Bible Study Cover to Cover

There may be no need. But it also does not hurt if the things symbolized are not contrary to plain teaching.Take what is useful and don't worry about what you do not find useful. The Bible is profoundly rich. We can never exhaust its wisdom.YOu do not have to take interpretations as the word of God itself. Neither should you oppose interpretations unless you have some meaningful grounds to do so.What I share in the way of symbolism is not shared unless I have clear and plain teaching to confirm the symbolism. You may test me on that.But a picture is worth 1,000 words. Or at leat 873 words or so. So there is no real need to forbid me teaching the Bible with some symbolism.I am not too rigid. I suggest that Keeping one's eyes on the climax of the Bible helps to keep you on track.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

"Preaching," "Sermonizing," "Pontificating," etc. etc. whatever.You have your style of writing. I have mine. Its probably the content that bothers you and not so much the delivery. Sermonizing on the principles of higher criticism I am sure would be met with favor and enthusiasm by you. I think you are short sighted a little. You seem to only be concerned with individual spirituality. When we get a little deeper into the Bible we see that there is something more to it than simply producing individual spiritual people.Being an individual spiritual person may meet yours or my need on some individualistic level. But to ascertain the larger purpose of God we should see how individual edification of seekers relates to the eternal purpose of God.Now you may say that there is no explicit command of God concerning Abraham's tent. However, in Exodus the divine instructions concerning the tabernacle are from God and very detailed. On some level God needed the tent. At least His will was to HAVE the tent - the tabernacle. For it was there that He met with Moses in the Holy of holies. In the tent that is.Now think about what is going on here. Before the Jews were divinely instructed to have the "tent of meeting" or the "tabernacle of the testimony", their forefather Abraham had something like that. He had the tent where God appeared to him and he fellowshipped with God.It is the fellowship which is important. And the place of that fellowship with the forefather Abrahamn was at his tent, especially in Genesis 18 where God came to him and had lunch with him. With Mary and Joseph the "tent" is really the physical body of the man Jesus Christ. By that time God dwelt in a man - Jesus of Nazareth.This why:1.) John writes "And the Word became flesh and TABERNACLED among us, (and we beheld His glory; glory as an only Begotten from a Father), full of grace and reality." (John 1:14)The man Jesus was the living tabernacle of God among men. We are progressing now in the New Testament. The glory of God is no longer in the tabernacle of goats skin and porpoise skin etc. The glory of God in the Gospels is shining out of the MAN - the incarnate Son of God. He came to TABERNACLE among us.2.) Jesus points to Himself as the living Bethel the house of God. The temple was the continuation of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was movable. The temple was stationary and more solid. But these were types. The anti-type in the Gospels is the Son of God.And the Son of God, refering in picture to the Bethel in Genesis 28 in Jacob's dream, says: The Jews knee that Jesus was refering to the dream of Jacob of the House of God - Behel. There the angels of God were going up from the earth and coming down from heaven at that location on the earth.If it sounds like a construction sight to anyone, it is. There is serious business going on. God is building Bethel in Jacob's dream. That is the house of God on the earth. There a ladder is set up to join earth to heaven and heaven to earth.The angels are said to being going up and then down. That is not down first and then up but up first and then down. - "you shall see ... the angels of God ASCENDING and DESCENDING on the Son of Man"Compare to Genesis 28: It seems that the main activity is on the earth. God has a purpose on the earth. That purpose is not simply the individual comfort and edification of people so that they may be good spiritual people. No He is after a house. He is after something corporate - something collective to contain Him, to be His rest, and where He may have His glory, and that on the earth.So I think to follow my exposition you should enlarge you capacity a little. You should come up to the high peak of the mountain of God's revelation to see the bigger picture.It is not all about you and I being individual nice spiritual people. Comfort in trials of course is very good. But God has an eternal purpose larger than just comforting my in my trials.I am doing a study of Abraham and Genesis with a view to the larger eternal purpose of God. So I have to mention the development of the tent and the tabernacle, the temple, the incarnation of Christ, the church, the New Jerusalem.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

The practical lessons of seeing God's eternal purpose for man in the revelation of the Bible.Proverbs did say "Without a vision the people run wild."I hope that through my expounding some readers will see something more of a vision of God's plan in the Bible.There is nothing wrong with helping people in their day to day spiritual lives. But some of us want to know what is it all for. That is how does my spiritual life fit into the purpose of God. Why am I here. Why DID Jesus Come?Why did God create man? Why did God have a nation of Israel or a New Testament church?There is more there than individual blessing and individual spirituality that I may be happy. There is the eternal purpose of God to see and to live for.

The importance of the tent does not dictate that in EVERY story we must see the tent.This is true also of the law or of the prophethood or the kingship or other important biblical themes.No particular mention of the tent with Gideon's story only means that other matters are being revealed there.I am surprised though that you would under evaluate the tabernacle with Moses. There was quite space given in Exodus and Leviticus to the tabernacle and its utinsils and furnishings. It was obviosly important for Moses to go on and on about it.He as to see that he made all things according to the pattern shown him on the mount. It was important to God. It was important to God's servant Moses.The century of the twelve tribes was the tabernacle. It was around it that they camped. And the service of it was quite serious. Asks the Levitical priests.When they got into the good land, eventually the tabenacle was replaced with a temple. That land had a center - a city. That city had a center - the temple. That temple contained God so to speak. And it was there that God put His name.So throughout the Old Testament the tabernacle and the temple are a big deal. There God comes to the earth. There God has a place where His name is and where they were to worship.The whole matter of a dwelling place for God is central to the Divine revelation of the Bible. Ultimately we see that this dwelling place is .... PEOPLE. He wants to live IN PEOPLE.The one who makes this possible is the human Bethel, the one Who said "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up."God ever wants to live in man. God created man that He might live in man, in oneness with man, in union with man, in a blended and united manner in man making God and man one.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Baily, my replies will hopefully be brief. Since we have had this debate before, I won't comment too extensively.I essentialy showed the central importance of the tree of life at the end of the Bible. Since God is recovering what was lost and putting man BACK on the track from which he strayed, this to me shows that the tree of life was just AS important in the BEGINNING as it is in the END.Why Adam did not first partake of it is, I admit, a mystery. But I don't think that unawareness was the reason. If in Genesis 3:22-24 God expresses concern that the disobedient and polluted Adam may now put forth his hand and eat of the tree of life and live forever, well then, it must have been a genuine possibility that Adam WAS aware of it.According to your theory since Adam was not aware of it didn't even know about it or that it was there, God should not have been concerned. Adam should have just continued in unawareness.Saying that the awakening of the knowledge of good and evil in Adam made him aware doesn't make too much sense to me. I like the way you assert that we both know something.The text of the story definitely reveals that they made the WRONG choice. I think you have to be blind to see otherwise. The woman was rebuked. The man was rebuked. And the serpent was rebuked.How you can glean from Genesis chapter 3 that they did not make a bad choice is a mystery to me. They were told of one specific tree NOT to eat of. Before the barrier of the flaming sword which turn each direction guarding the way to the tree of life, what other obstacle is there in the story suggesting that they could not partake of it?The exclusion to the tree of life is ALL AFTERWARDS. Show me where it is written that there was a problem of partaking of it BEFORE their poor choice.Any Bible will show you that. Not just mine. Use your own Bible. Where's the passage forbidding them to partake of the Tree of Life before Genesis 3:22-24? Hmmm, "Jaywill's Bible?" I am STILL looking for this "Lovebirds" designation. Is that "Baily's Bible"? There is no verse saying that it was not a conscious option BEFORE Genesis 3:22-24.At best you have a speculation going on here.Now think logically. In the closing pages of the Bible you have this: This suggests that redemption "wash their robes" is the key to reinstating man's right to partake of the tree of life. Now redemption came in because man sinned. Where did man first sin? There in Genesis when Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.I think all in all the evidence suggests that right there at his disobedience he lost the right to partake of the Tree of Life. Genesis 3:22-24 strogly implies the same.Now we are dealing with symbolic matter of which I do not want to lose track. The tree of life represents the life of God Himself. God created a human vessel into which He desired to dispense Himself as life that God and man might be mingled together.The Man of Life is Jesus Christ. The mingling of God and man is seen in Jesus Christ. And what God meant by Man was really sons of God like Jesus Christ.The cherubim stands for the glory of God.
The sword stands for the righteousness of God.
The flame of the sword stands for the holiness of God.God had a three fold demand upon the fallen Adam. Man was not excluded from partaking of God and being joined to God by the demand of God's glory, the demand of God's righteousness, and the demand of God's holiness.The man moved from an innocent existence, a neutral existence to an existence advasarial to God. Man has now joined the opposition party. Man is now an enemy of God. Yet God loves man still. And the rest of the Bible is about His plan to bring man back to His good graces for the partaking of God Himself as the eternal life.This God of glory appeared to Abraham to call out a called race to spearhead God's redemption of all the families of the earth.Abraham is therefore like the divine reply to Adam in the Old Testament. Adam is the head of the created race. Abraham is the head of the called race. Wow. That sounds really serious. So believing that it was not until Genesis 3:22-24 that man was excluded from partaking of the divine life of God makes me - war-mongering, stoic, part of a small powerful group of war mongers abusing of power and given to hierachical authority.Isn't this quite a leap Baily? I mean, really! Emphasizing the wonderful redemption of Jesus to wash our robes that we may have right to the tree of life is not peddling a guilt trip.The redemption is about God obliterating the guilt. The blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanses us from all sin.You're getting kind of irrational here. So I don't think I will respond to the comments below this.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I am not sure if you understand me.God created the first man. He was not guilty of anything. He was innocent. Actually he was part of the "very good" creation of God.This man was put in a neutral position between God and Satan. He as not an evil man put between God and Satan. He was not a sinner put between God and Satan. He was a good, innocent, and neutral man placed between these two sources of existence. The choice was Adam's to move from that neutral position to position aligned with God or aligned with God's enemy.How was this choice presented to this neutral man? In this way: Is the Tree of Life explicitly mentioned? No it is not.Is Satan explicitly mentioned. No he is not.But consider. Adam was commanded to guard the garden: It is my opinion that the presence of another voice in the garden slandering God's motive and directly contradicting what God had instructed, should have given Adam concern. To keep the Garden should have signaled that something was out of place with this lying agent and some "keeping" and some "guarding" of the garden was in order.Instead Adam fell under the suggestions of this alien agent and was usurped by him. Adam fell and joined the opposition party. There should be no doubt that the serpent was part of an opposition to the Creator: Adam and Eve moved from their neutral and innocent position and aligned themselves with the oppostion party against God. Now they are no longer neutral. And we their discendents are no longer neutral. We are born enemies of God. Okay. I can see your point in this. This is what Barnhouse called "the parodox of the fortunate fall."I don't think I have any objection to this understanding. Man falls into the Satanic nature. Man thinks this is a minor problem that he can fix and come back to God. Man needs a major education to realize that the Satanification of mankind is not a minor problem.For God to drive home to man the seriousness of man's fall, He gives man His Law. "You think you only have a minor problem which youy can easily solve? Okay, Here's My Law. Keep this!"The Law exposes the power of sin in man. The Law of God exposes the inability of man to live unto God righteously. The Law of God even causes the sin in man to rebell even more, and that on general priciniple. The Law not only exposes the sin nature. It actually activates it too causing it to rebel against the law for pure rebellion's sake. I can only comment a little because I have some problem following your ultimate point.But from our side grace is free. From God's side it is not free. A tremendous price was paid that we might receive grace. And this grace is over the forgiven sinner and within him. Grace is a very large subject.But John says this: The Law was given through Moses. Grace is really a person. Grace came through Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to us grace came to us. Grace and reality came with the Person of Jesus when He came.Now compare these two passages. One says that sin worked in Paul. The other says that grace worked in Paul. The net effect is that sin is personified. And grace is also personified. Each is like a person living and working in Paul. One is exceedingly evil and is Satan himself. The other is Christ Himself as the life giving Spirit, indwelling and working in man.Here are these passages: One passage says "no longer I ... but sin that dwells within me." And the other passages says "yet not I but the grace of God which is with me."In passage sin is working in the sinner Paul. In the other passage the grace of God is causing Paul to labor more abundantly than all the other apostles. It is not longer Paul but Christ who lives in Paul. It is not Paul in himself but the grace of God that is with Paul.Grace came to him when Jesus came to him. He simply went far to cooperate with the indwelling grace. He did not nullify it by continuing to live out his old manner of life. He sought to live in a new sphere, in a new realm of the indwelling Jesus in him. Grace in him accomplished so much. Grace in him overcame sin and also labored extensively for the service of God.All who receive Jesus receive this same grace. The second part of your comment I understand more than the first.I think the result of the Tree of Life would have been the same as the indwelling Grace of God which come through regeneraion in Christ. I believe that the Tree of Life signified God coming into man. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil joined man to Satan.God's salvation is to bring man back, not to the neutral position, but to the Divine life as signified in the tree of life.On this side of the incarnation of Jesus this Divine life is Jesus Himself. Today we needn't worry about the Tree of Life. This divine life is in the Son of God. This life is Christ. For us today the tree of life is Jesus Christ.We humans are out of the realm of a tree in a garden for the imparting of God's divine life. The imparting of God's divine life is in Jesus Christ.I have to go now.
Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

I have not read the exhaustive writings of Augustine.
And Christ being the life is in the Gospel of John. There is no need to wait three centuries to hear Augustine say something about it.Saying Jesus Christ is the reality of the Tree of Life today is not in the least due to the influence of Augustine. That he said something like this or even said this does not make me a disciple of Augustine.At most perhaps we both recognize the same truth in Scripture. But I have not poured over Augustine's voluminous writings to derive such a thought.This is not to disparage Augustine one bit. I learned many of these things from Witness Lee. IE. "The Experience of Life" is one of many books on the subject that continues to help me. Also "The Tree of Life", another book all about the subject.Who we are following is not important. What is important is that we follow the revelation that is in the Bible.

Adam and his wife were driven from the garden. When they looked behind them they saw that the tree of life was guarded by the cherubim of glory with a flaming sword which turned in every direction.Regardless of what you say I see it this way:1.) The center of the universe was the earth.
2.) The center of the earth was the Garden of Eden.
3.) The center of the Garden of Eden was the Tree of Life.Therefore the tree of life was the center of the universe.It was not coincidental or a side show. God created man in the image of God that man might be filled with God. Man is a vessel. Man is a vessel designed to contain God as the indwelling divine and uncreated life.In the prophet Jeremiah God charges that Israel has forsaken Himself the fountain of living waters to hue out worthless cisterns which contain no water. Whether it is living waters or fruit of the tree of life, the symbolism refers to God to be internalized by man. God wants from the creation, to dispense Himself in to man's being because man is a special living vessel designed to contain God.In the prophet Isaiah God again reminds us that the house which He really seeks is not of stone and wood but within man: Here God looks not to anything else in creation to be His house. He looks to be "housed" in man. That is a man who is humble and contrite and regards the word of God. He looks to this kind of man to find His house and His rest.So I repeat. From the beginning of the creation of man, God intended to dispense Himself into man. Sometimes we see this expressed as "living waters". Sometimes we see it expressed as the Dweller living and resting in man His "house". The profound concept is the same. We are vessels and God intends to impart Himself into us.In the New Testamen the Apostle Paul says that he and his co-workers are earthen vessels and Christ is the excellent treasure within them: Our created being is therefore the earthen vessel. The Triune God is the treasure of divine life seeking to come into our earthen vessel if we will open up to Him.You want to study the Bible ? This is a central theme in the Bible.An expression of concern on the Father's part does not indicate awareness on the children's behalf. Consider the Tree of the Knowledge; the children are, first, unaware of it's existence, and, secondly, the Father expresses concern and informs them of it.At the end of the Bible we see a temple and a city. Actually the entire city is the temple. More importantly the entire city is the Holy of Holies of the temple of God. This is very significant. It was in the innermost chamber of the temple and the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies that the glory of God dwelt.The Bible culminates with a city which is the eternal enlarged Holy of Holies. Right here we see this: Man was a vessel before the tree of life to receive God as eternal life in the beginning. And in the end the corporate man, the redeemed human family is collectively the enlarged city as the Holy of Holies, a perfect cube as the living place where the Shekina glory of God resides. Immediately after Adam and his wife has eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the way to the tree of life is cut off to them.Man being joined to God's enemy Satan, disqualifies him from participating in the eternal plan of God. So man needs redemption through Christ. Man needs salvation. The rest of the Bible is this story of God's salvation to bring man back from sin and death to the life of God.So the Bible closes with a call for the redeemed man to partake of the tree of life and enter into the eternal city. What I admit is that the fuller significance of the tree of life is gleaned from the rest of the Bible. The matter is very profound and it needs the rest of the revelation of the Bible to make it clear.This does not mean that the tree of life, and thus the divine life of God, was of little importance in the story of the creation of man. There are two crucial truths which are not at all a matter of assumption.1.) After man had taken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil God excluded him from partaking of the tree of life and expelled man from Paradise.2.) At the end of the Bible there is the blessing on those who "wash their robes that they might have right to the tree of life".These two truths should express the centrality and importance of the tree of life in God's eternal purpose. It should be noticed that man was warned of death. And man was excluded from the tree of life. The matter of life verses death is so central to Genesis.Though it may not be too clear from reading Genesis it becomes clearer in the rest of the Bible. The ultimate Life in the universe is not man's life. It is even not man's everlasting life. The ultimate Life in existence is the Life of God. That is the uncreated and eternal Life which is a Person.The tree of life represented this uncreated and divine Person. He presents Himself in the form of fruit or food. This is because food is something man takes into himself and assimilates into himself. God would not simply inject Himself into man. He must be "eaten" by man. In other words man is to take God in by enjoyment as a matter of fulfilling his hunger.But there was a counterfeit. There was a competition. Man was created a vessel and placed at the juncture of these two competing sources of existence. He may be joined to God as the divine eternal life. Or he may disobey and be usurped by death - that is the one who is opposed to God and who is a dynamic withdrawal into sin and death - Satan the Devil.God would not give man up though. So the rest of the Bible is the story of His salvation to bring man back to partaking of Himself as the divine life. First the sinful man must be redeemed and forgiven. This is speculation on your part. I may not be able to point to God's specific instructions informing man of the tree of life. But then neither can you point to the opposite case.At best you are speculating. I think I have more ground because at least we are told the tree of life was in the midst of the garden. The greater weight of importance, I think, is on the tree mentioned first - the tree of life in the middle of the garden. The other tree is more coincidental for it is the "other" tree. It is the "other" way that is not God's way. If it had been God's way then there would not have been God's warning that man was not to partake of it.So all the other trees and especially the tree of life in the middle of the garden are purpose of God. Man partook of the "other" tree in disobediance. And that is where the curse came in. Man was invaded by the evil spirit and the earth was cursed. To say that man missed his calling would be an understatement.The Apostle Paul speaks of the spirit that now operates in the children of disobedience, in other words the childen of the disobedient father of the human race Adam. So the evil spirit as the evil authority of the air began to operate in man. This rendered man dead in offenses and sins and caused also the earth to come under a curse.But I hate to end on such a negative note. Paul goes on to tell the believers: [qs]"But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love which He loved us, even when we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)" (v.4,5) And so forth. /qs It was protective and a punishment as well. It is only that God does not give up and has a plan of salvation.That is was a punishment is seen clearly in 17-18 in chapter 3. And in verse 23 He "drove the man out" of the Paradise. That is not escorted, that is drove ... out. It is kind of rude and course.However, God did also promise them a Savior. And He clothed their nakedness. And He cared for them still. But there was punishment for disobediance. Edited by jaywill, : No reason given.

Part of your response seems more emotional. I would respond.The fact that man was, as I say, Satanified, does not mean that there is nothing good in man. He is like damaged goods.Think of a radio which has been discarded into the gutter. Instead of playing music it plays only static noise because of its malfunction.The creation of man itself was pronounced as "very good". So even in fallen humans there is something of a residue of the good creation left.Your caricature of 'original satanified filthy sinful pig' seems more your emotional resentment of the doctrine of the fall of man.Now I will address your other interesting point: Yes, Jesus teaching about the need for inward moral cleansing was put forth to counter festidious rules about hand washing. That is true. And eating of a physical bad tree is not so much a problem to us today. That is unless you are speaking perhaps of Cocaine addiction or Tobacco addiction.This does not render the disobedient eating of the TOKGE as not a historical fall of man into sin. It could be that the tree represented a line over which Adam must not cross. When he did his world and his being were invaded by the evil spirit.I do not pretend to understand everything about this. But it does seem that Paul speaks of the sin dwelling in the flesh. Something happened to man's body as a result of the disobedience of Adam. This is mostly brought out in Romans chapter 7 where Paul diagnosis the plight of sinful man.Here are some select verses which prove that something entered into the body of man. Paul seems to indicate that in his members, in his fallen flesh there is a sin principle driving him to disobey the law of God. And with that law of God he does agree with his mind.So I believe that the taking in of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must have had an effect on man's body. Probably the sinful flesh we have now is corrupted and unlike the original body God created for us.James also indicates a problem in the sinful man's physical members: Man was not created with this problem in his members. Where then did it come from? And when did it start? The most logical and biblical answer I can think of is when the first man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.The body is called the "body of sin" ( Romans 6:6)And Paul says the passions of sin operated in out members to bear fruit unto death: So the glorification of the body - the redemption of the body, seems to be the final freeing of whatever got into mankind from Adam's ingesting of the forbidden tree.The point is made though there are many many other passages which reveal these things.

Thankyou. Hope the same for you. Well, "Satanified" is not a phrase in the Bible. However, it is a good word to explain the Adam's descendents were joined to God's enemy.In analysing the condition of the sinners Paul speaks of SIN like a personified evil thing. It deceives. It takes opportunity. It rebels on general principle. In Romans 7 sin is personified to the point that we could say that sin is just Satan operating in the fallen man. However, this does not mean that Satan has no objective existence apart from man. The lording of sin personifies sin into a virtual person. This person should be thought of as Satan. For he is "the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit which is now operating in the sons of disobedience" (See Eph. 2:2) Here sin is seizing the opportunity like a thinking and deciding evil personage. Here also sin is working something evil out. Sin revived, woke up, came to life, became active. This is a personification of sin by the apostle. On this ground I say that sin in man is the Satanification of man. Here the personified force of sin seizes opportunity and deceives. It is acting as a evil deceiving, opportunistic murderer. So some of us regard sin in man as the Satanification of man. Sin becomes one working out some evil cause in man. Sin becomes itself exceedingly sinful. Sin is personified. Who else but Satan could sin really represent ? Compare this to Galatians 2:20 where it is no longer Paul who lives but Christ who lives in Paul.The Christification of man is the defeat of the Satanification of man.Satan ran ahead of God and imitated God's eternal purpose to dwell in man. The evil spirit is operating in the sons of disobedience. But the progress of man is a negative progress. He is sliding down. This is why the apostle speaks of the old man which is in the process of "being corrupted". "The old man is of Adam, who was created by God but became fallen through sin.

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The article [lust of THE deceit] here is emphatic, and THE DECEIT refers, to the deceiver, Satan, from whom come the lusts of the corrupted old man." (footnote 22(3,4) RcV on Eph. 4:22)The book of Revelation portrays the grapes of wrath as a crop ripening unto evil and not good. The sinners on the earth, unrepentent and unsaved, are depicted as a vine of grapes ripening to judgment. They are progressing to be more and more evil. The days of Noah were a preview of the natural progression of mankind apart from Christ's redemption and God's salvation.It is true that the presents of the church is the presence of the salt of the earth, keeping the rotting society from total corruption. The Gospel has a preservative effect on human society to slow the downward decline into degradation.I must stop here before I have a technical problem.

I think Evolution postulates that man is improving. Goodness is always what comes next. But the Bible shows man falling away, lower and lower from goodness. The grapes of divine wrath are ripening for judgment which can eventually no longer be postponed.So we need to be saved in Christ. (Bible Study reveals this). Yes. Man still has a conscience and some self control over himself. Not sure I follow here. To be fallen into sin did make man filthy. I think the Bible is clear about that.It is also true that Jesus Christ is the Head of the redeemed humanity which will crush Satan underfoot for God's purpose. Without Christ they never could. They may only BE stomped by the enemy.Christ gave God's people the ground to fight the spiritual warfare and win. That is what has happened. We became enemies of God. But in Christ we can be reconciled and saved in His life. For Satan there is no longer ANY reconcilation. Perhaps in the ancient past he had his chance, perhaps. But now there is no destination for Satan but eternal perdition. He wants to take as many with him as he can.But we can be reconciled out of our enemy status by the redemptive death of Christ. And "much more" we can be saved in character, life, behavior in the whole realm and sphere of His divine life.This is what Bible Study reveals. It is not just my preaching. First He had to die on the cross for our redemption. The passage I just quoted said that we were ENEMIES of God. Reconciliation means to take enemies and bring them together with the enmity put away.Do you recall that in the Old Testament God warned of sinning Israel this: As fallen and Satanified human beings we became enemies of God. He has acted to reconcile all men and women in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus. You lose much if you discard the writings of the Lord's apostle. Don't be tricked by the "Paul messed everything up" crowd. I hope we are brothers in Christ who is Lord, the resurrected Son of God. My God is the Man Jesus. Do you still consider me a brother in Christ ?If so "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit."