Life-study of John

Witness Lee

Sep 2023 · Life-study of the New Testament (2nd edition) Book 4 · Living Stream Ministry

About this ebook

Although the language of the Gospel of John is simple, this book is deep and profound. In this life-study, Witness Lee shows that the Bible is a book of life and building and that the Gospel of John also is focused on life and building. The Gospel of John reveals that in Christ, the Word of God, is life; that He came that man may have life; and that He Himself is life. Furthermore, this Gospel shows that Christ is the bread of life; that He has the water of life; that He gives life to man; and that He even lives in man as life.

The Gospel of John also unfolds the divine building. In 1:14, we see that Christ in the flesh was the tabernacle for God’s habitation among men on earth. In 2:19-21, Christ’s human body was also the temple of God on earth. Through His death, His body in the flesh was destroyed, and in His resurrection, He raised up His mystical body, the church, to be the enlarged temple of God.

This is God’s building in the universe. Furthermore, this Gospel reveals that the believers are to be built up to be the Father’s house, the dwelling place of the Triune God. This is adequately and fully disclosed in John 14. According to that chapter, all the believers will be built together as God’s eternal habitation with many abodes. Thus, as the Lord’s last prayer in John 17 indicates, all His believers must be built up into one.

The first section of the Gospel of John, composed of the first 13 chapters, is on the coming of the Lord Jesus to bring God into man and to declare God to man. The second section, composed of the last eight chapters, is on the Lord’s going in death and coming back in resurrection to bring man into God and to abide in and with man for God’s building.

About the author

Born in 1905 in northern China, Witness Lee was raised in a Christian family and educated in English-speaking schools. At the age of 19 he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and consecrated himself to preach the gospel. Early in his service, Witness Lee met Watchman Nee and began to labor together with him. In 1949 Witness Lee was sent by Watchman Nee to Taiwan to ensure that the things delivered to them by the Lord would be preserved. In 1962 Witness Lee came to the United States and began to minister here. He ministered in weekly conferences, delivering several thousand spoken messages until 1997. He gave his last public conference in February 1997 at the age of 91. His major work, Life-study of the Bible, comprises over 25,000 pages of commentary on every book of the Bible from the perspective of the believers' enjoyment and experience of God's divine life in Christ through the Spirit.