What Knowledge?

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We must now examine what NO ONE understands. Remember, man is made of flesh. But he has another non-physical, critically important component that must be explained. Paul wrote, “For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:11). Do not interpret this verse. Let it interpret itself. Accept it for what it says.

This passage identifies TWO different kinds of spirit—the “Spirit of God” and the “spirit of man.” They are not the same. Each provides a different function in acquiring knowledge.

Human knowledge (“the things of a man”) is acquired because God has given men a human spirit—the spirit in man. Paul’s inspired statement also makes clear that spiritual knowledge (“the things of God”) can only be acquired by the presence of the Spirit of God. Even this very knowledge is in itself truly amazing! Think of it this way. Virtually no one has the knowledge about HOW either physical or spiritual knowledge is acquired!

The Old Testament writer Job plainly stated, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding” (Job 32:8). Job said exactly what Paul said. He identified that there is a spirit in man, while distinguishing spiritual understanding (knowledge) as something that comes from God—“the Almighty.”

Animals do not have the spirit in man. Animal brains are entirely different from human minds. Humans are given the spirit of man from conception. It allows them, through use of the five senses, to acquire and retain knowledge. Without this unseen spirit element, mankind would just be another dumb beast. But he is made in the image of God and has been given the power to acquire, retain and use knowledge for all kinds of purposes.

All human beings were created by God to receive two different spirits. One comes naturally at conception, and the other comes by an entirely different means. Without the Spirit of God, people are literally “not all there.” Their existence remains limited to what they can acquire on their own without God’s help.

Earlier, we left off talking about the Tree of Life. Let’s now return to it, remembering that Adam was offered the opportunity to eat of this Tree.

Life or Death?

Your human existence is literally a matter of life or death. Jesus said, “...I am come that they might have LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Yet, Paul wrote, “all have sinned” (Rom. 3:23) and “the wages of sin is DEATH” (Rom. 6:23). Remember, human beings do not have souls, they are souls (Gen. 2:7). (Read our thorough booklet The Truth About Hell, to understand more about the false idea regarding the immortality of the soul.)

Man is not naturally headed toward eternal life, but rather toward DEATH!

Human beings live approximately 70 to 80 years, and in some parts of the world much less. A few manage to live longer than this, but eventually all die. Yet, it was never God’s original purpose that it be this way. God wants us to experience life for all eternity.

God intends that all human beings ultimately receive His Holy Spirit. He wants it to eventually enter all minds. Let’s learn what role this SECOND spirit component plays in the process, and how it works with the spirit in man. Notice what Paul wrote: “The Spirit [the Holy Spirit] itself bears witness with our spirit [spirit in man], that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16-17).

Two spirits are described here. Did you see that God’s Spirit works “with” the human spirit to bring human beings to salvation as “joint-heirs with Christ”? It is this Spirit that Adam was offered and would have received had he eaten of the Tree of Life!

In I Corinthians 2:1-16, Paul had also said, “But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor 2:14). This is an enormously important verse. It is simply not possible for human beings without God’s Spirit to understand spiritual knowledge—spiritual understanding. Such things can only seem “foolish” to a mind that cannot “spiritually discern.” No matter how intelligent or talented a person may be, without the Spirit of God, it can be said that they have a spiritual I.Q. of ZERO! None of the problems common to individuals or nations can be properly addressed and resolved without the involvement of the Holy Spirit at work in minds.

Even attempting to tell people that they lack this spiritual component is a useless exercise, if God is not opening their minds (John 6:44, 65). It will seem foolish to them, because even this information is “spiritually discerned.” And the more intelligent and self-reliant the person is, the more foolish it will probably seem to him to be told that his mind is incomplete.

If Adam had eaten of the Tree of Life, he would have received the Spirit of God. He would have learned the way of love—the “give” way—instead of the way of “get,” practiced by this world. The Bible says that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10), and that “love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 5:5).

Romans 8:6 states, “For to be carnally [physically] minded is death; but to be spiritually minded isLIFE and PEACE.” If Adam had received the Spirit of God, he would have received life inherent within him. He would have been an “heir” with Christ as much as any true Christian today. He would have also known the way to peace.

This is absolutely remarkable understanding—unknown to all but a scattered few on earth today. It has simply not been understood until our time!

Why Were You Born?

God said that He made human beings in His “image” and “likeness.” This verse means what it says. God created you to become “like” Him in every way. Through His Spirit entering the mind of each of His newly converted children, a new spirit life is begotten. A tiny, spirit-begotten foetus comes into existence. Just as little children grow up to look like their physical parents, God’s children slowly take on the SPIRITUAL likeness of God (their Parent), in nature and character, as much as in image and form (II Pet. 1:4). Both the Old and New Testaments make this point absolutely plain!

Has anyone ever pointed out the following scripture to you? “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be LIKE Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2). While many have some vague understanding that Christians might be “sons of God,” few ever consider this verse. We will one day have the very likeness of Jesus Christ. Remember that Romans 8:16 said that we are “children” of God with Christ.

King David also understood this a thousand years earlier when he wrote: “As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Your LIKENESS” (Psa. 17:15). (This verse debunks the popular “beatific vision” delusion that people cannot actually see God’s face in the afterlife, but rather just the “corona” around it.)

David understood that we will see the face of God. So did John. Both understood that at the Resurrection—when we “awake”—we will be exactly like God, in form and character. So, God is reproducing Himself in human beings who have received His Holy Spirit. He is creating children that will look and be just LIKE HIMSELF!

The very Spirit of God in us will allow us to awake in the Resurrection. Notice Romans 8:11: “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies BY His Spirit that dwells in you” (also I Cor. 15 and I Thes. 4:13-18). Christ was raised to return to His position alongside God the Father. He had fulfilled His task of becoming Savior. Understand this! The very same Spirit, dwelling in us from the moment of conversion, will raise us (all those begotten of God) to be with God in the kingdom of God.

Like the newly begotten baby grows in its mother’s womb, the Christian must also grow before he can leave the womb. Peter wrote, “But GROW in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (II Pet. 3:18). Christians are to grow in this lifetime. In order to be given divine authority and power, as joint-heirs with Christ, Christians must qualify, through the building of God’s holy, righteous character in their lives.

Jesus said, “I will build My church” (Matt. 16:18). It is the Church—that Church—that is “Jerusalem above,” which is “the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22-23; Rev. 12:1; II John 1, 5). Like any mother, the Church nurtures and feeds her children—and she has been doing this for 2,000 years.

When Adam rejected the Tree of Life, he rejected the opportunity to receive the Spirit of God, which would have opened his mind to the plan of God—to why he had been created. His decision caused him and his wife, Eve, to be cast from the garden. Their joint decision carried grave implications for all human beings who came from them—who could not then have access to the Tree of Life.

The Genesis account reads, “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the TREE OF LIFE, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the WAY of the TREE OF LIFE” (Gen 3:22-24). The “way” of receiving and living by God’s Spirit was no longer accessible to men.

Instead of following God’s instruction, Adam took of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” He thought he knew better than God. He took to himself the right to decide between what was right (good) and what was wrong (evil). He thought that he could trust his own physical senses in all matters. In this sense, this decision did “open his eyes” (Gen. 3:7)—but not to the things of God, which come only by receiving God’s Spirit. Adam’s decision precluded any opportunity to acquire spiritual knowledge. His understanding remained limited to what he could learn through the five physical senses.

With this decision, he cut off himself and all mankind from any access to God. Ever since, this OTHER tree has guided the thinking of the men and nations of this world. We must understand what this means for us: Man is NOT COMPLETE! All knowledge that would enter his mind could only be physical and material. For his sin of rejecting God and the Tree of Life, he was rejected by God and cast from the garden. In a direct sense, mankind was cast out with him!

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