Life-Study of Genesis

Life-Study of the Bible #1

by Witness Lee

In the Lord’s recovery during the past five hundred years the church’s knowledge of the Lord and His truth has been continually progressing. This monumental and classical work by Brother Witness Lee builds upon and is a further development of all that the Lord has revealed to His church in the past centuries. It is filled with the revelation concerning the processed Triune God, the living Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the experience of life, and the definition and practice of the church. In this set Brother Lee has kept three basic principles that should rule and govern every believer in their interpretation, development, and expounding of the truths contained in the Scriptures. The first principle is that of the Triune God dispensing Himself into His chosen and redeemed people; the second principle is that we should interpret, develop, and expound the truths contained in the Bible with Christ for the church; and the third governing principle is Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. No other study or exposition of the New Testament conveys the life nourishment or ushers the reader into the divine revelation of God’s holy Word according to His New Testament economy as this one does.

1503 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1987

About the author

Witness Lee (李常受, pinyin Lǐ Chángshòu) was a Chinese Christian preacher associated with the Local Churches movement and the founder of Living Stream Ministry. He was born in the city of Yantai, Shandong Province, China, in 1905, to a Southern Baptist family. He became a Christian in 1925 after hearing the preaching of Peace Wang and later became a close coworker of Watchman Nee. Witness Lee moved to Taiwan in 1949 as the Communists were advancing in mainland China. During the 1950s, his ministry extended throughout Southeast Asia and in 1962 Lee moved to the United States, relocating the base of his ministry to Southern California. He gave his last public conference in February 1997 at the age of 91. Many of Lee's spoken messages have been published in over 400 books and translated into more than fourteen different languages. Lee's major work is Life-study of the Bible, comprising 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 Holy Spirit. Lee was also the chief editor of a new translation of the Bible entitled the Recovery Version.

Reviews

[Reese Walling · Rating 5 out of 5]

This study of the book of Genesis was no mere commentary. While it did include a majority of the aspects of typical commentaries (historical references, cross-references to other passages of scripture, etc.), the main thrust of the study was to reveal how the events recorded and lives presented directly effect us today. In what ways do Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob relate to us Gentiles today? How does the immorality in Noah's days and his building the ark relate to us? What significance is there in the prophetic blessings of Jacob on his twelve sons? Witness Lee expounds the scriptures in a way that I've never quite seen done before, revealing how all that occurs in Genesis is a seed of the divine revelation, developed throughout the rest of the Bible, consummating in the book of Revelation. While fully affirming the literal, historical events that occurred, spiritual insight is brought forth in the allegorization of the lives of the godly men recorded (Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Enosh, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph) and from the many stories that most believers heard growing up. While many may scoff at such a method of study, it was practiced by Paul, Peter, the church fathers, reformers, and more to bring out the spiritual significance in the historical events (Gal. 4:24; 1 Pet. 3:21). To give one example to wet the potential reader's appetite, you can see the significance of the stone-pillar in Genesis 28 by recognizing Christ is the pillar that supports God's house, and He desires to make us pillars to be those who support God's house and are entry ways for others to come in. This is developed in 1 Kings 7:21 with the temple, transitions in Galatians 2:9 with the apostles, and consummates in Revelation 3:12 with those who are called out to overcome. We need to be pillars in the church, which is the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15)! Praise the Lord for this wonderful study of the book of Genesis. For any serious Bible readers looking for a commentary on the first book of the Bible, I cannot adequately articulate how much I recommend Witness Lee's Life-Study of the Book of Genesis.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book of Genesis was always a mystery to me until I read this life-study. Wonderful!

[Kyle Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely incredible! The depth of this commentary on Genesis is unlike any other I've ever read before. In the chapters devoted to the first 3 chapters of Genesis, Witness Lee paints a grand picture of God's eternal economy as seen in the inspired record of the creation story and the Garden of Eden. Genesis 1:26 becomes a theme text throughout the rest of the work as the express intention of the Triune God. In fact Witness Lee views the entire book of Genesis as an outworking and development of Genesis 1:26, showing through the lives of the patriarchs how God secures His image and dominion. Genesis 2 is seen as God's procedure to fulfill His purpose, namely through the river of life, the tree of life, the three precious building materials, and Eve as the wife of Adam. In addition to image and dominion then, life and building appear as the two key words communicating the way God carries out His eternal economy. While respecting the literal record and historicity of the events (Adam, Garden of Eden, Noah's ark, etc), Lee's main concern with the stories in Genesis is typological and even properly allegorical. Lee echoes Augustine when he states that the Old Testament is a figurative portrait of God's economy, while the New Testament is the practical fulfillment.

Another major motif that often surfaces is Lee's view that all the major truths of the Bible are sown as seeds in Genesis and then develop in the subsequent books until full development and harvesting in Revelation. As such, Lee often indicates the special place Genesis holds in terms of the revelation of the Bible.

Chapters 3-50 present the biographies of eight significant figures—Adam, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. These 8 men are paradigmatic of how God works in the lives of fallen humanity to achieve His purpose. When Lee gets to the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the Life-Study of Genesis reaches its most poignant and penetrating section. As I read through this portion I kept saying to myself, "It can't get better." But it always did. Lee views the lives of these three patriarchs from the lens of the economical operation of the Trinity, with Abraham representing the Father, Isaac the Son, and Jacob the work of the Spirit. With Jacob's transformation into Israel, the first part of Genesis 1:26, image, is secured. Joseph then follows to show how God works out the second part of Genesis 1:26, dominion. Thus Genesis ends as it began, with the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose to have His image and dominion in a corporate man. The Life-Study of Genesis is a monumental work and deserves to be read by every Christian.

[Randall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very experiential

This book certainly is a thorough study of Genesis, but more importantly the book is full of the aspects of the truth that relate to our Christian experience. Every day as I was reading this I was encouraged and often the help in this book applied to my current situation. Thank the Lord for our brother whom the Lord gave so many riches. All the riches are for the Body of Christ :)

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally finished reading Life-Study of Genesis. For the past half year, this book has really been a supply and a source for a further understanding of Genesis for me. Even though many details have been missed and forgotten at this point, this journey has been truly wondering and enjoyable. I genuinely appreciate how Genesis, as the very first book of the Bible, has such huge amount of types that I have never seen before. What makes these types beyond just stories and histories are their practical application to our today's Christian life. Praise the Lord for His Word and this wonderful ministry book!

[Quintin Blaylock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful

[Mags · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO good. Genesis isn't just a book of great stories, it's a map of God's plan for man.

[Samarpana Tirunagari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leading of The spirit of Jesus Christ

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love love