III. THE TRAGIC ISSUES OF JAMES’S MISTAKE
A. The Blinding of Thousands of Believers
1. From James’s Time to Today
The first tragic issue of James’s mistake is the blinding of thousands of believers from James’s time to today.
2. From Seeing the Clear View
concerning the Economy of God
Thousands and thousands of real believers have been blinded by James’s vague teaching from seeing the clear view concerning the economy of God that they may participate in the producing and building up of the Body of Christ as a precursor of the New Jerusalem.
3. The Divine Revelation in the Scriptures
Being Progressive
The divine revelation in the Scriptures is progressive in different degrees, and its progression is according to the four different ages of the Scriptures.
a. Job’s Perfection
Job’s perfection (Job 1:1, 8) was according to the divine revelation of the age before the law, which was Job’s goal in seeking after God and replaced God in Job’s satisfaction; thus, Job was stripped by God of his perfection. Job’s perfection was a replacement of God. God wants His people to be satisfied with Him, with God Himself. But Job was satisfied with his perfection, so God came in to take away Job’s perfection.
b. Saul of Tarsus’s Perfection
Saul of Tarsus’s perfection (Phil. 3:6) before his salvation was according to the divine revelation in the age of law, which was opposing God’s New Testament economy and was rejected by him after his salvation by receiving the vision of the divine revelation of the age of grace.
c. The Perfection Stressed by James
The perfection stressed by James was according to his vague view of God’s divine revelation and was a mixture of the divine revelation according to the age of the law with the divine revelation according to the age of grace.
(Crystallization-Study of the Epistle of James, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
