Genesis 2:15-17 (NIV) 15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 3:4-5 (NIV) 4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Did God want to keep Adam and Eve ignorant and innocent? Whatever God’s reason for this command to Adam and Eve, certainly the punishment does not seem to fit the crime. God appears to have given a foolish command and then to have taken drastic action over what seems to be a minor infraction of His rule.
Why did God forbid Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Certainly the reason was not to cheat them or deprive them of something they needed, for God had provided for their every need. Food to eat, work to do, intimacy between a man and a woman, companionship with God, life forever, and a tree that gave them freedom to choose, to bestow freedom and the ability to decide. Probably the most significant reason for the command is contained in the promise of the serpent to Eve, you will know good and evil without having to rely on God to teach you. You yourself can decide and declare what is good and what is evil independent of whatever God might say. And that is precisely what human beings have been trying to do ever since.
You will be like God is the promise and the deception, knowing good and evil without any need for knowing the will of God. God wants us to learn what is good and what is evil from Him, not independent of Him. This is the repeated theme of the Scriptures, whether God is calling Abrahm to leave the common culture of his day and to journey where God will teach him right from wrong, or the declaration of Moses and Jesus that we do not live by bread alone, but survive by listening to every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Our determination to decide and to declare what is good and evil apart from God explains the human propensity to make a mess of things. The good news is that our eyes and hearts can be opened and God will reveal to us what to do to repair the damage we have done and restore to us the life we have lost. When we begin to learn from God what is right and what is wrong we find our true freedom. We are set free from conformity to the prevailing fads, from pressure from our peers, from the confusion that engulfs our society. When we begin to learn from God what is right and what is wrong, the whole focus and goal of our life changes. We are no longer worried whether we are succeeding or failing, being liked or being disliked. Our one concern is whether or not we are fulfilling God’s purpose.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope June 4, 1989
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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