Witness Lee actually condemned himself as a heretic

[Jane C Anderson]

Over a decade ago, while posting on another forum about the Local Church, I discovered one day that Lee had actually actually called himself a heretic. I wrote a post explaining how. I am putting the essence of that post here  for others to read because the heretical teaching was  foundational to his whole ministry: Christ became the Life-Giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b)

First of all, when some, whom Witness Lee called “opposers,” questioned him for ignoring the indefinite article “a” in 1 Cor. 15:45b and teaching that the last Adam became “the” life-giving Spirit, he responded:

“the crucial matter here is not whether the article is definite or indefinite; it is the clear mentioning of the life-giving Spirit. Do our opposers believe that there are two Spirits who give life, the Holy Spirit and the life-giving Spirit? It is heretical to teach that there are two life-giving Spirits, two Spirits who give life.” (Bound Life-Study of I Corinthians,  p. 617)

He was accusing his opposers of saying there were two Spirits who give life because they believed 1 Cor. 15:45b said “a” (not the) Life-giving spirit. His point was that there was only one Spirit that could give life and it was the one Christ became. Lee was equating the 1 Cor. 15:45b Spirit with the Holy Spirit. (A very confusing argument, no doubt.) Lee pronounced his opposers beliefs as heretical.

I heard his argument and accepted it at the time. He continually stressed the importance of the word “became” in I Cor. 15:45b, saying that Christ became the life-giving Spirit through the process of Christ’s death and resurrection.  (The Divine Economy, page 77). He also taught that the Spirit we receive whenever we call on the Lord is this Life-Giving Spirit that Christ became. I believed this also.

Then, a few years after leaving the Local Church, I was suddenly surprised while reading Romans 8:11 one day. I saw that this verse exposed Witness Lee’s teaching on 1 Cor. 15:45b and left him holding the heretic label he had applied to others.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken [give life to] your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Rom. 8:11)

First, this verse shows that there was a Spirit that could give life (a life-giving Spirit) already in existence before Christ was crucified. (Lee apparently believes Rom. 8:11, having used it in  his preaching.)

Rom. 8:11 tells us plainly that there was a Spirit that could give life present before Christ was crucified. When Christ was in the grave, the Spirit mentioned in Rom 8:11 gave life to Christ and raised Him from the dead!

Second, Rom. 8:24  also says that the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is the Spirit that dwells in us now and gives life even to our mortal bodies.

Then I found this quote by Lee. According to Him, God has gone through a process to become something brand new in the universe—the Life-giving Spirit. He said:

In His resurrection a life-giving Spirit was produced (1 Cor. 15:45). Before Christ’s resurrection, there was not such a life-giving Spirit in the universe. John 7:39 says that “the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified”; that is, Jesus had not yet entered into resurrection (Luke 24:26). On the day that He entered into resurrection, the life-giving Spirit was produced.

Source of quote: ( “Chapter 3—In Salvation—A Heavenly and Divine View— Dying an All-inclusive Death and Entering into an All-producing Resurrection.” The Organic Union in God’s Relationship with Man. Anaheim, California: Living Stream Ministry Online Publications, 1997–2008. Accessed Mar. 16, 2010 at http://ministrybooks.org/alphabetical.cfm. )

He taught, and his followers believe, that this newly produced Life-giving Spirit has an additional
element added to it, the uplifted human living of Christ.

So, if Lee tells us that according to 1 Cor 15:45b Christ became the Life-giving Spirit and Lee also teaches Rom. 8:11 which says that the Spirit gave life to Christ and raised Him from the dead, we have the problem of him teaching that there are two Spirits that can give life. So, which is it?

It looks like we have found in Lee’ teaching two Spirits that can give life. Now, remember, Lee wrote, “It is heretical to teach that there are two life-giving Spirits, two Spirits who give life.”  Hmmmm. Looks like it wasn’t the “opposers,” but Witness Lee who taught heresy.

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