Witness Lee’s **organic salvation** overlaps with a Reformed ordo salutis at several points but differs in structure, center of gravity, and ontology.
### 1. Basic structural contrast
– A classic Reformed ordo salutis lays out how God applies Christ’s work: election → effectual calling → regeneration → faith/repentance → justification → adoption → sanctification → perseverance → glorification, all flowing from union with Christ.[1][2]
– Lee divides “God’s complete salvation” into two coordinated aspects: **judicial redemption** (procedure, legal) and **organic salvation** (purpose, life), and then unpacks organic salvation into a series of “eight steps” in the believer.[3][4][5][6]
### 2. Judicial vs. organic: what’s distinctive
– Judicial redemption for Lee includes: forgiveness, washing, justification, reconciliation, and positional sanctification—this roughly corresponds to the Reformed cluster of justification/adoption/
– Organic salvation then includes: regeneration, shepherding/feeding for growth, dispositional sanctification, renewing, transformation, building up, conformation, and glorification; these are carried out by Christ as the life‑giving Spirit in His heavenly ministry.[5][7][3][4]
Compared to Reformed ordo:
– Reformed accounts treat many of these as aspects of **sanctification and glorification**, not as a distinct named “organic” phase that stands over against a “judicial” phase, even though they affirm both forensic and renovative dimensions.[2][1]
– Lee builds a much more detailed, staged description of the interior life‑process, with “metabolic” language (God added, old element discharged) as the organizing concept.[8][4]
### 3. Center of gravity and language
– In Reformed theology, the controlling center is union with Christ with a strong forensic emphasis: justification as a once‑for‑all verdict, with sanctification and glorification as distinct but inseparable fruits.[9][10][1]
– In Lee’s organic salvation, the **life‑process** of the Triune God being wrought into the tripartite believer is the center; justification functions more as the necessary “procedure” so that God can righteously carry out this organic work.[6][4][5][8]
– Lee’s idiom (regeneration as “propagation of the divine life,” sanctification as “dispositional,” transformation as “metabolic,” building as “corporate expression,” conformation/glorification as full **God‑man** maturity) is more ontological and participatory than typical Reformed formulations.[7][3][4][8]
### 4. Order and simultaneity
– Reformed writers increasingly stress that, while we can distinguish steps logically, many benefits come **simultaneously** in union with Christ (e.g., justification and adoption are not “phases” after a long process).[11][1][2]
– Lee strongly sequences his “eight items” of organic salvation, even while affirming that all are in Christ and rooted in the same life; this can make the process feel more finely segmented than most Reformed presentations of progressive sanctification and final glorification.[12][3][7][8]
### 5. Teleology: what salvation is “for”
– Reformed ordo typically ends with the believer’s glorification and beatific enjoyment of God, with ecclesial and corporate themes present but not structurally central to the order itself.[1][2][9]
– Lee’s organic salvation is explicitly ordered toward **corporate building**: the stages (renewing, transformation, building up, conformation, glorification) are all described as producing the corporate Body and consummating in the New Jerusalem as God’s expression.[4][7][8][12]
So, Lee’s organic salvation and the Reformed ordo share many **components** (regeneration, justification, sanctification, glorification) but differ in:
– the two‑aspect framework (judicial vs. organic),
– the degree of process‑staging,
– the ontological, deification‑flavored language of life and mingling, and
– a stronger orientation toward corporate, ecclesial consummation than is usually explicit in Reformed ordo discussions.[3][6][8][1][4]
Sources
[1] Ordo Salutis | Monergism https://www.monergism.com/
[2] The Order of Salvation | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at … https://learn.ligonier.org/
[3] The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation, by Witness Lee https://www.ministrysamples.
[4] God’s Complete Salvation: Judicial Redemption+Organic Salvation https://agodman.com/gods-
[5] Judicial Redemption is Procedure to Enjoy God’s Organic Salvation https://www.agodman.com/gods-
[6] Salvation – Witness Lee Teachings https://witnessleelehren.org/
[7] the key to open the eight sections of the organic salvation of God (2) https://bibleread.online/all-
[8] [PDF] From Judicial Reconciliation to Organic Salvation in Romans 5 … https://www.affcrit.com/pdfs/
[9] Covenant Theology: The Law, Justification, and Sanctification https://founders.org/articles/
[10] How the Reformed View of Justification Serves Sanctification https://africa.
[11] The Order of Salvation – nuakh https://nuakh.uk/2024/01/15/
[12] Crystallization-study of the Complete Salvation of God in Romans … https://bibleread.online/all-
[13] Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation, The https://bibleread.online/all-
[14] [PDF] The Two Aspects of God’s Complete Salvation—the Judicial Aspect … https://www.lsmwebcast.com/
[15] What is Redemption? How is Salvation Different? – Holding to Truth https://holdingtotruth.com/
[16] Understanding God’s Complete Salvation | PDF – Scribd https://www.scribd.com/
[17] Opening Word – The Two Aspects of God’s Complete Salvation … https://www.churchinnyc.org/
