Watchman Nee / Witness Lee — Anthropology
b2 — The Economy of God
Trichotomy: spirit, soul, and body
Witness Lee presents the tripartite view of man as a basic scriptural fact. With reference to 1Thess. 5:23:
“First Thessalonians 5:23 is a verse indicating that we are tripartite, or, of three parts: the spirit, the soul, and the body. We can illustrate this by three concentric circles.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 6, p. 55
Heb. 4:12 plays a central role as the Word that divides soul from spirit:
“Hebrews 4:12 also mentions the spirit and the soul, and the dividing of these two parts. If we would know Christ and enter into Him as the good land and as the rest, we must discern the spirit from the soul. The spirit is the very place where Christ dwells in us.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 6, p. 55-56
Interpretation: Lee’s trichotomy is not merely analytical but soteriologically functional: the tripartite distinction is necessary to “hit the mark of God’s economy.”
The inward parts and the hidden part
On the basis of Ps. 51:6 and Jer. 31:33 (cited in Heb. 8:10), Lee distinguishes the “inward parts” (of the soul) from the “hidden part” (the spirit):
“Just as the inward parts must be the parts of the soul, so the hidden part must be the spirit. Of all our parts, the spirit is the most hidden one within us. This inmost part is not only hidden within the body, but is even hidden within the soul. Hence, there are the outward parts of the body, the inward parts of the soul, and the hidden part of the spirit.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 6, p. 56
Three parts of the soul: mind, will, and emotion
Lee establishes the tripartite soul from Scripture extensively:
“God’s Word proves clearly and definitely that the soul is of three parts—the mind, the will, and the emotion.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 6, p. 57
The mind (proven from Prov. 2:10; 19:2; 24:14; Ps. 139:14; 13:2; Lam. 3:20):
“There is a part in the soul that knows, considers, and remembers. This part is called the mind.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 6, p. 57
The will (proven from Job 7:15; 6:7; 1Chr. 22:19; Num. 30; Ps. 27:12; 41:2; Ezek. 16:27):
“Job 7:15 says the soul chooses. To choose something is a decision made by the act of the will. This proves that the will must be a part of the soul.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 6, p. 57-58
The emotion (proven from 1Sam. 18:1; Song 1:7; Ps. 42:1; 2Sam. 5:8; Ps. 107:18; Ezek. 36:5):
“The emotion is the third part of the soul. With the emotion there are many aspects: for example, love, hatred, joy, grief, etc. All of these are expressions of the emotion.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 6, p. 58
Tabernacle typology as anthropology
Lee develops the typology of the Old Testament tabernacle as a picture of tripartite man (1Cor. 3:16; 2Tim. 4:22):
“We as tripartite beings are also composed of three parts—the body, the soul, and the spirit. But in which part of our being does the Triune God dwell? 2 Timothy 4:22 states clearly that the Lord is in our spirit. Our spirit is the very Holiest of all.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 3, p. 30
“Our body corresponds to the outer court, our soul to the holy place, and our human spirit to the Holiest of all, which is the very residence of Christ and God’s presence.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 3, p. 30
The Canaan typology is applied in parallel: Egypt = the body (bondage), the wilderness = the soul (aimless wandering), the good land = the spirit (rest in Christ):
“Many Christians are wandering all day in the soul, that is, in the wilderness. In the morning they have smiling faces, but by afternoon they are sorrowful with long faces.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 3, p. 33
Interpretation: The tabernacle/temple typology is for Lee not merely illustrative but the structural key to his entire pneumatological anthropology.
The soul conceals the spirit (soul vs. spirit)
“The soul conceals and covers the spirit, just as the bones conceal the marrow. It is easy to see the bones, but not the marrow hidden within. If we are going to get the marrow, we have to break the bones. Sometimes the marrow has to be scraped from the bones. Oh, how our spirit sticks to our soul! Our spirit is hidden and concealed within it.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 3, p. 31
The two-edged sword of Heb. 4:12 is the means by which God separates soul from spirit:
“God’s word is a sharp sword to pierce our being, to divide our soul from our spirit.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 3, p. 29
The human spirit as God’s dwelling place
Lee systematically distinguishes the Holy Spirit from the human spirit, on the basis of John 3:6; 4:24; Rom. 8:16:
“In John 3:6 we read: ‘That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’ This verse speaks of two distinct ‘spirits’: one is capitalized and the other is not. The first occurrence of the word refers to the Holy Spirit of God, and the second to the human spirit of man.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 3, p. 27
The human spirit as the receiving organ for God:
“The Holy Spirit of God, dwelling in our human spirit to dispense all that God is in Christ into our being, is the focus, the very mark of this mysterious distribution of the Triune God.”
— The Economy of God, Foreword
The mingled spirit: human spirit united with the Holy Spirit
“‘He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit’ (1Cor. 6:17). We are one spirit with the Lord, but one which is clearly mingled with the Holy Spirit! Such a mingled spirit makes it difficult for anyone to say whether this is the Holy Spirit or the human spirit.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 3, p. 44
Interpretation: Lee uses the concept of the “mingled spirit” as a key category — after regeneration the human spirit is inseparably joined with God’s Spirit. This is his most characteristic contribution to pneumatological anthropology.
Man as vessel: destiny and imago Dei
Lee establishes man’s destiny as “vessel for God” as the core of biblical anthropology, citing Rom. 9:21, 23 and 2Cor. 4:7:
“For what purpose did God create man? Only that man might be His container. I like to use this word ‘container’ because it is clearer than the word ‘vessel.’ It is clearly seen in Romans 9:21, 23 and 2 Corinthians 4:7, that God created us to be His containers in order to contain Himself. We are only empty containers, and God intends to be our only content.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 5, p. 45
On Gen. 1:26-27 (Elohim in the plural):
“Let us read Genesis 1:26 and 27. ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…God created man in his own image.’ In verse 26 it says, ‘in our image,’ while in the following verse it says ‘in his image.‘”
— The Economy of God, ch. 5, p. 46
Lee points to the grammatical peculiarity: Elohim is plural, but the verb “created” is singular — as an indication of the Trinity in the creation of man. The image of God is filled out Christologically: “Christ, who is the image of God” (2Cor. 4:4, ch. 5, p. 45).
The mind as the understanding organ
“The mind is the understanding organ, and Satan has blinded the understanding of this listener.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 5, p. 51
“The mind is like the lens [of a camera], and our heart is like the film. Our heart must be pure, clean, right, adjusted.”
— The Economy of God, ch. 5, p. 52
Interpretation: The relationship between mind and heart is worked out functionally: the mind receives, the heart registers and retains the impression of Christ — an anthropological-soteriological synthesis.
Material not covered in this extraction
The PDF extraction broke off in the middle of chapter 6. The following topics are therefore not documented from this source, but are addressed in the book (ch. 6 onwards):
- The three parts of the spirit: conscience, communion, intuition
- The heart as a composite organ (parts of soul + spirit)
- Ch. 7-24: function of the parts, the cross and the soul life, resurrection, tripartite man and the church