The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
Christians often get asked questions like, "If God knew Adam and Eve would eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, why did He put it in the Garden of Eden in the first place?"
Or, "Why did God put the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden and then Command Adam and Eve not to eat of it?"
I would begin to answer this question as follows. A child is happy in the care of his parents. The child is content even if Dad loses his job and the family has to live in a car or a temporary shelter. That was an evil event that befell the family but the child simply trusts in his father and is sheltered from the experience of evil. The only time the child truly knows evil is if his father himself is taken away. Then the one in whom the child trusted and depended is gone and responsibility for his own needs falls upon the child himself. He now has the knowledge of good and evil.
So really the first thing we must understand in answering this question is what the knowledge of good and evil is. And it is fundamentally self-responsibility in the largest sense. Being utterly alone.
And this is what it means that God commanded that Adam and Eve should not eat of it, because to eat of it meant separation from God, and only sin could separate them from God. It had to be a sin to eat of it because only as a result of sin could the nature of the tree be experienced.
So we see that God's Commandment is by no means arbitrary but rather it is logically necessary according to the nature of God, man, and the tree.
God Himself has the knowledge of good and evil. But He is able to possess this knowledge and yet remain good. Man, although made in the image of God, was also formed from the dust of the ground, and so when he separates himself from God through sin, he tends downwards to evil and death until we see the culmination in pre-Flood man: "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen 6:5). What is an image disconnected from its source? Nothing.
God is good and man is evil under the same conditions: having the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent lied in a very subtle way when he told Eve that eating the fruit of the tree would make her "as God" (Gen 3:5). It would make her as God only in the sense that she would know good and evil, but once separated from God by eating the fruit, she would be exposed as being by nature entirely unlike God. Having the knowledge of good and evil, we are captivated by the evil. Having the knowledge of good and evil, God remains good. This is what Eve did not recognize and so she was deceived by the serpent (1 Tim 2:14).
Because man is captivated by the evil, he does not even know how he might do good (Rom 7:18). Salvation appears at this point by Jesus showing us what is good and God giving us the ability to repent and believe the Gospel so that we may be forgiven our sins, created new in Christ, and given the Holy Spirit so that we can know and do good. But lost man, those who do not believe the Gospel, cannot escape bondage to evil and so in despair will eventually attempt to solve this problem their own way by reversing good and evil. They are never cleansed by regeneration and renewed by the Holy Spirit to do good, but they make themselves good and a doer of good in their own sight by calling evil good!
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20
The question that now remains is, Why would God put this tree in the garden of Eden? Why not put it in heaven instead? By putting it in the garden, God provided the possibility for man to be separated from Himself. God created us in His own image, and this is the reason the tree was placed in the garden of Eden. Being created in the image of God, the knowledge of good and evil must be available to us, even as something to abstain from in humble obedience to our Father. This is what I believe Jesus Christ did during His time on earth. As God, He had the knowledge of good and evil but as man, He never departed from trusting and obeying His Father.
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not a thing to be grasped to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil 2:6 (KJ2000)
In contrast, Gen 3:6 (KJV),
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
We see Jesus overcoming the temptation to eat of the fruit in the garden of Gethsemane. The fruit in this case is to operate according to the knowledge that being crucified is an awful fate. To refuse to eat of the fruit is to say, "Nevertheless, not what I will but what thou wilt" (Mark 14:36). Jesus never ate of that fruit but on the cross He was made sin and that is why He cried with a loud voice, saying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It's incredible because sin had entered every one of us and now Jesus was made sin so that He could fill that void in each of us--not with sin since He knew no sin but with Himself and His righteousness. Before He died, He commended His Spirit into the hands of His Father (Luke 23:46). It has been noted that when He was made sin for us and forsaken for this cause, He spoke of "God" but in the same hour at the moment of His death He called God "Father" once again, showing that the atonement was finished and His resurrection ready. Thus, having been made sin He could fill our void of sin, but knowing no sin He fills us with His righteousness. We had become captives of sin but now He was made sin for us, so that He could lead captivity captive and make us new, righteous, and free in Himself!
Or, "Why did God put the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden and then Command Adam and Eve not to eat of it?"
I would begin to answer this question as follows. A child is happy in the care of his parents. The child is content even if Dad loses his job and the family has to live in a car or a temporary shelter. That was an evil event that befell the family but the child simply trusts in his father and is sheltered from the experience of evil. The only time the child truly knows evil is if his father himself is taken away. Then the one in whom the child trusted and depended is gone and responsibility for his own needs falls upon the child himself. He now has the knowledge of good and evil.
So really the first thing we must understand in answering this question is what the knowledge of good and evil is. And it is fundamentally self-responsibility in the largest sense. Being utterly alone.
And this is what it means that God commanded that Adam and Eve should not eat of it, because to eat of it meant separation from God, and only sin could separate them from God. It had to be a sin to eat of it because only as a result of sin could the nature of the tree be experienced.
So we see that God's Commandment is by no means arbitrary but rather it is logically necessary according to the nature of God, man, and the tree.
God Himself has the knowledge of good and evil. But He is able to possess this knowledge and yet remain good. Man, although made in the image of God, was also formed from the dust of the ground, and so when he separates himself from God through sin, he tends downwards to evil and death until we see the culmination in pre-Flood man: "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen 6:5). What is an image disconnected from its source? Nothing.
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| "...in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen 2:17 |
God is good and man is evil under the same conditions: having the knowledge of good and evil. The serpent lied in a very subtle way when he told Eve that eating the fruit of the tree would make her "as God" (Gen 3:5). It would make her as God only in the sense that she would know good and evil, but once separated from God by eating the fruit, she would be exposed as being by nature entirely unlike God. Having the knowledge of good and evil, we are captivated by the evil. Having the knowledge of good and evil, God remains good. This is what Eve did not recognize and so she was deceived by the serpent (1 Tim 2:14).
Because man is captivated by the evil, he does not even know how he might do good (Rom 7:18). Salvation appears at this point by Jesus showing us what is good and God giving us the ability to repent and believe the Gospel so that we may be forgiven our sins, created new in Christ, and given the Holy Spirit so that we can know and do good. But lost man, those who do not believe the Gospel, cannot escape bondage to evil and so in despair will eventually attempt to solve this problem their own way by reversing good and evil. They are never cleansed by regeneration and renewed by the Holy Spirit to do good, but they make themselves good and a doer of good in their own sight by calling evil good!
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" Isaiah 5:20
"Who, being in the form of God, thought it not a thing to be grasped to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Phil 2:6 (KJ2000)
In contrast, Gen 3:6 (KJV),
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
We see Jesus overcoming the temptation to eat of the fruit in the garden of Gethsemane. The fruit in this case is to operate according to the knowledge that being crucified is an awful fate. To refuse to eat of the fruit is to say, "Nevertheless, not what I will but what thou wilt" (Mark 14:36). Jesus never ate of that fruit but on the cross He was made sin and that is why He cried with a loud voice, saying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" It's incredible because sin had entered every one of us and now Jesus was made sin so that He could fill that void in each of us--not with sin since He knew no sin but with Himself and His righteousness. Before He died, He commended His Spirit into the hands of His Father (Luke 23:46). It has been noted that when He was made sin for us and forsaken for this cause, He spoke of "God" but in the same hour at the moment of His death He called God "Father" once again, showing that the atonement was finished and His resurrection ready. Thus, having been made sin He could fill our void of sin, but knowing no sin He fills us with His righteousness. We had become captives of sin but now He was made sin for us, so that He could lead captivity captive and make us new, righteous, and free in Himself!
