Is it necessary to know the difference between good and
evil? What is the standard of good? Is there almost good, or almost evil? These
are important questions.
God told Adam not to eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. That command alone seems to imply God did not want
His creation to know the difference between the two. Somehow that doesn’t seem
right. After all, as parents we want our children to know the difference. Why?
Because we want them to be able to make “good” choices. Did God want His
creation to make good choices? I believe He did.
What do we need to possess in order to make good choices?
Our knee-jerk answer is knowledge. We think, “How can I make a good decision
without knowing all the variables?” Many times, however, we make a decision
believing it is the right choice only to discover later there was something we
didn’t know that would have changed our decision.
When God told Adam not to eat, He was essentially telling
Adam he did not need “knowledge” in order to make good choices. Rather, Adam
only needed God’s life in him, animating his desire to be good. God knew when
Adam trusted God’s goodness in him, he would always make the right choice.
I grew up with an understanding that the “knowledge” Adam
gained after eating from the tree was God’s standard of good and evil. In other
words, what they knew as good was right and what they knew as evil was wrong.
This is how we teach our children. We teach them what is right and what is
wrong.
Paul compares humans to an “earthen vessel” (2 Cor. 4:7). We
are a container designed to be filled with the glory of God. If I buy a gallon
of milk, I am buying a gallon-size container with milk in it. When I pour the contents
out, I am pouring out milk, not the container. Just like this example, when we
display godliness, we aren’t producing godliness – just as the milk container
is not producing milk. We are pouring out godliness that is the glory of God.
When Adam ate from the wrong tree, he could no longer
contain the glory of God. However, an exchange took place; he now contained a
knowledge he could use to decide whether something was good or evil. He didn’t
gain God’s knowledge, but rather a knowledge. Adam’s knowledge replaced
his former dependence on God’s life. This human understanding (inherited from
Adam) is used to decide whether something is right or wrong. It is based on a
subjective look at the world around us, instead of God’s objective truth.
This subjective knowledge is easy to observe in humanity
today. When you see conflict and wars, differences of opinion, differences in
religion and politics, you are witnessing humanity “doing what is right in
their own eyes.” People disagree as to what is right and wrong. Some see your
right as wrong and your wrong as right. It is a maddening and futile way of
living. It is easy to understand why God said, “You will surely die.”
The knowledge fallen humanity uses to navigate life doesn’t come from God;
it comes from the world. Yes, education, culture, preferences, tradition,
religion, etc. is used to build this knowledge, but it cannot replace containing God’s
glory.
Even believers can choose to depend on this way of understanding to get needs met. This "way" is a fleshly way of living, not the way God designed us to live (Rom. 8:1-8).
Solomon said in Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seems
right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (NASB) He also said, “…do not
lean on your own understanding.” (Prov. 3:5b, NASB) Isaiah recorded God’s
words, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways.” (Is.
55:8, NASB) God doesn’t want us to depend on our knowledge to navigate this life.
He wants us to trust Him. He wants us to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor.
5:7).
Only God is good. He is the standard. The only way to access
true good is to know God. This “knowing” is more than knowledge gained from
reading, studying, and listening; it is intimate relationship with the truth. If
you know God, you know truth Himself!
