Watchman Nee was one of the first Christian writers I read because my mother’s Open Brethren church recommended him, and the tiny Christian bookstore in my hometown carried his books (I’m glad to see that bookstore is still open). This past Thanksgiving, I read Nee’s The Salvation of the Soul and found even more reasons to consider him Free Grace friendly.
Nee argues that people are trichotomous—having body, soul, and spirit—and each part is saved in a different sense. While the spirit is saved by regeneration through faith, and the body will one day be saved through resurrection, the salvation of the soul is a different matter entirely.
Most people assume the salvation of the soul refers to going to heaven or hell. But Nee argues that is mistaken. Nee points out that Jesus taught about the salvation of the soul on several occasions and tied it to future rewards in the kingdom. For example:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt 16:24-28, emphasis added).
Despite this passage containing two different English words (life and soul), they both translate the same Greek word: “The word ‘life’ here is psuche in the Greek original, which means ‘soul,’” Nee explains (Nee, The Salvation of the Soul, p. 5).
For Nee, the soul is “the organ in man for thought, will, and emotion.” Lower animals also have souls in this sense because the soul is “animal (or animated) life” (pp. 3-4). What does it mean to save or lose your soul? For Nee, it comes down to satisfaction and enjoyment. “To save the soul denotes gaining for oneself happiness and joy to his heart’s fullest satisfaction” (p. 7). Think of when David said, “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips” (Ps 63:5). That’s the salvation of the soul.
So Jesus is positing a choice—when do you want your soul to be satisfied to the fullest?
On the one hand, you can choose to “save” your soul now by satisfying it with worldly pleasures. If so, you will miss out on kingdom rewards later.
On the other hand, you can choose to “lose” your soul now by taking up your cross and denying yourself worldly satisfaction for Jesus’ sake. If you do, you will enjoy the rewards of the kingdom later.
When Jesus returns to evaluate your choice, you might hear the Lord’s rebuke:
Therefore, let us be perfectly clear that if a person should mind the things of the flesh, cater to his own pleasure, and refuse to suffer for Christ, he will receive the Lord’s reproof instead of receiving the Lord’s glory and may even weep and gnash his teeth at the coming of the Lord (Nee, pp. 9-10).
Notice that Nee does not take the weeping and gnashing of teeth as hell. Instead, it is the experience of believers who receive the Lord’s rebuke. Jesus warned us to take His potential rebuke seriously, but so many people do not!
The second possibility is that you will hear the Lord’s praise, in which case your soul will enjoy Him to the fullest:
But if he should be willing to forfeit his own rights, be wholly separated from the world, and be faithfully obedient to the will of God, he shall be praised by the Lord and shall enjoy the joy of the Lord to his heart’s full satisfaction (p. 10).
