Why Did Witness Lee Taught Jesus and the Holy Spirit Are One Person?

Question

Witness Lee wrote, "Our organic union with the Lord is also in the Spirit. Christ and the Spirit are not two separate persons. They are one person. This is a divine mystery that is beyond human understanding. Christ is the Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17)." (The Organism of the Triune God in the Organic Union of His Divine Trinity, Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1988, p. 21)

They will say they believe in the Triune God and deny being "Oneness" or Monarchian Modalist. But whether they admit it or not, they are still Oneness by the teachings of Witness Lee. They were successful in deceiving some evangelical people like Hank Hanegraaff and Gretchen Passantino, along with that liberal seminary known as Fuller Theological Seminary. How come there are cult groups like this that promotes double-talk?

Please visit: www.TheBereans.net

Answer 1

I think the key to understanding the Triune God that Witness Lee presents is the SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCE of the Triune God.

Rather than just present the Triune God as a DOCTRINE or systematic theology to try and understand, so sometimes to emphasise the experience, some portions of his writings can be misinterpreted, particularly if taken out of context. I personally feel that Witness Lee's style of writing/speaking sometimes overstresses points to ensure the point gets clear for certain topics, but overall when you read all his work it is balanced.

Just because there is DIFFERENT PHRASEOLOGY, doesn't mean that there are different beliefs. It is also important to remember explaining concepts such as the divine trinity is not simple, as to fully understand it is beyond human comprehension, and it can be easy to incorrectly phrase some terms, particulalry with words having different connotations in english than in other languages. From my recollection in church history there have been a few disputes over the precise wording to explain the trinity, with at least one relating to the use of the word "person".

For example, from the book quote taken, the paragraph is in relation to a believer's organic or life union with the Triune God. Here, Witness Lee is trying to stress that experientially, to know the Lord, you know the Lord through the Spirit, as 2 Corinthians 3:17 states the Lord is the Spirit, and in 1 Corinthians 15:45b, Christ, as the last Adam became the lifegiving Spirit. So experientially, do we experience the Spirit alone? Christ alone? the Father alone? Witness Lee's emphasis here, is that experientially, for a person to experience the Father, Son and Spirit, the key is through the Spirit.

Although the quote you have may be misconstrued as a form of Modalism, I believe you will find in other portions of Witness Lee's writings, when speaking doctrinally about the Triune God, Witness Lee is much clearer in explaining the trinity from a "traditional" presentation of the Trinity. For example, in footnote 1 of 2 Corinthians 13:14 "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" Witness Lee wrote.... These are not three separate matters but aspects of one thing, just as the Lord God are three separate Gods but three "hypostases ... of the one same undivided and undivisible" God (Philip Schaff). He goes on to use several paragraphs linking the context of the verse in 2 Corinthians, and emphasising how the trinity is revealed or mentioned in regard to relationship of God with His creatures, who was created by Him, and more particularly with His chosen and redeemed people. e.g. Gen 1:1 reveals the Triune God through the divine title Elohim (in Hebrew there are several forms of plural, and the plural form here means there is more than two) for God as the creator, yet the verb for created is in singular form.

I believe if you do further research, rather than "selective reading", that you will find that those who have read Witness Lee fully reject tritheism and modalism. Even material for highschool children exists to teach them early on of the errors of these false teachings.

Although I can understand and appreciate your heart to be like those in Berea (Acts 17) and examine the scriptures to protect believers from falling stray, I am concerned when you seem so quick to "label" fellow brothers in Christ as a cult, as well as have little respect for the opinion of other mainstream christians. Particularly with the ramifications of associating genuine christians with a label as potentially harmful as a cult, a term with extreme negative connotations.

I hope and pray that those who are doubtful about what Witness Lee has taught, will carefully consider what I have written and do thorough research of their own (it is very easy to misunderstand anyone taken out of context), as well as speak to others who have been under the ministry of Witness Lee and their experiences of the Lord with an openness of heart, as opposed to seeking out the possible negatives to affirm what you may already believe.

Personally, I am thankful to know the Triune God in an experiential way, rather than just having been taught that God is triune for seeminly no purpose, except that the bible tells us so. The ministry of Witness Lee and all those who he has based his writings on (including Martin Luthor, the baptists, Count Zinzendorf, the Brethren, Watchman Nee and many others), have helped me to understand the word more, and to experience the Lord in a living way leading me to have a much greater appreciation and love for God.

Answer 2

I have heard Hank Hanegraf and Gretchen Passantino both address modalism in not only Witness Lee (who had all sorts of strange beliefs), his mentor Watchman Nee, but also in other individuals like T.D. Jakes, etc. Some dress it up and evade questions but the bottom line is if your revelation of how God has revealed Himself (as the triune God) is off, so your theology will be. Some have a problem with one God in three persons because they're thinking of "persons" as we are.

Answer 3

Are you denying the belief that Christ is God? If he is God then he is also the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Answer 4

i believe the holy spirit is a divine female, the dove is a symbol of divine female, not male.