Life-Study of Philippians

Life-Study of the Bible #26

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.

625 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1984

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

[Melissa Caissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Six stars if I could—the last 20 messages were more than just ministry but a lifeline: the speaking I needed exactly when I needed, a speaking that has encouraged others around me also. As with the LS of Revelation, I was deeply sad when I reached the end, and I will certainly return to it!

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Praise the Lord for the series of Life Study! It has helped me see how much of the Bible and, most importantly, brings me again and again to be close to my Lord Jesus Christ. I'm especially touched by the matter that the book of Philippians is a book completely on the experience of Christ. You can barely find any doctrines in it, and this is wonderful because it gave me a model of what a person would be if he just simply lives Christ. God wants each one of His believer to live Christ to such an extent that we may magnify Him whether through life or through death, and the expression of this Christ lived out by us is forbearance, which is the totality of Christian virtues. Thank You Lord! Cause me to live You and live by You day by day!

[Kyle Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witness Lee approaches Philippians from the angle of five aspects of experiencing Christ—taking Christ as our living, pattern, goal, power, and secret. Each one of these aspects is really incredible, but two sections really stood out to me. First, Lee has a series of chapters on the connection between the fullness of the Godhead, the riches of Christ, the supply of the Spirit, and the word of God. Very impressive sequence there. Second, the section on Philippians 3 where Paul's attitude in pursuing Christ comes to the forefront. Paul's aggressive pursuit of Christ challenged me deeply. Based on the sense of the Greek word for "walk" in 3:16 (stoicheo), Lee brings out the thought that pursuing Christ to experience and enjoy Him should be the basic and elementary principle of our Christian life and should become our unique mind, unique path, and unique goal. If you have been wanting a deeper study on Philippians that is thoroughly Christocentric and that avoids mere devotional sentimentality, this is it.

[Larry Lau · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Life study of Philippians by Witness Lee touches on some very practical things of a Christian. It pointed out how Paul, one who desires to live Christ and magnify Christ taught the Philippians on the matter of being forbearance but not to be anxious, for instance. This is indicated by the fact that in Philippians 1, 2, and 3 Paul speaks of Christ again and again. He emphasizes magnifying Christ, taking Christ as our pattern, and pursuing Christ as our goal. But in Philippians 4 he uses the term forbearance and charges us to make our forbearance known to all men.
The totality of a human life is anxiety, while the totality of a Christian life is forbearance. In order to live a life of forbearance without anxiety, Witness Lee pointed out 6 ways for us to practise. One of them is to pray and contact the very person of Christ by taking time to fellowship with Him and to know His will.

[Big H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got a 60-some-page snippet of the full volume for free, entitled 'A Life Full of Forbearance but Without Suffering.' Good food for thought, but it became repetitive about halfway through.