Nee/Lee — Creation
b3 — Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 1
Imago Dei
God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26). Just as a glove is made in the image of a hand to contain a hand, so also man is made in the image of God to contain God. By receiving God as his content, man can express God (2 Cor. 4:7).
Source: Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 1, §1. God’s Plan (citing Gen. 1:26; 2 Cor. 4:7)
To fulfill His plan, God made man as a vessel (Rom. 9:21-24), composed of three parts: body, soul, and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23). The body contacts and receives the things of the physical realm. The soul, the mental faculty, contacts and receives the things of the psychological realm. And the human spirit, the innermost part of man, was made to contact and receive God Himself (John 4:24).
Source: Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 1, §2. Man (citing Rom. 9:21-24; 1 Thess. 5:23; John 4:24)
Man was created not merely to contain food in his stomach, or to contain knowledge in his mind, but to contain God in his spirit (Eph. 5:18).
Source: Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 1, §2. Man (citing Eph. 5:18)
Fall and creation
But before man could receive God as life into his spirit, sin entered into him (Rom. 5:12). Sin deadened his spirit (Eph. 2:1), made him an enemy of God in his mind (Col. 1:21), and transmuted his body into sinful flesh (Gen. 6:3; Rom. 6:12). Thus, sin damaged all three parts of man, alienating him from God.
Source: Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 1, §3. Man’s Fall (citing Rom. 5:12; Eph. 2:1; Col. 1:21; Gen. 6:3; Rom. 6:12)
When Adam sinned in the garden of Eden, he immediately hid from God. Before Adam sinned, he enjoyed God and was in His presence all the time. Yet after he sinned, he hid. Sin always results in separation from God (Isa. 59:1-2).
Source: Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 1, §Separation from God (citing Gen. 3; Isa. 59:1-2)
New creation
The overcoming saints will reign with Christ in the millennium, and all the believers in Christ will participate in the divine blessings in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for eternity.
Source: Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 1, §About Two Servants of the Lord, belief 9 (citing Rev. 21-22)
God desires to express Himself through man (Rom. 8:29). For this purpose, He created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26). Although man’s fall did not deter God from fulfilling His original plan, this shows that creation was aimed at divine expression through man as a vessel for God.
Source: Nee/Lee, Basic Elements of Christian Life, Volume 1, §1. God’s Plan (citing Rom. 8:29; Gen. 1:26)