Christ
In Nee/Lee’s theology, Christ is not abstract theological figure, but God-man incarnation in whom God’s life (zoe) manifests itself and from whom it is transmitted into believers. Christ is God’s embodiment, manifestation, and continuing operation.
Christ as God’s manifestation
Nee/Lee begin with incarnation-truth:
Christ is God’s manifestation and image. He is God’s image—He is in God, and God is in Him.
This is not theory but practical reality. Christ is not mere representation; he is God’s complete body (soma) among humans—reachable, visible, experienceable.
Christ as life (zoe)
Because God’s life is God himself (see life), and Christ is God in flesh, Christ is life:
Life is God Himself. It shows us further that life is Christ. Life was God; then God became flesh, which is Christ. Therefore Christ is God, and Christ is also life (1 John 5:12).
This parallel structure (life=God; life=Christ; thus life=both) makes clear that Christ does not carry life but is life. Union with Christ = union with life.
Christ in Triune function
Nee/Lee position Christ in Godhead-economy:
The Father is the source of life, life itself. The Son is the manifestation of life. The Spirit is the entering in of life.
Christ fulfills middle-place. His incarnation makes divine life—otherwise unreachable—experienceable for humans. His resurrection releases this life for indwelling.
Christ as continuing operation
Nee/Lee see not Christ’s historical work as exclusive, but as foundation for continuing work:
Christ is first revealed by the Spirit, then indwelling as daily life, then forming in inner nature, then manifesting in outer conduct, subsequently filling with His fullness, finally transformed into His image.
This is progression in one believer, but also in the Body. Christ himself becomes continuously operative—not as past event, but as present spiritual reality.
Christology as spiritual practice
Nee/Lee clarify: Christology is not dogmatically neutral, but practically pneumatological:
To know Christ is to live. To receive Christ-life is the whole matter of God’s salvation.
This means: all teaching on Christ must express itself in experiential-life. Christology without pneumatology is dead; Christ without life-experience is unrealizable.
Source: Watchman Nee & Witness Lee, The Knowledge of Life (Living Stream Ministry, 1973), chapters 1, 14; also 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Galatians 4:19.