Watchman Nee & Witness Lee — Angelology
b6 — The Spiritual Man
Angels — ontology: angels as spirits, man as a living soul
Nee draws a sharp distinction between the created nature of angels and that of man. Angels were created as spirits; man was created predominantly as a living soul:
“God treated man’s soul as something unique. As the angels were created as spirits, so man was created predominantly as a living soul. Man not only had a body, a body with the breath of life; he became a living soul as well. Thus we find later in the Scriptures that God often referred to men as ‘souls.’ Why? Because what the man is depends on how his soul is.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 1
Interpretation: The ontological distinction is functional: angels are essentially spirit; man is essentially soul. This explains God’s reference to human beings as “souls” in Scripture.
Before the fall the human spirit shared a kinship with the spirit of the angels:
“The man God fashioned was notably different from all other created beings. Man possessed a spirit similar to that of the angels and at the same time had a soul resembling that of the lower animals.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 3
Interpretation: The human spirit, prior to the fall, participated in the nature of angelic spirits — a higher dimension than the animal soul. The fall severed this kinship.
Angels — no atonement possible through an angel
Nee argues that no angel can bear the penalty of sin in man’s place, because it is man’s triune nature that sins:
“The man who sins must die. This is announced in the Bible. No animal nor angel can suffer the penalty of sin in man’s stead. It is man’s triune nature which sins, therefore it is man who must die. Only humanity can atone for humanity. But because sin is in his humanity, man’s own death cannot atone for his sin. The Lord Jesus came and took human nature upon himself in order that He might be judged instead of humanity. Untainted by sin, His holy human nature could therefore through death atone for sinful humanity.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 4
Interpretation: The incarnation is soteriologically necessary precisely because no superhuman being — not even an angel — can make atonement for human nature.
Satan — identity, hostility, and limitations
Nee describes Satan as a personal adversary who actively sought to obstruct the writing of this book:
“Learning the truths in this book was not easy; writing them down was even harder. I may say that for two months I lived daily in the jaws of Satan. What battling! What withstanding! All my powers of spirit, soul and body were summoned to contend with hell. Such battles are now temporarily suspended, but more parts must be written. […] I know the enemy hates this work deeply. He will try every means to prevent it from reaching people’s hands and to hinder them from reading it.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, First Preface (June 4, 1927)
Interpretation: Satan acts here as a personal antagonist of Nee’s theological labor — active, purposeful, and hostile toward disclosed truth.
A fundamental limitation on Satan’s power is the free will of man:
“This is a most important point, for we must realize that in our spiritual life God never deprives us our freedom. Unless we actively cooperate, God will not undertake anything for us. Neither God nor the devil can do any work without first obtaining our consent, for man’s will is free.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 3
Interpretation: Satan cannot coerce man. His power is contingent on the consent of the human will — a fundamental boundary to his activity.
Nee also warns explicitly against Satan’s tactic of keeping believers from spiritual knowledge:
“As I recall how the enemy has tried to hinder me from learning the truths written in the last volume, I cannot but be apprehensive that some, though possessing the book, will be hindered by Satan from reading it; or if they do read it, will be made to soon forget it. Therefore let me warn my readers: you should ask God to keep Satan from preventing your reading it.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Second Preface
Satan’s threefold strategy at the fall: outside-inward
This is Nee’s most developed angelology passage in Part 1. Satan’s strategy at the fall follows a fixed sequence: first attack the body, then seduce the soul, then bring the spirit into darkness:
“Satan tempted Eve with a question. He knew his query would arouse the woman’s thought. If she were completely under the spirit’s control she would reject such questioning. By trying to answer she exercised her mind in disobedience to the spirit. […] Satan provoked her soulical thought first and then advanced to seize her will. The result: she fell into sin.
Satan always uses physical need as the first target for attack. He simply mentioned eating fruit to Eve, an entirely physical matter. Next he proceeded to entice her soul, intimating that by indulging, her eyes would be opened to know good and evil. […] Satan’s temptation reaches initially to the body, then to the soul and lastly to the spirit.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 3 (cf. Gen. 3:6)
Interpretation: Satan’s order of attack is anatomically determined: body → soul (mind → emotion → will) → spirit. This pattern is not incidental but structural — a “law” governing all satanic activity.
With Adam the same law operated through a different faculty of the soul — emotion rather than the mind:
“Satan moved Adam to sin by seizing the latter’s will through his emotion, while he tempted Eve to sin by grasping her will through the channel of a darkened mind. When man’s will and mind and emotion were poisoned by the serpent and man followed after Satan instead of God, his spirit, which was capable of communing with God, suffered a fatal blow. Here we can see the law which governs the work of Satan. He uses the things of the flesh (eating fruit) to entice man’s soul into sin; as soon as the soul sins, the spirit descends into utter darkness. The order of his working is always such: from the outside to the inside.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 3
This lawful distinction is for Nee the key to discerning satanic versus divine working:
“The moment man’s will yields to Satan he possesses man’s whole being and puts the spirit to death. But not so the work of God; His is always from the inside to the outside. God begins working in man’s spirit and continues by illuminating his mind, stirring his emotion, and causing him to exercise his will over his body for carrying into execution the will of God. All satanic works are performed from the outside inward; all divine works, from the inside outward. We may in this way distinguish what comes from God and what from Satan. All this additionally teaches us that once Satan seizes man’s will, then is he in control over that man.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 3
Interpretation: This is Nee’s discernment criterion for spiritual origin: movement from outside inward = satanic; movement from inside outward = divine. It is simultaneously diagnostic (how to recognize the enemy) and soteriological (why God always begins his work in the spirit).
The fallen human spirit as ally of Satan
After the fall the human spirit is not simply inactive; it remains active — but now as a partner of Satan and the evil spirits:
“However dead this spirit may be towards God it may remain as active as the mind or the body. It is accounted dead to God but is still very active in other respects. Sometimes the spirit of a fallen man can even be stronger than his soul or body and gain dominion over the whole being. Such persons are ‘spiritual’ just as most people are largely soulical or physical, because their spirits are much bigger than that of ordinary individuals. These are the sorceresses and the witches. They indeed maintain contacts with the spiritual realm; but these do so through the evil spirit, not by the Holy Spirit. The spirit of the fallen man thus is allied with Satan and his evil spirits. It is dead to God yet very much alive to Satan and follows the evil spirit which is now at work in him.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 2, section C
Interpretation: The category “spiritual person” is for Nee ambiguous: it can denote both the Spirit-filled believer and the sorceress. Both have an active spirit in the spiritual realm — but the unregenerate spirit operates through Satan. This lays the theological basis for Nee’s later developed teaching on demonic influence through the human spirit.
Related: even the unregenerate non-occult person worships through his spirit — but directed toward evil spirits:
“We can know by these Scriptures that our spirit possesses at least these three functions. Although unregenerated men do not yet have life, they nevertheless possess these functions (but their worship is of evil spirits). Some people manifest more of these functions while others less.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Part 1, ch. 2, section C
Interpretation: Religious worship by the unregenerate person is in Nee’s framework directed toward evil spirits by definition — even outside consciously occult practice.
Threefold redemption — including liberation from the supernatural enemy
Nee describes God’s full redemptive design as threefold: liberation from sin, from the natural self, and from the supernatural satanic power:
“It would be well to reflect upon God’s redemptive design. God’s purpose is that through the new life given us at the time of regeneration He might be able to deliver us from (1) sin, (2) the natural, and (3) the supernatural, that is, the satanic force of evil in the unseen realm. These three steps of deliverance are necessary; none can be omitted. If a Christian limits God’s redemptive work by being content with merely overcoming sin, he falls far short of the purpose of God.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Second Preface
Interpretation: Liberation from demonic power is not an optional addition to soteriology but an integral part of God’s redemptive design. One who thinks only of forgiveness of sins has not yet reached the full goal.
Spiritual warfare — discerning supernatural phenomena
Nee warns readers neither to reject all supernatural phenomena nor to accept them uncritically. The norm of discernment is Scripture:
“Let not any reader be misled into thinking he must resist all supernatural occurrences. My aim is simply to impress upon you the necessity of testing whether or not something is of God. I most sincerely believe many supernatural experiences come from God; I have witnessed a great number of them. However, I must acknowledge that today many supernatural phenomena are false and deceptive. […] When a believer is faced with any supernatural phenomenon, he ought to examine it carefully according to the principles revealed in the Bible before he decides to accept or to reject it.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Second Preface
A specific danger is spiritual deception proceeding from the evil spirit, even when it appears to be spiritual deepening:
“The deeper the truth the easier is it to become theoretical. Apart from the working of the Holy Spirit, none can arrive at deeper truth. […] Let us therefore be careful lest we accept the teachings in the book with our mind and deceive ourselves into thinking we have possessed them already. This is most dangerous, for deception which comes from the flesh and the evil spirit shall increase day by day.”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Second Preface
Nee’s Third Preface closes with a prayer that frames spiritual warfare eschatologically:
“Holy Father, what You have entrusted to me is now here in this book. If it seems good to You, may You bless it. May You in these last days keep Your children from corrupted flesh and wicked spirits! Father, may You build Your Son’s Body, destroy Your Son’s enemy, and hasten the coming of Your Son’s Kingdom!”
— Watchman Nee, The Spiritual Man, Third Preface (June 25, 1928)
Interpretation: Spiritual warfare in Nee’s framework is set within an eschatological horizon: keeping believers from evil spirits is bound up with the building of the Body of Christ and the coming of the Kingdom.