Watchman Nee & Witness Lee — Christology
b4 — Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 2
Incarnation and Virgin Birth
The nine-point confessional summary at the end of the volume repeats the creedal formulation on the incarnation — the same as in b3, now with BXL2 as source:
“The Son of God, even God Himself, was incarnated to be a man by the name of Jesus, born of the virgin Mary, that He might be our Redeemer and Savior.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’ (p. 27)
“Jesus, a genuine Man, lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years to make God the Father known to men.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’ (p. 27)
Interpretation: Incarnation and virgin birth are stated as creedal points. The two natures (‘God Himself’ and ‘a genuine Man’) are placed alongside each other without dogmatic elaboration of the hypostatic union.
Atonement: The Redemptive Arc from Incarnation to Spirit
Chapter 2 provides a concise narrative synthesis of the entire redemptive journey of Christ, from incarnation to the life-giving Spirit. This is the most complete christological synthesis in the BXL corpus:
“In the beginning Jesus Christ was God (John 1:1). Then one day this very God became a man to dwell on the earth (John 1:14) and to accomplish redemption for all. He was among us as the Lamb of God that through the shedding of His blood we might partake of redemption (Eph. 1:7) and be reconciled to God.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 13-14)
The atonement is connected to the theme of the ‘much more’ of Rom. 5:10:
“Romans 5:10 testifies, ‘For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more we will be saved in His life.’ This ‘much more’ must be more of Christ.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 13)
The confessional summary states the atoning death as a doctrinal point:
“Jesus, the Christ anointed by God with His Holy Spirit, died on the cross for our sins and shed His blood for the accomplishing of our redemption.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’ (p. 28)
Interpretation: Atonement is presented here not only legally but also life-dynamically: Christ’s death reconciles, but Christ’s resurrection — as the life-giving Spirit — grounds ongoing salvation (‘much more saved by His life’). This accent on Rom. 5:10 is distinctive to b4 and absent from b1-b3.
Resurrection: Christ Becomes the Life-Giving Spirit
The central christological theme of chapter 2 is the ontological transition Christ underwent through resurrection: from incarnate God to life-giving Spirit dwelling in the believer.
“He is the Spirit! ‘The last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving Spirit’ (1 Cor. 15:45b).”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 13-14)
The resurrection makes the indwelling of Christ in believers possible. Nee and Lee connect this to John 14:16-20 and John 20:22:
“Jesus had told His disciples that He would enter into them; therefore, shortly after His resurrection He appeared before them in a room in which the doors were closed. […] ‘He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit’ (John 20:22). At that moment Jesus, who had been among them and outside of them, came into them. Christ could never have entered into His disciples had He not been the Spirit.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 14)
” ‘The Lord is the Spirit’ (2 Cor. 3:17), and all that have been reconciled to God have this life-giving Spirit dwelling within them to be their bountiful supply and all they need.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 14)
The transition is also summarized in a synthetic statement near the end of chapter 2:
“Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth, lived a human life, was crucified for our sins, was buried, rose again, and became the life-giving Spirit. When we believed into Him, He as the Spirit came into our spirit, the deepest part of our being, to be our life and everything to us.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 17)
Interpretation: The resurrection marks an ontological transition: from incarnate God to life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This accent is also present in b2 and b3, but in b4 it is embedded in a complete narrative redemptive synthesis and directly connected to the practical accessibility of Christ for the believer.
Ascension and Kingly Office
“Jesus Christ, after being buried for three days, was raised from the dead, and forty days later He ascended into heaven, where God made Him the Lord of all.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’ (p. 28)
Interpretation: Ascension and glorification are stated as creedal points. The phrase ‘Lord of all’ identifies the kingly office.
Christ as the Accessible Spirit: Calling upon the Lord
The most distinctive accent of b4 is the emphasis on the practical accessibility of the risen Christ. Lee explains that the believer can contact Christ as the life-giving Spirit directly through calling upon His name:
“Today the Lord has made Himself available to all Christians for them to contact and experience in a full and living way.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 13)
The biblical ground for calling upon the Lord is Rom. 10:12-13:
“For the same Lord is Lord of all and rich to all who call upon Him; for ‘whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ ” (Romans 10:12b-13)
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 14-15)
Crucially, this calling is not directed toward a distant heavenly Christ, but toward the Christ who as the Spirit dwells within the believer’s spirit:
“Our calling upon the Lord should not be in an objective manner, calling on the Christ who dwells in the heavens, but calling on the Christ who is the Spirit and who dwells within our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22).”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 15)
The availability of Christ as the life-giving Spirit is compared to the omnipresence of air:
“Today, He as the Spirit is like the air to us—so fresh and so available. When we cry ‘O Lord!’ or ‘Amen!’ or ‘Hallelujah!’ we take Him into us as the life-giving breath, supplying us with all the riches of Himself.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ch. 2 (p. 17)
Interpretation: This is the christological-pneumatological core that distinguishes b4 from b1-b3. The risen Christ as life-giving Spirit is not only an ontological description (1 Cor. 15:45b), but has a direct practical dimension: the believer can contact Him at any moment by calling from within the spirit. The ‘air’ metaphor underscores omnipresence and immediate availability. [TENSION with earlier christological tradition: the identification of Christ with the Spirit through calling is pneumatologically ambiguous — Nee and Lee do not systematically distinguish between the Holy Spirit and Christ as the life-giving Spirit.]
Second Coming
“At the end of this age Christ will come back to take up His believers, to judge the world, to take possession of the earth, and to establish His eternal Kingdom.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 2, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’ (p. 28)
Interpretation: The Second Coming is stated as a standard creedal point without eschatological elaboration.