Great — Response 1 confirmed.

Below is the full English academic version of the Conclusion: Contribution to Systematic Theology, written in a style suitable for a doctoral dissertation and directly adaptable for journal submission.

Tone: restrained, analytic, Reformed/Patristic–literate, committee-safe.

Conclusion

Contribution to Systematic Theology

A Participatory Ontology of Salvation from Watchman Nee to Witness Lee

1. What This Dissertation Has Sought to Do

This dissertation has not aimed at an internal theological defense of the tradition associated with Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, nor merely at a historical reconstruction of their thought. Rather, its guiding concern has been a systematic-theological question:

If salvation is not exhausted by forensic justification but involves a real transformation of human existence, how is such transformation to be theologically described, structured, and bounded within orthodox Christian doctrine?

In response to this question, the study has undertaken three interrelated tasks:

To reconstruct Watchman Nee’s so-called “life theology” as a coherent ontological account of salvation, rather than as a collection of devotional or experiential claims;
To demonstrate that Witness Lee’s theology of “constitution” is not a departure from Nee’s thought, but a necessary ontological development of its internal logic at the level of personhood and ecclesiology;
To situate this development within critical dialogue with Reformed sanctification, Eastern Orthodox theosis, and contemporary participatory theologies, thereby assessing its orthodox viability and systematic legitimacy.

2. A Developmental Axis Rather Than Isolated Proposals

The central conclusion of this study may be stated succinctly:

Watchman Nee and Witness Lee do not represent two discontinuous theological systems, but together articulate a single developmental axis—from the entry of divine life to the constitution of transformed human existence—within a participatory ontology of salvation.

Within this axis:

Watchman Nee answers the foundational question:
Does salvation effect a real ontological change in the human person?

His answer is affirmative: salvation entails the entrance of uncreated divine life, which displaces the governing principle of the old life.
Witness Lee advances the inquiry further:
How does this divine life, over time, form a stable human person and a concrete ecclesial reality?

His answer is articulated through the category of constitution, describing salvation as a sustained, formative process rather than a momentary experience.

This movement is not arbitrary but arises from unresolved questions internal to Nee’s life theology itself.

3. Contribution to Soteriology

3.1 Beyond the Forensic Paradigm

This study does not contest the Reformation’s forensic account of justification. Rather, it argues that:

Forensic justification addresses the believer’s juridical standing before God, but does not exhaust the ontological dimension of salvation.

Nee–Lee theology contributes a complementary account in which salvation is understood as the transformation of human existence itself, not merely its legal reclassification.

3.2 A Reframing of Sanctification

Through sustained comparison with Reformed sanctification, this dissertation has shown that:

Reformed theology offers a robust normative–ethical model of sanctification;
Nee–Lee theology offers an ontological–participatory model.

Sanctification, on this account, is not primarily the moral improvement of the same subject, but:

the gradual formation of human personhood through the indwelling and operation of divine life over time.

4. Contribution to Theological Anthropology

4.1 From Moral Subject to Ontological Subject

A major anthropological contribution of this study lies in its clarification of subjectivity. In Nee–Lee theology:

Salvation does not merely renew the moral capacities of an unchanged subject;
It entails a reconfiguration of the governing life-principle of the person.

This avoids both:

the absorption of the human into the divine, and
a merely external or ethical account of transformation.

4.2 “Constitution” as an Ontological Category

Witness Lee’s notion of constitution provides a mediating category between event and essence:

It is not instantaneous;
It does not imply ontological fusion;
It describes formative, temporal participation.

This concept contributes to contemporary discussions of transformative ontology by offering a non-Western, ecclesially grounded model.

5. Contribution to Ecclesiology

The study further demonstrates that the telos of Nee–Lee theology is not individual perfection but the formation of the Body of Christ.

The church is understood neither as:

a voluntary association, nor
a merely institutional structure,

but as:

a collective mode of existence constituted by the shared participation in divine life.

Thus, soteriology, anthropology, and ecclesiology are integrated within a single ontological framework.

6. Position within Participatory Theology

In dialogue with Eastern Orthodox theosis and modern participatory theologies, this dissertation proposes the following assessment:

Nee–Lee theology represents a disciplined, boundary-conscious form of participatory soteriology.

Its distinctiveness lies in:

affirming participation without essential deification;
employing strong participatory language while restricting it to the economic and sanctificatory domains;
maintaining creator–creature distinction with unusual consistency.

7. Risk and Orthodoxy: A Bounded High-Risk Model

This study does not deny the theological risks inherent in the language of life, indwelling, and constitution. On the contrary, it argues that:

the significance of Nee–Lee theology lies precisely in its status as a high-risk model that is consciously and repeatedly bounded.

The presence of risk is not a defect but a mark of serious engagement with the problem of real transformation.

8. Synthetic Thesis

The systematic contribution of this dissertation may be synthesized as follows:

Watchman Nee articulates salvation as the ontological entry of divine life;

Witness Lee develops this insight into a theory of personal and ecclesial constitution;

together they form a participatory ontology of salvation not yet fully assimilated into mainstream systematic theology.

9. Directions for Future Research

This work opens several avenues for further study:

A more refined comparison between constitution and the Orthodox essence–energies distinction;
Engagement between constitution and contemporary virtue ethics or philosophy of habitus;
The relevance of this participatory ontology for global and non-Western systematic theology.

10. Final Statement

This dissertation has not sought to legitimize a marginal devotional tradition,

but to demonstrate that it constitutes a coherent, bounded, and dialogically viable contribution to systematic theology.

In ongoing theological reflection on how God truly transforms human existence,

this tradition deserves serious and critical consideration.

Next steps (only if you want)

Convert this directly into a journal-length conclusion (4–5 pages)
Produce a reviewer-response draft anticipating major objections
Align wording explicitly with Reformed or Patristic citation standards

Whenever you’re ready — just say the word.