Scripture Reading: Gen. 1:26a, 27; 2:7, 9; 3:6-7, 24
I. According to the image of the Triune God — Gen. 1:26a, 27:
А. That man may be like God and express God.
B. That God’s attributes may be expressed in man’s virtues.
II. Creating a spirit for man with His breath of life — 2:7:
А. As the organ for man to contact God and receive God.
B. As the organ for man to receive God and enjoy God.
III. Being the tree of life to the tripartite man whom He created — v. 9:
А. To be received by man as the life of man.
B. That man may live by Him as life in order to live Him out and express Him.
IV. The fall of man:
А. Due to receiving the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which indicates Satan, the old serpent — 3:6.
B. Corrupting the image that God created for man — v. 7.
C. Losing the position to receive God as life — v. 24.
We who love the Lord all love our Bible. We also know that the Bible is a book that speaks specifically about life; it is a book of life because it speaks specifically about God, and God is life. Although we may not know very much, we have tasted and have enjoyed God as life. In the Bible, whether the Old Testament or the New Testament, there are a lot of stories. On the surface it appears that what was recorded was merely some stories, but these stories are different. They may appear to be stories, but actually they are life. I want to say strongly that what is recorded in the Bible is not stories but life.
The first thing recorded in the Bible is that God created the heavens and the earth, all things, and mankind. This may have the appearance of a story, a history, but what is within this story, this history, is altogether life. God created the heavens, the earth, and all kinds of things as well, but God’s creation did not stop there. The heavens are needed, the earth is also needed, and all things are needed, but these alone are not enough — at the end it was necessary for God to make man. Although God had created innumerable things, yet all those things were not the conclusion; the man whom He created last was the conclusion of all things. The ancient Chinese also said that man is the spirit of all things. Without human beings all things are meaningless. Therefore, concerning all things — whether the fowl of the air, the beasts of the field, the fish of the sea, or the various kinds of trees and flowers — none of these is the conclusion. Man with a spirit is the conclusion. Whatever things we can see, especially the things on this earth, would be empty and meaningless if there were no human beings.
In God’s creation, only man has a spirit. This spirit is out of God who is life. God created man in this way simply for the purpose that man may obtain God as his life. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” It seems that before the Triune God created man, He held a conference. This was different from His creating of other things. In creating all other things, He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast. When He came to create man, it was not that simple. It seems that the Triune God held a conference, deciding that He should make man in His image and according to His likeness.
This is not a simple matter. I would like to emphasize again that although we are human beings, we were made according to God. Not only were we made by God, but we were also made according to God. How honorable this is! We human beings were made in the image of God. God made man in this way so that man can be like God and can express God and so that God’s attributes may be expressed in man’s virtues.
In Genesis 2:7 we are shown that God used the dust of the ground to make man and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The breath of life out of God, after being breathed into man, became the spirit within man. The word for breath here in Hebrew is the same as the word for spirit in Proverbs 20:27, which says, “The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah.” This implies that the spirit of man is the breath of life. According to essence, that was a breath of life; according to function, this breath of life is the spirit within us.
The Old Testament clearly says that there is a spirit within man, and this spirit was created by Jehovah for man. Also, Zechariah 12:1 says, “Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” This indicates that the spirit within man is listed alongside the heavens and the earth. The people in the world talk about the heavens, the earth, and man; but the Bible talks about the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man. There are the heavens, the earth, and also the spirit within man. The heavens are for the earth, and the earth is for man. If there were no heavens, then this earth would be short of sunlight, rain, and air. Hence the heavens are for the earth. Because there are sunlight, rain, and air, the earth can produce different kinds of animals and plants so that we can live on it. Apart from this, we would not be able to live. So the heavens are for the earth, and the earth is for man. Then what are we for? We are for God.
Concerning God, we may ask, “What is God?” In simple words, God is Spirit (John 4:24). Because God is Spirit, He can be enjoyed by us. In the Bible the word for spirit is the same as the word for breath; spirit is breath, and breath is spirit. God is Spirit, like air, that we may breathe Him in. For this reason God who is Spirit created a spirit for us so that we may use the spirit to worship Him and to gain Him. God used His breath of life to create a spirit for man as the organ for man to contact and receive God. This can be likened to eating. If a man wants to eat, he needs an organ that can receive food. Hence, God created a stomach for man to receive food. When we eat, we receive food into our stomach. This stomach has its special functions of digesting and assimilating the food taken in for our nourishment, and then transporting it to the whole body. These are the functions of the stomach. Similarly, God created for us a spirit in order for us to receive Him. By this spirit we can contact and receive Him. I have always told people that the more we use our mind to consider whether there is a God, the more we will feel that there is no God. But if we would simply turn to the depths of our being and exercise our spirit to call on the Lord’s name, we will touch God, and we will believe and receive Him. Therefore, what we think in our mind is one thing, and the fact is another. God truly exists; as long as we exercise our spirit, we can receive Him.
Acts 17:28 says, “In Him [God] we live and move and are.” This is an extraordinary matter. If there were no God, we would not be able to live. God is the source of life; all that we have comes from Him. This God who is life has created the heavens, the earth, and all things, and us, that is, mankind, as well. Also, He created us according to Himself to be the same as He is. He created us in this way in order that we can be vessels to contain Him so that one day He can enter into us to be our life and content. In this way God and we, we and God, are joined as one. Not only so, God is Spirit. In order for us to contain Him, He created for us a spirit to be the organ for receiving and enjoying Him.
After God created man, He put man before the tree of life. This tree of life is God Himself (Gen. 2:9). The Triune God made man in His own image and also created within man a spirit that can receive Him. At this time, man was proper and was ready. Hence, God put man before the tree of life so that man might receive Him as his life and live by His life in order to live Him out to express Him.
Here, we can see that God’s creating of man is altogether a matter of life. God is life. He has a divine creation of man for the purpose that He can obtain a divine expression. In addition, this expression is not individual but corporate. I hope that every one of us can see that we are persons who have God. We are not only persons made by God but also persons who have God. Within us believers is God; hence, we should all feel honored and proud, not because of ourselves but because of the God within us. Because God is within us, we do not do the things that we should not do, and we do not go to the places where we should not go. We do not sell our birthright for the sake of a temporary enjoyment of sin.
Today we have God; hence, we have life within. We eat Him as the tree of life, live by Him, and live Him out. Within, we have God as life; without, we have God as our living. Before we believed in the Lord, we lived a godless life. That living was empty, dark, vain, and false. After we believed in the Lord, this God who is the Spirit came into us to be our life, and we live by Him. We do not live ourselves any longer, but we live the One who is our life. At this time our living becomes one that is satisfied, joyful, peaceful, and full of energy. This kind of living includes many, many things. In conclusion, we may say that we become more loving, more shining, more holy, and more righteous.
When God made man in the beginning, he was made in His own image. Because God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness, the man He created also had these virtues. Within every created person, there is the aspect of good. Although we are fallen, corrupted, those good things are still remaining within us. At the time we believed in the Lord Jesus, this God who is love, light, holiness, and righteousness entered into us to be our life, and we were filled with love, light, holiness, and righteousness within. It is this that makes the greatest difference in our believing in Jesus. This is not a matter of behavior but of life. It is the kind of living lived out by the life of God.
Also, as soon as a person is saved, he wants to preach the gospel; he wants to tell people about Jesus. This is not his work or his special ministry but his living. This is like a tree bearing fruit; it is not by the working of the branches but by the living of the branches. From the standpoint of ethics, our Christian life is a living of love, light, holiness, and righteousness. From the standpoint of fruit-bearing, it is a living of preaching the gospel. If every believer lives this kind of life every day, then every one will bear fruit spontaneously. In addition, after fruit-bearing, there is the feeding of the lambs to lead the new believers. At the same time, we also like to come to meet together. This is not something that we try to do; it is our living. If we do not live this kind of life, we do not feel comfortable and happy; but when we live this kind of life — preaching the gospel, feeding the lambs, and meeting together — we feel proper, comfortable, and happy. We go to work, to school, or take care of our housework; these are necessary aspects of our daily conduct. Within such a living, as those who are walking uprightly, being holy and not being earthly, with everything done righteously, we love people. Besides these things we also love preaching the gospel to save sinners, feeding the lambs, and meeting together to perfect one another, pursuing after the truth and speaking for the Lord. This is our Christian life.
From Genesis 1 and 2 we see that the Triune God made man in His own image, created a spirit for man by His breath of life, and became the tree of life to be received by man as his life so that man may live Him out to express Him. God entered into us to be our life; we live by Him in our body, and we live Him out. This is our living. God within is life, and we without are the living. These two are joined together, within and without, in harmony. This is to be organic.
We are not machines; we are living persons who have God. God lives within us as life; we live out a living without that is by God. This is to be organic. We live this kind of organic living every day. We love to preach the gospel, take care of the lambs, have small group meetings, and prophesy for the Lord. In this kind of living there are no methods or activities; even the more, there is no religion or arrangement. It is altogether the activity of life expressing God’s living. I hope that the brothers and sisters can all be clear that this is God’s original intention in creating man so that the created man may take God’s life as his content and produce a living that expresses God.
God created man for the purpose that man would receive Him as life and live by Him in order to live out an organic living. Unfortunately, before God’s desire was accomplished, Satan rushed in ahead of God to entice man to partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (3:6). Because man received the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which signifies the old serpent Satan, he became fallen, and he had sin within him. Due to this, the image that God created for man was damaged; that image of love, light, holiness, and righteousness, was damaged (v. 7). Everyone would like to be loving toward others, straightforward, upright, holy, and righteous; yet no one can do it. This is because the love, light, holiness, and righteousness within were all damaged. At the same time, man also lost the position to receive God as life. God drove out the fallen man, and He used the cherubim, which signify His glory; the flame, which signifies His holiness; and the sword, which signifies His righteousness, to block the way to the tree of life (v. 24). From that time God’s glory, holiness, and righteousness would not again allow us, who have been damaged by sin, to contact Him and receive Him for enjoyment.
When the Lord Jesus came, He was God coming in the flesh to die for us on the cross in order to satisfy the requirement of God’s glory, holiness, and righteousness. His blood accomplished redemption for us and opened a new and living way in order that we can again draw nigh to God and contact God by His blood (Heb. 10:19-20). Through this we can receive God as our life. Once He comes into us, we are alive, and we obtain God as life. This life can cause us to have a living that lives by God and expresses God. This is an organic living, and it is also the Christian life. In totality, this is the church life. This is not religion but a group of people who have God and live out God. In this there are love, light, holiness, and righteousness. Furthermore, all the divine attributes are being expressed as virtues from us who have God. At the same time, we spontaneously can lead people to be saved, take care of new ones, perfect one another through meeting together, pursue the truth, and speak for the Lord. This is also the living we ought to have in the new way.
