Two trees are spoken of in the story of the Garden of Eden, the “tree of life” (KJV) and the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” (KJV). It is only the tree of life that is said, in the end, to be guarded by the flaming sword (Gen 3:24).
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil might not even have been confined, by its kind or by its offspring, to the garden. The contamination of that tree might be with us still, and might have spread to all Creation, or at least have spread to our communal estimation of all that has been created. There is no need to assume a Fall that changed the intrinsic nature of humanity.
Indeed, the nefarious quality of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil might have consisted merely of it being imperfect in its provision for the first couple’s needs. One might be reminded of Jesus’ cursing of the unproductive fig tree (Mat 21:19; Mar 11:14), or even of Jesus’ parable of the fig tree given a year’s probation to become productive (Luke 13:6-9), or yet again of the fact that the coverings of fig leaves were not sufficient to shield Adam and Eve (Gen 3:7).
And, indeed, it might be wondered if the prohibited tree’s fruit was the first nutritionally imperfect food consumed by the first couple, starting an inexorable progress to death from that very day (as alluded to in Genesis 2:17). Or it might in addition be thought that the experience of eating from the tree was the first unsatisfactory experience for Adam and Eve, leading them to level judgments against Creation, against themselves, against each other, and eventually against God.
The knowledge of good and evil was in any event a curse, and it scarcely seems reasonable not to follow that curse through to Jesus’ warnings against pronouncing judgment.
No comments:
Post a Comment