Watchman Nee / Witness Lee — Soteriology
b8 — The Life That Wins
Salvation and Preservation
The life that wins is not attained, but obtained. It is not a life changed, but rather a life exchanged. It is not suppression, only expression. It is frankly not in yourself, because it is in Christ who lives in you.
“Do you know the life that wins? Are you ashamed of the kind of Christian life you live? Have you failed so terribly in your striving for victory that you cry out, ‘Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me…?’ (Rom. 7:24) Be assured that your salvation is at hand: ‘thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (v.25).” — Watchman Nee, The Life That Wins, Translator’s Preface
“The life which God gives and you receive at the time you believe in His Son Jesus Christ is such a life. It is a life that overcomes sin, provides intimate communion with God, and is full of satisfaction and power.” — idem.
Interpretation: Salvation is more than deliverance from penalty — it is receiving a new life that overcomes sin.
Matt. 1:21 — Jesus saves His people from their sins:
“She shall bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins.” (Matt. 1:21) — idem, p. 22
This distinguishes a life jacket (remaining in sin) from a lifeboat (fully delivered from sin):
“A life jacket is different from a lifeboat. When a person falls into the sea, he grasps the life jacket thrown to him. Thus he does not sink; yet he does not get out of the water either. He stays in a condition of neither living nor dying. A lifeboat, though, is something quite different. The person who has fallen into the sea can be drawn out of the water and put into a lifeboat. Similarly speaking, the salvation of our Lord cannot be likened to that of a life jacket but to that of a lifeboat.” — idem, p. 22-23
Acts 3:26 — Salvation is deliverance from iniquities:
“God […] raised up his Servant, and sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.” (Acts 3:26) — idem, p. 26
“The minimum experience of a Christian is to be freed from sin. Whatever he knows to be sin must be overcome.” — idem.
Justification and Grace
Rom. 6:14 — Grace overcomes the law:
“Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.” (Rom. 6:14) — idem, p. 27.
“Being under law signifies God requiring man to work for Him. What, then, is being under grace? It denotes God working for man. If we work for God, sin shall reign over us. […] But if God works for us, sin shall not have dominion over us. Under law, we work. Under grace, God works.” — idem, p. 28.
Interpretation: Grace means God works instead of human effort.
1 Cor. 1:30 — Christ is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption:
“Of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, both righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” (1 Cor. 1:30) — idem, p. 31.
“God’s way is never to repair, nor to change, but to exchange.” — idem, p. 39.
Sanctification
1 Thess. 5:23 — Complete sanctification:
“The God of peace himself sanctify you wholly: and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess. 5:23) — idem, p. 31.
“This is the prayer of the apostle Paul for the Thessalonian believers. Since he prayed ‘sanctify you wholly’, it is evident that being entirely sanctified is possible and that to ‘be preserved entire, without blame’ is also possible.” — idem.
Eph. 2:10 — Good works as fruit of salvation:
“We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” (Eph. 2:10) — idem, p. 31.
Participation in Christ’s Death and Resurrection
Rom. 6:3-4 — Baptized into Christ’s death:
“All who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried […] with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.” (Rom. 6:3-4) — idem, p. 27.
Gal. 2:20 — Crucified with Christ, Christ lives in me:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God.” (Gal. 2:20) — idem, p. 36.
“Victory is actually an exchanged life, not a changed life. Victory is not that I have changed, but rather that I have been exchanged. What is meant by this verse? It has only one meaning: the life spoken of is an exchanged life. Basically, it is no longer I, for it has absolutely nothing to do with me. It is not that the bad I has become the good I, or the unclean I has changed to be the clean I. It is simply ‘not I’.” — idem, p. 36.
Interpretation: Soteriological center: union identity is “not I, but Christ in me” — this applies to the entire ordo salutis (justification, sanctification, victory).
Rom. 6:1-2 — Dead to sin:
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein?” (Rom. 6:1-2) — idem, p. 27.
Victory Over Sin
Rom. 8:1-2 — No condemnation, law of the Spirit:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.” (Rom. 8:1-2) — idem, p. 28.
Rom. 8:35-37 — More than conquerors:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? […] Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Rom. 8:35, 37) — idem, p. 30.
“Victory is to be the Christian’s normal experience; defeat is abnormal.” — idem, p. 30.
1 Cor. 15:57 — God gives the victory:
“Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57) — idem, p. 40.
“Victory is something which God has prepared to give to us. Our victory is obtained freely, not attained through self-effort.” — idem.
Interpretation: Victory is a gift, not a reward for works.
Rom. 7 vs Rom. 8 — Law vs grace experience:
“Romans 6 is the objective truth, whereas Romans 7 is the subjective experience. Romans 6 is fact, while Romans 7 is experience. Many Christians today know Romans 6 quite well. […] Yet our experience is often like that in Romans 7.” — idem, p. 41.
Faith and Grace
John 7:37-38 — Rivers of living water:
“Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38) — idem, p. 25.
“Our Lord Jesus says that having Him is enough, but we say having Him is still not enough — we want still other things to satisfy us. […] The Lord never writes a check with insufficient funds to back it up. He gives whatever He says He gives.” — idem, p. 25.
Interpretation: Faith is not work, but reception of God’s gift.
Yielding (Yielding) and Faith
Gal. 2:20 — Condition for victory:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.” (Gal. 2:20) — idem, p. 53-54.
The first condition to enter in is: “I have been crucified with Christ.” This means we ourselves must move out and let go:
“We confess that as soon as we believe in the Lord Jesus, He comes to live in us. […] The issue today is not whether you have Christ in you, since the moment you believed, Christ indeed came to live in you. No, the issue is that you must move away. As soon as you, the sinful, move away from living together with Him who is sinless, everything will be fine. Hence, the first condition is that you must move out.” — idem, p. 55.
Interpretation: Yielding is the recognition of God’s judgment on the old man (the cross as God’s verdict: “dead”):
“The cross expresses God’s despair of men! It announces His hopelessness towards men! It is God’s way of saying that He can neither repair nor improve us, He can only crucify us.” — idem, p. 57.
Assurance of Salvation and Perseverance
Rom. 8:35-37 — Nothing can separate from Christ’s love:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? […] In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Rom. 8:35, 37) — idem.
“Thanks be to God, who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savor of his knowledge in every place.” (2 Cor. 2:14) — idem, p. 30.
1 John 5:4-5 (implicit via “overcomer” theme): Nee emphasizes that victory is a fact for all who are in Christ, not only for “special” Christians.
Summary: The Life That Wins
The life that wins is:
- An exchanged life (Gal. 2:20) — not I, but Christ
- A gift, not a reward (1 Cor. 15:57) — freely received
- Immediate, not gradual — obtained, not attained
- An expressed life, not suppressed — Christ becomes visible
- A miracle — God works, not human striving
“Victory is actually a remedial facet to salvation. This is so because at the time of our being saved, something was missing — yet not on God’s part; for He never gives us a salvation which lets us live a wandering life: He wants us to have full salvation.” — idem, p. 33.
“The life which the Lord has ordained for us is one of unshadowed communion with Him, of doing the will of God, and of total detachment from all contrary things. Every Christian is absolutely able to overcome sins of the mind, body, flesh and spirit, our contrary disposition, unbelief, and even the love of sin.” — idem, p. 18.