( Gen. 2:16-17 ) Tree of Life: Eternal life depends upon being subjected to and being submitted to live according to God's Word, His authority, and His ethical and moral principles - the supernatural life.
( John 6:35 ) Tree of Knowledge Of Good and Evil: Independent of God, who is life, not submitting to His authority, but relying on one's own conscious and deliberate capability to distinguish good from evil - the natural life.
Choice: Man given power and ability to choose, to submit to authority or not. The act of choosing is what makes man truly human. In Gen. 3:6 , God's chain of authority was violated. The act of submitting voluntarily in the Trinity, Adam to God, Eve to Adam is all necessary in order to complete man in God's image. Being God's representative on earth, man in union with his wife, are to establish God's kingdom and will on earth - the supernatural life of faith, hope and love.
Redemption Plan to Establish The Church
( Gen. 3:15-16,20 ) God's mercy and grace given to Eve to become the means of the redemptive process, "the mother of all living". Here, again, Eve is told to submit to Adam and Adam to exercise his authority.
( Gen. 2:7,18 ; Gen. 2:22-24 ) Man was made from earthly elements, woman was made from the substance of man - the ribs over man's heart.
Woman is of substance, mother of life, giver of life. Thus, she has greater spiritual dimensions and the depth necessary in order to make up the 'deficiencies' in man. Man is incomplete and needs woman to complete him in order to bring forth the church.
( Eph. 5:22-25 ) Adam is the protector of life, given dominion. Man is to exercise control and authority to protect his wife from any harm whatsoever because his very spiritual effectiveness depends on her.
( 2 Cor. 4:10-12 ) Both husband and wife are to act in the redemptive process: daily dying to reactions of the flesh, meeting the other's needs, helping to remove the dross from one another, becoming one flesh in mind and spirit. (See also Section 5.3, “What Makes a Man a Man” )
( Heb. 5:8-9 ) Through suffering, we learn obedience, becoming perfect as Jesus. (See also Section 9.2, “Sin, Self, Suffering” )
Perspectives
( Eph. 5:16-21 ) Evil remains unless we replace it with righteous actions. Being drunk is being filled with the world's ideas, its philosophies (TV, movies, magazines, etc.), living by feelings, by worldly wisdom, reacting in the flesh instead of responding biblically in the power of the Holy Spirit.
( Rom. 12:1-2 ; Eph. 4:22-24 ) Commitment is critical, and it all begins in the mind. Push out and cast away the garbage of self, the world's ideas, and dwell and act on God's truths.
( Phil. 2:3-4 ) A Christian is a person who is governed by thought, by understanding, by meditation: developing a spirit of consideration for the interest and concern of others.
( Eph. 1:17-19 ) In the depths of our being, we are to know intimately who we are, what we are, and what we can do in Christ, who is our wisdom, our strength, and our ability. Dwelling on Christ, we begin to live by divine grace.
In ourselves, we are thoughtless, selfish, self-centered, individualistic, self-assertive, opinionated, resent criticism, impatient of others' points of view, and tend to be dictatorial, hyper-sensitive and usually 'walk out' when things are not going our way.
There is nothing in ourselves to boast of; we are all damned, all lost, all sinners. Thus, we are in a good condition to forego all personal rights and seek the development and enhancement of the whole and of every other part. (See Section 5.2, “Transforming the Natural Self” )
( John 13:12 ; John 14:21 ; Matt. 20-28 ) Controlling principle is that Christ is the Lord of our lives. This is what rules and governs us. His life is our example. We are to be servants to one another because Jesus taught us to be. He gave His life, and in gratitude we keep His commandments that His name might be recognized and glorified by our behavior.
( 1 Cor. 3:11-13 ; Phil. 2:12-13 ) Works and reasons outside of the Word of God are always based on fear. The human standard is the sense-ruled mind which results in fear, sickness, worry, bitterness, etc. Cultivate the fear of offending God until every thought, every image, and every action is initiated by God Himself.
( 1 Pet. 2:21-24 ) We are to live this life not because it is the thing to do or because others are doing it, but because Jesus did it as an example for us to follow. As with Our Lord, we turn over all negatives: anger, bitterness, offenses, and the like - to God. Now we are free in spirit to deal biblically with life's challenges.
( Phil. 2:5-8 ) Jesus' ultimate obedience, submission to the Father, even unto death, gives us the power and authority to do likewise as we submit one to the other, sacrificing our own needs to meet the needs of others.
( Heb. 13:20-21 ) A mind dominated by God's thoughts, nature and ways is a Word-ruled mind which is never prepared to fail because it is supernatural in content.
Work Out Your Salvation (Phil. 2:12-13)
Phil. 2:3-4 and meditate on this verse.
Read Section A.4, “Victory Over Sin Worksheet” and Unit 2 of Strengthening Your Marriage [15][Mack1], and make a list of failures noted in your reading.