Life began very simply. God formed man, as a potter shapes a vessel of clay, out of the elements of that which he had already created and then breathed into the inanimate form the breath of life. The vessel of flesh and blood, lifeless in itself, became a breathing creature when quickened by the breath of life, the Spirit of God. The listless structure of the human body became a living, breathing entity because it had been energized by the essence of all life--God. The flesh of created man and the Spirit of Creator God met together in perfect union to constitute a living, breathing creature.

Moreover, newly formed man lived his life in simplicity. As a child experiences life with the warmth and safety of an earthly father, the first of mankind experienced his life in the embrace of the love of his heavenly Father. Experiencing the greatest possible expression of life, the original man and the original woman encountered the days of their lives in the providential care of God Himself. God provided all that was needed to experience the glory of paradise.

It would not be long, however, until all would not be well in paradise. Man desired not to live in the simplicity of the innocence of a child enjoying the continual expression of God’s love. Using the God-given freedom of his intellect, he began to think that it would be better for him to be a god himself. He began to believe that he himself, making God-like decisions, could direct the course of his life. With the now-perceived ability of the freedom of choice, man would attempt to control his own experiences. He now believed that the power of the times and the seasons of life were within his jurisdiction.

Although man would now continually struggle to solve moral issues, he unknowingly had created a greater impediment in his life. For the perverted struggle of good and evil only became a problem when the intricacies of the mind began to perceive it can produce the essence of life by its own activity. The fruit of the forbidden "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:16–3:24) brought man into an endless maze. Desperately searching, yet never able to fulfill his dreams, aspirations, or longing for the unadulterated joy of living, man became lost in his own thinking.

The curse of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that the mind can only attempt to live within its own thinking. In turn, it will only be able to think on that which it has encountered. It becomes trapped in its own limitations to get outside of itself. Man simply cannot get to God from where he now resides, from within the framework of his thinking.

It was the consumption of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that brought Jesus Christ into the physical world. He said, "For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth" (John 9:39–41). Jesus came to undo the seeing of man, bringing man back to the innocence of his mind.

When this deliverance occurs, when the misguided mind is conquered by Jesus, man is restored to a state of innocence (freedom from guile or cunning: simplicity). The grace of God flows in his life, producing the greatest possible manifestation of the life of God in man. Living now of the kingdom of God as opposed to living of the kingdom of men, man experiences once again the free flow of the love of God. He experiences the unadulterated manifestation of Jesus Christ in his life.