The Way That Seems Right: Knowledge

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!

Goodness

What is the hope/desire/goal of the believer? Is it not to be good or be holy? To be worthy?

There are two distinct paths one can take to accomplish this ‘goodness.’ The path most have been taught and practice is to minimize sinful behavior through making ‘good’ or godly choices that will hopefully be pleasing to God. In this path, the historical Jesus is the model to be studied and followed. However, the focus is on sin and how to manage it. There is a constant comparison of Jesus’ lack of sin to our struggle with sin. The distance between the two scream at us, “You are bad!”

This path can produce moments when it seems we are close to being good enough, but there are mostly moments of disappointment because the goal is still very far away.

Where does the desire to be good come from? Do sinful, unholy people want to be good? I don’t think so. Evil is not good, it is the opposite. Evil can want to be comfortable, peaceful, happy, content, but not good. Evil is repelled by good. The desire to be good comes from a place of goodness.

The smaller, less traveled path, is the way of faith. This path of faith is walking without dependence on physical sight, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting. If you could gain goodness through your physical experience, you would not need faith, just more commitment, more energy, more application, etc.

Faith is dependence on the unseen, not the seen. Faith is moving out in life knowing and believing something to be true without the physical evidence. Don’t misunderstand, you can invest your faith in lies, but the results will be disastrous. When we understand who we are in Christ, the truth that we are intrinsically good, we don’t have to ‘try’ to be good. God has declared it to be so.

When we walk this path of faith, we are believing we are good, and then practicing our goodness. As with anything we practice in this life, we will make mistakes – not because we want to. Those mistakes don’t speak to our goodness, but only to the fact that we are truly practicing.

Which path are you walking? Are you struggling with trying to be good? Or, are you practicing your goodness by faith?

God Is An Artist

The Bible tells us God created the heavens and the earth and every creature on the earth. When He finished with His creation, He took the time to admire the works of His hands. He declared, “It is very good.”

What higher authority could God have gone to, to confirm His belief about His creation? No one! God is the highest authority. A jeweler doesn’t go to a rock enthusiast to confirm the value of a diamond. The jeweler is the higher authority. When God says something is good, it is good. End of story.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:17 that those in Christ are new creatures or creations. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 3:3 we must be “born again.” That denotes newness. Hebrews 12:2 says Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith. Isaiah 64:8 says we are the work of His hands. Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship…” Worth is derived from God.

If you are an artist, how would you feel if someone came to you and said, “You are an awesome artist, but your art is horrible!” You will probably feel offended and confused because your artistry and your art are inseparable. If you are a great artist, that means your art is great; if your art is horrible, then you are a poor artist.

God is an artist. He has made us and the creation around us. Why is it we tell God and others that we are nothing? We grovel before God and act as if we are not worthy of His love and attention, but we are grateful He is giving us something we don’t deserve.

Before you think I have lost my mind, let me explain. If you are a believer, you are a new creation. You are re-born as a new creature who is different from the old creature. You are the work of God’s hands. As a new creation, you have the very character of God written on your heart and you are indwelt with His very presence. The Bible says you are in Christ and that Christ is in you. Does that sound like a creature who is unworthy? Your worth is not based on your works, but on Christ’s.

For you to say you are nothing is to say Christ is nothing. For you to say you are not worthy is to say Christ is not worthy. Do you understand that you, as a new creation, are the co-union of you and Jesus? There is a saying, “Apart from Christ, I am nothing.” Even though that is true for the unbeliever, when we say that as believers, we are focusing on ourselves as separate from Christ. There is an implication that I must somehow disappear into the background. That is like going to an art exhibition and only seeing the artist and not the art.

God made us new creations to display us to the world. When we walk (behave) in the Spirit, people around us see the co-union of Christ in us. Jesus looks at us and says, “Take a bow,” and we look at Him and say, “Jesus, take a bow.” God smiles and says, “I love My new creation. It is very good!”

--> Nail this truth down: You are worthy because you and Christ are one. (1 Cor. 6:17) You will never fully experience the abundant life until this truth becomes the breath in your lungs and the song in your heart.