Genesis 2:17. but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
A very common question that people ask about this verse is this: If God knew Adam and Eve were just going to sin then why did he create the tree of knowledge in the first place? At best God is foolish, and at worst God is evil for setting them up for failure.
But what if there’s a third option? Could it be that creating the tree of knowledge, and then forbidding it, was actually an act of love?
For there to be life beyond physical life, the life of the soul, there must be two things: love and liberty (freedom). The Bible tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8) and God is liberty (1 Cor. 3:17). If God made us to image him, wouldn’t it make sense that he must allow man to freely choose to love him?
It’s easy to think of Genesis 2:17 as only a restriction by God. And yes, it is that. But, coupled with the Tree of Life, it’s also an invitation. An invitation to truly live from love and freedom. How? Because Adam and Eve would have to choose to sacrifice something – the knowledge of good and evil, and with it power, control, and self-determination. All in order to humbly receive the life of God by grace through faith.
All true love requires this kind of sacrifice. No choice, no sacrifice. No sacrifice, no love. No love, no life.
But what exactly did the Tree of Knowledge offer? It offered a moral system. A religion. Self-righteousness based on how good or how bad you are. This is why most people believe that when you die God will judge your good against your bad. So keep the ten commandments. Follow the eight-fold path. Practice the five pillars. Build up good karma. Be a good Christian. Then die and hope your good was good enough.
Ironically (and sadly) we all love this system. We all default to it. Why? Because it offers us control. It’s so simple – If I do good, I get good. If I do bad, I get bad.
But this way of life is actually death. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. Or literally –dying you will die.
A life where you get to be your own moral compass, your own decider of truth, your own god, actually just produces a slow death inside of you as you move farther and farther away from God’s life of grace. A slow death that comes from having to constantly figure out your own life, have all the answers, and always get it right. A dying from never knowing if your good was good enough. The decomposition of your soul as you wonder, if I’m so good why is my life so hard? When you are your only source of righteousness the result can only ever be despair.
Life or death. This is our same choice today. Christ came to show us what living truly is. Not self-determination, but self-sacrifice. Not independence, but dependence upon God’s grace. Not earning a good judgment by our good deeds, but receiving the judgment of Christ’s cross and the justification of his resurrected life. Not trying harder to live like Jesus (another form of self-righteousness), but receiving the love of Jesus. Then allowing Jesus to live out his love through you. That’s to live is Christ.
You: In what ways are you trying to control your life with a system of good and evil?
You in Christ: How would your life be different today if you really believed that your goodness was from Christ and not from your own morality?
Christ in you: How can Christ live out his perfect knowledge of good and evil through you? What good can he do through you today? What evil can he overcome through you (big or small)?
To Live is Christ 