VI. THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST So far we have seen that for the intelligent living of life, men need to know the purpose of their being and the laws by which they should govern their lives : and it has been established that man is totally incapable of finding these out for himself and can know them only if God reveals them. Further, we have seen that for the achievement of his purpose — namely, to live the life of Heaven — the natural life of man is not sufficient; that men need certain further powers in the soul, that these flow from the Supernatural Life, that men must acquire this Supernatural Life here upon earth; and again that they cannot acquire it for themselves, but can have it only if God gives it. These three things — truth, law, life — we have seen, would have been necessary in any condition of the human race. But the first man — ^Adam — complicated the position by breaking the friendship of the human race with God and so closing heaven to the race. Heaven then had to be made once more a possibility, after which the three original requirements would still be in force. Christ came to offer Himself as sacrifice to God in atonement for the sin 58