There are two important matters concerning God’s creation of man. First, when God created man, He gave him only the created human life; He did not give man His life which is the uncreated life of God. When God created man, the life He gave to man, apart from the angelic life, was the highest created life, but He did not give man the uncreated life of God.
Second, although God did not give man His uncreated life, He created man with a spirit as an organ to receive God so that man might receive Him as life. These are the two important matters concerning God’s creation of man.
God created life for man, but He did not give man His own life; however, He prepared a spirit in man as an organ to receive Him. This is similar to our stomach being an organ to receive food. If we did not have a stomach, it would be impossible for food to enter into us; hence, God created a stomach so that we can receive food. In like manner, we have a spirit as an organ for receiving God, that is, for receiving the life of God. Please remember that the life of God is simply God Himself. Regardless of whether we are speaking of God Himself or the life of God, He is the Spirit, and His life is the Spirit. Furthermore, the spirit within us is for us to receive the Spirit, that is, to receive the life of the Spirit.
God created a spirit so that we can receive God. The spirit within us is an organ for receiving God. It is not only for us to have fellowship with God, but more importantly, it is for us to receive God into us. Just as our stomach is a receiving organ, our human spirit is also a receiving organ. Our stomach is for receiving food, and our spirit is for receiving the Spirit. In the Gospel of John the Lord Jesus likened Himself to food. Just as we take physical food into our stomach, we take the Lord Jesus as the heavenly food into our spirit, because the Lord Jesus, as the bread of life, is the Spirit. John 6:63 says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” We can receive the Lord Jesus into our spirit, because the Lord Jesus, as the bread of life, is the Spirit. In order to receive the Spirit, we must use our spirit.
Man fell soon after he was created. As a result of the fall, the spirit—the organ for receiving God—became deadened and lost its function. This is the most important point concerning man’s fall. The meaning of a deadened spirit is that it has lost its function. To speak of the spirit being deadened does not mean that the spirit no longer exists; rather, it means that the spirit has lost its function. Originally, the function of the spirit was to receive God, but once the spirit lost its function, it could no longer receive God and fellowship with God. It lost its function toward God.
The main point concerning God’s creation of man is that God created a spirit within man in order for man to receive Him. Since the most important point concerning man’s fall is that the spirit became deadened and lost its function toward God, the most important point regarding God’s salvation is that He enlivens our spirit. The fall causes our spirit to be deadened, but God’s salvation causes our spirit to be enlivened. When God created us, the most important point is that He created a spirit in us so that we could receive Him. However, Satan corrupted us and caused us to fall so that our spirit became deadened and lost its function toward God. The most important point concerning God’s salvation is the enlivening of our spirit so that we can receive Him.
How does God enliven our spirit? On the negative side, He takes away the factor that caused our spirit to be deadened. Death is an issue of sin. Since death is the consequence of sin, sin is the cause of death. In order to resolve the problem of death, it is imperative that the cause of sin be taken away. Since the source and cause of death is sin, God sent the Lord Jesus to shed His blood for us on the cross so that our sins would be taken away and we would be cleansed.
On the positive side, God put His life into our spirit through His Spirit, who enlivened our deadened spirit. Now the Spirit dwells in our spirit so that our spirit is not only enlivened but also strengthened. We not only have the Spirit but also the life of God. In other words, our deadened spirit is not only enlivened, but the element of God’s life has also been added to it. Thus, even though we were created without the life of God, we now have God’s life in our spirit.
Some Christian teachers say that salvation is being recovered to our original condition before the fall. Is it correct to say that salvation means recovering what Adam lost, that is, recovering man to his original condition before the fall? Many speak, preach, believe, and receive a kind of teaching that suggests that Adam only stumbled and fell, dropping and losing everything he was carrying. Consequently, our salvation is spoken of in these terms. God’s salvation is presented as a recovery of the things that were dropped when we stumbled and fell. In addition, our body is portrayed as if it were covered with dust when we fell so that the Lord Jesus’ salvation is viewed as removing the dirt on our body.
This matter requires careful consideration. When man was created by God, he did not have the life of God and the Spirit within him. Nevertheless, before the fall he was without sin, and his human spirit was living and unaffected by sin or death. In our salvation, the blood of the Lord cleanses us of our sins, and God enlivens our spirit, removing death and recovering us back to our original condition in creation before the fall. He has also put His life and Spirit into our spirit so that we now have an added element. I would like to ask: Which is better, the condition of Adam in the garden of Eden before the fall or our condition after our salvation? Our condition after our salvation is not merely the same as Adam’s condition in the garden of Eden. Our condition is even better because we have a treasure that Adam did not have—we have the life of God and the Spirit in us. This is a very crucial point. Not only has our spirit been enlivened, but the life of God and the Spirit have entered into our spirit.
When God enlivens our spirit, He also renews our heart. Our heart is related to the matter of desire, of willingness. Our spirit is related to the matter of power, of ability. If God merely regenerates and renews our spirit without renewing our heart, our spirit may be able to contact God, but our heart may not agree and be unwilling to do so. Therefore, at the same time that God regenerates us, He also renews our heart so that our heart will be willing to fellowship with Him and receive Him when our spirit contacts Him.