Last week, after a brutal morning of teaching back-to-back classes, I settled my tired body into my office chair and began eating lunch. In a few minutes between work, I opened my computer and checked the news while I ate my meal. Before I could swallow my first sip, my screen was flooded with a predictable flood of stories that completely captured my already exhausted attention. A famous musician has been arrested for sexual abuse, another war is about to break out in a faraway land, another politician. Another church leader has collapsed after being caught lying.
Soon, the trivialities of these miseries consumed me and I almost forgot about the lunch that was right in front of me. This world of knowledge was moving me from where I was to where I was meant to be. necessary To be.
Knowledge is a gift from God. However, knowledge and information are not the same thing.
In today's information age, something is often ignored by the content that consumes our lives. We can all celebrate the benefits of living in the information age, but we can also acknowledge its pitfalls and deceptions. One of them, I believe, is that there are forms of knowledge that keep us from being present to God and each other. This knowledge is the kind of knowledge that is not used to love, serve, and help others. Rather, it is knowledge known for its sheer distraction and novelty.
this is good knowledge and evil.
God's command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil implies that they knew no evil. But after disobeying God's good commands, they gain new knowledge that is their ruin.
A little backstory: Humans were created in a state of sinless innocence. At first they knew only good things, that is, what God had said to them. Trusting, obeying, and relying on God's Word, they became attached to God as a baby obeys its parents, and at first they lived in a sacred Garden of Eden-like environment free from deceit, betrayal, and sin. I did. This original state reflects the nature of God who created it. A good God creates only good things, and the Bible's testimony consistently depicts God as the Creator of perfect works (2 Samuel 22:31, Matthew 5:48). As Deuteronomy 32:4 says, “He is a rock, and his works are perfectionAnd all his ways are just. ” Similarly, the first humans are depicted as beings who embody this state of innocence and goodness, existing in a world free from the effects of sin, shame, and curses.
As the story of creation says, “Both Adam and his wife were naked, but they felt no shame” (Genesis 2:25). The item was in like new condition. Solomon's words emphasize this condition. “God created men rightly, but they sought many schemes” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Hebrew YasharThe word used here to describe their “righteousness” has a wide range of meanings throughout the Hebrew Bible, including straightness, honesty, righteousness, sincerity, and consistency. This language seems to describe not only the physical condition of humans, but also their moral condition. Their bodies functioned as they should. And there was no stain of sin, deceit, deceit, or evil in them.
Therefore, when God instructed men to eat freely from any tree in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they knew that what God had said was true and trustworthy; He trusted and willingly obeyed (Genesis 2:16-17). .
This highlights two key features of this state of innocence.
First, the state of innocence was freely chosen. Given that God's first words to man were, “You are free” (Genesis 2:16), man's moral righteousness was neither forced nor coerced. That is clear. They truly trusted and believed God's word. And they really lived in a space where they were given the possibility of stumbling.
Therefore, secondly, God appears to have built into his good world the distinct possibility of self-chosen rebellion. God gave humans the opportunity to choose disobedience by placing the Forbidden Tree in the center of Eden. Innocence in this sense is essentially a state of moral freedom that presupposes the possibility of disobedience. That God recognizes this is evident when He holds humans accountable for their actions when they disobey. “Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:11)
So is this a perfect world?
The word “perfect” can be somewhat misleading. It is important to note that in the creation account from Genesis 1 to 3, the word perfect is never used to describe creation. Instead, creation is repeatedly described as “good” (Hebrew). Tob) every day in a row. A pattern that repeats until day 6, when everything is declared as tov med — or “very good.” Eden has never been described as “perfect.” Even the passage in Deuteronomy that calls God's work “perfect” requires explanation. Hebrew Tamim It does not match the Western concept of perfection. Rather, it refers to something without blemish, without blemish, or whole. For many people, the concept of perfection means a world free of pain, hardship, and frustration.
The way to think about this is to consider the issue of pain. Was this good world created by God a world without pain?
Let's think about this question. Could the first humans, in their pure state of innocence, be beaten so badly that they broke a toe?An interesting consideration in this discussion is the human nervous system that all humans have. This complex neural network coordinates nearly every aspect of human movement. When you pick up a glass of water, your nervous system activates your muscles. When we feel thirsty, our nervous system signals our body's needs. When you can't breathe underwater, your nervous system sends a signal to your brain that it feels painful and that you need to go up for air.
Biblical creation theology reminds us that every part of the human body is designed and intended by God. If God created humans to live in a place like the Garden of Eden, presumably free from pain and injury, why did God give humans a nervous system?The nervous system evolved It wasn't the nervous system. rear Eden. Humans had a nervous system in this innocent state.
God's masterful creation of the nervous system seems to indicate that He knew in advance that pain was a real possibility in this state. In fact, Genesis 3:16 clearly suggests that one of the consequences of living in a sinful world is that the process of bearing and raising children becomes extremely difficult. more It was more painful than if there had been no sin. However, this assumes that childbirth in a sinless world would still have been difficult and painful. “I'll do a great job increase Your childbirth pains. You will give birth to children in pain” (Genesis 3:16). This does not seem to introduce pain into Eden. Rather, this increase The suffering of those who will soon be expelled from Eden.
This is why the word “perfect” is not the best way to describe Eden.
What the Bible means by perfection is very different from what Western readers think of. In a Western world defined by luxury, abundance, and comfort, we often imagine Eden as a perfect place, more akin to an all-inclusive resort than the creation story depicts.
As my friend Jerry Breshears likes to say, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a “dangerous” tree. It was good. But it's very, very dangerous.
It would be more accurate to say that Eden in its pure state was “good” and not perfect. In addition to this, there is only one being described as “perfect” throughout the Bible: God. This designation is not given to humans, creation, the universe, or spiritual beings in their pre-rebellion state. Even if we compare humans with God, it is clear that humans are different from the Creator. “Therefore, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
Jesus knew the situation. God is perfect. Humans are not like that.
Human beings were created in a state of sinless purity. At first they knew only the good things, that is, what God had said to them. When the serpent speaks, we believe that the serpent has not yet known evil (Genesis 3:5). Later, New Testament documents say that when humans ate from that tree, they entered At that moment you fall into sin. They assumed they had not sinned beforehand (Romans 5:12, 1 Timothy 2:14). All they knew was good. There was nothing else to know.
The creation they experienced was characterized by goodness that could only come from a good, holy, and righteous Creator. Everything God created reflected His nature, and that was the human experience. Before being deceived by the serpent, humans knew no malice or evil, only good. Eating the forbidden fruit changes the situation. God's command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil implies that they knew no evil. But after disobeying God's good commands, they gain new knowledge that is their ruin.
At first, they only knew good things. Well, they know better and evil.
The one tree that humans were not allowed to eat was not a bad tree. No, it was a good tree created by God. As my friend Jerry Breshears likes to say, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was a “dangerous” tree. It was good. But it's very, very dangerous.
The same goes for all knowledge. Knowledge is good. Knowing is a gift from God. But some knowledge is completely useless to us. It might be good to know. But as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil teaches us, being good does not mean it is right. for us. Sometimes good things go beyond the scope.
At this point, we are tempted to believe that all knowledge is ours (as was the case with the first humans with the first trees). If you know, you can overcome it. And that everything is for us. But this is fatal for us.
As I ate lunch, I felt a deep sense of shame and emptiness. Instead of enjoying the ham and pickle sandwich my wife had prepared for me that morning, I immersed myself in a world of gossip, news, and commentary that did nothing to form me in the presence of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't even helpful. News needs to be read. And evil needs to be exposed.
But I am beginning to experience more than ever that there is a kind of knowledge that takes us away from the Garden of Eden of the ever-present presence of God. As we learn how to navigate this new information age, we would be wise to recognize that our world is not all that different from the world of first humans. Distraction is the devil.
Part of our formation in the world is re-embracing the divine self-control that we cannot have everything we want. Secularity only gives us the gas pedal. It takes spirit to learn to brake.
It is healthy to understand that not all knowledge will be yours. Some ignorance is a gift. This is especially true of ignorance of evil.
Editor's note: This essay first published At Dr. AJ Swoboda's substack It has been republished with permission.
