Genesis

Where the twin sins began

It is in our nature to determine who is good and who is evil and to judge them for it. This natural inclination to justice is shared by us all, and it is far from new. It is ancient.

From Genesis we learn that there was a tree in midst of the Garden of Eden and this tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree and its fruit, having been made by the Creator, was good because all that God created is good.1 The tree was a delight to the eyes and desirable to make one wise.2 But God forbade man to eat of the fruit of this tree on pain of death.3 Not only did this fruit mean the death of Adam and his wife, but death to all of his descendants as well.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned.4

Why was the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil forbidden?

God did not say that the fruit was poison nor did He say that the fruit itself would kill those who ate it, He said only that they would die as a result of eating the fruit. Thus, His warning leaves open the specific reason for their death:

You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.5

The problem was not in the tree or in its fruit. The tree was not poison nor was its fruit. The problem was with what man would do with the knowledge imparted to him through the fruit. What Eve did not see and what Satan did not tell her, was that neither she nor Adam were created to be able to consume the fruit of the tree. Neither she nor Adam nor we possess the ability to use the knowledge of good and evil righteously.

Once imperfect man had eaten its fruit and acquired the knowledge of good and evil, he would inevitably cast imperfect judgment not only on what acts were good or what acts were evil, but also upon the persons doing those acts. And in so doing, he would condemn others, but at the same time, he would justify his own sin and enhance his view of himself.

No matter how the facts develop in any situation, natural man will always judge himself right and judge another wrong and justify his own conduct. When both parties to a dispute appropriate a healthy measure of the original sin, the result is inflammatory. When a husband and wife do, the result can be disaster.

Resentment is inevitable when man opens his heart to the forbidden fruit. He will always find a way to explain away what he has done and find fault with someone else. When the knowledge of good and evil (the fallen nature) are combined with the intellect of man, there is practically nothing that man cannot justify in his own mind. History is ample witness to that.

The effect of the fruit was evident immediately after Adam ate it. The first thing that happened was that Adam and Eve concealed themselves,6 because they were not aware of their sin. The second thing happened when God said to Adam, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”7 Adam’s response was to immediately utilize his knowledge of good and evil to blame both God and his wife rather than take responsibility himself. “That woman that you gave me, she gave it to me…” (paraphrased).8 So right after the fall, man concealed his sin and, when he was discovered, he blamed God and his wife. Not much has changed since then.

Another effect of the knowledge of good and evil was to leave man with capacity of justifying wrong choices. We know what is right but our imperfection renders it impossible to comply9 so we justify sin. The result is exactly as advertised and exactly what God has been warning about since the garden: death.10 Hence the clear statement from the prophet Ezekiel, “The soul that sins shall die.”11

The only answer to this tragedy is Christ. Christ is the “antidote” to the original sin.

For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.12

It is Christ who sets us free from the curse:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.13

So, Jesus Christ is not just a wise teacher. Jesus Christ is our savior because the curse is reversed in Christ. We die as a result of our sin,14 but when we trust in Christ, we are made spiritually alive15 and given eternal life.16 And He with us (knowing Him17) empowers us to obey Matthew 7:1 and thereby reverse the effect of condemnation and criticism.18

What is God’s purpose in this arrangement? One thing that happens is that with his imperfect nature, man has the option to love. Love can exist only if it is freely expressed and it can be freely expressed only if the person who expresses it can choose not to express it. True love must have an option. Love cannot exist without the option not to love. From the imperfection of man and the image of God in which man is made comes the free choice to love. In a marital context man can choose to agápe or to take offense but not both because they are opposites.

It is the fact that the lover chooses to agape when offended that gives love real value.19 Cheap love is worthless. Offenses strengthen love and make it strong. Agápe is tested by the responses we give to insults and offenses. Love that loves when it is offended is expensive and it is agápe.

One reason why agápe strengthens love is because when the lover loves his beloved with the unconditional acceptance of agape, he is giving expression to God, because “God is agape”20 and God is within him.21 Agape cannot be expressed without choice. God has given to man the finest of all possible gifts, the capacity to choose good and thereby to become good and to express the very presence of God by conforming to His will.

Another thing that happens is that man has the option to do right rather than justifying himself and doing wrong. Without the option to be unrighteous, righteous choices are irrelevant. With the knowledge of good and evil, the contrast between the right choice and the wrong choice becomes even greater because with the knowledge of good and evil man can justify practically any wrong choice he chooses to make. To make the right choice, man must choose not to justify the wrong choice. Each time he does that, he turns away from the effect of the fall and solidifies his relationship with Christ.

In Conclusion

Through Christ we can refuse to judge. Through Christ we can refuse to condemn. Through Christ we can choose to forgive. The more we make the choice to forgive and not to criticize and condemn, the more Christ discloses Himself to us.22 And the more He discloses Himself to us the more we choose not to criticize and condemn. It is a spiral going upward. A man and woman who choose this mutually supportive course find true freedom; they become as two lights spinning in the night of the world.

Knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent23 is a relationship and relationships are everything. Knowing Him comes with sincere obedience and yieldedness to His word.24 God gives us the power to turn from sin and He provides a solution when we don’t. That solution is our confession of sin to Him and His forgiveness.25† He does not require perfection from us. What He requires is sincerity and an upward path toward righteousness.26 What he wants is heart. This results in the living Christ disclosing Himself to us.27

It is this knowing of Him, His presence within us,28 that heals relationships and saves marriages because His presence means “everything [yes, everything] pertaining to life and Godliness.”29 His presence means the presence of agápe because He is agápe.30 Agápe heals relationships because agápe is total acceptance and damaged relationships are partial acceptance.

Relationships are damaged by rejection and they are healed by acceptance. It is only a question of how that acceptance is obtained. The way of the world is to follow original sin to its logical conclusion and structure a work-out of the result based upon on man’s knowledge of good and evil. That method is doomed to failure because it embraces the knowledge of good and evil.

Scripture is precisely the opposite. Scripture condemns the initiating sin and condemns the condemnation that results from it. They are both sin, both the initiating sin that caused the problem and the judgment and unforgiveness that naturally follow from the commission of the sin. This results in the transformation of the person. That method is successful because it does not utilize the knowledge of good and evil to facilitate the reconciliation. Instead, it calls upon Christ and respects the command not to criticize that He issued in the sermon on the mount.31

The world’s way seeks to change the method of relating and to learn to deal with anger and resentment in hopes that the relationship will return. The way of scripture is to eradicate both the offending sin and the resulting sins of resentment, criticism and unforgiveness. The removal of these sins restores love. The scriptural method skips over the unraveling of the tangled history of rights and wrongs, and then, by divine act creates love, real love, and uses this love to cover over the multitude of old sins.32

Love can be turned on and off like water out of a spigot by the sincere obedience or disobedience to Matthew 7:1 because the sins of Matthew 7:1 are sins directly against love.

How does this happen? Relationships are injured by insults and other overt sins. These sins result in judgment and condemnation and they are equally-if not more-dangerous than the sin that engendered them. Scripture treats both sides of the issue because both are sin. Love returns to the Christian when sin leaves.

The sum of it all is that when we are seriously wronged, we cannot, by simple act of our will, forgive and forget. When we are treated unjustly, it is natural to judge the person who has wronged us and to condemn him for it. Emotional scars occur and we cannot ignore them. We need something more than the simple admonition to sweep the injury under the rug and pretend that it did not happen.

We are stuck in a pit with pain that someone else has caused and we stay there until someone gets us out. That someone is Jesus Christ. But He does not do it by vindicating us. He does it by empowering us to forgive from our heart.

Nothing is left under the rug because there is no longer anything there.

In order to experience that power, we must yield to Him By an act of our will, we must forgive and we cease to criticize and take no offense. What we cannot do, He does. He requires effort, which is obedience33 and heart. Through the relationship with Christ, He does the rest.34

So, we are not talking method here. We are talking miracle.35 This miracle occurs with sincere yielding to Christ’s command not to judge others. It is the key to love.

It is a spiral going upward leading to a dawn of immense freedom that comes sweeping by as it rides upon the shoulders of unlimited forgiveness and trails endless love in its wake. It is the presence of Jesus Christ Himself.

Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.36

When Jesus says “you will also live,” He is not talking about the life that everyone has. He is talking about the life that no one has without Christ. He is talking about eternal life. And He is saying that we can live it now and know that we are in Him and He in us. He is saying that this is something that we can experience. It is neither method nor religion. It is knowing Him.

So, we are not talking religion here. We are talking miracle. We are talking real, experiential, here-and-now, miracle. This is a miracle that each of us can choose to experience.

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.37