Thoughts on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
From Daniel Hoffman, MDiv and Peter Enns, MDiv, PhD.
I found these comments interesting and enlightening. Hopefully you will, as well.
Pete Enns has some interesting thoughts on the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the podcast episode I’ve linked below. His premise is basically that Adam and Eve were always intended to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Rvil - they just did it prematurely. They weren't ready yet. Knowledge of good and evil was the goal, but they had to get there the right way. They had to know how to handle that knowledge.
Having knowledge of good and evil is referred to a number of times in the Bible and is generally considered a good thing, evidencing wisdom and such. The goal of being God's people is to be like God. And God DOES have knowledge of good and evil. Additionally, various other parts of the Bible speak highly of being able to discern good and evil.
But just as you don't let a toddler play with a stove/oven because there will be severe negative consequences...
I think that has merit, but many Christians reject it because they believe that Adam and Eve were created by God already mature. I think they fear that if Adam and Eve were created immature, then that would somehow reduce Adam and Eve's accountability for sinning (and maybe it would) and that would force those Christians to rethink "The Fall" and it's consequences.
The podcast episode I discussed above is at this link:
5 Things Jesus Wants You to Know about the Adam Story
As an aside, IMO, most Christians SHOULD rethink The Fall and it's consequences. Most seem to believe that it resulted in a sinful nature being passed down to all humans from Adam, but Romans 5:12 doesn't actually say that. If you haven't read this blog post series from Dr. Michael S. Heiser, I highly recommend it.
A very interesting point from that series (that Pete Enns has also written about):
“[There is a] striking absence of Adam’s sin in OT theology. Other than Genesis 3 and then Genesis 4-5, where Adam is mentioned with respect to having children with Eve, the person Adam is mentioned only two times in the entire Old Testament. One reference is a genealogy (1 Chron 1:1). The other is Hosea 6:7 which reads: “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me.” Not surprisingly (to me anyway), there is no mention here of Adam’s original sin being transmitted to the rest of humanity. Instead, Adam’s transgression of his relationship to God is used as an analogy to covenant violation of Israel. Eve is never mentioned in the OT after Genesis 4:1.
What this means is transparent: There isn’t a single verse in the entire Hebrew Bible that produces the theology put forth by the traditional interpretation of Romans 5:12. The idea that Adam’s guilt was transmitted to all humanity is completely absent from OT theology. One would think that, given its central importance to the whole idea of salvation, if this view were accurate, at least one writer in the OT during the 2000 year history of Israel from Abraham to Jesus would have put the idea out there. But none did (under inspiration to boot).
What we do have is the simple story of the garden: Adam sins, humanity is removed from the tree of life and the direct presence of God which (apparently – in all views of this) was essential to Adam remaining without sin up to the Fall, and so humanity will thereafter die and sin. One is now his biological nature and destiny; the other is his spiritual nature–that all humans WILL sin, without exception.
Do you know what else we have in OT theology? The idea that humans are guilty before God because of THEIR OWN sins and transgressions.”
But back to the issue of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Daniel Hoffman presents a very interesting analysis in the article linked below. Excerpts:
“Knowing Good and Evil” Means Making Judgments
The first thing to say is that “knowing good and evil” does not refer to the possession of information, like one would “know” the capital of Belgium or the chemical components of a cell membrane. It is an active phrase, and refers to discernment between good and evil, or more simply, making judgments.
Compare for example the woman of Tekoa’s words to King David, when she was looking for him to correct a wrong:
“For the king will hear and deliver his maidservant from the hand of the man who would destroy both me and my son from the inheritance of God.” Then your maidservant said, “Please let the word of my lord the king be comforting, for as the angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and evil” (2 Samuel 14:16-17).
The woman is here seeking for the king to issue a judgment in her behalf. She associates this “knowledge” to the activity of God himself, or the “Angel of God.” It is the kind of judgment that is associated with rulership. Similarly, when Solomon became king upon David’s death, he prays for wisdom. But listen to his actual words:
And now, O Yahweh my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude. So give your servant a hearing heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours? (1 Kings 3:9).
“Knowing Good and Evil” Represents Moral Maturity
Solomon’s request comes alongside his confession that he is like “a little child” (v. 7), and this points us to the second aspect of “the knowledge of good and evil.” It is associated with maturity—the type of maturity that is required to be a position of issuing moral judgments. To lack it is to be immature, or like a child. This is what God said of the children of the wilderness generation, before their entrance into Canaan:
Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it (Deuteronomy 1:39).
To lack this knowledge is not morally blameworthy in an immature child; it is simply natural. At the same time, for those who should be further along in wisdom, knowledge of good and evil is expected. Listen to the author of Hebrews’ rebuke to his readers:
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).
Bringing this back to the tree in the garden, we can say that the name “the knowledge of good and evil” did not signify that this was a magic tree that one could eat from and have informational knowledge automatically implanted. The temptation was not to achieve omniscience. The name instead represents discerning activity that Adam was to exemplify and attain. In the above passage, Hebrews uses the image of food, and this is suggestive: The fruit of the tree was to be food for Adam along with the rest of the trees if he were to grow in wisdom and maturity and demonstrate the capacity to truly discern and judge between good and evil.[1] In the first instance, that would mean obeying God’s simple commands. The tree was the testing point, to see if and in what way Adam would become one who “knows good and evil.”
What Did The Tree Mean?
Concretely, the tree represented for Adam the choice between submitting to God’s law or pursuing moral autonomy: Fearing the Lord (the beginning of wisdom), or judging for himself what good and evil are. Learning obedience would result in greater wisdom, maturity, and freedom. That is what the serpent tempted Adam and Eve with: “You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). That is, you shall judge for yourselves. You will no be in the position of children, having good and evil dictated to you. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve with the prerogatives of autonomous, mature adulthood, before they had learned submission to God—and he tempted them to achieve this by way of disobedience.
But it is important to understand that it could have been achieved with obedience as well, without the consequences of sin—and that is the tragedy. Adam and Eve were indeed destined to rule creation. Becoming like gods was not a bad thing or a bad desire. But this was to be achieved in the same way the rule of Jesus was achieved—by submission to God (Philippians 2:8-9).
Note also, “good and evil” here is probably a broader category than just morality. The immediate antecedent is God’s judgment over his creation in Genesis 1: “God saw that it was good.” This is not a question of the moral uprightness of the moon and plants and fishes. It is “good” in the sense of “fitting” or “beautiful.” The tree, as the testing point of Adam’s obedience, would also be the opportunity for him to exercise his judgment with regard to what is proper and fitting. One thing that was very unfitting in Adam’s action was that he allowed himself to be drawn away and made subservient to the serpent, a “beast of the field” (Genesis 3:1), a creature that God had given Adam and Eve a commission to exercise dominion over.
So an immediate effect of Adam and Eve’s sin was that their eyes were opened, and they saw that they were naked. Having acted out of accord with truth, goodness, and beauty by stepping outside of God’s command and seeking autonomy for themselves, all the while submitting to a creature who they should ruler over, they recognized their exposure and vulnerability, and their lack of glory. Clothing in the Bible represents glory, and Adam and Eve realized that in their immaturity they had reached for a godlikeness that they were not ready for, because they had not learned obedience.[2] Adam and Eve were like little kids who want mommy and daddy’s tools and devices, and upon getting them, realize they do not know what to do with them and simply end up hurting themselves.
Paul says, “The heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and stewards until the date set by his father” (Galatians 4:1-2). This was Adam and Eve’s position exactly. They were children, in the position of servants, having not yet entered the promised inheritance. They first needed the schoolmaster of the law. Their obedience to God would have issued in greater freedom and greater glory, and being trained in righteousness, righteousness and not sin is what they would have used their freedom to pursue (cf. Galatians 5:13). They would have understood that submission to God’s rule is good and fitting—and thus humbling themselves, they would have been exalted.
Having stepped out and grasped at this glory however, they did achieve a kind of maturity of experience, and so God acknowledges that “the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:22), though it was in a tragic manner. He also clothes them in recognition of this.[3]
Conclusion
God laid a temporary prohibition on his children, who were set to grow into wise, mature, and free adulthood by way of obedience. They were to become like gods, judging between good and evil, and the tree was an opportunity to train them in this. However, the serpent tempted them with seizing this prerogative prematurely, by way of rebellion. Adam and Eve did judge between good and evil, but their act of judgment was flawed and proved fatal.
[1] In Genesis 1:29, God told the man and woman both that “every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.” The prohibition on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil comes in ch. 2 and is given to Adam only, before Eve’s creation. Putting those facts together, we can assume that the prohibition on the tree was only temporary.
[2] This is why Adam and Eve had no shame in their nakedness. In their immature, childlike state, it was innocent. It was not God’s intention that they remain in that condition—the saints in heaven after all are given white robes of glory. They are not naked.
[3] It is sometimes suggested that God’s clothing of Adam and Eve represents an atonement or sacrifice for their sin, since clothing them with skins would require the death of an animal. However, the emphasis is entirely on the act of clothing—an image of investiture. Nothing is said about slaying an animal, blood, or anything having to do with sacrifice.
What Was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil For?
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