I still have the burden to share further on the two trees from the Gospel of John. The Gospel of John is a book of life. In this Gospel, many human cases are brought to the Lord, and almost every case is an issue of religion, teaching, or questions of right and wrong. As we shall see, the Lord Jesus did not give a yes or no answer to any of the cases.
The Samaritan woman asked the Lord concerning the proper place of worship, whether it was in the mountain of Samaria or in Jerusalem (John 4:20). The Lord answered that it was not a question of the right or wrong place, but a matter of the spirit. To be concerned about a yes or no answer is to be involved with the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Lord said that God is Spirit and that we must worship Him, not in a certain correct place, but in our spirit. As God the Spirit is life and we contact and receive Him as the living water in our spirit, so this worship is in the principle of the tree of life.
One day the Lord saw a man who was blind from birth (John 9:1). The disciples, under the influence of a natural, religious concept, asked Him, "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?" (v. 2). Listen to the Lord's answer. "Neither has this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God might be manifested in him" (John 9:3). Here is the significance of the Lord's reply: people always appraise situations according to yes or no, right or wrong, which are the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but the Lord Jesus always brings people back to the tree of life, which is God Himself.
When Nicodemus approached the Lord in the way of religious teachings, the Lord answered that he needed a rebirth with the divine life. It was not a matter of teaching, of knowledge added to the mind, but of regeneration, of divine life entering the spirit.
If we read the whole book of John, we will see that the Lord Jesus never gave yes or no answers. When people proposed that He act, He refused. When the supply of wine was depleted at the wedding feast in Cana, and when the mother of Jesus wanted Him to deal with the situation, He declined. However, when she ceased asking, He changed water into wine (John 2:3-9). At the time of the feast of tabernacles, the Lord's brothers challenged Him to go into Judea. The Lord told them to go, saying that He Himself was not going. However, after His brothers went to the feast, He also went (John 7:1-10). Likewise, when the Lord was informed that His friend Lazarus was ill, He did not go to see him (John 11:1-6). He stayed where He was for two more days. Afterward, the Lord decided to go into Judea again, and His disciples were opposed to this (John 11:7-8). Why does the Gospel of John present the Lord Jesus as acting in such a way? Because the Gospel of John is a book of life. The Lord wanted to train His disciples to free themselves from right and wrong, yes and no—that is, to forsake the tree of knowledge of good and evil—and to come fully into life. Life is God Himself.
Another case is found in chapter eight where a sinful woman was brought to the Lord (John 8:1-11). This woman had been caught in the act of adultery. The Pharisees said to the Lord that Moses commanded that such a one should be stoned. Then they asked the Lord, "What then do you say?" Although they charged the Lord to give a yes or no answer, He did not reply in this way. He said, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." What does this mean? It means that the Lord was pointing them to God, for in the whole universe God is the only One who is not sinful. The Pharisees were silenced by the Lord's answer. Then the Lord told the woman, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more." This case reveals that it is not a matter of law or of knowledge; it is absolutely a matter of touching the living God.
As I have pointed out previously, when God called Abraham, He did not tell him where to go. If God had done so, Abraham would have had knowledge. However, God purposely refrained from giving Abraham any information in order to keep Abraham constantly in direct contact with Himself. The living presence of God was his map, his direction.
In many of the Christian books we are given ways and methods of doing things. By reading the books, we can learn the proper way. For example, regarding the matter of being crucified with Christ we are told by the books to reckon ourselves dead. If we make this merely a way or a method, it belongs to the tree of knowledge. What is knowledge? What is religion? Knowledge or religion means to be good and to do good, to worship God or to work for God without having the living presence of God. Anything good done for God without His presence is religion. A certain thing may be both life and knowledge to us. If we experience the presence of the living God while doing it, it is life. However, if we do it without God's presence, it is simply dead knowledge. No way or method can help us. We need the living God.
What is life? Life is God Himself. What is the principle of life? The principle of life is to be dependent on God for everything. If you depend on God, everything is life.