Incarnation
Typological treatment in the corpus
Nee places incarnation not as juridical accord (atonement alone), but as hypostatic mingling: God’s zoë-life mingles with human nature so it can indwell believers. Type of divine-human mingling in the believer.
Biblical Grounding
| Reference | Context |
|---|---|
| John 1:1,14 | ”The Word was God… the Word became flesh” |
| Col. 2:9 | ”For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” |
| 1 John 1:2 | ”The eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us” |
| Gal. 2:20 | ”I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” |
| 1 Cor. 6:17 | ”But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit” |
Typological Interpretation by Author
Watchman Nee
Nee grounds incarnation in the necessity that God’s zoë-life become experienceable to man. God can work as immanent power only through an incarnate person:
He must have our human nature. His divine life must mingle with human nature so that it can be united with us, we who possess human nature, and be our life. Therefore He came from heaven, became flesh, and mingled with human nature.1
This is no theological abstraction but practical hypostatic mingling. God’s life (zoe) must mingle with human nature so it can be implanted in man and lived through.
Christ is God’s complete body (soma) among men:
Christ is God’s manifestation and form. He is God’s form—He is in God, and God is in Him.2
This mingling of divine and human reaches its completion in the believer. The incarnation is type of what God’s Spirit desires to actualize in the believer—a gradual mingling of zoë-life with human nature unto complete transformation.
Related Types
- Zoë-Life: zoe-life (what mingles: God’s eternal life)
- Spirit-Soul-Body: spirit-soul-body (channels in which mingling occurs)
- Union with God: union-with-god (ultimate result of mingling)