箴十六25 有一条路，人以为正，至终却是死亡之路。

　　约十一25 ……我是复活，我是生命；信入我的人，虽然死了，也必复活。

　　罗八2　 因为生命之灵的律，在基督耶稣里已经释放了我，使我脱离了罪与死的律。

　　神造亚当后，把他摆在两棵树跟前，一棵是生命树，一棵是善恶知识树。神吩咐亚当不可吃善恶知识树，因为他吃的日子必定死（创二9、16~17）。神要亚当吃生命树。亚当若吃了生命树，这棵树就要进到他里面，然后长在他里面。然而，亚当吃了善恶知识树。这棵树因而种到亚当里面，长在他里面，也长在亚当一切的后裔里面。……今天整个人类都是由善恶知识树所构成。在每个人类社会中，不论道德如何，善恶知识树总是一直在生长。只要这棵树在人类当中生长，就没有和平（约伯记生命读经，三五至三六页）。

　　Prov. 16:25 There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death.

　　John 11:25 …I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes into Me, even if he should die, shall live.

　　Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.

　　After God created Adam, He placed him in front of two trees—the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God then charged Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if he ate of that tree, he would die (Gen. 2:9, 16-17). God wanted Adam to eat of the tree of life. If Adam had eaten of the tree of life, this tree would have entered into him and then would have grown within him. However, Adam ate instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This tree was thus sown into Adam and grew within him, and it has been growing in all of Adam’s descendants…Today the entire human race is a race constituted according to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In every human society, regardless of the kind of ethics it has, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is growing. As long as this tree is growing among the human race, there will be no peace. (Life-study of Job, pp. 29-30)

　　我们重生之前，都是在善恶知识树的线上。当我们重生时，基督就将祂自己这生命树栽种到我们里面。然而，在我们实际的日常生活中，我们是在善恶知识树的线上，还是在生命树的线上？譬如，在我们的婚姻生活中，我们可能在知识树的线上；我们和配偶说话的方式，可能叫我们不但生长这棵树，更对它浇灌、施肥。那么，我们该怎么办？我们需要记住保罗在加拉太二章二十节的话—“现在活着的，不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着”，而从知识树转向生命树。我们若如此行，就会活基督并生长基督这生命树。

　　假定你和配偶之间有了难处，你不该作什么，因为你无论作什么，都是在善恶知识树的范围里。你只要祷读加拉太二章

　　二十节：“我已经与基督同钉十字架；现在活着的，不再是我，乃是基督在我里面活着。”不要注意难处或你的怒气，只要注意基督在你里面活着。我们在一切事上都该如此。

　　约伯和他的朋友……都在善恶的范围，在提升人纯全的范围里。他们需要进到正确的范围，就是生命树的范围里。他们需要回到生命树，生命树才是他们的答案。……约伯不该试着去达到纯全的高峰，他所需要的乃是尽所能追求神，直接追求基督这人位。约伯的方向该朝向这高峰，不该朝向为人纯全的高峰。

　　我们需要看见，整本圣经是论到神永远经纶的书。神在祂经纶里的心意，乃是要把祂自己分赐到我们里面，作我们的生命和性情，使我们在生命和性情上能成为与祂一样，以彰显祂。那么为什么有剥夺和销毁？神的剥夺和神的销毁是要拆毁我们。我们是堕落、天然的人；身为这样的人，我们需要被拆毁。神必须拆毁我们，然后祂才有一个根据，有一条路来重新建造我们。

　　神在祂经纶里的心意，不是要使堕落的人成为健全，乃是要把我们拆毁，并以祂自己作我们的生命和性情，把我们重新建立起来，好叫我们这人完完全全与祂成为一。

　　约伯记给我们看见，神透过撒但这丑恶的工具所作的，就是要借着剥夺和销毁这两种方式，把约伯拆毁。神在约伯身上施行剥夺和销毁，好将他拆毁，使神能有一个根据和一条路，用神自己重建约伯，使他成为神人。这是我们研读约伯记时所该得着的（约伯记生命读经，三六、八四、五一至五二、四二页）。

　　参读：约伯记生命读经，第十三、十六、二十二至二十五、三十六至三十八篇。

　　Before we were regenerated, we were in the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When we were regenerated, Christ planted Himself into us as the tree of life. However, in our practical, daily living, are we in the line of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or in the line of the tree of life? In our married life, for example, we may be in the line of the tree of knowledge, and by the way we talk with our spouse, we may not only grow this tree but also water it and fertilize it. What, then, should we do? We need to remember Paul’s word in Galatians 2:20—”It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me”—and turn from the tree of knowledge to the tree of life. If we do this, we will live Christ and grow Christ as the tree of life.

　　Suppose there is a problem between you and your spouse. You should not do anything, for whatever you do will be in the realm of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You should simply pray-read Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Do not care for the problem or your anger—just care for Christ living in you. This should be our way in everything.

　　Job and his friends…were in the realm of good and evil, in the realm of promoting man’s integrity. They needed to get into the right realm, the realm of the tree of life. They needed to come back to the tree of life. The tree of life was their answer. Instead of trying to attain to the peak of integrity, Job needed to do his best to pursue God, to pursue Christ the person directly. Job’s direction should have been toward that peak, not toward the peak of human integrity.

　　We need to see that the entire Bible is a book on God’s eternal economy. In His economy God’s intention is to dispense Himself into us to be our life and our nature that we may be the same as He is in life and nature in order to express Him. What, then, about the stripping and the consuming? God’s stripping and God’s consuming are to tear us down. We are fallen and natural men. As such men, we need to be torn down. God must tear us down. Then God can have a base, a way, to build us up again.

　　In His economy God’s intention is not to make fallen man whole. Rather, God’s intention is to tear us down and rebuild us with Himself as our life and our nature that we may be persons who are absolutely one with Him.

　　The book of Job shows us that God, through Satan as an ugly tool, was tearing Job down by two ways: stripping and consuming. God’s stripping and consuming were exercised over Job to tear Job down that God might have a base and a way to rebuild him with God Himself that he might become a God- man. This is what we should receive in our study of Job. (Life-study of Job, pp. 30, 70, 44, 34-35)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msgs. 13, 16, 22—25, 32, 36—38