“A servant is not greater than his master,” Jesus said, “nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him” (John 13:16). The Greek word for “he who is sent” is apostolos, apostle, and Paul introduces himself as “a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle” (Romans 1:1).
Paul kept pointing back to Jesus’ words. “Not I but the Lord” (1 Corinthians 7:10). “Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35). “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). He warned against anyone who “does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 6:3). And Peter warned that some things in Paul are hard to understand, “which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).
So the servant should be read in light of the Master. Witness Lee did the reverse: he measured James with a Pauline yardstick. “In contrast to James,” he wrote, “Paul was permeated, saturated, and soaked with the matters of the church” (Life-Study of James, msg. 12 ↗). And “God’s economy,” the standard James was “somewhat off” from (msg. 5 ↗), is a term Lee built on Paul’s word oikonomia: “In Greek the words ‘God’s dispensation’ in 1:4 also mean God’s household economy” (Life-Study of 1 Timothy, msg. 1 ↗). His defenders often say it outright: read Jesus through Paul. But if Paul echoes Jesus, Jesus is the standard, and James meets it. If Jesus’ words only count after they pass through Paul, then Paul is overriding Him. The full case on James is in Witness Lee, James, and Paul.
Paul says what Jesus said
Read as an echo, Paul says exactly what Jesus says:
| Jesus | Paul | |
|---|---|---|
| Known by fruit | “every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit”Matthew 7:17 | “whatever a man sows, that he will also reap… he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life”Galatians 6:7–8 |
| Lawlessness shuts the door | “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”Matthew 7:23 | “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”Galatians 5:21 |
| Saying but not doing | “‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go”Matthew 21:30 | “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him”Titus 1:16 |
| Judged by deeds | “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me”Matthew 25:40 | “that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad”2 Corinthians 5:10 |
| Set free from sin | “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin… if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed”John 8:34, 36 | “I am carnal, sold under sin… bringing me into captivity to the law of sin… Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!… the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death”Romans 7:14, 23–25; 8:2 |
Paul repeats the Sermon on the Mount
Some treat the Sermon on the Mount as a standard for another age, or for a few advanced believers. Paul didn’t. He repeated it to ordinary churches, one line after another:
| Jesus, Sermon on the Mount | Paul | |
|---|---|---|
| Love your enemies | “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”Matthew 5:44 | “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse… If your enemy is hungry, feed him… Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”Romans 12:14, 20–21 |
| Forgiveness | “if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”Matthew 6:14–15 | “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another… even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do”Colossians 3:13 |
| Purity of heart | “whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart… it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell”Matthew 5:28–29 | “brethren… if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live”Romans 8:12–13 |
| Money | “lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also… You cannot serve God and mammon”Matthew 6:20–21, 24 | “Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life”1 Timothy 6:18–19 |
| Judging | “Judge not, that you be not judged”Matthew 7:1 | “why do you judge your brother?… For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ”Romans 14:10 |
| How to treat others | “whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets”Matthew 7:12 | “‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law”Romans 13:9–10 |
| “Lord, Lord” | “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven”Matthew 7:21 | “They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him”Titus 1:16 |
| Known by fruit | “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them”Matthew 7:19–20 | “God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life”Galatians 6:7–8 |
Where Lee’s readings fall apart
Reading Paul as an echo of Jesus matters most with his hardest verses. Here is what Paul wrote, what Lee taught on the same point, and what Jesus said:
| Paul wrote | Lee taught | Jesus said | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kingdom | “those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God”Galatians 5:21 | the verse “is not related to a believer’s salvation”; they lose only “the coming kingdom as a reward”Life-Study of Galatians, msg. 27 ↗ | “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom”… “the righteous into eternal life”Matthew 25:34, 46 |
| Faith | “you stand by faith… Otherwise you also will be cut off”Romans 11:20, 22 | “once we have such a faith, we can never lose it”Life-Study of Romans, msg. 8 ↗ | some “believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away”Luke 8:13 |
| Deeds | God “will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good”Romans 2:6–7 | “Whatever we have done, whatever we are doing, and whatever we shall do cannot affect our salvation”Life-Study of Hebrews, msg. 46 ↗ | “those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation”John 5:29 |
| Forgiveness | “bearing with one another, and forgiving one another… even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do”Colossians 3:13 | “If we do not forgive the brother who sins against us, we will be disciplined by the Lord until we forgive him from the heart… This is forgiveness in the kingdom”Recovery Version, Matthew 18:34, note 1 ↗ | “I forgave you all that debt… And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you”Matthew 18:32, 34–35 |
| Fruitless branches | “God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life”Galatians 6:7–8 | “For a branch to be cast out means that it is cut off from participation in the riches of the life of the vine”Recovery Version, John 15:6, note 1 ↗ | “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned”John 15:6 |
| The gospel | “by which also you are saved… For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures… and that He rose again the third day”1 Corinthians 15:2–4 | “as long as they repent and believe in Him, they will receive eternal life… Although this is the gospel, it is a low gospel”A Deeper Study of the Divine Dispensing, ch. 2 ↗ | “the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations”Luke 24:46–47 |
| Who gets in | “the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God… And such were some of you. But you were washed”1 Corinthians 6:9, 11 | “Those who are not overcomers will be excluded from the enjoyment of the kingdom during the millennium and will probably be punished”Life-Study of Matthew, msg. 58 ↗ | “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom”… “today you will be with Me in Paradise”Luke 23:42–43 |
Lee’s readers will answer the first row with the millennium: the kingdom Paul warns about is a thousand-year reward, not salvation itself. Jesus does not allow that split. In Matthew 25 the ones told to “inherit the kingdom” (25:34) are the ones who go “into eternal life,” and the rest go “into everlasting punishment” (25:46). When the rich young ruler asked about “eternal life,” Jesus spoke of entering “the kingdom of heaven,” and the disciples asked, “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:16, 23, 25). Paul uses the phrase the same way. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” is about the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:50), and the people who “will not inherit the kingdom of God” are set against believers who were “washed… sanctified… justified” (1 Corinthians 6:9–11). Neither Jesus nor Paul has a third group: saved, but shut out of the kingdom.
The thief on the cross makes the point from the other side. He had no time to overcome anything. He admitted, “we receive the due reward of our deeds,” and turned to Jesus as King: “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:41–43). That is Romans 4: God “justifies the ungodly” who trust Him (4:5). It is also the gospel Lee called low.
Paul’s own rule
Paul told Timothy what to do with any teaching that does not fit Jesus’ words: “If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing” (1 Timothy 6:3–4). He asked the churches to follow him only as far as he followed Christ: “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
When a reading of Paul needs Jesus’ plain words to mean something else, it has the order backwards. Paul was sent to repeat his Master, and he did.
Read more: Witness Lee, James, and Paul →