Genesis 2:16-17. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but 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.”
There is much confusion today about the nature of freedom. Our world of expressive individualism tells us that we should be free to do whatever we want to do. In this paradigm, freedom and authority stand in contrast to one another. Authority is rejected because it limits freedom. You’re not the boss of me. You can’t tell me what to do. It’s my life, I’ll live it my way. Such statements used to be seen as sheer rebellion, but now they are the battle cries of freedom.
Make no mistake, God created us to be free, but the paradox of freedom is that it can only be realized in the context of boundaries. In the Garden of Eden, there was one boundary, one law if you will – of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
Much ink has been spilt speculating on exactly what this tree was and what knowledge (or more specifically what kind of knowledge) it actually held in its fruit. We will save that discussion for another day. For now, let’s simply focus on the fact that God both gave the man and woman freedom to eat from every tree, and yet the limitation of forbidding the fruit of this one tree, the Tree of Knowledge.
What we learn from this, and what we already instinctively know, is that freedom without limits is actually bondage. True liberty is actually found within boundaries. The fish that is “liberated” from the fish tank will not survive. In the same way, when we live within the limits of God’s commands, we find the freedom to thrive and to truly be what we were made to be.
We have to believe that the rule that God gave to Adam was just as unclear to him as it still is to us. I mean, what’s wrong with having the knowledge of good and evil? Doesn’t God want us to have such knowledge? We find out later that the Tree of Knowledge looked good and tasty, so why would God withhold it from his image bearers? Is this just some arbitrary rule meant to trap humanity?
God’s laws are never arbitrary, and God’s word is never meant to harm. His word is meant to be trusted and obeyed. Freely obeyed. You see, if we were actually free to do anything we want, then we would not be free to obey. Free to love. Free to choose God over the self.
When Adam and Eve choose to disobey God and eat from the Tree of Knowledge they don’t gain freedom, they loose it. By rejecting God’s authority and making themselves the highest standard, they are introducing a force into their lives, the force of evil, that will now control them. From that day forward, what the world will call freedom is actually the bondage to sin and death that God tried to prevent by his command.
We are all born into this freedom stealing bondage to sin. But praise God, Christ has come to set us free from the power and penalty of our sin. “If the Son has set you free then you are free indeed” (Jn. 8:36). Or, as Paul puts it to the Galatians, “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free” (Gal. 5:1). But make no mistake, our freedom in Christ is still a freedom from within boundaries. The bondage of the will that once naturally turned our hearts away from God has been transformed into a new will, a new heart that longs for God and his life giving commands.
To live is Christ sets us free. How? By changing our will, our desire, our volition. So, in the words of St. Augustine, “Love God, and do as you please.”
Questions: In what ways can you see yourself as both bound to God and freed by God? Where have you seen God’s commands actually set you free to be what he wants you to be?
To Live is Christ 