Watchman Nee & Witness Lee — Ecclesiology
b5 — Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 3
Threefold Purpose of God’s Eternal Plan for the Church (Eph. 3:14-19)
Witness Lee formulates three aspects of God’s eternal plan for the church in chapter two:
“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. God’s plan is for the church to gain His life in full! The sonship is not just the birth of life, but the growth of life unto maturity.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
Scripture references: Eph. 3:14-19; 1:10
Interpretation: Lee positions the church not as a means to individual salvation but as the central instrument of God’s trinitarian plan: expression of God, defeat of Satan, and cosmic recapitulation under Christ. This “sonship” is a collective, eschatological reality of the Body.
The Church as the Corporate Man under the Headship of Christ
Lee describes the church as a corporate man ordered under the headship of Christ:
“Within this corporate man, God in Christ is the Head and, as sons, we are the Body brought into order under His headship. Then, through this Body, Christ as the Head will head up all things.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
“First of all, there is the matter of life; then there is the building. The purpose of the building is to bring us all into the proper order in life under the headship of Christ.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
Scripture references: Eph. 1:10; 1Cor. 15:27-28; Col. 1:18
Interpretation: The term “corporate man” is a technical ecclesiological concept for Lee: the church is not a collection of individuals but one man-in-Christ, whose members are ordered according to the pattern of Christ’s headship.
Satan’s Threefold Distraction from God’s Eternal Purpose
Lee analyzes how the enemy has distracted three classes of people from God’s eternal purpose:
“Upon the earth today there are three classes of people—the Gentiles, who are the unbelievers; God’s chosen people, the Jews; and the Christians, the members of the church. All three classes have been distracted from God’s economy by the enemy, Satan.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
“Not just the Gentiles and the Jews, but even Christian people are distracted from Christ and His Body unto something else. Even fundamental Christianity tells us only that God loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross in order to save us from hell. (…) Have you ever heard a message telling how God’s intention is to work Himself into us through Christ as the Spirit, that Christ might be expressed through His Body and head up the whole universe under His headship? Such a concept is not even found in fundamental Christianity.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
Scripture references: John 5:39-40; Matt. 6:31-33
Interpretation: Lee’s ecclesiological critique is radical: not only extra-biblical teachings, but even Bible knowledge and charismatic gifts can distract the church from her true calling — being built up as the Body of Christ through the inner experience of Christ.
The Church Built by Inner Christ-Experience, Not by Knowledge or Gifts
Lee draws a sharp distinction between the transfer of knowledge/gifts and the actual building up of the church:
“I was not clear at that time about the book of Ephesians, but through experience I was made clear by the Lord that the church could be built only by Christ as our life. The church can be built up only by experiencing Christ, not by knowledge or gifts. Knowledge and gifts help somewhat, but the church can never be built up by these things. It has to be built by Christ.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
“The key factor of how the church will be built up is the inner experience of the indwelling Christ. The gifted persons do not minister gifts to the saints; they only minister the unsearchable riches of Christ which they have experienced, that the saints might be perfected in Christ and grow up into Him.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
“The church is not built up by knowledge and gifts. The more knowledge we have, the more divisions we will have; and the more gifts we have, the more trouble we will have. It is only by the inner experience of Christ as life that we can have the reality of the church life.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
Scripture references: Eph. 3:16-19; 4:15-16; 4:11-12
Interpretation: This is Lee’s central ecclesiological thesis in BXL3: knowledge and gifts are instrumental and temporary; the actual building of the Body occurs exclusively through the experiential indwelling of Christ in the heart of each member.
Ephesians 3:16-19 as the Key to Church-Building
Lee identifies Eph. 3:16-19 as the heart of Ephesians and of all Scripture:
“The book of Ephesians is the heart of the Scriptures, and the heart of this book is in chapter three, verses 16-19. (…) Paul bows his knees for the cause of God’s eternal purpose that God would grant the saints to be strengthened in the inner man.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
“When our spirit is strengthened, Christ will increasingly make His home in all the parts of our heart. (…) This means our whole being will be His dwelling place and His home.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
“In verse 17 the words rooted and grounded are very meaningful. To be rooted means to grow in life, and to be grounded means to be built. (…) We can never be built together by knowledge. The more knowledge we have, the more arguments and divisions we will have. But when we have Christ making His home in us, we will forget about the knowledge, the divisions, and all other things.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
Scripture references: Eph. 3:16-19; 3:17
Interpretation: Lee reads Eph. 3:17 christologically-ecclesiologically: “rooted” = individual growth in life; “grounded” = corporate building up of the Body. Both dimensions are inseparably linked and are realized through the indwelling of Christ in the heart.
The Church as the New Man, Proceeding from Christ (Eve from Adam)
Lee connects Eph. 2:15 with the creation narrative as an ecclesiological paradigm:
“The church is an entity which comes entirely out of Christ, just as Eve came out of Adam. She was a part of Adam and was taken out of Adam. The new man, which is the church, is a part of Christ and is taken out of Him.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 2
Scripture references: Eph. 2:15; Gen. 2:21-22; cf. Eph. 5:30-32
Interpretation: [TENSION with earlier source] In b4 (BXL2) Lee describes the church as a community of callers (1Cor. 1:2). In b5 (BXL3) he emphasizes the ontological bond: the church is the bride who proceeds organically from Christ, as Eve was formed organically from Adam. These two perspectives (functional and ontological) are complementary but place different emphases.
Corporate Pray-Reading as an Ecclesiological Principle (Body Dimension)
In chapter three, Lee formulates the ecclesiological necessity of corporate pray-reading the Word:
“For more enjoyment and nourishment and to pray-read the Word properly and adequately, we need the Body, the church. We may enjoy pray-reading the Word privately, but if we try it with a group of other Christians, we will be in the third heavens!”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 3
“The explanation of this is that food is for the whole Body, not merely for one member alone. (…) The food is to be eaten by the Body, and the food is for the Body. The principle is that eating is for the Body, not just for the members.”
— Witness Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 3
Scripture references: Eph. 6:17-18; 1Pet. 2:2-3; 1Cor. 12:13
Interpretation: Lee anchors even the most personal spiritual practice — pray-reading Scripture — in the ecclesiological reality of the Body. Individual nourishment finds its fulfillment in the corporate practice of the assembled church.