The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, volume 3, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from September 15 through December 21. Brother Lee remained in Anaheim from early September through mid-October, after which he traveled to the Far East and ministered there until mid-November. During his time in the Far East, Brother Lee visited Taipei, Hualien, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, Taiwan; and Tokyo, Japan. From mid-November through the end of the year Brother Lee remained in Anaheim. The contents of this volume are divided into fifteen sections, as follows: 1. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on September 15 through October 10. The contents of these messages were taken from personal notes taken by attendees in the meetings. These notes were edited and combined into one chapter. They are included in this volume under the title Fellowship concerning the Present Need and Direction in the Lord's Recovery. 2. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, on September 24 and 25. They were previously published in a book entitled Preaching the Gospel on the College Campuses. 3. One message given in Anaheim, California, on September 25. This message is included in this volume under the title Fellowship regarding the Spread of the Churches. 4. One message given in Anaheim, California, on October 7. This message is included in this volume under the title Fellowship concerning the Opposition against the Lord's Recovery. 5. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, on October 8 and 9. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Subjective Aspect of the Truths in the Bible. 6. Eight messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on October 15 through 19. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Subjective Truths in the Holy Scriptures. 7. Six messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on October 19 through 22. They were previously published in a book entitled The Ultimate Significance of the Golden Lampstand. 8. Ten messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on October 25 through 29. These messages were previously published in a book entitled One Body, One Spirit, and One New Man. 9. Two messages given in Chinese in Hualien and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, on October 31 and November 2. They are included in this volume under the title Fellowship in Taiwan. 10. Seven messages given in Chinese in Hualien, Taichung, Kaohsiung, and Taipei, Taiwan, from October 31 through November 12. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Age of the One New Man. 11. One message given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on November 9. This message is included in this volume under the title Fellowship to Young Working Saints in Taiwan. 12. Two messages given in Tokyo, Japan, on November 15 and 16. They are included in this volume under the title God Becoming One with Man, and Man Becoming God's Expression. The contents of this section were derived from personal notes taken by an attendee in the meetings. 13. Seven messages given in Anaheim, California, on November 24 through December 18. They were previously published in a book entitled The One New Man. 14. One message given in Anaheim, California, on December 11. This message is included in this volume under the title Drinking the Spirit to Be Filled with Him in Our Spirit. 15. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on December 20 and 21. These messages are included in this volume under the title Fellowship with the Elders in Anaheim.

At the time of regeneration, all believers receive the divine life and are begotten as children of God. Yet, this life most grow and it does so by regulation unto maturity and function. This regulation comes from revelation and issues in obedience. This word is crucial for our progress and training in the divine life for our maturity and function in our living and service to God.

When God created man, He placed him before two trees: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. In warning man to avoid the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God indicated His desire for man to eat of the tree of life, signifying that man should receive God as his life supply. Witness Lee unveils in The Tree of Life that God is not looking for well-behaved Christians; He is looking for those who will experience and enjoy Christ as the reality of the tree of life.

This book traces "the New Testament service in the Gospel of Matthew from its beginning with the conceiving of Christ of the Holy Spirit, to finding Christ by following the heavenly living star, on to testifying of Christ in a living way, and then to the matter of following Christ. Finally, [it considers] the matter of life and the matter of work in the New Testament service according to the parables of the ten virgins and of the talents. In all these aspects, it is a governing principle in our service in the church life that the New Testament service is a service of coordination in every step to fulfill the Lord's purpose."

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.

"The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, shows us that God is our enjoyment. God also has His fullness (Eph. 3:19b). He is full for us to enjoy. His fullness is the expression of the riches of Christ, and the reality of Christ is in the Spirit. We know this by the revelation of the Word. The riches of Christ are revealed in the Word. Furthermore, we can realize God as our enjoyment in our spirit (John 4:24)."

This book presents a vision of Christ and the church. It then goes on the emphasize the need to experience this Christ as the Spirit in our spirit and to practice the church life on the ground of oneness.