The Good Confession

by Watchman Nee

The apostle Paul charged his son in faith to “fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.” He laid before Timothy the example of Christ Jesus, “Who before Pontius Pilate witnessed the good confession”(1 Tim 6: 12,13). It behooves us, therefore, to exercise ourselves in this godly practice. This second volume of the Basic Lesson Series contains six namely, Public Confessions, Separated from the World, Elimination of Distinctions, Witnessing, How to Lead People to Christ and Household Salvation.

Genres: Christian, Christian Living

114 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 1973

About the author

Watchman Nee (Chinese: 倪柝聲; pinyin: Ní Tuòshēng; Foochow Romanized: Ngà̤ Táuk-sĭng; 1903–1972) was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly Hall, later which would be also known as the "Local churches" (Chinese: 地方教會). or more commonly as (聚會所) meaning "assembly hall"

Born into a Methodist family, Watchman Nee experienced a religious revival, and joined the Church of Heavenly Peace, Fuzhou in 1920 at age 17 and began writing in the same year. In 1921, he met the British missionary M. E. Barber, who was a great influence on him. Through Miss Barber, Nee was introduced to many of the Christian writings which were to have a profound influence on him and his teachings. Nee attended no theological schools or Bible institutes. His knowledge was acquired through studying the Bible and reading various Christian spiritual books. During his 30 years of ministry, beginning in 1922, Nee traveled throughout China planting churches among the rural communities and holding Christian conferences and trainings in Shanghai. In 1952 he was imprisoned for his faith; he remained in prison until his death in 1972.

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 3 out of 5]

For years, my library had three volumes of a four-volume set of Watchman Nee devotionals for new believers. At some point, I either loaned or lost volume 2, The Good Confession. As it may sound, this volume is about new believers speaking up about their experience(s) with God.

Nee’s first emphasis is on the necessity of removing the world’s hold or binding upon one. Building on the two master problem, the late pastor-martyr creates four typologies demonstrating how we are tied to the world as master: Egypt as the pleasure principle, Ur as the religious principle, Babylon as the confusion principle, and Sodom as the sin principle (p. 15). It’s a clever typology, but I don’t think it holds up rigorously throughout the Old Testament. There is some, but not complete, validity to the symbolism. He springboards from this suggestion to four ways Satan maintains hold on believers: 1) stay “home” in Egypt while paying lip service to God, 2) stay “close by” so as not to uproot your past, 3) leave it to the men rather than staking claims on family, and 4) serve God with all but your possessions (p, 20).

In demonstrating the practicality of “separation” from the world, Nee offers five (5) principles of separation. 1) Don’t compromise your testimony by falling short of even the world’s standards (p. 24). 2) Don’t seek praise from the world considering its rejection of the Lord (p. 25). 3) Avoid “good things” which may reduce the appetite for spiritual things (p. 29). 4) Withdraw from social contacts where one’s witness would be hidden or compromised (p. 30). 5) Avoid things which cause weak believers to stumble (p. 30). In a similar vein, he warns about Christian nationalism using the Armenian Christian community experience (genocide attempted against them) as an example (pp. 38-39).
With regard to church unity, Nee warns that individuals do not get to judge and set the standards (p. 48). And, in an observation he has made elsewhere, he emphasizes both male and female “brothers.” (p. 52)

From there, the rest of the book is about witnessing. After sharing about some effective witnesses, Nee shares his four-prong approach: 1) keep a notebook or list of those who need the Lord (pp. 75-76); 2) pray regularly for those on the list (p. 77); 3) be certain one’s own sins are confessed and forgiven so that one’s channel from God is not clogged (p. 78); 4) learn that faith means total trust in God (p. 80); and 5) put that trust/faith in practice with persistent prayer (p. 81). Of course, along with those positives are some other practical guidelines: avoid unnecessary arguments (p. 86), share facts not doctrine and feelings (p. 87), keep it sincere (p. 88), pray for additional opportunities (p. 89), look for low-lying fruit in your same social category (but allow for occasional exceptions—pp. 90-91), pray daily (p. 92), use every opportunity (p. 93), and treat people as individuals (p. 93).

The Good Confession is neither a theological treatise nor a book of sermons. However, it covers one stage of the new believer’s journey and I am glad to have all four volumes back on my devotional shelf.

[Talkador · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alles wat Watchman Nee zegt in dit boek zal op zichzelf gezien wel 'waar' zijn. Toch krijg ik van deze serie soms een slecht gevoel. Er zoveel wat 'moet' van Watchman Nee dat je bijna het idee krijgt dat hij een soort Talmoed heeft geschreven bij de Bijbel met allerlei regels waar men zich als christen moet houden. Ik zeg dit met alle respect voor deze man Gods die zoveel jaren omwille van het geloof in de gevangenis heeft doorgebracht.

[jewelruby ☆˚.⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i found this book in a bin in my crawl space with some of my grandfathers belongings, i’ve had it for years but only just now finally read it. i can’t say i personally enjoyed the book too much but it was a nice easy read and it was lovely to look see what my grandfather had liked about the book as he had highlighted and noted certain pieces of it.

[Dr. Paul T. Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Volume 2 of the full version of his "new believer's series" that was great. Some of the depth that he was able to teach his new believers's (their first year in the Lord) is amazing ... stuff I wish I had known a long time ago.