A Reader’s Guide to Watchman Nee

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 TIMOTHY 2:15

Nee wrote comparatively little with his own pen. Most of what bears his name consists of spoken addresses taken down by hearers and afterwards edited, translated and published — sometimes long after his death, and in more than one competing English version. Readers should therefore hold particular sentences loosely, especially where a point turns on precise wording. What follows is a guide for further reading, arranged for usefulness rather than chronology.

Begin here

The Normal Christian Life. His best-known book and the natural starting place, drawn from addresses given in Europe in 1938 and 1939 and compiled by Angus Kinnear. An exposition of Romans, and the source of the know–reckon–present–obey sequence treated in chapters four to six of this book. Sit, Walk, Stand. Very short, and arguably his most perfectly constructed work. An exposition of Ephesians in three movements. If you have an hour, spend it here. The Release of the Spirit (also published as The Breaking of the Outer Man and the Release of the Spirit). Brief, searching, and the book most likely to do you good if you are in Christian work.

For deeper study

The Spiritual Man, three volumes, 1928. His earliest major work, written during severe illness, setting out the spirit–soul–body framework discussed in chapter eleven. Thorough and demanding. Nee himself came to think it over-systematised; read it with that caution. Spiritual Authority. From the Kuling trainings of 1948–49. Powerful, and to be read alongside 1 Peter 5 and the cautions given in chapter fourteen of this book. The Character of God’s Workman and The Ministry of God’s Word. Also from the Kuling period. Addressed to those who preach; unusually practical about the moral qualifications of a servant. What Shall This Man Do? On the three ministries typified by Peter, Paul and John — the fisherman, the builder, the mender. Valuable for understanding differing callings.

Church and corporate life

The Normal Christian Church Life (originally Concerning Our Missions, 1938). His treatment of church order, apostles, elders and the ground of locality. The material behind chapter sixteen. Read critically. Assembling Together. More practical and less controversial: on baptism, the Lord’s Table, laying on of hands and the conduct of meetings. The Glorious Church. On the church as the bride, tracing the theme from Eve through to the New Jerusalem. Some of his most imaginative writing, with the strengths and risks that implies.

Devotional

A Table in the Wilderness. A daily devotional compiled from his ministry. The gentlest introduction to him, and a good gift. Changed into His Likeness. On Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as pictures of God’s dealings with a man. Warm and pastoral. Love Not the World. A short, sharp treatment of the world system. The Song of Songs. His devotional exposition, in the tradition of the mystics he read.

Approach with discernment

The Latent Power of the Soul (1933). Discussed at length in chapter thirteen. Not recommended for a new believer, and not to be read without the qualifications set out there. God’s Plan and the Overcomers, and other material on the kingdom and rewards. The salvation–reward distinction is scriptural; the further eschatological structure is disputed. Read alongside standard evangelical treatments of the same passages.

About Watchman Nee

Against the Tide by Angus Kinnear is the standard sympathetic biography, written by the man who edited The Normal Christian Life. Watchman Nee: A Seer of the Divine Revelation presents the view of the movement that continued through Witness Lee. For a more critical scholarly assessment, consult the entry in the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity and standard histories of twentieth-century Chinese Protestantism. Reading more than one of these is strongly advised; no single account is disinterested.

A closing note on how to read him

Three counsels, offered in the spirit of 1 Thessalonians 5:21.

Read him with the Bible open, and check every claim. He would have insisted on it. Read him for the burden rather than the system. Where he presses a framework beyond what Scripture states, take the pastoral concern and leave the scaffolding. And read him slowly. These are not books to be finished. A page a day, prayed over, will do more than a volume a week admired.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:21