impartation
Definition
Impartation (from Latin impartire, to share, to impart) is the term Witness Lee uses to describe the primary function of the Bible: the transfer of God himself as life and nourishment into the reader, not merely the conveying of information or doctrine about God. The Bible functions as a medium of participation in God’s own nature, not as a knowledge-source about him.
In this wiki, impartation is used as a Nee/Lee terminus technicus for this bibliological-soteriological concept. It borders on theopneustos (the inspired Word is Spirit) and on pray-reading (the reception-method that makes impartation possible).
Author Usage Variants
Watchman Nee / Witness Lee
Lee formulates the impartation thesis most sharply in Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3 (BXL3):
“The main function of the Bible is to impart God into us as life and as the food of life. It is not only to give us knowledge about God and His love, but to impart God Himself into us.”
(Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Vol. 3, ch. 3; 1Tim. 4:6)
This thesis rests on the argument that the Word is Spirit (2Tim. 3:16 + John 4:24) and that eating the Word is genuine assimilation of God. Lee describes eating as internal digestion:
“To eat something is not merely to receive it, but to assimilate it. To assimilate means to receive something into you, to digest it, and to make it a part of yourself.”
(ibid., citing Jer. 15:16)
Within BXL3’s broader framework, impartation rewrites the library analogy: the Bible is not the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” but the “tree of life” (Gen. 2:9). To approach the Bible as a knowledge-carrier is to misuse it:
“We should not come to the Bible merely to learn and to understand. The Bible is not the tree of knowledge; it is the tree of life!”
(ibid.; Gen. 2:9; 2Cor. 3:6)
Impartation thus marks a deliberate distinction from propositional-orthodox Scripture doctrine: the Bible is not primarily a doctrinal arsenal but a nutritional source in which God himself is received.