There are four levels in God’s New Testament economy. As we all know, the Bible has two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the first aspect of God’s economy is the law, which is the main body of the Old Testament. Next are the prophets and then the people of God. The Old Testament, generally speaking, is composed of the law, the prophets, and the people of God. In the New Testament, God’s economy is the teaching of the apostles. In the Old Testament, Moses brought the law, and the people listened to the law. In the New Testament, there is not one Moses, but many apostles bringing in the teaching of the apostles. In addition, there are the saints. Moses stayed on Mount Sinai for forty days and nights and received God’s law. The apostles were with the Lord Jesus for three and a half years and received the teaching of the New Testament economy. But they were only at the initial stage. It was not the stage of completion.
What completed the teaching of the New Testament economy was not the presence of the Lord Jesus, but the presence of the Spirit. The Lord said plainly in John 16, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of reality, comes, He will guide you into all the reality” (vv. 12-13). The disciples did not understand it then, since the Spirit of reality had not yet come. Not until the Spirit’s presence came did the disciples enter into all reality.
In addition, in the same chapter, the Lord shows us a little clue that the Spirit of reality whom the disciples were to receive was to be the Son who received all that the Father had (16:15). All that the Son has is to the Spirit, and all that the Spirit receives is opened up and disclosed to us. All that the Father has is to the Son, all that the Son has is received by the Spirit, and all that the Spirit receives is all that the Triune God is. Furthermore, the Spirit also opens up and discloses to us all that the Triune God is. This is the truth that the Spirit reveals to us when the Spirit of reality comes. Its content is the Triune God, who has passed through all the processes to be wrought into those who believe in Him, to make them sons of God and the members of Christ, that they may be constituted the Body of Christ.
Hymn #501 in Hymns says,
All things of the Father are Thine;
All Thou art in Spirit is mine;
The Spirit makes Thee real to me,
That Thou experienced might be.
This verse expresses what the Lord told the disciples while He was on the earth in John 16. Not until the Spirit of reality came could these mysteries be revealed to them.
The New Testament shows us that these mysteries were mainly revealed to the Apostle Paul. Hence, he said he had received from God a ministry and a commission, that is, to complete the word of God (Col. 1:25b). The teaching of the apostles started in the Gospels, and was developed in Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation. In other words, the teaching of the apostles is the entire New Testament. There is only one law in the Old Testament—the law of Moses; there is only one teaching in the New Testament—the teaching of the apostles.
This teaching started when the Lord Jesus brought up the twelve disciples. Hence, we often see the Lord teaching the disciples in the Gospels. Then in Matthew 28, after the Lord resurrected, He charged the disciples to preach the gospel and to disciple the nations, baptizing them into the Triune God, and “teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you.” Then He said, “...I am with you all the days” (v. 20). Therefore, the teaching of the apostles started with the Lord Jesus’ teaching to the disciples, especially to the twelve apostles, and ended with the revelation that John received on the Island of Patmos. Consequently, Revelation says that the revelation of God’s New Testament has been completed, and none is able to add to nor take away from it (Rev. 22:18-19). Revelation 22 is a closing word. The teaching of God’s New Testament economy starts from the Gospel of Matthew through the Gospel of John and continues through Revelation; the whole teaching has already been revealed completely.