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Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:8-24; Rev. 22:1-2a; John 7:38-39; Rom. 5:14b; 1 Cor. 15:45; Eph. 5:25-32; 1:22-23; Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9b-10, 18-21
Prayer: Lord, how we thank You for Your mercy that You have been with us all the time over the past years. Yet, Lord, we confess to You that we are so slow in realizing what You are. We are also very slow in knowing ourselves. Today we come to You that we may learn how to be fearful and trembling before You. Lord, do teach us according to Your mind and according to Your economy. We do thank You that You have a divine economy for the entire universe. Lord, there are so many secrets, so many mysteries, hidden in Your holy Word. We need Your opening and Your unveiling. We even need You to point out these mysteries to us in a slow way. Thank You, Lord, that You did this while You were on the earth for three and a half years with the ancient disciples. Lord, we beg You to do the same thing with us today. Capture us and keep us in Your mind for this difficult study. Lord, we feel very sorry that it is difficult for us to overcome the poor background that surrounds us. We have picked up so many things from today’s Christianity in America, the top Christian country with its science, culture, and religions. Be merciful to all of us, and take away all these veils and preoccupying things. We stand with You and tell You in a strong way that we hate all these preoccupying things. Lord, be with us in a new and thorough way. We desire to be empty with nothing in our understanding. You told us that those who are poor in spirit are blessed. Lord, let us be poor in our spirit. Say something to us, teach us, and anoint us. Give us an empty heart and a humble mind. Amen.
I was saved in April 1925. From the first day that I was saved, I loved to know the Bible. For the past sixty-five and a half years I have spent nearly every day in the Bible. On some days I might not have opened the Bible outwardly, but inwardly, from morning until evening, the Bible was in my consideration. In the first few years in my study of the Bible, I did not realize that the Bible is not easy to understand rightly. But the longer I have continued in my study of the Bible, the more I have realized that the Bible is difficult to understand. The Bible is like a deep mine; it is altogether unlimited. The more I dig into it, the more I realize that it is endless. Although I have studied the Bible for many years, I feel that this present year is my first year to study the Bible.
Over the past years it has been difficult for me to understand what the image of God is. Colossians 1:15 says that Christ is the image of the invisible God. When I studied this verse years ago, I asked, “How could the invisible God have an image?” To me an image must be visible; but I wondered how the invisible God could have a visible image. I had no one to help me find the answer to this question. But through more than fifty years of study I have gained a better understanding. The image of God is just the form of God’s attributes. God has many attributes, and God’s inward being is the totality of His attributes. An attribute is an element that belongs to God. God is love, light, holiness, righteousness, power, might, and strength. These and hundreds of other items are the elements that belong to God; hence, they are His attributes. When these attributes are expressed, they become virtues. First Peter 2:9 says that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people acquired for a possession, so that we may tell out the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Here Peter uses the word virtues instead of attributes. Virtues are the expressed attributes, and attributes are the hidden or concealed virtues. When Christ lived on this earth, He expressed God’s attributes in His virtues. He expressed the divine attributes in His humanity as virtues. All the divine attributes have an image. This image is Christ the Son as the expression of the invisible God in the essence of His attributes (2 Cor. 4:4b; Col. 1:15a).
Man was created according to the likeness of the Triune God. God’s likeness is the form of God’s being (Phil. 2:6), the expression of the essence and nature of God’s person (Heb. 1:3). In the past I thought that the likeness referred to God’s outward expression, and I told people that in the Old Testament, before He was incarnated, God had man’s likeness already. But this understanding is not accurate. The likeness is the form of God’s being, which is the expression of the essence and nature of God. Thus, the likeness is very close to the image.
In Philippians 2:5-8 the words form, likeness, and fashion are used. These verses say, “Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man...” Before His incarnation Christ existed in the form of God, but when He became incarnated, He put the divine form aside outwardly and took on the form of a slave. The form of God mentioned in these verses is the expression, not the fashion, of God’s being (Heb. 1:3). It is identified with the essence and nature of God’s person and, hence, expresses them. This refers to Christ’s deity.
The form of God (Phil. 2:6) implies the inward reality of Christ’s deity; the likeness of men (v. 7) denotes the outward appearance of His humanity. He appeared to men as a man outwardly, but as God, He had the reality of deity inwardly. The word fashion in verse 8 refers to the outward guise, the semblance. It is a repetition in a more particular sense of the thought of likeness in verse 7. What Christ looked like in His humanity was found by men to be in fashion as a man.
Hebrews 1:3 says that Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory and the impress of God’s substance. The effulgence of God’s glory is like the shining or the brightness of the light of the sun. The Son is the shining, the brightness, of the Father’s glory. This refers to God’s glory. The impress of God’s substance is like the impress of a seal. The Son is the expression of what God the Father is. This refers to God’s substance. If I have a seal containing my name and some sealing ink, when I put the seal on a piece of paper, an impress will be left on the paper. God Himself is the seal, and Christ is the impress, the expression, of the seal.
Man was made in God’s image and according to His likeness. God created man in such a way as a preparation for His dispensing of Himself into man for the fulfillment of His divine economy, His divine plan. Man was created in the image and likeness of God so that he can express God. Man is a photograph of God. A photograph taken of a certain person is for expression. In the same way, man was created for God’s expression.
There are two crucial points in God’s creation of man. The first crucial point is that God made man in His own image and according to His likeness. Man was made according to God, just as a photograph of a person is taken according to that person. Thus, man’s image and likeness are according to God.
The second crucial point in God’s creation of man is that man was created with three parts (Gen. 2:7). Hence, man is tripartite. Man’s body was formed of dust, and his spirit was formed of the breath of God. The breath of life out from God was not God’s being, but it was close to God’s being. The breath that came out of God formed man’s spirit. This is proved by comparing Genesis 2:7 with Proverbs 20:27. In both verses the Hebrew word neshamah is used, indicating that the breath of life out from God became man’s spirit.
The body is physical, but the spirit is not physical. In the study of medicine, medical doctors study mainly our physical body. But man has not only a physical part but also a metaphysical part — his spirit. The word metaphysics, in its popular usage, refers to the study of matters that transcend material reality. The spirit of man is above material reality, and thus it is very difficult for people to understand. The study of the spirit is more difficult than the study of medicine. If the medical doctors were to ask me about the body, I could not say very much. But if I were to ask them about the spirit, I do not think that they could answer me very well. Medical doctors know about the human body, but many of them do not know or even believe that man has a spirit.
The body is the outward organ of man, having physical consciousness to contact the physical world (Gen. 2:7a). The spirit is our inward organ not only to contact God but also to be the recipient of God (v. 7b). It is like our stomach, which is a receiver of food and is also the place where our food remains until it is digested. Our spirit is for us to contact God, to receive God, and to retain God.
This morning I was very serious with myself. I considered that every minute, even every second, the Lord Jesus is in my spirit, yet my conversation was very careless. The way that I spoke made it seem as if the Lord was not in my spirit. This means that I lacked the fear of God. In Philippians 2:12-13 Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” We must be full of fear and trembling because God is operating in us. If the president of the United States were to visit us, we would immediately have a change and would adjust ourselves. We need to realize that the Lord Jesus who is with our spirit is much higher than the president. The Lord Jesus should have our highest regard. We should be full of fear whenever we assemble together with the Lord. But often we are not fearful. If we are not fearful in everything that we do, this shows that our realization that Christ is within us is not very serious. If we had a serious feeling concerning this matter, we could not exchange words with our spouse. Whenever we lose our temper, this indicates that we have forgotten that the Lord Jesus lives within us. It is a sign that we are not fearful and trembling, knowing that He is within us. Christ lives in us, and He even lives for us. He is in us not in an occasional way but every minute and in every place. This is why we have a spirit. Our spirit as our inward organ is conscious of the spiritual things.
The body is our outward organ, and the spirit is our inward organ. Yet neither of these two organs is our person, our self. Our person, our self, is our soul. The soul was not formed of any element. The soul was brought forth by the combination of the two organs, the body and the spirit.
We all have the image of God’s attributes. That is, we have the imitation of God’s attributes. God is love, and we also have love. God is light, and we also have something within us that is bright. God is holy, and we also like to be holy. We do not like to be low or common; rather, we like to be separated from being common. God is righteousness, and we also like to be right. Our love, light, holiness, and righteousness are all imitations of God’s attributes. What we have is just a photograph of God’s attributes. This is God’s image.
Although we have the imitation of God’s attributes, we may not have the likeness of these attributes in our behavior. We may lose our temper or become angry with our parents. We may also do many other improper things. This behavior is our likeness. We are not what we should be. We have the image of God, but in our behavior we are not like God. Thus, we all have the image of God, but we may not have the likeness of God.
When the body and the spirit were combined together, the soul of man was produced (Gen. 2:7). The soul is our self, our very person. When we walk, we use our body. When we think, we use our mind, a part of our soul (Psa. 13:2). When we pray to God from the depths of our being, we exercise our spirit. Thus, man is a soul with two organs — the body and the spirit. Hence, he is tripartite, having a body, a soul, and a spirit. The worldly teachers, both in China and in the West, teach people that man has only the outward part, the physical body, and the inward part, the soul. The outward part, man’s body, is the physical part and is visible. The inward part, man’s soul, is the psychological part and is invisible. To these teachers man has only two parts. But according to the Bible, man has three parts (1 Thes. 5:23; Heb. 4:12b).
Before we were saved, our inward person was our soul with the body as its outward organ and the spirit as its inward organ. Our soul was the inward person with two organs. But when we were regenerated, Christ came into our being to be our life and our person. Thus, in regeneration our spirit was made a person, and our soul as the old man was crucified (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20). Through regeneration our spirit, which was an organ to our soul, became the person, with the soul and body as its organs. The mind, will, and emotion of the crucified soul became our inward organ, and the body remained as our outward organ. Our soul as the old man was crucified (Rom. 6:6). In other words, the life of the soul was terminated, but the faculties of the soul still remain. The three faculties of the soul — the mind, emotion, and will — should not be put aside; rather, they should be renewed. This is proved by Romans 12:2, which says, “Be transformed by the renewing of the mind.” If our mind as a part of our soul should be renewed, our emotion and will should be renewed also. The three faculties of our soul should remain to be renewed, but in our living we must learn to deny our crucified soul, which is the soulish life, the self (Matt. 16:24-26; Luke 9:25).
According to the Bible, we Christians now have two different inner men (Rom. 7:22; 2 Cor. 4:16). In Romans 7:22 Paul says, “I delight in the law of God according to the inner man.” Here Paul is describing a situation that he experienced before he was regenerated. At that time, as a Jew, he delighted in the law of God according to the inner man. This inner man is the soul. This is proved by verse 25, which says, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin.” The mind in verse 25 is the inner man in verse 22. Then in 2 Corinthians 4:16 Paul says, “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” The outer man is our body as its organ with our soul as its life and person. The inner man is our regenerated spirit as its life and person, with our renewed soul as its organ. Thus, in the New Testament, the inner man in Romans 7:22 is different from the inner man in 2 Corinthians 4:16.
God’s creation of man as a three-part vessel was His preliminary preparation for man to receive the Triune God into his being. The Triune God’s entering into our being is His dispensing of Himself into us. Before His dispensing of Himself into us, He made us with a body and a spirit to bring forth a soul. We were prepared in such a way by God. Thus, we as men are a soul with two organs: the body as the outer organ and the spirit as the inner organ. Our spirit as the inner organ is suitable to receive and contain God. This was God’s preparation for His dispensing of Himself into man according to His divine economy.
After being created, man was placed in the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:8). A garden is a pleasant and beautiful place. In God’s newly created earth God placed man in a garden.
Man was placed in the garden of Eden in front of two trees (v. 9). One tree was the tree of life, and the other tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of life symbolizes God to be taken by man as his life of dependence (v. 16). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolizes Satan as the knowledge of independence, issuing in death (v. 17).
A river flowed beside the tree of life. Eventually, this river was divided into four heads, flowing toward the four corners of the earth (vv. 10-14). One of the four heads was the river Euphrates, which flows through the present country of Iraq. The river signifies the flow of God as life to bring forth three precious materials (vv. 10-14; Rev. 22:1-2a; John 7:38-39).
The first of the three precious materials was gold (Gen. 2:11b-12a), signifying God the Father’s nature. The second precious material at the flow of the river was bdellium (v. 12b). It is formed from fragrant resin and signifies God the Son in His redemption. The third precious material was onyx stone, which signifies God the Spirit in His transformation (v. 12c). Gold, bdellium, and onyx stone were the three precious materials brought forth by the flowing of the river.
Immediately after His creation of man and after putting man in front of the tree of life, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper as his counterpart” (v. 18). God then made a counterpart for Adam by putting him to sleep, opening his side, taking a rib, and from the rib building a woman (vv. 21-22). The woman became the counterpart, the second part, of man. The woman Eve was built with the rib out of Adam and returned to Adam to be one flesh with him as his counterpart.
Adam, the first Adam, typifies Christ, the last Adam, as the embodiment of God (v. 20b; Rom. 5:14b; 1 Cor. 15:45). Eve, who was built with the rib out of Adam and who returned to Adam to be one flesh with him as his counterpart, signifies the church, which came out of the side of Christ and returned to Christ to be one spirit with Him as His (the processed Triune God’s) counterpart. This counterpart is the organic Body of Christ as His bride, consummating in the New Jerusalem, which is built with the processed Triune God as the gold, pearl, and precious stones (Rev. 21:18-21), which are typified by the gold, bdellium, and onyx stone in several portions in both the Old and New Testaments (Gen. 2:11-12, 21-24; Eph. 5:25-32; 1:22-23; Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9b-10).
Why does the record of God’s creation of the heavens, the earth, the plants, the animals, man, and billions of items occupy only two chapters in the book of Genesis? I do not believe that God wrote these two chapters merely to tell us of the creation. Actually, these two chapters do not speak mainly of the creation; rather, they unveil to us the divine dispensing according to the divine economy. Although we cannot find the expressions the divine dispensing and the divine economy in these chapters, the fact is there. The intention of Genesis 1 and 2 is to show us how God made a preparation for His upcoming dispensing according to His divine economy. Genesis 1 and 2 are a record of how God created man with the intention that He would be man’s life and content.
After His creation of man, God brought man into a garden and placed him in front of two trees. One tree, the tree of life, was good for food (2:9), but the other tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, issued in death (v. 17). God warned man not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
God Himself was embodied in the tree of life. The tree of life is mentioned again in the book of Revelation (2:7; 22:2). In Revelation 2:7 the Lord Jesus gave a promise to the overcomers, saying, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.” Then in Revelation 22:1-2 a river of water of life proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Along the flow of the river and on the two sides of the river, a vine tree grows. The tree bears fruit every month for the supply of all the inhabitants in the New Jerusalem, and the river flows to quench their thirst. The New Jerusalem itself is constituted of the Triune God as gold, pearl, and precious stones (21:18-21). The mentioning of these precious materials, the river, and the tree of life corresponds to the record in Genesis 2. In Genesis the precious materials are there but are not built up. But at the end of the Bible these materials have all been built into one building, the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is the composition of these three materials to be the bride (Rev. 19:7-8; 21:2; 22:17), the real Eve, to match the real man, the Triune God. At that time God will have a counterpart with which to spend His eternity for His rest, joy, and satisfaction.
The entire Bible is a record of the divine dispensing of the processed Triune God into the transformed tripartite man, issuing in an entity that is not only a combination but also a blending, a mingling, of the Triune God with the tripartite man. This entity satisfies God and makes Him happy, and at the same time, it causes man to rest in God and be satisfied and happy with Him.
