Since each of the three different lives which we obtained within us has its own origin and dwells separately in one of the three different parts of our being, then the nature of these three lives and their respective conditions within us must also be different and rather complicated. Immediately after man was created in the hands of God, in God’s eyes he was “very good” (Gen. 1:31) and “upright” (Eccl. 7:29). Therefore, the created life of man was originally good and upright; not only was it without sin, but also without the knowledge of sin and the consciousness of shame; it was innocent and simple.‡ [After the fall, God caused man to have the sense of shame. This sense has a twofold function: on one hand it proves that we have sin, and on the other hand it hinders us from committing sin. If a person does not have a sense of shame, he is apt to commit sin at will. The more sense of shame anyone has, the more he will be kept from committing sins. We have a saying that women ought not to be shameless. One who is void of the sense of shame is surely a person of the lowest class.]
After Adam sinned and fell, man not only offended God in behavior, which resulted in a sinful situation, but, worse still, he was poisoned by Satan in life, which caused his life to become defiled and corrupted. For example, suppose I instruct my children at home not to play with a blackboard eraser. After I leave home, due to their curiosity, they play with the eraser; and then upon my return, I find that they have done wrong. This wrongdoing is merely a violation of the family regulation; nothing has gotten into them. Suppose, however, that next time I leave a bottle of poisonous medicine at home and tell the children, “Don’t ever drink this.” After I leave home, they find that the bottle is fun to play with—and, alas, they drink the poisonous medicine. At this point, they have not only disobeyed my order and violated the family regulation, but, worse still, something poisonous has gotten into them. This is what happened when Adam ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge that day. Not only had he disobeyed God’s prohibition, but he also had taken Satan’s life into himself. Henceforth, man became inwardly complicated; he not only had the original upright and good life of man, but also the evil and corrupted life of Satan.
Satan’s life, filled as it is with all kinds of sins, contains the seed of all corruption and factors of evil. Satan lives within man and causes him to have lusts (John 8:44) and commit sins (1 John 3:8). Therefore, his life is the root of sins, which causes man to live out sin. The various sins committed by man are derived from the life of Satan or the life of the devil within him. Ever since this devilish life entered into man, though at times he is still able to live out a little human goodness according to his human life, he lives out the devilish evils most of the time according to the devilish life. Sometimes man can be very gentle; he can really act like a man and give forth the savor of a true man. But other times, when he loses his temper, he is really like a devil and full of the devilish odor. When man indulges in drunkenness and carousing, visiting prostitutes, gambling, and committing various sins, he bears a devilish appearance and is full of devilish odor. It is not of his own will that man lives out the devilish life; rather it is the life of the devil within that tricks him and thus causes him to become a devilish man and lead the life of a mixture of man and devil.
This is the actual inner condition of the people of the world today. Due to the fact that man has the lives both of man and of Satan, one good in nature and the other evil, he has the desire on one hand to be good and upright, and on the other hand he has an inclination toward corruption and evil. Hence, throughout the generations, philosophers engaged in the studies of human nature have advocated two different thoughts: one, that man is good in nature, and the other, that the nature of man is evil. Actually, we have both these natures within us, because we have within us both the life of good and the life of evil.
But, thank the Lord, today we who are saved not only have the lives of man and the devil, but also the life of God. Just as Satan, through his corruption, injected his life into us and caused us to be united with him, gained by him, and possessed of all the evils of his nature; so also God, through His deliverance, puts His life into us and causes us to be united with Him, gained by Him, and possessed of all the divine goodness of His nature. Therefore, just as the crucial point of the fall was life, so also the crucial point of salvation is life. When we come to the Lord’s table, we break the bread of life first, and then we drink the cup of remission. This signifies that when we experience the Lord’s salvation, although first we receive the blood and then the life, yet in His salvation the main figure is the bread, which signifies life. The cup, which signifies the blood, is secondary. Hence, first we take the bread, and then the cup.
When the life of God enters into us, we become more complicated within than the worldly people. We have the upright life of man, the evil life of Satan, and the divinely good life of God. This means that we have man, Satan, and God. The tripartite situation of man, God, and Satan which existed on that day in the Garden of Eden exists also in us today. We can say that inside of us is a miniature Garden of Eden with man, God, and Satan—all three—there. Therefore, Satan’s struggle with God for man in the Garden of Eden is also occurring in us today. Satan moves within us today, desiring that we cooperate with him so that he can fulfill his evil intention of possessing us; God also moves within us, desiring that we cooperate with Him to accomplish His good pleasure. If we live according to the life of Satan within us, we will live out the evils of Satan and thus enable him to fulfill his evil intention upon us. If we live according to the life of God within us, we will live out the divine goodness of God and thus enable Him to accomplish His good pleasure in us. Although sometimes it seems that we can be independent and live neither according to the life of Satan nor according to the life of God, but only according to our human life, yet actually we cannot be independent; either we live according to the life of God, or we live according to the life of Satan.
Consequently, a Christian can act as three different kinds of persons and live three different kinds of lives. A brother who is very affable in the morning really looks like a man; at noon, when he gets angry with his wife, he resembles a demon; and at night, when in his prayer time he feels that he has wronged his wife and confesses both before God and to his wife, he appears like God. Thus, within one day he acts like three different persons, living out three different conditions. In the morning he is affable as a man, at noon he loses his temper as a demon, and at night, after dealing with sin, he manifests the likeness of God. Within one day, man, the devil, and God are all manifested in his living. The reason he can act in such a way is that within him there are the lives of all three—man, the devil, and God. When he lives according to the life of man, he is like a man; when he walks according to the devilish life, he is like the devil; and when he acts according to the life of God, he manifests the likeness of God. Whichever life we live in accordance with, regardless of the life, that life determines what we will live out.
Hence, we must see clearly that within a person who is saved there are three different lives—the created life of man, the fallen life of Satan, and the uncreated life of God. Though we have all three lives within us, yet we obtain them at three different junctures due to three different occurrences. First, at the time of creation and through creation we obtained the created life of man. Second, during the fall, due to our contact with Satan and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we obtained the fallen life of Satan. Third, at the time of our salvation, because we believed in the Son of God and received Him, we obtained the uncreated life of God. Due to the fact that these three events—creation, fall, and salvation—occurred in us, we obtained the three lives of man, Satan, and God, each life differing from the others in nature. Having seen and known this, we can then be clear regarding the way of life. Since the three different lives of man, Satan, and God exist in us concurrently, according to which one should we live? The life of man? The life of God? Or the life of Satan? The life we live in accordance with is the life we will live out. Herein lies the way of life.