I began to have the burden to study the entire Bible in the way of a life-study. We began simultaneously to cover the New Testament in the two big annual trainings and the Old Testament during the week. I truly worship the Lord that presently we have only three books left to cover: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Actually, Brother Nee already covered Song of Songs with a detailed exposition. Furthermore, in 1972 in the United States, I covered life and building in Song of Songs. However, I have not touched Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. In the summer training this year, we will discover that these two books are absolutely different from our natural understanding. Thank the Lord, we now have a complete set of life-studies, from Genesis to Revelation, with a penetrating explanation of God’s economy.
Last year the Lord led us to begin the crystallization-study of the Bible, a study which goes even deeper than the life-study of the Bible. Recently, I have been on the crystallization-study of Romans every Wednesday night. The life-study opens the entire Bible to us in a general way, but we still need to touch the depths, the crystals, of the holy Scriptures. Although we are acquainted with the book of Romans and I have expounded it several times, there are still many hidden things as the intrinsic essence of the divine revelation. By such a crystallization-study, the Lord can reveal to us the intrinsic essence of the divine revelation, item by item.