The life of man was originally innocent and simple, without knowledge of sin, because after man was created, he was “very good” in God’s eyes (1:31). Therefore, the created life of man was originally good and upright. It was without sin or even the knowledge of sin, and it had no consciousness of shame. It was innocent and simple. Satan’s life, filled with all kinds of sins, contains seeds of corruption and factors of evil. The nature of God’s life is holy and good. Thus, these three lives possess three absolutely different natures: the nature of man’s created life is good and upright, Satan’s fallen life is evil and corrupted, and God’s divine life is holy and good.
How many lives did Adam have in the garden of Eden? What kind of living did he have? In the garden of Eden Adam had only one life, that is, the created human life, and he led a good and upright living. In fact, before Adam sinned, he did not have any consciousness of good or evil. According to the biblical record, Adam was good and upright. At that time, his eyes for good and evil were not yet opened. He did not know of evil or even of good. Although he was good and upright, he had no sense of goodness and uprightness. In the garden of Eden Adam had the created human life, and his living by this life was good and upright, but he did not have a sense of uprightness and goodness, nor did he have a sense of evil. He was simply there living his life in an innocent and simple way. In God’s eyes he did not have sin, nor did he know sin.
After the fall of man, man began to have two kinds of life—man’s life and Satan’s life, that is, the created life and the fallen life. With these two lives, his living became a mixture of man and the devil. Sometimes we live like a man and sometimes like the devil. The Chinese often refer to opium addicts, alcoholics, lustful persons, and habitual gamblers as “smoking devils,” “drinking devils,” “lustful devils,” and “gambling devils.” There is a certain truth to this. After the fall, man has two kinds of lives, so he can live out two kinds of living. At times these two kinds of living are mixed together. At one moment a man can be gentle and good, looking like a proper man, but a minute later, he can lose his temper and become violent and ugly, looking like the devil. Then a minute later he can repent, confess, and express God. Within a short period of time, man, the devil, and God are all lived out through him.
The man God created was the best and the fairest. In response to Satan’s temptation, man took in the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and was corrupted. Consequently, man’s inner being has become a place where man and the devil are mixed, and man’s living is a mixed living of man and the devil. Chinese philosophers throughout the ages have been divided into two schools—one advocates that man is born good and the other stresses that man is born evil; the contention between the two schools is very intense. Actually, human nature is both good and evil because within man there are elements of good and elements of evil. Therefore, both schools are right, but both are incomplete because they are only half right.
After the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there is not only human goodness and uprightness but also satanic corruption and evil within man. There are two different lives with two different natures within man. When the good nature is active, he has a so-called “sense of mercy,” which is goodness; when the evil nature is active, he has thoughts related to sin and does evil things. For example, honoring our parents is a manifestation of our good nature, but losing our temper and rebelling against our parents are manifestations of the evil nature within us. Thus, both good and evil are in us. This is man’s condition before he is saved.
What is man’s condition after he is saved? Is a man more complicated before he is saved or after he is saved? A saved person has three different lives: man’s life, the devil’s life, and God’s life; hence, he can have three different kinds of living. When he expresses his goodness, he is like a man. When he lives out the sinful nature, he is like the devil. When he manifests the divine holiness and goodness, he is like God. We can say that the situation in the garden of Eden is present within a saved person. In the garden of Eden there was a triangular situation—man, Satan, and God. In a saved person there is also man, Satan, and God. Within us we have man’s life, Satan’s life, and God’s life; this is a triangular situation. There is a conflict between God and Satan in us. Whenever we cooperate with God, we are victorious, but whenever we cooperate with Satan, we fail.
The triangular situation in the garden of Eden has been completely transferred into man. Once the garden of Eden was outside of man, but now it is present in the believers. The story of the garden of Eden occurs in us daily. Within us is the tree of life as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God desires that we eat of the tree of life, but Satan entices us to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If we follow Satan and eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we will fail, but if we live in the fellowship of life and eat Christ as the tree of life, we will overcome. This story is enacted in us daily.
This should not be regarded merely as a doctrine; rather, we need to understand it thoroughly and apply it in our spirit. Then we will realize that we have man’s life, Satan’s life, and also God’s life in us. These three lives are in us. When we learn to live before God, we need to discern whether we are committing a sin by following Satan, doing a good deed in ourselves, or cooperating with God through fellowshipping with Him.
We have seen clearly that there are three different lives in us—the created life, the fallen life, and the divine life. We also have three different kinds of living because of these three different lives—a good and upright living, a sinful living, and a divine living. The concept of a natural man is that Christians should have a good rather than a sinful living. Actually, Christians should not have merely a good living; even more, they should have a divine living. Even unbelievers can have a good living in themselves. The only difference is that they neither know God nor have the life of Christ. Christians should have a living that is not only good but also divine; that is, they should live out not merely goodness, but even more, God Himself.