Chapter 2 Watchman Nee’s Theology and Interpretation of Scripture
4. Nee’s Hermeneutical Keys to Reading Scripture
“the discipline of the Holy Spirit”126 in order to be a “spiritual person” fit for the task of reading Scripture.127 Underlying Nee’s whole hermeneutical prescription is a (platonic?) belief that only things that are similar in nature can communicate to each other.128 As he puts it, “The Lord has to guide us to the point that our spirit becomes one with the spirit behind the Word.”129
Whatever this union of the spirits means,130 it seems clear that the ultimate goal of reading Scripture, for Nee, is not a matter of understanding the text. As the terms that he often uses (such as “entering into,” “touching,” “matching with,” and “mingling”) suggest, Nee’s vision of reading Scripture is perhaps best described as communion—a spiritual union between the spirit of the reader and the spirit of the text in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
methods in many works of biblical hermeneutics. Rather, true to his practical approach to Christianity, they are practically oriented and in line with the general outlook of his spiritual theology of Scripture treated above. The bulk of the discussion outlines the various “Bible study plans” that Nee suggests, which will be discussed in the next section below. But first a brief consideration of Nee’s four practical “keys” to unlock the Bible, namely searching, memorization, comparison, and meditation, is required.131
By searching, Nee simply means “to read with deliberation and to devote time and care to our reading.”132 He advises readers to ask typical observational questions about the text, such as: “When was this written? Who wrote it? Who was it written to? Under what circumstance was this written... What was the purpose for writing it?”133 Yet he has something more in mind as he quickly adds that “[a]mong the many words that God has spoken, there is one word which we need at the present moment. There is one word which will render us spiritual help at this particular time for this particular occasion.”134 The search, in other words, is the particular search for a fresh word of God that really speaks to us today—what Nee calls “revelation,” as discussed above.135 While actively searching,136 the readers need to develop patience as a hermeneutical virtue, for it is ultimately God’s work to reveal his word (in and through
131 Cf. Watchman Nee, Messages for Building Up New Believers (1), vol. 48, The Collected Works of Watchman Nee Set 3 (Anaheim, CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1994), 132–137. In this book, Nee offers “four basic principles in reading the Bible” that parallel the four hermeneutical keys in How to Study the Bible. While they are basically the same, Nee uses different wording in outlining them. Here are the four steps of reading Scripture according to Messages for Building Up New Believers: 1) discover the facts; 2) memorize and recite the words; 3) analyze, categorize, and make comparisons; and 4) receive God’s enlightening.
132 Nee, How to Study the Bible: Practical Advice for Receiving Light from God’s Word, 79.
133 Ibid.
134 Ibid. My emphasis.
135 See Nee’s view of Scripture vis-à-vis revelation in the section of “The Ministry of God’s Word”
above.
136 Nee likens the whole process to “rummaging through our closets for a lost article of clothing,”
examining many things for the purpose of searching for one thing that is necessary. Nee, How to Study the Bible:
Practical Advice for Receiving Light from God’s Word, 79.
Scripture) to the reader.137 Here, even in the first step/key of searching the Scripture, Nee already operates within his spiritual-mystical approach to Scripture:
If we come across anything in the Bible that we do not understand, we should not be anxious. There is no need to force ourselves to mentally apprehend or understand it, and there is no need to insist on receiving light from it. Things that come from the head will not produce an ‘amen’ from the spirit. Doctrines that are formulated by the mind are rejected by the spirit. We must not study God’s Word according to the mind. Rather, we should be patient, and search slowly. When God’s time comes, He will show us
something.138
The second key to unlock Scripture, as it were, is “by memorizing.” This is a curios choice, for one might simply ask whether Scripture memorization contributes to the interpretive process at all. For Nee, however, memorizing Scripture is significant because it creates a
condition of possibility to receive divine revelation. As he puts it,
Whenever God grants us a revelation, He does so through the words of the Bible. If we do not memorize the Scriptures, it will be hard for revelation to come to us. This is the reason we should have God’s Word in our mind all the time. Memorizing the Scriptures is not for memorization alone; it is to lay the groundwork for us to receive revelation. If we memorize the Scriptures often and well, it will be easy for us to receive revelation and enlightenment, and the Holy Spirit will find it easier to speak to our spirit.139
Note two important things highlighted here. First, as we recall, God’s revelation always uses the words of Scripture. Thus, we need to be immersed in the scriptural words (or world) by way of reading and memorizing Scripture. Second, although it always uses the words of Scripture, the event of revelation can occur any time, even outside the actual reading of Scripture, hence the importance of having the words of Scripture in our heart/mind.140
137 As Nee puts it, “Patience is needed in reading the Bible. If we do not understand something, we should come back to it a second time. We should read until we understand what it says. If God enlightens us and opens our eyes the first time, we can thank the Lord for it. But if He does not enlighten us or open our eyes the first time, we should go back and study it carefully the second, third, and even hundredth time.” Ibid., 80.
138 Ibid.
139 Ibid., 82.
140 Nee also emphasizes the right attitude in the act of memorizing Scripture: “If a man merely memorizes the Scriptures with his mind, but his heart is not receptive or open to God and he is not submissive or meek, his memorization will not result in God’s word dwelling in his heart. Yet if a man thinks that there is no need to memorize God’s word because he only needs to be meek and submissive and open and receptive to God, he also
The third hermeneutical key is comparison. Taking his cue from 2 Peter 1:20,141 Nee establishes what he called the principle of prophetic interpretation: “We must compare our reading of one passage of the Scriptures with other passages.”142 While most take 2 Peter 1:20 to mean that God’s prophecy is not to be interpreted by human ideas, Nee argues that the grammar of Peter’s word should render the text to mean that no prophecy is of its (instead of one’s) own interpretation.143 This means that the phrase “own interpretation” refers to an interpretation of a prophecy/text by that very prophecy/text itself! Nee reasons, “God’s speaking is not completed through just one text. In the books of the prophets we are told that God’s word is ‘here a little, there a little’ (Isa. 28:13). Therefore, no Bible student should interpret a passage according to that passage alone.”144 To do so would lead to a “private interpretation,” which in turn opens the door to heretical teachings. As Nee puts it,
Many heresies in Christianity have resulted from men holding on to one or two verses of the Bible without consulting other related passages. Satan also quotes the Scriptures here and there, but he quotes them to tempt men. We must remember that the more we compare, the less we will be liable to private interpretation. It is much safer for us to compare one verse with ten other verses…. The more comparisons we make, the better it is.145
The fuller meaning of a passage can only be perceived when the reader compares it with other passage(s) because the nature of God’s revelation in Scripture is “progressive,” according to Nee.146 It is related to the way in which God reveals himself in Scripture, which is “here a little, there a little.” Therefore, comparative reading is not just safer (to protect against the heretical
will not be able to have God’s word dwelling in his heart” (Nee, 81). Here, as in other places, Nee attempts to strike a balance between the right method of studying Scripture and the right person who studies it, between the outer action of memorization and the inner disposition of being receptive to the word that one memorizes.
141 Beside 2 Peter 1:20, Nee also utilizes Psalm 36:9 (“In your light we see light”) in this section.
142 Nee, How to Study the Bible: Practical Advice for Receiving Light from God’s Word, 84.
143 Nee also asserts, “If this verse meant that no prophecy is to be interpreted by man, Peter would have been too simple, for every Christian knows that God’s prophecy cannot be interpreted according to man’s own ideas. It would be redundant for Peter to say this.” (83)
144 Nee, How to Study the Bible: Practical Advice for Receiving Light from God’s Word, 84.
145 Ibid.
146 Ibid., 85.
excess of private interpretations), but it is also the only reading that “can give us much light,” to
“see many things which we previously have not seen.”147
Nee’s fourth hermeneutical key is meditation. Meditating, for Nee, is to mold our thoughts according to the thoughts of Scripture. This has two sides: “On the one hand, we meditate when we read the Bible. On the other hand, we mediate at all times.”148 Nee leaves the nature and mechanism of the meditation unexplained, while emphasizing the spontaneous character of this practice as it becomes a Spirit-led habit. At times, his explanation overlaps greatly with both the memorization step and the patiently waiting part of the searching step discussed above. The underlying assumption behind this practice of meditating on Scripture, however, is that the Holy Spirit will do his own work with his words once the reader has done all of his/her homework by inhabiting the world of Scripture. 149 As Nee puts it, “We should be inclined toward God’s Word in a spontaneous way…. It is not a matter of forcing ourselves to think about the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit will direct our thoughts in this direction, and it will become part of our habit. Once we develop such a habit, we will spontaneously become rich in the Lord.”150
147 Ibid. Nee offers an example of this comparative reading: “Revelation 19 says that when the Lord descends from heaven to fight, He will remove all His enemies by the sword of His mouth. If we interpret this text by itself, we may conclude that the Lord’s mouth contains a sword, and we may even say that this sword is quick, sharp, and shining. If we realize that no Scripture should be interpreted by its own interpretation, we immediately will look for the meaning of ‘sharp sword’ when we come to this passage, and from Ephesians 6:17 we will find that the sharp sword refers to the Word of God” (Ibid., 84-85).
148 Ibid., 86.
149 This assumption is made clearer when we compare this key to Nee’s fourth step of studying Scripture in Messages for Building Up: “First, discover the facts. Then memorize, analyze, categorize, and compare these facts. After this pray to the Lord and wait on Him; He will enlighten you and give you sight. These are the four principles of reading the Bible. We cannot skip any of them.” Nee, Messages for Building Up New Believers (1), 48:134. Emphases are mine.
150 Nee, How to Study the Bible: Practical Advice for Receiving Light from God’s Word, 86–87.