The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

crossnote

Senior Moderator
Staff member
Senior Moderator
I'm not inserting this post in the 'Doctrinal discussion' area because by nature it is speculative being without definitive Scriptural support, and I hope it will be treated as such.

The Tree of the knowledge of good and evil is mentioned twice in Scripture,

once descriptively

Genesis 2:9 (KJV) 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.

and once prohibitively.

Genesis 2:17 (KJV) 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.


Our first parents disobeyed and we live with the consequences.

(now comes the more speculative part)

What are the consequences (Besides death)?

I would contend that yes, we know 'good and evil' but (not being God) we are unable to properly deal with it. This is illustrated in many so called 'situational' circumstances, the most famous being of Rahab's instance of hiding the spies or the ideological tension some resistance fighters experienced in their attempt to overthrow Hitler (e.g. Bonhoeffer).
This 'knowledge of good and evil', or better, the lack of properly handling that knowledge, inevitably manifests itself in bad and hurtful decisions mainly because we aren't God (even though as fallen beings we have that tendency to control and run things according to our own finite understanding).
This is the sad reality. We are armed with the hydrogen bomb (knowledge of good and evil) but we can so easily mishandle that bomb (living according to self rather than God).

Comments welcomed.
 
Intriguing topic crossnote
Sometimes I wonder why God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden
We know God doesn't tempt us He does however allow satan to tempt us. I wonder why satan was allowed to wander the earth. Perhaps this was the only way to get rid of sin once and for all?
Does the bible tell us where these two trees are now? We know the Tree of Life is being guarded.
Perhaps we have no right to ask these questions?
Adam and Eve only had one commandment to keep. They couldn't do it. If it had been any of us I believe we wouldn't have been able to either. God knew this would happen. His love towards mankind was, and is so great , that He still made us. He is amazing.
The Gatden must have been so beautiful and they had everything they could wish for. What a loss that must have been.
 
Intriguing topic crossnote
Sometimes I wonder why God put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden
We know God doesn't tempt us He does however allow satan to tempt us. I wonder why satan was allowed to wander the earth. Perhaps this was the only way to get rid of sin once and for all?
Does the bible tell us where these two trees are now? We know the Tree of Life is being guarded.
Perhaps we have no right to ask these questions?
Adam and Eve only had one commandment to keep. They couldn't do it. If it had been any of us I believe we wouldn't have been able to either. God knew this would happen. His love towards mankind was, and is so great , that He still made us. He is amazing.
The Gatden must have been so beautiful and they had everything they could wish for. What a loss that must have been.
Cosia, isn't it tragic the loss of innocence in exchange for the gain of the knowledge of good and evil?
We can't even come to life preserving decisions using our newly acquired 'wisdom' unless we resort to the Wisdom from above, and even then as Christians we find ourselves tossed obeying those in authority on the one hand even when they oppose the gospel on the other.
 
Cosia, isn't it tragic the loss of innocence in exchange for the gain of the knowledge of good and evil?
We can't even come to life preserving decisions using our newly acquired 'wisdom' unless we resort to the Wisdom from above, and even then as Christians we find ourselves tossed obeying those in authority on the one hand even when they oppose the gospel on the other.
Yes it is heartbreaking crossnote
We hurt God so much at times. Even as Christians we can be so weak and then hate ourselves. The great tragedy happened there in the garden. We are no better we have all added to the sufferings of Jesus. Oh, to be innocent!
 
The earth became hard to till. All flesh, except The Son of God, sinned.
The worse consequence was the separation from God.
 
Would anyone want to take a stab at seeing if this verse is related to the ‘knowledge of good and evil’?…

Romans 3:20 CSB
[20] For no one will be justified in his sight by the works of the law, because the knowledge of sin comes through the law.

yes? no?
 
my stab is that knowledge of sin (or good and evil) is not justified, even though all of us have eaten of it at some point.

It would be better not to know at all and just live by faith, from the tree of life.

When we get to heaven, the tree of life is open to us to freely partake.

I'm university educated, and while I had a thirst for knowledge and that can be good, it's also bad! Because I see so much evil as well...!
Not to say I really want to live in ignorance...but it would probably be a much more blissful life if I didn't know as much perhaps!

This is why many children are able to have a childhood and live a carefree life (until they reach adulthood and see someone die, have to get a job, or are faced with raising a family!)
 
Yes I would think it is related. If you don't know the law yet unwittingly break it, how can know you have broken God's law? We have a great promise though, God will write His laws on our heart. I believe when God does that we know good from evil.
 
The consequence beside death for knowledge is also knowing how to kill OTHER people with poisonous fruit, especially if you don't even tell them it's harmful.
 
How about a newly acquired imagination as a result of not being able to process this knowledge of good and evil?...

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5)
 
How about a newly acquired imagination as a result of not being able to process this knowledge of good and evil?...

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. (Gen 6:5)
What, they weren't thinking good thoughts?

I wonder who died first, was it Adam or Eve. Though Abel's was the very first funeral.
 
Was thinking on Rahab how was that hard to discern good and evil? She had heard about God and the miracles he'd done, and here were Israelites on the run. She believed, hid them and she and her household were saved.

Those in the resistance, I don't think would have been too hard either to NOT do the evil that someone tells you to do. Sometimes your job or life might be on the line. But you can save your life only to lose it or risk losing your life to save it, depending on the circumstances.

However, in some instances we shouldn't tempt God eg Jesus was told by satan to throw himself off a cliff, just to prove that the angels would catch him. He didn't have to prove anything, he already knew God and wasn't about to show off by stupidly falling for that trap.
 
Was thinking on Rahab how was that hard to discern good and evil? She had heard about God and the miracles he'd done, and here were Israelites on the run. She believed, hid them and she and her household were saved.
Taking humanity as a whole, some think she did wrong by telling a lie thus disobeying governmental authority and God, other believe she did right by fearing God and saving the life of God's people. Hence the tension.
We see a similar 'sticky situation' in Exodus 1:17 with the midwives.
 
hello...i am a new member here...although i am an old person....
being created in the image of God....by Him......intended to live such...
in the " garden "...talking with and being cared for by Our Heavenly Father......
Because of sin......besides death .....a whole life of the battle...so difficult to put into words...
encouragement is so appreciated by my soul...
Thank you for listening.
 
Back
Top