Man’s First Sin
Out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Gen. 2.9)Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Gen. 2.16,17)The serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden. (Gen. 3.4-8)In this study we would like to see how man first sinned, and receive it as a warning for us today. For as the first sin was, so shall all the sins afterwards be. The sin which Adam committed is the same we all commit. So by knowing the first sin, we may understand all the sins in the world. For according to the view of the Bible, sin has but one principle behind it.
In every sin we can see "self" at work. Although people today classify sins into an untold number of categories, yet inductively speaking there is but one basic sin: all the thoughts and deeds which are sins are related to "self." In other words, though the number of sins in the world is indeed astronomical, the principle behind every sin is simply one—whatever is for self. All sins are committed for the sake of the self. If the element of self is missing, there will be no sin. Let us examine this point a little more closely.
What is pride? Is it not an exalting of self? What is jealousy? Is not jealousy a fear of being supplanted? What is emulation? Nothing less than a striving to excel others. What is anger? Anger is reacting against the loss the self suffers. What is adultery? It is following self’s passions and lusts. What is cowardice? Is it not a caring for self’s weakness? Now it is impossible to mention every sin, but if we were to examine all of them one by one, we would discover that the principle within each one is always the same: it is something that in some way is related to self. Wherever sin is, there is the activity of the self. And wherever self is active, there will be sin before God.
On the other hand, in examining the fruit of the Holy Spirit—which expresses Christian witness—we shall readily see the opposite: that they are none other than selfless acts. What is love? Love is loving others without thinking of self. What is joy? It is looking at God in spite of self. Patience is despising one’s own hardship. Peace is disregarding one’s loss. Gentleness is overlooking one’s rights. Humility is forgetting one’s merits. Temperance is the self under control. And faithfulness is self-restraint. As we examine every Christian virtue, we will discern that other than being delivered from self or being forgetful of self, a believer has no other virtue. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is determined by one principle alone: the losing of self totally.
Granted, I have only mentioned a few virtues and a few sins; but I trust they are sufficient to prove that sin is the following of self whereas virtue is the forgetting of self. If we understand these two principles, we can daily observe all the various sins and judge whether each one is related to self or not. But let me tell you plainly that apart from man being "selfless" there is no virtue and apart from his being "selfish" there is no sin. The self in man is the root of all evils.
In the passages we read at the beginning we are told there were two trees in the Garden of Eden and that Adam, through eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, had brought sin into the world. Let us take a closer look at the two trees mentioned. I will use two words to represent the meaning of both trees. The meaning of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is independence, and that of the tree of life is trust.
We will examine the tree of the knowledge of good and evil first. At the outset we should understand that eating the fruit of this tree is not by its action a very great sin. Adam did not commit adultery here, nor did he murder or do many other unclean sins. He merely ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now although what Adam did was not some frightening sin, nonetheless, in eating the fruit of this tree he caused not only himself to fall but also his progeny, thus filling the world with sins. Even though the sin he committed was not hideous, nevertheless, most hideous sins have sprung from his not very hideous act. According to our logic, if man’s first sin is in actual fact the "mother" of every sin in the world, that very first sin ought to be the most hideous of all. Yet what we see here is merely one man eating too much fruit. In one sense, then, it is innocuous in its appearance.
Why is this so? God regards Adam’s sin as constituting the typical specimen of the countless sins to be committed by all men afterwards. He wants us to understand by this that no matter what the nature of Adam’s sin is, that shall also be the nature of the multitudinous and varied sins the world will commit after Adam. Outwardly sin has the difference of being civil or rude, but its nature and principle always remain the same. Adam’s sin is none other than following his own will. Since God had forbidden him to eat that particular fruit, he should have completely disregarded his own mind and obeyed. But he disobeyed God and ate the fruit after his own will. And thus did he sin. Hence Adam’s sin was nothing less than acting outside of God and according to his own will. Though the sins committed by Adam’s progeny greatly differed from his in outward forms (for there is not another person afterwards who can commit the same sin which Adam committed), yet in principle they have also acted according to self will, and therefore their sins are all the same in nature.
Is it a sin to know good and evil? Is it not virtuous to seek to know good and evil? For God knows good and evil (see Gen. 3.5, 22). Is it a sin to be like God? Is it not a commendable thing to seek to be like God? How is it, then, that this act of Adam’s becomes the very root of all human sin and misery? For what reason? Although such action on the surface appears to be good, Adam acted without God’s command or promise. And in trying to obtain this knowledge outside of God and according to his own self, Adam sinned. Do we now see the significance here of that word "independence"? All independent actions are sins. Adam had not trusted in God; he had not set himself aside in order to obey God; he had acted independently of God; and in order to obtain this knowledge he had proclaimed independence against God. And that is why the Lord declared that this was sin.
Therefore understand this fully, that it does not require the committing of many hideous and terrible sins to be reckoned as sinning. To God, all actions taken outside of Him are sins. "To be like God," for instance, is an excellent desire; but to attempt to do it without listening to God’s command and waiting for God’s time is sinful in His sight. How often we reckon evil things as sins but good things as righteousness. God, however, reckons things differently. Instead of differentiating good and evil by appearance, He looks into the way a thing is done. No matter how excellent it may appear to the world to be, whatever is done by the believer without seeking God’s will, waiting for His time, or depending on His power (but done according to one’s own mind, in hastiness, or by one’s own ability)—such action is sinning in God’s sight.
The Lord looks not at the good or evil of a thing. He looks instead to its source. He takes note by what power the thing is done. Apart from His own will, God is not satisfied with anything else. Apart from His own power, He is not interested in any other. Were it possible for a believer to do something better than the will of God, the latter would still condemn the action and consider the believer as having sinned.
Is it true that all your works and pursuits are according to God’s will? Or are they simply your independent decision? Do your works originate with God? Or are they done according to your pleasure? All our independent actions, no matter how excellent or virtuous they may appear to be, are not acceptable to God. Everything done without clearly knowing the will of God is a sin in His eyes. Everything done without depending on Him is also sin.
Today’s Christians are too capable in doing things, they are too active and doing too many good things! Yet God does not look at how many good things you have done, He only concerns himself with how much is done because of His command. He does not inquire how much you labor for Him; He only asks how much you depend on Him. It is not in much activity that God is pleased; it is in how much you depend on Him. No matter how zealously you work for the Lord, your work will be futile if it is not done by Him in you. We ought to ask this of ourselves: Is the work I do done by the Lord in me, or is it merely myself doing the work? All works independent of Him are sinful works.
Please beware that we may even sin while saving souls. If we do not depend on God but trust in our own understanding and experience of the gospel, we will be sinning and not saving souls in the sight of God even if we have spent time and energy in persuading people to believe in the Lord! If instead of sensing our utter weakness and leaning entirely on the power of the Lord we try to edify saints on the strength of our knowledge of the Bible and our excellent speech, in God’s eyes we will be sinning while preaching! However good they may seem to be to the public, all acts of love and compassion—if they are undertaken by our impulse or strength—are deemed to be sinful in God’s sight. The Lord does not ask if we have done well; He only examines if we have trusted in Him. Whatever is done out of one’s self will be burned up on that day at the judgment seat of Christ, and what is done out of God shall remain.
The meaning of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is none other than being active outside of God, seeking what is good according to one’s thought, being in haste and unable to wait to obtain the knowledge which God has not yet given, and not trusting in the Lord but seeking advance in one’s own way. These all can be summed up in one phrase: independence from God. And such was man’s first sin. God is displeased with the man who departs from Him and moves independently. For He wants man to trust in Him.
The purpose of the Lord in saving man as well as in creating him is for man to trust in God. And such is the meaning of the tree of life: simply put, it is trust. "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat," said God to Adam; "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it." Among all the trees whose fruit could be eaten, God especially mentioned the tree of life in stark contrast to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. "The tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." In taking note of God’s mention particularly of the tree of life, we ought to realize that of all the edible trees, this one is the most important. This is what Adam should have eaten of first. Why is this so?
The tree of life signifies the life of God, the uncreated life of God. Adam is a created being, and therefore he does not possess such untreated life. Though at this point he is still without sin, he nevertheless is only natural since he has not received the holy life of God. The purpose of God is for Adam to choose the fruit of the tree of life with his own volition so that he might be related to God in divine life. And thus Adam would move from simply being created by God to his being born of Him as well. What God requires of Adam is simply for him to deny his created, natural life and be joined to Him in divine life, thus living daily by the life of God. Such is the meaning of the tree of life. The Lord wanted Adam to live by that life which was not his originally.
Hence we have here the distinctive sense of dependence or trust. For when the created being lives by his created life, he does not need to be very dependent on God. This created life is autonomous and self-preserving. But for the created being to live by the life of the Creator, he has to be wholly dependent because the life he would then live by is not his but God’s. He could not be independent of God but would have to maintain constant fellowship with Him and completely rely on Him. Such life is what Adam does not have in himself and so he must trust God to receive it. Moreover, such life—if received by Adam—is what he could not live out by his own effort; and therefore he would have to depend on God continuously in order to keep it. And thus the condition for keeping it would become the same condition for receiving it. Adam would have to depend on God day by day in order for him to live out this godly life in a practical way.
All this that has been said with regard to Adam is required of us by God as well. At the time of Adam the life of God and the life of man were both present in the garden. Today the divine life and the human life are both present within us. We who have believed in the Lord and are saved have been born again—that is to say, born of God; and thus we have a life relationship with God. The life of the created is in us, but so too is the life of the Creator. The current problem, then, is whether or not we live by the divine life—whether or not our lives are totally dependent on God. Just as our flesh cannot live if separated from its created life, so our spiritual life is not able to be lived if separated from the life of the Creator.
God wants us to have no activity outside of Him. He wishes us to die to ourselves and be dependent on Him as though we cannot move without Him. He does not like our initiating anything without His command. He is pleased if we really sense helplessness in ourselves and thus rely on Him wholeheartedly. We ought to resist all actions independent of God. Works which are done without prayer and waiting, without seeking and knowing clearly the divine will, without entirely trusting God, and without examining our conscience to determine if there is any self or impurity mixed in: all are from our own selves and are sinful in God’s sight.
The Lord does not ask how good is your work; He only asks who does the work? He will not be moved by the little good you or I do. He is never satisfied with anything except His work. You may be actively engaged and labor hard, you may even be said to have suffered for the sake of Christ and His church; but if you are not sure it is God who wants you to do the work, or if you do not fully realize your own ignorance and incompetency so that in much fear and trembling you cast yourself upon the Lord, then like Adam you will be sinning in the sight of God. Oh, do cease from your own work! Do not imagine that whatever thing is good is something you can do. You may labor and endeavor according to your own pleasure, but you will have little if any spiritual usefulness.
We all know that an unbeliever, no matter how good his conduct is, cannot be saved. Do we not know many unbelievers whose conduct is commendably good? They are kind, loving, humble, patient; they often surpass ordinary Christians in virtue. Why is it that notwithstanding such enviable conduct they still are not saved? Because all this good comes from their natural self life, and it therefore cannot obtain God’s approval. God is pleased only with what belongs to Him, what comes from himself. Consequently, no unbeliever can please God with the good deeds of his own.
Yet the same is true for the believer. Do we think we can please the Lord with the good and zealous works of our own? We ought to realize that except for the life which God has given us, there is not the slightest difference between our self and the self of the unbelievers. These selves are absolutely the same. The created life of a sinner and the created life of a saint have no difference one from another. If the good deeds done through this created life by the unbelievers are rejected by God, so will the good done through this created life by the believers be rejected by God too.
How sad that we so easily forget the lesson we had learned before! When we first believed in the Lord Jesus, God convicted us by His Holy Spirit that our righteousness was of no use before Him. After we are saved, though, we somehow turn into imagining that now our own righteousness is useful and pleasing to God. We ought to know better, that our being saved and born again has not improved or changed our old life one whit. Except for the newly obtained life of God, our old self remains just the same.
The principle which we learn at the time of regeneration should be maintained continually. Since we as unbelievers were not saved by our independent works, so we as believers will not gain the approval of God by our independent actions either. Whatever is done without depending upon God is displeasing to Him. Whether it comes from sinner or saint, independent action is rejected by God.
You may boast of how much you as a believer have done, how much you have labored, even how much blessing and fruit you have experienced; still, in the eyes of God these are but dead works having no usefulness at all. For all of them are done by yourself and not by His working in you.
How very hard it is to depend on God! How difficult it is for the wise to trust! How arduous for the talented to rely on the Divine. Oftentimes we become active without waiting on God for special strength. For us to deny our talent, to become utterly helpless before God and to not depend on talent but completely on the Lord, is most difficult. The Lord wants us to deny ourselves and our power and to acknowledge our weakness and helplessness in every word and deed. Except the supply of God comes forth, we cannot say a word or do a work. Only in such manner as this does He want us to depend on Him. For what we have in ourselves will invariably lead us away from God. Our talent, wisdom, power and knowledge all tend to strengthen our self-confidence to the loss of our trust in Him. Unless we purposely and persistently deny them, we will never rely on God.
When a child is small, he leans on his parents for everything; but once he grows up he possesses such power and wisdom in himself that he seeks independence instead of dependence. Our God desires us to have a permanent relationship with Him as children so that we may continuously trust in Him.
Do you think that you now have power? That you have already been sanctified? That you have already been filled permanently with the Holy Spirit? That your works have already produced fruits? If so, such ways of thinking will deprive you of a heart of dependence. You need to maintain the attitude and posture of being helpless before men in order to really advance in the way of God. If you allow your self to creep in subtly so that you consider yourself as having all things, you should realize that you will not rely on God anymore.
I who am now speaking to you have absolutely no assurance as to my future. I do not know if I shall still be preaching the gospel next year at this time. Unless God keeps me to this time next year I may not be able to serve; nay, I may not even follow Christ. I speak this out of an anguished heart, for I know I have no way to keep myself. Except I am kept by God, I confess I am not even capable of standing in today’s humble place. I recall how I was on the verge of parting with Christ many times from the day of my becoming a believer to this present moment, but I praise God for keeping me.
Let me tell you that except by leaning on God and trusting Him moment by moment, I do not know of any way to live a sanctified life. If we do not rely on the Lord we cannot know how long we may continue with Him. Without depending on God we can do nothing, not even can we live as Christians for a single day.
Do we really feel this way now? Or do we still have a little power by which to sustain ourselves and to succeed in many things? Be it known to all that self-reliance is the enemy of dependence on God. God must bring us to our end so that we know there is no good in us. Were it not for His grace we would be defeated on every side. We need to come to the place where we know ourselves as absolutely wretched and without strength. We dare not be self-reliant, nor do we dare to take any independent action outside of God. We are to continue to prostrate ourselves before Him in fear and trembling, and to seek for His grace. Otherwise, our nature will usually cause us to think of ourselves as competent, thus delighting ourselves in activities and refusing to depend on God.
As I look back through the years I can see that many of the brethren whom I knew in the early days have fallen away. I still remember once being told by one of them: "Sir, we now know the Scriptures you teach. We have greatly progressed and are not too far from your workers." What self-reliance! But where are these brothers today? I also recall another brother telling me recently: "Brother Nee, if I do not know anything else I know at least the teachings of the Bible . . ." When I heard this, I knew immediately that this brother was in serious danger. Today he too has departed from the straight path. How many similar tragedies we may recall in our lifetime. One chief reason for such tragedies is this: self-reliance. The fact of the matter is that self-reliance is the cause of all defeats.
What God wants us to know today about our self is its absolute undependability. He wants us to confess that we are weak and useless at all times. He wants us to be aware of what we were never aware of before—that is to say, He wants us to be conscious of our utter helplessness and to admit that if it were not because of His keeping power, we could not stand a single moment, that if it were not because of His strengthening, we could not do a thing. May we be broken by the Lord today so that we do not and dare not take any independent action or harbor any attitude outside of Him. Otherwise, vanity and defeat will be the determined end. May God have mercy upon us all.
