September 28, 2025 | Lorain Fellowship
NKJV Genesis 2:15-25
Allowing Man to Have Free Choice
15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 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.
18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Footnotes:
Gen 2:152 work
Man’s working the ground was that life, especially the tree of life (v. 9), might grow for the fulfillment of the first aspect of God’s purpose, i.e., to express God in His image. The ground typifies the human heart, into which Christ as the seed of the tree of life is sown (Matt. 13:3-23). To work the ground signifies to loosen and break our hard heart, to open our heart to the heavens that the Spirit as the rain (see note 51) may descend for the growth of Christ as the tree of life within us.
Gen 2:153 keep
Or, guard. This is to protect the garden from God’s enemy that the second aspect of God’s purpose might be fulfilled, i.e., to deal with Satan by God’s authority. We need to work the ground that God as the tree of life might enter into us. We also need to keep the ground, leaving no opening for Satan as the tree of knowledge.
Gen 2:171a not - Gen. 3:11, 17; cf. Gen. 3:3
God’s first commandment to man concerned man’s eating, not man’s conduct. Eating is critical to man, a matter of life or death. Man’s outcome and destiny before God depends altogether on what he eats. If man eats the tree of life, he will receive God as life and fulfill God’s purpose; if he eats the tree of knowledge, he will receive Satan as death and be usurped by him for his purpose.
God’s forbidding commandment given as a warning to man indicates (1) God’s greatness in creating man with a free will that man may choose God willingly and not under coercion; (2) God’s love for man; and (3) God’s desire that man would eat the tree of life to receive God into him as life.
Gen 2:181 man
The third step of God’s procedure in fulfilling His purpose was to work Himself as life into man to make man His complement. Adam here typifies God in Christ as the real, universal Husband, who is seeking a wife for Himself (Rom. 5:14; cf. Isa. 54:5; John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32; Rev. 19:7; 21:9). Adam’s need for a wife typifies and portrays God’s need, in His economy, to have a wife as His complement.
Gen 2:211a deep - Gen. 15:12; 1 Sam. 26:12
In order to produce a complement for Himself, God first became a man (John 1:14), as typified by God’s creation of Adam (Rom. 5:14). Here Adam’s deep sleep for the producing of Eve as his wife typifies Christ’s death on the cross for the producing of the church as His counterpart (Eph. 5:25-27). Through Christ’s death the divine life within Him was released, and through His resurrection His released divine life was imparted into His believers for the constituting of the church (see note 341 in John 19). Through such a process God in Christ has been wrought into man with His life and nature so that man can be the same as God in life and nature in order to match Him as His counterpart.
Gen 2:221a built - 1 Tim. 2:13
It does not say that Eve was created but that she was built. The building of Eve with the rib taken from Adam’s side typifies the building of the church with the resurrection life released from Christ through His death on the cross and imparted into His believers in His resurrection (John 12:24; 1 Pet. 1:3). The church as the real Eve is the totality of Christ in all His believers. Only that which comes out of Christ with His resurrection life can be His complement and counterpart, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Eph. 5:28-30).
Gen 2:251 And
Adam and Eve, being one, lived a married life together as husband and wife. This portrays that in the New Jerusalem the processed and consummated redeeming Triune God as the universal Husband will live a married life with the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified humanity as the wife, forever. See note 171, par. 2, in Rev. 22.
The revelation concerning the garden of Eden, as the beginning of the divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures, and the revelation concerning the New Jerusalem, as the ending of the divine revelation in the Holy Scriptures, reflect each other. Both contain four things: (1) the tree of life as the center of God’s eternal economy (v. 9; Rev. 22:2), (2) the river flowing to reach the four directions of the earth (v. 10; Rev. 22:1), (3) three kinds of precious materials (vv. 11-12; Rev. 21:11-14, 18-21), and (4) a couple (vv. 18-25; Rev. 21:9-10; 22:17). What is revealed in these two parts of the Scriptures is the central line of the divine revelation of the entire Holy Scriptures and should be a controlling principle of the interpreting and understanding of the Holy Scriptures.
Life Study of Genesis Message 13
Allowing man to have free choice
Although God wanted man to eat of the tree of life, He did not force him to do it. Neither did God put the tree of life into him. Instead, God gave man free will. He gave him freedom of choice. When mothers feed their infant children, they seem to force the children to take the food. Nevertheless, the baby still has free will, for often he refuses the food that has been put in his mouth. The mother wants her child to eat, but she must recognize that he has a free will.
God created man with freedom of choice. Why did God do this? God is great. He is not small. Only a small man forces people to accept his opinion. If you compel others to take your way, it proves that you are a small person. If you are a great man, you will never force people to accept you. You will always give them a choice, saying, "If you love me, you may take me. If you do not care for me, you are free to forget about me." No man who is great or honorable will coerce people. Likewise, God is great. He is so attractive as the God of glory. God did not place man in front of Him exclusively, thus compelling man to choose Him. He placed man before two trees, confronting him with a choice.
When I was a young Christian, I was bothered by this. I said, "Why did God put man into such a dangerous situation? If I had been God, I would have removed the tree of knowledge of good and evil. I would have left the tree of life, placed man in front of it, and built a high protective wall to keep him safe. Why didn't God do this? Why did God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden as a temptation? Every problem comes from this source. Why didn't God take it away? If He had removed this tree, it would have saved us a great deal of trouble." I was not the only one who had these questions. Many young people asked me the same thing. However, if God had not given man a choice, He would have forced him to take the tree of life. God is too great to do such a thing. God is honorable and attractive. In order to display His greatness and prove His attractiveness, He needs the second tree.
According to the book of Job, Satan, the adversary of God, accused Job to God. He seemed to say, "Why does Job worship You? He worships You only because You bless him. If You take away all these blessings, Job will forsake You and renounce You to Your face" (Job 1:9-11). In other words, Satan told the Lord that He was bribing Job to worship Him and that if He did not bribe him, Job would forsake Him. Thus, Satan was slandering God as well as Job. God seemed to answer Satan, "Do as much as you can. I only command you to spare his life. I will prove to you that Job has not been bribed, but that he has been attracted by Me. Job worships Me out of his own free will."
God is the same today. He never forces anyone to accept Him. When the Lord Jesus came, He did not coerce people into following Him. He presented Himself to people, but always respected their freedom of choice. The Lord seemed to say, "If you like Me, you may take Me. If you don't like Me, you may forget about Me." Some of us may feel that we have been compelled by the Lord's mercy to believe in Him. To a certain extent, I feel the same way. His mercy has conquered us, persuading us to receive Him. Nevertheless, I can testify strongly that if you force me to reject Him, I will still take Him. I will never give Him up. Why have there been so many martyrs throughout the centuries? The Lord God stayed away, allowing His people to make a choice, that the actual situation might be proved to His enemy. God seemed to say, "Do your best, Satan. My people still choose Me." Our brother Watchman Nee was imprisoned for twenty years, from 1952 until his death in 1972, where he was tested and tempted. He never changed his choice because his Lord was too lovely and too attractive. We have received the Lord Jesus, not because we have been forced or pressed, but because we have been called by His glory and attracted by His virtue (2 Pet. 1:3). We all can confess that regardless of what people might offer us, we would never renounce the Lord Jesus. Our Lord is too dear, too precious, and too attractive. We have made Him our unique choice. The same principle operated in the garden of Eden when God placed Adam before the two trees, which denoted two sources. God wanted man to choose Him as the tree of life.
A Sketch of Genesis
A Counterpart
We now come to the fourth picture of God’s life supply: “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.’…So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:18, 21–24). The Bible here talks about the oneness of life. The word “suitable” (v. 18) in Hebrew means “a counterpart, or mate” (Strong, no. 5048). When we see an old couple, we know they are husband and wife. Their faces, character, and life match since they have shared the fellowship of life for a long time.
“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Gen. 2:18). God then brought all kinds of anima ls to him. Adam named every animal, but not one matched him as his counterpart (vv. 19–20). God caused Adam to fall asleep. He opened his side and took one of his ribs (v. 21). God made a woman from the rib and brought her to him. Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (v. 23). Eve matched Adam completely. Adam and Eve signify Christ and the church (Eph. 5:30– 32). Although our God is the Lord of all, without the church as His counterpart, He remains alone. Only His church can satisfy Him.
From another angle, however, this story shows how our growth in life eventually brings us into oneness with God. Only what is produced from the growth in life can be presented to God as His counterpart. We cannot present sinful or worldly things, but neither can we present doctrines, Bible knowledge, or yesterday’s spiritual experience. Only what comes from God’s life matches Him, satisfies Him, and can be brought to Him.
The result of our growth in life is to be fully one with God. Nothing else will satisfy both God and us. In a sense, we are like Adam as he named the animals and did not find any among them that matched him. Nothing of the world can be our match. When things come to us, we should just give them names, then set them aside as Adam did. We can say, “This is a career,” and put it aside; “This is a degree,” and put it aside; “This is money,” and put it aside. We can know things of the world but we should not let them capture our heart. We have dominion over them and make use of them, but we shouldn’t marry them as our counterpart.
Adam faced all the animals on the earth. Whether they were pretty or ugly, flying or walking, running or jumping, big or small, he just gave them names and put them aside. For example, when a peacock came to him, he just said, “This is a peacock,” and put it aside. We are different. We might not give it a name right away but observe it first and wonder at the beauty of its feathers. Finding it interesting, we might set aside four years to study it. Just like that, four years are gone. When a career comes to us, we don’t say, “This is simply a career,” and put it aside for our use. We say, “Oh, this is the hope of my life! This is my future. I want a life with a good career. This will be the way of my life.” If we were in Adam’s place and an elephant came to us, we might have said, “Oh, how big is this animal! Its trunk is so long and its legs so strong. I should marry it and study it.” How ridiculous this is! However, this is our situation. We marry our career. After a few years, we discover how empty it is and are willing to put it aside.
Perhaps we are not attracted by the world but by spiritual things or experiences. Even these can replace God as our counterpart. For example, Bible study is like a beautiful horse we use every day. After we name it “Bible study,” it can be our companion but not our counterpart. Bible study is useful, and even necessary, for us to grow to be totally one with God, but only God Himself can be our counterpart.
We should not take the first two chapters of Genesis as mere knowledge or doctrine. They should leave us with one desire: We need to grow! If we don’t grow, we are left with nothing but empty talk. Chapter 1 portrays the growth of life in six steps. Chapter 2 portrays four kinds of life supply that God gives us for our growth: the human spirit, the tree of life, the river of life, and God as our counterpart. We are His love. When we are mature in His life, we are just like the description of the psalmist: “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth” (Psa. 73:25). We know things, appreciate things, and make use of things, but they are all under our dominion. We ourselves are for God, unto God, living in the life of God, and one with God completely.