Having finished reading volume 2 of The Spiritual Man in April 2020, I soon began reading volume 14 of The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, which has these sections:
- Section Eight: The Analysis of the Soul (2): The Mind
- Section Nine: The Analysis of the Soul (3): The Will
- Section Ten: The Body
As I reported for the prior volumes, reading the first was stressful and the second was arduous. This volume was excruciating! However, I had some guidance from Witness Lee regarding the matters included here. He shared with a number of us that the sections of The Spiritual Man regarding spiritual warfare were primarily drawn from the writings of Jessie Penn-Lewis (1861-1927) and others who themselves were relating matters learned from Evan Roberts (1878-1951) about his experiences during the Welsh Revival of 1904-1905. Many of Evan Robert's experiences are recounted in his book War on the Saints. Roberts emphasized the necessity of prayer companions, but this was not fully appreciated by those who wrote about him. Furthermore, there was not a clear view of the Body of Christ as God's agent of warfare, as seen for example in Ephesians 6, prior to the mid-to-late Twentieth Century. We know now that to fight spiritual warfare without strong spiritual companions is a recipe for being deceived.
Mrs. Penn-Lewis in her later years became spiritually peculiar: she would claim demons caused the slightest things—someone who coughed during her speaking, or anyone who seemed sleepy—which created distractions greater than the incidents themselves. This was a deception on its own and her later ministry suffered as a result.
Watchman Nee describes writing while "in the jaws of Satan," but he did not experience spiritual warfare of the intensity described by Penn-Lewis or Roberts. Nee's spiritual battles were undertaken alone, although a number of close co-workers of his were praying for him during the writing of The Spiritual Man, because he was badly ill with tuberculosis at the time. Brother Nee was divinely healed of his tuberculosis after the book was published.
A more clear unveiling of the Body of Christ awaited a later generation. So even though at one time brother Nee said of this book that it was "too perfect", in these three sections in particular, its perfection was limited to what God had revealed to His people prior to 1925.
To summarize the crucial point of Sections 8 and 9, the human mind is the battleground between the human spirit and Satan's forces; and the human will is the instrument by which we fight. We do so by choosing to line up our will with the will of God, by the power of the Spirit in our spirit. We know today that we need reliable spiritual companions for this, even as Daniel had three companions.
Brother Nee emphasizes frequently the dangers of having a passive mind or a passive will. The kind of teaching that says, "You cannot do anything for God. Only God can do the things of God," is one-sided. It ignores the principle of incarnation, that in human affairs God always acts through certain persons whom He has chosen for their mission. Make that "almost always", with the "almost" being something like 99.99999%. We see in Acts 9 that God acted directly to gain Saul of Tarsus. Thereafter, the Holy Spirit acted exclusively through Saul, who became known as Paul, and through Paul's co-workers, in the mission field allotted to them. God sent an angel to Cornelius to direct him to send for Peter (the angel could not preach the gospel).
There is a sad strain in fundamentalist theology that leads the children of God to feel they have no value and are useless. Yet if we properly interpret the parables of the Pearl of Great Price and the Treasure Hidden in a Field, we find that God values us greatly. However, this value is brought out by our experiences and transactions with God through the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The Pearl symbolizes preciousness through sufferings, and the Treasure (mainly precious stones) symbolizes persons who have been transformed (e.g. Romans 12:2). Such a one was Daniel, called by the angel a "man of preciousness" (Daniel 10:11). If we remain passive, our value is only in potential, and is not realized until we actively labor with God to obey His will.
Therefore, we must realize our need to work with God—not to work instead of God, nor to passively wait for God to work instead of us—; we realize our need to coordinate and collaborate with God, for the work of God to be carried out. Further, to be rather strong about it: If we had no value to God, there would be no Universe!
Having read this volume, I understand better what brother Lee was warning us about. Jessie Penn-Lewis, in particular, believed it possible and even likely for a believer in Jesus to be demon-possessed. Most of Section 9 is based on this, stating that to be passive is to give ground for demon possession.
I would agree that a passive Christian is easily deceived. I do not believe that a person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells, whose body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19) could also host a possessing evil spirit. Neither does any brother among those who follow the ministry of brothers Nee and Lee, with whom I have spoken regarding this matter.
Finally, I was quite concerned about the one-sided presentation in Section 10: The Body. Its basic premise is that disease ought to be foreign to Christian experience. Of course, we cannot remain sinless, so sometimes God will allow disease to remind us we are sinful and to discipline us. While this is so in general, to make it a fixed doctrine for every case is actually just blaming the victim: it says we are sick because we don't have enough faith. It says it is a failure to consult a doctor (though that is what brother Nee did on numerous occasions, both before and after publication of this work).
The first antibiotic, Penicillin, was discovered in 1928, the year after this book was published. The family of Sulfa drugs appeared in 1935. I am among many that consider these and numerous ensuing medical advances as gifts of a good God. I deal with God when illness or injury occurs, but if I don't have clear leading that the matter is related to discipline for a definite sin or failure, I thankfully accept what medical science can offer. I know I live in a world of suffering and misfortune, and that I am subject to the vicissitudes of life like anyone else. Without a skilled surgeon and a very wise medical oncologist, I would have died in 2000 or 2001 of a very serious cancer. I thank God for those doctors. If time were shifted even twenty years earlier, I would have died at age 53. Therefore I consider Section 10 to be close to a century out of date.
Perhaps brother Nee would agree. He was 24 when The Spiritual Man was first published. He lived until 1972, though he was imprisoned by the Chinese Communists in 1952 and died in prison. His ministry grew and matured during the quarter century that elapsed after publication. I look forward to reading the volumes of CWWN from 15 onwards, to observe that maturation and, I hope, to experience further spiritual maturity as a result.
For Christians in general, I can recommend only the first two volumes of The Spiritual Man. Should you wish to read volume 3, do so along with your spiritual companions, or discuss each subject with your companions so you will be protected by fellowship in the Body of Christ and not fall into spiritual peculiarity.
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