The Knowledge of Good and Evil
Along
with the universal human principle of moral failure as mentioned in Romans 1,
is another universal principle that directly relates to the study of ethics and
morality. This human universal pertains to the knowledge of Good and Evil. According to the scriptures, humans were
originally created in the image of God, yet not all of God’s knowledge or power
was invested upon human beings. A
notable exception of being made in God’s image was the absence, in Adam and
Eve, of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
It was this very lack of knowledge that the serpent used to entice Eve
into eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the only
fruit in the entire Garden of Eden that was forbidden to Adam and Eve.
Genesis 2:7-9, 15-17 KJV
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man
whom he had formed.
9 And out of the
ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for
food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil.
…
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it
and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat:
17 But of the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the
day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
8 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202&version=KJV)
It
is hard to imagine what it would be like not having the knowledge of Good and
Evil. In many ways it seems like pre-fall humans would have been very similar
to animals at least in the area of ethics and morality. Humans would have lived lives based on
instincts seeking that which brought pleasure and avoiding what brought
pain. Humans would have had their senses
and could distinguish between soft and hard, bitter and sweet, warm and cool,
etc. Yet these sensations would have been taken as is without thought or
introspection into their value or worth, let alone assigning some ethical
groundwork for these impulses or feelings.
They would have slept when they were tired, had sex when they were aroused,
ate when they were hungry and for all intents and purposes lived like the
animals which were placed under their dominion. All of creation was given the
command to be fruitful and multiply, but Adam was given the additional privilege
of naming the animals that were brought before him, and to “dress and keep” the
garden in which God had placed him. Man was the only creature made in the image
God. “ … God created man in his own image, in
the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Gen.1:27)
Man was placed as the head and steward of God’s creation, but was also given a
prohibition not to eat of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. If other aspects of God’s created order were
given divine commands we are not told about them in the scriptures, other than
perhaps the waters being given boundaries and the celestial bodies being for
times and seasons, plants being designated as food, and for living beings to
reproduce and fill the earth. For whatever purpose, God had placed a special
prohibition on man, yet within the prohibition itself was implied man’s ability
to chose to comply or to disobey. From the opening chapters of Genesis, man is
only given two commands, to tend the garden and procreate, and one prohibition,
to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God did not give reasons for these commands
or prohibitions, but He did give the consequences for disobedience. The penalty for non compliance, at least with
His prohibition, would be death.
Without
our current knowledge of good and evil, cause and effect, and death, it’s hard
to even imagine what this divine prohibition would have meant to Adam. In many ways it seems like telling a dog that
he can eat anything he finds on the floor, but not to eat off of the
table. The dog understands the
difference between the floor and the table and the command to eat or not eat,
but telling the dog it will die the day it eats off of the table seems like it
would be beyond its comprehension. I
understand that Adam and Eve were not dogs, but as far as we know from
scripture they had no understanding of death or even the notion of obedience or
disobedience. Animals can be trained to
practice certain activities and avoid others through behavior modification
training, but Adam and Even were basically just given the rules and left to
their own inclinations. It is in this context that we have the deceiving and
enticement of Eve, the compliance of Adam, the fall of man and the curse that
would extend to all of creation.
Genesis 3 KJV
1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the
field which the Lord God had made.
And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree
of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We
may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in
the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall
ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye
shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired
to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also
unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened,
and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and
made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the
cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the
garden.
9 And the Lord
God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the
garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou
wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou
shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou
gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord
God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14 And the Lord
God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above
all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go,
and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and
thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly
multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I
commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy
sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve;
because she was the mother of all living.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and
clothed them.
22 And the Lord
God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and
now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat,
and live for ever:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the
ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed
at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned
every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Genesis
chapter three is one of the most tragic passages in the entire Bible. There are a few interesting things I want to
point out in the serpent’s dialog with Eve.
The first observation is that the serpent found Eve alone in the garden
and apparently near enough to the tree of knowledge of good and evil that she
was able to see it. The serpent begins
by questioning Eve about what God had commanded and intentionally exaggerates
God’s prohibition in his question to make it sound ridiculous and unreasonable. “Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every
tree of the garden?” In Eve’s response
she also exaggerates God’s prohibition, by saying, “We may eat of the fruit of
the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of
the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die.” Now perhaps Adam told her
not to touch it, but at least from what we know of God’s prohibition from
scripture, the command was to not eat the fruit, not looking at it or touching
it were probably good ideas, but were additions to God’s prohibition. When we
add to or take away from God’s prohibitions or commands it can lead to all
sorts of problems, which range from libertinism to legalism. The serpent’s
response to Eve is the first recorded lie in scripture. “And the serpent said unto the
woman, “Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat
thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good
and evil.” Due to this lie many biblical scholars have seen the serpent as
being Satan himself, or as a beast of the field that has allowed Satan to
posses and speak through it. 10 (http://creation.com/who-was-the-serpent)
The serpent also matches the
description of Satan portrayed by Jesus, “Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the
father of it.” (John 8:44) This lie is
one of the greatest ever told and makes a devilish template for all subsequent
lies. Part of why this lie works so well
is that it contains a great deal of truth.
Satan begins with the lie, “thou shalt not surely die, which was even a
partial truth, for the death that will occur on the day the fruit is eaten will
not be physical but spiritual. Then the serpent implies that God is trying to withhold
something from them, something that will make them gods themselves. In a sense, the devil’s work was done, he had
planted the seed of doubt concerning God’s intentions and Eve took it from
there. “And when
the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof,
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Eve sets
the pattern that will distinguish the way of the world to come.” “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world.” (I John 2:16)
Satan’s
lie led to the fall and death of the human race. How true that he is a murderer and liar from
the beginning. Yet, not all of what he told Eve was a lie, for with the eating
of the forbidden fruit, she and Adam had acquired the knowledge of something that
God had withheld from them. Humans now knew for the first time the meaning of
good and evil, and its immediate existential affect on them was fear and
shame. Adam and Eve would also soon
learn about cause and effect and the cost of disobedience. When God confronted Adam and asked him if he
had eaten of the tree that was prohibited to him, Adam responds by blaming Eve
and in a subtle way even blaming God Himself.
“The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the
tree, and I did eat.” Then Eve blames the serpent, and the serpent is left with
no one to blame. The first curse goes to
the serpent, the second curse to Eve and the third curse to Adam and by default
all of creation. Disobedience to God has
ushered sin into the world and with sin comes death. Adam and Eve do not physically die that day,
but the race of Adam died in the moment of disobedience and we were spiritually
cut off from God, until the new Adam would come and bring reconciliation.
Romans 5:12-21
“12 Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until
the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless
death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
15 But not as
the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many
be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one
man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it
was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one
man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of
grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ.)
18 Therefore as
by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by
the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life.
19 For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous.
20 Moreover the
law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound:
21 That as sin
hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
11 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%205&version=KJV)
I Corinthians 15:45-50
45 And so it is
written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a
quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that
was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that
which is spiritual.
47 The first man
is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.
48 As is the
earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are
they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we
have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly.
50 Now this I
say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither
doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Adam
and Eve were not just the biological progenitors of the human race, but Adam
was also the ontological head. What I
mean by this is that Adam contained all of humanity within himself, including
at one point Eve. Between Adam and Eve,
the human race was generated, but not just biologically, our non physical human
natures were also contained within Adam and would be affected by the choices he
made and in the case of good and evil, the knowledge he acquired. All humans have an innate idea of good and
evil and from a Biblical world view, the reason for this knowledge is because
the head of the human race took, what had been prohibited to him.
The
knowledge of Good and Evil has been one of the greatest curses humanity has
ever had to endure. Adam and Eve now had
the categories of Good and Evil in their consciousness, but now everything was
subject to evaluation and moral judgment.
No more lounging naked in the pools of Eden without shame, no more doing
what was prompted by one’s instincts without looking for motive and
consequence. No more innocence and
taking things at face value. Humankind now
had godlike knowledge of Good and Evil, but humanity did not have the knowledge
of God to be able to use it properly.
Now every human would be a moral compass unto themselves and would have
an internal template of good and evil. This template would be used to evaluate
all other claims to truth, goodness and morality even those dictated by God
Himself.
From
the day Adam and Eve took that which was not meant for them, humanity has been
at conflict with God, each other, and our own selves. We have the knowledge of good and evil, but
we see it from our own point of view.
All our ethical theories and moral judgments are based on our own
perspective of what we think is just; feel is fair and consider reasonable and
livable. The history of mankind is one
of conflict from Cain and Able to the present day. I’m right from my side and you're right from
yours. In past times certain people or
groups have been able to impose their idea of ethics and morality on the bulk
of humanity. Religious systems have
claimed divine revelation to impose certain rules and rituals on the populous. Great Philosophers have used their intellect
to look for universal truth or logical systems of reason to formulate ethical
systems that don’t rely on divine intervention.
Parents have used guilt and shame to try and curb unwanted behavior. Dictators
have used fear, intimidation and might to impose moral dictates; relativists
have claimed everyone has their own truth and moral autonomy. Without divine knowledge and wisdom, having
the knowledge of good and evil becomes subjective and relative to time, culture
and place. Everyone in the end does that
which is right in their own eyes and moral anarchy is the logical outcome of
having the knowledge of good and evil, but only the limited data of your own
existence by which to make correct judgments.
The
reason God’s moral judgments are just and true are because not only does He
have a perfect nature, but He also knows all things. Because of God’s omniscience, He always has
all the data necessary to make the correct moral evaluation. Because of His power He has the authority to
establish ethical standards and the ability to enforce them. Because of God’s nature He always has proper
intention and motivation. The Good, the
True and the Beautiful are all synonyms and aspects of the Divine Nature. God actually sets the standard of Good and
Evil and is beyond all distinction and division in His Holy Simplicity.
When
humans try and make value judgments we always fail. We are finite beings and have limited
understanding on the cause and purpose of things. We are biased by our personal perspective and
self interest. We have flawed characters
and limited understanding. We do not
have the insight to know of others intentions or the power to enforce our
judgments. We do not have the knowledge
or wisdom to determine ethical systems or the ability to live them out even if
we did. All our ethical systems and moral
judgments will be tainted and skewed based on our own frailties and limited
understanding. “All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)
The
first mention of the Word “good” in the bible is in Genesis 1:4,“And God saw
the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. This was the beginning of the creation
account, and God declares “was good” after each act of creation. “And God saw
every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening
and the morning were the sixth day.” (Gen. 1:31) God is the very author of the Good and the
sole designator as to what Good actually means.
It is a standard of perfection that God has set and only God can
accomplish. All other types of
“goodness” fall short of God’s standard, and are therefore by definition, not
Good. Good in English can have a wide
array of meanings and it is the same for the Hebrew word for good which is towb. We talk about having a good day,
or it was a good show, good times, or a good conversation. These are all proper uses of the word good,
but the usage being discussed here is absolute good, i.e. perfection. This perfection belongs to One being alone as
attested by Jesus in the gospel of Matthew.
“… one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing
shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he
said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but
if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:16+17)
At this point you may be thinking, “if God created all things, then
isn’t He also responsible for creating evil?” And I’m not just talking about
personal subjective evil, like I have a tooth ache, or that was an evil thing
to say, I’m talking about absolute metaphysical evil.
James 1:13-17
13 Let no man
say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with
evil, neither tempteth he any man:
14 But every man
is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15 Then when
lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished,
bringeth forth death.
16 Do not err,
my beloved brethren.
17 Every good
gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of
lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Evil is not a thing, and neither
is Good. This is what is called the
reification of good and evil, turning them into objects. Good and Evil are adjectives or adverbs not
nouns, they describe how things line up with divine judgment and
evaluation. All the works of God’s hands
are good. Yet, as soon as God labels
something as Good, He also now allows for the potentiality of Evil. By creating a standard of perfection, there
is now the possibility of that which does not measure up to God’s Holy
standard. Saint Augustine saw evil as
that which was a negation or that which was lacking, like a hole or a shadow.
[Cite this] He was not denying that evil didn’t exist, but that it was not a
thing. You may be thinking, “but don’t
the scriptures themselves teach that God brings forth evil?” “Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth
not evil and good?” (Lamentations 3:38)
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I
the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7)
Both of these passages do talk about God bringing evil to pass, but this
is not a moral evil, or the creation of something evil. Rather these passages talk about God bringing
evil, i.e. calamity and destruction on those who have strayed from His
path.
