Watchman Nee & Witness Lee — Creation
b1 — The All-inclusive Christ
Genesis 1 as Restoration Creation
Nee & Lee argue that the purpose of God’s creation in Genesis 1 is primarily the recovery of the land. The earth was initially in chaos:
“What is the purpose and aim of God’s creation according to the record of the first chapter of Genesis? It is nothing but the recovery of the land. God wanted to recover the land and do something upon it. ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ What about the earth? There was chaos upon the earth. Waste and void and deep waters were upon it. It was buried under the deep. So God came in to work; God began to recover the earth.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 1 (The All-inclusive Christ — An Introduction)
Interpretation: This is not creatio ex nihilo in the classical sense, but a restoration creation from an already existing chaotic state (Gen. 1:1-2). The emphasis lies on God’s active recovery work as the goal of creation.
Creation as Shadow — Material Things as Types
Nee & Lee teach that all material created things are merely shadows of spiritual reality, which is Christ himself:
“First of all, I would ask you to realize that according to the Scriptures all physical things, all the material things that we see, touch, and enjoy, are not the real things. They are but a shadow, a figure of the true. Day by day we are contacting so many material objects: we are eating food, drinking water, putting on clothes; we are living in our houses and driving in our cars. I would ask you to realize and remember well that all these things are not real. They are but shadows, figures. The food we take every day is not the real food, but a figure of the real. The water we drink is not the real water. The light before our eyes is not the real light, but a figure pointing to something else.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 1
“Brothers and sisters, I would by the grace of God tell you in truth that the real things are nothing but Christ Himself. Christ is the real food to us. Christ is the real water to us. Christ is the real light to us. Christ is the reality of everything to us. Even our physical life is not a real life. It is but a figure pointing to Christ. Christ is the real life to us.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 1
Interpretation: Creation has no independent ontological value; it functions exclusively as a type pointing to Christ as the All-inclusive One.
Day 3 as Type of Resurrection
The third day of creation, when the earth emerges from the waters (Gen. 1:9-13), is interpreted as a type of Christ’s resurrection:
“Then He divided the water from the earth, and the earth came out from the waters on the third day. It was the third day when the Lord Jesus Christ came out of the depths of death. So, you see, this is a type. On the third day God brought the earth out of the waters of death. From this type you can realize what the earth is. The earth, or the land, is a type of Christ.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 1
Interpretation: The typological argument moves from Gen. 1:9-13 via the third day directly to Christ’s resurrection. The earth-from-water is thus simultaneously a creative act and a prophetic type.
The Earth as Type of Christ
The central typological argument: the land (earth/Canaan) is a type of Christ as the center of God’s provision for mankind:
“Everything that God prepared for mankind is concentrated in the land. Man was created to live on the land to enjoy all the provision of God. All things related to man are concentrated in the land, which is a type of Christ. All things which God has prepared for us are concentrated in Christ.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 1
“The land is but a figure of Christ as everything to us.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 1
Imago Dei and the Dominion Mandate
After the land brings forth abundant life, man is created as God’s representative with God’s image and authority — both treated as a unified whole:
“After the Lord came out of death, there was an abundance of life produced, and in the midst of this fulness of life a man was created who was the representative of God, with God’s image, God’s likeness, and God’s authority. After the Lord came out of death, there was an abundance of life produced, and in the midst of this fulness of life a man was created who was the representative of God, with God’s image, God’s likeness, and God’s authority. And then a life with the image of God and committed with the authority of God came forth.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 1
Interpretation: Nee & Lee link imago Dei (Gen. 1:26-27) directly to the dominion mandate. God’s image and God’s authority are an indivisible unity for them. [TENSION: classical Reformed theology distinguishes the structural image from the functional mandate to rule.]
Grains as Creation Types
In chapter 5, wheat and barley as creation gifts are typologized:
“What does the barley represent? The resurrected Christ! Wheat points to His incarnation, death, and burial, and following this the barley points to His resurrection, the resurrected Christ.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 5 (The Goodness of the Land — Its Unsearchable Riches II. Food)
“All students of the Scriptures recognize that the first fruits of the harvest typify Christ as the first fruits of resurrection. We can prove by this that barley represents the resurrected Christ. Wheat represents the incarnated, crucified and buried Christ. Barley represents the resurrected Christ.”
— The All-inclusive Christ, ch. 5
Interpretation: Creation gifts (grains) are not valued in themselves but exclusively as types of the phases of Christ’s redemptive work (incarnation → death → resurrection).