The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the fruit that uplifts man's soul and dampens man's spirit. The knowledge of good and evil constitutes the work of the soul in this world. God forbade man to eat of this fruit, not only for the purpose of testing man, but because He knew that within man was the spiritual life and the soulish life, and that if man were to eat of this fruit, his soulish life would develop, and his spiritual life would die. This means that he would lose the knowledge of God and would die to God. This was God's love. The knowledge of good and evil is wicked in this world. Knowledge comes from the intellectual part of man's soul. When man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, surely his soulish life developed and was uplifted. Once the soulish life develops and is uplifted, the spiritual life is suppressed, loses the knowledge of God, and becomes as dead.

Most servants of God would agree that the tree of life here is the life that God gives to man in His Son Jesus Christ. That is, it is the eternal life, God's own uncreated life. Here are two trees, one to develop the spiritual life and the other to develop the soulish life. Although man was without sin, he was neither holy nor righteous. Man was in a neutral position: he could receive God's life and become a spiritual person, sharing God's nature, or he could develop his own created soulish life, making himself soulish, and thus put his spirit to death. Man's tripartite nature is fully balanced by God, and if any one of his three parts experiences inordinate development, the other parts will unavoidably suffer loss.

If we understand the origin of the soul and the principle of its life, we will be greatly helped in our spiritual life. The spirit comes from God and is given by God (Num. 16:22). The soul, however, does not have such a direct relationship with God. The soul was produced when the spirit entered into the body. The characteristic of the soul is that it is associated with the creatures. It is a created life, a life in the natural realm. If the soulish life remains forever in the place of a steward and allows the spirit to be the "lady of the house," its use will be very great, because by its resolve, man is able to receive God's life and to be related to God in life. However, if this soulish life develops, it will suppress the spirit and subject all of man's conduct to the natural realm of the creature, thus disabling man from joining himself to God's supernatural and super-created life. When man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, his soulish life developed, and he fell into the place of death.

Satan's temptation began with a question. He knew that once a question was raised, Eve would have to exercise her mind to think. If Eve had been willing to be subject to the control of the spirit, she would have rejected this question. Once she decided to answer the question, she had to exercise her mind, and her soul had to act contrary to the spirit and beyond its limit. Moreover, Satan's question was full of mistakes. He asked in this way in order that Eve would correct his mistakes. In this way, her mind became more active. But Eve did more than this; she changed God's word in her answer and in her conversation. The enemy tempted her by telling her that if she would eat, her eyes would be opened, and she would be like God, knowing good and evil. "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise" (Gen. 3:6). This was Eve's judgment. At the beginning Satan stirred up the mind in her soul. Now he went one step further to gain her will, and she sinned.