«　WEEK 12　DAY 2　»

　　Deut. 30:19-20 …I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life that you and your seed may live, in loving Jehovah your God by listening to His voice and holding fast to Him; for He is your life and the length of your days, that you may dwell upon the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers…

　　God wanted man to depend on Him for his living in the same way that he was dependent upon food for his living. “For in Him we live and move and are” (Acts 17:28). Thus, God uses two trees to speak to us in a parable. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are a kind of parable. They show us that man has two different kinds of food and can live either by life or by the knowledge of good and evil, that is, the knowledge of right and wrong….The two trees were put there to show us that man, especially a Christian, can live on earth according to two different principles. Man can live according to the principle of right and wrong or according to the principle of life. Some Christians take the principle of right and wrong as the standard for their living, while other Christians take the principle of life as their standard for living. (Watchman Nee, Two Principles of Living (booklet), pp. 2-3)

　　[We need] to see these two principles for living. What does it mean when a person lives according to right and wrong? What does it mean when a person lives according to life? Many people only have the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in their lives. Other people have the tree of life in their lives. Some have both trees. The Word of God tells us, however, that he who eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil shall surely die, while he who eats of the tree of life shall live.

　　If our conduct is controlled by the principle of right and wrong, then we ask if something is right or wrong whenever we have to make a decision. Would it be good to do this, or would it be evil? When we ask whether it is good, we are, in effect, asking ourselves, “Am I right to do this or not?” Many people consider much whether something is good or evil. They consider whether they can or cannot do a certain thing. They ask, “Is this right or wrong?” As they carefully consider a certain matter, being Christians, they determine whether it is good and right to do that thing. By taking care to decide whether or not something is good and right, they consider themselves to be good Christians.

　　God’s Word says, “The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, of it you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17). At the most, this practice is only a discerning of good from evil. At best, it is merely choosing and rejecting—choosing good and rejecting evil. This is…the Old Testament, the law, worldly religions, human morality, and human ethics, but it is not Christianity.

　　Christianity is life,…not a matter of asking whether something is right or wrong…[but] of checking with the life inside us whenever we do something. What does the new life which God has given us tell us inwardly about this matter?…What does our inner life say? If the life is strong and active within us, we can do this; if the life is cold and retreating within us, we should not. Our principle for living is inward instead of outward. The standard of Christian living does not only deal with evil things but also with good and right things. Many matters are right according to human standards, but the divine standard pronounces them wrong because they lack the divine life….Decisions should be made according to God’s life as it rises up or recedes within us….Do we feel joyful inwardly about this matter? Do we have spiritual happiness and peace? These are the matters that decide our spiritual path. (Two Principles of Living (booklet), pp. 2-3, 6-9, 13-15)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Deuteronomy, msgs. 9, 24, 27, 30; CWWN, vol. 56, “Two Principles of Living,” pp. 418-432; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 265; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “The God-man Living,” ch. 14