14B.1
What are the two kinds of food for the
outer and inner man in every human
being?
In Matthew 4:4, we are taught by our Lord Jesus Christ:
But He answered and said, "It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of
God.' '' (NKJV)
The two kinds of food are "bread" and the
"words of God".
Though man necessarily needs bread
to nourish his body, he needs God's words more
importantly to nourish his soul. They are material and
spiritual nourishment, respectively. He cannot live without them.
14B.2
Why can't man simply rely on bread for survival?
In Genesis 2:15-17 it is recorded:
Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely
die.'' (NKJV)
Adam and Eve had all the food they
need in
the garden of Eden. They remained there until they violated God's
commandment not to eat of the forbidden tree.
Had they faithfully obeyed God's commandment,
they would have remained pleasing in God's sight and man would not be subject to
a short life of pains and sufferings, death—the
cessation of breath, and eternal
punishment in the lake of fire.
The downfall of the first couple, Adam and Eve, teaches us a lesson
that man needs the word of God more than bread in order to live.
14B.3 What does the word of God
nourish in us?
Under our present situation, If bread can not be dispensed with for the
subsistence of our physical body.
In Romans 7:22, we are appraised by Apostle Paul:
For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
(NKJV)
Our inner man or inner being or soul delights in the law or the
words of God. Hence, God's words are indispensable for the
nourishment of our souls.
Man cannot survive on earth without
material food, in much the same way, our souls can not live without
God's words
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Bread sustains only our
temporal life here on earth and we will all eventually die on God's own appointed
time. On the other hand, God's words nourishes the soul to life
everlasting.
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