Next to the tree of life was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God put man in front of the two trees and let man choose which tree he would eat. If man would make the right choice and would eat the right thing, he would be blessed and have life. If he would choose wrongly and eat wrongly, he would die. Today we still have these two choices. Every time we choose rightly by eating the tree of life, we have life. Every time we choose wrongly by eating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we die. Today we Christians have this kind of experience daily. Adam, who was created by God, made the wrong choice between the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He did not eat of the tree of life, which signifies God as his life, that he might have God’s life organically and live out God. He missed this opportunity because he ate the wrong thing. He ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which signifies Satan, who is the factor of death and in whom are all the elements of death. After eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam fell from God into sin (Rom. 5:12), and the substance of death entered into him to constitute him a sinner dead by nature (v. 19a). Adam not only committed a trespass and offended God and thus had an outward sinful act, but even more he had an inward sinful nature and was constituted a sinner. If someone does the wrong thing, it is easy to correct the problem. But if he eats the wrong thing, taking it into him, this is a matter relating to life; it becomes a matter of life and death. God’s original intention was that man would be for the producing of an organism, but man altogether became sinful, falling under God’s condemnation to suffer eternal perdition.
Since man had fallen into such a condition, what should God do? God still intends to accomplish His economy. He is the God with whom is the beginning and the end; He is the Alpha and the Omega. Once He starts something, He will never give it up. Therefore, He added the law in His economy.
Since man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which signifies Satan, Satan’s nature entered into man. This nature incites and stirs up man to endeavor to do good that he may please God. This becomes a vice of the fallen sinner. Some may be shocked upon hearing this, thinking that all religionists exhort and encourage people to do good, and they may wonder why I say that man’s desire to do good is incited by Satan. Parents like to encourage their children to do good, and even you yourself have an inner desire to do good. Is it good or bad to determine to do good and to encourage others to do good? From man’s standpoint, it is good. Today’s society everywhere encourages people to do good. As far as human society is concerned, this is good, but as far as the accomplishing of God’s economy is concerned, this is not good and is something against God.
God’s intention in His economy is to accomplish a goal, that is, for the Divine Trinity to gain man to be His organism. God’s economy is not to work out man’s goodness; to work out man’s goodness is something of God’s enemy. Human goodness is God’s enemy. What God wants is to have an organism that lives out God to express God, manifest God, and be joined with God as one. Such a living organism is what God wants. From the viewpoint of God’s economy, for man to do good is for man to be in enmity with God.
Before the law was given, God first gave man a sweet promise; He promised the fallen sinner that the seed of woman would come. This seed of woman would destroy the enemy, the serpent, who had damaged man. The seed of woman would become man’s righteousness and man’s salvation. Prior to His coming, however, man would neither believe nor receive Him. Therefore, God had to decree His law to man. The law was not there in the origination of God’s economy. It was added because of man’s transgressions, while God’s economy was proceeding (Gal. 3:19). Due to man’s fall and his not knowing himself, God was forced to insert, to add, the law. To add implies that something was not there originally. The law was not there originally but was added later in order to expose man’s real condition and true nature and thus show man the true picture of himself.
The law of God is a portrait and testimony of God. In Romans 7 Paul says that the law is holy and spiritual and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good (vv. 12, 14). The law is good, holy, and spiritual, yet even so, it is only a portrait, a “photo,” of God. The law describes to us what kind of God He is, what kind of image He bears, and what kind of attributes He possesses. Hence, the law as God’s portrait is called “the testimony” of God in the Old Testament (Exo. 32:15; Psa. 78:5). God’s portrait, God’s description, is God’s testimony. Your photo is your testimony. When you give me a picture of yourself, you testify to me what kind of person you are. The moment I look at the picture, I know what kind of person you are. Similarly, the law is a portrait and testimony of God. When we see the law of God, we know what kind of God He is.