Tim Barnett clarifies that eating the forbidden fruit gave Adam and Eve an experiential knowledge of evil, not their first awareness of right and wrong.
Transcript
Original video: On today’s episode of deconstructing and debunking Christianity: Today’s Sunday. They have gone again to go and worship Jesus. But let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was two people—a man and his woman. They had no clue what they were doing. They had no knowledge of what was good or what was bad. But the one who created them—who knew the difference between good and bad—decided to give them instructions, knowing that they had no knowledge what they were doing. And so, these two, they carried on, but because they had no knowledge of good and evil, decided to do evil. The one who created them comes along and punishes them. Punishes these two who had no clue what they were doing to begin with.
Tim: Okay, let’s just stop the video there because this content creator raises an interesting question. How can Adam and Eve be faulted for doing evil if they had no knowledge of good and evil? After all, they hadn’t yet eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It’s a fair question, and there’s some ambiguity about what is meant by the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.”
So, what does it mean? Here are three thoughts, and let me know what you think.
First, it can’t mean Adam and Eve weren’t aware of the difference between good and evil. Well, why not? Notice, Eve is already discerning or evaluating good from bad in Genesis 3:6. It says, “So, the woman saw the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes.” So, she has at least some awareness that the tree is good and not bad.
Furthermore, in chapter 2, God gives the command “You shall not eat.” This is a command not to do something—a prohibition. But a prohibition assumes that they had some moral awareness. For example, it’s good to obey the command and bad to disobey the command.
The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil must be more than intellectual information or knowledge about good and evil. Instead, the act of eating from the tree disobeys God’s command and brings an experiential knowledge of good and evil that they didn’t have before. So, when this creator says they had no idea what they were doing, she’s wrong. They knew they were disobeying God’s command, and they did it anyway.
Second, the phrase “knowing good and evil” appears a number of times in the Hebrew Bible. In each case, knowing or discerning good and evil seems to be linked with moral maturity or wisdom. For example, Solomon asked God for wisdom in 1 Kings 3. He says, “I am but a little child.... So give your servant a heart that listens to judge your people, to discern between good and evil.” Or, speaking to the Israelite children, Deuteronomy 1:39, it says that they had no knowledge of good or evil. So, knowing good and evil in the Hebrew Bible is a sign of moral maturity and wisdom. Before the fall, Adam and Eve are morally innocent and immature. This is where things get interesting. They saw that this particular tree could change all that. Eve says that the tree was to be desired to make one wise. This leads to the third point.
Third, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil represents a pivotal choice. Either Adam and Eve are going to obey God and receive wisdom on God’s terms, or they’re going to disobey God and take wisdom on their terms.
Proverbs 3:7 says, “Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.” A few chapters later, Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” So, there are those who fear God and those who don’t. And those who fear God receive God’s wisdom, and those who don’t fear God become wise in their own eyes.
So, eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil isn’t merely about some magical fruit which downloads moral knowledge. It’s about fidelity to the Creator and Judge of the universe. Will they obey and learn to trust the only wise God? Or will they disobey and become their own foolish gods? And that choice stands before all of us. Choose wisely.