The Governing Principles of the Practice of the Local Church

Witness Lee reiterates that the local church must receive all genuine believers as Christ receives them, in the light of His judgment seat, in order to maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ.

In the living of the church life in a locality, we must receive all the believers according to God’s receiving (Rom. 14:1-3). We must be able to receive the genuine believers of all kinds: Pentecostal, fundamental, Seventh-Day Adventists, and all others. To have the church life we must be all-inclusive, receiving all the believers in Christ. This kind of receiving is according to God’s receiving. We must receive the genuine believers because God has received them. In order to have the Body life of Romans 12, we must practice the principles unveiled in Romans 14 and 15 concerning the receiving of the believers. We must be able to receive those who keep certain days and those who do not keep any days (14:5), those who eat only vegetables and those who eat meat (14:2).

…We must receive the believers in the light of the judgment seat of Christ (Rom. 14:10, 12). In receiving the believers, we surely need to exercise a certain amount of discernment. However, we should not overjudge others in our unbalanced concept and in our personal preference. When we are about to judge another Christian, we must realize that we ourselves have many shortcomings and weak points that need to be judged. Therefore, we should not judge others today according to our view. All the believers, including us, will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. We should receive every believer in the light of this judgment.

(Witness Lee, To Be Saved, 33)

When we live a life with the highest virtues, the church will become a coordinated and built-up Body that is expressed in all the localities. Hence, chapter fourteen shows us the unique Body of Christ expressed in all the local churches. For this reason, all the churches have to receive all genuine believers unconditionally, according to the way God and Christ receive them (Rom. 14:1-3; 15:7), for the practice of the Body life. We have to learn the practical lesson of receiving the believers. Here Paul used eating and the keeping of the Sabbath as examples. He said that some are still keeping the Sabbath, and others are still eating according to the ceremony of cleansing. But as long as they have all believed in the Lord, we have to receive them. Although those who keep the Sabbath are wrong, God still receives them. Although the Jewish believers may keep the ceremonies of the Old Testament, God receives them also. God’s receiving is not based on the question of the Sabbath or the ordinances of eating, but on man’s believing in Jesus Christ the Son of God. Our receiving of the believers is based on God’s receiving of them. Hence, all the churches have to receive them also. When we receive in this way, according to God instead of according to doctrine or methods, we maintain the oneness of the Body of Christ.

(Witness Lee, A Deeper Study, 109-110)

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