Watchman Nee & Witness Lee — Christology
b5 — Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 3
Incarnation and Two Natures
The 9-point confession at the end of the volume reaffirms the confessional formulation of the incarnation:
“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. 3, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’, point 3 (p. 42)
“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. 3, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’, point 4 (p. 42)
Interpretation: The two natures are placed side by side: “God Himself” (divinity) and “a genuine Man” (humanity). The hypostatic union is not developed dogmatically but confessionally affirmed. Point 4 emphasizes the prophetic office: the human life of Christ serves the revelation of the Father.
Atonement: Priestly Office
“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. 3, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’, point 5 (p. 42-43)
Interpretation: The atoning death is affirmed as a matter of confession. The formula “for our sins” and “shed His blood” points to a satisfactional or substitutionary-priestly atonement. See b3 and b4 for further elaboration of the blood motif.
Resurrection, Ascension, and Royal 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. 3, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’, point 6 (p. 43)
“After His ascension Christ poured out the Spirit of God to baptize His chosen members into one Body.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’, point 7 (p. 43)
Interpretation: Resurrection and ascension lead to the royal office (“the Lord of all”) and to the outpouring of the Spirit. The difference from b4 is slight; b5 explicitly links the ascension to the outpouring of the Spirit as the next step in salvation history.
Christ as the Life Principle: Above Law and Prophets
Chapter 1 presents a distinctive Christological accent: Christ as the living norm that replaces the law and the prophets. On the Mount of Transfiguration Moses and Elijah appeared, but God silenced them:
“God told Peter, ‘This is My Son, the Beloved.… Hear Him!’ (Matt. 17:3, 5). Today the standard for Christian living is no longer the law, nor is it the prophets. The standard for Christian living is now Christ Himself; it is the indwelling Christ within us.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 1 (p. 15)
This is connected to the distinction between life and good and evil:
“Christianity is life. Christianity is not a matter of asking whether something is right or wrong. Christianity speaks of life, not of good and evil.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 1 (p. 9)
“2 Corinthians 5:7 says, ‘We walk by faith, not by appearance.’ We do not determine things by an outward, visible law. We live according to the leading which the Lord gives us inwardly.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 1 (p. 19)
Interpretation: This accent is unique to BXL3 within the Nee/Lee corpus. Christ as the life principle transcends both the law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah). The indwelling Christ is the living norm: not an external commandment but an inner sense of life. This is a Christological-anthropological theme: the risen Christ dwells in the human spirit and leads from within. [TENSION with earlier Christological tradition: the replacement of the law by the life principle can be read antinomistically; Nee and Lee forestall this by making the demand of “life” stricter than the law, not more lenient.]
Christ Making His Home in the Heart (Eph. 3:17)
The central Christological theme of chapter 2 is the indwelling of Christ in the heart as the goal of God’s eternal plan:
“Ephesians 3:17 says, ‘That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.’ He has to be our life, and we must be His home. It is not our body that is to be His home, but our heart.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2 (p. 25-26)
“Christ is now in our spirit, but He is seeking to make His home in our heart. Then we will be filled unto all the fullness of God. It is not material things nor knowledge nor gifts nor any outward manifestations, but the fullness of God!”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2 (p. 26)
The way to Christ’s indwelling runs through repentance and confession:
“By repentance we turn our mind to the Lord, and by confession we exercise our conscience. […] Then the gateway to the spirit is opened so that the Lord may come in more and more in order to fill and strengthen our spirit.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2 (p. 29-30)
Interpretation: The indwelling of Christ in the heart (Eph. 3:17) is the Christological core of ch. 2. Lee distinguishes two stages: (1) Christ in the spirit (at regeneration) and (2) Christ making His home in the heart (in spiritual growth). This Christological-pastoral accent distinguishes b5 from b1-b4.
Sonship: Creation and Begetting
Chapter 2 presents sonship as God’s eternal purpose:
“There are three main aspects in God’s eternal plan for the church. First, it is the church that must have the sonship to express God; second, it is the church through which Satan will be defeated and put to shame; and finally, it is the church through which Christ will head up all things.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2 (p. 23)
“By creation He brought us into existence, and by begetting us He imparted Himself into us as our life.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2 (p. 23)
Interpretation: Sonship is not merely soteriological (salvation from sin) but Christological-cosmic: Christ as the Head of the new corporate humanity. The parallel creation/begetting links the first creation (Adam) to the new creation (Christ as life). This accent is related to the incarnation motif: the same Christ who was incarnated is now imparted as life into believers.
Christ as the Immeasurable Riches (Eph. 3:18-19)
“These are the dimensions of Christ! Christ is the breadth, the length, the height, and the depth; He is immeasurable and unlimited. We must realize the unsearchable riches of Christ and be filled unto all the fullness of God.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2 (p. 30)
“I say again that it is not something outward like knowledge, gifts, and signs; it is wholly the inner experience of the indwelling Christ.”
— Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2 (p. 31)
Interpretation: The four dimensions of Eph. 3:18 are interpreted Christologically: Christ Himself is immeasurable. This accent places the person of Christ above every outward revelation (gifts, knowledge, signs). The building up of the church (ch. 2) depends entirely on the inner experience of Christ.
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. 3, ‘About Two Servants of the Lord’, point 8 (p. 43)
Interpretation: The second coming is affirmed as a matter of confession without elaborating an eschatological system. See the eschatology dossiers for the further development of Nee/Lee’s premillennialism.