Witness Lee on Christ’s Resurrection

Deeper Meaning—The Revelation

Intrinsic Significance—The Accomplishments of Christ’s Resurrection

The Life-Giving Spirit

In resurrection Christ also became a life-giving Spirit. Verse 45 of 1 Corinthians fifteen, a chapter on resurrection, says plainly, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” That is, Christ in the flesh, who is the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit in His resurrection. Hence, 2 Corinthians 3:17 equates the Lord and the Spirit: “The Lord is the Spirit.” Today, in resurrection, Christ is the Spirit who gives life (John 6:63) (Witness Lee, Basic, 30). “Christ’s resurrection was His transfiguration into the life-giving Spirit. He was the Christ in the flesh, but through resurrection He was transfigured into the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit” (Witness Lee, Incarnation, 29).

Today, in resurrection, Christ is the Spirit who gives life.

It is essential that we realize this aspect of Christ’s resurrection, for the life-giving Spirit is the reality of the resurrected Christ in our experience (John 14:16-17). If Christ had merely been resurrected with a body and had not become the life-giving Spirit, His resurrection would have very little practical application for us. It would simply be an objective fact (Witness Lee, Conclusion, 798). However, as the life-giving Spirit in resurrection, Christ is able to be received and experienced by His believers in their human spirit to be their life (2 Timothy 4:22; Romans 8:16; Colossians 3:4).

The life-giving Spirit is the reality of the resurrected Christ in our experience.

This matter of Christ being the Spirit to be received into His believers can be seen in the Gospel of John. Before Christ’s resurrection, He was merely able to dwell among His disciples in the flesh (John 1:14). As a man in the flesh, He could only be among them. “In order to come into them, He needed to do the marvelous work of becoming the life-giving Spirit…. This great work was accomplished by Christ in His resurrection” (799).

Before His Resurrection

After accomplishing His resurrection, Christ—now the life-giving Spirit—returned to His disciples. John 20:22 then reports that “…He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.” The resurrected Christ exhaled, breathing Himself out as the Spirit, and the disciples inhaled, breathing Him into their spirit. Thus, this very Spirit whom they received brought the resurrected Christ into them to be their life (Witness Lee, Incarnation, 15).

After His Resurrection

Firstborn Son of God | Life-Giving Spirit | Many Sons of God

Person & Process | Intrinsic Significance