Satan gained Adam's will through his emotion, and caused him to sin. The way Satan beguiled Eve was to confuse her mind, gain her will, and then cause her to sin. When man's will, mind, and emotion were poisoned by the serpent to follow Satan and to rebel against God, the spirit with which man communicates with God received a fatal blow. Here we see the principle of Satan's work. He beguiled man's soul to sin through the things of the flesh (the eating of the fruit). Once the soul has sinned, the spirit falls into darkness and degradation. This is the order of all his works—from the outside to the inside. Either he works from man's body or he works from his mind or his emotion for the purpose of gaining his will. Once man's will surrenders, Satan gains the whole being, and the spirit is put to death. The way he worked the first time is the way he works in all subsequent times. God's work is always from the inside to the outside. He first works from man's spirit, then enlightens man's mind, touches man's emotion, finally causes man to exercise his will to activate his body to carry out God's will. All the devil's works go from the outside to the inside, while all the works of God's Spirit go from the inside to the outside. In this way we can differentiate what is of God and what is of Satan. This shows us that once Satan gains man's will, he controls man.

We must be careful to realize that the soul is the organ of man's personality; it is the part that expresses man's free will and is man's master. This is why the Bible often says that it is the soul that has committed sin. Micah 6:7 mentions "the sin of my soul." Ezekiel 18:4 and 20 speak of "the soul that sinneth." In Leviticus and Numbers, we often see the expression "if a soul sin" [KJV]. Proposing to sin is the function of the soul. The definition of sin is the will responding to temptation. Therefore, to sin is a matter of the will, which is of the soul. For this reason, propitiation is for the soul. "To make an atonement [propitiation] for your souls" (Exo. 30:15). "To make propitiation for your souls" (Lev. 17:11). "To make an atonement for our souls before the Lord" (Num. 31:50 [KJV]). Because the one who sins is the soul, the one who requires atonement is also the soul. For the same reason, only a soul can atone sins. "But Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief. / If You make His soul a trespass offering, / ...Because of the travail of His soul, He will see / And He will be satisfied; / ...Because He poured out His soul unto death... / Yet He alone bore the sin of many / And interceded for the transgressors" (Isa. 53:10-12).

If we study the nature of Adam's sin, we will find that besides rebellion, there is also the matter of independence. We should always bear in mind the matter of the free will. The tree of life signifies dependence. In the beginning, man had not yet received God's life. If he had received this life, he would have obtained eternal life. This shows that there was the possibility for man to attain to the highest form of life. It also shows that man did not attain to it. Man will not attain to the highest until he has acquired God's life. This is the meaning of dependence. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies independence. Man wants to have knowledge that God has not given to him and tries to gain the things outside of God by exercising his own will. All these speak of independence. When man rebelled against God, it was a sign of independence because rebellion against God means that there is no further need to depend on God. For man to try to know good and evil is also a sign of independence. He is not satisfied with what God has given him. The difference between being spiritual and being soulish is very clear here. To be spiritual is to fully trust in God and to be satisfied with what God has given. To be soulish is to turn away from God and to freely seek after what God has not given, in particular, to seek after knowledge. Independence is a characteristic of the soul. No matter how good a matter is, even if it is the matter of worship, if there is not the total dependence on God and if there is any self-assurance or self-confidence, it is something soulish. Within a man, the tree of life cannot grow vigorously by the side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This rebellion and independence is the principle of transgression for all sinners as well as for the believers.