Eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man during his trial
The first people were created sinless, and as free beings, they were allowed to voluntarily, with the help of the grace of God, perfect themselves in the divine virtues in order to establish themselves in goodness unshakably.
Man's sinlessness was relative, not absolute; it lay in the free will of man, but was not a necessity of his nature. That is, "a man could not sin," not "a man could not sin." About it Saint John of Damascus writes:
“God created man by nature sinless and free by will. Sinless, I say, not in the sense that he could not accept sin (for only the Divine is inaccessible to sin), but in the sense that he had the possibility of sin not in his nature, but primarily in his free will. This means that, assisted by the grace of God, he could remain in good and prosper in it, just as by his own freedom he could, with God's permission, turn away from good and end up in evil.
In order for a person to develop his spiritual powers by perfection in goodness, God gave him a commandment not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: “And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying: from every tree, hedgehog in paradise, eat; from the tree, if you understand good and evil, you will not tear it down; but if you take a day from it, you will die the death” (Gen. 2:16-17; cf. Rom. 5:12; 6:23).
St. Theophan the Recluse explains:
“God created man for bliss, and precisely in Him, through living communion with Him. For this reason, He breathed into his face the breath of His life, which is the spirit ... The essential property of the spirit is consciousness and freedom, and its essential movements are the confession of God, Creator, Provider and Retributor, with a feeling of complete dependence on Him, that everything is expressed in a loving view of God, incessant attention to Him and reverent fear of Him with the desire to do what is always pleasing to Him at the direction of the lawmaker - conscience and with the renunciation of everything, so that To taste the One God and to live and enjoy Him alone. Man is given consciousness and freedom in the spirit, but not so that he becomes conceited and self-willed, but then, realizing that he has everything from God and in order to live in God, everything freely and consciously directed to this single goal. When he is so disposed, then he abides in God and God abides in him. God, who abides in a person, gives his spirit the power to rule over the soul and body, and then over everything that is outside of him . T such was the original state of man. God appeared to the forefathers and confirmed all this with His Divine word, instructing them to know His Only One, to serve Him Only, to walk in the will of His One. So that they would not get confused about how to do all this, He gave them a small commandment: not to eat the fruit of one tree, which He called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So our forefathers began to live and blissed in paradise.
“God gave man free will,” says St. Gregory the Theologian- so that he freely chooses good ... He also gave him the law as material for the exercise of free will. The law was the commandment, what kind of fruits he can eat, and which he does not dare to touch.
“In fact, it would not be useful for a person,” argues Saint John of Damascus- to receive immortality before he was tempted and tested, for he could become proud and fall into the same condemnation as the devil (1 Tim. 3, 6), who, due to an arbitrary fall, because of his immortality, was irrevocably and relentlessly established in evil; while the angels, inasmuch as they have voluntarily chosen virtue, are unshakably established in goodness by grace. Therefore, it was necessary for a person to be tempted at first, so that when he was perfected through the keeping of the commandment, he would accept immortality as a reward for virtue. In reality, being by nature something between God and matter, a person, if he avoided addiction to created objects and united by love with God, by keeping the commandment would be firmly established in goodness.
St. Gregory the Theologian writes:
"The commandment was a kind of educator of the soul and tamer of pleasures."
“If we had remained what we were and kept the commandment, we would have become what we were not, and would have come to the tree of life from the tree of knowledge. What would, therefore, become? “Immortal and very close to God.”
Jerome. Seraphim (Rose):
"Paradise - and all earthly life man - was created by God, words holy Vasily, as "principally a school and a place of education for the souls of men." (Shestodnev, I, 5, p. 11). In the beginning, man was presented with the ascent from glory to glory, from paradise to the position of a spiritual inhabitant of heaven, through the exercises and trials that the Lord would send him, starting with the commandment not to eat from the only tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man was placed in paradise, as in a state intermediate between the heavens, where only purely spiritual ones can dwell, and the earth, capable of corruption - it became corruptible, as we will see, because of his fall.
What then was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and why was it forbidden to Adam? In the classical interpretation holy Gregory the Theologian, in paradise, God gave Adam “the law for the exercise of freedom. The law was the commandment: which plants he should use, and which plant he should not touch.
2. The Tree of Knowledge Was Good, Like Everything God Created
By its nature, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was not deadly; on the contrary, it was good, like everything else that God created, only God chose it as a means of educating man's obedience to God, his improvement. If a person were unshakably established in goodness, his fruits would become for him a source of soul-beneficial knowledge, wisdom, contemplation.
St. John Chrysostom:
"The tree of life was in the midst of Paradise, as a reward; the tree of knowledge - as an object of competition, achievement. Having kept the commandment regarding this tree, you receive a reward. And look at the wondrous deed. Everywhere in Paradise all kinds of trees bloom, everywhere abound with fruits; only in the middle are two wood as an object of struggle and exercise.
Saint Gregory the Theologian writes:
“They are commanded not to touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was not planted maliciously and forbidden not out of envy; on the contrary, it was good for those who would use it in a timely manner, for this tree, in my opinion, was contemplation, to which only those who have perfected experience can safely proceed, but which was not good for simple and immoderate in their desires. just as perfect food is not good for the weak and those who require milk.”
St. John of Damascus:
“The tree of knowledge in paradise served as a kind of test, and temptation, and exercise of human obedience and disobedience; hence it is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Or perhaps it was given such a name because it gave those who ate its fruit the strength to know their own nature. This knowledge is good for those who are perfect and established in divine contemplation, and for those who are not afraid of falling, for they have acquired a certain skill by patient exercise in such contemplation; but it is not good for the unskilled and subject to voluptuous lusts, for they are not established in goodness and are not yet sufficiently established in adherence to that which is good only. "It was not the tree that gave birth to death, since God did not create death, but death was the result of disobedience."
St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov):
In the middle of paradise was the tree of life; by eating its fruit, the immortality of the human body was maintained. There was another tree in the middle of paradise, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord, having led the first-created into paradise, commanded Adam: “Tear down every tree that is in paradise. From the tree, if you understand good and evil, you will not eat from it: but if you take a day from it, you will die the death ”(Gen. 2, 16, 17). This commandment explains a lot. It is obvious that the fruits of the trees of paradise, as we have seen above, are much thinner and stronger than the fruits of the earth, they act not only on the body, but on the mind and soul. One tree was the tree of life, and the other tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This knowledge was kept, postponed, perhaps, for those perfected by doing and keeping paradise, - for the newly created ones it was premature and deadly.
... There is a deadly knowledge of evil that a person can develop in himself: it is deadly, because then the natural goodness of a person is poisoned by the accepted malice, like fine food with poison, and itself turns into malice. There is also the most beneficial knowledge of evil, bestowed by the Holy Spirit on His chosen vessels, in which a pure and strong mind examines everything, and the most subtle twists of sin, convicts them, not mixing with sin, and keeps oneself and neighbors from evil. Thus, led by the Holy Spirit, the holy Apostle Peter said to Simon the sorcerer: “In the gall of sorrow and the union of unrighteousness I see thee being” (Acts 8:23).
Dogmatic theology:
In the oldest patericon of Christian writing, in the Epistle to Diognetus, we read: “Knowledge or understanding is inseparable from life; the symbol of this was the tree of life and the tree of knowledge in paradise, planted side by side. This meant that God did not forbid knowledge, but demanded that those who desired knowledge were people of a good life, that is, they lived according to God's commandments. Not the desire for knowledge was in itself a fault or a sin in the first people, but the desire to have this knowledge without a good life, to receive it not by virtue of the fulfillment of the commandments of God, but, on the contrary, by disobeying them.
St. Theophilus of Antioch:
"The tree of knowledge in itself was good and its fruits were good. Not the tree, as some people think, contained death, but disobedience, for the fruits contained nothing but knowledge, and knowledge is good, if, of course, it is correct use".
Alexander Kalomiros:
“The Fathers teach us that the prohibition against eating from the tree of knowledge was not unconditional—it was temporary. Adam was a spiritual baby. Not all food is good for babies. Some food can even kill them, although adults will find it quite suitable. The tree of knowledge was planted by God for man. It was good and nutritious. But it was "solid food", while Adam was only able to digest "milk".
“We see that death did not come as a result of the command of God, but as a consequence of the fact that Adam darkened his relationship with the Source of life by disobedience; God, in His goodness, warned him about this.”
Rev. Efrem Sirin:
“God planted two trees in Paradise - the tree of life and the tree of knowledge: both of them are blessed sources of all blessings. Through them, a person can become like God - through life not to know death, and through wisdom not to know error.
... Everyone who eats this fruit must either see the light and become blessed, or see the light and groan. If one who is committed to sin eats, he will complain.
... God put the tree as if a judge, so that if a person tastes its fruit, it will show him the dignity that he has lost due to arrogance, as well as show the dishonor that he found as a punishment for himself, and if he wins and triumphs, clothe him glory and revealed to him what shame is; and then a person, remaining healthy, would have knowledge of the disease.
... If Adam had won, then his members would have been covered with glory, but with his mind he would have known what suffering is, his body would have flourished and his rational forces would have risen. But the serpent perverted it, humiliated him to taste it in reality, and left the glory only in memory; what a man has found has covered him with shame, and what he has lost must weep for.
This tree was for him the image of the door, the fruit - the veil that closed the temple. Adam plucked the fruit, transgressed the commandment, and as soon as he saw the glory that shone with its rays from within him, he ran away and hastened to seek refuge under the humble fig trees.
He who planted the tree of knowledge placed it in the middle, so that it would separate both the upper and the lower, and the holy and the holy of holies. Adam approached, dared to enter, and was horrified.
… Because Adam was not allowed to enter inner temple; then this temple was guarded, so that Adam would be content with serving in the outer temple, and as the priest serves, bringing the censer, so he would serve, keeping the commandment. The commandment for Adam was a censer, so that by it he would enter before the face of the Hidden One, into the hidden temple.
… Adam, in his impurity, wanted to enter the holy of holies, which loves only those like him; and because he dared to enter the inner sanctuary, he was not abandoned in the outer.
... If the serpent had not drawn them into a crime, then they would have tasted the fruits of the tree of life, and then the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would not have become forbidden for them, because from one of these trees they would have acquired infallible knowledge, and from another they would have received eternal life and in humanity would become god-like.
The forefathers would have acquired infallible knowledge and immortal life while still in the flesh…”
3. When did Adam receive the knowledge of good and evil?
St. John Chrysostom teaches that Adam knew what good was before eating the forbidden fruit:
“Before, we promised to tell about the tree, whether Adam received the knowledge of good and evil from it, or whether he had this knowledge even before eating. We can now boldly say that he had this knowledge even before eating. If he did not know what is good and what is evil, then he would be more unreasonable and the most dumb, and the master would be more senseless than slaves.
… If we now know this, and not only we, but also the Scythians and barbarians, then all the more so did man know it then, before the fall. Honored with such advantages as (creation) in the image and likeness, and other benefits, he could not be deprived of the main good. Only those who by nature do not have reason do not know good and evil, and Adam possessed great wisdom and could recognize both. That he was filled with spiritual wisdom, see its revelation. “Brought,” it is said, God the beasts to him, “to see what he would call them, and that whatever a man called every living soul, that was its name” (Genesis 2:19). Think what wisdom he had who could give names, and, moreover, his own, to so many different and varied breeds of cattle, reptiles and birds. God himself so accepted this naming of names that he did not change them, and even after the fall he did not want to cancel the names of animals. It is said: "As a man calls every living soul, so was its name."
So, did he not know what is good and what is evil? What is it in accordance with? Again, when God brought a wife to him, when he saw her, he immediately knew that she was of the same nature as him. And what does he say? “Behold, this is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23).
... So, who knew so much, really, tell me, did not know what is good and what is evil? What will it be in line with? If he (Adam) did not know before eating from the tree what was good and what was evil, but learned after eating, then, therefore, sin was a teacher of wisdom for him, and the serpent was not a deceiver, but a useful adviser, making him a man from a beast. But let it not! It's not like that, no If he did not know what was good and what was evil, how could he receive a commandment? Law is not given to those who do not know that crime is evil. And God gave (the law) and punished for the crime (of the law); He would not have done either if he had not first made Adam capable of knowing virtue and vice. Do you see how it is revealed to us from everywhere that it was not after eating from the tree that (Adam) learned good and evil, but knew it before?
…And the devil said, “On the day you eat them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen.3:5). How then, they will say, do you say that it did not communicate the knowledge of good and evil? Who, tell me, inspired this? Isn't it the devil? Yes, they say, he - when he said: "You will be like gods, knowing good and evil." So you present me the evidence of an enemy and a slanderer? Although he said: “You will be like gods,” but did they become gods? Just as they did not become gods, they did not then receive the knowledge of good and evil. He is a liar and does not say anything true: “No,” it is said, “the truth is in him” (John 8:44).
Let’s not give evidence of the enemy…”
4. Why is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil called that?
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was so named because man, through this tree, learned by experience what kind of good is contained in obedience, and what evil is contained in opposition to the will of God.
St. John Chrysostom:
“…why is it called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And first, if you like, consider what is good and evil? What is good? Obedience. What is evil? Disobedience. And then, in order that we may not be mistaken about the essence of good and evil, let us carefully examine this on the basis of Scripture. That this really consists of good and evil, listen to what the prophet says: “What is good and what does the Lord (God) require of you” (Micah 6: 8)? Say what's good? - Love the Lord your God. You see that obedience is good (comes) from love. And again: “Two evils,” says the Lord, “my people have done: they forsook me, a fountain of living water, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer. 2:13). Do you see that the evil is disobedience and abandonment? So, let us remember that good is obedience and evil is disobedience, and thus we will understand both. This is why the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is so named because the commandment that taught obedience and disobedience was connected with this tree. And before that, Adam knew that obedience is good, and disobedience is evil, and then he knew (this) more clearly in fact ...
… Adam knew that obedience is good, and disobedience is evil, and then he knew more clearly when, having eaten from the tree, he was expelled from paradise and lost that bliss. When he was punished for having eaten of the tree in defiance of divine prohibition, the punishment more clearly, in fact, showed him what evil is disobedience to God, and what good is obedience. Therefore, this tree is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Why is it called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if in its very nature it did not contain this knowledge, and man most clearly learned this from the punishment for disobedience regarding this tree? This is because Scripture usually gives names to places and times, where and when events take place, from these events. And to make it clearer to you, I will give an example. Isaac once dug wells, the neighbors decided to spoil these wells, as a result of which enmity occurred, and Isaac called the well "Enmity", not because the well itself was at enmity, but because enmity occurred for it. This is also the name of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not because it itself had knowledge, but because the discovery of the knowledge of good and evil took place in it. … it (served) as an exercise in obedience and disobedience.”
A lengthy catechism compiled by St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow:
The name "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" corresponds to itself, because through this tree a person has learned by experience what good lies in obedience to the will of God and what evil lies in resisting it.
5. About the snake-tempter
The Holy Fathers write that the serpent was the animal through which the devil spoke, in order to tempt the first people out of envy.
holy John Chrysostom:
“Do not look at the current serpent, do not look at the fact that we avoid him and feel disgust for him. At first he was not like that. The serpent was a friend of man and of those who served him closest. Who made him an enemy? you from all the cattle and from all the beasts of the earth (...) and I will put enmity between you and between the woman "(Gen. 3, 14-15). This enmity destroyed friendship. I do not understand friendship, but that, to which a dumb animal is capable of. Just as now a dog shows friendship, not with a word, but with natural movements, so the serpent also served man. As an animal that enjoyed great proximity to man, the serpent seemed to the devil a convenient tool (for deception) ... So "The devil speaks through the serpent, deceiving Adam. I ask your love to listen to my words not somehow. The question is not easy. Many people ask: how did the serpent speak, was it with a human voice, or with a serpentine hiss, and how did Eve understand? Before the crime, Adam was full of wisdom , mind and the gift of prophecy ... The devil also noticed mu the strength of the serpent, and Adam's opinion of him, because the latter considered the serpent wise. And so he spoke through him, so that Adam would think that the serpent, being wise, was able to adopt the human voice."
St. Ignatius (Bryanchaninov):
“While our forefathers were enjoying themselves in paradise, the fallen prince of the heavenly powers with a numerous host of dark angels, already cast down from heaven, wandered in the under heaven. By the inscrutable fate of God, he was allowed entry into paradise, as a not yet completely desperate villain. This goodness of God, which attracted the erring one to the consciousness of sin and to repentance of it, Satan used to commit a new crime, to incurably seal himself in enmity to God. The devil, having entered paradise, announced paradise with blasphemy intertwined with lies, and marked his presence in paradise with the destruction of primitive people, just as he had previously marked his presence in heaven with the destruction of countless angels. He approached his wife as a weaker being, and, pretending to be ignorant of the commandments given by God, he proposed a sly question: “What does God say: do not eat from every tree of paradise?” (Gen. 3, 1) He presents the All-good God as insufficiently good, and the holy and beneficent commandment of God as cruel and heavy! Seeing that his wife entered into a conversation with him with some gullibility and, in refutation of him, expressed the exact words of the commandment: 3, 3) - the villain begins to directly challenge and reject the justice of the Commandment of God. It is terrible to repeat his bold and blasphemous words! “You will not die a death,” he said. - “God knows, as if you had taken away the day from him, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, leading good and evil” (Gen. 3, 4, 5). Despite the obvious poison of the words of the serpent - as the Scripture calls the fallen angel - the wife stopped at them; forgetting both the commandment and the threat of God, she began to examine the tree under the guidance of her own mind, bowed under the influence of the devil's lies and deceit. The fruit of the tree seemed to her good food, and the knowledge of good and evil seemed to her a curious knowledge. She ate of the tree and persuaded her husband to eat. It is amazing with what ease the fall of the forefathers took place! Was it not prepared by their inner disposition? Did they not leave the contemplation of the Creator in paradise, did they not indulge in the contemplation of the creature and their own grace? Beautiful is the contemplation of oneself and the creature, but in God and from God; with the elimination of God, it is disastrous, leading to exaltation and conceit. Scripture leads to such a reasoning when it tells that the woman, having listened to the devil's speech, “sees how good a tree is for food, and how it pleases the eye to see and eat red, if you understand; And you took poison from its fruit, and gave to your husband, and poison" (Gen. 3, 6).
It is obvious that the forefathers, having disobeyed God and bowed down in obedience to the devil, made themselves strangers to God, made themselves slaves of the devil. The death promised to them for the transgression of the Commandment immediately seized them: the Holy Spirit that dwelt in them departed from them. They were left to their own nature, contaminated with the poison of sin. This poison was communicated to human nature by the devil from his corrupt nature, full of sin and death.
... "The soul of Adam died," says Saint Gregory Palamas- separated from God by disobedience: for he lived in body after that (after his fall) up to nine hundred and thirty years. But death, which, due to disobedience, has befallen the soul, not only makes the soul indecent and brings a curse on the person, but the body itself, having subjected it to many infirmities, many ailments and corruption, finally puts it to death. "" Adam, - says blessed Theophylact of Bulgaria,- being alive, he was also dead: he died from the hour in which he ate (from the forbidden tree).
holy Ambrose of Milan:
“But the envy of the devil is death in the world” (Wisdom 2, 24). The reason for envy was the bliss of a person placed in Paradise, for the devil could not bear the mercies received by a person. dust, was chosen to be an inhabitant of Paradise. The devil began to think that man is a lower creature, but has the hope of eternal life, while he, a creature of a higher nature, fell and became part of this worldly existence.
Rev. Efrem Sirin:
“... The enemy envied the forefathers, for they, by glory and the gift of words, appeared above everything on earth, they alone were promised eternal life, which the tree of life could give. Thus, envying both what Adam had and what he was to gain, the enemy plots his own intrigues and takes from them in a short battle what they should not have lost in a long struggle. If the serpent had not drawn them into a crime, then they would have tasted the fruits of the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would then not have become forbidden for them, because from one of these trees they would have acquired infallible knowledge, and from the other they would have received eternal life. and in humanity would become god-like.
The first parents would have acquired infallible knowledge and immortal life while still in the flesh, but the serpent, by his promise, deprived them of what they could acquire, assured them that they would acquire this by transgressing the commandment, and all for that one thing, so that they would not acquire what God promised through keeping the commandment. Promising that they would be like Bozi (Gen. 3:5), he deprived them of this, and so that the promised tree of life would not enlighten their eyes, he promised that the tree of knowledge would open their eyes.
6. The essence of the fall
The Holy Fathers teach that the sin of the first people did not consist in simply eating the fruit, but it was a violation of the commandment of God, which grew out of disobedience to the will of God, pride, blasphemy against God, which separated a person from God's grace.
Blessed Augustine:
“Let no one think that the sin of the first people is small and light, because it consisted in eating the fruit from the tree, and moreover, the fruit is not bad or harmful, but only forbidden; obedience is demanded by the commandment, such a virtue, which among rational beings is the mother and guardian of all virtues. ... Here is pride, for man desired to be more in his own power than in God's; here is the blasphemy of the sacred, for he did not believe God; here also homicide, for he subjected himself to death; here is spiritual fornication, for the integrity of the soul is violated by the temptation of the serpent; here is theft, for he took advantage of the forbidden fruit; here is the love of wealth, for he desired more than he had enough.
St. Theophan the Recluse:
“So our forefathers began to live and blissed in paradise.
The spirit, which had previously fallen in pride, envied them and led them astray, inciting them to transgress the small commandment given to them by seductively imagining that with eating from the forbidden fruit they would taste such a blessing that they could not even imagine without that - they would become like gods. . They believed and ate. The matter of tasting, perhaps, is not great, but it is bad that they believed, not knowing to whom. Perhaps this would not have been so important if it were not for those terribly criminal thoughts and feelings for God, which, like poison, the evil spirit poured into them. He told them that God forbade them to eat from the tree so that they would not become gods. This was believed. But having believed in this way, they could not help but accept blasphemous thoughts about God, that He envies them and treats them unkindly, and having accepted such thoughts, they could not avoid some unkind feelings towards Him and self-willed decisions: so we ourselves will take what what You do not want to admit us. So that's what He is like, stuck in their hearts about God, and we thought that He was so good. Well, then we will arrange ourselves in defiance of Him. These thoughts and feelings were terribly criminal! They mean a clear apostasy from God and a hostile rebellion against Him. The same thing happened inside them, which is attributed to an evil spirit: I will set my throne above the clouds and I will be like the Most High - and this is not like a volatile thought, but like a hostile decision. Thus the consciousness became arrogant and freedom reclaimed its will, taking upon itself the dispensation of its fate. The falling away from God was complete with disgust and a kind of hostile rebellion against. For this, God also retreated from such criminals - and the living union was interrupted. God is everywhere and contains everything, but he enters free creatures when they surrender themselves to Him. When they are contained within themselves, then He does not violate their autocracy, but, keeping them and supporting them, He does not enter inside. So our ancestors were left alone. If they had repented sooner, perhaps God would have returned to them, but they persisted, and in the face of obvious reproofs, neither Adam nor Eve admitted that they were guilty. Judgment and punishment followed by expulsion from paradise. Then they came to their senses, but it was already too late. It was necessary to bear the imposed punishment, and after them to our whole family. Thanks be to the All-Merciful God that He even departed from us, but did not abandon us, having arranged a marvelous way to reunite us with Himself.
Rev. Justin Popovich writes:
“By the fall, the Divine-human order of life was violated and rejected, and the devil-human order was accepted, because by the willful transgression of the commandment of God, the first people announced that they wished to achieve Divine perfection, to become “like gods” not with the help of God, but with the help of the devil, which means - bypassing God, without God, against God.
By disobedience to God, which manifested itself as a creation of the will of the devil, the first people voluntarily fell away from God and clung to the devil, led themselves into sin and sin into themselves (cf. Rom. 5, 19).
In reality, original sin means man's rejection of the God-determined goal of life - becoming like God on the basis of a god-like human soul - and replacing this with likeness to the devil. For by sin, people have transferred the center of their life from a god-like nature and reality to an extra-God's reality, from being to non-being, from life to death, they have renounced God.
The essence of sin is disobedience to God as the Absolute Good and the Creator of all that is good. The cause of this disobedience is selfish pride.
“The devil could not lead a man into sin,” writes blessed Augustine- if it were not for self-love.
"Pride is the pinnacle of evil," says Saint John Chrysostom.- For God, nothing is so disgusting as pride. ... Because of pride, we have become mortal, we live in sorrow and sorrow: because of pride, our life flows in torment and tension, burdened with unceasing work. The first man fell into sin from pride, desiring to be equal with God.
St. Theophan the Recluse writes about what happened in human nature as a result of the fall:
"To be subject to the law of sin is the same as walking in the flesh and sinning, as can be seen from the previous chapter. Man fell under the yoke of this law as a result of a fall or falling away from God. It is necessary to recall what happened as a result of this. Man: spirit - soul - body. Spirit to live in God is destined, the soul is to arrange earthly life under the guidance of the spirit, the body is to produce and observe the visible elemental life on earth under the guidance of both. As his spirit did not present any means for this, because of his estranged nature, he turned entirely into the area of spiritual and bodily life, where extensive nourishment was presented to self-indulgence, and became spiritually carnal. sin against his nature: for he should have lived in the spirit, spiritualizing both soul and body. But the misfortune was not limited to this. enter the soul-body realm, perverted the natural forces, needs and functions of the soul and body, and, moreover, introduced much that has no support in nature. The soul-carnality of a fallen man became passionate. Thus, fallen man is self-pleasing, and as a result he is self-pleasing, and feeds his self-pleasing with passionate spiritual fleshliness. This is his sweetness, the strongest chain that keeps him in these bonds of fall. Taken together, all this is the law of sin, which exists in our lives. In order to free from this law, it is necessary to destroy the indicated bonds - sweetness, self-pleasing, selfishness.
How is this possible? There is a detached power in us - a spirit breathed by God into the face of a person, seeking God and only by life in God can find peace. In the very act of creating him - or blowing him out - he is placed in communion with God; but fallen man, cut off from God, cut him off from God. His nature, however, remained unchanged, - and he constantly reminded the fallen, mired in spiritual-fleshiness - sharpened - of his needs and demanded their satisfaction. The man did not reject these demands and in a calm state decided to do what was pleasing to the spirit. But when it was necessary to get down to business, passion arose from the soul or from the body, flattering sweetness and taking possession of the will of man. As a result, the spirit was denied the task ahead, and the passionate spiritual-fleshiness was satisfied, because of the promised sweetness in nourishing self-indulgence. As it was done in this way in every case, it is fair to call such a course of action the law of sinful life, which kept a person in the bonds of a fall. The fallen one himself was aware of the burden of these bonds and sighed for freedom, but he did not find the strength in himself to free himself: the sweetness of sin always lured him and incited him to sin.
The reason for this weakness is that fallen spirit lost its defining power: it passed from him into a passionate soul-bodily. According to his original structure, a person should live in the spirit, and we define him to be in his activity - complete, that is, both spiritual and bodily, and to spiritualize everything in himself with the power of it. But the strength of the spirit to keep a person in such a rank depended on his living communion with God. When this communion was interrupted by a fall, the strength of the spirit also dried up: it no longer had the power to determine a person - the lower parts of the nature began to determine him, and, moreover, the aggravated ones - what are the bonds of the law of sin. It is now obvious that in order to be freed from this law, it is necessary to restore the strength of the spirit and return to it the power taken from it. This is what accomplishes the economy of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus."
Review (Study 4, Worship in Spirit and Truth)
Basic moments:
1. We are made up of spirit, soul and body.
2. Our soul has no direct connection with the outside world. Communication - either through the spirit or through the flesh
3. Three sources of thoughts: ours, from God and from demons
4. The ability to receive information from the spiritual world and use it practically - this is worship in the spirit.
5. Worship in truth - correctly interpret the Word of God, "impose" Scripture on thoughts and act on it, discern and weed out the lies of Satan.
6. We must always be able to interact with the spiritual world, receive spiritual information and "sift" it through the Scriptures.
Key Scripture:
Genesis 3:2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruits of the trees, 3 only the fruits of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God said, do not eat them or touch them, lest you die.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is one of the keys to understanding all of Scripture.
A first look at the term "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil".
P. Polonsky in his book "Two stories of the creation of the world" (Chapter 7) writes:
“The story of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is certainly one of the most enchanting in Creation history. We feel that the mystery of the Creation of man is hidden here, and that no explanations, no matter how deep and important they may be, cannot exhaust this mystery. Each step that advances us in understanding this history is important, although the road is long.
However, the one who perceives the Torah<Пятикнижие Моисеево>simply as "primitive ancient lore", there is no great difficulty in interpreting the story of the Tree of Knowledge. In the spirit of 18th century atheism (whose root, in this case, comes from Christian Gnostics), these people confidently explain that "the cruel Jewish God wanted to keep a person in darkness and ignorance, did not want to let him know about good and evil, and for his disobedience deprived him of preferential living conditions in Paradise." Such an approach hits like a boomerang, first of all, at its adherents: after all, if we treat the Torah as just a primitive, then we simply won’t be able to learn anything from it, that is, in the end, we will deprive ourselves of ourselves.
But, if we turn to the Torah with a desire to comprehend its wisdom, then we must proceed from the fact that God, as He is depicted, must be at least not more stupid or morally not worse than ourselves - but most likely, on the contrary, much smarter and better. And the same is to be expected of Adam and Eve. In other words, we assume in advance that God not only wishes good, wisdom and light to man, but also does everything to bring this about; and also that the actions of Adam and Eve are explained not by petty vanity or trivial mistakes, but by a really existing deep problem.
Everything that happened to Adam and Eve regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was PLANNED by God not for evil, but for the good of mankind. This we will further consider in detail in the second part of the teaching (Christian way of life, Discipleship).
Now we will get acquainted with the Biblical term: "Tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of paradise, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
In the middle of paradise
In the Russian Bible, reading the text of Genesis 2:9, one can understand that the tree of life is in the center of paradise, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not indicated. In fact, the original Hebrew has a completely different word order:
In Hebrew, writing words from right to left (Strong's Hebrew Lexicon):
;;;;; 6779 ;;;; 3068 ;;;;; 430 ;; 4480 ;;;;; 127 ;; 3605 ;; 6086 ;;;; 2530 ;;;;; 4758 ;;;; 2896 ;;;;; 3978 ;;; 6086 ;;;;; 2416 ;;;;8432 ;;; 1588 ;;; 6086
;;;; 1847 ;;; 2896 ;;;; 7451
Hebrew word order:
(Life), (tree), (food), (useful, pleasant), (appearance, appearance), (enjoy, desire, find pleasure), (tree), (any, all), (earth, soil), ( from, from, with, co), (God, el-o-heem-Elohim), (Existing; yeh-ho-vaw "- Yahweh), (grow), (evil, evil, bad), (good, good ), (knowledge, knowledge, skill), (tree), (garden, paradise), (middle, inside; (on) among),
Then from left to right for the Russian language:
In the midst of paradise, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was grown by the Lord (Yahweh) God (Elohim) from the soil every tree to enjoy the sight of useful food the tree of life.
Meaning from the original:
Gen.2:9 In the midst of paradise the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the Lord God made to grow, [and planted] in the soil every tree that brings delight in its appearance [and] useful for food, [and] the tree of life.
Compare with the Russian Bible:
Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now it is clear that ONLY the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is in the center of paradise. Moreover, “grown” or “grown” can be understood as how he did something. For example, some object (or objects). ATTENTION, these objects (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) are NOT PLANTED IN THE SOIL. And only trees intended for FOOD TOGETHER WITH THE TREE OF LIFE (the words are in the same group) are planted in the soil - this is exactly what is defined for food for people.
PLEASE NOTE that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is NOT FOR FOOD. It is possible that something in particular can be used for food, but in general, it is not indicated that the fruits of this "tree" are suitable for human consumption. Most likely, this is not a tree, but just a symbol.
So, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is in the CENTER of the world created by God for people. Therefore, this term is CENTRAL in people's lives and understanding of all Scripture. This term contains the meaning of God's relationship with any person who has the right to choose. The completion of this topic will be presented in part 2 of the teaching (Lesson 4, Raising Humanity).
You will die death.
Genesis 2:
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and keep it.
17 But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil DO NOT EAT from it, for on the day you eat from it YOU WILL DIE.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a symbolic Biblical term. But still, let's try to imagine this Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Such a large one with green foliage and fruits, for example, red (evil) and green (good), hang in the green of the leaves.
Or, conversely, red (good) and green (evil)?
How will be correct?
And neither the first nor the second options are CORRECT!
Why?
Let us first take a close look and analyze what God the Creator of the Tree Himself said about this. First, we read the text, and then we will analyze it piece by piece:
5 but God knows that on the day you eat them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eye and desirable, because it gives knowledge; and took its fruit and ate; and gave also to her husband, and he ate.
7 And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of paradise.
10 He said, I heard your voice in paradise, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you not eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?
The concept of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil in the original source.
Before you begin to study the Scriptures, you need to understand the meaning of the words not in the translation, but in the ORIGINAL SOURCE, as the people who received the REVELATION from the Holy Spirit and wrote the texts of the Bible understood these words. P. Polonsky covered this issue very well in his book “Two stories of the creation of the world”:
“The problem that we encountered in trying to comprehend the meaning of the Tree of Knowledge is actually connected with the fact that when reading the Torah<Пятикнижие Моисеево>IN TRANSLATION, it is impossible to understand this story at all. And so we should turn to the ORIGINAL and understand what the term "Daat" means, which is used in the expression "Etz HA-DAAT Tov ve-Ra" - "The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil."
In one of the previous chapters, we discussed two categories, two levels of cognition: "Hochma" (initial understanding, whole, as a single integral point-idea, as if at first glance); "Bina" (the development of this point - ideas into a detailed understanding, at the level of a structure built from many parts, an understanding of the mechanism of work). But in the Jewish "system of world psychoanalysis" (i.e., the structural understanding of the soul of the world, the Kabbalistic system of "sefirot") there is another "cognitive" category that expresses the next third level of knowledge, which is called "Daat". This stage of cognition comes after the stages of "Hochma and Binah" and after the initial generalized idea of understanding has already been revealed and detailed, after the thing, in general, has already been understood. Only after this "understanding" can one proceed to the implementation of "cognition" - "Daath", which means a personal, internal and even in some sense intimate connection of the cognizing subject with the object of cognition.
When cognizing at the level of "Daath", a person enters into a deep personal connection with the object, and this connection should not be just informational, external, intellectual, but it should be INTERNAL, affecting the very foundations of the personality and CHANGE this personality. At the same time, the object of cognition is included INSIDE the "intimate space" of the cognizing personality. It is no coincidence that the Torah tells us about the EATING of the fruit of the "Tree of Daat"<т.е. познание произошло не на уровне знаний, полученной информации, внешнего восприятия, а на уровне ВНУТРЕННЕЙ сущности человека, т.е. МЕНЯЕТСЯ его внутреннее состояние вследствие каких-то внешних ДЕЙСТВИЙ или работы. Люди что-то СДЕЛАЛИ, а не просто узнали о чем-то. Раз они что-то сделали, значит, у них изменился ОБРАЗ ЖИЗНИ, а не просто уровень знаний>.
That is why the word "Daat" is also used in Hebrew to denote intimate RELATIONSHIPS men and women<т.е. ДЕЙСТВИЕ, а не просто знание>,
as in verse 4:1 - "And Adam knew Eve<Еву>wife," because this knowledge means creating a connection between them, and not just receiving formal information about each other. The transition to such an intimate level of knowledge in relation to Good and Evil occurred in a person after eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge<изменился образ жизни>.
… Even before eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, a person had passions and inclinations, but they were, as it were, separated, at a certain distance from his own personality. These were the OUTER urges that attracted Adam and carried him away, but they were not originally a PART OF HIS INNER BEING. In the Torah, the passions and aspirations of a person at this level of external drives are personified in the Serpent, who persuaded Adam and Hava<Еву>eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. But in fact, who - both in antiquity and today - persuades a person to do this or that wrong deed? Are these not our own passions? This is what the Talmud says.<многотомный свод учений иудаизма>: "he is the Serpent, he is Yetzer ha-ra" (literally "passion for evil", passion for violating the Divine word).
Before eating the Fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, a person could separate his passions from his personality. How today, for example, we can separate and keep at a distance our personality from the information read in a book - although both are now within us. Before eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, the Serpent was sitting OUTSIDE, and a person could discern what was coming from the Serpent and what was coming from within, from himself. That is, Adam could separate his personality from his own passions. After the Knowledge of Good and Evil, this separation becomes impossible. The very process of such knowledge - Daath - is identified in the Torah with eating, because as a result of it, Good and Evil from external information become an integral part of the human personality. Good and Evil cease to be something extraneous for Adam, they become part of his own "I"< т.е. частью души, значит, образ жизни включает в себя ДОБРО и ЗЛО.>.
And Adam received at the same time not at all knowledge of the type "the ability to distinguish between Good and Evil", but, on the contrary, the idea of the inseparability of Good and Evil<т.е. один и тот же предмет может принести плод-ДОБРО, а при других условиях – плод-ЗЛО>.
After all, this Tree was not a tree separately of Good or separately of Evil. Good and Evil grow ON THE ONE tree and have a common root - and the fruit, in fact, combines them in itself, gives knowledge of both qualities in interconnection - for without understanding this connection, Good and Evil cannot be truly knowable.
… In other words, nothing else happened than the GROWTH of the First Man. For a child, the world is black and white; growing up, a person replenishes it with shades of gray, a continuous gradation of transitions connecting both opposites.
… Thus, before eating the fruit, Adam already had an idea of Good and Evil (i.e., he knew them at the level of Hochma); he also, especially with the advent of his wife, knew many details about Good and Evil (i.e., he knew them at the level of Binah), but he did not yet have a personal, intimate EXPERIENCE of their experience, his knowledge of Good and Evil wore, as it were, theoretical character. And after eating the fruit, he felt that his very personality was inextricably linked with Good and Evil, and this meant that his knowledge of Good and Evil had moved to the LEVEL of Daath<на уровень ОТКРОВЕНИЯ>.
All of the above is necessary for ANYONE to grow up. ordinary person <т.е. это было во все эпохи, включая наше время>,
and Adam was also in dire need of all this, so that, advancing on the ladder of Knowledge, DRAWING CLOSER to God, for which, ultimately, he WAS CREATED. The problem was only how, having known the connection between Good and Evil, to be able to continue to SEE THE DIFFERENCE between them.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not fruit tree with fruits for nourishment - this is KNOWLEDGE at the level of REVELATIONS, which brings a person closer to God in understanding the CONSEQUENCES of good and evil. People DID something, not just learned about something. This action changed their LIFESTYLE, not just their level of knowledge.
So, having dealt with the meaning of the translated words “the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil”, we proceed to a detailed analysis of the above passage of Scripture.
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, No, you will not die,
5 but God KNOWS that on the day you eat them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, KNOWING good and evil.
God knew what would happen to people if they enjoyed the fruits. He foresaw that this would happen, otherwise the Omnipresent God would not have allowed the spiritual death of the people he had just created. God didn't even put up a guard, as anyone who doesn't want to let their creation perish would do. So it was in His Plan, which He drew up and thought out BEFORE He created people!
P. Polonsky also wrote about this in his book “Two stories of the creation of the world”:
“Did God know what Adam would choose? Yes, of course, He knew; but at the same time man was FREE TO CHOOSE. If Adam had not eaten the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge prematurely, then the world would have developed in a completely different, more perfect way, and THIS OPPORTUNITY WAS really real.
Did God know that a person would still violate his order? Yes, He knew about it. But did God force man to do this, did He want just such a development of events? Far from it. God OFFERED man two options, and did not impose one of them on him. Adam was free to choose what he wanted - even though God KNEW IN ADVANCE what Adam would choose.
So, it would be completely wrong to say that God planned the fall of Adam, or that this fall was inevitable. God WANTS ADVANCE<духовного возрастания>rather than the fall of man; but in order for this advancement to have value, a person must feel responsible for his ACTIONS, and for this, a fall must be one of life's opportunities. And sometimes HUMAN ACTIONs lead to the fact that this opportunity is realized.
6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
Translation of the word GOOD: kind, good, beautiful, beautiful, SUCCESSFUL, HAPPY, useful, pleasant, desirable.
A more precise semantic meaning of this phrase:
“And the wife saw that“ THIS ”creation of God, MOST MOST MOSTLY, can bring HAPPINESS and WELFARE, if“ THIS ”is used for yourself!”
It suddenly seemed to Eve that “THIS” was so beautiful, and besides, it could bring so much joy and happiness! She probably thought, “Oh, THIS is a real dream! That's what I was looking for and what I lack for a happy life!
And that it is PLEASANT to the eyes
Translation of the word PLEASANT: (STRONG) desire, desire; lust, whim.
Eve felt an irresistible attraction to use "THIS" object (or action) not yet known. The more she looked at THIS, the more uncontrollable LUSH flared up in her.
AND LOVELY
Translation of the word LOVELY: to wish; to enjoy, find pleasure; lust, lust after, crave.
And she peered more and more passionately into the alluring "THIS". Indescribable PASSION and a thirst for unsurpassed desire took possession of her.
Because it GIVES KNOWLEDGE,
Fruits give knowledge?
No, these are not fruits of a fruit tree. Eva felt that “It”, unknown to her until now, could show and teach her what EVIL and GOOD are, open the way to a tempting and unknown KNOWLEDGE!
Probably, this is how Eve got “hooked” by the snake, which has long known what SIN is and how it can affect people.
So, we are not talking about the fruits of the fruit tree. For some reason, people thought they were apples. But on the tree of KNOWLEDGE only FRUIT of KNOWLEDGE can grow. It clearly refers to some kind of ACTION that gives KNOWLEDGE about GOOD and EVIL, and maybe DOES evil or good.
And she took the fruits of it and ELA; and gave also to her husband, and he ate.
7 AND THE EYES OF THEM BOTH WERE OPENED, AND THEY KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
And why did their eyes OPEN, perhaps to the relationship of a man and a woman, and perhaps to a relationship with God? And where did the SHAME come from, which they had not even THINKED about before? Before this event, they just DID NOT KNOW the inner state that gives shame! Therefore, first Eve, then Adam committed some FORBIDDEN ACTION, which we call SIN.
This action produced by Adam and Eve gave rise to FEAR and HORROR in them at the approach of God, which they had not had before this incident. Now they COULD NOT BE IN THE PRESENCE of God!!!
Something BROKEN in the RELATIONSHIP between God and primitive people. Now Adam and Eve have become DIFFERENT, not the same as they were immediately after their creation.
9 And the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you?
10 He said: I heard your voice in paradise, and I was AFRAID, because I was naked, and I hid myself.
ATTENTION! Why was Adam afraid that he was NAG? The most interesting thing is that he was not afraid of DEATH and not PUNISHMENT from God for the unfulfilled order that God gave him. The resulting self-condemnation and shame were greater than the fear of death!!!
Adam became NAKED, i.e. something was LOST, something disappeared in him immediately after the SIN action.
11 And he said, Who told you that you were NAG? DID YOU EAT FROM THE TREE I forbade you to eat from?
There is a clear connection here between the NUDITY of people and touching the fruits of the tree of KNOWLEDGE. God, of course, knew everything and UNDERSTANDED the state in which people were when they touched or performed some kind of forbidden action. After all, God is omnipresent and definitely saw how the serpent seduced Eve. But He honors and respects the CHOICE of people, tk. did not create them as puppets. God created people as PERSONS with the right to choose their own destiny.
God did not prevent the fall of Eve. Therefore, He KNEW that this would happen. For Him, this event "did not fall like snow on his head", was not some kind of surprise. God was ready for this and LONG AGO developed a PLAN FOR SALVATION of people (Gen.3:13-19)!
This forbidden ACTION of people HARMED AND CHANGED THEIR ESSENCE. We see that the condition of people became worse, they began to experience fear and COULD NOT be in the presence of God.
Feelings we know? Of course, they experienced the CONSEQUENCES of the EVIL committed by them or against them, after which their mood worsens, doubts, fears, shame, depression come. Often, minor fears bring real misfortune and it seems that everything, the end of everything has come.
True, we KNOW such a state of mind from the moment we began to realize ourselves? And we have gone through this more than once in our life on earth. This always happens when people with a conscience EXPERIENCE or DO evil!
Thus, the FIRST PEOPLE “ate” from the tree of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil, which means they KNOW evil or committed it, experienced the ACTION of evil.
Not different fruits “grew” on the tree: FRUIT OF GOOD and FRUIT OF EVIL, but only fruits of ONE kind – these are the fruits of KNOWLEDGE.
Because the tree is ONE and the fruits on it can be either red (evil) or green (good), as it has been in the minds of many people. On ONE tree in natural conditions there can be fruits of only ONE species according to its kind:
Gen.1:11 ... a fruitful tree, bearing fruit according to its kind, in which is its seed on the earth ...
12 And the earth brought forth grass, grass yielding seed after its kind, and tree bearing fruit, in which is its seed, ACCORDING TO HIS KIND.
There cannot be bitter and sweet fruits on the same tree at the same time in natural conditions:
James 3:11 Does SWEET and BITTER [water] flow from ONE fountain?
12 My brethren, a fig tree cannot bear olives, or a vine of figs. Likewise, ONE fountain [cannot] pour out SALT AND SWEET water.
So, we see that both the fruits of good and the fruits of evil cannot grow on the same tree at the same time, which is CONTRADICTING, first of all, God's law. On the tree of knowledge, only the fruits of KNOWLEDGE grow, and no others, just as a cherry can not be born on an apple tree!
The Bible does not explicitly tell us exactly what Adam and Eve did. But we know for sure that they did some ACTION that harmed people. And this "something" was created by God for people and was intended for good purposes, but if used IMPROPERLY, could harm people. About what God WARNED.
This is something that in some conditions brings good, in others - evil. Any thing designed to serve people has "two sides of the coin."
For example, one and the same knife can cut bread - this is GOOD, and it can also kill or injure a person - this is EVIL.
The Internet is a lot of Christian programs that bring good and POSITIVE, but there, if a person WANTS, you can immerse yourself in pornography and the like NEGATIVE.
Electricity, when properly used, is LIGHT, heat, energy in electrical appliances. If misused, not according to manufacturer's INSTRUCTIONS - FIRE, burns and death.
There is duality and CHOICE in everything. The same object in one use is good, in another it is evil, and this depends on the ACTIONS of specific people.
Perhaps the first people went beyond what was permitted and did evil instead of good, which God warned them about in advance.
In other words, they NEGLECTED the INSTRUCTIONS of the Creator, just as people now neglect the INSTRUCTION-Bible written for the life of people on earth. Someone fulfills it, and he will LIVE in the presence of God in the Kingdom of God, and someone will not, will be separated from the Kingdom of God, i.e. will be in hell and DEAD to God. This is the CHOICE of every person living on earth and in OUR TIME!
What time? In ours? Those. we now do every day the SAME AS Adam and Eve???
Yes, we all also KNOW good and evil in our lives, i.e. WE FEED on the fruits of the same Tree of KNOWLEDGE of good and evil! It is our CHOICE whether to sin or act according to the Bible, which is God's INSTRUCTION for our life.
This means that our internal state (our essence) does not differ COMPLETELY from the state of Adam and Eve immediately after the fall. We are still living in the CONSEQUENCES of the original fall.
What did BROKEN in the first people?
Let us pay attention to the fact that Adam was not worried about DEATH (earthly death in our understanding), but only about what he UNDERSTOOD and FELT, i.e. received knowledge of his NAKEDNESS and experienced FEAR in the presence of God.
ATTENTION! This is a key revelation that will help us better understand the Word of God recorded in the Bible. Pay close attention to the SCORE that God has placed! He directly linked Adam's NAKEDNESS with the fact that he used the fruits of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil:
Gen.3:11 ... who told you that you are NAG? Have you not eaten from the tree...
God didn't ask, "Why are you hiding from Me, Adam?" Or didn't he say, "Why are you afraid of me, Adam?"
God pointed out the specific source: “who TOLD you that you were naked?”.
In other words:
Who SHOWED you that you were naked?
- who INDICATED to you that you are naked?
- who TEACHED you that you are naked?
- who gave you the KNOWLEDGE that you are naked?
Knowledge?!
That's right, the knowledge that Adam and Eve are "naked." An ACTION was taken that "opened the eyes" of Adam that he was naked! Who DID it to Adam, ie. performed a forbidden ACTION? Of course, Eve, because she RECOGNIZED sin and introduced Adam into it:
Genesis 3:12 Adam said, The wife that You gave me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.
Where did Eve get this from? From the serpent, because he KNEW sin and brought Eve into it:
Gen.3:12 The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
But where did the serpent find sin, how did he know it?
The Bible specifically says that the serpent is directly related to Satan, because. God, addressing the serpent, speaks words in accordance with the context of all Scripture (further events that will take place in the New Testament time):
Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman<будущее время Нового Завета>,
and between your seed and between her seed; it will hit you in the head, and you will sting it in the heel.
We will talk in detail about the wife and her seed in session 7, “The Fundamental Foundations of the Firstfruits of the Doctrine.”
Now we will only note that the serpent may be a follower of Satan, and perhaps Satan and the serpent are one and the same person. The Bible does not give an exact indication, but in any case, the seduction of Eve came from Satan, who already knew sin and was exiled by God from Heaven to the heavens (spiritual prison) for this:
Ezekiel 28:15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, until AWARENESS was found in you.<преступления в духовном мире, которое установлено в соответствии с Конституцией Царства Божьего, т.е. грех>.
16 Because of the vastness of your trade, your INNER was filled with iniquity<в сатане, как и в Адаме, что-то сломалось ВНУТРИ, т.е. в духовной сути существа>,
and you SINNED<результат запрещенных ДЕЙСТВИЙ – это преступление в духовном мире или грех>;
and I cast you down as unclean from the mountain of God; I drove you out of the midst of the fiery stones, O covering cherub<Бог вынужден преступника в духовном мире исключить из чистого Божьего Царства>.
Thus, the source of the fall of people was Satan, and not God, who created everything for the good of people and gave instructions on how to use it all so as not to harm yourself. But Satan TEACHED or gave KNOWLEDGE to people how to use God's good creation for evil (violate God's instructions). And this action "revealed" the nakedness of people, which SEPARATED them from God.
Of course, without the participation of people this would not have happened. Therefore, people were charged with sin, complicity in some kind of spiritual crime, i.e. non-compliance with the requirements of God's Instruction (Constitution of the Kingdom of God). God was FORCED to separate people from the Kingdom of God, although he loved them very much. He did not want this, as this passage of Scripture is sometimes presented, that God allegedly planted this tree on purpose in order to mock people and “catch” them. Unfortunately, sin is the choice of people created by free personalities, and not of God.
Now a legitimate question arises: what died in Adam and separated him from the presence of God? God warned that if you sin, then you, Adam, will be NAKED. Nudity is NUDE, i.e. some "veil" has disappeared. It means that something SEPARATED from Adam, i.e. died:
Gen. 2:17 ... for on the day you eat of it, YOU WILL DIE.
It was “nakedness” that SEPARATED Adam and Eve from God, i.e. the consequences of sin, disobedience to God, and the Constitution of the Kingdom of God. By their actions, people have violated the Law of God, “broke” something, and the Constitution has ceased to “cover” and protect them as citizens of the Kingdom of God. This "veil" in the spiritual world is righteousness before the Law of God. The WHITE CLOTHES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS have disappeared from the people, and they have become "naked" before God.
Revelation 3:18 I advise you to buy from me gold purified by fire, that you may become rich, and WHITE CLOTHING to put on, so that the shame of your NAKEDNESS is not seen, and anoint your eyes with eye ointment so that you can see.
Rev. 3:4 However, you have a few people in Sardis who have NOT defiled their garments, and will walk with Me in WHITE [clothes], for they are worthy.
Rev. 3:5 He who overcomes will put on WHITE garments; and I will not blot out his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Without these clothes, it is IMPOSSIBLE to be in the presence of God and feel free and worthy to communicate with the RIGHTEOUS God. The absence of the robes of righteousness on the people CONDEMNED them, and therefore fear appeared, SHAME arose, and people began to hide from the sight of God.
Moreover, they became criminals in the spirit world. Adam and Eve lost the ability to be close to God. And all the DESCENDANTS of the first people, according to the kind of their parents, INHERITED this SEPARATION from God. We are all descendants of Adam:
Because of this, people still fear God and try to hide from Him, not to think about Him and not to believe in Him. Although deep inside, in the spirit of a person (in the subconscious, “sixth sense”, “information from space”, as many people call the spirit of a person), there is always the knowledge that God EXISTS, this knowledge is “invested” by God in the spirit of each person.
After the fall of Adam, ALL people cannot BE in the presence of God and LIVE in the Kingdom of God, because all people by lineage from Adam inherited the DEAD ability to be in the OBVIOUS PRESENCE of God. Therefore, from birth, ALL people are DEAD for God and CANNOT live in the Kingdom of God.
Now the Scriptures become clear, for example:
Eph.2:1 And you DEAD<не принадлежащих Богу, отделенных от Него>
according to your CRIMES and SINS<НЕ БОГ, а грех и преступление по Небесному Закону отделяет людей от Бога>,
2 in which you once lived, according to the CUSTOM OF THE WORLD<поступки людей по образу жизни, принятому в реальном мире, обычно ПРОТИВОРЕЧИТ Конституции Царства Божьего, что приводит людей к ПРЕСТУПЛЕНИЮ в духовном мире, делая их МЕРТВЫМИ для Бога>
Col.2:13 and you who were DEAD in SINS...
Matthew 8:22 But Jesus said to him, Follow me, and leave the DEAD<не принадлежащих Богу, отделенных от Него>
bury your dead.
Rev. 3:1 ... I know your works; you bear the name AS if you are alive, but you are DEAD<живя на земле, человек думает, что попадет в Царство Божье, но в духовном мире он ИМЕЕТ какой-то грех, поэтому не принадлежит Богу и уже отделен от Него>. …
1 Peter 4:6 For for this reason the gospel was also proclaimed to the DEAD<т.е. НЕВЕРУЮЩИМ и не знающим Бога проповедано>…
Luke 20:38 But God is not the [God] of the DEAD, but of the LIVE, for with Him all are LIVE<Все, кто рожден свыше и принадлежит Богу по Договору Крови и Усыновления – ЖИВОЙ для Него и может ЖИТЬ в Царстве Божьем, все остальные – МЕРТВЫЕ, и не могут ЖИТЬ в Царстве Божьем>.
Everything is extremely simple and clear when God reveals His Scripture through revelations from the Holy Spirit.
And we already know that ALL people have become SEPARATED or DEAD to God. What connects us to God?
God is a SPIRITUAL Being who lives in a SPIRITUAL world and His body is made of SPIRITUAL material:
John 4:24 God is spirit<духовное Существо>,
and those who worship Him must WORSHIP in spirit<т.е. ВЗАИМОДЕЙСТВОВАТЬ с Богом люди должны в ДУХОВНЫХ сферах или в ДУХОВНОМ мире> …
Consequently, our SPIRITUAL CONNECTION and the ability to LIVE with God, the ABILITY to live in His PRESENCE, which PREVIOUSLY was in the SPIRIT of Adam, HAVE BEEN BROKEN ( white clothes righteousness), and NOW, after the fall of Adam, ALL people do NOT have this ability. This is spiritual NAKEDNESS or emptiness - the ABSENCE of the white robe of righteousness (uncleanness before God).
The human spirit did not die, but was only defiled. A FULL connection with God was interrupted, which allowed to see Him, communicate with Him and LIVE in His presence. The spirit of people has become DEFECTIVE and unable to live in the Kingdom of God, where everywhere is the OBVIOUS presence of God.
The Bible says that there will ALWAYS be the OBVIOUS presence of God in Heaven:
Rev. 22:5 And the night will not be there<в Царстве Божьем>,
and they will not need a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God Illuminates THEM<в Царстве Божьем Бог будет вместо солнца ПОСТОЯННО освещать ВСЕХ людей, т.е. для КАЖДОГО будет всегда ЯВНОЕ присутствие Божье, способность к чему УБИЛ в Адаме первородный грех>;
and will reign<люди>till the end of time<вечно ЖИТЬ в Царстве Божьем и царствовать со Христом, т.к. станут Его "ЖЕНОЙ">.
In this light of God's RIGHTEOUSNESS (holiness), the UNCLEAN cannot be:
Rev.21:27 And NOTHING UNCLEAN will enter into it, and no one given over to abomination and lies, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
But after the victory of Christ on the cross of Calvary, all people on earth got the opportunity to RESTORATE the white robes of righteousness before God with the help of the Blood of Christ. And this is also the CHOICE of people: whether they choose life in the Kingdom of God with Christ, being born again, or reject Him, perishing in the lake of fire:
Rev. 7:14 I said to him, You know, sir. And he said to me, These are they who came out of the great tribulation; they washed their CLOTHES and WHITE their clothes with the blood of the Lamb.
Why did God allow original sin?
First, let's read the entire passage of Scripture Gen.2:8-22, and then examine in detail:
Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a paradise in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man whom he had created.
9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. …
…
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, From every tree in the garden you shall eat,
17 But do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it you will die the death.
18 And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone; Let us make him a helper suitable for him.
19 From the ground the Lord God formed every living creature of the field and every bird of the air, and brought it to man to see what he would call them, and that whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
20 And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for man there was not found a helper like him.
21 And the Lord God brought a deep sleep upon the man; and when he fell asleep, he took one of his ribs, and covered the place with flesh.
22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man formed a wife, and brought her to the man.
Note the context of this passage of Scripture. We are talking about the fact that God outlined the TERMS of DUTIES of a person and commanded him to PERFORM the assigned work. To fulfill a responsible assignment, God created a HELP for Adam, who is called to help Adam SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE THE GOOD TASK.
In the context of all Scripture, the symbol "tree" denotes people, and the "fruit of the tree" is the consequences of already committed actions or the work of a person (blessing or cursing):
Matthew 3:7 And when John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he said to them: You brood of vipers! who inspired you to flee from future wrath?
…
10 Already the ax lies at the root of the trees: every TREE that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire<Иоанн говорит фарисеям через символы, где «дерево» - это люди (фарисеи), «не приносящее доброго плода» - их совершенные недобрые дела, «секира» - это Конституция Царства Божьего, которую они нарушили, «при корне дерев лежит» - они (деревья) являются преступниками, поэтому в духовном мире, после физической смерти, Божий Закон или Конституция их осудит «срубит» и они (деревья) будут брошены в ад: «бросают в огонь»>.
Understanding the meaning of this symbolism, it is very easy to understand the meaning of the following Scriptures:
John 15:6 Whoever does not abide in me will be cast out like a BRANCH and wither; and such [branches] are collected and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.
Gen.49:22 Joseph is a branch of a fruitful [TREE]…
Jer.17:7 Blessed is the MAN who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be like a TREE planted by the waters...
Dan.4:17 THE TREE that you saw… 19 IT IS YOU, the king, exalted and strengthened…
Ps.128:3 Your wife is like a fruitful VINE in your house...
Ps.91:13 THE RIGHTEOUS Blossoms like a PALM tree, rises like a CEDAR in Lebanon.
14 Planted in the house of the Lord, they bloom in the courts of our God;
15 They are fruitful even in old age, juicy and fresh...
Isaiah 3:10 Tell the righteous man what is good [for him], for he will EAT THE FRUIT OF his WORKS…
Matthew 7:15 Beware of FALSE PROPHETS...
17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 Therefore by their FRUIT you shall know them.
Matt.12:25 But Jesus, knowing THEIR THOUGHT, said to them: ...
33 Or make the tree good and its fruit good; or recognize the tree as bad and its fruit as bad, for the WOOD is known by the FRUIT. …
35 A good man out of a good treasure brings forth good things, and evil person out of an evil treasure brings forth evil.
18 The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace among those who keep the peace.
Romans 6:21 What FRUIT did you have then? [Such deeds] of which you yourself are now ashamed ...
Romans 15:28 Having done this and faithfully delivered to them this fruit [of diligence]...
Gal.5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness, temperance...
John 15:
5 I am the vine, and you are the BRANCHES; Whoever abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit...
6 Whoever does not abide in me will be cast out like a branch and wither; and such [branches] are collected and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.
2 Peter 1:8 ... you will not be left without success and FRUIT in the KNOWLEDGE of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Probably enough, because there are many similar Scriptures that use the symbols in question.
In the context of the entire Scripture, the symbolism of the words "tree" - people and "fruit of the tree" - the actions of people is clearly traced: GOOD or EVIL.
Genesis 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman, No, you will not die,
5 but God knows that on the day you eat them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, KNOWING good and evil.
Notice that the serpent didn't say that people would recognize the taste of the fruits of the fruit tree, be it apples or some other kind of fruit (but people reading the Bible still thought it was apples). The serpent specifically pointed out that people will know the MANIFESTATION of good and evil in THEIR EXPERIENCE as well as the Creator-God (this is a way of life, as we talked about above).
And we see that God confirmed the words of the serpent, that people became like gods, KNOWING good and evil.
Gen.3:22 And the Lord God said, Behold, Adam has become like one of Us, KNOWING good and evil...
God created the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil not to drive people into a vicious and unhappy life in evil, but so that they, like God, not only had an idea of good and evil, but lived these states and experienced them on themselves, gained personal EXPERIENCE. So that they not only understand the essence of evil, but could, under ANY conditions in the FUTURE LIFE in the Kingdom of Heaven, immediately “smell the smell” of evil. And so that not only the people themselves do not allow the slightest manifestation of evil, but also do not allow this in other inhabitants of the Kingdom of God.
! ANY THING OR METHOD (even in Heaven), when used correctly, brings GOOD, and when used forbidden or wrong, EVIL.
=========================================================
Now it is clear why this "tree" is planted in the center of paradise. This "tree" is a symbol DESIGNATING the CHOICE of people.
The "tree of knowledge of GOOD and EVIL" is still in the center of LIFE or the choice of all beings, not only on earth, but also in the Kingdom of God, i.e. IF YOU USE SOMETHING GOOD IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD NOT ACCORDING TO GOD'S INSTRUCTIONS, you can cause EVIL to yourself or others.
This is exactly what Satan did (early overshadowing cherub). He used POWER, POWER, given to him from God and intended FOR GOOD, for HIS DESIRES: "I will sit in the host of gods ...".
Satan disregarded God's INSTRUCTIONS to use the authority God gave him to SERVE THE RESIDENTS OF HEAVEN FOR THEIR GOOD, NOT HIMSELF. Satan sinned by displaying pride and exaltation instead of SERVING the inhabitants of Heaven. Thus, he, like Eve, TASTED THE FRUIT FROM "THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL".
God wants people to understand the consequences of evil as well as God Himself. And, accordingly, they did not allow evil, in any of its manifestations, in the Kingdom of God, thereby becoming true WORKERS AND HELPERS for God!
Having passed the earthly cycle of training on the topic “What is good and evil”, people will NEVER allow the emergence of evil in the Kingdom of God, because they knew it from the inside, when the consequences of evil were not just observed from the outside, but lived PERSONALLY. Thus, God will have RELIABLE STAFF in the future God's Works and Plans:
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are laborers together with God...
Through this "study" and the EARTH EXAM will pass all those who will be a FOLLOWER with God Himself:
1 Peter 4:12 Beloved! fiery Temptation sent to you for the TEST, do not be alienated, as strange adventures for you ...
Because we must be as HOLY and not succumbing to any evil, like Christ:
Romans 11:
16 If the firstfruits is holy<Иисус Христос>, then the integer<"целое" - это Иисус Христос и Его Церковь>;
and if the root is holy<Иисус Христос>, then the branches<Его люди, рожденные свыше и достигшие Царства Божьего>.
…
30 Just as you once were disobedient to God<были неверующими и не рожденными свыше, поэтому и были непослушны Его заповедям), а ныне помилованы (но сейчас рождены свыше и помилованы>, …
God will test everyone before he ALLOWS responsible work in the Kingdom of God:
Romans 11:32 For God has shut EVERYONE into disobedience... that he might have mercy on EVERYONE
The will of God is for every person to eat the fruits of the Tree of good and evil, living among evil in the spiritual prison of the Celestial Empire, and experiencing both good and evil, to gain EXPERIENCE of the positive and negative consequences of their PERSONAL actions and the actions of people in relation to him. And also to affirm that any SIN is a DISCOUNT of God's instructions or Biblical commandments.
Jesus Christ brought PARTY to earth for ALL people so that they could receive this pardon through the acceptance of Christ and be released from the spiritual prison:
Roman 8:
18 For I think that the present TEMPORARY SUFFERINGS<жизнь на земле и познание добра и зла>
worth nothing in comparison with the glory that will be revealed in us<личный опыт в познании ПОСЛЕДСТВИЙ зла через земные СТРАДАНИЯ>.
19 For the creation waits with hope for the revelation of the sons of God<Все Божье творение ожидает, что рожденные свыше (сыны Божьи) ПОЗНАЮТ истину через откровения от Духа Святого и станут истинными СОТРУДНИКАМИ Бога в Его Делах>
…
21 that the creation itself will be RELEASED from its bondage to corruption<при допущении греха, поэтому все жители Небес ЖДУТ пока люди ВОЗРАСТУТ в этих откровениях, чтобы никто на Небесах не согрешил, как сатана>
into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
ATTENTION! Here the future tense is indicated, i.e. the time when the WORKERS of God (children of God) in the FUTURE, living in the Kingdom of God, WILL NOT ALLOW the manifestation of evil in the Kingdom of God, which can lead the inhabitants of Heaven to EXCEPTION from God and imprisonment in a spiritual prison, as happened with Satan - “the creature will be FREED from slavery to decay"
Let's return to the message of Romans 11 (continuation, see above).
Romans 11:33 O abyss of riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments and unsearchable are His WAYS!
In Romans 11:32 it was said that everyone will pass tests on earth and will be PARTY thanks to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And in Romans 11:33 it is explained that only a WISE God could develop such a WAY for mankind. Having led humanity along this path, God will receive for Himself employees who will LIKE Him to MANAGE the entire world created by God!
Let's return to the conversation between Eve and the serpent, where he said "you will not die" when you use the fruits of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He told the truth, which was confirmed by God Himself, but added very little LIE, imperceptibly dissolved in God's truth. According to the context of the entire scripture, “death” is the separation of the human soul from God, and “life” is its approach to God and living together with Him.
Therefore, the serpent simply deceived Eve. This is the essence of all the false teachings of Satan, where in the "barrel of honey", i.e. Satan has mixed a very small “fly in the ointment” into the multitude of God's truths. A detail that is almost not noticeable at all, but in the end the whole “huge barrel” turns out - this is a FALSE teaching and because of this STILL people lose God and end up in hell. Adam and Eve tasted good and evil, but not in the way and way that God PREPARED for people.
Perhaps there was another way of knowing the consequences of good and evil, but people chose this one, on the “tip” of the father of lies (Satan).
Eve did this not according to the instructions of God, but according to the instructions of the serpent, having received EXECUTION from God, because used the FORBIDDEN method, which God FORBIDDEN, thereby bringing harm to herself and all descendants. Eve did not follow God's path of KNOWING good and evil that He had prepared, or perhaps the time had not come and THE CONDITIONS HAVE NOT BEEN RIPEN to fulfill God's instructions. Because of disobedience to God, and by the false TEACHING of the serpent, people have committed sin by inflicting spiritual Mutilation upon themselves. And the upbringing of mankind by God, most likely, went according to another, far from God's scenario, although "eating" from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil WAS PLANNED by God, not God's desire for people to sin, but a PLANNED WAY to correct the consequences of sin (the consequences of "eating" ), because God KNEW that people would disobey God, violate His instructions, and sin.
Of course, God obviously knew what the choice of free people would be, and IN ADVANCE developed and INCLUDED in His Plan the SALVATION of people, the restoration of their spiritual mutilation, long before the creation of the universe (which will be described in detail in part 2 of the teaching, in the section on the Creation of the world, i. to. this topic is beyond the scope of the initial course).
Now we understand why God separated people from himself. They nevertheless “died” for God (here we do not mean natural or earthly death, which cannot separate people from God, but is only a TRANSITION of the soul from real world into the spiritual, we are talking about spiritual death).
The soul is separated from God, i.e. "spiritually dead" even during the natural life of a person on earth as a result of "unlawful ACTIONS in relation to God's legislation" of the forefathers (Adam and Eve), who committed SIN. As a result, the spirit of the first people became crippled (defiled), and, consequently, of all descendants by HERITAGE:
Gen.5:3 Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begot [a son] in his IMAGE, in his IMAGE, and called his name: Seth.
Any person by lineage from Adam is born with a crippled spirit and lives in a spiritual prison (under heaven).
Every person born on earth becomes a CRIMINAL according to the Constitution of the Kingdom of God from birth. Those. the place of REGISTRATION, the address of the RESIDENCE of the sinner's soul, from the very birth on earth in the spiritual world becomes hell (Heaven), where he ends up after leaving his body during natural death, because. becomes only a SPIRITUAL being, and can live without a physical body only in the spiritual world.
The soul of a man, having lost physical body, appears in the spirit world where her physical body was. But according to God's legislation, this sinful soul CANNOT live in the Kingdom of God, but remains according to the residence permit or citizenship in the Celestial Empire, where the demons drag it with joy to hell. In general, everything is clear and simple.
The offender must be separated from other souls, and then the Judgment of God and condemnation to eternal death (death is the second and real, because it FOREVER separates the sinful soul of a person from God already in the spiritual world):
Rev.20:14 And death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire. This is DEATH SECOND.
Rev. 21:8 But the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their fate is in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. This is DEATH SECOND.
ATTENTION!!! People learn personally on their EXPERIENCE what is evil and good, in order to know their consequences LIKE God!!! This is how we were created from the beginning: to be like Him.
With the help of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we can distinguish between the operation of two spiritual laws:
1. Law of sin and DEATH
This evil.
Romans 8:6 The mind of the flesh is DEATH...
Such a way of life is called in the Bible "living according to the flesh" or "living according to the desire of the flesh."
2. The Law of the Spirit of LIFE
This is GOOD.
Romans 8:6 thinking SPIRITUAL - LIFE ...
This way of life is called in the Bible "living in the spirit" or "living according to the will of the spirit."
Roman 8:
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the FLESH, but according to the SPIRIT,
2 because the LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE in Christ Jesus has set me free from the LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.
…
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the CARNISH, but those who live according to the Spirit, on the SPIRITUAL.
6 The CARNISH mind is DEATH, but the SPIRITUAL mind is LIFE and peace,
7 because the carnal mind is enmity against God<нарушение Божьих заповедей>;
for they do not obey the LAW of God, nor can they.
8 Therefore those who live according to the flesh CANNOT please God.
9 But you do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, if only the Spirit of God lives in you. If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he [and] is not His<не рожденный свыше>.
Roman 7:
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, SOLD under sin<по родословию от Адама все люди отделены от Бога и Его Царства и живут в Поднебесье>.
15 For I do not understand what I am doing: because I do not what I want, but what I hate, I do.
…
18 For I know that the GOOD does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh; because the DESIRE for good is in me<в духовной сущности человека: в ДУШЕ и ДУХЕ>,
but to do it, I don’t find it<в своей плоти>.
19 The good that I want I do not, but the evil that I do not want I do.
20 But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 So I find a law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me.
22 For according to the inward man I delight in the law of God<в духовной сущности человека: в ДУШЕ и ДУХЕ>;
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and making me captive to the law of sin which is in my members.<в физической сущности человека: в ПЛОТИ>.
24 Poor man I am! who will deliver me from this body of death?
Important Scripture:
Isa.26:9 With my soul I longed for Thee by night, and with my SPIRIT I will SEEK Thee in my INSIDE from early morning: for when Thy judgments [are made] on the earth, then those who dwell in the world LEARN THE TRUTH<живущие на земле>.
While LIVING ON EARTH, people learn NOT TO DO evil, knowing the actions and consequences of evil, but learn to do good UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. The constitution of the Kingdom of God is NOT TO DO EVIL.
10 If the wicked is shown mercy, he WILL NOT LEARN the truth<при жизни на земле>,
- will EVIL in the LAND OF RIGHT, and will not look at the greatness of the Lord<в Царстве Божьем>
The land of the righteous is the Kingdom of God, where ONLY the righteous will live.
If you do not teach people not to do evil on earth, then this person WILL BE EVIL in the Kingdom of God!!!
11 Lord! Thy hand was lifted HIGH, but they did not see it; those who hate Thy people will see and be ashamed; FIRE WILL BURN Thy enemies...
The hand that is "raised high" is the testimonies of people and the Scriptures about God. Those who have not seen the hand of God are unbelievers who have not believed in Him.
WEEDED OUT and thrown into the lake of fire after the White Throne Judgment will be all those (those who hate) who do evil to the born again, who belong to God (Your people).
Those. if a person has not learned to live by the laws of Heaven and they have not become his WAY OF LIFE, then he will not be able to live in the Kingdom of God!!! People MUST KNOW evil and go through TESTS on earth, so that those who cannot live in Heaven and obey God are WEEDED out and put away in the "garbage can" or "lake of fire", i.e. will receive the second death now in the spiritual world and FINAL.
This is the main plan of God - to create such beings who, thanks to the FRUIT of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil, during earthly life will have a complete REVELATION or knowledge of how good works and how evil works, and who will NEVER apply the action of evil to others !! ! This is the WAY OF LIFE in Heaven in the Kingdom of God.
Every day we struggle with the manifestation of the law of sin and death, EXPERIENCE the operation of the law of evil and its consequences: bitterness, resentment, heartache when the whole world seems to be against you, depression, anger, selfishness, cruelty, injustice, theft, misfortune, etc.
We also learn how to manifest the law of the spirit of life and LEARN from our own EXPERIENCE its consequences: peace, joy, inspiring happiness, peacefulness, longsuffering, goodness, charity, compassion, unconditional love.
Our goal is to learn to produce only good while fighting evil:
Heb.12:4 You have not yet fought to the point of bloodshed, striving AGAINST SIN...
So, living on earth, people constantly FEED from the Tree of good and evil, LEARNING what EVIL and GOOD are.
This is the CHOICE of each person: whether to choose the Kingdom of God, following the Laws of Heaven and being born again (the choice of GOOD), or the lake of fire, following EVIL, rejecting the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
REMEMBER: God's purpose of using the fruits from the Tree of good and evil is to acquire a LIFESTYLE based on PERSONALLY lived experience, which gives KNOWLEDGE about the SYMPTOMS of the appearance of good or evil and about the CONSEQUENCES of an action NOT yet PERFECT (i.e. embryo and predict the CONSEQUENCES of an act (good or evil).
Previous: Session 4 Worship in Spirit and Truth
Next: Session 6. The Process of Spiritual Growth
Basic moments:
1. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the key to understanding the destiny of mankind in the Kingdom of God.
2. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is at the center of paradise and at the center of the understanding of all Scripture.
3. The meaning of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the original source.
4. God knew and foresaw the choice of people. He was ready for it.
5. This is not about the fruits of the fruit tree. It clearly refers to some kind of ACTION that gives KNOWLEDGE about GOOD and EVIL, and maybe DOES evil or good.
6. The task of man in the flesh is to cultivate and keep "trees", i.e. to do deeds (perform actions) that bring good to others.
7. The same object in one use is good, in another it is evil, and this depends on the actions of specific people.
8. Our goal is to practically study the consequences of good and evil from our own experience. Practice on earth and apply ONLY goodness in your life.
9. On the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, fruits grow not of different kinds (fruits of good and fruits of evil), but of one kind: the fruits of the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil.
10. People learn personally what evil and good are, in order to become like God, knowing what good and evil are from their experience, I form in myself the way of life of the Kingdom of God.
11. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not only on earth, but also in the Kingdom of God IN EVERY PERSON, is the use of the law of the spirit of life or the law of sin and death.
12. The main plan of God is to create beings who, through the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, will have a complete REVELATION or knowledge of how good works and how evil works, and who will NEVER apply the action of evil to others!!! This is a LIFESTYLE in heaven in the Kingdom of God.
Video sermon - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY6Dp5eTcI4
Prayer for being born again:
Previous: Session 4 Worship in Spirit and Truth http://www.website/2014/12/22/257 ========================= =================================
You will talk about how the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a revelation that BRINGS a person closer to GOD!!! This is a lie of the DEVIL!
The fruits from this tree did not bring Adam and Eve closer to God, but on the contrary, led them to exile. God drove them out of paradise not because they disobeyed Him, but because spiritually dead people have no place in the presence of God. Sin and God's holiness are incompatible things.
The tempting serpent is the spirit of Seduction. The devil said: "And you will become like GODS!" That's what seduced Eve. And the fruits of this tree seemed to her desired. Whose words are these: "Become like GODS"? Lucifer, who became proud, for which he was cast out of heaven. The original sin is arrogance.
Their world (the first people) was divided into good and evil, i.e. their outlook has become DUAL. And in fact, a person is now, although rational, but a mammalian animal: he has a soul and flesh. But the spiritual rebirth occurs only later - during repentance, when a person crucifies his pride.
And in general, I do not understand - why such difficulties? Everything is much easier here!
Like today in real life can this biblical story happen?
For example, God gives each person a calling to a particular profession. Calling is a talent, God's spark. If you are destined to be a car mechanic and you go to study in this area, and dedicate your life to this profession, then you will find the joy of doing what you love, and success, and recognition, and moral satisfaction, and material well-being. That is, everything you need to be happy. This is what "paradise" is.
But the serpent-tempter, seducing you, says: "Why do you need to be a car mechanic? It's not prestigious! Go to medicine. You will walk in a clean white coat, and not in dirty fuel oil; have a very good income. Moreover, the beloved sings: "You have connections in the medical school. You can use this chance!" And such an offer seems “desirable” to a person, and, having betrayed his destiny, he goes into medicine. And as a result: no honor, no money, no prestige. A person loses touch with himself (with God's beginning), he is torn apart by internal conflicts, he hates his job, and curses the day when he chose the wrong path. This is what "hell" is.
And everything that you, Oleg, write is speculation that has absolutely nothing to do with God's revelation.
Tikhomirov B. A.
"Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil"< (евр. ‘ēş hadda‘at ţôb wārā‘) в библейском тексте встречается исключительно во 2-й и 3-й главах кн. Бытия, играя сюжетообразующую роль в повествовании о "грехопадении". Оно изначально выделяется среди растительности Эдемского сада как особое по своему функциональному назначению ("древо познания"), а также как занимающее центральное положение в пространственном ареале рая (Быт 2, 9; 3, 3). С ним связано императивное запретительное требование Бога к Адаму (Быт 2, 17; 3, 3, 11). Нарушение первой человеческой четой, Адамом и Евой, запрета на вкушение "плода" с этого дерева (Быт 3, 6) вызывает катастрофические последствия: человеческая природа искажается, становясь смертной (Быт 3, 19, 22, 24), творение разрушается, утрачивая свое совершенство (Быт 3, 17-19, 23).
The syntactic ambiguity of the construction "‘ēş hadda‘at ţôb wārā‘", the lack of unified approaches in the tradition of church exegesis regarding the interpretation of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil", its obvious conditionality due to the general exegetical problems of chapters 2–3 of the book. Genesis, outlines the range of problems of understanding this biblical phenomenon.
Semantic difficulties in reading the expression "‘ēş hadda‘at ţôb wārā‘" are associated with the word "da‘aţ", which can be considered both as a noun, "knowledge", "knowledge", and as an infinitive, "to know". The semantic accents that arise within the framework of these discrepancies can be arranged approximately as follows. As a noun, "da‘aţ" would define the nature of the "tree" as "the tree of knowledge". The phrase tree of knowledge in this case becomes dominant in the whole construction, and "ţôb wārā‘", "good and evil", is in the position of the subsequent addition. Then "eating the fruit" from the tree of knowledge should mean, first of all, joining in knowledge, entering the path of knowledge (which will be the knowledge of "good and evil"). In this regard, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life, in essence, symbolize two alternative paths that a person is faced with at the very beginning of his existence, and, in fact, the whole subsequent story, which tells about biblical text, starting with the 4th chapter of the book. Genesis ("Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she .., and ..."), is a process of cognition. The form of the infinitive, "know", in which "good and evil" is a direct object, will mean familiarization with the realities of "good and evil" with a touch of possession. (The Hebrew verb yāda', "know", "know", of which da'aţ is a derivative, implies that the "act of knowledge" is the inclusion of the object of knowledge in the sphere of life of the "knower", as well as the acquisition by him of a certain power over the "cognized "object.) Obviously, the semantic emphasis in this version of reading is shifted to "good and evil." At the same time, human intrusion into the forbidden and sacred (since the possession of the secret of "good and evil" is the prerogative of God the Creator) the area of "good and evil", "tasting the fruit", is supposed to be a one-act act to obtain the desired. And so it happened: "And the eyes of both of them were opened" (although the result turned out to be a fiction: "and they knew ... that they were naked") (Genesis 3, 7). The fact that both possible semantic meanings of the expression "'ēş hadda'at ţôb wārā'" are realized in the description of the consequences of the drama of the "fall" eliminates the dilemma of choosing between them, determining the semantic significance of the entire construction in its unity and presenting appropriate requirements for the exegesis of the tree as a tree. knowledge of good and evil. It also removes the relevance of testing two readings for better compliance with the norms of Hebrew grammar.
Patristic exegesis has not developed unified principles for understanding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Interpretations were carried out according to two methods of reading that were determined in the patristic period of church history. Holy Scripture: literal and allegorical. Exegetes of the so-called. The "Antioch school" proceeded from the notion that paradise with its four rivers was located in a specific place on earth, and "the tree of knowledge was a real tree, called by such a mysterious name only because it gave rise to the sin of disobedience" (quoted from: Galbiati E., Piazza A. S. 138). With this approach, all the attention of the interpreters was drawn to the moral aspect of the situation that was developing in connection with the God-given commandment, and what was essential in its exegetical understanding was not the nature of the tree, but the disobedience of the commandment. The tradition of allegorical interpretation, widely represented by exegetes, both East and West, generally considered the narrative of 2-3 ch. book. Genesis as a metaphor for the internal structure of man and the life of the soul. As a typical exegesis of St. Ambrose of Milan, who wrote: “many people think that paradise is the soul of a person in which sprouts of virtue have sprung up. A person appointed to cultivate and protect paradise is the mind of a person whose strength, apparently, cultivates the soul ... brought to Adam, these are our foolish deeds ... Therefore, there was no helper equal to our mind, except for the feeling [Eve] ... "(S. Ambrosius, De Paradiso 11, PL 14, 211, 279, 311.) [Cit. by: Galbiati E., Piazza A. S. 135.]. The interpretation of the "ancient" paradise, carried out within the framework of such an "anthropocentric" understanding, proceeded from the general patristic concept of the spiritual development of man. So, according to St. Gregory the Theologian, "the tree of sin is the contemplation of divine things, forbidden to the imperfect, but accessible to the perfect" (S. Gregor. Naz. Orazio 38, 12 PG 36, 324, 632). St. John of Damascus spoke of the tree of knowledge as the self-knowledge of man, where the contemplation of one's own nature reveals the greatness of the Creator, which, however, is dangerous for the inexperienced (S. Joan. Damasc., De fide orthodoxa, lid. II PG 94, 916s. 976) . Allegorical exegesis thus considered the tree of knowledge as a symbol of contemplative life, which was perceived as the center of all spiritual work. The actual biblical content of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" remained in the shadow of the whole patristic exegesis, and both of its main approaches, despite all their methodological differences, were in solidarity with each other on this issue. The words of St. Anastasius Sinaita (VII century), who stated that "the true nature of the two trees of paradise is completely unknown and knowledge of it is not necessary for the Church" (Anastasius Syn. // Exaemeron, lid. 8 PG 89, 971 s.). [Cit. by: Galbiati E., Piazza A.S. 136 and Biblical commentaries of the Church Fathers ... S. 78-79]
In the subsequent comprehension of the biblical "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," several fundamental directions of exegesis can be distinguished. These are, first of all, interpretations, the main attention of which was focused on the violation of the divine prohibition that had occurred, and which understood "good and evil" as moral categories. By eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, a person loses "moral innocence", becoming able to distinguish between "good" and "bad". He is also able to realize his guilt before God, whose commandment he has neglected. Here we can talk about the continuity of the "Antiochian school", which can rightly be considered the founder of this trend in Christian exegesis of the first chapters of the book. Genesis. A typical example of such an interpretation is the commentary of the "Explanatory Bible" edited by A.P. Lopukhin on Genesis 2, 9: “God chose this tree as a means to test the faith and love of Adam, as well as his gratitude to the heavenly Father, for the purposes of which He gave him the commandment not to eat from the fruits of this tree. From this commandment it , in all likelihood, and got its name [?].“The tree of knowledge,” says Metropolitan Philaret, “having been chosen as an instrument of testing, represented a person, on the one hand, the continuously increasing knowledge and enjoyment of good in obedience to God, on the other hand, knowledge and a sense of evil in disobedience." Since, in general, the commandment dated to this tree had in mind the development of the higher abilities of a person as a rational being, this tree itself could easily be called the “tree of understanding” or “tree of knowledge”. And since, according to the Old Testament view, all knowledge in general had a moral character [?], then “good and evil” are taken here as two opposite poles of all knowledge in general. Further in the commentary on Genesis 2, 16: “For the development of the moral forces (higher) of man, God gave him a special commandment, consisting in abstinence from the fruits of the tree of knowledge already known to us. God appointed this abstinence to serve as a symbol of obedience and obedience to Him on the part of man, whereby the observance of this commandment expressed on the part of a person a feeling of love, gratitude and devotion to God; while its violation, quite the contrary, testified to distrust of God, disregard for His words and black ingratitude towards the Creator, along with a desire to live according to one’s own will, and not according to the commandments of God. That is why such a seemingly insignificant crime received such a huge, moral significance. " It must be admitted that considering the history of the "Fall" solely from the standpoint of a violation of the moral foundations of the relationship between God and man raises many difficult questions for both exegesis and theology. Such interpretations almost completely exclude the recognition of any independent essence behind the "tree of knowledge of good and evil" and, thus, deprive it of real content. On the other hand, they require theodicy, since only subjective reasons are seen in the prohibition established by God. With the obvious disproportion between the offense and the subsequent punishment, even the most sophisticated explanations (such as the commentary of the "Explanatory Bible" on Genesis 2, 16) sound clearly unconvincing.
For whom was the Tree of Life created in Paradise if Adam and Eve were originally created immortal? Why do we now resent them for eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? After all, after that, a person was able to distinguish good from evil, and if this were not the case, would a person simply be an intelligent animal?
We, unfortunately, are very anthropomorphic, that is, we imagine all those images that we find in the Bible in a human-like way. In particular, the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That's why I sometimes joke and say: "It's necessary, Eve ate an apple before the Transfiguration, and the misfortune of mankind began!" It's not the same thing! The tree of life Holy fathers (we need to see, here you are asking, but I could not answer now, but say: “Well, please read the interpretations of Ephraim the Syrian, John Chrysostom.” Read what the “Tree of Life” means, “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil". But it is easier for us to ask than to read). The tree of life is God himself. Only in fellowship with Him could we really have eternal life as such. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil - this is not about some [specific] tree and not about a snake that crawled - you see, Archangel Michael let him into the Kingdom of God and suddenly he climbed a tree and let's tempt Eve! Well, what are you! That's not the point, of course! The tree of the knowledge of good and evil means something completely different. Man was created with the freedom of choice or the path of life according to God, or ... this second “or” happened. Man imagined himself to be "God" himself, for to him, man, everything was subordinated, the whole world. And he saw himself as "God." And when he saw himself as "God" he does not need God! That's why Adam hid from God. Think about it: God walks in paradise and asks, “Adam, where are you?” How could the Lord God know where Adam was! It is impossible to understand these biblical statements in such an elementary way! This is the so-called mythological, figurative language, behind which lies a huge essence. Why was this Tree of Good and Evil given? It was freedom given to man, for without freedom man could not really become the Son of God by grace. And in order to become - God knew that a person would fall (do you think this is by chance or something?) God knew and planted a "tree", that is, he gave him freedom and knew that only through this freedom a person, when he imagines himself, that he is “like God”, only through self-knowledge can a person finally understand that, it turns out, he is nothing without God. The whole history of mankind testifies to this. You probably remember Soviet time when everyone thought: "We will know the laws of nature, we will conquer the world, we will conquer the cosmos, we will become gods in this world." Hear the whisper of the serpent: "You will be like Gods!"? What madness! One vessel burst in my head, and went to the next world! "Be like gods!"
This is what the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is. It was necessary for a person, each of us, to see experimentally that I cannot do anything with myself without God's help. I can't handle the most empty things. This is extremely necessary for a person to sincerely turn to God himself and say: “Lord, You are my Life, You are my Good, You are the Truth. Then he can be an eternal heir to the Kingdom.
Hello!
I always wondered: Why did the Lord plant the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if he forbade eating the fruits? Did he foresee the betrayal of the first people? He must have known the consequences... (M.)
Responsible Dmitry Yu., messianic teacher:
Are you saying that the Almighty knew, or are you asking if He foresaw? :)
Okay, I think that you know that the Creator is not limited by time and space, He is simultaneously at the beginning of creation and at its end, so the option is - " foresaw"- disappears by itself.
So, I'll try to answer the first question - " for what?»
Man is created with free will, he can choose.
But the question is, what to choose from?
If you are placed in ideal conditions, do not know what evil is, and what to choose from - how can you exercise your free will?
The Creator planted one tree in the middle of paradise so that a person could realize his free will, follow one simple rule - do not eat from the fruits of the tree, there was a choice - to eat or not to eat.
An opportunity was given for free expression of will - to violate the ban or to be obedient, and not to violate.
Until today, in general, nothing has changed, a person is still free to follow the will of his Creator or violate it.
It is perhaps worth looking at the events that took place then in the garden:
1 The serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made. And the serpent said to the woman: Did God truly say: Do not eat from any tree in paradise?
The Serpent was a great guy and asked the question like he didn't know the right answer to it. The question itself testified that he knew something about the fact that the Almighty gave a ban, it is not clear how he knew, well, it is not clear who could have incorrectly conveyed the events that were taking place to him, which is why he decided to clarify how actually it was the case.
Until today, nothing has changed, the snake comes to many and asks a question - “ Did the Lord really say?» It is not worth repeating the mistake of Hava and giving answers to the snake, which even without us knows perfectly well what the Lord said.
2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruits of the trees,
3 only the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God said, do not eat it or touch it, lest you die.
So Khava demonstrates excellent knowledge of the prohibition received from the Creator.
4 And the serpent said to the woman, No, you will not die,
5 but God knows that on the day you eat them, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.
Yes, this is the whole kite - " no you won't die“In other words, he claims that the Creator deceived His creation, told him a lie ... and at the same time, the Creator had an intent.
In fact, He simply did not want a person to know what good and evil are, and precisely because He did not want a person to know this, He planted a tree in the middle of paradise, having tasted the fruits of which, a person can easily find out by warning a person about the consequences of violating the ban, which in fact will not come. The logic, of course, is ironclad, but Khava somehow did not pay attention to this, she decided to look at something else.
6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eye and desirable, because it gives knowledge; and took its fruit and ate; and gave also to her husband, and he ate.
Before that, you might think - she had not seen this tree in her eyes ... and what was she doing in the middle of paradise right next to this tree?". Apparently, that's where the conversation took place. So, she saw that she liked it a lot and took it.
Seeing is one thing; lust is quite another matter; knowing the prohibition and consciously violating it is a third matter.
So, Hava knew about the presence of the ban, and decided not to discuss the issue of her desires with her husband, and with the Creator, but to immediately realize her desires - she took and ate.
This is the free will of man - " I see, I want, I take"let me, but there is a ban, but" I'm sorry, I want to do... Well, as we know, the consequences were not long in coming.
The question of our desires and the ban on certain types of our desires is very difficult and remains so to this day.
One of the commandments of Moshe's decalogue was supernatural:
Exodus 20:17 Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
It is natural for a person to desire, but the Almighty limits his desires.
I note that no one, except the Creator, can check our desires, and accordingly, only He could give such a commandment, unnatural for a person, only He can check its fulfillment.
Man cannot establish such a commandment, for the simple reason that he cannot verify it.
What's the point of giving a commandment if you can't verify it?
So, the Almighty created man with free will, and man does not always use this freedom correctly.
So, the question was right - why did He plant, and the answer, I think, is very simple - so that you can freely follow His commands and not violate them.
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He gives us the right to love Him and follow Him, but we do not always follow, we do not always properly use the freedom of our choice.
This is our responsibility, and if you have children and you want them to grow, then you give them freedom, and in doing so, you know that they can make mistakes.
But without it, there is no growth. The main thing is that when we make mistakes, we do not hide like Adam, do not shift the blame on the Creator and Hava, but simply acknowledge our sins, repent and follow Him.
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Gen. 2:9,16,17 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
……
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, From every tree in the garden you shall eat,
17 But do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it you will die the death.
Having created a person who would have to harmoniously fit into the universal harmony of being, which exists due to the laws of the Creator, Jehovah offered a person to make a choice from two options: to live or not to live in His conditions: to be or not to be. Later, this proposal was formulated by God as: ".. life with prosperity and death with troubles I offered you ... Choose life .." - the Creator advised - Deut.30: 15,16,19.
In order to be, the first human couple had to trust their Father and His care for them, obediently and joyfully submitting to His system of being with His laws. For them, the first law of Jehovah was established in the form of an instruction not to eat the fruits of just one tree, access to all others, including the tree of life, was free.
Since man was created with the need to have a guide to life, not having the ability to decide for himself what kind of activity will bring him benefit - good, and what kind of harm - evil - God reserved the right to explain to His children what is useful for them and what harmful so that they can have satisfaction from life. Apart from Him, no one knows our structure — Psalm 138:14-16 — and most importantly, which organ is responsible for life satisfaction, therefore only the Creator can give such guidance to a person, following which a person can live happily. — 2 Tim. 3:16,17.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil, on the one hand, symbolizes the right of God to establish His rules and norms of behavior in a society that He intends to organize, so that everyone in it would be good and pleasant to live together - Deut.10:12,13. On the other hand, this tree symbolizes the right of people to choose whether to live in His system according to His principles or not. God, being just, does not impose on any of His intelligent creatures the way of life that His universal laws provide, allowing each person to make his own choice.
The life path of human society can be compared to a road path along which different cars move at different speeds in different directions. However, the rules of the road, which all participants in the movement without exception must adhere to, contribute to a harmonious, orderly movement that brings pleasure to riders. It is worth someone alone to break at least one rule, and catastrophes and accidents are inevitable, causing harm to all participants in the movement, including those who themselves do not violate and do not want to violate the rules of the movement. The one who designed and set the rules traffic did not plan for riders to violate them and did not allow them to do so.
Similarly, the Creator of the great life path - Jehovah - will be supportive and will allow only those “riders” who do not want and will not violate His rules to follow the path of life created by Him, which means that the perfect harmony between all of His creation will never be broken again. will be.
Anyone who wants to participate in life path, but to live according to their own rules - as it pleases - they will not be admitted into the system of God, for he will not learn the truth, - he will act evil in the land of the righteous and will not look at the greatness of the Lord. - Proverbs 2:21,22., Deut.29:19,20, Is.26:10.
Obedience to God - these are the conditions of the "contract" that a person who wants to live forever in the earthly house of the Creator is obliged to fulfill. A precedent is currently being set by Jehovah as a legal basis for the future throughout eternity: His sentient creatures must experience for themselves that:
1. independence from the Creator and life according to one’s own very limited knowledge will not bring satisfaction and will only harm both themselves and the rest of Jehovah’s unreasonable creation
2. Only the Creator of life and everything that exists has the right and is able to guide His creation in the best possible way.
3. All who do not want to ever in future eternity take into account and recognize the conditions of their Creator will not have the right to live in His system of being.
I think, here to the question, you can add an addition. If God knew that this would be the case, then why would this tree be grown? It is possible that it was planned that if you plant a tree, then they will taste the fruits. It turns out that they are slaves of circumstances. God arranged everything.
P.S. I'm NOT trying to denigrate anyone's name, I'm just wondering why it was planned this way. Choice without choice is obtained.
Who is this snake? whom did Moshe give such a nickname? And what is the meaning behind the metaphor "tree of life" and the tree "knowledge of good and evil." For those who study Kabbalah and with the help of the Torah, you will find out that the Pentateuch of Moshe has 4 levels. Pshat, Remez, Drash, Sod. So everyone picking up the book of Genesis read 1 and 2 ch. about the creation of Adam and the planting of the garden of paradise with trees the first level. Simple meaning. And because of this, they do not see further what is hidden behind it.
Please tell me if the author of creation God, a couple of people in His Image and Likeness on the 6th day, who created everything for the first human couple on earth, did not limit them in any way, that is, he did not give them a single commandment forbidding anything by telling them Ch. 1 verse 29 "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is in all the earth, and every tree whose fruit is a tree yielding seed; “This shall be food for you.” And if in the second chapter we are talking about this pair that the Lord God did not create in one day. At first Adam, and after a while Eve from his rib and this is the same God, why in the second chapter He suddenly changed his blessing from every tree you eat to the ban on eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which in the first chapter was not mentioned by Moses ? For what yet undescribed sin, Adam and Eve were suddenly forbidden to eat the fruit from this tree? Or all the same, the first chapter describes the created twins, these are the first-born of God and from this pair the sons of God will come, and the Creator of Adam from the dust and from his rib Eve is different and the ban was given to Adam and Eve as earthly people who do not have God-likeness, created to cultivate the garden and guard it? After all, there is no equivalent blessing for Adam such as the first couple, be fruitful and multiply, and further in the text, to own the whole earth and everything on it. If, nevertheless, we admit that God and the Lord God are different Creators, then the question arises, is this cat the Lord God who did not use words when creating Adam “And God said”, but took the right and created it, that is, he created with his hands and not with a word, just like he planted a garden so he did it also not with the help of the magic of the word, but with his own hands. And the answer follows from the introduction at the beginning of the second chapter of the book. Genesis in the first verse. Moses wrote that until the seventh day God had finished everything, and on the seventh day he retired from his work.
All point. And then the continuation is described already in the second person from the Lord God, who added to the already created by God, on behalf of his co-author in the creation of the earth and sky. The Lord God added something that was not yet there. Field shrub and field grass. They really didn't exist. There were no bushes and no field grass. There was simply a grass-sowing seed, and a fruitful tree, chapter 1, article 12. And also the Lord God created a garden of which the God described in the first chapter of Genesis did not plant a garden. And there was no man to till the land. And this means that the first human pair was not created to work on earth. The Lord God had to create him from the dust. What does it mean from the dust of the earth. And that means that there was the ashes of the deceased on earth (Egyptian mummies, for example) from which genetic material was taken for cloning a person, recreating him genetically. Unlike the created couple, on the 6th day, Adam was breathed in the breath of life and resuscitated. And unlike the first pair created on the 6th day, a pair of Adam was created over time from the rib taken from Adam's DNA from one of the 23 pairs of the X chromosome and a clone was created but in the form of a woman, since the genetic material was taken not from the Y chromosome, which is inherited only by men but from X. And not at all from the rib that men and women have in equal numbers, otherwise Adam would have had one rib less. Pure genetics and cloning. If you are interested in who and who was the serpent and what kind of tree of life and tree of knowledge of good and evil I will write if I receive such a question in my mail.
